Just popping in to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day. Though I love to make Valentine crafts, I’m too cynical for the whole romance, flowers, mushy, buy-something-to-show-your-love celebrating. (We end up with takeout and a movie at home). But my kids are always excited. So however you feel about it, have a nice day.
The image above is from last year’s post for Alpha Mom.
Turquoise Stem Teapot, $100 from Dahlhaus.
Jay McCarroll’s Raise the Roof from his new collection, Habitat, $8.25 per yard from Stitch Craft.
Vintage Children’s Suitcase, $30 from Little Red Mercantile.
Pet Party Heart, $24 from xmoonbloom. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
Furoshiki Bag, $68 from frumafar.
Printable Love Notes, $4 from Vicinity Studio.
Boat Fabric, $30 for one yard (with all six colors) from Aunt June.
“Valentines Day is for Saps & Suckers” (and other cynical messages) Printable Cards, $12 from Meghan McCrary.
The Kiss, giclee art print, 11″ x 8 1/2″, $35 from Inaluxe.
I’ve been spending a lot of time in my sewing room, but not actually sewing much. Working on the computer and creating a few patterns for upcoming publications (though I can’t show you these yet). So I thought I’d show you a bit of today’s inspiration.
Here’s what I’m reading:
Vera: The Art and Life of an Icon by Susan Seid. Vera Neumann’s artful surface design is amazing and continues to inspire today.
Print & Pattern by Bowie Style. A compilation of great surface design from the blog of the same name. Here’s the work of Pata Pri, one of my first Etsy favorites.
Quilt Artistry: Inspired Designs from the East by Yoshiko Jinzenji. Breathtaking work here.
Quilting Line + Color: Techniques and Designs for Abstract Quilts, also by Yoshiko Jinzenji. More beautiful work. I love how she plays with transparent fabric as you can see in the image below. You have to see her hexagon quilt.
I’ve also been receiving some freebies (a great benefit of blogging). This cozy stack of wool came from Heavens to Betsy (one of my newest sponsors) and this wool felt ribbon came from Felt-0-Rama. So check out all of their amazing goods and make something warm.
It’s pillow month over at Sew, Mama, Sew! Check out this huge round-up of pillow tutorials, including a few of mine. Be sure to check out their sale fabrics while you’re over there. And I’m loving this new collection from Jay McCarroll.
Speaking of pillows, over the weekend I made this log cabin pillow for our guest room/play room. When we were snowed in a few weeks ago, I cleaned out closets, painted three rooms and reorganized things, converting our guest room into a multi-function playroom (and I drove my family crazy).
I painted the walls for the play space a neutral cream color, but the girls wanted pink, so I ordered this fabric for window shades and I’m making a bunch of throw pillows with pink accents for the bed. The pillow is in the living room in this photo because the playroom/guest room is still a giant mess!
My eight-year-old made paper on a Brownie field trip last weekend, so she wanted to do it again for her Valentine cards. We’ve made paper before, but with a slightly different method. This time we poured the pulp mixture into a heart-shaped cookie cutter for the mold. She is planning to draw faces on these. My eight-year-old did almost this entire process herself, but I did operate the blender.
Below are the supplies we used, but you may be able to find things that work just as well around your house. For the paper mixture, we used recycled office paper, toilet paper tubes, a few sheets of pink paper and some red acrylic paint added for color when needed. Recycled paper is best of course, but if you have too much writing on it, the mix will turn gray. You also can not use shiny paper (magazines, food packaging, etc.).
1. Rip the paper into small pieces and blend it with water. Add paint if needed.
2. Have a bowl set up with the heavy plastic mesh on top and one screen on top of that. Place the cookie cutter in the center. Pour the paper mixture into the cookie cutter.
3. Spread it around with your fingers or the back of a spoon.
4. Allow the water to drip in the bowl while you count to 20.
5. Carefully pull off the mold.
6. Place another screen on top and gently press out more water.
7. Place a wooden block on top and press again.
8. Remove the screen and turn the heart onto the felt to dry. Blot again with the felt (if very wet, you can again apply pressure with the wooden block).
9. Allow to dry at least 24 hours before decorating.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
