New Baby Quilt

I made this one over the past week or so. All of the top is done with applique rather than piecing. I'm pleased with how it turned out and I'm really starting to get a hang of the machine quilting, especially on quilts this size.

 

Thought of the Day #237 - Can Do!

I wonder how many people look at items on Etsy.com and think, "That's a
great idea! I wanna make/do that."
I am one of those. It's such an inspirational site. Of course, the
number of people who say, "That's great! I wanna buy that," is obviously
high or the site wouldn't be as successful as it is. If I had all of the
energy and time to make all the stuff that inspires me, I would be
happy. But how many of us have endless time/energy available?? Yeah,
that's what I thought...

Thought of the Day #214 - Painter 11

Corel Painter 11 - an amazing digital art program that I used fairly often several years ago, but with which just recently become reacquainted.

While I was putzing around, I came across a tutorial on how to clone-paint photos. While I don't think this is a masterpiece by any stretch, it did turn out pretty good for 15 minutes of work or so:

 

The newest version -- 11, has so many more tricks than the version I used almost a decade ago. Having a couple of gigs of RAM has made it slick, too. No more paint - wait - paint - wait. Strokes are instantaneous unless you're using a large brush.

Sooo, sooo cool and I've only just started to rediscover the program. if you have any interest at all in digital art, I heartily recommend it.

Thought of the Day #16

I'm sure most of us have heard that when baking, you must be precise in your measurements. Baking is an "exact science" they say. Poppycock! I think they just don't want anyone to invent new things! A little too much leavening or too little and you've got something lookin' new, but tasting pretty much the same. Change the proportions of spice or other flavorings and it can turn out incredible. If you are feelin' creative, let your baking juices flow! Life's too short to bake within the lines.

A few new Crippy Crafts added to Etsy.com

	I had a recent burst of creative energy and created these three Crippy Crafts™. All are for sale and full viewing at http://catay.etsy.com. In other Etsy news, I've updated my jam selection to include the full 32 flavors from this year's canning sessions. LOTS of new flavors to try. Apricot Butter Apricot Jam Apricot-Orange Conserve Apricot-Pineapple Jam Blueberry Jam Blueberry Lime Jam Brandied Peach Jam Chocolate Raspberry Spread Ginger-Saturn Peach Jam Hot Pepper Jam Peach Jalapeno Jam Peach Butter Peach Rum Jam w/ Brown Sugar Peach Jam Plum Conserve Plum Jam Plum Preserves Raspberry Jam Raspberry-Peach Jam Raspberry-Cherry Jam Raspberry-Jalapeno Jam Raspberry-Lime Jam Raspberry-Orange Jam Raspberry-Pineapple Jam Raspberry-Saturn Peach Jam Saturn Peach Jam Spiced Saturn Peach Jam Strawberry Jam Strawberry-Lime Jam Strawberry-Raspberry Jam Tomato Preserves (a little loose-set) White Peach Jam That's a LOTTTA jamming. A record setting year. Check out the jams here.

A Halloween Treat - Oreo Truffle Eyeballs.

I don't have any pictures of these goodies from last year's Halloween party, but trust me they were a hit. Tasty, creepy and sooo NOT good for you! The basic recipe is here. Take a peek and then come back...ok... That's right...a package of Oreos and cream cheese. Not really a health food.

To accomplish the eyeballs, make the truffles as directed, up to the point where you dip them in semi-sweet chocolate. Instead, dip them in white chocolate. Let them cool in the fridge. Then, apply the iris of the eye using colored white chocolate. In addition, apply a pupil to the center of the iris with dark chocolate. Oh, you're not done there...no sirreeee, you need to apply some blood-shot eye veins using red colored white chocolate. When it sufficiently looks creepy and somewhat like eyeballs, chill in the fridge again. Then, enjoy!

Zoom!

 

 

I bought a new zoom lens for my Canon XTi. Just got it yesterday and I'm already loving it. Skittish wildlife is suddenly soooo much more accessible.

Can I call it Art yet? Nah...still Crippy Craft!

    I've been working on more Crippy Craft for my work's "Art Show". They've had the art show for several years and I have yet to be in town for it, so I have no idea how much of it is crafty and how much is art. The line between the two is so often blurred as I believe it is in my stuff, but I am curious to see what others are showing/sellling. If these Crippy craft don't sell there, I will be putting them up on Etsy. I think they'll have a good shot of finding a good home there. By the way, I've been dabbling with the beauty of velum in these illustrations -- the transluscent nature lends itself well to adding additional detail and depth.

Tooting my own horn. Published in a Cookbook!

