justBeConnected

Custom Glass Keepsake

Hello again!
Today I'm sharing one of the projects from my book Inspirational Home: simple ideas for uplifting decor and craft. Since you are a creative bunch, I'm posting one that's more "advanced," relatively speaking.  :-)

Custom Glass Keepsake

"A treasured photo secured between two pieces of glass presents a new twist to traditional stained glass window art. The artwork gives the glass a frosted look, yet still allows light to shine through. The photo is enhanced with a translucent quality, and an applicable scripture is typed below it. Hang this special piece in your kitchen window for maximum exposure."

MATERIALS:
2 squares of clear glass
copper tape
scissors
extra strong glue
copper wire
beads
ribbon
photo
clear adhesive label paper
computer

INSTRUCTIONS:
1.    Convert your photo into a sepia or duotone image. My example is a duotone of aqua and copper. (Your local copy center can help you, or use a photo program on your computer.)
2.    Add a verse and decorative symbols to your image. Print onto  clear adhesive label paper, or make a mock-up of your picture and a verse and color copy it onto the label paper.
3.     Peel and stick the artwork between the two squares of glass.
4.    Tape around the edges of the glass with the copper, in order to bind the two pieces together.
5.     Bend and adhere two wire loops to the top edge for hanging.
6.    Bead, bend and glue a decorative wire design on the bottom edge.
7.    String and tie a ribbon for hanging.

TIP:
Give cream ribbon a bath in watered-down aqua paint overnight to create more depth and a worn look.

TRY THIS:
For a dark silver-colored frame, solder the copper taped edges, as is done when working with stained glass, and use silver wire. A black and white photo or a duotone image with a color and black will be more attractive than sepia in this case.

I hope you have fun with this! All the ideas in my book are done simply, so non-crafters can make fun things, too. But if you're a craft nut, then the book will just be an inspiration tool for you - unexpected formats and application for all your talents! I'd love for you to email me your photos when you're done!
Jeanne

Feminista, Fashionista, Crafty Diva - Can they all co-exist?

{Hi it is Jodie again.} As you may have guessed from my all female blog line up I get along best with women. I don't really know why, I have some theories as to why I don't get on as well with men but I don't think it's a massive loss that my best friends are all made up of women. I like my gender and I want to be involved in its community. I'm also very excited about feminist theory, especially history (as it was my degree subject) and literary criticism. I think every section of the female community should be able to respect the opinions expressed by different groups but many people think that this isn't possible. Not only do they think it isn't possible they positively delight in creating ructions among the gals. If they're not pushing some celebrity rivallry on the poor wippets then they're explaining why it's unattractive to be a feminist, influencing girls who haven't yet formed a coherent opinion to mock and revile their sisters. So what do you think, is there room in the world for feminists and fashionistas, craft girls and catwalk worshippers? Do we even need to seperate them into these categories? Couldn't a feminist be fashionable, a straight girl be strong and business like? And do we need to seperate feminism into nationality or race with women in countries where equal rights aren't available left to liberate themselves or should western women be helping? I'd like to hear what women and men are thinking about feminism in general whether it be history, art, politics or fashion. If anyone wants to rant about how women are marketed and sold products in an inferior way you'll find me jumping on the band wagon waving a big banner with the name of a razor company in pink. Feel free to disagree though, we'd all grow bored without debate.

Come Play with Me!

Hi ya'll!
I'm still posting from my cell phone! :( It's been a hard week, mostly cutoff from the web. I'm a stay at home mom with a workaholic husband... The net is my connection to the world, my sanity keeper, and, since I started A Beautiful Abode, a way to express MY passion... You know, that thing that belongs to me outside of my responsibilities to my family. The net also offers me solace in times of stress- and this week has been full of that as my husband and I determine if our marriage has a future. Definitely a bad week to be internetless.

And that's why I'm inviting you to come play with me! Today is the perfect day to play too. The sun is shining, the sky is bluer than blue, and the pollen count is low. Plus play doesn't cost a thing! (You know I'm all over low-to-no cost activities!)

So let's play! I'm 34 years old (practically -just two weeks away!) and I'm gonna learn how to turn a cartwheel today if it kills me. My digital camera is charged and ready to go. After I turn a cartwheel or three, the kids and I are going on a digital scavenger hunt. I'm fascinated by color, texture, and juxtiposition so that's what we're looking for. And if I'm not too worn out after we get back from our walk, I have plans to play with paint.

