Happy Valentine's Day

Here is my Valentine's card for this year. Instead of a folding card, I decided to make a flat card like the ones we used to trade as kids. I have photographed it against a dark pink background. The actual card is a cutout picture of the heart glued to glittery pink cardstock with a little piece of organza ribbon threaded through punched holes on top. I hand made matching pink envelopes. Quite pretty, if I do say so myself. :)

Cat Portrait

The bird legs that I mentioned in previous posts have been cut out but they still need to be embellished and attached to the body. I will complete the bird as I find time to stitch a bit here and there. This August has to be one of the most jammed packed with committments that hubby and I have ever had. The stifling heat and humidity do not help with getting things done.

In addition to the bird, I have also started a new cat. My plan is to make a stuffed animal out of this. I often scan my work as I go along just to see what it looks like from another perspective and to help me move along in the right direction. I liked this scan so much that I decided to use the image on a greeting card too.

Many thanks to some of the "new" ladies who have left a comment on my blog for the first time. It's nice to know who visits and where you are from. And it goes without saying, that I welcome all comments from new and older readers alike.

If it's hot where you are dear readers, keep cool. :)

Blogging For Fun

Ever since the end of our vacation in May, I have devoted much time to our business, with little to spare for crafting. In our business, the Christmas ordering has to be done at this time of year. I have actually been doing quite a bit of blogging, but on our business related blog for the benefit of our customers. Today, I finally get to add to the "fun" blog, which is of course, Cotton Picker.

I finished this kitty today. I used the same cotton a couple of years ago when I made the Goddess Doll below.

The cat image will be one of the cards I plan on selling at this years' local jazz festival.

Christmas Card Design

It's been a while since my last blog entry. With Christmas just around the corner, I felt like getting busy again. For starters, here is my design for this years' Christmas card.

Which Background Is Better?

I had in mind to stick an angel on this years' Christmas card. As I got working, my angel turned out to be a Madonna Icon instead. I am pleased with the result.

Which background do you prefer? I'm thinking maybe the red is better. The second one's not bad either, perhaps just a sharper image is needed. I don't have much time to decide as the overseas cards have to be in the mail by Monday.

A Successful Weekend

Well, well, well. At the end of the day and a half jazz festival (JK Jazz in Udora, Ontario), I came home with 20% less inventory and a bit of cash. There are some people out there who liked my cards enough to buy them. The one posted above was my best seller.

As happy as I am about my personal success, I'm even happier about the whole weekend. I heard that there were about 1,000 people in attendance, which I think is pretty darn good for a second annual festival in a remote area without benefit of a large advertising budget. No question that the attendance was up from last year.

The weather was excellent - warm and sunny and not a drop of rain in sight. Quite the relief from a very rainy summer.

The musicians were world class, in fact, travelling in from various parts of the globe. The music was continuous with very little break between acts. In some ways I consider Saturday to be the warm up day giving the musicians a chance to find their vibe. I knew that Sunday's audience would be smaller, more attentive (perhaps the more devoted jazz lovers)and that the musicians would really let their hair down. And sure enough, it was much more casual with some incredible improvisation.

A highlight for me on Sunday was when one of the pianists invited his fiancee on the stage to sing because she "has a beautiful voice". She was not a scheduled performer and so I wasn't prepared for what followed. She did a couple of songs including a splendid rendition of Paul Simon's "Diamonds On the Soles Of Her Shoes". For "Diamonds," she called to the saxophonist (who was relaxing with a beer in the audience at that time) to join her. "It's only three chords" she said when he seemed reluctant. She started to sing and you could see that he immediately was captivated by her huge talent and style. He put down his beer, slowly making his way back on stage. He seemed unsure of the melody and let her do a couple of verses before he dived into his lengthy improv sax solo. Everyone stopped talking to witness this amazing performance. It brought the house down.

Another reason it was such an enjoyable weekend is because I got to visit with some old friends. My sister and brother-in-law were there along with my good friend, J. Actually, this is the last time I will refer to her as J. She has given me permission to use her name. She is Julia and now lives on top of a mountain overlooking the Ottawa Valley. Julia is a glass artist about whom I will write more in the future.

The only sad thing was that I was unable to attend a memorial service for my friend Susan who died a year and an half ago of ovarian cancer. She passed away in London England. Her final wish was that her ashes be brought back to Canada for scattering in the Northern Ontario town that she loved and lived in for many years. Her son brought the ashes over and unfortunately, the memorial was scheduled with only three weeks notice while my committment to the Jazz Festival was made months ago. I tried to find a way but it was not possible for me to be in two places during the weekend.

A couple of things I will be looking forward to is our Second Annual Scarecrow making weekend on the third weekend of October, at the time of the Canadian Thanksgiving. I will be hosting and so far in attendance will be friends Julia, Jackie and Coco and maybe more. We did this last year and had so much fun that we decided to do it again.

