The Kindness Chronicles

Hello again.  It's the first Sunday of the month and time to share The Kindness Chronicles.  This month I'm focussing on all the kindness that I've been noticing around me.

Two weeks ago I came across a blog post on a blog called, "What a Ride".  This wonderful woman and her two children spent her 35th birthday doing random acts of kindness.  In her post she describes their day.  Awesome!

I've decided that my husband is the poster child for kindness.  In addition to the wonderfully thoughtful things he does for me every day, he makes beautiful woodwork.  He goes in cycles, for a while it was beautiful pens with celtic knots in them, currently he's making end-grain cutting boards that are works of art.  The amazing thing is that although we see these sorts of things for sale for big prices (pens for around $50 and hand crafted end-grain cutting boards in the $300 dollar range), my husband gives them away.  Everyone from friends, family, our banker, his doctor, dentist, etc. have one of his wonderful pens, and many of our friends have received cutting boards too.  He's like a little boy on Christmas morning as he watches the expression on people's faces when he tells them it is for them to use and enjoy.

Our Golden, Casey, with her puppy friend, Buddy.

My neighbour Brenda and her son Rick probably have no idea how they've been affecting me lately.  You see, they got a new puppy three weeks ago and whenever they walk by our yard they always stop for a chat and visit so that I can have my "puppy fix".  There is nothing like a new puppy's snuggles to brighten my day!

I try to cycle for a couple of hours daily for my physical and mental well-being.  The other day while I was out, my chain came off.  In spite of the fact he was all dressed up to do an open house, a young realtor stopped to ask if he could help.  I wouldn't let him actually touch anything (no point in both of us touching that well greased chain) but he did teach me something that I didn't know about my bike which made it so easy to put the chain back on.  I can't wait until my son gets back from university so I can teach him this tip!
On that same ride, I stopped to get something out of my back pannier and a couple of minutes later another cyclist came along and asked if I needed any help before he continued on past.  How reassuring to know that if I really ran into trouble while out cycling there would be people offering assistance.  There are a lot of wonderful people in the world!

Please drop by Lyric Kinard and Jane LaFazio's blogs to read about their Kindness Chronicles.  Thanks for visiting.

If I Were Half My Age...

Wouldn't it be fun to design and wear a wonderful steampunk creation?

The current challenge for my fibre art group, GOE, is 'steampunk'.  I don't often pull out my sketchpad to design my fibre art pieces (I tend to work more intuitively and let the pieces lead me where they may), but for this piece I started by designing the steampunk dress on paper.  Once I had the drawing of the dress I started gathering my materials and the real fun began.

Thanks to my husband's generosity, I was able to cut into a really old leather jacket that he had finally stopped wearing because of all of the holes he'd worn into it.  Although I was reluctant to cut into it (I loved the old worn look of it) I did realize that he was starting to look like a street person when he wore it. LOL  The brown bodice of the dress as well as the black band across the background both came from that wonderful jacket.  The black part is the cuff, complete with the snap closure.  The zipper that finishes the upper edges was also from that jacket.  I used little scrapbooking eyelets to be able to lace the bodice of the dress.

Because of the weight of all of the leather, gears and other materials, I actually had to reinforce the back of this piece with a 1"x 2" piece of wood across the width so that it would hang without drooping into itself.

The background fabrics in the piece are my own original designs too.  The top piece was photo transferred using a copyright free image and TAP and the bottom piece was created using tissue paper, foil and organza.  This piece was left over from a box I made last year.

And the winner is...

Wow, the odds for this one were great.  Only four people left comments, and the lucky winner of the My Memories Suite software is:

Ruthanne

Congratulations Ruthanne.  Please send me an email with your contact info. and I'll get the download code out to you.

Creating Subtle Frames

After watching Kim Klassen's latest video tutorial in Beyond Layers, I've been experimenting with creating subtle frames around photos.  In the past I've achieved this look with a few of Kim's textures, which have the frame already 'built in' for lack of a better term, but using the new skills I've learned, I can now add frames to any photo, regardless of the textures I apply (if I apply one at all).  [BTW, Kim's starting a second round of Beyond Layers on April 16th if you're interested in signing up.]

This first photo is of a frog I met while cycling last summer (he's also featured in my blog banner).  It's a good thing he was on a very quiet country road, because I got down on my knees and had my iPhone right on the road to take this shot. :o)  After I photographed him I moved him to the side of the road (beside the river that I hoped he was trying to get to).

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

This second image was taken in an antique market.  What a great place to wander about and take pictures!

