Page 263 – the long thread

November 4, 2007March 21, 2008

Fall Jewelry

It’s time I posted about something grown-up. I rarely wear jewelry as it just seems like an extravagance to me. But now my younger daughter has reached the age when she’s not pulling the earrings out of my ears, so I’ve been thinking about it. Mostly just admiring from afar. I love the glass jewelry that’s everywhere these days. Here are some pieces in fall colors that I found particularly beautiful (click on image for link):

Glass artist everlasting glass in Brooklyn creates beautiful designs from fused and lampwork glass at reasonable prices ($40 for pair pictured below):

A bit more of an investment are these Ananda Khalsa pieces that seem to be getting a lot of worthy praise. Each high-quality piece contains an original painting (ring $280, necklace $370, also available in just silver).

Feminine and affordable, these Ellerue acorn earrings below are just $14:

I could never pull these off, but aren’t these Alisha Louise earrings gorgeous? And customizable — you pick the enamel colors ($88).

November 4, 2007February 28, 2008

Smart Little Bunny

I’ve been looking through the old books that I had as a child and I love “B is for Bear” by Dick Bruna (Dutch version pictured above). I’m lucky that my mother was such a packrat since the book is now out of print, although it is pretty worn. The illustrations are pure form and color, which I find really appealing. Best known as the creator of Miffy, Dick Bruna is still working in the Netherlands and has produced over 100 children’s books. His pictographic style was incredibly innovative and it makes sense that he was influenced by modern artists like Picasso and Matisse and De Stijl movement of the early 20th century.

You can find some of the older Dick Bruna titles like Snuffy (below, Dutch spelling), Cinderella, and Snow White at amazon, and the Miffy site has some nice graphics and games.

November 2, 2007March 21, 2008

Holiday Felt Projects

I’ve got Christmas on the brain and there are so many felt projects that I’d love to try with the kids. We’ll be working on our felt mushrooms for an Alice in Wonderland birthday party and a felt Happy Birthday banner (it was poor planning to have two kids with December birthdays), so I’m thinking I won’t get to these projects just yet, but thought I’d share some of the ideas that I’ve found.

Below is an image of felt garland from Anna Maria Horner. This is a good project you could really work on with the kids and one that does not require a sewing machine. I’d like to try it with yo-yos as I’ve been meaning to learn to make them and wouldn’t that be a great scraps project?

Found some adorable felt trees on flickr here. You can find the pattern at little birds handmade.

I love the felt stockings that my brother and I had as kids, and until I can gather the energy to create some stockings for Monarch Monograms, I love these personalized stockings from rikrak:

November 1, 2007March 21, 2008

Russian Nesting Dolls

I’ve been seeing Russian nesting dolls, or matryoshka, everywhere! Go to Etsy and you’ll find jewelry, handbags, tees, stationery, hair clips, fabric, and of course, wooden nesting dolls. I am getting on this bandwagon as I love the sweet faces and bright colors of the dolls. I bought some fabric to make jumpers for the girls and I am working on an embroidery design for pillowcases. For more on the history, check here. Here are a few picks from Etsy that I particularly like. Click on the photo to view the Etsy shop.

October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween!

I made this banner from felt and backed it with fall-colored fabric remnants. I just cut out the felt triangles and backing fabric, embroidered the letters and sewed them together with a quick overcasting stitch and connected with ribbon. This was a quick and easy project and another good one for those fabric leftovers. Happy Halloween!