  I'm published! Well, not me, but a photo of herbs I sold on Istockphoto has been used in a book entitled, "Apples Recipes from Canada's Best Chefs" by Elaine Elliot & Virginia Lee. I found my photo credit on Amazon (here) through a Google search. If you haven't done it lately, Google yourself and see what you can find! You never know what you may have been up to. ;-) If you'd like to see, and or buy, the photo that was used in the book, go to my Istockphoto.com portfolio here. I think it's cool to be published in a cookbook. I appreciate that the authors granted me a named credit, too. This goes on my resume, right?

A Brilliant Idea

The other night, after I saw my waitress with the drawn-on eyebrows, I was thinking that there should be press-on eyebrows. The beauty of this idea is that they could actually look like real brows...not just a line of ink across your face. Either they'd be made up of fine ink "hairs" that would be applied like a wet'n'press tattoo or they could actually be made of fine hairs that are applied with some sort of glue. Both the cheap and high-end press-ons could be printed on a lycra base which could be stretched to the appropriate width. I really like the idea, too, of providing a package of press-on-brows that have a variety of expressions -- if you want to look surprised one day, use the high arch. If you're really depressed or puzzled, get the low, furrowed brow. If you want to look like spock, don the Vulcan version. The possibilities are endless. Just remember, you saw it here first!

More Crippy Craft and a HOW TO for the Layered Cut Paper Illustration!

I haven't shipped all of my Crippy Craft gifties yet, but the ones above have already been given away. I'm on a roll, but it's an incomplete roll, unfortunately. I've got three left to do! I did want to get these on here with the "HOW TO" before I get any more complete.

As a little background, I was looking in mid-December for some sort of homemade Crippy Craft that I could as gifts. I came across A Little Hut (click here to visit A Little Hut), and was instantly inspired. She does beautiful work! A couple of my pieces above are a directly inspired by her pieces. Little Red Riding hood, the leaves, and somewhat the deer pieces are directly inspired. (I hope she doesn't mind!) The rest have been just things that popped in my head when I thought about the recipient or just thought would make a beautiful illustration.

If you're interested in doing some "art-pieces" or "Crippy Craft" like those above, click here for full HOW-TO instructions.

Invites of Halloween Past

As mentioned in the post below, here are invites from the past few years. I'm especially fond of the 2003 pop-up invite. It's still, by far, my favorite. I always browse online for Halloween inspiration, so I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, this may inspire someone else. Gotta give back, ya know!

2003	2004
2005	2006

I don't have a "final" copy of last year's invite, so I recreated it with the beta copy in addition, I pasted in a graphic that initially was placed on the inside door. Pretty close to how it actually looked, methinks.

Feelin' Spooky

Here's the cover to my annual Halloween Party invite. I tried to go with a creepier, spoookier feel than previous years. For instance, last year's was constructed of construction paper, velum and a sweet lookin' Frankenstein holding a bowl of candy. Dang...I should show some previous year's invites on here. Sometimes they turn out pretty cool...sometimes lame. Each year it's a little bit different depending upon my mood and the amount of time I have available. This year, not so much time, but plenty of creep running through my veins.

The photos used to make this composite include a VERY spooky abandoned house from central Minnesota. The others were from istockphoto.com (click here to see my stock portfolio there, and to sign up!) The majority of the layered photos were the freebie photos that they give away each week to members...if you were a member, you could get freebies too! Don't ya love the sweet peer-pressure soft-sell?? I use istock for work all the time. Cheap prices and a usually a myriad of choices for each project. They aren't very profitable for people who sell photos on there -- typically you get only 20 cents for each 640x280 size photo you sell, but it does add up. I've made 220 bucks over the last two years and really haven't uploaded anything new in a year or so...so yeah, definitely meager passive income. But, ehy, the majority of our pix are just from traveling around taking snapshots... I'm sure those who use models, studio space, and whatnot are earning quite a bit more.

A little Illustration Friday Action

I haven't participated in months and months. So, today, with 15 minutes to spare, I give you my Illustration Friday submission along the theme of "Fortune". Click here to mock...errr...view.

Play On, Crayon

Have a need for some color assistance? I found this Kool Kuler site:
http://kuler.adobe.com/

Working Through Grief With Fabric

Since Kipper died, I've been on a fabric binge. We won't talk about the chocolate binging...no...none of that! I've been buying fabric. Lots of fabric. I think I'm up to about 10 different yardages. Most are patterned in retro floral, as shown above. My fav of the purchases has to be the poplin shown on the left. It's fresh, fun and big ass floral! I've really been taken by the dresses and tops shown at Anthropologie lately. Just gorgeous, young, fresh stuff! Of course it doesn't come even close to my size, so I've got to do what I've got to do...make my own of course. If you said "give up binging on chocolate," you were so very wrong. ;-) I really like the Uptown Paint By Number birdy fabric (the last one pictured), but not so sure it would work as a clothing option. We'll have to see on that.