Also coming up soon will be my 200th post. As a lot of arts and crafts bloggers do on their milestone posts, I will be offering a prize. You will be invited to leave a comment for a chance to win something made by moi.

I've gone on long enough. Thanks for reading.

Butterflies Fixed Up (I Hope)

I was very disappointed with the butterflies when I got my prints back last night. The images were too small and the Blue Yellow Butterfly just got lost in the busy background. I photographed them again this morning and with the aid of Nero PhotoSnap, this is the result. I hope when I look at the prints tonight, these will be useable.

There isn't much time left. The artwork is due early Friday morning and I still have some work to do with my display.

Green Butterfly

African Orange

Flower On Red

Blue Yellow Butterfly

Here is another card completed this morning. I am working on a green butterfly which I hope to post later today.

Estonian Colours

I just finished another image for my cards which contains the colours of the Estonian flag - blue, black and white. This might have some appeal at the Jazz Festival art sale because the festival is in aid of the Estonian Children's Camp and a lot of Estonian folks are naturally going to attend.

I may have to photograph this again tomorrow in early daylight as the blue looks more turquoise than the sky blue it's supposed to be.

Today is the DVD release date for the old TV series - Perry Mason, Season Three, Volume One. Hubby is going to pick it up on his way home this evening. It's one of my favourite TV shows and certainly my favourite ever TV theme music.

Lady In Pastels

Here is the Africa Gold face in another setting. It looks very simple right now but I have all these sheets of cardstock in gorgeous pastels which I think will really make this design look good.

Africa Gold

I have been devoting most of my time assembling cards to sell at our local Jazz Festival this weekend. I am still hoping to add at at least a half dozen more designs to the collection. This one I call Africa Gold because the colours make me think of Africa.

I am thinking of using this face on another card and then she will end up on a future doll. As fall approaches (egads!) I plan to join a few new art doll swaps.

Display For Jazz Festival

Below is the write up I did as part of my display for the Art Cards I will be selling at our upcoming Jazz Festival. I wanted to keep it short and sweet. My sister says I did just that and gives it a "10". I don't know about that but I thank her for her kind words.

The scan is probably too small to read, so if you're interested in having a closer look, just click on the image to enlarge it.

There certainly is a lot of work involved in getting ready. I have to assemble all the cards by hand which is time consuming. And I still want to come up with at least three more designs. I have never sold any of my work before. It will be interesting so see what the response will be.

Friends, relatives, beware! If I don't sell any cards, you guys will be getting these things for birthdays, thank-yous, etc. for the next five years. Or I'll have to get hubby (the natural born professional salesman) to start peddling them for me.

Another Greeting Card

The trouble with making compositions out of fabric scraps is that you have to spread everything out all over the place and work in a real mess. I keep losing bits and pieces and spend half my time looking for them. But there's a real satisfaction when you find the right colour combinations and it all comes together.

So far, I've got 26 images to print out to see which ones will work on greeting cards and which won't.

Yesterday I wasted time preparing (painting) some muslin so I could draw some new faces, but I used a coarse canvas-like fabric that didn't like my Sharpies and pencil crayons. Today I have to do it all over again with the finer, smoother fabric that I've used in the past. I should have just used the tried and true to begin with.

I am happy with my latest image and hope it will be among the ones that make the final cut for my card sale.

New Greeting Card

This is the image for my latest greeting card. I have to get a photo printed to know for sure, but I think it's going to look great with some new cardstock I bought in lots and lots of neat colours. I'm going to be selling my cards at a local jazz festival in a couple of weeks. I want to come up with a few new designs and as usual, have left it kind of late. Oh well, I do work better under a little pressure.

New Greeting Card

Pictured above is the image for my latest greeting card. I had to take a lot of photos to find some decent light. This was taken outdoors under the huge pine tree in front of my house. I love the way the sunlight filters through the branches. I may have to try for another shot under different lighting (maybe early in the morning) as I'm not sure this image is clear enough. I'll have to get Wal-Mart to print it out for me and see how it looks against some really cool cardstock that I recently purchased.




















The silhouette floral is from some fabric I bought a while ago. I have almost finished an A-line four gore skirt out of this fabric with just the waistband and hem to do. Instead of lining the skirt, I am going to make a half slip/petticoat with a black ruffle. I'm looking forward to sharing that with you in a couple of days. I am targeting to get it all done by the weekend.

New Greeting Card

Birthday Greeting For My Sister

April 26th, tomorrow, is my sister's birthday. This is the image that I made for her birthday card and this is also another page to add to my Fabric Doll Book.

I am treating my "Schwester" to the opera (at the movie theatre)and then we are going out to dinner.

I am posting today as I won't have time tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Sis.