I am loving Alisa Burke's online class right now.

23 Update: August

Wow I cant believe August is already over. Which means fall is on its way.

1. Train to run 5K - Ran my 2km 6 times this month (as long as I do my last August run tonight)

4. Take one picture on manual mode every month - I took pictures of mushrooms this month. I love them

7. Cook or bake something new every month - I cooked this. It was easy and yummy. And barely made any dishes dirty.

15. have flowers every month - Bought myself these pink gerberas. Having flowers makes me happy.

16. read a new book every month - I finished the book I started in July, and started Monsoon

17. learn 5 spanish words a month - sort of.

• What time is it?
• Eggs

23. Have a picnic - At carcross Desert. And flew my kite.

a simple solution

I recently moved into my own home and I am lacking some minor items that I never think about when I'm at the store. Like wrapping paper.

I needed to get a birthday present ready to go today, and I was trying to figure out what I could use that I had on hand. The solution: a paper lunch bag, a strip of scrapbooking paper, and a clothespin.

Super quick and way cuter than boring old wrapping paper.

currently experiencing technical difficulties

My machine has never been perfect. Its probably older than I am, and frequently has bouts of confusion when it does bizarre things. Normally I just muddle through with a few imperfections since sewing is by no means my forte. But right now I have sewing projects I want to get finished. And, my sewing machine is experiencing technical difficulties worse than we've come across before. She used to be sort of self-healing if left to her own devices while I had a stiff drink to calm my nerves. But it dosn't seem to be happening this time. And so, I'm shopping for a new sewing machine. But even that isn't as simple as it sounds. I've got one lined up...hopefully she will be coming home with me soon.

For now, the unfinished sewing projects huddle together in the corner of my studio and wait.

an awesome long weekend

There was a picnic in the desert. Kite flying. Hot dogs and smores. Mushroom hunting. Running. Scrapbooking. The start of an online class with Alisa Burke. New watercolors. An air hockey match. Playing with fused plastic. Looking for buttons. Some sock sewing. So crazy happy.

Sunday Sketch

I haven't done any scrapbooking in a long time, so I wanted to play along with this week's Sunday Sketch at Studio Calico. Its a simple layout, and it was impulsive of me to use my own writing...but the white and the bright patterned papers make me happy.

Bloom - The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap

When I signed up for the Stitched Postcard Swap in July, August 14th seemed like so far away so I instantly forgot all about it. All of a sudden this week, I had a deadline looming and no inspiration. As soon as I saw this years theme was "Bloom", the words "bloom where you're planted" came to my mind. Yesterday morning, I got up early before work to get this started, since it needs to be mailed off today. I handwrote my words in black ultra fine sharpie on a piece of blank white paper. I took a picture of it. I brought that picture into my illustrator program, and turned my handwritten words into a graphic that can be manipulated and resized. I want to play with this more as a way of incorporating my handwriting into my projects.

Once I was happy with my sizing, I printed off on a piece of paper. I sketched out a couple quick flower doodles, and poked holes all the way through my doodle, to hand embroider my flower. Last night I was frantically running out of time. I was stressing. So I embroidered only one of my flowers, and just doodled the rest. Maybe not as great as it was in my mind. But here it is, ready to go off to Atlanta GA this morning.

getting nothing finished

My mind is going in a gazillion different directions, with tons of projects all swirling around in my head. Which basically means that some things are getting started, none are getting finished, and too many are just staying in my mind.

I bought this pair of socks at the dollar store the other day. Right now they are just socks, but in my mind, they are something very exciting.

Working on new digital creations.

I am slowly playing with paint. We'll see what becomes of it.

I finally started working on a stuffed flamingo I've had in my mind for a while. Lots of trial and error. Lots of seam picking. He's getting stuffed now, and then to finish the feet.

Thats it for now, maybe this week something will get finished! Thanks for visiting!