A Birdy Told Me...

Yesterday, while I was stalking, I mean looking at Pinterest I came across the adorable bird mobiles first made famous by Michael Fulkerson.  Check out his brilliant designs at his Etsy site, ohmyeye & drool a little at where these might fit in your home.  I hadn't sewn in a while (practically since my 7th grade home-ec class) so I decided to try my hand at these birdies.  When the Spirit leads, follow... I found a free printable pattern with east-to-follow directions from the nice people at Spool & went to work, with my cute helper, Cali, sitting by to cheer me on!  Here are the results:

Fun fabrics.




Patterns.




Cali, my sweet helper!



Go!

Don't let her get this 'dog toy'...

Find him a nice home here...

...or maybe here?



Presto...here!

 It was a huge success & really quite easy...& this is coming from novice sewer, me!  I had a blast expressing my creativity through the sewing machine.  This project got me thinking that it would be cool to spray paint branches from my backyard white & hang Christmas colored bird buddies from them for a jazzy holiday decoration.  Perhaps I will do that later today.  Keep an eye out here to see my holiday twist this craft, although I must say my perched guy up there already has a winter feel to him.  I like!

An Artistic sort of week

My husband has been away (boo!) for work all week in rural western Kansas.  We're new here in town so I don't have many friends, but I did have a lot of free time to create & also to cook for one, me.  Today, I was inspired to make a collage, something I have been doing in my art studio lately.  What fun!  I had gone antiquing last week in Topeka at this fun shop: http://www.brickhouseantiqueshop.com/  & picked up some old postcards (from 1908!!!) & buttons along the way that I hoped to use in my work.  I love to explore thrift stores, flea markets & rummage sales with my art-making in mind.  I intentionally keep an eye out for random items I might be able to use. . .eventually!  I like to carry a bag of art/sewing supplies with me where ever I go so that I can work in random places when I have free time.  You never know where or when inspiration might strike. Here is my artistic process of my vintage finds implimented into a collage.  Enjoy!

First, I gathered some paper I enjoy & a flower I drew a long time ago with a watercolor scrap as the center.  Notice the picture postcard in the background- it is from the antique store.  If you look closely you can see the hand-written date; May 14, '08  & yes, that's 1908.  This is the collage in it's bare form.

Over the collage, quite accidentally, I laid this mesh fabric with the sewn antique buttons on it that make for some cute little tree flowers.  I found a mat I had laying around and cropped the image to my liking. 

It really turned out well & is a new favorite of mine.  I must go post this gem to my etsy site. xo

Here the framed finished product in my art studio!!  YAY!

SQUASH & SWEET POTATO SOUP

This was SO easy to make I wanted to share (and dogs love it, too!).  The soup literally took less than 10 minutes, no joke! 

Ingredients:

Sweet potato

Squash

Butter

Cream

Milk

S & P

Microwave a large sweet potato (after poking it with a fork to prevent exploding) for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Use leftover squash if you have it in your fridge (or cook one if you feel ambitious).  Scoop the sweet potato directly into a blender.  Add butter, cream & milk (or vegetable stock for a healthy version, if you prefer or are vegan).  Puree until smooth (adding more milk & cream if needed).  Warm on stove if need be & salt/pepper to taste.  I also added a smidge of fresh organic honey.  YUM!