In the workshop...

I spent about two and half hours on a new necklace. Nini got me the book "Manipulating Fabric" as a present and I've had a bunch of fun experimenting with new textures.  I love the book and it seems like the most definitive resource out there on well... fabric manipulation.

This one is a combination of wood, leather, tee shirt, sweater, lace, embroidery floss, and threads.  I'm super excited to keep experimenting and carving the wood chunks has proven quite fun indeed.

Anyone have any good music recommendations out there?  I spent the whole time listening to some sweet Finnish folk music and would love to have some more stuff that makes it pretty easy to be whisked of into "the zone"!

♥ Marie

Inspirations from Mt. Jo

I love the rocks along this trail.  In the winter the ice freezes in an aqua-marine color that is sooooo nice.   This was my first time seeing the rocks in the late fall.   Little did I know that beneath that aqua marine ice there were lots of interesting colors and textures.

All ready for the fair in Burlington tomorrow!

Queen City Craft Bazaar

Union station

10 - 4

Make your own business cards...

  I decided to hand carve my own stamp to print business cards one by one.    Here's a pictorial of what I did...

I used Speedy-Carve for the first time.  Usually I use Master Carve but I can't find anymore of that stuff anywhere.  I also ordered MOO Carve at the same time.  I like both speedy and moo, but speedy seems like it's great for doing tiny details.  Moo carves like butter.

It seems like this material would be great to mount on wood since the speedy carve isn't as thick as some other things I've used to carve.  This stamp is about 2.75" x 2.75" so it's kind of big to stamp without backing if you want an even print.  I put a small thick notebook over the stamp each time I tried to print with it for extra substance and that seemed to work better than just pressing it down with my fingers.

The craziest and sometimes funnest part of making stuff is what the workshop turns out looking like at the end.  I was in the deep creative zone working on this project for about 3 hours.  When I finally back down to reality, the space looked like this... yikes!  And yes...that is a tiny carrot on top of my pencil.

Update:  I was able to get a bunch of copies made of these and payed only 2 bucks!

Feeling inspired...

One of the greatest parts of living in the northern Adirondacks is there is so much beauty surrounding me ALL the time.  Here's some things I've found inspiring this week.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Getting ready...

My first craft fair is coming up this weekend.  I'll be at SUNY Plattsburgh on both Saturday and Sunday for the fair in the gymnasium.  Come stop by and say hi if you're in the area.  I spent the day getting miniature books ready for the fair as well as creating a new banner with an amazing squirrel fabric that Crystal gave me.  Awesome!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Day trip...

We took a day trip up to Flip's farm to check it out.  Even though the air was hanging thick and heavy and leaves were all down there were still some colors to see.

Between poking around and bombarding Flip with questions about what she's up to we squeaked in a bunch of fun.  Dogs playing basketball and a canoe trip.  I love the colors of the end of falls.  I southern New England I called it November colors but, up in here in the Northern Adirondacks it's much more mid to late Ocotober.  I love mini river homes!

So grateful for the rejuvenation that happens from a great day filled with friends, fun, and good conversation!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

The shop is full...

Newest creations in the shop:

acornolyphant.etsy.com

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Inspiration...

I feel so greatful to be surrounded by this beauty during this chapter of my life...

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

In the Workshop...

~ Sitting in a pile of yarn ~

~Painting feathery leaves one by one ~

~ Adapting to change ~

In a new workshop...  I'm excited because it's my biggest and most well set up workshop yet.  Plus I can kayak to the library to pick up books.  That is my dose of eye and brain candy.  Which I did and it was awesome!

What being an Etsy seller is teaching me about myself...

The other day during meditation I asked myself what I needed to do to succeed as a working artist.  I'll admit that I felt a little bit cheesy asking myself a question about myself hoping that I would then hear myself answer.  But, I gave it a shot anyways.  I got a strange and unexpected answer "Marie, you just need to allow yourself space to be".  I know it sounds strange and at first I was like, "what the heck does that mean" but, I decided to give it some thought.  I began to realize that I've been forcefully and frantically trying to succeed by making some simple mistakes.

