I wanted to make her a new blanket for her birthday and had this cute flannel fabric for awhile.
I thought the panda on it was so cute and wondered if I could make her a stuffed panda to go with it.
I made a sketch on some scratch paper. I started by cutting out a piece that would be big enough for the face and added the fabric and stitching. I kept telling myself that I would try to do as much as I could and then have mom help me with the rest. I know that mom has created stuffed animals before, so I figured I would have to use her expertise.
I just kept cutting out shapes that I thought would work and sewing them together. I ended up working on it long enough that I figured it out on my own! I’m sure if I had asked for her help it would have turned out even better, but I am so happy with the results. Miss Tickles loved it too.
She loves sleeping with her new blanket and her panda doll.
What do you do when every winter coat you can find for little girls is 100% polyester and the little girl who needs to stay warm is allergic to polyester? We shared the solution we came up with for that same little girl two years ago on this post. Now she is four and her coat is too small. Our solution for that coat was to line the hood with cotton flannel so her face would not be rubbing against the polyester fabric. Usually she was wearing long sleeve clothing and the inside of the coat was not touching her bare skin so she was ok. While searching for a coat this year, all of the warmer winter coats had fake fur (polyester) around the hoods and we knew the previous solution would not work.
So we found a cute light weight jacket (without fur) amongst all the polyester coats and a 100% cotton hoodie to modify into a warm winter coat.
For extra warmth, I hand sewed a layer of cotton quilt batting to the inside body of the pink jacket. I did not add batting to the sleeves or the hood.
Then I removed the zipper from the hoodie, turned the hoodie wrong side out and hand stitched the edges of the hoodie to the inside of the pink jacket. (Notice she now has hidden pockets on the inside of her coat!) I positioned the sleeves of the hoodie inside of the jacket sleeves and did a small hand sewn tacking stitch through the jacket and hoodie on the underarm seam just above the ribbing of the hoodie. That way the sleeve cuffs are still flexible but stay in position when pulling arms out of the sleeves.
I could have started from scratch and made a coat for her but there wasn’t time. The weather was turning colder and she needed a coat. Sometimes it is easier to modify what you can find when you can’t find exactly what you need.
Another coat modification I made a couple of years ago was for my pregnant daughter who wanted to stay warm for the last couple months of pregnancy without spending a lot of money on a new maternity coat. See what I did in this post.
Somehow in the past couple of years while visiting with crafters and artists at Silver Dollar City’s Fall Harvest Festival, I missed meeting a delightful new friend. This year her booth was located right across from the stage venue where my husband performed each day with the Sons of the Silver Dollar. He knew from talking with her and her husband that I would enjoy connecting with her. So I finally made it out to the city and made a new friend. Her name is Karla Dornacher.
Her paintings are bright, colorful and filled with inspiration. Everyone who steps into her booth feels loved and welcomed and as she shares stories of her life, people want to open up and share stories from their lives. She always has words of encouragement and makes people glad they stopped by. While visiting with her a young teen stepped into the booth and shared that she had been inspired to start drawing after meeting Karla the year before. She showed us pictures of some of her drawings on her phone and we were both amazed. I made several trips out to visit Karla’s booth and listen to her inspiring stories.
As a child she loved to draw and doodle and even had opportunity to attend college to study art with a full scholarship. However, she switched paths before starting school when she fell in love with her soon to be husband. Her life as a wife and mom was still filled with creativity, just not in the direction she had first planned. She knew her talent was a gift from God after surrendering her life to Jesus Christ ten years after she married and wanted to use her creativity to honor the Lord. It wasn’t until her daughter was getting married that she began painting and hasn’t stopped.
She began her art business by holding home parties to sell her art prints. At the parties she would share the stories of each painting which was inspired by scriptures. Women attending the parties asked her to write down what she had shared about each painting because they wanted a reminder of the symbolism for encouragement in their lives. So she began writing the “story” of each painting and attaching it to the back of the prints. This writing eventually led to her writing and illustrating many gift books published through J.Countryman Publishing. Her works of art also were licensed for use in home decor and gift items. She loves to speak to women’s groups sharing about her life and challenging them in a closer walk with God. You can read more about Karla on her website.
Coloring books for grownups are all the rage these days and Karla has two coloring books of her beautiful drawings available for purchase.
I bought her books and was happy to learn that she gives permission to copy the pages for use with small group gatherings. A few weeks later I shared some of her coloring pages with a small womens fellowship at my church. Most of the ladies were skeptical when they first walked in and saw color crayons, pencils, markers, and watercolors sitting on the tables. They probably thought I had forgotten it was a ladies group and not kids night. I shared with them a bit about Karla and her work and how they could incorporate doodling and coloring into their time of Bible study and devotions.
Some of my sermon note doodles
They got excited and dove right into coloring. You can purchase Karla’s coloring books and other art here or here.