Yeah, I know play won't fix the internet, find me a job, or save my marriage. But it will give me a mental break and an attitude adjustment. Like a little positive energy booster shot! Which is why I have to create- write, color, knit, sew, paint, or photograph-in the first place. Just my way of shining some light into the darkness.

Won't you join me? I'll come back and post a link to our photos once I can upload them to flickr. I'd love it if ya'll would share your play day results in the comments too!

Happy playing!

Shauntelle

all is well

Hi~  Melba here for my last day of hostessing, but I will be back most Sundays posting about happenings in our Creative Blogger Community.

I am part of a tele group called Circe's Circle*** led by the fabulous co-active coach Jamie Ridler. Each week we give ourselves, with the help of the group, homework. My homework this week was inspired by my Circe's sister Jessie. Recently Jessie posted on her blog about her dream studio space. I know from experience that when we ask the universe for what we want, the universe delivers. Everytime. My homework was to write a wish list for my dream home.

Although we have lived in our home for 7 years we still have not fixed or changed many of the things we thought we would when we bought it. Right now there are some things about our home that are not meeting our needs or my desires, but before we do anything drastic we must first figure out what we do need and desire. I realized after the call that this homework needed to be something I share with my husband. I want us to co-create our ideal home. Sean is not really a "wish list" and "vision board" kind of guy.

and then a chain of events happened that kind of helped, but also put my homework on hold...

About a month ago our power went out. I remember it was a Monday and I was excited that I would have my Circe's Circle call that night. Feeling inspired I decided to hang all my art on the wall of my studio (aka our living room). My children were delighted to help me and were very encouraging. Six hours later when the power finally went back on our television seemed a bit off. The voice would come on and a few minutes later the picture would show up. Eventually the picture disappeared all together. For a few days my husband researched what could be wrong and tried to fix our seven year old television himself. What fun it was moving our 170 pound TV into my studio so he could take it apart!

He couldn't fix it.

I don't really care about the size or kind of television we own, and although my husband doesn't watch much television other than sports, he does care. For about a year Sean has been researching televisions telling me that we would soon need to upgrade to an HDTV. Usually it takes him a long time to make a purchasing decision so I was surprised when he said he wanted to buy a high definition flat screen television he found a great deal on. I encouraged Sean to buy it because he works very hard to support us all rarely spends money on something he really wants. Our Big TV was delivered this week and as Sean had warned me it did not fit into our existing armoire. Now we have to buy or make something to house this new television and it's components.

This open a whole series of discussions...

I am always doing more than one thing at a time, but this week I was suddenly forced to just sit and talk to my husband. Just sit. Not drive and talk or eat and talk or shop and talk (although we did all of those things) We just sat in the family room and then in the living room and talked and day dreamed and it was really wonderful. Eventually we will make a wish list of all we want in our home, but for now our focus is on creating a space for the kids to play, a space to watch TV as a family or with guests, a space just for the kids to watch TV, a space for my studio, a space for the computer, and many spaces for storage...all within the family room and the living room that is separated by a wall and the kitchen. In the next few weeks (I wish it would only take a few days, but I am being realistic here as rooms are difficult to rearrange with two children about) furniture will be moved, things will be given away, stuff will be thrown out, stuff will be purchased or made and needless to say I won't have my homework done by Monday ~ our last Circe's Circle :( ~ but in the end all will be well!

I encourage you to make a wish list for something you want in your life.

Please share here in the comments or on your own blog.

Normally I would go crazy with our house in disarray~ Instead I have been embracing the messiness of life. When I clean and organize I often think about titles of books...the books I would like to read or write.

This week mine would be

What would be the title of the book that would describe your life right now? either one you would want to read or write.

Please share here in the comments or on your own blog.

Hope this weekend is Full of Goodness for You!!!

 

***Jamie is getting ready to lead a new Circe's Circle group. All the information is here. If you have any questions about what the group was like from a participants perspective you can email me. I would be happy to share with you all the details of why I would recommend joining Circe's Circle.***

Inspired by Quotes

Quotes are one of my great loves.

---Love to search for them
---Love to share them
---Love to be inspired by them

I have several quote books, lists of quotes, and many bookmarks to quotes online.

I have a goal for myself to put more words and quotes on quilts (as quilts are my main medium). But I'm thinking of just doing little pieces of art with quotes. Not sure where that will go but they would be quicker to do than a quilt... maybe!

On this blog I've read many of the guest writers. We all have a Dream and I think this is a perfect quote for us.. I might have to put it on something VERY soon!

