Giveaway Winner

Last Wednesday, I mentioned  being featured on a website and receiving a wonderful package of batting that I wanted to share with a reader.  I entered commenter's names into a file and numbered each line… then went to Random.org to pick a winner between 1 & 25…..  Wouldn’t you know it, the first pick was Storybeader who said “…I don't use batting, so if I'm picked, try again! {:-D”….

So… I tried again….

Thea is the winner!  If I don’t get you soon by email, then please be sure to contact me!  Leave a comment here or email tamdoll – at- comcast – dot – net so I can find out where to mail your package. 

June Featured EtsyBlogger – Beaded Tail

Sharla, of Beaded Tail, talks about how she started her business & lists the organizations she supports here.  An excerpt for you:

“In 2007, news reports regarding animal hardships put my mom Sheri and me into action to design and create beaded jewelry and give a portion of the sales proceeds to animal awareness causes. We opened our Etsy shop in December 2007 and today, I am still beading while my mom has traded beading for making cute collar covers which are also in my shop. Each of our designs are one of a kind and most of them contain an animal theme from paw toggles to cat face beads or animal awareness ribbon charms or butterflies.”

I love it when a seller has a strong passion for what they do.

One of my favorites from her shop:

Reminds me of that clock I had when I was a little kid!  (Yeah, the one in the 70’s with the eyes and tail swinging back and forth…)

Here blog & shop are both really charming, you should check them out!  And here’s an interview with her at the EtsyBloggers page.

In Tamdoll news… One more day before I pick a giveaway winner – read here for details.

Crochet in the Car

I pack a lot of crafting when I travel – more when I don’t have a specific project in mind.  I’m never sure what I’ll be in the mood for and I really dislike to be idle.  For a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip, I packed a big tote with tons of embroidery floss and a tiny box filled with beads.  One of the projects I finished was while sitting in my car for an hour, a very tiny bracelet:

It was for a very petite girl – I do not have unusually large knees.

This is what it looked like while I was working in the [parked] car.  While it rained.  Waiting for a ball game to begin.  Good thing I had that hat along or there would have been beads everywhere.

I’m glad embroidery floss is so compact, I was able to take lots of colors with me.  Those metal mint containers are also fantastic to store beads in because they close very tightly.

I never saw a blue tractor before, so I stopped on the side of the road to take the picture below.  Unfortunately, I just realized that there must be something wrong with the card in my camera – all the pictures I’d taken the day before at the seacoast are gone.  The camera is new, but I guess after 5 years, the card needs to be replaced, so I will have to upgrade it tomorrow.

 

Did you have a productive weekend?  See anything new or unusual?

Don’t forget to see last week’s post to enter my giveaway before this Wednesday!

Artful Thursday – Planning

Didn’t finish anything on Thursday, but had a lot of fun planning and getting together elements that I’ll combine over the next week.

In the upper right-hand side you can catch a glimpse of my collaged suitcase from a few weeks ago – I sprayed a red handle on it and use it for storage in my workspace.

Happy Artful Thursday!

Readers, don’t forget to see yesterday’s post to enter my giveaway!

Tamdoll Sightings – Pretty Cool!

When I first started posting images on Flickr in 2006, one of the reasons was to show-off images of a birdhouse fundraiser I was taking part in. Years later, people still stop by and comment on them, and it’s pretty exciting! Recently, I was asked if one of my images could be used in a new website for Fairfield's Poly-fil, so I said “Yes!” I’ve always used their fiberfill for my doll stuffing, and quilt battings for flat projects. Check out these pictures, and click to go to the site:

I’m pretty excited about this, these pages are adorable!!!

The birdhouse was inspired by Julie McCullough’s pattern – a fantastic artist!

In appreciation, Fairfield sent me a box of Fusi-Boo™: “the industry’s first fusible batting made from a special blend of fibers including natural cotton and rayon fiber from bamboo. This batting integrates the softness and smooth drape of bamboo with a water-soluble, heat-activated fusible resin. The result is a luxurious batting that simplifies the quilting process by eliminating the need for basting.” I have a 36x45” package that I’d like to give away to one of my readers.

What do you have to do for a chance for this? If you’ve commented here during the month of June 2010, up until this post, then you’ve already been entered. If not, be sure to comment here on this post, and mention what you’d do with this new fusible batting. Next Wednesday (June 30, 2010) I’ll randomly pick a winner and announce it here on my blog.

Thanks all for being a fan here and keeping me motivated to keep posting my crafting updates!

Short Term Goals

To be hosted by RainyDayArt Monday 6/20/10.  I chose to answer one of the EtsyBloggers questions this week - 

“What are you goals? Short term, long term?”

Well, this should be easy.  Short term!  I’m going to be in my car quite a bit this weekend, so I’ve packed yarn.  Lots of yarn.  Knitting needles.  And patterns for fingerless mittens.  (Although at this point I can knit them in my sleep.)  I figure if I can knit one per hour I should be able to make a few to sell next fall as well as use up my stash in time to restock at the yarn show that’s coming to town in a few weeks.  I was going to say “clean my workspace” – but seriously?  I won’t be able to resist!

Goal – knit as much as possible while on the road and blog about it when I return with pictures.  By the time this Carnival goes live – I should have pictures to go along with this!

Update - 6/21/10 – I did knit as much as possible… it just wasn’t as much as I would have liked.  Only one pair partially completed – I need to weave in ends and do some serious blocking.  I’m going to add some embroidery on this pair to look like vines and branches with the different colors crossing into each other:

Artful Thursday – Stamped Wall Hanging Tutorial

I’ve had this “Commandments” stamp for a while, and it’s always given me trouble when I use it on paper, so I thought I’d try fabric today. I had fabric remnants from curtain lining created years ago so thought this would be a great canvas to make a wall-art present for an upcoming Bat Mitzvah.

