Better in Person

I sent the little 3-flowers card you saw in my last post to my sister last week, who, upon receipt, exclaimed over the phone, "It's so much better in person! The photo doesn't do it any justice!!" Even if I had a professional photographer, I think I would need an actual photography studio to get anywhere close to actualizing the reality of my work (you know, like you might see in an art book). My work is so incredibly textural that you have to see it and, if you can, feel it to really get it. I wish you could reach through the computer and grab the stuff I make to see it in person for yourself, and touch it. But since you can't, take my sister's word for it!! It is even better in person.

This is a first design I came up with for an advent calendar after the happenstance circle storage system I developed, which you can see in my last post too. Surprisingly, I hadn't thought of an advent calendar, and then Tara suggested it! Thanks Tara! The pockets and background are all made from THE dictionary, and then sewn to a bit of scrap fabric (which I incidentally got at a great garage sale last week). Inside the pockets are little notes, one for each day leading up to the big event.

Now, if you click on the photo for a closer look, you can see that the word 'advent' is at the top, kind of as its title. At the bottom, there's the definition. Did you know that advent doesn't necessarily have to pertain to Christmas? So, while this initial design is obviously Christmas-y, not all of them will be. What do the notes say? Your choice! I'll have some pre-made ones that can be bought (jokes, quotes, etc), and also some blank ones for people to write on to make their calendars more meaningful and personalized.

You can see, feel, and BUY this piece and/or others like it if you come to the Holiday Craft & Food Market, November 26-27, 2010, at the Fort Collins Senior Center. I hope to see you and your family there!

Work-horse

I seem to remember this happened last fall, and the fall before that too. My life has been far too busy for my liking! Sorry for the more than 3 weeks since my last post. Besides having some long-term company at home, it was also my 10-year college reunion at the start of the month (hooray for Mills College!), and my day job has been considerably more demanding these days too (actually always the case at this time of year).

I have been a work-horse in the art room. The photo above shows what I feel I've been doing for a month: circles and quilt squares. You can see what will become of the circles, and the quilt squares will become aprons, as seen in a past post. When my mom saw that purple square, she said she just wanted to lick it, it reminded her of candy!

In the lower left corner, you can see what I devised as a storage system for circles I have purposefully paired and prepared to become flowers, but there are so many of them that I won't get through them all in one sitting. So I made these little pockets out of scratch paper to keep them from getting separated or mixed up, and I like the look so much I'm wondering if I can put the idea into something sell-able. What do you think?

Work Day and Name Change

I've officially been accepted into the Ft Collins Holiday Craft Fair over Thanksgiving weekend! Hooray! So as you know, I have some work to do, and today I invited three helpers into the art room to help me with some of the grunt work of mass card-making: Mivvy, Haley, and Katie.

We worked for a good 4 hours (with a gourmet snack break half-way through) to do all the finishing on my non-Christmas cards. The photo below is the pile of cards we completed. I'd done all the design, painting, gluing, layout, etc. beforehand. Then today we sewed on buttons, beads, and other embellishments while keeping each other company and laughing at the chickens clucking right outside to screen door. We accomplished so much; that was 16 hours of work that the four of us did in 4. Fantastic!

Now, a story: when I was in Oregon over Memorial Day weekend, I stopped in a great quilt shop in Hood River. I was explaining to the woman there the type of art I did and the reason I was there to buy buttons (for 2 cents a pop from their bulk basket), and she asked if I had a card, so she could visit my website when she got home to her computer. A week or so later, she called me(!) and said she'd had problems finding my Etsy shop, Follow Him.

Whoa.

And so, I would like to announce the transition to my new studio name: Parsley Art. I am still working through the details, but you will see that it is a good fit. "Fresh art with lots of taste," you know, something along those lines. Katie came early to our work session today to do some photography with freshly picked bunches of parsley from my garden. We experimented with all sorts of things to integrate the parsley and some of my art supplies. You'll see more of those photos soon. For now, here are a couple...

Without Meaning To...

...I recently learned some new techniques! The other day, I was in the scrapbook store by happy accident, and since I had no agenda or no project to buy specific stuff for, I could just look around. Well, I got inspired, as usual. And I saw some stuff I'd never seen before. Handmade paper ribbons, ruffles, and flowers. So I asked the lady there how to do them. Here you can see my own successful attempts! (They're pretty easy to do, just something new and different.)

This menu features the ruffle (under the bow) and a couple of the flowers. I just love how much the ruffle looks like fabric, but it's paper!

Aren't the flowers just so cute? In person, you'd see that they, too, have a fabric-esque feel and look to them.

NEWS FLASH: I applied to the Fort Collins Holiday Craft Fair and although I haven't heard back officially, they did cash my check. Soooo, I'm thinkin' I might be in. Below is my list of things to make before Thanksgiving weekend. I've got my work cut out for me but boy am I thrilled!

Food Art

After a hiatus from the blog for a few weeks, I'm back to share the latest project I've been working on: a party! My vision: in the back yard, fairy lights, white table cloths, candles, friends, and above all, delicious food in seven courses. With lots of help from my sister, bro-in-law, husband, and friends, the loveliest of parties was most certainly accomplished. Here are some photos of the star attractions (my foodie cousin Lindsay will be proud):

Appetizer: Stuffed mushrooms with a balsamic reduction and herbed goat cheese puffs with a peach glaze.

Soup: Roasted red and yellow pepper

Risotto: Browned butter with sage -OR- pesto risotto

Salad: The $23 Heirloom Tomato Salad -OR- Spinach salad with cilantro, walnuts, and brie

Main: Lamb sliders with yogurt cilantro sauce -OR- Pot de Aubergine, served with a lima bean parmesan salad

Cheese: three different types of cheese, served with a warm rosemary-orange-cured olive salad and homemade herb crackers

Guests had a lovely time... hooray!

The lights were wonderful as the sun set.

Dessert was finally served at 11:00pm! (Unfortunately no photos of that though.) There was a tall and glossy über-chocolate cake, a blackberry fool (mousse), and a cherry clafouti (hats off to Julia Child).