7 Layer Studio

Hazel's Dual Bed Dilemma

 

Friends, I'd like you to meet Hazel's room.  At least this is what it looked like earlier today, before I took one of her darling beds down...

 

...Once upon a time, long ago, I bought these two antique beds from someone on Craigslist.  Hazel only needed one bed, but I just couldn't bear to split them up and they were ridiculously inexpensive.  And so cute!

The second bed was stored away until we moved to this house last year...and this bedroom was big enough to set up both beds - hurray!  I expected that the kids would sleep in here when visitors came, but no - they always wanted to sleep in the playroom above the garage.  Then Hazel and her friends realized that the extra bed was consuming valuable playspace real estate, so she has been asking me for a long time to take it down.

I have resisted, in part because I love seeing the matching twin beds, in part because I don't have a place to store the bed in a climate controlled space here, and partly because I had never finished decorating Hazel's room (until now) and I really wanted to get some cute photos of everything with the two beds set up.

The main hold-up to finishing her room was the fact that I had a bunch of artwork (the monotype collages that my fabric line with Benartex featured) that I had never gotten around to framing.  I really wanted to have them framed and on display in conjunction with all the fun pillows, stuffed animals, and quilts that I had made with my coordinating fabric.

 I could never find affordable white frames, especially square ones, and I didn't feel like building a ton of them from scratch.  I did end up making the large square ones above the beds (from brick molding that I cut a rabbet notch out of before building the frame...so the finished frame can accomodate glass and matting).  The little ones were all black frames that I spray painted white.

 

 Works for me!

 

 

 The red birdie above is one of my favorites.

This pair of birdies is also on my Top list.  The colors are better in real life.  Hazel's soft pink walls impart a rosy glow to everything, which is actually quite lovely and a bit magical in person, but it does make for funky color in photos.

 

 

 The pink tissue puffs suspended from the ceiling were ones that I made waaaaay back when for Hazel's Pinkety Pink birthday party (link in left sidebar).  That was, in a word, a very PINK party.

 I hand-stitched around every single circle in every single layer on this quilt...crazy crazy me.  I learned an important lesson about layering fabrics on this one = don't do it.  :-)  The end result is a stiff quilt because of all the layers, and some are fused with interfacing on the back which made it even more stiff.  Ah, well, live and learn eh?

 Here are some of my favorite pillows from my fabric...such fun, such fun!

And here we have Hazel saying, "Okay Mom, now that you're done taking pictures, can you take the extra bed away?"  Sigh.  Now where on earth am I going to store that bed?

 

Oh - before I forget -

Believe it or not, I have been faithfully commenting after other people leave comments on my recent posts...but my own blog is blocking them out!

I have no idea why this is happening - once in awhile my comment will go through, but most of the time it simply disappears into thin air, never to be seen again.  Is this happening to anyone else?  It's very vexing, to say the least.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I had to change my comment settings to close old posts and moderate the new ones (I was getting MASSIVE amounts of spam all of the sudden - all of it extremely annoying, some of it downright nasty - so I had to shut down most of the comment boxes except for my most recent posts).  But that wouldn't explain why a few of my comments went through and most did not.

In any case, I want my readers to know that I appreciate all of your kind comments and that I really have been trying to be better about communicating with you. Wendi, Edith, and Bev, you are particularly sweet in your consistent commenting, thanks so much! 

Indoor Pumpkin Patch and Other Such Orangeness

Let the pumpkinheads unite - it's time for Halloween!

I just love decorating for All Hallow's Eve.  Not the disgusting, bloody, gory kind of decorating that seems to be taking over the stores these days...just the fun, quirky, orange/black/white look that doesn't terrorize my little ones.  I seriously can't take my kids down the Halloween isle in some stores because it's too offensive...yet another example of the effects of a culture desensitized to violence due to overexposure to it via the entertainment industry.  But anyway, I digress...

There are bats in my dining room (eek!)...

owls practically perched on dead tree branches (I have a little tutorial in the works for some fun ornaments for this tree, so stay tuned)...

 
pumkins squatting on my table...

and ghosts, black kitties, and spiders overtaking my front entry (ack)!

About a month ago I kept finding the cutest Halloween things at Ross and HomeGoods, and so I succumbed and bought some things.  I was going to hand-paint a bunch of Halloween-themed plates this year, but since we're in the middle of a house remodel and these things are so dang adorable (and inexpensive), I played consumer instead.  I feel a little guilty for not doing a bunch of handmade stuff this year, but my life has been upside-down with all the moving we've done in the past 9 months...and I promise I'll post some great ideas for handmade ornaments soon!  I have some fun sewing projects lined up too, hopefully I'll get those done this week.

