silly as it sounds...: November 2006 entries

things with wings

i have a thing for the wing....lol....that is, things with wings! :) birdies, owls, angels, etc...NOT wasps, flies, mosquitoes, et al..... ;) anyway, here is a little creation inspired by artisan chika mori. this little birdie is called 'piper' and is quite the daydreamer...

she is made of wool, felt, and cotton, with felted feet that are backed with buttons, and stuffed ever so lightly with polyfill. she makes me happy. :)

so, i guess i should go ahead and admit it here....i am opening a shop at etsy.com to house an outlet for all of this wool and stitchery goodness....soon to be offering homes to my little softie creations. :) you will be able to find me at:

tiabennett.etsy.com

have you ever browsed through that site? WOW! some incredibly amazing artisans over there!! sooooo cool! i could totally get lost there for the afternoon...such a wide variety of handmade crafts and collections and creations....it is SO COOL. love that this place offers artists a place to share their wares.

went to some fun shops this weekend after thanksgiving...some of my absolute faves! i love when the stores have all their decorations for the holidays up and in full swing...so inspiring and beautiful! my faves by FAR, however, were L'Occitane (verbena lotion....MMMmmmm....and some cinnamon orange incense *new* for the holiday season!)

and Fireworks....a RAD little store with only 5 seattle locations (one of which is at the airport, for all you travellers...;) ) that totally celebrates art in life and specialized in funky quirky cool gifts and handmade odds and ends. THIS paper lampshade i am DYING to have...everytime i go to the store, i WISH i had the guts to get it for myself. *sigh* maybe some day.... :) but i DID find the most GORGEOUS leatherbound blank book, handmade, of course.....button flap closure, raw suede inside....oh, be still my soul! it is going to be my new art journal....it is such a treasure! :)

oh, and i am JUMPING for JOY...we sold our piano this weekend, which is wonderful news for this 5-person family packed into this small rambler....we will finally have a functioning entryway again! the christmas tree will take up residence there for now, however, but we are feeling much roomier, already! pshew! and having it go to a good home was nice. we loved that antique piano, but just needed the room more.

saw the new movie 'happy feet' this week...baylor was DANCING the whole time...he really enjoyed it! :) he is a penguin lover, for sure! :) it was pretty cute. which reminds me i got him a penguin ornament for the tree this year. each year we get the kids an ornament that relates to them and their life somehow. this year braxton got a football, and olivia a pickle (her fave food. :) ) which also reminds me i am making a bazillion ornaments and such this year, which also reminds me that i better get off my tail and get back to work! so much to do...so little time! :) have a happy weekend everyone....we've been told to maybe expect snow! :O

OH MY GOSH and i forgot to mention all the drooling i did over this brand of clothing at macys. holy heavenly textile madness. i am in LOVE. ohmyohmyohmyohmyOHMY. :)

Posted at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

i will post! i will post!

so much going on these days....not a spare moment in the mix! eek! happy goings ons, though....good goings ons. i will post soon....with sense and sensibility. i fear if i attempted an epic post this evening (morning?!) at 1:15 am (my typical bedtime these days) i would not make any sense at all! lol i get to be quite the rambler after eleven pm. ;) i will share a quick picture though of some recent creations....first an "Alphabetica" entry for Laura's journal. the subject matter is an actual ancestor of mine, that upon close examination of her picture told quite an interesting story about the fashion of the times....and sent me searching wikipedia for corsets and wasp waists. :)

you can see the full page pics in my alphabetica photo album here

and a recent trip to the fabric store for scrapbook related supplies resulted in my picking up yet another new hobby....oooohhhhh.....i am SO in love with this one....wool felting. seriously. it is SO COOL! and a total stress reliever cause you have to basically punch barbed needles through layers of wool over and over and over and over and over again to created the felted result. :) it is like PAINTING with FIBER!!!! i loooooooove it. :) oh. AND i'm hooked lately on making softies. softies are kinda the catchy name (so i hear) for stuffed animals, basically. but with your own funky twists! who ME? a funky twist???? (snicker) it is pretty fun! i've only had time to make 2 so far, but have big plans, baby! ;D lol it's been a lot of fun to reconnect with my textile "roots," so to speak. (before i 'gave in' to scrapbooking i was a quilter; applique, hand quilting, crocheting, rug hooking....all sorts of fiberous fun! :) ) but since scrapbooking took off for me, i haven't really spent any time with these old loves....i miss it! :) and, even more excitingly, i'm finding fun ways to bring the love for this stuff over into my scrapbooking.....totally a marriage made in heaven for me! :) okay....so here is my first "softie" i have ever made....i made myself an owl (cause i love them....owls, birds....love things with wings. :) OH. WAIT. things with wings that do NOT have either a thorax or eight legs....EEK) lol anyway.

(like i said....after 11 pm....and i'm a ramblin fool.....hee hee

anyway, here is my owl, "hootie girl" with her mouse in her beak. i'm experimenting still with shapes and techniques, textures and styles. so more animals/softies are sure to come! the mouse is actually felted wool that i created from scratch with roving, wool felt, and yarn. it was so fun! the owl uses vintage buttons for eyes, and a combination of wool and cotton body with polyfiber fill...and a few dried legumes thrown in for good measure...and weight. ;)

the second image shows the custom labels i will make for all my creations....my name stitched into some vintage pink and white striped taffeta ribbon. :)

tomorrow i'll share my felted birdie ornament inspired by artist Chika Mori....it is so cute i think i am going to have look at it again in the morning and make sure i'm not dreaming up its cute quotient. haahahahhaaaaa

i have a fun announcement very soon relating to all this textile goodness.....hopefully over the holidays i will have time to iron out all the details so i can get it rolling!

OH! okay. and one more thing. lol. i got the opportunity to do the layout of the day today at 2peas...this page makes me smile. :) lotta memories wrapped up in this ugly old chair. :)

i hope those of you celebrating Thanksgiving Day today have a wonderful, enjoyable weekend....full of family and food and fun and happy tummies and minimal interpersonal familial conflict....lol ;) i am so thankful for all of my many blessings my Father has bestowed upon me and my family. i really don't deserve all the wonderful things He blesses me with. but i am so, so grateful.

so grateful.

:)

Posted at 01:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)