art junk girl

A day in the life of artjunkgrl...

It's 10 a.m. and I want to go back to bed and start all over. It was one of "those" mornings. EVerything was a little "off". There are 5 days until Christmas. I have lists for my lists. So, I start off my day the same way each morning. Coffee. before my feet hit the carpet running. Today my husband asked if I wanted to have my coffee "downstairs". like all of the sudden I'm going to change my routine or something. Then it went downhill from there. Three early morning phone calls, which I think should be outlawed, all about stuff you don't wanna deal with in the early morning. Then my daughter announced that she just deleted 1000 songs from her ipod, my other daughter wanted to know if she had a sweater she could "borrow" as if she has NO clothes...my youngest was mad that I ran out of her fave lunchmeat and didn't put lemon on her apples so they would brown in her lunch. I got stuck in the car pool line because we left a bit late. SO, I thought, "I'm NOT blogging today", I gotta get going and I feel crappy all over. Then I thought of how I've really gotten in the routine of blogging almost everyday since doing art everyday month. It's become part of my routine, and yesterday I found out I have 9 readers, not 5, so I have to check in and let them know that I'm not going to stop bothering them about trying 1" squares. Life, after all, would not be as much fun without such diversions as 1" square collages, gumdrop wreaths, and colorful, fun, inspiring eye candy. I really think that's why my blogroll is so long, I want to go look at pretty stuff. It makes me feel good. I love making stuff. It makes me feel good. I love talkin' about it. It makes me feel good. So, now that I've talked myself happy, I'm gonna go make an artful version of my to do list today. I'm going to treat myself to a holiday spiced skim latte while I'm running errands. I'm going to stop and look at the prettiful colors wherever I go. After all, life is what I make of it, even when it starts off kind of crappy. So, if you are reading this, I bid you ado and thank you for listening to me vent. I wish you a most beautiful & wonderful day! xxoo Lia

More "1 inch" square love ...

great things come in small packages.... I just love making these little squares, but if you are one of the five people that read my blog, you know that already! So, where was I, oh yeah, gotta a little sidetracked sewing this weekend (thank you sis for reminding me..ha ha) but I did have fun and now I'm plotting my next sewing projects. The sewing machine IS NOT going to be put away this time. I will now have to fit in some sewing time with collage time, although I know that collage is my very favorite creative endeavor. Here are a few things I'd forgotten about sewing, but have made a note of the last few days: 1. Sewing is A LOT messier than collaging. I thought all my paper cutting was messy, but whoa, sewing has a lot more falling debris than paper arting... 2. Don't try to vacumn until you make sure all the spools of thread are picked up. The string WILL get sucked up into the vacumn and you WILL have to stop and pull it out. 3. I think I am a 3-4 pair of scissor person. I inevitably bury my scissors and can never find them...mental note, more scissors. 4. The sewing manual is my friend. 5. I have thought of, but have resisted the urge to get sidetracked and disinfect, dust and clean every crevice and ridge of this machine that has sat in my cabinet for the last year while I took pretty pics of it for flickr studio and craft room and groups like "pretty organized" and such. Of course I'm pretty organized in the areas where I'm NOT flippin' using stuff. come on, let's get real already... 6. I am a double checker but I still sewed something on in the wrong direction, is there a name for that disorder? 7. I didn't know there was an auto shutdown button on my machine. I guess that keeps you from completely annihilating your machine when you are trying to stitch over a mountain of jean fabric. 8. Oh, and I must make a mental note to make sure that I have enough thread on a spool BEFORE I thread the entire bobbin and then realize that's the end of that spool and I now will have 2 colors of thread on top and bottom unless I start all over. 9. I need a much better light or a new set of eyes. 10. I'm really ticked that I'm only 42 and can't thread the needle without looking like I'm going to dissect the machine... Ok, so that's my sew boring post for today, hope everyone is happy, gettin' creative and in the holiday spirit! xxoo Lia

sewing junk~ shhh....a present for dd

Made this with a jean mini skirt my dd had that I never liked (he he) and she finally relinquished into my sewing cabinet. I've had it in there for a while and thought I'd use some of yesterdays pretty shirt fabric to make it into a little tote for her. She loves purses, has a bagillion of them and won't part with any of them! I think she will like this. I left the botton of it fringed like the skirt was...I made the strap by attaching pieces of the fabric with the waistband part. I also sewed on some vintage buttons. This was "sew" much fun to do. I did it in a "crazy quilt" kind of style, at least that what it reminded me of. There is various stitching and such, used both zipzag and straight. Oh, and I only broke one sewing machine needle and had various other little mishaps but my machine is tolerant of my trial and error type of ways. The sewing machine manual is my friend. I figure that if you get the machine threaded correctly, the rest of the stuff doesn't matter as much. Now, this is all you sewing girls fault, luring me into sewing machine projects now. I blame Hanna for all her craft portal links and wonderful creations that keep me up ooing and ahhing over hand sewn lovelies all night, and the very talented Ruth Rae enticing me with fabric charm ideas to extend my 1 " square love to fabric. Ok, well, I better get offline and go clean up my sewing mess. xxoo Lia

A different kind of Collage with my Jeans!

