New Year, New Projects, New Inspiration

So its now 2009, a new year and one of my new years resolutions is to be more experimental with my work and to perhaps go back to my first love - stitch! 

I just had my birthday and got some great new inspiration with some new books, crafts for baby by Alison Jenkins, the essential Stitchery guide and the creative family by Amanda Blake Soule.

I hope to use these books to fuel some great new projects!

I have also found some great blogs and websites too. Included my friend Lisa Soltis and Ruthi Auda. Check them out very inspiring. I also have been enjoying Amanda Soule blog and website too.

So here is to some new creativity and hoping that my daughter gives me a few good nap times to get some work done! 

Super Star

I finally got round to sending off my christmas ornaments for the swap that I'm doing! (see below post for details) I used felt, old vintage buttons, and this lace time fabric that I found at the dollar sale. They are also on sale at my etsy store and you can catch me at Unique this weekend in downtown LA.

Holiday Ornament Swap 2008

So last Christmas my friend Paula McGurdy participated in this Holiday Ornament Swap and I really wanted to do it myself but missed the deadline. So this year I signed up for it and I'm really excited about doing it this year. Cake and Pie and freshly{blended} host the event and have great blogs! So I'm excited about doing it this year.

Sienna Bella Ruth

Ok so the reason for my lack of creativity has been the wonderful addition to our family Sienna Bella Ruth. She was born Sept 22nd and was 7lbs 10oz. I now have a life model for my baby clothes designs aswell as someone to inspire my creativity so watch this space!

Birdie Mobile

It is so great having time to simple be creative and do those projects that are just for you! Well just for my future baby. I really wanted a black and white mobile for the baby to look at when it is first born but couldn't find any I liked any where so I decided to make my own. I sketched some birdie shapes and ideas in my sketchbook and than made those shapes into 3D figures out of various fabrics and ribbons. We hung it using a wooden embroidery hoop!

Now all we need is the baby to arrive! Due in 2 weeks!

Beautiful Losers

My good friend Kathleen found out about this documentary called Beautiful Loser that was showing in a small cinema around the corner from us and a few of us went to see it tonight. It was so inspiring! It followed the development of various artists influenced by various street cultures.  It made me just want to draw and paint and express myself again. Here are a few images that inspired me, Barry Mc Gee and Thomas Campbell. 

Nursery Tree Design

So my little baby arrives in roughly 4 weeks and I decided to make it something fun and happy for its nursery. I decided to design a tree as it was a good gender neutral object( the baby's gender is a surprise) and also I found some great inspiration for the idea. The romp store website had this great tree decal and cut-ture had this amazing enchanted forest wooden tree that I loved. So I used this 2 ideas and came up with this huge tree design. I appliquéd all of it and sewed it all with different fun stitch techniques I used vintage fabrics and other store bought fabrics. I loved adding buttons and ribbons to add texture to the leaves. I love my orange birdie!
We hung it up on the wall this weekend with a wooden poll and I am so pleased with how it turned out in the end!