The image on the left was created when I placed the stamp face-down on the fabric in the “traditional” stamping method. The image on the right was created when I lay the fabric over the inked stamp and used a brayer to roll over the top.

Careful! Don’t let the fabric slip around.

Next, I cut out squares of cotton quilt-batting for the backs:

I layered the quilt batting and another piece of white fabric behind each piece, then using the free-motion foot on my sewing machine and metallic thread, I outlined some of the images that I stamped.

I kept going back, adding more details, then beads to make the image pop. I'm enjoying the mixed-media approach to art, I can incorporate all the things I love to do!

After I was satisfied with all the beads and quilting, I sewed a piece of sturdy wool felt to the back of the piece and added grommets to hold a hanger. Taking a tip from one of Paper Bird’s Artful Thursday tutorials, I used wire and beads to create a hanger.

On the back I embroidered the Hebrew words “Mazel Tov” - which translates to Good Luck, and is used as a “Congratulations”. I was glad to make this for a friend’s daughter and I hope she enjoys this unique piece!

Happy Artful Thursday.

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun!

Yikes!  Time has flown, and it’s almost embarrassing how much I’ve neglected this poor blog!  Thanks to Teena In Toronto I was reminded (a few days ago) of my four-year blog anniversary!  I can’t believe I’ve been here for so long. Inconsistent at times, but still here!  Next year, I’ll have to remember and celebrate more properly!

Because I love to take pictures, and saw this cool shot of a spider web the other morning, I wanted to add it here –

- kind of symbolic, too --- I could say that cobwebs are gathering dust in the corners of my blog, but instead I will imagine that they are collecting sparkly dew and inspiration instead!

I thought it was funny when Tina left me a comment at an Artful Thursday post – about “… not having mastered zippers…” … as if I have!  Ha!  I just keep trying.  And trying.  Many of my projects end up extra creative because I try so many different crafts but don’t master any of them, and often a unique embellishment shows up just to cover my mistakes!  Like Jane, at that same post, commented about the lack of pleats.  Jane is a prolific and talented handbag maker, so when she comments about one of mine, I listen! The pattern I used was a beautiful one, but not only did I not have enough fabric to pleat it up, it was too heavy for me to feel comfortable doing so, even if I had more yardage.  That all led to a bag slightly different than the pattern & I was happy with it.

Some things that are keeping me busy… Crochet Today’s, May/June 2010 pattern for Lace & Pearls Necklace – done for my oldest girl in red, as requested.  Thinking about the white beads, but haven’t attached them yet… I’m not sure I like the white:

Mixing pounds and pounds of purple and white Sixlets candies to create favor bags for a party:

I’m looking forward to a busy summer with my girls & will be blogging more regularly.  What are you up to, my blog-reading friends?

Knit Sweater Do Over

Once upon a time I knit a sweater.  It fit.  It matched everything I wore.  And then… it grew…..  And grew….

(If you’ve been on Craftfail you may have seen this one before.)

A friend unwound it for me.  I cast on again.  And again, and again.  Nothing was working with this limp yarn.

Soon, I gave up and passed it back to my knitting buddy. She made a great sweater and last week I crochet some edging for her: 

Tada!

Just a quick post today… I have been doing things, just not enough time to photograph and then blog about them!

Artful Thursday – Quick Collage Project

It’s a good thing I have storage space in my house, because this is a big project that I had set aside years ago. I found this round suitcase at a yard sale and couldn’t pass it up:

In hindsight, I guess I should have spray painted it a bright color and been finished already, but as I recall, I had these stickers and was doing paper crafting demonstrations at a shop, so I was in this collage frenzy at the time. Needless to say, I recall that the above picture took me hours upon hours to assemble, no wonder I put it in storage and never completed it! After uncovering it in my basement, I discovered an entire side needing some artful help:

The sheets of bird tissue paper I mentioned in yesterday’s post came in handy… and in no time at all I had side two finished! I used matte gel medium, spread all over the back of the paper with a used gift card (easier to wash and to cover bigger areas with than using a paint brush). One sheet was cut in strips to cover the edges, and a big circle made quick work of the center:

After I took this photo, I cut out around the blue taped logo on the center and rubbed some gold translucent paint all over the other side. I don’t even remember what color the hardware is under all that blue tape… probably silver. As a matter of fact, I don’t even know what kind of shape the inside is in. This weekend I should get a chance to spray paint the handle and add a gloss varnish the case a couple of times – next week I should have completed pictures up and I’ll be ready to use this cutie!

My kids introduced me to a show last week, "I Get That A Lot" - and "Decoupage” (or découpage) keeps ringing in my ears since seeing this:

Happy Artful Thursday!

To me this is an “old school” project. Do you ever revisit projects that you’ve put away for a long time?

Beautiful Artful Delivery

Artful Thursdays, Tool Tuesdays, and all my crafty blog posts have fallen by the wayside lately as I get some work done around my house… but I’m still here!  Lots going on… I’ve been taking pictures, but I haven’t had a chance to blog about them yet…

One thing that super cheered me up from the drudgery of chores was an amazing package from Lorraine at Paper Bird.

She has the most delightful blog.  Seriously… go check it out.. her photography and craft projects are fantastic.  As soon as I saw the beautiful box the mail carrier handed me, I was thrilled – from the decorated box, handmade bird, the magazine, cards, notebook, treats…. it was so special, it made my day!  Actually, it’s made my week as I keep looking at it and I’ve been slowly savoring the caramels (secretly so my kids don’t snag ‘em!)

Tomorrow’s Thursday.  I am going to do my best to jump back on the Artful Thursday bandwagon.  I have the most perfect bird tissue paper to work with now… I’ll have to think of something inspiring to create with it!  Any ideas?