A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of poems attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
When
You can’t be
Charming
And wonderful—
Be civil.
WOW – what a whirlwind of a day it was! It began with CHA’s first ever Innovations Media Event. I assisted Cool2Craft with broadcasting this event live over the internet (I’ll have links to the video coverage ready soon).
CHA selected 20 of the 100+ new products from behind the glass in the lobby showcase and brought them into one room, where resellers and the press could see each manufacturer give a 1-minute summary of their new product (and you thought the Schoolhouse presentations at Quilt Market were speedy!). Then we were able to walk around the room to visit each of the 20 manufacturers’ at their table to see the product in action. From a mobile picture scanner, to a scrapbooking iPhone app, to a machine that allows you to create your own custom acrylic stamps and templates…the “cool factor” on new gadgets and tools was high!
Beautiful textile ribbon, handy tote sewing templates and gorgeous new buttons were also featured for us fabric lovers. A panel of celebrities judged the innovations – and the winners were just announced on the CHA blog. We will have a complete list of the products featured at this event posted very soon on the Cool2Craft blog. Continue Reading…
Lura Schwarz Smith and Kerby C. Smith, authors of Secrets of Digital Quilting—From Camera to Quilt, are featured on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims in episode #102 “Quilting in the Digital Age.” Click here to watch the episode for FREE through July 31st only.
Here are a few quilts from their book…you know, for inspiration!
Buster's Blues by Lura Schwarz Smith
Honey Lime by Lura Schwarz Smith
Wild Kitty by Kerby C. Smith
A while back, I decorated some Ready-to-Go!® Blank Board Decor Petal Pots. While looking around the office for something to put a new spider plant in, I remembered the pots. The outside of the pot is covered with tissue paper adhered with Liquitex® Matte Gel Medium and highlighted with gold Paintstik. The decoration is lace that has been painted with several colors of Liquitex soft body acrylic paint.
With a plastic liner, it’s perfect.
From left - Sarah Hodsdon (Sarahndipitous Designs), myself, Judi Watanabe (JudiKins Stamps)
Tonight was the “Taste of Rosemont” reception at the Craft & Hobby Association Summer Trade Show, where people connected and relaxed after a full day of booth set-up and workshops. Manufacturers, retailers and designers all come together to listen to live jazz, drink some wine, and sample yummy food from the local Chicago area restaurants…the sausage pizza with a cornbread crust from Gino’s was to die for, by the way. Everyone chatted about what classes they attended…I heard the Photoshop class for designers was particularly popular!
I got a nice long look at all the exciting new products on display in the Innovations Showcase…lots of cool stuff coming out! I’ll be working with Tiffany Windsor from Cool2Craft first thing on Tuesday morning to broadcast CHA’s first Innovations Media Event that highlights 20 of these innovative products. You can tune in live at 8:30am CT from your computer or watch the recording later – all the details and links are on the Cool2Craft website. Don’t miss this unique chance to see all these brand new “must-haves” from the comfort of your own desktop!
Signing off now – have to get my supplies ready for the make-n-take in Peterson Arne’s booth tomorrow afternoon – we’ll be “tapping” and paint-stamping on canvas gift bags. More news with pics and video tomorrow!
We are happy to announce the three lucky winners of the summer surface design giveaway are…
I’m taking classes this summer on purse making and embroidery. I’m also knitting a sweater.
I LOVE the prizes on the C&T Blog this week! My summer project is organizing a set of classes for students at the local arts center, and teaching them various ways to stencil and print on fabric, as a foundation for making other unique projects. Boy would THIS come in handy! Thank you for offering this. It is very much appreciated.
and Sharon Scott!
Great giveaway! I have posted to both my blogs, and facebook!
Thank you all for playing and do read on for the next weekly giveaway.
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Sally Collins Giveaway prize pack
Now that award-winning quiltmaker, teacher, and author Sally Collins has improved our workmanship with her lessons in precision piecing, she is stepping it up a notch with her July release Drafting for the Creative Quilter. This book is the ultimate reference guide and with Sally’s methods you can learn to easily create and adapt a quilt block to any quilt design you choose. Finally we’ll have the confidence we need to get our creative quilting ideas properly drafted and designed!