To make room for all of this new finery, I've cleaned out my closets and have placed a whole heapin' load of stuff up for sale. You can see it ~here~. All told, three garbage bags full. Whee!

Happy Holidays!

I hope you each have had a good start to the holiday season.

I believe all of my crippy craft, hand-made, super-secret-surprise gifties have been delivered, so it's time for the reveal!

As you can see at the left, my super-secret-surprise gift was the oven mitt. Hopefully, the fact that they don't match the decor is a good thing! I believe it to be that way. Who needs matching crap anyway? Do you remember the cornflower blue goose/duck phase from the 80s? Where seemingly everyone had matching towels, wallpaper, kitschy salt and pepper shakers, etc all with blue geese or ducks with yellow neck bandanas?? If you do, you know we need to break free and celebrate diversity in the kitchen. Or something like that.

The best part about oven mitts is that they're often stored out of sight, so even if you do believe in matchy-matchy, you can make an insanely bright mitt and have it BAM come out BAM once in a while BAM for a shot of BAM color.

I've set up a page with instructions on how to make these (CLICK HERE), if you're so inclined. It really doesn't take long to make and it actually became a bit fun coming up with the prints and colors. You may find it that way...or you may just hate me for getting you involved in such an inane project. In any event, Happy Holidays!

Been Crafty

I worked on my super secret holiday giftie sewing blitz this past weekend. I'm planning on doing a full documentation of the project to make a full "how to" page. I always appreciate the craft bloggers who show, step-by-step, details how to make a particular item. Aside from beating your head against a wall, having particularly gifted crafty friends/family, or reading overpriced crafty books are you supposed to know? Stay tuned!

Shhh...don't tell anyone...

But last night I figured out what to give my friends and family for Christmas this year. It's going to be fabulous! Last yearI decided that rather than solely buying crap, I would hand make gifties in addition to the homemade jams/cookies I typically send. (I'm sure it's a scary proposition for some...) I ended up making pillow cases out of fun, funky fabrics. This confused some and delighted others. "So, why did you send me pillow cases?" A definite hit/miss depending upon your point of view. This year...it's brilliant! Something that pretty much everyone needs/uses and it won't clash with current bedding ensembles. It's...it's.... well...you'll have to wait and see.

Shabby Chic for Baby!

Another wee little quilt project. Count this as quilt deux! This is a little baby quilt for a coworker/friend of mine.

I picked up the little fabric chunks called "Charms" from The Fat Quarter Shop. The fabric is design family is called "Johnny & Buck" and is designed by Chloe's Closet for Moda. A cute little cowboy/indian/western feel set. The back is just basic baby-blue flannel.

I really appreciate the charm packs...the little squares are already cut and ready to sew. Cutting the fabric is always the worst. Too much stress about miscutting and staying on grain, etc.

Illustration Friday - Fat

This Illustration Friday topic is "Fat". How could I NOT participate this week? So, here it is, in mini form. Click here to see full size.

..a touch of analog...

I finished (and probably most important...started!) my first quilt! It's just a "rag quilt" or "chenille quilt". Extremely simple design, really. I made it for a friend who is turning a ~certain~ age. I wanted to do something with fun, retro and *ahem* youthful fabrics. Classic but not entirely. I settled on a fat quarter pack of Denyse Schmidt's new collection purchased from Cia's Palette.

It's all backed with flannel and "filled" with some lightweight cotton batting. I've sewn for...what...about 25 years now...and never made a quilt. I feel like the shame of this virginity is now over! Now, I can move on to more challenging projects like this . Well, not exactly like that. Just using freeform design & techniques. I love the look of art quilts, but find the size/scope and, of course, potential for procrastinating mid-project too great. :-) I can imagine a piece like the one linked could take months for some and decades for others. Of course the pay off of the finished project would be awesome. Well, we'll see. For now, I'm pleased with my random, frayed edge quilt! Yay me!

Illustration Friday -- Tattoo

I couldn't resist doing Tattoo from Fantasy Island. Much more interesting to me than flesh art. Well, depending upon the flesh involved, of course! :-) Click the image to see full size.

