Curious Bird

time speeds up...

there is only enough time for a quick owl factory photo. I'm off to a running start with so much to do I could almost crawl back in bed and watch a bad movie...
I'll be back to say the official goodbye before I head up to Art Star on friday.

have yourself a lovely wednesday,
l.

inky fingers

ahhh...a three day weekend. I hope you had a good one. I worked quite a bit, pretty much the whole weekend, however D and I managed to "celebrate" with a little cook-out last night, complete with vegetarian baked beans and mojitos. wow, that sounds gross, but trust me, it wasn't, or at least I don't think it was.

I knocked quite a few items off my To Do list in the last few days. My Art Star goodies are mostly complete. Although, now I need  to get my display plan organized, price most of my goods, not to mention figure out how to set up a borrowed canopy. There's a good chance that if you were to arrive at Art Star really early and watch me set up, you might get to have yourself a really good laugh. Sometimes I tend to look like I'm on the Carol Burnett Show when it comes to stuff like this -- clumsy, goofy, and more clumsy.

In addition to lots of sewing, I did quite a bit of printing this weekend. I've decided I fully understand why people design and create their own line of stationary and cards--it's really fun and sometimes the finished product looks really sweet.  I printed on lovely cards I had ordered from Paper Source in colors like celery, bluebell, and mist -- so relaxing...
As you can see, I did some Mod Flower cards, but there are also pirate ships, nests, and birdie designs.
 

Before I go, how about a few links.
Just like most of you, I'm in love with these prints. 
I'm always a sucker for birds , and sweet jewels, and anything by jill, especially these.

A few new blog discoveries too...
a collage a day
kitty genius
insurgent muse

good day to you.

for the love of orange and brown

Another Friday is here already? Geesh. I suppose I notice when Friday comes around more than any other day. I wonder why that is?
I wanted to thank  all of you that  commented such sweet things about yesterdays post. The kisslock pouches seem to be a big hit. I hope Art Star peeps love them as much as you guys do. Once again, your kindness and support is amazing. Merci.

Before I make a run for my errands today, I wanted to show a shadowbox collage I recently completed and sent on it's way. It was as a special order from a bride to her maid of honor. The maid of honor is apparently very fond of "burnt orange, brown, and vintage fabrics", so I went nuts.  It was actually quite a lot of fun see what materialized when creating within someone else's perimeters parameters. I usually sit down with an idea in my head or a sketch and go to town with whatever colors I want.  I do love oranges and browns quite a lot --I tend to wear them more than create with them. Perhaps that is about to change.

Mixed Media Collage 9x9

And since I sorta miss Friday's with Motown, here's a little sneak peek at the snuggle/lovefest that often goes on between my Motown and D. Motown is pretty needy and can be downright annoying with his desire to be in your "space" (he's very vocal about this, too) , but tell me, who could resist a snuggle like this? What, with him gazing into your eyes and all...


Happy Friday, my blogging friends! Have yourself a splendid holiday weekend.

I should eat mango everyday

As promised, here are a few photos of items I've been working on for Art Star. I've made a ton of bags of all shapes and sizes -- the three above are some of the latest ones. I just love each of those fabrics, especially the floral one on the far right-- it looks hand-drawn and then partially colored in with colored pencil or something.  How cool is that?
A new item I've been making ( I've made almost 20!) are snap closure pouches perfect for coins, cell phones, smokes, you name it. See that drum major fabric in red? I found it recently and let's just say I was thrilled. I mean, drum majors, c'mon... I thnk I remember wanting to be a drum major when I was in third grade.

And last but definitely not least, I simply couldn't attain blog balance without a few vacation shots. I'm not one for posting photos of my family and friends on here too much. I do occasionally, but mostly it's me, my art, and sweet ol' Dustin. How could I? I almost forgot about Mortimer and Motown. What's wrong with me, they get more air time than anyone, but you already know this, don't you?
Anyway, below are some shots from our lovely trip. I want to send huge amounts of love and thanks out to Dustin's family for coming to NC and sharing such a great mountain vacation with us. We had such fun.  Maybe we should have another one, say, next month??

Dustin and his mama.

The beginnings of a great fruit salad...

Ahhh...berries


The light in the cabin was so lovely I couldn't resist.

Have a sweet day, my friends.

a photo (or two) a day...

Every once in a while I'm going to post a few photos from our vacation. These are from two very beautiful hikes we had the pleasure of taking in the Blue Ridge Mtns. Such fun. I soooo hope we can get out of Philly once in a while and take a hike. That would be highly valuable to me.

In other news, I had a pretty productive day yesterday. I even did a little "IY" for those of you in the know. I also did lots of sewing and lots of sewing prep work (my least favorite part). You're probably wondering why I haven't posted photos of my Art Star creations, and honestly, I'm sorta wondering the same thing. Perhaps I will post a couple of photos soon.
I laid most of what I've created out on my bed yesterday and I appear to have quite a lot of Curious Bird goodies. There is still more to be done, but I'm feeling okay about things as of now.  If I were to become sick and not be able to sew another item, I think I would be okay with what I have, which is a little dramatic, I know, but I've always had a dramatic side. You can ask my mom, she will tell you all about it, I'm sure.

