Take a look at this!

Here's a super cute blog giveaway over at 521 Lake Street. Cruise on over there and see if you can win it. I think this would be adorable filled with buttons. Or candy. Or old wooden spools of thread. Or candy. Or old coffee dyed lace. Or candy.....

Coffee. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

I started dyeing fabric this morning. No, I haven't made any beds, run the vacuum, or even cleaned up my breakfast dishes. BUT - here's how. It's very easy and very addicting.

Fill up a container of some sort with hot water.

Using instant coffee (I used Walmart) empty about half of the jar into the hot water.

Swish it around.

Grab every piece of fabric

you can find and put into

the mixture.

Avoid dyeing your pet

rodent. He will not be amused.

Avoid wearing clothes that are easily stained. For

instance, it was a really bad idea to wear my favorite J Jill ivory sweater, even though I purchased it at the Goodwill. Coffee DOES stain. This is the point. Especially if you are over zealous!

Do not rinse. Wring out in the sink. Wiping down the walls and windows, because AGAIN you were over zealous in your wringing.

Take fabric outside and hang on your clothesline. I do not happen to own a clothesline. I do happen to own lawn furniture. This substitutes nicely. The neighbors will think you are nuts. Unless they are dyeing fabric also! ;o)

Fabric Collage

On Thursday evening Susan (A Circle of Buttons) and I went to Glen Ellyn, Illinois and took a class at Vintage Living making fabric collages. It was WONDERFUL. My pictures aren't the best, though. I'm hoping that I get a lovely new camera for Christmas....again, I digress.

The owner of the shop Becky had recently been to a fabric collage workshop in Colorado conducted by KC Willis. If you are not familiar with her work, take a look. I've linked to KC's website. Becky was kind enough to hold a workshop in the back room of her store and teach us what she learned. Becky is quite an artist in her own right and her store is....well, let's just say I could move right in and live there and be happy as a clam!

Becky was so very

generous with all of her supplies and provided the four of us attending with lovely snacks and drinks. It was absolute heaven! We sat in her back room gluing, sewing, digging through mounds of buttons, lace, vintage fabrics. This was way beyond my expectations. There was lots of laughter and joy in that room. I had such a great time!

We learned how to coffee dye fabric and lace. Basically you use half of a container of instant coffee to a large roaster pan of water. Becky said to experiment with different brands as they will make different colors. She said it works quicker than tea dying. I've tea dyed in the past. Generally it never works too well for me. I'm anxious to try out this coffee dyeing thing. I've purchased fabric and coffee. I'm going to give it a go and I'll post the results sometime this weekend.

Whiling away a Saturday

I have a million things I could be doing on this gloomy Saturday. The sun pops out for a bit and then runs away to hide. There's laundry and dishes and house cleaning. What am I doing? Sitting here on the computer playing with Photoshop and pictures.

This little box is something I picked up at the Goodwill for a couple of bucks. The ribbon spools fit quite nicely in there and my old sea captain seems to like the company.

Here are a few more nifty things I found at the Goodwill. They are both jewelry boxes but I like them stacked together and they hold quite a few things. I always think that if I'm organized it will make me more artistic. If my brushes and glue and bits and bobs are close at hand I'll be more artistic. I don't really think that's true but it sounded good for a minute.

New picture

I just changed the picture of myself. It used to be one of me as a young girl with my cat, Booty. This was before Booty meant what it does today. Back then, it was a sweet name, but I digress....

Blogger says we cannot post nude photos of ourselves.

Really? Really??? Did this need to be said?

Apparently so.

That being duly noted, here is a new picture. You'll be happy to know that I am fully dressed. And no one even had to tell me.

so there......

Susan's Fairy Box

This was a little fairy box I made for Susan's birthday. She's holding a little cocktail umbrella that is covered in glitter and put together with waaay too much glue!

Bits and more bits

More Alice! This is actually all digital. A combination of Tangie Baxter and Irene Alexeeva. Just a quick little ditty since I'm on this Wonderland kick.

This next piece was a little spring bird project I made a while back. Not very fall like but then I'm really not ready for winter to come, yet...

A Spectacular Mess

"The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story... from the Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

So starts the first post of this blog. Here's the latest little art project that I've put together, inspired by Nicole Young. Mostly digital art that's been printed and pieced together. I printed out Alice on bright green paper and the bunny shadow was created in PS and printed on the bright blue paper. The background is a copy of The Jabberwocky poem printed on vintage paper. The mushrooms were cutout of an old book. Alice is courtesy of Tangie Baxter from Scrapbookgraphics. The floor is from Nicole Young over at Digital Scrapbook Place. The strange little green face belongs to Lorie Davison. I added hearts and paint here and there and finished it up with a coat of Mod Podge.

The title for this blog was from a statement my daughter made about 2 years ago. It stuck and it's true. With all of it's splendor, joy, heartache and beauty, life is a "spectacular mess."