Living room

I've been busy nesting in my new condo. I've painted the living room and make stuff room. This past weekend I did the living room. I used the textured fresco technique from Sherwin Williams. I was going to do a faux Venetian plaster look, but decided I liked the textured fresco just as well and it would be easier. The unfortunate thing was I didn't like any of the colors in the premixed options at S-W.

At the store, the clerk told me to just pick whatever colors I wanted. So I just jumped in and did. All the premixed options were on the same color cards, just different values. So I picked what I thought would get me close to the Venetian plaster look that I liked from Behr. Just blindly jumped!!


So the technique is to paint a coat of dimensional basecoat on. It's the consistency of meringue. You roll it on with a sponge roller and then just a trowel to knock down the texture a bit. The S-W sales clerk said this should be fine on heavily textured walls. He was wrong. My walls are almost like popcorn ceilings, except on the walls. The dimensional basecoat wasn't really thick enough to cover up the popcorn effect. I should have done a little more research, but it all runs together when you look at a bunch of techniques. If I had to do it all again, I'd use joint compound, and take the time to do as many coats to completely cover the popcorn texture. But, I was able to get the dimensional basecoat on and was satisfied with the result.
Two coats of a basecoat were up next. I was going for a golden color, so I picked a light yellow and one darker. The light yellow looked a lot like mac 'n cheese. It did dry a bit darker and I felt like I was on the right track.

Last up was a glaze coat. I mixed up the darker yellow/gold to two parts glaze. I just wiped it on with a sponge and wound up with a warm lovely color!

I love that once again I trusted my instincts and wound up with a wonderful color.

I finished off the room with an olive on the bottom. I plan to add a chair rail. The living room was a dark sage/olive color. It didn't seem terrible, but there was a lot of grey to it, and it was a lot darker than I liked. I couldn't believe how grey it was when the olive was next to it. Color is so fascinating.

All in all I've wound up with a color palette I really like. I can hardly wait to get the chair rail up! And I clearly picked a color palette that complements my current decor. :-D

Wreath

This wreath has been sitting around for about a year waiting for me to make the flowers. I'd made this floral scarf and flower hat last fall, and so my Mom had the brilliant idea of using that to make the wreath. Yay for finishing a project.

Sewing--fitted shell

I've been taking the Fitted Shell series class at Stitch Lab the last few weeks. It's been pretty cool. I've learned a lot about how to lengthen, shorten and widen a pattern. Tomorrow I'll have an unwearable dress to my exact measurements! I can then take those measurements and tweak existing patterns, or use the dreaded math to make my own.

I have a pretty lax set of guidelines about transferring markings from the pattern. Today when I was doing my sewing homework, I realized I need to pay more attention to those details. Makes a difference, and really, it's not that hard! I'm just lazy about it.

I think I have darts down...there were 16 on this dress. More accurate pattern markings definitely help! Hopefully it's all going to work out anyway.

Colored pencil--vision in yellow

I took a colored pencil class for the first time today. This design was taught by Kelly Hoernig. I really didn't know what to expect. I found the butterfly quite easy to do. It felt like coloring only on steroids. I almost had a meltdown with the flower because it was different...strokes instead of coloring in. I went to lunch and came back it was all good. It was a lot of fun!!

Rock star painting

Man, today was kick ass awesome. I took a watercolor batik class with Kathie George. I did this technique once before and really liked it. I learned so much. And most important of all I trusted myself. The flowers in the original were pink, and that's not really my favorite color, so I went with orange (well a pink orange) instead and kind of wound up with red, but I'm so happy. Every step of the way, I stopped and thought about things and then decided on my own (mostly) if something needed more color or whatever.

This is a big deal to me, because I'm usually very much the pattern follower and if the pattern says this color then that's what I use. I also think it was a good lesson to learn that I do understand color, value, and shading. Three cheers for me. I'm so unbelievably proud of this painting!

Watercolor--blue abstract

I'm at the Artist Expo in Houston for the next few days. Today I had watercolor class with Carol Spohn. The background was pretty cool to make...we used gauze, plastic wrap and waxed paper to create texture. Then we hit it with a little gold spray paint and waited ever so impatiently for it to dry. After it was dry, we peeled all the stuff off and there was a cool background. Next we added some lines and circles and voila.

I enjoyed the class, but am still struggling to find that happy medium of wet. I'm either too wet when I shouldn't be or too dry. Sigh. Ah well. Good fun nonetheless.

