Hand crafted decorative Chef's aprons

 With everything closed down due to Covid, 

I am unable to get my ceramic designs fired at school. 

So I've been inspired to pull out my sewing machine and create some new apron designs. 

I actually wear aprons all the time. 

When I'm playing with ceramics, 

when I'm working in the garden, and sometimes, even when I remember to put them on before I begin painting.

This is my latest.

 A red striped linen apron embellished with appliquéd embroidery.   

This is the Lee Jofa embroidered drapery fabric, 

that I chose to carefully cut up, and use for appliqué on my latest apron design. 

This fabric sells for $295 a yard. 

Fortunately, this was just a memo sample.

I like it being both beautiful, and useful!

.

Custom design chefs apron

 

My sewing machine bobbin has been misbehaving. 

Not that that would stop me from creating. 

Here's my latest lovely. 

 

A linen fabric chefs apron with the most beautiful

 

blue embroidered appliqué design all hand sewn!

. 

Happy Easter Greetings

with a few of my latest lovelies out of firing...

a ceramic lace covered bunny,

a yellow striped bowl,

a tiny bunny box 

and my favorite,

a yellow lustered flower frog with vintage doily embellishment!

Celebrating Spring

with a May Day Basket...

{ or ceramic wall vase }

created with cotton lace and clay.

and filled with special garden treats to surprise my neighbor.

Happy May Day!

Decoupage Seashell Frame

I was happily surprised when my neighbor Stephanie invited me 

over to her home for an informal craft party this afternoon.

I wasn't sure what to expect, 

she takes X-rays all day long and I had no idea she was into art.

She mentioned she had picked up some acrylic paints and 

wooden frames at Michael's on sale.

So I went back to my studio and collected some of my favorite

 decorative napkins to share with the other women who were 

coming together for some creative fun.

The pretty napkins were a big hit!

It made the play date so much less intimidating to the new artists.

Decoupage was a word they had not heard before.

I shared how to pull the napkins apart and carefully rip around the 

images they wanted to use on their frames and layout the designs.

Some stamped letters and painted the background with paints, 

others left the natural frame and did a color wash on top the images.

Then I showed them how to decoupage the images in place with 

good old fashioned white glue watered down and using a paint 

brush starting in the center and working our way out to release any

 air bubbles.

They were thrilled with the results. 

 I am sorry I hadn't brought my camera to catch photos of all the creativity and fun.

I have only my example to share with you today.

Seashore inspired mosaic tray

I began creating various sizes of ceramic tiles to use in an old 

wooden tray that I found at a thrift store.

 I chose to paint it all white. I had primer and house paint leftover 

from work around the cottage, and it worked perfectly on the 

old brown tray.

The goal was to incorporate the varying shades of Tiffany blue hues 

that I had been using on some of my latest ceramic serving pieces 

for alfresco dining at the cottage along with the color of new

 growth in the spring a lovely green that I had used to paint all the

 shutters around my historic cottage.

 I intended to use it for serving in the charming bricked in courtyard 

full of flowering plants and vines.

I added in some beautiful glass tile samples leftover 

from a sample card, some flat marbles typically used for floral

 arranging and even a few stray pearls, and vintage buttons just 

because I could!

Pieces with raised shells and embellishments I placed in the corners

 of the tray to reserve the center to be flat for serving.

I chose liquid nail to glue the pieces in place, and when it was 

completely set I used white grout following the manufacturer's 

direction to fill in all the spaces.

There are some days when it all comes together and causes your heart to sing! 

Thrilled to have it published in Somerset home!

.

Spring greetings...

.

                                                     

Happy Easter

from my garden to yours!

*

Vintage Doilies

This idea has been spinning in my imagination for some time now.

 I knew exactly which table cloth I wanted to experiment with.

It's a small square table topper in a cream color fabric 

that I created to lay over a lush green velvet covered round table.

I pulled out a stash of vintage doilies 

and began laying them out along the edge.

You can hand stitch them in place once you have positioned them.

I'm not done yet, I need to keep adding to it.
I need to find some square and oval shapes too.

I just wanted to get the post up and share the fun.

This is a super easy DIY project 

and a great way to enjoy your favorite vintage doilies.

Here is a little tip, if you don't have enough to go all the way around,

 you can cut them in half and sew the raw edges carefully into the hem.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Hearts to All

Happy Hearts to All!...

Creating heart Valentines with cookie cutters and clay!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Page 1 of 365...

What feeds your heart and soul?

This is the perfect time of year
to pull out your favorite pens
and the journal that is so beautiful
that you felt your thoughts were not worthy of its lovely pages
and you become the author of your new future.

This is where you create a visual reminder to focus on what it is that feeds your soul and causes your heart to sing.
Its pages will inspire you and bring your attention to the priorities that bring you the most joy, instead of getting caught up in the day to day commitments that tend to keep you from spending time on your soul's deepest desires.
This is about your dreams, your goals and everything that brings beauty and joy, creativity and positive life affirming energy into your life.
I'm really writing this for myself, but I hope this post encourages others to do the same.

*

New York shopping continues at Tinsel Trading Company

for my crafty friends in blogland 

here is a resource for the imagination

You are entering a world of vintage and new, 

of original stock and reproductions, 

with an extraordinary extensive inventory 

unavailable anywhere else.

If you see something you just have to have...

1 West 37th Street New York, NY  

click to view Anthropologie New York displays