I should've just listened to Acorn, he always has something wise to say!

1. Comparing myself to others

There are so many great artists and designers out there and enjoying and appreciate their work is wonderful. I've learned that when I'm spending more time perusing artists on the internet for hours and walking away feeling sucky that I've tipped the balance.  Feeling inspired is one thing but, when the internal dialogue starts saying that my own work isn't good enough it's time to walk away...  What's that saying someone told me the other day? He who compares themselves to others always loses?  I think they might be onto something...

2. Focusing on success and telling myself  the way it should be done

There's so much out there when it comes to how to create a great shop on Etsy and it can be extremely helpful.  I tend to take in waaaay too much information to the point where I don't even know what I'd like to do anymore or how to do it.  That usually means it's time to get centered and put on some good tunes to defrag from taking so much.  You gotta stay in touch with what you're doing and why you're doing it right?

3. Not taking any breaks

It's not 1880.  Girls gotta breathe.

4. Only valuing productive time

It's been interesting to pay attention to when I think I'm successful.  I'm not an assembly line and don't really want to be happy only when I act as one.  Didn't I read recently somewhere that some early ideas about how a mechanized work force meant we could create the same amount of product in 4 hours instead of 12 and then have plenty of time for leisure?  It seems it turned into more that we would just keep outputting and outputting till the end of time and as fast as possible.  I guess that explains why most of what I view as success stems from what I learned in fourth grade social studies.  Basically, I'd like to value myself when I'm resting and relaxing as much as I value myself when I'm "productive" 

So..  I guess by allowing myself to be, means that I'll get to work and create art much more within the rhytym and flow of life rather than work and create art with an internal taskmaster who says I can never do enough.  That seems like it would leave alot more room for actually feeling creative!  We'll see...

This week's spoils....

I've always loved thrift shopping!  It's an activity that is fun to me because I just never know what I'm going to find.  This week I headed out by myself which meant I spent a good two and half hours at one shop really combing through the racks for some good finds.  I love going with other folks but, it's always relaxing to let my slow paced shopping habits have their time to shine.

 I couldn't resist this multi-patterned yarn and these brushes which are gonna be great for the fabric paints I've been experiementing with.  I also scored a bunch of new stretchy clothes to work with.  I can't wait!

And here's a sneak peek of a shirt I finished up today.  I'll be adding the finished shirt to my shop over the weekend!

Litha

Moving to a new place can sometimes be hard.  There are moments when all the changes feel like the best thing in the world and other times it can start to feel a bit overwhelming.  Luckily, the wheel of the year keeps turning and today is the solstice marking the first day of summer and the longest day of the year.

A mini solstice alter on my herb cabinet

When I'm feeling bogged down by still not being able to find things and more and more disconnected from myself it can be easy to sink into that overwhelm.  A day like midsummer offers a great moment for me to pause and do some self reflection.  I interrupted myself from just charging through the rest of my day and I tried to poke some holes into that overwhelm by making a mini alter.

This little cabinet is perfect for an my home apothecary!

 It totally helped me to accept the moments that are challenging and tell myself that it's totally o.k. to feel overwhelmed sometimes.  Plus, I got to use this super cute cabinet that I'd been holding onto waiting for the right space to tuck away my herbs with love.

My new home...

It's been just about two weeks in my new home and I'm finally starting to feel settled in.  I feel like I'm on vacation even when I'm working.  I hear it's easy to feel that way in the north country.  I'm adapting easily and quite nicely.

What a cutie!

This is the view from the porch that overlooks the front yard.  I've seen so many creatures in just two short weeks.  It is totally knocking my socks off.  The other night during dinner I looked out the window to see a fox padding slowly across the lawn.  It stopped and looked up at the house before it headed down the road. About ten minutes later, I heard the neighbor's dogs barking their heads off. hmmmm?

deer, fox, snapping turtles and more!

Now I'll take you around to the backyard.  That cute little building buried behind those trees is a wood fired sauna.  Haven't used it yet but I bet it's nice on chilly winter nights!