 
This is in my kitchen, I think it's hilarious.  My favorite $3 decoration ever.

I really like this cheery trio of plates above my dad's oak tree sculpture (he made it for us as a wedding gift).  Soon the tree will be bedecked with little ghosties!

These sweet little plates make me smile.  They have a nostalgic, vintage feel that is quite charming.

I finally finished framing these black-and-white monotypes that I made over a year ago...yeah!  I made the frames from brick molding, which is available at Home Depot or equivalent.  Before I cut the mitered pieces, Steve and I ran the sticks through the table saw to create a "lip" for holding the glass and mats.  I'll try to remember to do a little tut for making frames sometime, it's hard to explain without photos. 

I found a self-service framing facility on a nearby Army base, which was very exciting - I was able to cut the glass for a bunch of picture frames with their very handy glass cutting tool, instead of using a little hand cutter here at home.  Hazel was with me for that trip, so I wasn't able to stick around long enough to use their mat cutters.  I ended up doing that at home after the kiddos were all tucked in bed.

It's great to see my monotypes all framed up and on the wall - they were getting lonely being all boxed up for so long. 

   

  

 
 
 

Polly Pumpkinhead and Gary Gourd are grinning with the widest of wishes for a Happy Halloween!

ps. Until I get all of this year's Halloween things posted, I invite you to check out last year's posts, starting with the Goulish Grub I made for a neighborhood Monster Bash.  Lots of ideas for costumes, decorations, and food lurk in my October 2008 archives, so beware...

Oh, the Weather Outside Is...Sunny?

 

But I'm in the Christmas music spirit anyway!  I love Christmas music.  No, that's an understatement.  I ADORE Christmas music!  So my entry today for the Gratitude Countdown until Thanksgiving is...Christmas Music!!  I've been biting at the bit to post Yuletide tunes on my music playlist, and I was going to wait until after Thanksgiving, but I can't help myself.  That list is by no means comprehensive of what I love, but I haven't had time to add any more to it.  It's a start, anyway!  I put it on random play so you should hear a new arrangement all the time. 

The image above is from a linocut that I did years ago.  It was so much fun to do, although it was a bit tricky to carve the letters backwards so that it would read correctly when printed.  Fortunately I only had to do 3 letters!  I've always had a soft spot for this little print.

So go jingle your way through the day, and even if you live in a hot and sunny place like I do, may you feel the goodwill, excitement and quiet giddiness that the season can bring!

In honor of autumn, I made a new bag yesterday.  It's for my househunting trip to Virginia next week, isn't it fun?  I just love polka dots.

 

I'm a little nervous of how Hazel is going to handle the 14 hour travel time...she has turned into such a wiggly bug the past few months!  At least it's just Hazel and me on the trip.  Steve couldn't take the time off so he's going to be at home with the other kiddos.  Thanks in advance to my friends for helping to watch Eliza and Hyrum while I'm gone!  Even with the inevitably crazy travel, I'm excited to go.  I'll be able to see some good friends I haven't seen in 5 years, so that will be loads of fun.  I've got a lot to do before I leave...so I'd better sign off now!

Brink

      

Although my blog doesn't show it, I've been a busy beaver lately.  In addition to the whole school fiasco thing, cleaning house, doing those lovely chores like laundry, and being Mommy, I've been compiling a photo portfolio of 33 recent collaged monotypes to submit to another art repro company, this one focused primarily on the children's market.  I don't want to jinx myself so 'nuff said about the details on that...but suffice it to say that I'm really excited to find them and really hope that they like my work.  I've been dying to show you more of the images I've been creating, but because of piracy concerns I need to keep them undercover for now.

Anyway, in naming the images I did in a brown and pink palette, I think I coined a new word:  BRINK (brown + pink).  Much easier to say than the whole color combo.

I want to apologize for the lousy photo.  I've been struggling with my photographic options, as I still only have a point-n-shoot camera so I can't focus properly.  That and the whole lighting issue...if I shoot them in the shade they have a terrible blue cast to them that I can't seem to edit away, but if I shoot them in direct sunlight it messes up the light meter plus it causes cast shadows like those you see above (sigh).  When our house sells (I'm exercising my faith language here...WHEN...not IF) I'll hopefully be able to get the equipment I need.  Unless we take a loss when it's all said and done....which in this market is becoming more and more of a possibility....but we have faith that it will all work out.