One of Karla’s coloring bookmarks
Karla also has available on her website coloring pages for kids you can download free. I printed off some of her Thanksgiving pages for the grandkids to color this week. Here’s the link. Print off some of her coloring pages for your kids to color this week at your Thanksgiving festivities.
I am back home again after spending a few weeks with these superheroes.
I was proud to once again cheer my daughter on as she ran her second NYC Marathon. She makes it look so easy!
mile 24
And she shaved 39.5 minutes off last year’s time. Way to go, Kara!
I spent many hours coloring and drawing pictures with my grandkids and coloring the walls (not with my grandkids!) The kids just had moved into a new apartment and my main goal to accomplish while there was to paint their walls for them. Mission almost accomplished. Songbird doesn’t want plain walls in her room— she is asking for a mural. Sounds like a fun challenge for Grandma next trip!
We enjoyed a fun girl’s night out watching Disney On Ice. Kara and I had as much fun watching Songbird’s face enraptured with every scene as we did watching the skating. When scenes from the movie Frozen were performed on the ice, we were thrilled to hear thousands of sweet little voices all across the arena belting out each song along with the performers.
My sister from Colorado came to NYC on a business trip and afterward, she and I took Songbird on an adventure by bus to visit our sister in Pennsylvania for a few days. My sister just happens to live close to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. If you ever have opportunity to visit, I highly recommend it— and you don’t even need to have a kid with you to spend a day playing and creating—but it helps! We all had a great time.
The creating continued when we returned to my sister’s house…
My granddaughter has the best outlook on life. For her everyday is the BEST DAY EVER!
When her great aunt said, “But you told me yesterday was the best day ever and the day before that was the best day ever,” she replied, “Everyday is the best day ever!” She reminds me of my grandmother who lived to the age of 97 years. Anytime someone would ask her what day it was, she answered, “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
When I returned to NYC, my son, Daniel, who also happened to be in the city on business, took me on a date to the Metropolitan Opera.
Shibori dyeing is a beautiful Japanese method of creating unique fabric designs. Check out this post about my first experiments with this method when I dyed cotton flour sack towels trying out different techniques. This time I dyed some pieces of cotton knit for scarves for gifts as well as a solid cream colored scarf I already owned. I am excited to try more!
I am not always able to draw every day. I would love to be able to, and maybe someday that will fit in my world. But until then, I try to draw as much as I can when I have a moment for it. For awhile, I have kept to drawing things that I see in a picture that I have taken or that I have seen online.
Here’s is one I did a few weeks ago real quick as I watched a show with my hubby.
One day, I came across the drawings of Curtis Wiklund. He did a project awhile back where he posted a drawing every day. Since then, he still posts but less consistently. I think his drawings are adorable. I loved that each one of them was unique. Sometimes they were pen and pencil drawings, and sometimes they were drawn on his tablet. Some of them look full and complete, and some of them are half stick drawings. I am just impressed that he stuck with it. I get stuck sometimes thinking that I had to draw something perfectly in order for it to count. I know that if I let perfection stop me from drawing, I will never improve.
Drawn by Curtis Wiklund of Drawings365.com
I love the pictures he draws of his family. I let that inspire me to draw what was happening at the time. So this is what I drew while we drove down the road in our RV. . .
We had a weekend trip in our RV for a church service and stayed in a different place every night. It was fun to have a new front yard every day.
Some of our front yards. . .
I have been wanting to try a one line drawing lately. So since I was inspired, I thought I would give it a go.
As I can, I will keep drawing because I know that is the only way to get better. And I know sometimes I will start drawings that never get finished, but that’s ok.
Appliquéing is the process of attaching pieces of fabric to another larger piece of fabric to form a picture or a design. Over the years I have sewn many appliqué projects using a satin stitch or straight stitch on the sewing machine. One of the lessons in the Craftsy 2015 Block of the Month taught me how to do needle turn appliqué by hand. This method creates beautiful “pictures” with fabric.
I did not have all of the tools used by the instructor so in researching this method online I discovered many different processes for achieving this appliqué look. With things I had on hand, here is what I did.
Using a light table I reversed the original pattern and traced the shapes and all labels and marks onto the dull side of a piece of freezer paper. The dots represented areas on each piece that would be under the neighboring piece. Each piece was cut out on the solid lines. These pieces of freezer paper became the templates for the appliqué.
I separated the pieces according to the fabric I chose to use for the design. Then each piece was placed on the back side of fabric allowing about 1/4″ seam allowance around each piece before ironing. I cut around each piece leaving a seam allowance to turn under.
On any piece with curves, I clipped only the inside curve of the seam allowance. Instead of using a regular iron, I have a muti-purpose heat tool with a small iron tip that worked quite well to press the seam allowance over the freezer paper template. Since I did not want to burn my fingers, a seam ripper worked great as my extra “hand.” The dotted areas which were to be overlapped by another appliqué piece were not turned under.
