Pillow Talk

Is it a notebook or a pillow?

Handpainted Gift Tag by our Little Man

A little Thanksgiving Gift

It's Thanksgiving Week!  Time to say 'Thanks' to all the special people in our lives.  Instead of writing on cards, why not make a pillow notebook to write on - just like we did!  

:: Materials ::

plain fabric

bunting

sewing machine

thread (blue/ teal and red)

fabric markers

:: How To ::

- cut 2 pieces of fabric in either square or rectangle

- layer first fabric on top of bunting and pin in place

- sew horizontal straight lines using blue/ teal thread

- next, sew vertical line using red thread

- write your message using fabric marker or pen

- with right sides facing each other, sew both fabrics together

- leave about 5 inch opening to insert pillow stuffing

- reverse/ flip to right side 

- insert pillow stuffing

- sew opening to close

Now, bask in the joy you'll see from your special one.

And Huge Thanks for stopping by and being my friend here in the blogosphere.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Modern Crafty Wreath

Handmade Wreath

Two White Birds :: For our Two Boys

Bird Detail :: Handpicked by our Little Man at a local craft store

Leftover Yarn Detail :: Randomly Wrapped by our Boys

Tweet! Tweet!

Hello there.  Today I want to share with you the wreath we made with our boys.  It's a super simple project you can do with your kids, in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

:: Materials ::

12 inch round styrofoam 

fabric scraps, cut lengthwise

stray yarns

raffia (or ribbons, if you prefer)

birds, or choice of accents

:: How To ::

wrap fabric scraps around styrofoam (pin or glue to secure)

randomly cross over some yarn

tie raffia or ribbon and make a bow

hook or tie your choice of accents

:: All Done! ::

Now step back and enjoy your one of a kind, handmade wreath.

DIY Paper Luminaries

I made these for my friend's wedding recently.  Plain white paper lanterns (from dollar store) transformed into floral ball luminaries.

Here's the yellow version.  Want to make yours?  Stay tuned for the tutorial I'll be posting pretty soon.  


Thanks again for stopping by and sharing my morning.

Focal Shift

Working on the fifth. Right now, I'm deciding to shift the focus from the obvious focal point, which is the blue door. I want to lead the viewer's eye to something unexpected.

Stay tuned to see where it will be. But while you're here, why not tell me what you think. I'll be happy to hear your suggestions.

- Posted from my iPhone

Brushing the Hair

The day is almost done, and so is my painting. My boys took quite longer naps this afternoon, which allowed me to paint a little longer than usual.

Tomorrow, I'll post the photo of the finished painting.

Hope you like it and I'd love to hear what you think.

Going Green

Egg cartons for planters, anyone?

That's what I call 'thinking outside the box'. Better yet, 'planting on the boxes'.

Happy Sunday! Go green and grow greens.

- Posted from my iPhone

Brush vs. Hammer and Drill

Step 1 to 5 Completed. Twenty five steps to go!

Instead of brushes, I chose the hammer and drill today. After months of searching, I finally found the perfect shoe rack for our mudroom. We scored this Ikea TV stand on a clearance sale. 70% off. If you haven't put any Ikea furniture together, let me warn you that it requires tons of patience.

Big help from our little man.

He enjoyed handing out the lightweight pieces to me.

There are no words in the instruction manual, only photo illustrations. The screws, bolts and nuts are all packed together, without separate labeling. You've got to figure it out which piece matches the one indicated on the manual.

All done! Repurposed IKEA TV stand serves as shoe rack.

After almost four hours of hammering, drilling, screwing and awkward bending, I finally finished putting it together (with extra help from my little man and my mom).

Now, we're able to walk in the mudroom without tripping on piles of shoes. It's low enough for our boys to sit on and if it can hold the weight of a flatscreen tv, it should be sturdy enough to occasionally sit on.

My next project will be to put a cushion on top. So, tune in. In the meantime, I'm headed to reward myself with a warm, lavender bath.

- Posted from my iPhone

Fluffing the Seat Cushion

It's Sunday morning & I got to squueze in some painting time before the boys get up.

