June Goals Monthly Meetup

Greetings from Idaho! We drove 1400 miles in 3 days, and we’ve got a fun filled couple of days ahead of us in Idaho with family! While the men of my family are off getting fishing licenses I thought I’d check in with my goals for June:

Item	Date Due	% Done
RAA newsletter	6/8/09	100%
30 Going Green Journal Covers	7/4/09	100%
Little Wallets	6/30/09	20%
4 warm clutches	6/30/09	100%
Dye scarves(24)	7/5/09	100%
Tote for Co	6/30/09	0%
Laptop bag for Mary	6/30/09	0%
AFHS Application Due	6/30/09	100%
WEBSITE!	??	15%
Camera Bag for Liam	6/30/09	100%
2 Baby Quilts	6/30/09	0%
5 cool clutches	6/30/09	0%
Laptop bag for Liz	6/30/09	0%
Large Messenger for ME!	7/3/09	0%
Cool Colors quArt	6/30/09	0%
Laptop bag for Liz	6/30/09	0%
3-d Birdhouses	6/30/09	0%
3-d Row Houses	6/30/09	0%
Art Book for Sue B. call	6/30/09	100%

This month’s plans took a back seat to decorating, and then a big left-hand turn when I got a bee in my bonnet to place a big wholesale order for the 100% post-consumer recycled paper Eco-Jotters. I ended up making 30 awesome journal covers in time to pack in my trunk for the trunk show I’m doing tomorrow here. So that one little line on my to do list turned into a much bigger project, distracting me from other things on the list, but I’m really happy with what I made, so it’s all good! I also got into a nice little groove with the boys, where each morning from 10-noon, they played in the pool while I was dyeing on the patio. I going to keep this up when we return, as it’s perfect weather for dyeing, and they need to be out playing before it gets too hot. I’m going to try to dye smarter and dye a LOT of scarves in the summer months (and more fabric too) so I have less dyeing to do during the cooler months. Duh! it’s the “make hay while the sun shines” thing!

This month’s list will be really short, as the bulk of my time will be spent in Yellowstone, hopefully getting recharged and reinvigorated! I already had some awesome inspiration from some lichen growing around the campsite we spent a night in in McCall, Idaho:

The boys are having great fun tromping around in the wild: Logan was really taken by this rock he found:

So, here’s what i hope to get done in July when I return from vacation:

Item	Date Due	% Done
AFC Postcard	7/31/09	10%
Tote for Co	7/31/09	0%
Laptop bag for Mary	7/31/09	0%
Laptop bag for Liz	7/31/09	0%
Large Messenger for ME!	7/31/09	0%
3-d Birdhouses	7/31/09	0%
3-d Row Houses	7/31/09	0%
2 Baby Quilts	7/31/09	0%
WEBSITE!	??	15%
Dye lots of scarves		0%
Dye Fabric		0%

I’ll miss my studio, but hopefully I’ll find more beautiful things to inspire me:

30 Journals finished…Off to Vacation!

  

Yes! This is stacks and stacks of new “Going Green Journal Covers!” Finished JUST IN TIME to pack up and take to Idaho, for my 1st out-of state trunk show! How many altogether? 30!, 15 in a warm set of colors and 15 in a cool set. If I ever tell you again that I’m going to make 30 of something all together, all at once – SLAP ME up the side of the HEAD! Seriously, it’s easier to do the same step over & over again – but when you’re doing that step 30 times, it goes quite slowly. SO, when you’re trying to keep some out of school boys occupied, attend and photograph several important concerts, and get ready for a camping vacation – it’s a bit UNNERVING!

Anyway, here’s a few more photos (do you like the name of this line?)

 

   

And more will be up in the Flickr site group.

And now – we’re off to Idaho and Yellowstone. I SHOULD have some connectivity in Idaho, so I hope I can pop in up there, but then – HORRORS – no internet for – over a WEEK!!!??? Help! Wish me luck!

Lots of pieces!

I know this doesn’t look like much, but this is all the fabric pieces, properly cut, fused to interfacing (the outside pieces get interfacing & batting) for 30 new journal covers (still need name!). It’s the WORST part of making, and the more I make at a time, the longer it takes! AAAHHH! Lets see how much I can get done today!

“Candy can’t come to the blog right now…”

“…she’s too busy cutting & fusing right now. Please leave a message after the beep…………BEEP”!

 

Guest Blogging

Hi there! I’m blogging about taking photos over at Simply Robin today. I took some new photos of my new Journal covers (STILL need a name!) this morning and posted my adventures over at Robin’s. Here is the “money shot” – I LOVE this one…

I’m now off to sew 30 of these babies by…Saturday! Yikes!!!!

More Clutches finished!

They’re coming with me to Idaho for the trunk show! We leave a WEEK from TODAY! YIKES! I gotta get cracking…next up, lots of Eco-Covers! (Need a new name for this type of thing – any suggestions?)  