Illustration Friday - Song

Yet another Illustration Friday installment. I'm pretty pleased with this one on the whole. I started it while trying to avoid my losing streak in Vegas. I sent myself to my hotel room as punishiment for losing so frequently at the slots. Good things often come from bad! Click here or the image to the left to see full size.

Illustration Friday - Chair

Just a simple hand done drawing with some filters applied to prove once and for all that I have no hand-done talent! :-) Click the image to see full size!

Illustration Friday - "Sea"

A first for me. I actually drew it on paper and then digitally enhanced it. I'm sure I don't know the easy way of doing that. It took quite a while to figure out how to convert the thing to accept fills, etc in Fireworks. Live'n'learn. See the full version here.

Another day..another Friday!?

It's that time...again! I was a bit late for last week's so this week's Illustration Friday is right on it's heels. Click on the image to see full size...and for further info. If you don't want to click there, click here. Really, two...two...two ways to link in one!

Last minute...

Here's my last minute, quicky done Illustration Friday submission. Yes, it's taken from a photo, but really, I did run it through several processes to get it this way! That counts for ummm...creativity, right? Well, enjoy! Click the little image to see full size. Hopefully next week's topic will inspire me to be a bit more out there. Topic this week: Small. Even the biggest of fat chicks is small in front of roadside attractions. oh, yeah, this is an ad for my other site: www.biggirlbigstuff.com. Check it out...it's fun, especially if you like silly stuff like roadside attractions!

This Week's Illustration Friday Submission

Overcuted and oversimplified, here is "free". (Click on the photo to the left to see larger, either that or just squint really hard.)

Is overcuted related to executed? Talk amongst yourselves. Click here to see more of my Illustration Friday submissions or click here to see Illustration Friday.

<--- Check out my new photos submitted to Istock! Buy 'em if they interest you. ;-) The newest ones are of a Monarch butterfly on chrysanthemums. 'twas a sweet little old butterfly that was quite patient with me. Normally butterflies leave before I even get the camera turned on. In the past couple of months I've made over $30 on the pics on there. Weez profezzionals. :) About half are Ivans and half mine. So far, his beautiful wilderness shots are by far the most popular sellers.

Strength - An Illustration Friday Submission

Here's my submission for this week's Illustration Friday. I got up early and worked on it for just over an hour before I started work. The topic is "Strength".

Nothing is stronger than the odor of really, really, really bad feet. The kind that have been stewing in re-used socks in a sweat drenched sneaker. If you've ever experienced this, you KNOW what I mean. Not only is the smell strong, but the memory lives on long after the smell is gone. Amazing how that works.

You can click the image to see it full size.

Anyone know Norwegian? The art show that I am a part of in Stavanger, Norway was reviewed on a local TV station, and the piece about the show is available on the net HERE. I would be ever so greatful if someone could write the translation of what is spoken in the piece. Thanks! I hope you're all having a good weekend. I'm off to the In a BIG Way picnic.

It's official!!! The Rogaland Kunstmuseum in Stavanger, Norway has updated their site...I'm listed as an artist. *beam* http://www.biz.no/rogkunst/eng/ for the english version. Look for a wee artist named Catherine Nordling to be part of the Utopia exhibition...that's me! Yay!!!! This is soooo cool. :-) The internet is a wonderful thing!!!!

Join me in adding drawings to the following site http://www.youdraw.com/ Apparently the drawings will be added to a book at *some* point in the future when they reach 500,000 drawings. Help 'em get there while letting your creative juices flow!

I'd *love* to be able to go to the opening of the "Utopia" show in Stavanger and, of course, have dinner with the mayor, but at this point, it doesn't look likely. Airfare is *really* high...around 1200 dollars. A bit too steep for a ~4 day trip...although it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Pay out the bucks to see the opening or maybe go after the opening at a cheaper autumn flight rate? Waaaaa. I'm torn.

Oh, just thought, most of you probably don't know why I've been invited to have dinner with the mayor of Stavanger. Recently the director of an art museum in Stavanger Norway contacted me about being part of an art show there. He noticed the artistic quality of the work in my "Photos of the Week," particularly the "American Beauty" piece and he sent me a very nice email. I guess it put a bee in his bonnet, 'cuz shortly after that he invited me to participate in the "Utopia" show that's from 9-September to early November. Who'd have thought that a site like this would open a door like that!? I'm lucky!

I got my invitation to have dinner with the mayor of Stavanger, Norway yesterday. Unfortunately, the gum of the envelope stuck to the invite. Waaaaaa. Who'd have thought that I'd have to fly to Europe to have dinner with a Mayor? Go figure.