Springtime Cuddles - Fun Baby Bibs, Blankets and more

 

Baby Bibs

As the spring bursts forth, look to the Baby Basics Collection to keep your little one cozy and comfy. Our ultra-soft bibs and burp cloths, in adorable pastel colors and playful prints, are

Spring Break calling! ️ Summer adventures await!

Ditch the dorm room drab and level up your beach style with our bright colorful beach towels and fun funky flip-flops!

Spring Break? Beach days are calling!

Get ready for summer with this fun and colorful beach ball-inspired pattern! The scribbled design features geometric shapes, circles, and dots in bright, eye-catching red, yellow, blue, and green. It's a perfect way to add a pop of summer fun to your wardrobe or home decor.

Liven up your beach look with a tote bag or flip-flops featuring this playful pattern.

Celebrating Groundhog Day

Celebrating Groundhog Day!

February 2nd, in the middle of dreary winter days, Groundhog Day brings hope for sunny warm Spring days. Groundhog Day is a festive folklore tradition especially embraced in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of Phil the Groundhog.

Home - Your Story Your Joy

Introducing Home - Your Story Your Joy - Designing Your Happy Place!

I'm excited to share my new blog, Home | Your Story Your Joy - Designing Your Happy Place. Whether you're a seasoned decorator or just starting out, Home provides inspiration and tips to help you transform your living space into a place that reflects your unique style and brings you joy.

From Chaos to Control: My Bullet Journal Journey

Creative Bullet Journals

I know Bullet Journals have been around for a while, but I just couldn't wrap my head around how they worked. That is, until this summer. After finally reading the book from cover to cover, it all fell into place. I'm officially a Bullet Journal convert!

Indigo Dye

Included in my travels in Thailand was a trip to a cottage industry where they dyed fabric with natural indigo. They actually grew the indigo and processed it into the dye. The dye was mixed with water and possibly some setting agent -- I don't recall that any was mentioned.  

The next process was printing with hot wax using carved wooden block prints. The wax is melted and kept hot in vats over a wood fire. We chose a block print from the pile on the table, dipped it in the hot wax, and stamped the white fabric.

After the wax was stamped onto the white cloth it was dipped into a vat of indigo dye several times. It was then rinsed and hung to dry. Here is a photo of some recently printed fabric hanging out to dry.

Below is a photo of my fabric after drying but still with the dark stamped wax design adhered to the cloth. When I returned home, I placed the cloth in between a couple brown paper bags and ironed it with a hot iron until the wax melted into the paper. The second photo shows the printing after removing all the wax. 

 I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  Maybe I will frame it and hang it as a reminder of my trip to Thailand. And, of course, I bought one of their printed tops. It will be perfect for wearing next summer.

Backyard Adventures - Insect Safari

Inspired by a recent Spoonflower challenge, I created a repeat pattern based on Insect Safari - a chapter in my book Backyard Adventures. 

Even though I no longer have young children who need to be entertained during the summer months, I still think it is a fun adventure that needs to be shared.  Here's how to create your own backyard Insect Safari.

Happy Summer!

  

Books Adventure Travel Books

Home hobbies is this week's Spoonflower challenge. Arts, crafts, sewing -- these have been hobbies but also necessities. With three daughters to clothe I spent many years sewing and I loved it. But they moved on and so did I. At one point I worked in the DIY industry -- so lots of arts and crafts. Now, in retirement, I'm able to pursue surface design.  Arts, crafts, sewing -- they are what I work at. Hobbies are what I do in my leisure time and for me, it's books and travel. 

My "home hobby" Spoonflower challenge depicts books and travel. When I was still in my teens, I read

The Ant and the Grasshopper

The Spoonflower Design Challenge this week is:

"Teamwork" can be interpreted any way you like – from beavers building a dam to honeybees buzzing around their hive to make honey . . ." 

or ants?

