The Joy of Summer Colors.

One of my girls favorite things to do in the summer is to paint rocks. Where ever we go - they collect rocks, bring them home then paint them all kinds of glorious colors.

Some of the rocks find their way to different craft projects around the house, or they might decorate the patio, or become jewels in secret treasure boxes...

They also end up as fairy furniture in the fairy garden down at my parent's camper. With their unabashed use of color in mind, I started to work on another collaged picture frame. This one is in shades of blue and purple.

I will post more pictures as this gets finished. In the mean time, what are your favorite colors of summer?

A Hot Air Balloon Festival and an Online Class...

We got to see hot air balloons up close and personal last weekend...

What is it about a big blue sky and a brilliantly colored hot air balloon that is so amazing to look at?

We had absolutely perfect weather last weekend to watch the hot air balloons that were taking of from the campground where my parents' camper is permanently parked. It was a little warm but the sky was clear, and blue, and the balloons were incredible! This was the closest I had ever been to them- they are MASSIVE when you are this close...

The people who were setting up, and filling the balloons with hot air really had to work hard! When the burners went off to fill the balloon, three or four people had to hold the basket down so it wouldn't float away (although the balloons themselves were tethered to the ground until take off). The girls had a blast - I was thankful though that neither of them wanted to go for a ride! They had fun just watching all of the excitement from the ground...

Speaking of excitement, I have decided to take an online class from Alisa Burke on color. The class is called "Color Your World", you can sign up at http://alisaburke.blogspot.com/ . I also bought a Moleskine journal a couple of weeks back. I have always kept a written journal, but lately have been trying out a little bit of art journaling. It's a bit odd for me, I have all of these ideas in my head all day long at work, yet when I get home and open up that journal, I just stair at the blank pages. I plan on using the journal for my color class - this way, I will have some assignments and some inspiration to get me started! I have always created things for as long as I can remember, but I have always made "things": gifts for people, something that is useful, or has a purpose. It has only been within the last year, that I have really thought about creating just for the sole purpose of creation and expression. Sometimes (and I know this is just mommy-guilt) I feel like if I am creating just to play and create, I should be doing something more constructive. I know this is a ridiculous thought so I'm hoping this class and the art journal will help me break that destructive thought process! Have a wonderful week!

This is some embroidery of a set of pears. They are embroidered on a painted dryer sheet than cut out and sewed to a piece of coffee stained muslin. I let the edges of the muslin fray and then stamped them with a little bit of color to complement the pears. I am in the process of making a paper cloth bag, the pears will eventually be attached to the bag...

This is a partially completed embroidered hydrangea, also on a painted dryer sheet. I have also added some beads for embellishments. I'm not completely sure what I'm going to do with it when it is complete. Over the winter, I had been experimenting with dying some quilt batting (there was a tutorial in the winter '10 issue, I believe, of Quilting Arts magazine, by Judy Coats Perez- easy and fun), and some muslin. l. I would like to try to do something using the hydrangea, the batting and the mulin, but I'm just not quite sure what, suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I get a lot of my color inspiration from the art work my girls complete. Without even giving it a thought, they can paint something and the colors are just beautiful...

There is no real process to their creativity, they don't think about what colors would look best grouped together etc, they just create with pure abandonment...

Think of how wonderful and beautiful the whole world would be if we all colored like we were five again! I hope everyone has a wonderfully colorful week (and cool for those of us still feeling the affects of a major heat wave).

A finished project...

I finally finished this embroidery project that I have been working on for several weeks. The pattern is a free download from http://sebadesigns.multiply.com/. Her name is Seba and she is from Turkey and her passion is Blackwork. Her designs are beautiful. I changed the colors around a bit and added some beads. I finished it by sewing the embroidery to some turquoise curtain fabric and adhering it to a 12 by 12 stretched canvas board. Andrew's Aunt Tonya had given us a big bag of old pinch pleat curtains, they had belonged to his grandmother. (I should preface this with the fact that we moved into an 1894 Victorian house in an older historic neighborhood of Cleveland. I do miss that house! I love Norwalk, but I miss that house.) Aunt Tonya figured since we had a lot of windows, that we would want the free curtains. I never used them on the windows but I never threw them out either. I just knew the fabric would be useful one day. I am glad I finally finished this, it actually looks very nice hanging in my living room and I have to say that I am quite proud of the way it turned out. I hope everyone has a nice week.