Creative Dawn

I will have a few new posts over the next few days.  This is a project that I finished a few weeks ago.  There have been many ideas for can tabs and lampshades have been done before so this isn't a new concept, but my way of assembling it is probably different. This is a larger shade and took me longer than expected to complete, but it turned out great.  The tabs are wired with green floral wire.  The strips of tabs are sideways and there was 16 in each row.  Hope you like my version.

Kids are always challenging when it comes to gifts, but I'm lucky because my nieces and nephews like my creations.  About a month or so ago, I emailed one of my nieces and asked what she wanted for Christmas.  She replied that she loves my ink drawings of animals, so that is what I made for her.  By the way she is a senior in high school.  How many teenagers make requests like that? Instead of one drawing I made three for her.  My fave is the owl.  Sometimes as an artist/creative person I am amazed that these things are made by me.  It may sound strange, but there are times when the drawing is finished and I stand back to look at it and say to myself, WOW, did I really do that?  That was the owl for me.   

Hello!  So, I'm slacking a bit but no worries, Christmas is approaching and there will be more posts as gifts are created.  Plus, there is something in the works that is a bit more time consuming.  That should be finished in the next week...hopefully. A very wonderful lady that has me paint a lot of stuff recently asked me to paint a small table top for her.  You know those round tables that are fairly inexpensive? That is what the 'canvas' was. She is in the Parrot head club so of course it had to be tropical.  This is the only picture taken of it.  The final design had a small beach chair added, but oops, it slipped my mind to take a last photo. She is going to put it on top of the milk can from a previous post. (March 31, 2011)  

For the past few months I have been making baby quilts out of all of my odds and ends fabrics.  Of course to complete them buying even more fabric was necessary.  Now they are all done and I do have less fabric, that's a good thing, less clutter.  So, in the process smaller pieces of fabric accumulated so I made yo-yos out of those bits.  A few ideas came to mind but they ended up being a really colorful curtain for the window on my patio door.  There are some left and the plan is to use them for a lamp shade when I find one that will work.   

Hello all!  It's been a while since my last post because I've been busy.  Lots of work which is good and have also been sewing a lot of scrap quilts.  I am not posting any pictures because they all are the same except for fabrics.  My quilting skills are limited to plain old squares sewn together anyways. So, recently, I got a FB message about chairs.  There was only really a week and a half to complete the painting and staining but it was possible.  The results are the two pictures posted.  The chairs were pre-assembled which makes the painting trickier and a lot of the pieces were rounded so the design surface was also limited.  The request was to paint Tiki themed chairs that had specific colors with the names of the couple and the date of the wedding which is today.  Mission accomplished!

Every time I go to a thrift store or garage sale, I cannot help myself when it comes to wooden cutting boards.  They are a great size, a sturdy material and are fun to paint.  Besides, what else do you do with a used cutting board?    The first one is a rooster design.  This was inspired from a book of painted designs that is from the library.  The second is an endless flower design and is just a pattern that I made up.  Both are going to look great added to my kitchen collection.

One day last week I was trying to figure out what to do before work that evening.  There was a garage sale nearby and an estate sale on the next block.  Seemed like a great idea, you never know what you will find.  My purchases were a few framed pieces of art, a book, an old wooden cutting board and this chair.  Total spent:  $7.50.  This chair is sturdy even with the split in it.  The back was missing, but that is fine and made it easier to paint.  The colors are mostly blues and greens with accents of orange and yellow.  Still not sure where to put it or what to do with the finished project, but it is a cool modern design.

