Recyled Pinks

Like many of you, my husband and I donate to a lot of charities.  As a result, we are presented with lots of free gifts (especially at this time of year) most of which - I hate to admit - go to the trash bin.  However, a pair of adorable pink striped socks came in the mail the other day and I just couldn't throw them away!

Christmas is coming and I like making my granddaughters little dolls for the occasion.  Here's what I did:

In Photoshop Elements, I layered a picture of each of my granddaughters beneath a wreath shape and printed it to size on enhanced matte photo paper.  That sheet was stapled to another sheet of the same paper making a "sandwich."

 A 3x1 inch piece of cardboard was glued in between these sheets and the entire shape cut out.  The wreath is embellished with white Uni-ball ink pen and gold Scribble paint; a bit of gold paint was added to the cardboard.

A hole was punched into the cardboard just below the wreath.  The cardboard was placed into the sock and using a large eyed needle and embroidery floss, a button was attached to the back of the sock (sewing through the hole), brought through the front and then again through to the back and tied in a square knot.  A small fabric rose was then glued on the front

A hole was punched into the top of the wreath and gold cording inserted as a hanging tie - voila - a Christmas stocking doll ornament!  Easy as pie and dare I say it - cute!  (Ordinarily I hate the "c" word.)

For more inspiration, go to Pink Saturday!

My brothers,my sister and me...

I miss my family especially over the holidays.  Our kids and grandchildren live in Chicago while we bask in the Florida sun.  My siblings are in Michigan, Minnesota and Washington state - brrrr.

We celebrated our first family reunion in July and it made me realize how much they mean to me.  I need to work on my drawing skills and thought it would be fun to draw a representation of my family.  I started with my brothers, sister and me - we were a lot younger, of course!

Roberta, Pat, Barney, Michael

It's Thanksgiving and time to celebrate family.  I hope you have a wonderful, blessed holiday!

I Moo - Do You?

I love business cards. I create new ones all the time. Recently I discovered moo cards - so cool having a variety of little cards showing little snippets my fabric art to share with friends and customers!

I picked up a copy of Somserset Studio's "Artful Blogging" the other day. I'm so impressed with the blogs featured in the Nov.Dec.Jan. 2011 issue. I'm determined to work on my photography and blogging skills - I'm much more comfortable with my sewing machine! I took quite a few photos of the moo cards, changed lighting, arrangement of the cards, etc. In PSE 9.0, I added a vignette. As I said, I need to work on my photography skills - but right now I am itching to get started on a new art project - there just is not enough time in a day.....

Pink - It's Not What You Think!

On my recent trip to Germany and Switzerland, I found "pinks" some glorious, some unusual and some just plain fun!

graffiti

pink telephones

 flowers in the optical shop where I had my sunglasses adjusted

yarns which made me wish I knew how to knit!

Visit Pink Saturday for more fun pinks!

Home Again, Home Again - Jiggity Jig...

I had a wonderful time in Germany and Switzerland.  After planning this trip for a year, it's hard to believe it's over.  I kept up with my journal while I was away.  It's pages are crammed with each day's events and stuff I accumulated.  Now I will always have the memories of the trip close at hand.

It was wonderful to see and work with Prof. Anne-Marie Grundmeier.  Anne-Marie extended the invitation to me to go to Freiburg and I am very grateful for all the effort and hard work she put into making the exhibit a reality.

Everyone at the Carl Schurz Haus was a delight to work with.

I had the opportunity to work with the textile students at the University of Education...

and had a lot of fun touring Freiburg and Zurich with my dear friend, Tanya, who joined me after Richard went home.  We wandered about, shopped, ate, drank wine, and acted silly too.

I'm happy to be home now.  My head is bursting with new ideas.   I'm unpacked.  The laundry is done and I've rested.  I'm looking forward to getting back into the studio - let's get to work!

Zurich - Farewell

This is our last day in Zurich.  Tomorrow we fly home to Naples.  We had a great day walking through small side streets, nosing around alleyways, shopping and just plain enjoying the wonderful autumn weather.

Zurich - Shop Girls

Tanya and I both found just exactly the right things today - someone has to boost the economy - so we were only doing our civic duty!

A new shop on Schipfe opened today - Spirit of Silk.  We walked by the place several times over the past few days.  Tanya had her eye on some earrings on display in the window and bought them along with a delightful red silk handbag adorned with hand stitched pearls.

I had my heart set on a wonderful sculpture piece.  Susanna Ruttimann Kiepenheuer's studio is located just a few doors down from the Spirit of Silk.  Susanna's shop is not open on Sundays or Mondays.  We hightailed it down there this morning only to find that it didn't open until 2PM!  Egad - I had to wait a bit longer to finally see first hand my heart's desire.  The piece I bought is now encased in bubble wrap.  I don't dare open it for a photo - but trust me, it's worth every Swiss France I spent.  I love it!

The artist, Susanna Ruttimann Kiepenheuer

Fabulous perfume bottle display in a shop on the Bahnhofstrasse

Our dolce today was a large helping of silk haute couture.  The "Soire Pirate" exhibition at the Landesmuseum-Zurich is a must see.  

"At the heart of 'Soie pirate' is the Zurich-based textile company Abraham Ltd.  The Abraham Archive with its vast array of textile treasures sheds light on the most diverse aspects of fabrics and fashion in the second half of the 20th century..."

As you can see, we had a grand day!

Zurich - Women on the Street

I have been having the best time taking pictures of women on the street - not real life ladies - those made of stone, fresco, bronze - you get the idea.  These luscious ladies are everywhere - take a look - and enjoy some of my favorites!

 bad hair day?

We wandered around Bahnhofstrasse and didn't buy as much as we originally thought - not because of the prices - some of the stores we had in mind were closed today (Monday).  Never fear, we will give it another shot tomorrow!

Zurich - How Inspiring!

I'm not sure how many miles we walked today, but I know it was enough to enjoy our dolce without feeling guilty.  Being Sunday, the shops were closed so we looked at churches, museums and window shopped, of course.

We started out the day strolling along Limmatquai.  Towering church spires fill the sky.  I'm standing in front of the Grossmunster (large cathedral) - (Fraumunster's blue steeple in the background.)  The Grossmunster is the principal church of Zurich and the starting point of the Reformation in Switzerland.  The construction of the cathedral began in 1100 and was completed approximately 100 years later.

The bronze doors were created in 1950 by Otto Munch and comprise a theological lecture illustrating particular Bible stories.

Shortly after the Reformation, spires were added to the towers.  Following a fire in 1786, the tower helmets were constructed.  I walked up one of the towers to the point just below the helmet - can you see me there waving?

We whiled away an hour or so in the Kunsthaus-Zurich viewing the Pablo Picasso exhibit.  In 1932, Picasso had his first solo museum exhibit in the Kunsthaus-Zurich.  He selected all of the pieces for the exhibit which represented every phase of his artistic career up to that point and included many of the 225 important paintings created during the first three decades of his working life.

We also walked through the Fraumunster founded in 853 by King Louis the German.  The church with its convent was inhabited by the female members of the aristocracy of southern Germany.  The church houses the largest organ in the canton with 5783 pipes!.  The stained glass windows are beautiful.  The five part series of windows in the choir are the work of  Marc Chagall (1970) as well as the rose window (1978).  (No pictures allowed!)

The promise of shopping in the Bahnhaufstrasse (very chic and urbane but NOT pretentious - ha ha!!) will definitely keep me awake tonight.  I hope my money and feet hold out.  Tanya promised to tote my bag(s) for a fee - a bag from Chanel, perhaps?!