Here's another brink one.  It would look sweet in a baby nursery all decked out like in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, don't you think?

      

This trio would be more suited to a non-juvenile audience...could you see them placed either horizontally across the length of a sofa or stacked vertically for a strong visual play on negative and positive space?  Now if I can only find a company who thinks so too... 

Buggin' Out

So I thought I'd post the pics of what I'm going to be sending to Ellie Lash, in thanks for all the people she sent this way when I had the Name That Press contest.  She has twin boys, and their room is bug-themed, so the subject choice was obvious.  I had a lot of fun doing these bugs! 

I'm actually trying to research archival paper/printer set-ups right now so I can make smallish (8 1/2" square) copies (thus making them much more affordable) of the children's monotypes and sell them on Etsy.  Everything has to be done online, as Hawaii is frustratingly lacking in any kind of specialty store for art stuff.  Or quilting stuff for that matter.  Can you believe there's not a single store here (to my knowledge) that sells any designer quilting fabric like Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, or Sandi Henderson?  Drives me nuts.  Any entrepreneurial go-getters out there, make a note of that wide-open niche.  I am really looking forward to being able to walk into a quilt shop, see and feel the beautiful fabric, and look at possible combinations in real life.  What a luxury.  But I digress...

I can't find anyplace on island that  sells archival watercolor-texture paper that is specifically sized for a home printer (specially made for making copies of artwork ), nor can I find a place that sells flat sheets of cardboard so I can ship my larger monotypes.  Grrr.  The cardboard's gotta be available here somewhere, I just haven't figured out who has it.  If not, I'm a sitting duck because I looked online for how much it would cost to ship a pack of flat cardboard here, and it was about $100 JUST FOR THE SHIPPING!!  I can sort-of justify that when I'm buying a bunch of expensive, heavy cans of printing ink or a huge pack of art paper, but for cardboard?!  It just hurts too much to blow more money on the shipping than it costs to buy the product itself.

Anyway, one of the many "perks" of living on a rock way out in the middle of the ocean.  :-)  I actually have started an Etsy shop already, but I only have a few black and white prints on there because I've got to figure out this whole shipping issue and I still need to figure out what to do about making copies of the little monotypes.  Sooo...I'm going to hold off on making the big "I HAVE AN ETSY SHOP!" announcement til then.

In the meantime, enjoy checking out some of the future merchandise here on my blog.  And Ellie, your monotypes really are coming your way, as soon as I get them scanned/photographed to my satisfaction!

Feeling Bookish

This sweet little number is what I "won" on Lizzy House's blog awhile ago (see her link in my sidebar).  It came in the mail today, and I'm so excited to have it!  Lizzy gave away 3 handmade books on her birthday, and I was lucky enough to receive one of them.  I LOVE the lining paper she chose.  It's absolutely gorgeous. 

The cool lime green color of the fabric on the cover is perfect, and it's just the right size to tuck into my bag and carry with me for those moments when I have a deep thought (why does that concept just seem funny to me now?) or a sketch to record...things I used to do frequently, but somehow with all the busy-ness and chatter (aka whining and/or fighting) of the kids I just don't have much opportunity for reflective thoughts anymore.  Go figure.  :-) 

But now that I have this great little book, it has given me renewed resolve to go at it a little bit again.  I look forward to filling its pages, and I'll think about my new friend Lizzy every time I pull it out.  Thanks again, Lizzy!

A Bit of Boating

Okay, just so you don't think I'm making up all this stuff about working on some new prints for children (really, I am!) I thought I'd post a few images from the boy's line I've been working on.  I'll show you some of the water oriented ones I've been doing.  I finished a whole series of cute litte ditties for girls, but I'm not ready to post that yet.  So, for now, here is what I can show you:

I'm not getting very far in my efforts to find a company to reproduce them, so I'll probably just end up selling them in my (future) Etsy shop.  I really need to get that up and running.  I'll keep you posted.

ps the colors look better in real life...I couldn't seem to get them to look normal in these photos.  They were either hyperbright like this or too drab and grey.  I'm itching to get my hands on the new CS3 design and edumacate (my unreal word) myself on how to use it all.  Someday I'll have realistic color in my pics!