I am not a quilter!  I can sew squares together for a baby size quilt but that is about it.  That being said, here are a few that were recently finished.  The first quilt is a Simpson theme.  My uncle and his kids are big fans, as are my husband and I.  The fabric was purchased a few years ago and was going to be a scrub shirt for my hubby, but when my cuz got pregnant, it seemed appropriate to make a quilt with that fabric.  The colors are bright and fun. The second one is a bunch of orange scraps that were in my fabric stash.  Until I started to sort through the bin, I didn't realize how much orange there was.  It turned out beautiful and is on it's way to a fundraiser for www.jacobandersonfoundation.org   Hopefully it will bring in some money for a great cause. The last one is more bits that were in the stash and some extras that were recently purchased to add to the quilt.  This one is very bright and fun to look at. Quilting is an art form that many enjoy and I

   BEFORE  A great way to use up scrap fabric is to make yo-yos.  What are yo yo's?  Small circles of fabric that are gathered.  I was bored one day and started to sort through my fabric for odds and ends, there was a lot so I went to work.  When there were quite a few done, I sewed them onto an existing pillow and had a new look. AFTER 

Can you believe it?  Another post this soon!  I have been making stuff, but the posting has gotten slower, sorry.  These two wooden plaques were bought at a thrift store for less than $2.00 each.  They had some premade botanical pictures on them.  I decided to just paint some random designs on them.  They are about 12 inches square and they turned out great but now what I really want to do is some more paintings in this style only much larger.  The designs would make such a statement on a larger scale.  That may require a trip to Menards or Home Depot.   Sorry for the picture quality, my camera in not working the best right now.    

My own pattern for a simple tote bag Sometimes a creative bug will hit me and I become obsessed with only painting or drawing or whatever.  Lately sewing has become my favorite thing to do.  It could be because of my current job at a fabric store where I am surrounded with fabric and endless inspiration.  Hm... Simplicity #2183 In the past few weeks I have made three skirts, a scarf, a jacket, a t-shirt and a scrub shirt for my hubby and tote bags.  The patterns are all super easy, the thing that takes time is cutting out the patterns.  When it comes to sewing the complex patterns are not for this girl.  Keep it simple and let the fabric do the talking.  The clothes are all patterns that were purchased, but the bag was made up by little ol' me.  :) See & Sew B5516 See & Sew B5516 Mccalls #6107 Kwik Sew pattern # 1750 with modifications This isn't everything, but just a few examples of my sewing projects.

Hello everyone!  It has been a while, but I have been experiencing some technical difficulties.  My camera is not working so my phone has become my new 'camera.'  I really need to post some of my sewing stuff soon.  I have made clothing and some bags and they are turning out really well.  In many of my past posts I have mentioned Parrot heads and the chairs that I paint.  Here are the two chairs for the club that they are auctioning off towards the end of the month.  The styles are very different from each other.  Not feeling too chatty today so here they are. Fins up and seriously there will be more stuff soon I promise!!

So, I haven't posted in a while but at this point, I am having technical difficulties with my camera.  :(  There are a few pictures that are usable from my phone but they just are not great.  As the new year began sewing started to become the thing to do.  Seriously, there will be pictures and details soon, I promise.  There are also some new drawing and crochet projects in the works.  Also look for two new Adirondack chair paintings.  Once again the parrot head club has asked me to paint them for a big event in March.  What a busy girl I am! Flower drawing - taken with cellphone This year so far is not the best, but I try to stay positive.  My job is good, but, the money isn't and getting ahead isn't happening at this point.  My hubby started a new job in November but since the new year has been unable to work because of a back injury.  It really sucks, but that's life.  We are muddling through as best we can and have such great friends and family that help us out

Hello all, hope that the new year brings you lots of creative ideas! So, since I currently work at a fabric store, I see lots of cool fabrics and get inspired almost daily.  About a month or so ago this awesome jungle fabric came in and I decided that it was a must have.  My first idea was to use it for painting inspiration and that is exactly what it was used for.  This coffee table was a purchase from a thrift store for 2.99 and it had seen better days.  The top was scuffed and scratched so it was perfect for the Creative Dawn touch.  It only needed a bit of light sanding before painting.  I did not trace or make stencils for this project.  It is all free hand.  :)  I turned out great and it is a wonder whimsical piece to add to my decor.  Now to figure out what to do with the fabric...maybe pillows...hmm.  But that will probably be another post.