17 Years and counting

18 years ago, the last Saturday in June, my husband & I had our first official “date” – he cooked me dinner and we talked until…early in the morning.

52 weeks later we were married. Lots of rain, a huge tent in the yard of my Mom & Step-Dad to be, good music, pretty flowers, awesome food, an incredible day. I wish we’d had digital camers back then. For now, a quick couple of shots from my album (literally, I photographed the pics).

Until Andrew, a certain part of my energy was always spent wishing I had someone just like him. Now that I do, I can direct all that energy into living…

Raising these two (whoops – 3!) munchkins:

  Teaching:

And of course, all that I talk about on this here blog!

Often times, paying attention to him when he’s and the end of another long day doesn’t happen…but it’s only because of him that I can be so happy and full of energy to pursue all that I do.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

Introducing…Eco Covers!

What are these? you ask!

Do you remember the notebooks I won the other day? They are made by Ecojot, a Canadian company makes 100% post-consumer recycled paper products. And although the covers are beautifully designed by Carolyn Gavin, I have been searching for just the right notebooks to make covers for! I love making notetakers & notelets:

except for the 2nd to last step, wrestling very thick peltex into the cover – it has to fit just right, and it drives me crazy! SO, I’ve been looking for notebooks to cover with very stiff covers, so I didn’t have to worry about so much stiffness. The other issue with these is they hold tear-off sheet pads,

and I wanted to find nice spiral bound notebooks/sketch pads so the paper can remain in them more permanently. I’m also trying to use recycled paper as much as possible: man do these Ecojots fill all my criteria, Plus, they have plain brown styles of just about their entire line, so I don’t have to feel guilty about covering up Carolyn’s pretty covers! This is one of those ideas I’ve had in the back of my mind for over a year now, and I’m always on the lookout in Office Depot, etc…

Any old who…I’ve abandoned all other projects for the past 2 and a half days, I’ve gone through 7 different versions:

And these are now ready for production! These photos are NOT the best, but I’m too excited to stop and try to take more!

1st up is the largest size (6” x 9”), the Eco-Agenda. It is a perpetual datebook along with 100 pages of lined paper in the back:

Next up is the Eco-Agenda & the Eco-Doodle. Both are 5” x 7” and have 80 sheets of paper, either lined or unlined!

Last, and cutest is the Mini-doodle: 3” x 4”, it has 50 sheets of drawing paper:

As you can see, all the covers hold closed with an elastic, and have pen holders and pockets. To give the covers body, they’re interface with med. weight interfacing and batting, and the lovely stiffness comes from the awesome Ecojot covers!

I’m so excited, these are exactly what I’ve been waiting to make, and make I shall! I’ve ordered 50 from Ecojot, and FedEx willing, they’ll be here before I leave for Idaho in 10, 9, 8 days – yikes! Here’s hoping the folks up in Sandpoint like these, cause I’m making a bunch for my trunk show there!

just in case you haven’t seen enough pictures:

I’ve got work to do!

Going Home to Roost!

My Luck continues! A post Jan over at Scoutie Girl wrote yesterday alerted me to a fabulous new blog: Going Home to Roost. It’s a blog about (quoting Bonnie, the owner of this particular home):

“going home to roost is dedicated to a simpler way of life and focuses on handmade style and design. it features talented artisans, designers & eco indieprenuers. it also includes some handmade how-to’s, recipes and whole-living tips to boot.  it’s purpose is to provide daily inspiration and to allow its readers to feed their creative mind!”

Well, she had me at her tagline – “simply handmade an homegrown”. She has absolutely brilliant photos, and just look at these (on sale in her Etsy shop)

Birds + Apples = what could be wrong? AND, I've got a clothesline piece in my mind...

mmm...woolfelt...delicious in both texture & color

Lovely! AND, she was having a little contest offering a free month of advertising on her blog – and I WON! WooHoo!

Thanks Bonnie! (And thanks Jan for posting!)

Getting it done.

Big surprise…the more time I spend surfing the web, the less I actually get done! With the countdown to vacation at 10 days, I’ve really got to put my nose to the grindstone. I kept blog reading to a bare minimum yesterday, only reading the blogs I’ve put in a special category called “1st read”, the others will get read at night when I’m relaxing on my chaise…isn’t that why they invented laptops?

Speaking of the chaise, last Friday I got a bee and my bonnet, and found bamboo blinds for lots of $$$ off at Bed, Bath & Beyond, had the hubby install them, dyed fabric for some side panels, had hubby install some fancy picture lights above the 2 quilts that have been sitting unused in my house for months, and the living room is pretty much complete! I’ve hung a couple of quilts in the Dining room, but those will change, hopefully sooner then later. So, here it is:

Now, I’m putting my nose back to the grindstone!