Ok, so I dusted off the sewing machine today. I was on a mission this week to make something "useful". I guess I'm going through a little thing where I want to actually make something I can, like, wear or something....but I know it's only a phase, I'll be back to my paper stuff soon enough! Anyhoo, I love, love, love jeans. If you know me and have been reading my blog, you know it's all I wear. Well, I've saved up LOTS of jeans for sewing fodder. I want to make some purses, etc. BUT in the meantime I decided to make this "altered" or collage skirt this week. I got a shirt the other day for 10 at a super sale and chose it to be my skirt "victim". It's kind of gauzy like and light and the colors are fabulous. Actually, lots of the colors I use in my collages....so here is my newest creation. I approached the project in the same way I approach making my collages, kinda haphazardly. The material I chose was forgiving and I just zigzaged my way through it. My daughter took part of the shirt I cut and made a crown for herself...here is the back of her little head! The little bugger kept taking my scissors but she is cute and she was having fun keeping me company while we waited for my hub to get home. I quickly vacumned the mess afterward as my bedroom served as my make-shift sewing room. Now, this is still a WIP. I have to do the back. I will do the back with a jean patch of material at the opening. So, that's what I've been up to...oh, and I tried sewing on the cardstock tag I made the other day. It's much, much easier than I thought. I made a few christmas tags, but still testing the waters on that one. I also got some Christmas shopping done this morning and some other junk, so this was a nice little diversion this evening. Hope y'all are gettin' crafty this weekend. Just go for it. Don't worry about it being perfect. It so freeing to just get something out and approach it like a kid would, without the critic and with freedom and fun. xxoo Lia p.s. did I mention I saved a piece of the fabric for a headband to go with my skirt? here is a tutorial I read before starting the skirt.... Oh, and here's more skirt love here. This is an amazing artist site, so put your eye candy glasses on. you've been warned! xoo Lia

Artjunkgrl at Home

I took this picture this morning of my favorite old white leather chair in my room(that my husband hates..lol). I try to cover it with blankets and quilts to hide it's supposed ugliness from him. I love this square afghan. I got it from a dear woman who sells vintage linens and such on ebay. Anyhoo, I though it was neat how the sun was streaking in through the blinds. My camera skills are not great, but I do like to stop and take a picture of something when it inspires me (much to my children's chagrin), but I digress. The last few days I've been feeling kind of "eh" which a few of my blog sista's picked up on right away (thank you for your kind words, you all warm my heart!) But, anyhoo, I think it's because I feel guilty about not having all my present shopping done and the days are ticking away! I've been helping my son with his college aps and we've had a miriad of other life things going on that have pulled me away from my shopping chore. I say chore, not cause I don't like shopping for people, I do, but I don't like to go "out" shopping much. I have a hard time making decisions on what to buy and I worry about them liking, etc. etc. This is not a good thing, especially since I also need a few things for the holidays myself that I've put off doing. I guess you know why I have time to craft in the day, cause I'm not out shopping! So, I had a little "pity party" this morning and invited my husband to attend. He was very understanding as always (except about the ugly white chair and anything clutterful in the house) but I must say he is a good egg. He told me he'd help on the weekend and reminded me that I turned down an offer to go with him earlier in the week. You see, I love shopping with my husband although he does not volunteer to do so often, but he is on a mission when he shops. He's in and out of a store with what he wants in before I can say, "look over here at this cute....". I, on the other hand, get mesmerized and go around in circles not only wondering what to buy but how I can alter, craft or make something else with it. Yes, the creative mind does not turn off, it's kind of a mixed blessing. So, where was I? Oh yeah, I decided after my appt. to go get a few gifts out of the way at a local outlet. I bought my yearly "christmas/holiday" top. No, not the christmas tree sweater. I usually get a nice top to go with my "staple" black slacks that I can wear to a christmas party or new years thing. It's usually something I would not "normally" buy, you know, not practical category. I'm mainly a jeans and plain top girl. So this is what I bought. I've wanted a top like this for a while, but avoided since it looks maternity like and I'm worried about it making me look like bertha butt, but I liked it's flowing soft material and the nice rich red color. So, there it is, one thing out of the way, my "holiday" top. Now I'm off to make my list and check it twice and get organized with my gift giving. I did also buy some pretty sparkly glitter gift card holders and envelopes. So, wish me luck and I'll be back soon. I'm going to work on Maria's book again later tonight and I have a sewing project up my sleeve so check back with me. Hope you all are having a wonderful week and getting creative with what you have and what you love! xxoo Lia