Authentic

Do any of you that have your own blogs ever read your blog and wonder to yourself, “WHO is the person who wrote THIS?” I mean, obviously, you know that YOU did. However, it just doesn’t feel like the true you is coming through the screen. That is where I have been with my blog for some time now. My “voice” just doesn’t feel like the real me. Not just that…my blog didn’t look like it reflected me. I hope to move my blog toward being more me-like. If any of you have been around my blog the last 24 hrs., you’ve probably notices LOTS of changes…template changes, layout changes. Yeah, it’s been ALL over the place. This morning I sat down to change the background once again. I went to my FAVORITE graphics/background source. Any guesses? Yep, Karen over at The Graphics Fairy. And as much as I love all her sites, I just wasn’t feeling it. Nothing was ME! Then it hit me…a big smack on the side of the head. “Make your own background!” Duh!! Yeah, I’m a little slow sometimes.

So I did! And here is my “scenic route” to making my blog authentically MOI!

First of all I thought of going to The Graphics Fairy (yep…I’m a Graphics Fairy stalker) to grab some images to make a digital collage. Which was really a great idea—if I do say so myself! But I suddenly realized that I already had a near perfect collage. It wasn’t digital, but I soon remedied that!

Here is the original “collage”:

A wood tissue box cover that I had covered with images from The Graphics Fairy several months ago using the Mod Podge transfer method. That is one of those projects that never got blogged about due to my lack of organization. Anyway…it is sitting on the other tool needed for this background project. My scanner! Yep…that simple. I scanned the image into my computer, and voila:

I had my digital collage. (Hint: I threw a piece of fabric over the tissue box before scanning it, since OBVIOUSLY the lid of the scanner wouldn’t close.) But the fun was only beginning! Next I uploaded the image to PicMonkey and played with it until I had this:

Which I used as my new blog background. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Oh yeah…as stated above: I’m sometimes a little slow.

But I didn’t stop there…I was on a roll. I also updated my blog button.

Let me know what you think!

Until next time,

Sammi

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Quick Scrappy Sewing

Recently I realized that my potholders were getting a little shabby. They hit the trash before I even thought to share a photo with you; but they were just your basic, worn thin, batting showing, stained potholders. Since making potholders is a relatively quick and simple project, I decided to make some new ones.
First I started with this:

Basically I cut out a square with a lip where the opening will be once for turning the potholder right-side out. It makes it easier to stitch the opening up all nice and neat.
Then I started getting a little creative…

with some little scrappy pieces and The Graphics Fairy (shocked, aren’t ya?).

I even tried out some of those decorative stitches on the ol’ machine.
Here are some finished ones:

I added 1 layer of cotton batting in these potholders. I also made a trivet with the same technique, but used 2 layers of batting. It is already in full-time use in the kitchen…so it missed the photo shoot.
And here is a close-up of the back of one of them…
On it I sewed lines of loopy stitches. I think it is some special quilting stitch…but a quilter I ain’t! I just thought it looked neat.
AND their little sisters…

Scrappy Lil’ Fabric Coasters. These are made by putting one creatively scrappy square on top of 3 other plain layers (in case you are wondering, the natural “base” fabric that I used is the humble canvas drop cloth.), then I just stitch them together, leaving the raw edges. Couldn’t get easier! Just let your imagination go wild!
Yep…I got a little carried away. That’s okay. Now I have some scrappy little gifts stashed away.
Hope your weather is as nice as ours here in Upstate NY…and you’re enjoying it!
Blessings,
Sammi

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Current Projects…

Well…not ALL of my current projects! But here is some proof that I’ve actually done something. Note the carefully staged photos, because the one thing that I have NOT done is clean. YIKES!

 

I worked on a little art for the powder room. I just need to decide if I’m going to “age” it before giving it a clear coat.

 

Next up…a little something for the mercantile (once I have time to do all the stuff involved in listing it):

hmmm….my photography skills could use some work. All of the above photos are of the same towel…yet the last one seems so much lighter. In reality it is closer to the darker shade. As is usually the case, the image is from The Graphics Fairy.

Yesterday’s largest, most frustrating project was this:

I didn’t think I was EVER going to finish getting this lady “undressed”. Why?

Someone use 7,836,423 nails and upholstery tacks to get her dressed. There were times when I thought she would completely fall apart once I got her unattached from all those stinky layers that she was covered in! But she seems to have made it through okay. Have I mentioned that I have NEVER, EVER attempted to upholster a piece of furniture?…unless you count putting new fabric on a little bench. But this lovely rocking chair only cost me $5, so I think it will be a good starter project.

And the other thing that I’ve worked on is giving my blog a facelift. First of all, I received an e-mail stating that parts of my blog were hard to read due to the font size. Oops! I guess having a gigantuous monitor left me unaware. The offending area had looked HUGE to me, so I had changed it to small font. My bad! Hopefully everything is now readable. While I was at it, I changed my background. It came from Karen’s Background Fairy page. There’s a link above my photo on the sidebar.

Now…I really do need to clean. I have an appointment that will take up much of my day tomorrow…so….I will try to get a few items listed in The Mercantile on Thursday!

Until then,

Sammi

Open for Business!

Yep, the Mercantile is open for business. FINALLY! That “coming soon” message had been there for months. With all that said…there is only ONE item in there at the moment. And that was quite a task for a semi-computer illiterate person like myself….well…that and the fact that my computer decided to be a little temperamental right in the middle of creating my listing. Isn’t that the way it always seems to go? I almost quit! Yep…almost left that “coming soon” message right where it was!

Then I remembered Funky Junk Donna's One Scary Thing Challenge and decided that I would list JUST ONE thing! Baby steps, people. Baby Steps.

After you check out my listing over at the Stormy Hen Mercantile (shouldn’t take long this time), go on over to Donna's One Scary Thing Challenge to see what some of the other participants are doing. Better yet…after you see what everyone else is up to, jump in and take the challenge yourself!

Until next time,

Sammi

Country French-inspired Kitchen Towels

I finally bit the bullet and bought some old-fashioned toweling online. It was on sale, which took some of the pain out of paying for shipping. Yes, I’m cheap that way. I’m afraid that I’ve fallen in love and paying for shipping will once again be in my near future.

I love it because it reminds me of French grain sacks….without the high cost! Anyway…this stuff sat in my studio for over a week before I finally got to start creating. Man was on a mini-vacation from work and BoyWonder was out of school, so I was busy doing things like barbequing with friends and taking a day trip…oh and gardening. I’m not really complaining. Those things were relaxing. However, it KILLED me to walk into the studio and see that lovely fabric teasing me.

This morning I could take it no longer….I cranked up Netflix (my frequent studio pal) and got busy. With a little (okay A LOT) of help from The Graphics Fairy I created a couple of Country French-inspired kitchen towels.

 

I decided to try a fringed edge on the first one. I really liked the look, but I decided to try a mitered corner hem on the other one. I’m glad I did, BUT I still prefer the fringed. Here is a close-up of a mitered corner:

What do you think? Fringed? or Hemmed with mitered corners?

Of course the images were transferred using the CitraSolv method. For more information on using Citrasolv for art go here and scroll down for links.

Until next time,

Sammi

Join me at The Graphics Fairy for Brag Monday