"There is nothing like a dream to create the future." ― Victor Hugo

If you don't have that dream, your future just muddles along doesn't it? No goal, No point you are reaching for, No purpose.

As you now know, I'm one of those people who must have a purpose. I am constantly working to FINISH something so I can say 'It's DONE!'.  Often my next project is started 2 minutes later. It is a constant flow of projects.

I seem to like this, it's how my brain works, it feeds my soul, it lets me reach my dreams.

What is your dream and how will you reach it?

**************
Top Quilt is 'Be Thankful' - pattern here

Bottom Quilt is my online workshop at American patchwork and Quilting's new online University. Read about Quilt University HERE

I also have a kit for that workshop at my shop

we are creative people

We are creative people who read this blog. We are people Who Make Stuff (and write stuff... which is just another form of making). And life is good when we do enough of it! I love having this community and getting to meet others like me.  I have a theory that people who 'make stuff' will 'get' each other. We have a common bond.

Recently my VERY YOUNG hair stylist asked me if everyone I knew 'made things'... this cracked me up. And it got me thinking. Most people I hang with make stuff. We 'get' each  other.

Sometimes people write me because they can't find others who do what they do. It's a concern to not have people like ourselves. People with the same interest. The internet has bust open the field of friends we can find. From forums, to yahoo groups, to blog rings... we can find people who do what we do.

But sometimes we need to see those people in person. Do you have a group of friends like you? People you can hang out with and 'talk creative shop'? Yes? That is FANTASTIC!!  Woot Woot... you are so lucky!

But what if you don't?  Then you need to hang out where people 'make stuff'... any kind of stuff. Put up notices in all the usual places like bulletin boards at the grocery store, library, community center, church...etc.. Invite people to a monthly 'group' for people who like to 'make stuff'. Start a writers group.

Make it your mission to build the group of friends that you want.... they may not appear on your door step... you may have to work to find them. BUT .. they are out there waiting for you!

My very best girlfriend group is made up of gals that 'make stuff' but we don't all do the same thing.  And the best part is that  we ALL do other stuff. I think it's the camaraderie of 'making' that we crave... and we all GET each other!

I worked in computers for many years where we 'made' programs... and a large majority of the people I worked with 'made' things or 'fixed' things. That common interest builds friendships...

It wasn't until my early 30's that I found people who sewed. My girlfriend convinced me to learn to quilt so she'd have a quilting friend.. hehe... and I never looked back.

Tell me about your friends, your community of like minded people. And if you don't have one,  put that notice up on the bulletin board. It works... I've heard many a great story about friendships built this way.

PS - for a silly break, which we ALL need.. come over to my regular blog today and put on a smile!  http://patsloan.typepad.com/

Photos - My quilt Celebrate, Eat Cake
Sherbert color chairs outside LLBean in the mall... just right for friends to sit in!
Coffee cup from my SideWalk Cafe Pattern

Creating Sparks

I ADORE this topic title Melba suggested... Creating Sparks!!

It needs MANY exclamation points ... It's catchy... it makes me think... I like that. Particularly the thinking part.  She suggests we do a challenge or talk about our passion. More thinking... my passion...  Sometimes I think my Passion is to be busy. To be productive. To have a 'job'.

I'm a little like a herding dog. I NEED to have that 'thing I do' and it better be fun and I better like it.  If it isn't... then I'm like a herding dog with no sheep or cattle... standing around wondering what to do with myself... hehe!

So what's my 'Passion' in life? What makes me Tick? What do I get on my soapbox about?

I think my Passion is to help people BE creative.
-My Passion is to let you know you SHOULD be creative if you want to be
-My Passion is to tell you that you CAN be creative if you feel it.. want it... even just a little bit.  If the desire is there you can do it.
-My Passion is to throw out 'The Rules' as I'm sure they were made by cranky people having a bad day.
-My Passion is to help you get rid of the 'shoulda, woulda, coulda' and 'I don't have time' excuses. No Excuses.. just MAKE STUFF is what I live by.

Everyone who wants to make something can. You can find the time, You ARE talented, there is NO room for perfection as it stifles you. Yep you heard from me, Perfection stifles you and keeps you from your passion.  ... unless of course you are doing brain surgery.. then by all means please be perfect :)

So my CHALLENGE to you this week is NO EXCUSES, Let's BE CREATIVE.  Let's Make Stuff. Let's pull out the paints, the paper, the fabric, the bag of soil to garden with. Let's find a little spot to call our own. Let's be happy and feel the SPARK.