When I headed around to the other side of the backyard I was excited to see that the deer was out there grazing.  I don't know if I keep seeing the same deer or if there are a bunch of them, but I feel like every time I look outside there's one running about.

 

And last but not least, I'm happy to inform you that the gnomes have also relocated from the river valley to mountains with me.  The opted for a stony wall instead of their usual tree dwelling and I think they've made themselves quite at home.

 I love it here so much!

USFC Quilt is finished!

During the fall Pedal People was asked to submit a fabric square with our logo to be added to a quilt displaying a variety of worker owned cooperatives.  I created this quilt square for the Worker Cooperative Quilt Project and am happy to announce that I just found out that the quilt has been completed!

There's the Pedal People square I created!

The US Federation of Worker Cooperatives or USFWC is "a national grassroots membership organization of and for worker cooperatives, democratic workplaces, and organizations that support the growth and development of worker cooperatives."

The quilt represents over 25 organizations and it measures 80" x 60"!  It has some handstitched details and also includes the seven principles of cooperatives which is stitched into the border. 

The finished quilt!  yay!

A new creation..

I started out with a v neck sweater.  I really don't like v necks for some reason so I'm trying to chop them up or off at any chance I can get.  I have nothing personal against them I think I might just have a thing for round soft edges heheh...

Getting ready for surgery...

I decided to cut off the v neck so that I could add a cowl neck from this lovely deep purple felted sweater I had kicking around.  After that I took a vintage table runner with a unique bird embroidery on it.  I decided it would look nice incorporated somewhere on the sweater.

Using some fusible webbing to help position the design...

This one took a super long time to figure out how to arrange everything on the back of the sweater.  I swear I must've spent an equal amount of time rearranging the pieces and staring at what looked like mush for a long time before it all came together.  I really liked working with the texture combinations of a wool blend sweater, a completely felted sweater and a thick cotton.  It was challenging to keep the pins in and I'm really grateful that I splurged on the extra long sewing pins.  I highly recommend them for anyone attempting fiber collage appliques!

I finally got the pieces on in a way that I thought worked for the existing sweater.  That's all part of the fun of working with recycled and reclaimed materials!  Sometimes no matter how much I try to brain crunch and pre-plan my steps, I still have to leave myself very open to change and spontaneity for things to work themselves out.  Kind of like life right?

Here's the finished design.  It's available in my etsy shop!

When the moon is full...

 I am constantly looking for ways to add a bit of nature connection into a life lived in a faced paced and busy culture. So, I'd like to share a mini tradition I started about 5 months ago...

On the full moon night, I head outside for a walk.  I love to watch the moon.  Sometimes my walk is more involved and sometimes it is really more of just standing on the front stoop trying to find and view were the moon is creeping up from.  I always wish it could be a long walk on a nearby ridge trail but, I'm at a point where if the front stoop is all I can muster that month, then that is enough.

After checking out the moon I head back inside and cut or tear up some small slips of paper. I write down a few things I'd like to add to keep in mind for the next few months.  An example is something llike "I'd like to eat healthier" or simpler things like " I'd like to make more time to hang out with animals". I try to spend some time concentrating on the one that feels most important.  The one I'd really like to keep in mind the most.

I'm a pretty visual person so part of the fun is spreading everything out in front of me and just taking it all in.  Each months notes are subtly different based on the paper I chose or if the slips had been torn or cut....  I like that sort of stuff.   I go through all the old ones and check em out.  

After that I grab my little envelope.  It's full of tiny reminders of things I'd like to keep in mind from months past.    Some are cheesy, some are super personal, and some are deep dark secrets that I wouldn't want anyone to see. They're mostly about whatever I've been thinking about a bunch or am regretting.  I pour all the older notes out onto the table.

Tucking em' away till next month...

After I'm done I put them all back in the envelope, pop in the new ones that I wrote, and tuck the envelope away till next full moon.  It's pretty fun and keeps me remembering when the full moon is and gives me an extra excuse to get my but out there and do some peeping!

What types of things do you like to do to add some nature connection into your daily, weekly, monthly, yearly routine?

Meanwhile... Nutmeg stays all cuddled up!