A previous challenge was Garden Party -- so I was already thinking about ants coming to the party.  And who hasn't seen them working as a team carrying cookie crumbs back to their nest? And from there my mind wandered to the tale of The Ant and the Grasshopper.

Egypt

Egypt! I went for the pyramids and the camel. And as you can see, on the first day we went to view the pyramids and took a very short camel ride.  Not the greatest photo but -- hey, I'll take it!

The real surprise was the art in the temples and burial chambers -- the bright colors, the intricate detail.  Art was on the columns, the ceilings, sarcophagi, everywhere! I was surrounded by pictographs telling stories of ancient Egypt. 

This first photo is from a sarcophagus that is displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Just one of many such pieces. 

NEW -- Black Cream Floral Repeat Design

 

Just added my Black Cream Flower Collection to my Spoonflower shop. This is a large bold print with flowers

Groundhog Tradition

Holiday decorations are put away; the new year is well underway with cold weather, snowstorms, rain, and wind. What better time for another holiday – one that brings a smile to the face and anticipation of warm sunny flower-filled days.

 About twenty years ago

A Real Kenyan Safari

Sunset in Kenya

Those of you who follow me on social media already know that I enjoyed a wonderful family Christmas adventure. Seven members of the family traveled to Kenya for a safari. 

Having Fun with Procreate

My daughters gave me an iPad Pro for Christmas. So I decided I was ready to download Procreate and explore the possibilities. It was a little intimidating at first but at least I had already learned to work with layers in Photoshop. I'm really excited about what I've been able to do with just a few of the tools available. I have been learning to do repeats for

Mosaic Series Again

I'm loving the mosaic series. It has been fun making the little shapes fit together and adding flowers and foliage. This time I was inspired by a photo of "weeds" I took recently on a morning walk. I saw these lovely big (maybe) morning glory leaves highlighted by a ray of sunshine. So glad I caught these in a photo -- the next day they had been mown down. Using Procreate, here is my rendition of the above photo. You can purchase a print of my digital art from my Fine Art America shop.

Lurking on Spoonflower

Not sure how long I've been lurking on Spoonflower -- maybe 10 years --  following the challenges, voting, and sometimes entering a design.  I tried repeat designs maybe 20 years ago but doing them by hand is a real chore. I think I just got frustrated -- that and life got in the way. 

This past Christmas my daughters gave me an iPad Pro

New Year New Post

 I remarked to the Molly Maid ladies just before the holidays that I really needed to make a resolution in the new year to clean my studio. I started having them come clean last February after a mishap with my knee but told them to leave my studio room as it was except for the floors. I kept thinking I would clean it. Somehow the COVID thing had the opposite effect on me. I just could not get motivated to do much of anything. Well, I can't really blame it all on COVID -- I've also had a bad knee for the whole year.

Anyway, Molly Maids were due in the middle of January to clean and I suddenly felt the need to follow through on my promise. I started dragging stuff out of the closet, then the shelves. Then I had to do something.  So a little bit one day and a little bit the next. Viola! I did it! Well, except for 4 file drawers full of paper and a trunk full of linens. I will get to them eventually.

Feels good to have a clean mostly uncluttered space with my art quilts hanging on the wall. Still have stuff I need to get rid of -- Facebook Market hasn't been much help this go-round.

No before pictures -- it was that bad.

Winged Skeleton

The Winged Skeleton jumped out at me (pun intended). The American tourist that I am, I immediately thought of Halloween!

The skeleton is a Monument to Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini and is located in San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains), a church and minor basilica located in Rome.

Travel | Italy

My Zazzle Travel | Italy Prints Collection was one of my planned goals for this year. Little did I realize I would be reliving my wonderful Italian adventures as Italy is under siege from Covid-19. Nor did I expect to be confined to home indefinitely as Covid-19 ravages the US.

Sorting through photos from six different trips has been a poignant journey. Such happy times that now sadden me. Will I ever be able to return? I worry about the interesting, friendly, happy people I met while I was there. I have no family connections, no history, but Italy spoke to me.