So inspired I might burst!

Hours and hours of browsing the web tonight, starting from the blog I told you about last night, Posie Gets Cozy, has led me to endless inspiration. I have sewn my fair share of things in life, a few bags, pillows, curtains, table cloths, and even a duvet cover. I have used embroidery thread to stitch words onto fabric to be framed, and cut felt and stitched small pillows or images, but right now, I want to revitalize this whole aspect of my creative side. I want to pull out all the fabrics I have in the basement, and spend a wad online at this store in LA, and make owls and bears and moose, and trees, and not rest until my hands simply must, really, really must.
I also have painted the shit out of some furniture, from my whole all off white house of shabby chic stuff, to a house full of color and natural wood finishes now... I have a crap ton of furniture dying to be painted, including 2 rocking chairs, a wicker sofa, a bookshelf, cabinet, a dresser that needs a top coat, and a dresser that may or may not need a stripping. I picked up Ralph Lauren paint chips tonight. Simply the best paint and colors, and I should now, since I've painted and repainted so darn much... anyway... my house may not be spotless, but it's cozy, really well decorated if you remove the ceilings and hideous floors (I'm preparing for my log cabin, remember?), and filled to brim with things are uniquely created, touched, or arranged by myself and my fam. This is a crafter's home.

Here are some of the ideas I picked up tonight on Flickr. I am sooooo going to start embroidering again, more seriously. 17 & 18 are just bad ass pictures, and those last two pictures are where I want to vacation this summer.





1. ISBN 4579110730 (scan - spread i), 2. ISBN 407246385X - For Sweet Baby, 3. (linha de metros) > bolsa 73, 4. *garden*, 5. *a forest, 6. 'Strawberry Sundae' wall art, 7. felt ornament dove, 8. Shazaam the Shmerpi Pirate - Up Close, 9. Orlando, Othello & Oberon, 10. Beetle softie (for Annie-Mae), 11. Owl (hoot hoot), 12. Hector the Giraffe, 13. Cross-stitch frame, 14. Matryoshka Doll, 15. Bird and Feather Book - Handbound Mixed Media Wood Art Journal, 16. hot cocoa wristwarmers, 17. Lightning storm over Cocoa Beach, 18. Walk the Log, 19. gham040 Logs, square cut, 20. Crayola Lincoln Logs, 21. What now... mini art quilt, 22. Paletas Quilt - texture, 23. Lake of the Clouds, 24. Brownstone Falls

I also found this on a blog, it's a picture of a craft project in an Australian craft mag. I absolutly love it, and might order the back issue of the magazine just to see the instructions (if I can't find them elsewhere). On a related note, I decided I'm going to subscribe to Adorn magazine, too. not so I can learn to bedazzle, people, but because I think I can use these ideas for scrapbooking and beyond...


I've been online for hours now, listening to Theo snore on the floor in front of me, and looking at craft blogs galore, flying from one link to the next... and I tell you is not stopped snowing the whole time. We were out for a moment earlier, and car fishtaled a little. I have not been in the midwest my whole life, just a decade + 2 years now, or something like that. I know one of the only times I have ever been a fishtaling car was in St. Louis with Christine Smith and her mom driving onto an interstate. So I was freaked out for a few minutes... Theo was like, 'eh, whateva' cuz' he's done it a bazillion times. I'll let you know if we're snowed in when I wake up. I know I will be crafting tomorrow, no matter what the weather. I just don't know how I'll get to sleep with all these ideas?

Oh, and I've decided there are two cookbooks I need, this wonderful posie blog lady, alicia paulson, made them sound so incredible... so I'm going to use some babysitting money to get these incredible books, too. Falling Cloudberries, and Apples for Jam, both by Tessa Kiros--who, on a side note, happens to have a Finnish momma. We Finns get real excited to find other people who are Finnish b/c well, its not like Finland is huge. On another side note, I stumbled upon a Finnish Blog tonight, and I can't read it and it's driving me crazy. Maybe I need to get out those "How to Speak Finnish" books again; the brief attempt with them last time helped me understand the language so much more. I digress.

I heard a lot of women coming up with words for 2008. It took me until the end of the month to figure out what two words are going to most exemplify my year: care and create. I need to care more for the people and things around me, as well as myself, and I need to release the inner crafter; I've been in preperation mode for this all month and didn't even acknowledge it. I've poured over the craft books formerly collecting dust on my shelves, I've been tearing pages out of mags, and concocting ideas, and I'm ready now... for what I don't know, but it is coming, as long I can focus.

PS: On a totally random note, last night I dreamt (dreamed?) that I had to deliver 5 pizzas, one fresh, and 4 cold, to a little league game by Jaime and Eric Long's house (I've never been there, but in the dream I was there), then a group of us were sitting around a coffee table playing board games and Eric pulled my slipper off my foot, in a funny way that coordinated with the game, and I laughed so hard I kicked his front tooth out (with the foot that was in the slipper). When we all got in close for a look he had a baby tooth severed in two thanks to me. He left for the doctor immediately, and I gave the $1800 tax credit our govt is trying to pass right now to Eric to fix his tooth b/c it was my fault. How f-in random was that dream? Not as bad as my mom's recent dream: Peter Rabbit was hoping around serving her food on a tray, and she thought he was the Jack in the Box, from the food chain. She even said to him, "Oh, your Jack in the Box" and he looked at her like, "Um, okay weird lady, I guess I can be Jack in the Box for you?" She was laughing so hard she could not get back to sleep. Yeah, the apple can't escape the shadow of the tree, can it?

I miss my momma, and I think life is too short to live this far apart. She missing out on her grandkids too much, and I need her to be my antiquing and crafting buddy. Mom, are you sure you can't just up and move here with me?

Goodnight everyone.