a whole lotta craftiness going on...

In keeping with the Buy Handmade pledge, I am trying to shop and make many of my Christmas gifts this year. I actually started early but of course so many ideas are coming at the last minute. LOL

Some of the things I have been creating this week are these cute crayon rolls for some of Hannah's friends. I made one for her, of course, and she uses it a lot. She likes having a way to tote around her crayons and a little notebook with her. These are super fun and I hope that her friends love them as much as she does. The design prompted me to to make a larger one for knitting needles and I will be making a couple of pens/ pencils for journaling kits. I am excited to work on those.



Today, my pal Shosh came down for a little girly art time. She had a swap thing to finish and I had intended to work on my design team project but got inspired by her journal making and decided to play with ephemera. I won't share much because I worked on some other pressies but here is a sneak peek of some artsy bits.

All in all, we had a good day. Coffee, yummy lunch, art and laughter. We need to do it much more often. I am back to work on trying to figure out whast to get the Mom that has everything. Ideas??

projects....

As my SIL so eloquently posted on her Facebook, because we have been in this together.. "I have been sewing like a sweatshop worker" over the last week. My big project was this mini Marie Antoinette dress for the little person. Its her favorite colors. I had never sewn with satin before and I'll tell ya I won't be again any time soon! Still, despite the difficulties with the satin, and the pattern being a little bit too advanced for me, I think it rurned out pretty cute and Hannah LOVES it so that is what matters most. I found this lavender and pink feathered fan to match on eBay and was delighted that it arrived before we go to the Renn Faire tomorrow where our little princess will debut her gown.

I have also been sewing a new vest and tunic for my own Renn Faire outfit. Lots of tweaking the pattern and a last minute decision to dye the tunic. Its in the rinse cycle now, so no pix yet. Maybe tomorrow when I have it on.

Aside from all the sewing, I have been plugging away at design work. I have been working on bits for Adair's site.. I shared the splash page below. I am just so excited about this project and I love working with her and bouncing ideas off of each other. Just a quick note that she is having a fun giveaway on her blog this weekend. Go check it out!

Brian and I are just tweaking some little details on Jessica's site and then it will be live. I think she is going to have some really cute things so be sure to keep your eye on her launch.

I also have been working with Amanda on a new look for her website. I got kind of stuck on the font but then remembered my good friend Joleen had made some digital freebies including this big font. She graciously let me use it for Amanda's work and we were all thrilled with how it turned out. I hope Joleen makes some other stuff because her doodles and writing are so cool. I just saw on her blog that she is having a clearance sale in her Etsy shop to get ready for new things for the holidays. Maybe you can start your holiday shopping early!

Oh, and speaking of Etsy.. I have a few things listed in MY SHOP.. including a batch of my JUNQUE packs which are great for ATCs, cards and mixed media projects. They are chock full of all sorts of stuff from buttons, vintage wallpaper scraps, papers, collage images, fabric, trim, crepe paper, cards, bits, bob, doo dads, findings, amd more. I mention this because I will be moving my shop to Lollishops once it opens in November and probably most of this stuff will not be listed there. I will be changing my focus so i am trying to clean house a bit. Have a great Sunday!

what I have been up to...

I have been working at the computer so much lately that I kind of hit a wall today. I taught art this morning and after coming back and checking my emails I decided to take a break from the screen and sew. I had started this frame/ wall hanging last week but got so consumed with work that it got buried on my desk. I decided to finish up today while I was doing some other sewing projects.

It has a lot of whiter whites, layers of lace and doilies and this fabulous vintage, "stained just right" flower from an old hat. The pocket holds a picture or postcard up to about 4 x 6". I need to order some more of my wee one so I substituted this one for now.

I have really been enjoying my sewing time. I finished up my banners for our swap at ArtFiberFest last week but I haven't decided whether to share yet. I will talk to my group. They are all so cute. This week I started on another "treat" for a swap pal which I WILL share once she gets it and today I cut out everything (my least favorite part) for Hannah's Halloween costume.

