making sewn valentine's day cards

We are officially ready for Valentine's Day. For once I got a jump on a holiday and  had the kids make cards a little bit in advance. We tried something different this year: sewn cards. You can sew perfectly fine through card stock, so that's what we did this year. I found these scalloped flat cards at Staples (sorry, couldn't find the cards on their website). They come in maybe 8 colors with mix & match envelopes.

I am nothing if not well stocked with fabric scraps, so the kids went to town picking fabrics to cut into heart shapes. I tried not to interfere with their choices. The more naive, the better with these cards.

I had them cut out hearts freehand, some with pinking sheers and some with standard scissors.

Both of my kids like to use the sewing machine. There is nothing special to sewing on the paper and any crookedness makes them better, I think.

I'm not a scrapbookin' type, but I recently got this set of vintage-style alphabet rubber stamps from Etsy. Lots of supply shops carry them, but set your search to "shop local" (ie. USA) if you don't want to deal with overseas shipping. They are perfect for finishing off the cards and, well, scrapbooking too ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!

test driving iron-on vinyl

January is my month for decluttering and sprucing things up around the house. I've been working like a dog on everyplace but my office and studio, but at least the kids' art room is looking good. It's not really a room, more of a breakfast nook that got taken over by the rascals and is furnished with the last remnants of my husband's college furniture. Since the furniture isn't precious it's ok that paint gets on it, but it's January and I'm feeling anal. I can't stand the sight of these dirty seat covers another minute. And I'm over that floral. The original cane seats are long gone, replaced with plywood topped with 1" foam and they've been recovered over and over with the help of my trusty staple gun.

Well, I'm recovering them again, but this time might be the last because I'm trying out a new product that I think is gonna be my new favorite: iron-on vinyl! A few years ago, I looked into having fabric laminated for these chairs and it turned out to be something like $20 per yard with a 5 yard minimum, so I didn't pursue it. Then I came across this Therm O Web iron on vinyl at JoAnn's and bought some to play with.

It comes in matte or shiny & I got the matte. It reminds me a lot of the laminating stuff you can get for paper at the office supply store.

It has a waxy paper backing that you peel off to reveal a tacky side.

You place the vinyl tacky side down onto the front of your fabric and then smooth out the bubbles. You can still peel it back up at this point if you notice a wrinkle or a thread stuck in there.

Then you take the backing you just peeled off and use it as your press cloth. The directions say to do the ironing on a firm surface like a table, heat on medium. There's no toxic odor like I was expecting either.

After it cools, peel back the paper and voilà! Vinyl-coated fabric!

And my favorite part: the stapling...

Instant gratification!

ins and outs 2012

floral new year card by thevysherbarium

Out with the old! I grew up in the Washington DC area and always looked forward to the Washington Post's in & out list on January 1. I don't now how long they've been doing it, but it's been a long time if I can remember it from childhood. Here is the famous Post list and a few others just for fun:

The Washington Post  (ie. OUT: Pippa's bum/IN: Kate's uterus)
Food Network
WTOP radio
Travel Channel
Mercury News

It's gonna be a good year, I think, even though the Washington Post says Etsy is "out" and Art.sy is now "in". Gonna have to check that one out...

block printed christmas wrap project

This week, I don't know what happened, but I was seized by a fit of craftiness à la Martha Stewart. Maybe it was residual inspiration from my trip to Galbraith & Paul a couple of weeks ago. I corralled the kids and put them to work on making some Christmas wrap. I had a couple of rolls of kraft paper and some other supplies, it was raining, and I just didn't feel like going out to Target for the store bought stuff. The kids wound up having a blast with it, so it was a win-win. And I do think it adds a nice handmade touch to our gifts.

To do this project you will need:
-package of sticky-back foam sheets
-scissors
-pen
-washable kids' paint such as Crayola
-paint brushes
-plastic plates to use as palettes
-small foam rollers (optional)
-wood scraps such as from a 1x4 board
-roll of kraft paper

The foam self-stick sheets we picked up at Michael's were on the thin side, so we doubled them up before cutting our shapes. Thicker is better for clear prints. Simple shapes work best (the bell/toilet plunger shape didn't make the cut). The most complicated shape was the Santa had because it requires 2 colors of paint.

