fridays rock

good morning all....so i was actually able to find some peace yesterday. i sat down at the sewing machine and made some pouches from hemp scraps....and a few other things. of course when i went to take pictures, the batteries in my camera start to die. happens every time, i sware! so i've got them charging and when it's nice and bright and sunny today i'll take some new ones. i've got a new bag listed in the SHOP and another sweet one in the works for today. i'm going to be dyeing some fabric today and then i can start on some of these ideas floating around in my head. my guy has to drive to albuquerque tonight to pick up his brother. it's a cool drive...but not when you've done it a hundred times and not at night. they probably won't be getting home until 1 am or so. that's if all goes well with his flights...he is supposed to be flying into dallas then albuquerque. i talked to my sister, who lives in huntsville, last night and she said houston airport was closing, but she wasn't sure about dallas. they're leaving their house and going to a shelter. i couldn't imagine having to deal with a hurricane! my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in it's path.
one last reminder that today is the last day to enter the drawing for one of my relax yah packs. so, if you haven't already, you can enter HERE ! don't forget to leave an email address so you can be contacted if you win....a lot of people forget to leave theirs it seems....i feel bad because they said sweet things about my work,but there's no way to reach them,so they're not entered. please remember to leave yours!! alright...i'm off to start my day.
~many blessings~

fabric time and sick wee ones...

yay! my new fabric came today from marlena from infintecosmoshemp! i got some hemp/silk herringbone...which i love to work with! i think i might make a skirt and a bag with it :) then i got a ton of hemp scraps. these are perfect for making some funky patchy wallets>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

i can't wait to make some new stuff, there's just not enough time in the day lately! all 3 of my girlies are sick right now. our oldest still has the swollen gland in her neck. i took her to the dr. about 2 weeks ago and he said it wasn't an infection so he wanted to wait 7-10 days to see if it went down. well it did...but then it started swelling again. she's had a headache for days now. we have to go to the hospital today and get some blood work done on her. hopefully they will be able to let us know what the deal is! i hate not knowing what's going on!!! then last night, our two youngest started not feeling well (but have completely different symptoms than our oldest)
our youngest now has a fever this morning. i feel so helpless when they're sick. i just hope they all get better soon! my guy's brother is coming in for a visit and will be here late friday night. he's spending the week with us. please send our girlies fuzzy,warm get better vibes so they recover quick and get to have fun while their uncle dan is here!
hope you all have a beautiful day....

i've been featured!

good morning! the lovely miss elke from http://dellejuwelen.etsy.com/ has featured me on her blog. it was so nice talking with her! she's an excellent crafter from belgium who specializes in making beautiful jewelry. please check out her shop at the link above!
you can find the blog feature on her blog here .

this month has been great so far for my shop so i went ahead and bought more hemp fabric last night. i can't stop!! fabric is such an addiction! after this i'm done buying it for while.....probably.....unless she gets something new again in her shop :)

hope everyone has a beautiful day!

~happiness~

we had a busy weekend here. our youngest turned 2 and we had everyone over for her birthday party. she was so excited....was pretty cute! there were bubbles floating through the air all afternoon.
it was also a package happy last couple of days. it's strange....i wont get anything in the mail for weeks but when i do i get a bunch at once. my bamboo fabric came from ms. marlena @ infinitecosmos. i'm washing it right now and plan on dyeing some of it later this afternoon. hopefully i'll have some bamboo creations in my shop soon! and of course i have about 4 half finished projects to get in there as well. i'm being featured in 2 blogs coming up soon, so i'm trying to get my shop stocked as much as possible.
another package i got this weekend was from my aunt. i had asked her if she had any pictures of my grandparents and she sent me some really great ones. when i get a chance maybe i'll share a few on the blog.
the day is slipping away and i have much to do. hope this finds everyone with a smile on their face!

~*~*Artist Feature*~*~

one of my favorite artists i've found on etsy is arliaflower. she's an amazing artist who has travelled extensively. i've admired her work for some time now and thought i would spread the word. she was kind enough to answer some questions and share some of her photos.