Steampunk Fascinator

Super fun...a little fascinator with some ribbon flowers I made a while back, and of course some gears.

Butterfly clips

I made these hair clips/fascinators as prizes for a big teen event that's coming up later this week. It's kind of hard to give them up. Too fun!

Rock Star Skirt

YES! The sewing gods were appeased by my blood offering the other day, and granted me a smooth sewing experience, complete with a good fit! It definitely helps making the same pattern more than once. All my zipper practice is paying off since I got this invisible zipper in with no fuss. I'm super happy and can't wait to wear the fruits of my labor! I am brilliant. :-D

Can you see the zipper in the last photo? Of course not! It's invisible! hehe

Matching bag

And here's the matching bag. Plenty of pockets...4 on the outside and one on the inside.

Hat

I cut this hat out months ago, and finally got it sewn up today. A little easier and a littler harder than I expected. I would definitely make another one. It's good practice for sewing in the round.

Now I need to sew up the matching bag!

Tunic top

Sigh. This isn't wearable. The sleeves are ridiculously huge, and really I'm swimming in the whole thing. The neck gaps weirdly, and the bias tape shows. I really struggle with understanding how the measurements translate to fitting me. Yeah, I've lost some weight, but not that much that this would be this big. I had planned on embroidering this to embellish it, but not now. I'm kind of bummed, but it was good practice.

Update: D'oh! So I really should have taken my measurements before sewing this together. I cut this out about 6-8 weeks ago. I've lost 3.5" in my bust since then! I didn't think I'd lost that much in my bust area!!

Oilcloth bags

I took the Oilcloth Bags class at Stitch Lab yesterday. Another lovely class, and I have 4 cool bags to show for my time. I think Elsie approved. :-D

Balcony gardening

I have spring fever!! Of course one could argue that it's really summer fever since I'm not entirely sure 80 degrees counts as spring. I've been growing herbs on my balcony along with some flowers for a few years. I usually manage to kill my herbs over the winter. I managed to keep the hibsicus alive and hope it will perk up some more with the warm weather.

So today I got my herbs replanted, as well as some new flowers that didn't winter either. So happy to have some color out there.

I'm also going to experiment with some veggies. So I planted one sweet pepper plant in with my herbs today, and am debating about trying carrots too. If I don't try carrots, then I'll definitely do some lettuce as soon as I can find some plants to buy. I can't be bothered to start from seeds, and I don't get enough light in my apartment for that anyway. Anyway--I've played in the dirt and I feel better for it. :-D

Dress finished!!

I finished up my dress today. I can't decide if I'm disappointed or happy. The dress doesn't fit. Last night I was thinking it was the pattern and it was just a weird fit. The teacher said that most garments come out too big.

Today I took out the tape measure and measured myself. Yeah, it doesn't fit because in the five weeks since I last measured myself I've lost between a 1/2 inch to an inch. Definitely good news! I'm happy with the process, and I think I did a really good job. It's just disappointing that I can't wear the fruits of my labor!

UPDATE: A couple of friends kindly helped me alter the dress so now it fits. Yay!!!

Dress--Class 5

We packed a lot in tonight. I learned about easing for my cap sleeve. I opted to only do one in class so I'd have time for other things. I got to add in pockets to my dress even though they weren't in the pattern. I'm super happy about that. And most importantly I did an invisible zipper with no tears, cursing or starting all over!! I learned so much. I hope I remember it all.

I'm so glad I have tomorrow off so I can finish up my dress. I did try it on tonight. It's a bit big in the bodice, but it's super cute, and I love the full circle skirt. I think I'll probably make it again for practice and to get one that fits better. And I see a couple more classes in my future to ensure better fit!

Class 4: Bodice

I'm still very much enjoying my sewing class. Week 2, we went over the pattern instructions related to cutting out your pattern, and how to make some minor alterations. I got over my fear of using the rotary cutter without a ruler. Week 3, we learned about pattern markings, and then the teacher demoed how to do darts, gathers, understitching, and a few other techniques. I learned a lot of new terms, and had a major d'uh moment about tracing the markings from the pattern. I've never done this. I've always used the notches but never any of the markings! (And despite there being a lot of markings on my bodice, I didn't use any...yet.)