We didn't have any rollers on hand so we used the spread & dunk method. Spread the paint fairly thin with a brush on the plate and dunk the stamp in it.

Coverage should look about like this- not too goopy. If you have rollers, roll on the paint and it will give a similar effect, more even to tell the truth, but we let go of our perfectionist tendencies for this. Or you can use a paintbrush to apply the paint thinly to the stamp.

Then stamp away, reloading between each stamping.

Hours of fun for the kiddos, especially if you have your Charlie Brown Christmas cd playing in the background and Christmasy junk food to nosh on.

in the christmas spirit at terrain

It was a good day to get out of the studio. It was the first sunny day in a while, and a call from a friend to go meet for coffee at the Cafe at Terrain in Glen Mills, PA was all the enticing I needed.

 

I always liked the old Styers, the nursery that Anthropologie bought to transform into their flagship lifestyle garden store, but it was more of a nuts & bolts kind of place. It didn't have a cafe, much of a gift shop, or quite the panache that Terrain has. I miss the plant selection though.

The seasonal displays here are always so irresistible. (Go here to see fall's displays) This winter's theme: rustic & cozy.

A little tartan.

A little woodland.

Time to start some paperwhites and amaryllis.

Winterberries. Yes it's finally December. All we need now is a picturesque dusting of snow!

hand block printed textiles by galbraith & paul

We couldn't stay away. Beth & I made the trek again into Manayunk, PA for Galbraith and Paul's annual sample sale on Saturday. I swore I'd never come back to Manayunk after getting 2 parking tickets in one day last time, but I was so bummed-out that my camera didn't work then, that I was able to be persuaded. I just am so heartened to see a handmade business thriving right here in the USA and on this scale. People fly in for this sale. The fabric is highly sought-after. I'm sure they've felt the pressure to get the price down by taking production off-shore, but so far the fabrics are all made here.

It was the usual feeding frenzy with the piles of pillows and the "by the pound" scrap table seeing a lot of action. I was tempted to start a new decorating project, but I only just finished the padded headboard  using the smokebush printed linen I bought here last year.

Originally, Galbraith & Paul were known for their handmade paper lampshades. Now the lampshades are fabric. Room and Board carries the pillows & lampshades. They have also ventured into rugs and wallpaper.

 So mod- so fab!

A complicated pattern like this takes either multiple blocks and/or requires hand painting more than one color on a block. It requires skilled artisans to execute.

These are some of the "blocks".

The ink is applied with these little rollers.

Just like at the paint store!

My friend Beth's new best friend: Liz Galbraith. Mr Paul was working the register. Even Liz's little boys were helping customers.

A glimpse of future designs on the pin-up board in Liz's studio. The loveliness continues...

a pleasant hike along the delaware river

We opted to skip the Black Friday sales last weekend. The cousins were in town and the weather was warm, so we decided to do a mini-hike in Old New Castle, DE along the Delaware River instead. To get to the start of the hike, you enter the town via rt 273/Delaware Street and take it past Jessop's Tavern and all the way to the end where there is a small parking lot and dock. Old New Castle itself is a historic 17th century town that is quaint to go exploring in, but today we chose to walk along the water through Battery Park and the paved trail that makes a short, doable 3 mile round trip.

click to enlarge map

The kids whined a little at the idea of a hike, but this is a great one for kids. Being close to the mouth of the river and the bay, the shore is sandy and covered with beachy stuff. There is a lot of driftwood to pick through, some shells, and a good amount of sea glass to find.

It's a picturesque walk despite the power plants visible across the way. 

Battery Park has some osage orange trees that have dropped their fruit. Although not an uncommon tree, we'd never noticed one or seen its distinctive fruit before. Not related to citrus trees at all, the osage orange is named so because of the pleasant citrusy smell of its fruit. They aren't edible are said to repel ants and look good in a bowl with gourds.

Once under way, we realized there must be some geocaches set up on the route. Sure enough, a check of the smartphone there were 3 to find which kept the kids going, even running, during the hike.

What kids doesn't like a treasure hunt?

Near the start of the hike was this old ticket booth from a now defunct railway line. We'll come back another time to tour the whole town and visit the Read House and the other historical sites. There is a garden tour in the summer that I haven't been to in years...