My niece got in a tragic car accident last week. We were inches away from losing her. She'll be in the hospital for months for rehabilitation and what not. I made her this hospital gown because she would hate to be seen in those hospital-issued ones. I couldn't find any patterns online that I liked, so I reconstructed this from a man's dress shirt. I cut the sleeves to a desired length, cut off the button hole and button band, and used the back for the front by cutting a V for the v neck. I made some bias tape and concealed the sleeve and collar edges. I lengthened it by cutting straight across the bottom and adding panels of cool fabric, and made some lamé bias tape for the bottom. I widened it by adding panels to the back and adding ribbon for tying, and also, between the two panels are 6 velcro tabs to keep her little behind well-hidden.

Please pray for the speedy recovery of my niece. She's a beautiful soul with such a promising future, and the road ahead of her will be full of obstacles.

** If anyone would like to use my pattern for a gift or charity, please feel free. I only ask that this pattern not be used for profit**

It has been soooooooooooooooooooooooooo long since I've poked my head in here. And it's not for lack of being creative and having things to show off. Man...have I been BUSY! I've been creating up a storm. I'll show you some of the things I've been up to. Mostly sewing, I guess, with a little bit of painting here and there. I'll see what I can find in my arsenal of photos...

For one, here's a poppet that I just finished for a swap on craftster.org. I LOVE how she turned out. She really makes me smile and I hope my partner loves her as much as I do! lol

Secondly, a little monkey (free pattern can be found here )for my friend's daughter's third birthday.

Thirdly a bag for my youngest son's teacher for her end of year gift. It's fully lined and hand-embroidered...hope she liked it!

A car trash bag! Complete with fitted plastic insert for wet trash! I included my own tutorial here. I really like how these turned out. I made around three of these.

Anyhow, there are so many more things I've made, and I will post more about them later! Hope you enjoyed these ones!!

...but I'm back. Stella got her groove back, so to speak.

For my 'Let Your Art Guide You' submission for this week, I'm presenting two items! I got two things done, so I might as well post them!


First is my 'Gypsy Woman'. Mixed media and acrylic on rescued wood.



And then there's 'Dream' - Mixed media on rescued wood.

I sure did enjoy making these. You all know how much I love texture!
I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed making them!

XO

For the challenge this week, I have finished another commission painting called 'The Red Dress'. It's a 20x24" mixed media and acrylic piece on gallery-wrapped canvas. I had a lot of fun painting this, and I hope the recipient loves it, too!!

For my 'Let Your Art Guide You' this week, I'm delighted to present 'With Arms Wide Open'. This was a commission painting that a father had me paint for his young daughter on her 5th birthday. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he is unable to see his daughter as much as he would wish. He wants her to know how much he loves her, even though he's not around, so he had me paint this as a token of his love to her. I am honoured that he would have me paint something so dear to his heart. Such a lovely man.

I was filled with emotion while painting this. I wanted it to be perfect. I made his hands slightly bigger than I normally would because I wanted her to know that her dad's love is strong and will always take care of her. I made the sky brighter around her head, and it has a pearlized sheen to symbolize that she is the light in his life, his angel. The accessory in her hair is symbolic of a halo.

I hope you all enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed painting it!

Another week, another submission to 'Let Your Art Guide You'. As you're all probably aware, I've started an art journal. I figured today's entry was a perfect submission for the LYAGY deal! This is, indeed, letting my art guide me! She's all about sparkling!



Also, a couple new and exciting things! I got a poppet in the mail as part of a swap with a lovely lady named Edel. She came all the way from Ireland! Sapphire opened her up and decided that she should be named Chaina. She's wonderful and whimsical. I'm very happy to have done this swap with Edel! She also included some Irish drinking socks, (lol) a clover phone charm and some chocolate! Yay!



And last but not least, I wanted to let it be known that some of my work was featured on craftster! Woo hoo! I made these costumes without a pattern a couple years ago for my boys. I'm pretty proud of them and think they turned out really well!

My mom is coming to stay for a while, and I have a load of things on my plate to get done before she gets here. First off, is the bedroom. I have to clean out one of the boys' rooms and make it into her room. And then I have to go out and buy a bunk bed so that the boys can comfortably share a room.

This art journal entry is about me, trying to figure out how to get everything done. No easy task for someone who isn't good at organizing!

So I wanted to reflect this in my art journal. The art on the right is mine. She's made with pencil crayons, glitter, candy wrapper, pen, ink, and paint. The art on the left is just something I printed off etsy because she inspired me. I like to keep things that inspire me close by. You never know when you'll need inspiration!

I had yet another swap to finish, and have decided to use this as my submission for my Let Your Art Guide You this week. It's a mixed media on wood piece. The camera's lens is a little round mirror, so every time you look at it, it takes a snapshot of you :)

I've been really busy with swaps lately! I finished one that I've been working on for a couple days. It's another acrylic and mixed media piece and it's for a wonderful lady in Ireland who is creating a wicked cool poppet for me! I'm so excited! A little mystical poppet from Ireland! Woo hoo!!! I sure hope she likes her painting!