And... Adair said I can finally offer up a sneak peek of all that we have been working on. Its been kind of different for me and I am loving it. We made this last night for her splash page which I "hope" will be up soon and while it has the definite feel of what I have been building, it is only a sneak peek.

when things go right for a change...

Don't you love it when you a project in your head turns out well? This was something I had been dreaming of every since I received something similar from Jeanne in the Hippity Hop Easter Swap this spring. While Jeanne's is full of happy spring colors I knew I wanted an outlet to use more aged, vintage tones and some of the collection of old lace, linens and doilies I have been storing. I was a big hesitant with this one but just started sewing along and am super happy with the results. I used a vintage cabinet card in mine because I couldn't find a picture of Hannah that was the right size but this can easily be switched out. Of course anything pretty and vintage looking wouldn't be complete without a touch of old millinery, at least in my book so I topped this off with a posie and velvet leaf that adorned a package from Lori. I can't wait to make more. I feel so much better now that my sewing machine is back out and in use.

uuuugh

I am melting.. quite literally, if that is possible.

A couple of weeks ago the fan went out on my car AC and it hasn't been so bad but then it wasn't 102˚! I took her in today and it took the guys about 3 hours to figure out that some doohickey had gone bad. Of course they didn't have one in stock and won't get it until Monday and what is the forecast for the next two days? Up to 105˚ ! Ugh! Thank goodness we have the pool replaced and filled up but still.. even after leaving the AC on today it was hot to come home to and I have the kinds of headache that sticks with ya. We're supposed to go out tomorrow to Gizdich Ranch with some friends but hmm, I dunno.

I am more tempted to stay in and sew with my scraps... I am trying to figure out how many blocks total I need to make a certain size quilt. Math is not my strong point at all. I am enjoying to just plugging along on the block making anyway.

I still have all kinds of scraps so if anyone is interested, I love to do some kind of swap Just give me a holler.

PS Thanks to you guys for the Mommy support. Its so hard and sad to see your baby sick. I know she isn't nearly as bad as could be but she hasn't managed to catch a break this year. I appreciate your comments and suggestions so much. xoxo

fuming...

The last couple of days have shaken my confidence. I know that doing business is competitive and people are entitled to make their own choices and make up their own minds but it can still hurt when a herd of people run over to the "next new thing/ person." I was feeling pretty good about Bluhm Studios and my design business, with the launch of my website which I worked SO.HARD.ON. I felt like I had found my calling. I have struggled with this for so long, "what do I want to do with my life", "how can I contribute", "what do people want". I felt I had found my niche in specializing in blogs and collateral for small businesses. This has allowed me to be home with my daughter, our only child, while she is young and in her formative years. I have been able to contribute to our household (read = mortgage) AND do something I love.
Now I am feeling a little uneasy, It seems like there has been a surge of new people in our "community" who have decided to do blog design work and clients, present and past have run to the latest name out there. I *know* that no one owes me any loyalty (well maybe a couple of people do) but it still hurts and is a blow to my confidence.
My Mom says that in business it is important to stay mobile and be able to change direction quickly. I guess this is a point where I need to try to stay ahead of the pack and do something different. Fortunately for me, like my friend Holly says, I am blessed with my own good ideas and I DO have some "new things" in the works.
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent here. It helps to get this stuff OUT.. not good to bottle stuff up for sure. I have been back working in my studio and it feels good. I have a rather large, special project to get done so I have been using my sewing machine! here are some sneak peeks...

artsy

Hey, I actually made some art.. both digital and non. I have added several new blog banners to my banner adoption page. Its fun to just play and see what turns out even if I occasionally just delete everything. Here are peeks at a couple, you can see the rest by visiting my site.

In addition to these babies, I have been packing up envelopes for various swaps (and Zine orders!) This banner is for my Fiber ATC group for a Valentine's swap. It was a new thing for me but I really enjoyed figuring out my process and putting it all together. I will be making more for my Etsy shop in the near future.

I have also finally begun an ART JOURNAL but do not have pictures yet so for those you will have to wait a bit longer. I will try to get pix tomorrow.

I hear rain outside! I guess we are finally getting a break from the COLD weather we have been experiencing here. To show you how cold it has been, here are a couple of pix.