I'm moving on to the next garden, thousands of miles away. You can't see much of the two wrought-iron vintage chairs I'm painting yet. I'm spreading the purplish cream paint to create an impression of a seat cushion today.

Tune in tomorrow to see where our 'Hundred Gardens' tour will lead us.

Enjoy your Sunday! Thanks for stopping by again.

- Posted from my iPhone

Monday Musings

Somebody was up early today to paint with me. I was preparing to start the first painting for my 'Hundred Gardens' Project.


Watching him work on his own space reminded me to enjoy the process with childlike wonder. To occasionally break the rules of art for the sake of pure creativity.


Watching his brushstrokes made me realize once more that we can be who we want to be. In this case, the artists we desire to be. Not defined by the style of art we do, but defining the art we make by who we are.


Just like his painting, others may see it as just another child's doodle. But for him, it's his own 'work of art'. A product of his thought and creative spirit.

- Posted from my iPhone

ABCs of a Tea Party

With clear skies and nice weather, summer is the perfect time for tea parties. I'm not talking about the political 'tea parties'. This is after all, an art blog.

I recently held a tea party for the kids in our family. I want to share with you my ABC's for preparing a budget-friendly tea party for the little ones and the kids at heart too. I marked the photo above for your reference.

a - For the table napkins, I bought 2 yards of linen fabric and hand drawn the leaf prints with fabric pens.

b - My favorite flea market find! Twenty two set of white and silver vintage china in perfect condition. I wanted my little guests (and the not so little) to have a genuine experience using real tea cups.

c - Set of wooden bowls from Goodwill. Tough and durable for little hands.

d - For my flower centerpiece, I plucked some Nikko Blue Hydrangeas from our yard and set it on vintage blue wine glasses (another flea market find!).

e - No tea bags for that day, only loose leaf teas brewed in IKEA cafe presses.

f - Freshly squeezed lemonade mixed with mango juice, for refreshment.

g - Perfectly warmed tea bread and pastries from our local bakery.

And since my little guests know I'm an artist, I gave them their own 'art kits' complete with sets of paints, paper canvases and brushes from the dollar store. We let them express their creativity painting whatever subject they fancy.

Do I think they had a great time? The smiles from my tiniest guests say it all.

There you go! Have fun hosting your own tea party. Share your photos, I would love to see them too.

Carpenters Sew Too

Oven Mitten with Today's Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche

My first attempt at sewing.

I grew up in a home where creativity was highly encouraged.  Dad was always building something with his tools and mom sewed and made things for us.  There were no boys in the house (except for Dad), so I gravitated more on the 'tough' crafts like carpentry and painting furnitures.  It was inevitable for one of the girls to be Dad's handy assistant.  Luckily, it was me.

Some of my favorite memories was helping Dad build my (then) baby sister's nursery closet and her matching doll's closet.  Digging our first pond and crafting our vegetable garden's fences were so fun too.  Everything was built from scratch using manual tools.  While I was spending time with Dad, my other sisters were either drawing paper dolls or watching mom sew.

Big sis learned sewing quick, she was a natural.  Soon, she was making us tote bags, skirts and tops to match our dolls.  Back then, I thought sewing was difficult to learn.  Watching mom and sis pedal our old Singer sewing machine with so much ease seems to be a skill reserved for the 'crafty queens'.  That's when I decided I'd rather build, draw and doodle with paints.

An Artist's Oven Mitten.  Detail.

Fast forward to twenty years (wow, it was that long?),  I bought Mom her first electrical sewing machine for mother's day.  It's high time she retire the twenty-three year old Singer.  And it's my time to teach her how to use it.  But I haven't used one before.  

This is when technology comes handy.  We played the instructional DVD that came with it.  She was still intimidated, that the machine sat untouched for a whole week.  So, one morning I dared the (formerly) impossible task - sew.  

I needed a new mitten for baking (or should I say 'warming' up frozen stuff), perhaps that will be easy.  In carpentry, Dad would say 'Measure thrice, cut once'.  I learned that in sewing the hard way.  But aren't mistakes the best teachers?  

After five hours of often interrupted (with a little tot tugging every now and then) of cutting, pinning and sewing, I finally finished my first project. 

Just in time to pull out our baked (warmed up) quiche from Costco.