~how long have you been creating things?~

I was always quite creative as a child, making collages out of junk mail and sweet wrappers glued together with toothpaste and creating theatrical looking dresses from my mum's favourite bed linen - which I got smack for when she found bits of it trailing up the stairs to my bedroom. I studied art all through college experimenting with a wide variety of materials and techniques, although at the time my heart was set on fine art.

It wasn't until I finished college that I really started to develop my own skills in both painting and textiles. I hit a financial difficulty in this chapter of my life and quickly realized that painting was not going to make me money quickly, as much as I loved it I had to find something that could support me too. Which is where I began making crochet hats and I have been doing that for almost 4 years.

~from where do you get your inspiration?~

I have a passion for traditional costume, handmade fabrics (batiks, block prints, tie dyes etc) natural fibres and recycling. I Also find travelling very influential in my pieces and like to collect locally made materials in the places that I encounter. I would say that the things that inspire me the most are travel, sound, music, Africa ( in a big way because my father grew up in East Africa ) and father God who gives me creativity and the energy to make with my hands.


(above is a picture of arlia with her bead supplier)

~where have you visited? could tell us about one of your favorite trips?~

I have traveled Uganda, Malawi, Ghana, Egypt, Bahrain and been to a few european countries but I didn't really see a lot there.

So hard to pick a favorite really, as the journey for me is ongoing. The more I travel the more I learn about so many things.

Id say that the Middle East and Africa have played a big part in the way that I create things I love to go to the bead and fabric markets and watch the local men and women do their craft in the street. It always inspires me to do something new when I get home.

Uganda was very important for me on a personal level because I was finding the places where my father grew up and where my grandparents lived. Ghana was where I learned more as an artisan from watching my aunties sewing clothes and watching how the beads and fabric were made.

~any links you'd like to share?~

I recently came across this small family business on etsy that makes block print fabric from scratch in India and make it into gorgeous bed linens and house furnishings. www.saffronmarigold.etsy.com

This lovely lady makes really gorgeous fimo bead and glass bead jewelry with some lovely crochet bits too ( she made me a fantastic top )www.bunnydesigns.etsy.com

This woman makes gorgeous African inspired wire wrap jewellery, she also has a wedding range that is particularly gorgeous www.zayunubydesign.com

This is another family business that makes recycled sari silk and banana fibre yarn in India. I often use their yarns and they are one of my favorites and add something really special to my work.www.zaarucrafts.etsy.com




thanks for the great photos and talking with me arlia!! i'm sure your work will inspire others as it does me.

you can check out arlia's shop at www.arliaflower.etsy.com

adventures in tub dyeing

i'm finally posting some pics from my first experience in hand dyeing! this was a couple of batches using my hemp/cotton blend fabric and i used yucca and camel dye from dharma trading. it was super easy and my pieces turned out excellent...no streaks or flecks. i rock :)
here's a before picture of the hemp/cotton fabric(on top) and my hemp/silk blend. the little canisters are the dyes and the bag of white stuff is soda ash...that's the stuff that sets the color in the fabric.


here i am in my bandit gear. i'm dyeing a piece using the camel dye here. this came out a little lighter than expected but i can make another batch darker by just using more of the powder next time :)

this is the yucca batch soaking. i'm really lovin this color. here's a finished look at how it came out :)

i am officially addicted to dyeing now. it's fun to experiment and see what colors and shades you can come up with depending on the amount you use, temperature of the water and how long you let it soak it all up. i'm making a bag out of these two colors...it'll be in my etsy shop next week.

off to pack for our trip to the mountains now. hope everyone has a great weekend!

so i went to joanne's to buy just a few things today for a custom order.....and, of course, i ended up going a bit crazy :) here's a sample of what i got. i can't wait to turn these into wallets,bags and who knows what else!! i'm addicted to fabric...