Your assignment... in the comments tell me what YOU want to do this week that you've put off doing (and not the taxes or cleaning the house).

.. THEN get out your stuff.. TONIGHT... yes TONIGHT. I don't care how tired you are. How late it is. Get it out and look at it. Touch your paints. Sort your fabric. Feel all your wood grains or your dodads for scrapping. Pull the gardening magazine. Just GET into your things. Want to write? Then open a document and write about how tired you are... just write for 5 minutes.

Tomorrow I hope to be reading about a LOT of creativity here in the comments.. come on.. let's go!

Photos -
-Quilt is 'A Sunday Drive'. Here at my webstore
-Vacation photo - a cruise we took to relax... having a 'get away' sparks MY creativity!

ps.. LOVED visiting your blogs and hearing from you... I need to hear from more of you today!

It's late in the day, but . . . .

So I finally returned home from a very stressful day, and remembered you all!  I'm so sorry that I couldn't get to this earlier in the day, but here I am and I hope to encourage you to get your creativity going for the weekend!  I was awakened quite early by the telephone ringing (who hasn't experienced that!!!???) and immediately I had to help someone else solve a problem.  Now, I don't mind helping other people with these kinds of situations, but sometimes it seems like everyone needs me all at the same time.  And then there just isn't enough of me to go around!  And then the day just continued to get crazier and crazier, until finally my sweet hubby took me out for Chinese and we decided that everyone could take care of themselves for a couple of hours.  Now I am home, and sitting here in my jammies, while our daddy is making mama a drink (!) and the girls are watching a Friday night movie.   Harriet the Spy, I believe, and our little Annie Belle just came up to give me a rather messy, sloppy kiss, and announced that she is "going to work."  Life is good . . . . even when I have days like this one!

One of the things that helps keep my sanity (what little I have left!) is taking some time in the middle of all this cuckoo-ness to do something fun and creative.  I love to take old (vintage!) stuff and make it into something else.  I've done that with my clothing, and my children's clothing, for a long time.  My girls are used to wearing hand-me-downs that mama turns into something really exotic and unique!  The other day I found several tea cups and saucers, along with various other tiny containers, and I"ve been making embellished pincushions.  This one is so gorgeous!  The teacup and saucer (with a tiny little crack in the edge of the saucer) is a beautiful floral / paisley in shades of light and dark green, with touches of gold.  It is so elegant, that I just had to make a pincushion with lots of bling, glitter, and glam. 

I used a scrap of medium green fabric to make the pincushion part, and then glued it into the cup.  Then I started embellishing!  I added a great big floppy golden ribbon flower with a gold and rhinestone button center.  Then I stitched on some pearl beads and used my trusty hot glue gun to attach some round rhinestones to make three more flowers.   With some pearl and crystal stick pins, and a few gold and pearl buttons strewn around the saucer . . . . . in the midst of a rope of irridescent pearls . . . . I've got me one heck of a cute pincushion!  And I am having so much fun with these little gems, that I thought I'd challenge you all to find something ordinary, or something that might be ready to be sent off to the thrift shop - or go to the thrift shop and find something . . . . anything . . . . and turn it into something beautiful!  I have a couple of little glass baskets, two or three tiny watering cans and a wash tub, a small wooden box with a playful kitty on the front, and a crystal-looking cup and saucer.  They're all going to become elegant pincushions!

To me, this seems like a wonderful metaphor for life.  We all have little scars, or cracks, or broken places . . . . but with a little tender loving care, and a little bling (!), we are all beautiful.  So, think about that as you are contemplating your creative spark over the next few days.  What can you find that needs a little love, a little attention, and a little bit of glitz, and it will become an amazing creation - just like YOU!  Until next time . . . . Nina

PS I'm having a give-away on my blog, mamas*little*treasures, if you would rather enter to win one of these little teacup pincushions!  Take a peek, post a comment, and you just might win.  Also, I'm having a book give-away on my adoption blog, Waiting*for*Grace, so take a peek over there, too! 

Spread Your Wings

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued , is always just beyond our grasp, but which, if you sit down quietly may alight upon you."