Ok, so what do you do when you have too much of this...

...and this lying around?

Why...you make THIS of course! At least that's what I did today! I just coarsely chopped a whole mound of white and milk chocolate and put it in my favourite cookie recipe...and I'm pretty sure they're decadent-tasting (although I don't know first-hand because I don't dare touch them!)!

But anyhow, I think I'll probably just bake up lots of batches of muffins and cookies and chocolate chip zucchini bread and freeze some for later!

I am so thrilled and in love with this doll, that I can scarcely express myself. I did another swap recently with a lovely lady in Washington named Meredith. She doesn't have an etsy store or any website to showcase her beautiful work, but here's a link to where she posted my beautiful doll. Please visit and leave her the wonderful comments she so richly deserves! This doll is named Breeze. She was made as an heirloom gift for my little Sapphire. Isn't she WONDERFUL??????

Inspirational moments seem to be few and far between when it comes to painting these days...and it's a real pain in the you-know-what, because I have a few commissions that I need to start (and finish) and an equal amount of swaps that need to get done! Ack! Deedra...get your butt in gear!

Anyhow, for my submission for Let You Art Guide you, Week 8, I present to you...

Face in Brambles


It's an 8x10 mixed media and acrylic piece on stretched canvas. Hope you like it!

I have been wanting a pretty Easter Wreath for my front door, but never found one that I absolutely loved.

While looking at all the lovely arts and crafts that people made for their Let Your Art Guide You weekly submission, I found this great tutorial for a lovely Easter Wreath here. It was easy, cheap, and quite fun to make! Thank you Debbie! It was exactly what I needed!!!

So of course, we need some little Spring chicks to celebrate! I found this sweet little pattern in Super Cute Crochet. This will be placed lovingly in a little person's Easter Basket on Easter morning.

Cheep Cheep!

XO

For years I've wanted to learn how to crochet. So, seven and a half years ago, I set out to learn. I started googling and stumbled across more knitting tutorials than crochet. Crochet took the back-burner, while knitting became my new passion. Knitting for Dummies was my new best friend.

But I never lost the urge to learn to crochet. I played a little bit with it here and there. For some reason, I was able to crochet ruffles, so I put ruffles on a lot of things. But even though I was able to go through the motions of crocheting, I didn't know the name for the stitches, so following a pattern was impossible.

Last week, however, my new stitch n bitch group was born! A bunch of girls met up at a local coffee shop with yarn in tow. My friend Aaron brought her mom Dodie who graciously helped me out and taught me the names of the stitches! I can now follow a pattern! Although not entirely schooled, and my knowledge is still pretty basic, I set out to find a book on Amigurumis. I've seen them EVERYWHERE and they've been the recent incentive to finally learn to crochet. I found this book at my local library:

The patterns are great for beginners and I was able to accomplish this wonderful little pony and acquire some confidence with a crochet hook!



Now, one leg is a little skinnier than the others, and the button eyes don't match, but I think it's part of her charm. Sapphire has fittingly named her...Pony. And I've learned another skill that I'm going to really enjoying honing...

Maybe it's a hybrid. A cross between a painting and a sculpture . A 'Painture'. Whatever it is, I think it's going to be pretty cool when it's done! Hopefully she dries evenly and doesn't crack terribly. Only time will tell, of course, but I like it so far! I have always loved free-standing sculptures, but I am in love with cool wall art, so I'm always trying to incorporate the tactile aspect of it. I'm really excited to see what will come of her. She's made with an air drying clay, shaped around a wood board. No kiln necessary...which is good, because, alas...I DON'T HAVE ONE! lol I will sand, seal, and paint her and hope for the best!

A little bit of fluff for this week's challenge :) I'm still in a bit of a slump with regards to inspiration and such, so I couldn't get too intricate, but I couldn't let Emily down! Anyhow, here's a little birdie just in time for SPRING!!!! And if you haven't yet joined the challenge, I urge you to! Have a peek here to see how you can join the fun!


XO

I've gone cupcake crazy!!! I knit this one up last night while watching the movie 'Still Waiting', the sequel to the movie 'Waiting' starring Ryan Reynolds (and he's a fellow Canadian and OH SO DREAMY!!!). Definitely not as good as the first, but still pretty bang on for likeness to reality in the service industry! Anyone who's ever been a server or bartender should definitely watch 'Waiting'. It's kind of uncanny how accurate it is. The screenwriter was definitely a server in his last lifetime...

I was on ravelry the other day and saw some adorable cupcake dishcloths, and I thought...that looks like fun! So, I decided I needed to make up my own version! I probably knit it up in an hour and I'm really excited to make my housework a little less deplorable! lol