Hey there, it's Amy with another book review for ya! I am excited to tell you about my new book. You all know I am a closet paper-crafty kind of gal so it was awesome to see a "hip" paper crafting book, with lots of great projects by well know crafters. Read on!
Handmade Hellos: Fresh Greeting Card Projects from First-Rate Crafters by Chronicle Books
Hi, boys & girls, it's Amy here. Today I thought instead of a book review, I'd tell you about a couple of upcoming books that you should be on the look out for!
I love Jennifer Perkin's style so I knew right away that I would LOVE this book. And boy was I right.
Tamie Snow here bringing you our December Guest Artist, Beth Doherty. She is a rockstar in the Amigurumi world and an extremely talented and visually inspiring artist. Her work was what inspired me to become an Amigurumi designer and many others after me. I am so excited to share her work with all of you. (Elisa)Beth Doherty is a 28 yrs old lifelong, self taught crafter. Her hands feel itchy when they are not making stuff. After graduating with a BA in Fine Art from Columbia College in Chicago, where she was born and raised, she married the only man she was able to tolerate for more than a few dates, Terry Baker. (Just kidding, he is the absolute love of her life) The only thing resembling a “pre-nup” was a statement Beth made: “I am never leaving Chicago.” So far so good, they still haven't left the South Side. The happy home consists of the couple and their 2 cats. She taught her self how to crochet after a startling event of amnesia because she wasn't emotionally ready to get back to “serious painting” so took time off to decompress by making toys. She fell in love with it and hasn't gone back. Crafting/art making is my entire gig. When I am not making stuff, I pretty much just live. The past few years have been quite a struggle for me from both physical and emotional health points of view, so I try to fill my time with the things that matter most, like spending time with my husband and the rest of my family and making a nice, comfy home. I am not a brilliant housekeeper, but I flatter myself that I am a pretty darn good cook. It is a goal of mine to have the cookie jar filled with homemade-from-scratch goodies at all times. Like was mentioned before, I learned to crochet after an episode of amnesia. It took over three years to be diagnosed with epilepsy. In the meantime the seizures (although I didn't know what they were at the time) became more and more frequent and I started getting bad migraines. You can imagine how scary that was for me and my family. This experience has really taught me the importance of taking care of yourself and those you love, a lesson I will be learning for the rest of my life, I think. I just adore color. Oftentimes I will pick up a ball of yarn that appeals to me that day and just start crocheting. During the initial boring, repetitive stitching, I wait for the color to suggest something to me. The materials I use are a great source of inspiration as well, the satisfying visual/tactile qualities of yarn, felt, button, sequins and fabric. Paint is very dull compared to these, no wonder I haven't gone back. I never really seriously considered any occupation that wasn't creative. My mom has a drawing of mine from when I was quite young. It shows me standing at a counter with all sorts of paintings on the wall behind me; I told my mom that it was a picture of me as a curator. What sort of 6 yr old knows the word “curator”? Maybe that's why the kids in school accused me of reading the dictionary, huh? If I am not grown up now I don't think I will ever be. Recently, I have been enjoying “The Great American Songbook,” that canon of mid-twentieth century pop I just asked my husband but he couldn't think of anything. If anyone would notice something like that, he would, so I guess I don't do that many strange things. Maybe I should work on the eccentric artist angle a bit more. Well I am not a thrill-seeker so I would, ideally, be at home watching reruns of “Frasier” while knitting or folding clothes. I am not much of an “irrational fear” sort of person. Well...I know that lots of people thought I fell of the face of the earth this last year while I was busy dealing with my health issues. So, I would like to welcome everyone back to my Etsy shop, user name: GourmetAmigurumi. I have a few amigurumi for sale and I plan to add prints and as well patterns in the coming months. For those people who would like to follow my work, you can visit my Flickr page user name:ElisabethD. You can also sign up for my mailing list @ www.gourmetamigurumi.com The site is suffering from neglect, but I plan to transition to a new blog in the near future. Beth has been so generous and given us this free embroidery pattern for us all to enjoy!
1: What do you do when you're not (doing your day job)?
2: What inspires you?
3: When you were 6, what did you want to be when you grew up?
4: What do you want to be when you grow up now?
5: What's your favorite song?
6: And what's one weird habit you have?
7: Where are you on an average Tuesday night at 9pm?
8: What's your greatest phobia?
9: What's next on the horizon for you?
Found via Flickr user disco smurf. She says she took this pattern from the Embroidered Button freebies, enlarged it and creatd this adorable ornament from it!
Hey there, it's Amy here again. I recently became a fan of Helen Dardik. I purchased her Coffee with my Owl print the moment I saw it and have been an avid reader of her blog ever since.
So...when I saw her post with the most adorable free holiday pattern, you know I had to share.
Check out the orange you lucky! blog for free downloadable pattern and instructions.
The Holidays are a perfect time to introduce sewing to kids. They will be on vacation from school (translation: will need entertaining) and it's a chance to teach them a skill that will last a lifetime. So, take a break from baking and cozy up on the sofa with a mug of cider. Surprise them with a mini embroidery kit--patterns, some floss and a few (blunt embroidery) needles. Oh, and don't forget a little extra patience!
The easy, free embroidery patterns above are available at patternbee.com
If they really take to sewing, you may want to encourage them with one of these fun gifts:
The Alex My First Sewing Kit is availabe online and I've seen it at Cost Plus, too. It comes with 8 colors of floss, felt pieces for two projects, pincushion, scissors, pins, ric-rac and even pompoms. Now that's a party in a box.
The Kids' Embroidery Kit from Land of Nod. This one has even more goodies inside including an embroidery hoop, patterns and transfer paper. And it's currently on sale plus free shipping. Yay! 'Cause even Santa loves free shipping.
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