--Nathaniel Hawthorne--

This morning, I sat in a cafe window and watched the rain scatter passersby in hurried clusters.  Students on their way to campus rushed past with books clutched to their chests, a mother pushed a stroller full of rain-slickered twins over the pavement, and a beautiful redheaded woman inadvertently dropped her bag on the sidewalk, spilling tubes of paint and a box of pencils until an elderly couple stooped down low to help her.  I wrote as the hours skittered off away from me, quietly noticing the saturated yellow of the sedan double-parked in front of a fire hydrant and the navy blue uniform of the parking authority officer writing out her ticket and tucking it carefully under the windshield wipers like a love note.  I saw these countless stories unfolding on the other side of the glass because I slowed down enough to pay attention.

My "creative sparks challenge" for anyone who stumbles across this entry is to sit down  quietly, as Hawthorne mentioned in the quote above, to *see* the expressions of exhausted delight on the students' faces, or the unyielding smile of the harried mother, or the way the frustrated artist-woman with her upended bag grinned at the snowy-haired couple who stopped to assist her.  Slowing down and paying attention opens up pockets of our world we may not have seen if we stayed insulated in our own thoughts and emotions and stories.  This month, I have decided to begin a challenge for myself to get out there and begin documenting strangers around town with my camera, inspired by this project: 100 Strangers.  I expect to spend the better part of this year shooting photos of people I do not know...until I introduce myself and ask them to answer the same five questions I plan to ask each one.  I dare you to give this experiment a try wherever you live.  Already, I have met a blonde boy from Idaho who plans to save the world one elementary student at a time when he graduates as a teacher in two years...and that irresistible mother of twins whose decade-long struggle with infertility led to her sons during her very last shot at IVF.  It is terrifying to me, walking up to strangers and asking if I can take their picture and offer a few questions--but already my little city becomes a bit smaller for me...a bit more friendly and accessible.  Every single one of us has a story to tell and this is just one chance for me to touch base with a few of the people who live their plot-lines, comedies, and dramas all around me...even as I live my own. 

Hawthorne is right--we need to be still and allow ourselves to open up to the beauty and "butterflies" all around us.  But, I think he will forgive me if every now and then I decide to walk up and introduce myself to happiness...and ask how it managed to arrive on such fragile human wings. 

Thank you for the chance to be hostess here this week!

Best to you,

Delia

www.cdeliascarpitti.blogspot.com

Being a Modern Goddess

I love the idea of the category 'Creating Sparks' and decided to make this post my first post as Hostess of the Week.

Hi and welcome, I'm Nicole Graham, Business Goddess of Journals for Empowerment.  Journals for Empowerment is a small Australian business that consists of myself and Tara Spicer, our Creative Goddess.

Together we publish a range of unique writing journals that encourage women to experience a journey of self-discovery and empowerment.

Their uniqueness is not only in the beautiful imagery of each journal or the specially tailored sections for ‘self empowerment’ through guided ‘self-study’, but in the companion guided meditation CD that takes each journal’s owner on an magical journey to find their own personal power.

Tara and I are here this week because Melba is supporting us in our  Virtual Book Tour, to promote our recently released journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.  Thank you Melba!  Also thank you to the hostess who offered her scheduled week to us.  We really appreciate both of you for your support!

So, on to the challenge of the week... because we are promoting our journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess, I would love, love, love to see you create a collage or a vision board that represents you as a 'Modern Goddess'.

Being a Modern Goddess means being committed to yourself, first and foremost, and this means being committed to your own spiritual and personal growth, living with intention and passion while striving to contribute to your immediate world, and the world at large in a positive, meaningful way.

How you interpret that is your own personal interpretation - there is no right or wrong way.

I believe that a Goddess lives in all of us, but she isn’t always easy to find.  Most women have been conditioned from an early age to put the needs of others ahead of her own needs.  Somewhere along the way we have lost our inner, sacred, wise woman, that I call the Goddess within.

Be creative as you like... use images of yourself or from magazines, paint, draw, use gemstones, ribbons, the colours of the rainbows... what ever takes your fancy.

As you complete your collage or vision board, please tell us about them, link through to your blog or you can send images to me at nicole(at)journalsforempowerment.com.  If you are happy to share and they are sent to me this week, I'll show them off throughout this week.

Enjoy being a Modern Goddess!

~ ~ ~ ~

The journal and companion meditation CD retails for $34.95 AUD including GST.

To view or purchase the journal, please visit our website, Journals for Empowerment.

I will be hosting for the rest of the week, however our Virtual Book Tour continues on to Hong Kong tomorrow where we offering Katherine's readers a 'Meet your Inner Goddess' Guided Meditation and Affirmation.

Visit www.spiritualresources.spaces.live.com to get your copy.