Monthly Archive for November, 2006

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Sewing

Published on November 5, 2006 in chez étoiles, inspiration, my house, projects, sewing and thrift. 0 Comments

I’ve launched a Sewing Series – you can read a little about Session #1 here and I am working on getting the materials and patterns ready for Session #2 – Make your own Tote Bag. I decided to offer 2 patterns (or help those who wanted to design their own…). So I’ll be doing the super basic roomy tote (stay tuned – I’ll post the pattern here after the session). But I was in a local sewing shop – and came across a pair of 6″ bamboo rings…oh inspiration. I googled the rings and bags – to see what was out there…and didn’t find too much (I didn’t look that hard, I have something in mind anyway), so I’ve been busy sketching up ideas and looking through my fabric stash to see what I can find to match the bamboo handles. I did find some wonderul blue/green wool at a thrift store – after I wash it (a musty yucky smell…)we’ll see if the piece is big enough. I was going to use the wool to make a gift. So many projects, so little time.

Note the fab wallpaper. Too bad it is in terrible shape and printed on a nasty canvas textured paper. It could be a cool almost toile. I’ve been looking for wallpaper over here…thanks to Dre. So maybe by this time next year (one can dream can’t they?) I’ll have a new dining room with a new color vibe – maybe one of the walls will be dressed in a new pattern?

Thinking about projects – we had an excellent guest speaker at our business class this past week. Sheldon Snodgrass – great name, cool guy, awesome energy. He put some energy into the class, helped spark a little fire in me and took some of the pressure off the whole “write a business plan” side of things (at least for me…). Sheldon talked about how he can have so many different things going on and it can get a little hectic. Reminds me of me…and my ongoing creative madness with projects. It can get so crazy that all I do is think and think and I can’t seem to get to the do – or I get far enough into the do, that I have tons of started projects…and it takes even longer to finish them. But I think it’s ok. I keep a notebook of projects and ideas. I think it helps to keep the juices flowing. I think it even helps to solve some other creative porblems I might have. When I do finish something, it does feel quite wonderful. So here’s to finishing another bag…

creative space

Published on November 3, 2006 in creative spaces, design, inspiration and photos. 3 Comments

The Posie studio, repainted and reorganized at last!, originally uploaded by Alicia Paulson.

We moved into our house only 11 months ago.  We have so many ideas and things we want to do – especially to our respective studios.  Rob’s studio is the barn – and well – has no heat.  My studio is the office and that too – has hardly any heat.  I look around and see all these wonderul pictures of studios and I am so inspired.  I love these pics too:
Amy Butler’s Studio
Then I cam across this place from Russell Davies and I get to explore even more.  This is starting to make me feel that my bookmarks are really tear pages – I just wish I could tear them out of the www and tape them up to my wall…
Anyway, this all just keeps me from actually working on my space (I actually wouldn’t be able to do it this very minute ,  we have a friend over, and Iz and Haz are making sculptures out of flour dough right next to me).  I’ll take pictures of my space so you can see the before…later.

Party Central

Published on November 3, 2006 in family and photos. 0 Comments

Click Here to See More Photos

I’ve finally gotten around to uploading some of the Halloween Pictures.  We had a blast.  Iz was sick for Trick-n-Treating night, but a few nights before – she was able to get dressed up in this AMAZING outfit that her Uncle Benny and Aunt Hia sent from Korea.  We got to dance and play along with some African Drumming at our Family Center.

Smart Friends and Presentation is Everything

Published on November 2, 2006 in chez étoiles and design. 0 Comments

I have many smart friends. Today, this very smart friend helped me realize what I’ve been thinking all along. PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING. I’ve been working on my shop site with free open source wonderful software, and not really happy with it because it’s not what I envision my store to look like. BLAH! Why didn’t I talk with her about this sooner? Crazy.

So – I have the programs I need to do this even though they are years old – they should work. It is so tempting to call and order the latest versions, but I also need to keep in mind, that I need to create this with what I have.

Back to the drawing board. Well – not really, I know what I want the site to look like, and I need to keep in mind that at first it’s going to be small and manageable, reminding me that I need to focus on the now and the near future, not the distant future. I’ll do more research and play around. This will probably delay the site launch another month or so, but I think it’s really important that my vision be executed properly.