Story of Stuff!

You have to check this out! It's the Story of Stuff and fits right in with my New Year's Resolutions! You need a high-speed connection to see it. It's a 20 minute video about our economy and way of life in this country.

The Story of Stuff

And also in the spirit of reduce/reuse/recycle, how about cutting down on all those catalogs that flood into the house all the time! I found this link in my Vegetarian Times magazine.

Catalog Choice

I signed up right away. Let's all reduce our junk mail.

Posy the Pixie Puppy

This is Posy the Pixie Puppy, made for Jenna's (niece) 7th birthday. Fairies are the cool thing among her set these days. I wanted to try one of the glove dogs from Miyako Kanamori's book, and this is what resulted. Her wings have lots of little glass beads on them and her collar is accented with a butterfly bead. I also made a little story book to go along with Posy that describes how she turned from a regular glove dog into a Pixie Puppy and gained the duty of dispensing Dream Dust to all the dogs and puppies! I had a great time watercoloring the illustrations for the little story book, and if there's any interest, I could probably post the book as a Word document download. Below are a few illustrations from the book. I really enjoyed this project and I hope that Jenna does, too! And yep, that is Toby in the final watercolor--he was the model for the "real" sleeping dog.

What I'm reading lately

I found this absolutely DELICIOUS book in the bookstore yesterday and brought it home with me.

Sew Pretty Homestyle

I seem to be going through a pink phase lately and this book just hits the spot! Some of my favorite projects are the little sewn strawberries that you scent with strawberry essential oil and the adorable needle cases that are accented by embroidered flowers. This lady does everything I love! Once I complete some projects I'll share some photos. I also love the quilt she has in the book and the little cats and dogs and just about everything. What a great find!

Newest embroidery

Here's the apron I embroidered for a dolly friend. It's made of a vintage handkerchief and another fabulous free embroidery pattern from Vintage Transfer Finds.

The many moods of Onyx

I was taking a photograph of one of my embroideries (on a doll apron) and Onyx decided it was photo shoot time for princesses. She climbed in the lightbox, washed her face and paws thoroughly and then sat very nicely for her photos!

Off the want list and into the house

Here's Mandy by Heidi Plusczok. Mine is renamed Kerry and is displayed with the sculpture of Toby that was done by Barlee Rumburg of Fog City Designs. Isn't she cute?

Happy New Year

Today I am feeling refreshed! It's a bright, sunny day outside and it's only 7 degrees F, as we are in the middle of a COLD snap. Toby enjoys bounding through the drifts, but his feet freeze and he holds them up pathetically. This morning, he had to wear his sweater and booties, as it was -8 outside. He does a most interesting shimmy with his booties on--he thinks he can't use his feet correctly!

He's headed back to the house in this picture, and he doesn't have on his fun outerwear because we only ran outside for a minute for a photo op!

Since it's a new, clean year, in the spirit of New Year's Resolutions, here are a few of mine (this is a work in progress):

1. Be sure to remember my seven habits, especially BE PROACTIVE! I have a bad habit of procrastinating, which is always worse in the fall and winter, when I naturally have less energy due to the shorter days.

2. Spend more time traveling this year and visiting family, especially.

3. Always make time for crafting something, anything, at least once a week.

4. Play my dulcimer at least twice a week.

5. Draw, watercolor or pastel something at least quarterly.

6. Cut down on the number of grocery bags we use this year. Try this instead.

7. Buy handmade or make most gifts this year.