Drafting for the Creative Quilter
Our next blog giveaway includes Sally’s new book, the Sally Collins Teaches You Precision Piecing DVD, and Borders, Bindings & Edges. Did you know you can now rent many of our DVDs on YouTube? Jump to this page to see our full list of videos on YouTube. The rental videos are easy to spot by the little green shopping cart icon.
To be in the running for the Sally Collins Giveaway, leave a comment here or on Facebook describing your favorite quilt you have made and telling us why it is your favorite. UPDATE: We are extending the giveaway entry deadline one day! So comments will be closed at 9am PST on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 and one lucky winner will be announced in the next giveaway post which will go up later that day.
Extra comment entries are available to you if you want to maximize your chances at being the giveaway winner! If you take one or more of the actions listed below, enter an extra comment for each, and in that comment tell us what you did and link to the proof where that’s possible.
I met Lois Jarvis at Spring Quilt Market a few months ago and she told me how she likes dyeing things with rust. I was intrigued, as I had never heard of rust dyeing before and she invited me to visit her website that’s dedicated to surface design and dyeing with rust and promised I could learn all about it there. Later she sent me this rust image transfer technique project to share with all of you and I have to say I can’t wait to try this technique!
So whenever I’m walking my dog around our neighborhood, I’m keeping my eyes peeled for abandoned rusty objects. If you get past the fact that you are walking around in public with a very obvious piece of junk, I think the jewel of rust-dyed fabric may be in store for you!
Check out Lois’ art gallery for examples of the beauty of rust dyeing.
Select an item that has a good buildup of iron oxide on it. Study the photo below to help you get an idea of what you should be looking for. These items have interesting images to transfer to fabric, but only the corn-stick muffin pan has enough naturally occurring iron oxide built up on it to make a successful transfer.
Canvas gift bag with TAP
Finally got my dog and pony show ready for the road…
C&T Publishing won’t have a booth at Summer CHA or the SuperShow, but I’ll be there showing off Lutradur®, TAP®, Liquitex® Iridescent Medium, and more all around the show.
We have a complete schedule of make-n-takes and a workshop with our fabulous products! I’ll be posting updates from both shows all throughout next week, with plenty of pictures and video clips…so stay tuned!
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of poems attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
Art is
More
About the
Process
Of self discovery
Than it is
About
Making something
Beautiful.
We create
Because we have to—
It feeds
Our Soul.
Greeting Card designed by Sonja Lee Austin using Ultra-Light Lutradur
Creative Troupe member Sonja Lee-Austin created these elegant greeting cards by collaging pieces of new Ultra-Light Lutradur® and paper after running them through her inkjet printer. Similar to our Lutradur® Mixed Media Sheets (which is a mix of regular and heavyweight), Ultra-Light Lutradur can be sewn, heat tooled, painted, glued, inkjet printed, and more. Sonja has shared her technique for creating these fresh, seasonal cards with us, and we share it will you at the end of this blog post!
Click on each of the three images below to enlarge and get a good look at each card’s unique design.
Creative Trouper Kathleen Brown also put a lovely Ultra-Light Lutradur touch on greeting cards. This butterfly card she designed is so light, airy, and undeniably pretty, it’s so perfect for a mid-summer “thinking of you” surprise greeting sent to a loved one by mail.
Butterfly greeting card designed by Kathleen Brown using Ultra-Light Lutradur
Flower appliqué greeting card made by Kathleen Brown using Ultra-Light Lutradur
Ultra-Light Lutradur really brings warmth and cheeriness to the flower appliqué card Kathleen designed. The texture of the Lutradur seems to make it more than a paper card, though admittedly less than a hug.
You’ll get inspired by the other fancy things the Troupers have made using Ultra-Light Lutradur when you visit this Flickr gallery.
Continue Reading…