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Texture Tuesday: Pink

For this weeks Texture Tuesday photo, I was having some fun playing with hue/saturation.  The theme was pink and I didn't have a great subject for pink, but I had just taken this photo of old bottles and I just love them.  Although their original colour is wonderful, I decided to play with them and make them fit the 'pink' theme.  :o)

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

After doing the hue/saturation adjustments, and a bit of a levels adjustment, I added Kim's 'dustyrose' texture a couple of times (see to the left for blend modes and opacity).  What better than a pink texture to work into this week's theme!

If you haven't signed up for Kim Klassen's "Texture Lovin' List" yet, what are you waiting for?  Kim generously provides download links to wonderful and free textures every week!  Just click here and sign up (the box is near the top right of the page).

Shadow Play and Beads

Back in the first week of March I showed you the beginnings of this art quilt, before I started the quilting.

The next step was to do the free motion machine quilting.  There is something very 'zen' about doodling with a sewing machine!  In this case, I let the batik drive my stitching design by loosely following the pattern in the batik.

Once I finished the quilting this piece moved from my studio to the family room where I did the beading while 'listening to' TV.  I also added a little hand stitch with pearl cotton to give the smaller squares a bit more texture and interest.  Again, I used the design in the fabric (that I had fussy cut in the original piecing and fusing stage).

And The Winner Is...

 The lucky winner of Lyric Kinard's DVD Bead It Like You Mean It is...

(please use your imagination to hear the drum roll...)


  Robbie!

Congratulations Robbie.  Please contact me via email to send me your mailing address and we'll get the DVD out to you.  If you were not the lucky winner, you can click here to purchase this wonderful DVD.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Beautiful Black and White

My niece has the most incredible black and white portraits of her children hanging over the fireplace in her living room.  They are large close-up images of their faces, and they totally capture the character of each child.  This week's challenge in Beyond Layers is to explore black and white photography so I've taken a couple of photos and using Photoshop, I've transformed them to black and white.

This first one is a close up of my youngest great niece's face, focusing on her bright, beautiful eyes:

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

This next one is me, taken while skiing:

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.

Great Beading DVD Give-Away

 Computer gremlins have caused the images in this post to disappear.  Sorry!

If you've seen some of my heavily encrusted beaded pieces of art, you'll know that I'm a bit addicted to beads (and if you haven't, click on the BJP 2012 tab at the top of the page).  When I first decided to join the Bead Journal Project back in December, I treated myself to a copy of Lyric Kinard's Bead It Like You Mean It DVD so I could get some more information and inspiration.  I am a self taught beader and thought it might be a good idea to learn a few things about how to bead to get the results I was seeking and how to make sure I was securing the beads so that they wouldn't start coming off later on.  I worried about my heavily encrusted pieces starting to fall apart over time. LOL

The other day, as I was planning to start my March BJP piece, I pulled the DVD out again and reviewed it.  I love Lyric's clear and easy manner of speaking.  Its like having her sitting with you in your family room.  The DVD has great visuals and its easy to see what Lyric is talking about as she demonstrates it with great close-up shots of her work as she repeats the stitches to make sure that you really understand.

Lyric explains beading terminology and covers many topics from testing for colour-fastness (never would have thought of that for glass beads!), to needles, threads, and beads themselves. Bead It Like You Mean It is 90 minutes long, divided into 7 chapters.  One of my favourite chapters taught me how to make fun bead cages (the inspiration for the binder cover I made for myself).

close-up

Binder Cover: Shisha mirrors
secured with beaded cases.

Another great tip is how to embellish a finished quilt top, working from the top of a finished quilt without making a mess of the back of the quilt with knots and travelling threads.

Bead It Like You Mean It is full of good tips and tricks to make beading fun (read addictive) and even portable.

Here are some images of Lyric's work from the DVD:

Beautiful lines ending in fun spirals

 -what a wonderful way to 

embellish a quilt.

Don't you love the texture of these

 beads mixed with the stitch!

I love these wonderful bead stacks!

Lyric's bead cages capture her
lovely cabochons.

Watch this short video clip to get a peek at Lyric's easy, down to earth teaching style.

Want to win a copy of this great DVD?  Lyric has generously offered to provide me with a copy of the DVD so that I can give it to one of my wonderful followers (that's you!).  Leave me a comment by the end of the day on Sat. March 24th, telling me why you just have to have this beading DVD and what your beading goals are.
Want a second chance to win? If you have a blog, put a post on your blog with a link to this give-away (and leave me a comment linking to your post) and you'll get a second chance to win! 

I will post the winner's name on Sunday, March 25th.  Good Luck!

Texture Tuesday: Free and Easy

This weeks prompt for Texture Tuesday was 'free and easy'.  We were to choose any photo and add one of Kim's textures.  I took this picture back in the fall when I was out driving in the country.  You've got to love that face!  Wouldn't this make a great poster in an orthodontist's office? LOL

Mouse over photo to see the 'before' image.