Did you know that Iomoi is having a warehouse sale? It's awesome.  hurry.
Also, before I left for vacation a really interesting thing happened. I had left a comment on one of my new favorite blogs and a couple of days later (while taking my "every few days" gander) I came across the sweetest post about Curious Bird. I had no idea it was there and just stumbled upon it, which in my opinion made it even sweeter.  Nice words, they can really make a girl feel special.  Thanks, Modish.

More soon, have a great day.

I've been known to get distracted

Yesterday I had big plans of checking each and every item off my scary To Do list. I mean, I had really big plans, but then I got distracted with beautifying my home. Yes, the same home I'm going to put into boxes and drive ten hours north in just over a month.  And you know what? I enjoyed every single minute of it.
About a month ago D made me take the down comforter/duvet off the bed because he was cooking under there. We live in the South, but I get cold even in the summer months (except for the El Nino summer of 98 --now that summer was hot as hell).  Anyway, after taking the comforter off, I was left with a quilt and some boring solid pillowcases, so long story short, I made some shams yesterday afternoon and I really like the result. Dustin does too, so add another 10 points.
It all started with a trip to the fabric store for owl stuffing, but then noticing the Tracy Porter fabrics were 40% off.  I added a linen stripe and some fancy machine-stitched circles
and wah-lah!


Of course it had to turn into a cat photo shoot, but I'm not apologizing for that, they were the only ones around and I needed them for scale.  In case you're wondering, the strange creature in the background is not real, it's a super cool, yet sorta creepy owl lamp I thrifted on Friday. His name is Lance and he's very wise.

Have a good day.

**we don't sleep with our bed pushed up against our closet --that's our headboard fashioned out of vintage closet doors. just fyi.

back in the saddle again...or something like that

Hello friends! Happy Monday to you.  I'm back in action since returning from the loveliest vacation-- I'll probably be talking about my little mountain trip for a while, so if you can, please try to forgive me for blathering on.  The photo above is proof that I (the mountain craft troll) did some crafting while on vacation. Although I managed some crafting while at the cabin, not enough was accomplished ( I didn't do a very good job packing), so after returning home and getting things organized, my weekend was filled with list-making and crafting until my eyes hurt. I've got a lot to do and only two weeks to do it.  Somewhere along the way, I've developed big plans for my Art Star productivity, which seems to stress me out or energize me depending on where I happen to fall on the caffeine intake scale. Poor Dustin, last night he was commissioned to help with a task that required more strength than I could muster, and after about ten minutes, he was not a happy crafter (or camper for that matter). Tedious projects are not his thing -- he did his best to help out, but ended up needing to "take a break". That "break" never ended.  Honestly, while he was breaking, I went into green tea overdrive and knocked the rest of it out before he could return, so he wasn't totally a.w.o.l.
I'll give him a little credit...

Speaking of giving him credit, I'm so proud of him. He graduated with his Masters degree the weekend before our trip, so he's officially "hooded" and on to the next level. It's been an amazing thing watching him discover and pursue something he finds a great deal of joy in learning about, and happens to be darn good at. What a fantastic process to watch unfold. He's such a good egg.
And doesn't he look snazzy in that hood?  Just think, after the hood comes the PhD. beanie and I can hardly wait to see him don that!



Have a great day, friends!  More soon.

vintage goodies just added at Curious Bird

Sweet Vacation Bliss

Back from the mountains and dying to say hello. Thanks for all the photo comment sweetness while I was away. It made my day to get back from nearly a week away from the computer (not complaining) and see that Motown had worked his photo magic once again-- he's such a camera ham.

North Carolina is one beautiful state. After this vacation, I'm a little sad to be leaving behind such Blue Ridge loveliness only a short drive away. I mean, I knew it was nice and lush and home to a great mountain range (each of these aspects really appeal to me) when I moved here two years ago, but never fully appreciated how truly amazing it is until now. It holds its own in terms of natural beauty, it really does. I prefer mountains to beaches and have always loved the Pacific Northwest and various places in New England (Hudson River Valley whoop whoop) but after spending the last week in western NC, I might be making room for another favorite mountain spot -- Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mtns (and Boone too) are all so sweet. And BLUE Ridge is such a great name for those mountains -- I happen to love the color blue and seeing it reach toward the sky in shades ranging from steele to baby is well worth riding in the backseat feeling a bit green while on the twisty Parkway. In case you're wondering, I do not work for NC tourism, I just returned from a blissful time at a mountain cabin and felt like sharing. 


More soon, now I must go unpack.
L.

the higher the naptime spot the better