I lightly traced the basic position of the flower pattern onto the front of the quilt block basket I made in this post. Using my version of the needle turn appliqué method, I hand stitched each fabric piece into place (after removing the freezer paper on the piece I was working on.) The result looks beautiful!
I found this video which explains clearly how to do needle turn appliqué for you to watch if you are interested in trying this method of appliqué on a creative project.
I have had a lot of changes in my life recently. And with change, there is always a lot of transition and trying to adapt to the new way of doing things. Because of this, the ways that I am creative day to day and week to week often look different than they did before. I have four kids that I am homeschooling as well as helping my husband with our ministry to families in the US. I don’t usually have dedicated time to do what I would have, in the past, considered creative projects.
One day, I had a revelation. I do something creative every day. I just don’t think of it that way. Whether it is something I cook, or something I do with the kids, or a card I make for a friend, I do creative things. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate project or a year long challenge to count.
I have decided that I want to share something creative I have done every week, even if it is as simple as going to my dance class. I put a lot of creative energy into that, plus I usually do something else that I can share about too.
I have had fabric to make My Princess a dress since spring. I made her an Easter dress, but then I didn’t use any of the rest of the fabric I had. I kept trying to find the perfect way to use it. A week or so ago, I decided to stop fretting about it being perfect and just do it!
I often have the hang up of wanting something to be perfect. I don’t want to use a page in a journal or notebook unless it is going to be exactly what I want it to be. I don’t want to be “wasteful.” The only problem is that I end up being paralyzed into not doing anything at all. You can’t get better at something unless you are willing to practice and make mistakes along the way.
So this dress was a just get it done kind of dress, and it ended up being really cute!
I love using inexpensive t-shirts for the top part of the dress because it eliminates the sleeves step that I am not as comfortable doing. It also makes it a quick project for an afternoon.
So if you are staring at a pile of fabric or a blank page, my encouragement for you today is to just get started! Just do it! It could turn out really great and somebody in your world will love it.
I love handwriting. As a young girl I was captivated with the beauty of cursive writing and spent hours practicing my letters and writing my name. I wanted the letters to look perfect— just like the teacher’s. I found some paper with guide lines just like what I used in elementary school. After years of writing fast (taking notes in college, and so on), my penmanship has morphed into part print, part cursive, and many times rather sloppy. It was hard to write slowly on this paper, fitting in the guide lines, and trying to remember the correct way of writing each letter.
Much controversy exists today concerning time spent learning handwriting— especially cursive. There are many who feel it to be a waste of time since we mostly use technology for communication now. However, studies are being conducted with the results showing that handwriting improves brain function. The older I get, I am all for improving brain function!
This article in the New York Times explores why handwriting matters based on several recent studies. For a quick read, this article in Mashable shares “7 Ways Writing by Hand Can Save Your Brain.”
Recently Melinda and I have both become fascinated with hand lettering as a creative expression in our art. We checked out some books from the library and are learning the art of calligraphy. Though I sometimes use wedge shaped calligraphy markers (which are not as messy), using a dip pen and black ink makes me slow down and think through what I am doing (because I don’t want to get ink all over me and the table and places I don’t want it on the paper!)
Hand lettering is experiencing a revival in the crafting world as people desire to add hand lettering to cards, mixed media, art journaling, home decor, signs, chalk boards, weddings, and so much more. Do a search on Pinterest with the words ‘hand” and “lettering” and you will be amazed at the number of pins available to show you how to do it, various styles, and ideas to use. Even in advertising we see a renewed interest in vintage style lettering. I read about a young lady who spent a week refusing to use her keyboard to write text messages by only handwriting her messages to friends and family using calligraphy, taking a picture of the writing, and sending that as her “text”.
I want to share with you some amazing inspiration by a young man named Jake Weidmann who is the youngest Master Penman in the world. Watch the videos and check out his website to see more of his work.
Listen to his Tedx talk recorded in Denver.
Are you ready to grab your pen and paper and start lettering? You don’t have to become a Master Penman (unless you want to) but you can start improving your brain by improving your hand lettering skills. Practice, practice, practice!
Do you need a unique gift for a special little one in your life? We have just added several new Baby Doll Carriers to our Etsy store.
Kids love their babies and want to hold them close and keep them safe just like real mommies and daddies. With a baby doll carrier, your child can keep her baby close to her heart all day long. If she wants to take baby on a trip with her, she can use the carrier to keep her arms from getting tired and avoid the risk of setting her baby doll down and losing it. Her baby will always stay close so that she can continue to have hands free to play. With adjustable straps it will continue to fit as your child grows. Your child’s favorite stuffed toy animal can be kept close in the carrier instead of a doll. Recommended for ages two and up.
If you want to make your own Baby Doll Carrier, we have the pattern available for instant download on Etsy as well.
Miss Tickles is 4 years old! 