This week was all sewing! The bodice of my dress also has a lining, so I get to do everything twice! That meant 8 princess seams. I did the first one no problem, but then had trouble with the rest of the ones for the front bust. It's tough getting them pinned and going slow on the machine so the fabric doesn't pucker or gather. But it was all easily ripped out and I got it right. The back princess seams weren't as steep and not as challenging. I completed the bodice, and now just need to add the cap sleeves and skirt. I think I'm in good shape to finish during the last class. Here's a really bad photo of my bodice taken with my cell phone. I think if you squint you can just make out my lovely princess seam.

I've now added a tailor's ham (which really does look like a canned ham only padded) to my growing wishlist of items.

Garment Sewing...Part 1

I am taking a 5 week garment sewing class at Stitch Lab. I'm super excited to fill in some gaping holes in my pattern following/garment making knowledge, and really just have some one guide me through a pattern instead of figuring it out on my own! I'm hoping to make something without throwing a tantrum or having to rip something out!!!

I'm making a cap sleeve dress with a cute purple and green dotted/circle fabric. Can't wait for next week!!

Around the World in 52 Books

I'm participating in the Goodreads Around the World in 52 Books challenge. 52 books taking place in 52 countries. I'm going to map my travels as I read. Since I'm going to travel where ever my fancy takes me, I'll have a crazy map, but it'll be fun to see how it goes. I started off in Vietnam with Inside Out and Back Again and now I'm in Trinidad with Woman on a Green Bicycle.

View Full Size Travel Map at Travellerspoint

Watercolor Batik

I had to get up ridiculously early for this class, and I'm not a morning person. But it was soooo worth it. Thanks Wendy for a great class!!

How absolutely fun this was. We painted this Kathie George design on rice paper and used watercolors and wax to create layers of color. In the end we crumbled it all up, added one more layer of wax and voila. Well okay just a little more watercolor to finish it off. :-D Dead easy, loads of fun, and once again I'm playing with wax!!

Once Mural

And here's my lovely once mural on the wall, complete with an Italian biscotti wrapper lamp shade next to it. It's like I have a portal to Tuscany in my living room. So very cool.

Mural Repurposed

In 2008, I painted this mural for the niche in the house. When I moved out, I really couldn't bear to leave the mural behind. It was such an achievement for me in painting. So, I took it. My Dad offered to cut it down and build a frame for me. It took a while, but it finally got done. So now I have my lovely once mural repurposed into a picture. I can't wait for the varnish to dry and get it on the wall.

What if...

I don't ruminate much on this blog, well really at all. I mostly just use it as a way to document and share creative stuff I make. I'm in a ruminating mood today, with the new year. New Year's is one of my favorite holidays. I love the idea of saying goodbye to the last 12 months, and waking up with a fresh start. It's hopeful...optimistic...full of possibilities. So I've spent the last couple of days thinking about what I want my year to look like.

I am a creative person, but...it's not always easy for me. It's not easy to admit I'm creative, but I am. It manifests in my life in a variety of ways that I'm just starting to acknowledge. It's present on this blog. How many people do you know who decoupage their litter tub? :-D It's something I've been working on...embracing my creativity with wild abandon...one of my new year's resolutions.

Writing my resolutions got me thinking of one of my friends telling me about Debbie Macomber (an author) who picks a word every year to meditate on, to be the theme for her year. I liked that idea. I've been mulling it over in my mind since I heard about it a couple of days ago. If you pick a common word, then every time you hear the word you have a trigger. Almost like you are setting up your own subliminal programming for the year.

I like this idea on so many levels. I love words. They are so fun. Some just flow off the tongue and are so much fun to say...like zeugma. Others just have such wonderful meaning...like meraki. How do you pick just one word to be your theme, your meaning, your trigger for the year?

Well it came to me writing my resolutions. Embrace my creativity with wild abandon. Abandon. I looked it up on www.m-w.com. It's both as a verb and noun. As a noun it means "a thorough yielding to natural impulses." How awesome is that? I yielded to my natural impulses today by cooking all day. I cooked with wild abandon. It felt good. I was in a state of meraki.

As a verb it means "to cease from maintaining, practicing, or using." That works too. I'm working on abandoning any ideas, thoughts, patterns that don't help me be the best me I can be.

How cool is that? I get double meaning out of one word. Encouragement to trust my instincts, explore new experiences, create art that sings to my soul, and a gentle reminder to let go, to quiet that critical voice in my head. It fills me with hope and wonder at what the year will hold if I embrace the idea of abandon. Oh the possibilities just lead to a series of lovely, wonderful, optimistic, hopeful What if.... What if... What if...