link back love fridays...

How is it Friday already? Somehow this week went from being unbearably S L O W to holy-smokes-it's-Friday? in a matter of about two point two seconds. Once again I totally flaked on the fun posts portion of LBLF. Next week will be THE week for posts and they will be fun! I promise. Ready for some Link Back Love? Alrighty then.

Karma Kitties - Bertha is one of my longtime never-met-in-person-before friends. She up and decided one day that she was going to start knitting. She then knitted the CUTEST little stocking ornaments ever known to mankind for my first annual Christmas ornament swap. She has been a knitting fiend ever since. When you stop by Bertha's blog be prepared to fall over unconscious from the cute her daughter, June, puts out. You have been warned.

Dainty Kitty - If you like to look at really cute knitted or crocheted or sewn stuff then get on over to Dainty Kitty. Also, for a good laugh, check this out! I LOVE it.

Apron Thrift Girl - First of all, I wish I had the thrifting luck and skills this woman has. Hands down she must be the queen of thrifting and get this, she is willing to share her expertise and some of her finds!

Laughing Duck - Lots of quilting and doll making to be found here. And from the looks of things, plenty of baking too...just look at this pie! Be sure to check out the Laughing Duck Etsy shop too.

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For past Link Back Love Friday goodness click here and enjoy!

a collaboration complete...

Remember that dream I had about using some of Caleb's flowers on fabric for a dress for Molly? Well, as is my ever impatient way, I had Caleb draw some new flowers and I scanned and vectorized them. After that I set the flowers up in a 8.5" by 42" repeating border pattern in my drawing program. I asked him what color he thought we should print on and he suggested ORANGE (to match her orange sandals). I had no orange fabric to speak of in my stash so I bought a yard of an inexpensive tonal print at Walmart.

I washed and dried the fabric then treated it with Bubble Jet Set and set it aside to dry. Once the fabric was dry I ironed it onto freezer paper and cut it down to size. Then I pulled out clumps of my hair and gnashed my teeth because my little printer was throwing fits about being asked to print a banner on "specialty" paper. I decided a good long time-out was in order for both of us. That was the weekend before last. Finally last Friday I decided to have another go of printing the fabric and it worked! On the first try no less. Once the fabric was printed I heat set it with my iron, then soaked it in the Bubble Jet rinse and allowed it to dry.

While the printed fabric dried, I got to work on the shirred portion of the dress. I inadvertently bought elastic cord instead of elastic thread and had to work around the issue. To make a long story short I got the job done and I hope the zigzag stitching doesn't come undone any time soon. By the time the fabric was dry I realized I should've sewn the top to the skirt and THEN added the shirring. Cut to me cussing profusly while ripping out elastic cord and watching No Country for Old Men. Eventually I finished the dress and then it sat on my desk for a couple days before I thought to try it on Molly to set the straps and whatnot.



I made that little bow for her today. She chose her shoes and ran all over the patio mugging for the camera and her brother. All in all it is a really cute little dress. Two things I learned in the process of making this dress: shirring is a pain in my ass and should only be done on a tissue weight fabric from now on...oh, and I should probably use the correct elastic too.

And after all that rigmarole, wouldn't you know, (much to my surprise I might add) I received a Spoonflower Beta invite yesterday morning. Admittedly I'm still feeling a bit of sticker shock from their pricing structure on top of shipping prices. Originally I was feeling a lot of sticker shock...like holy f-ing shit! is this Kona cotton going to sew itself? sort of sticker shock. Don't get me wrong, I think this service is a phenomenal thing, but my personal fabric budget doesn't typically allow for $18 a yard fabric even if it IS my own design. For the time being I will play around with the site and continue to play around with my patterns and I will order at least a yard or two of something all the while hoping the PTB are cooking up some coupons or free shipping or some sort of price break from time to time.

rainy day business...

There is definitely a slight learning curve to this, but I am figuring it out pretty quickly...and having entirely too much fun with it at the same time. I'm currently trying to talk Logan into doing one and I even offered to make one for my brother Nic. Nic looked at me like I was carzy (that's right, cARzy) and politely declined my offer. Who wouldn't want their own font? Come ON.

memorial day observed at the lyons' den...

The scene: Logan and Caleb are downstairs playing some sort of Star Wars - Indiana Jones - Narnia - Bionicles hybrid of a game. I'm sitting at the computer checking email, stumbling the internet, working on a few things and doing a little shopping. Lynn is napping (he got up early with the brood so I could sleep in...lucky me!) and Molly is wandering the upstairs looking for things to occupy herself. After a few minutes of occupying herself, Molly toddles over and climbs into my lap while I'm working. She falls asleep. My heart twitterpates...I still love to look down and see one of my babies sound asleep in my lap or on Lynn's shoulder...it makes my ovaries itch. I get up to put Molly down with her daddy and turn around to a pile of toilet paper scattered all over the floor in front of the boys' room. I step over the mess and head to our bedroom where I am about to describe the baby's masterpiece to Lynn when Caleb is heard bounding up the stairs and then gasping, "What the heck!? Oh my gosh, what happened here? Logan! You HAVE to come SEE this!"



He is clearly impressed with whomever has accomplished the destruction. Lynn and I laugh at the admiration and astonishment in his voice and all the while Miss Molly sleeps like a little angel.

special order bracelet...

Kim ordered this bracelet as a treat to herself and I so hope she likes the finished product! She had a short list of requirements: turquoise and red color scheme, a tin man charm and a tag charm reading "wish." The tin man proved to be a bit of a challenge but I finally found two versions on Ebay and had her pick the one she wanted. I made the "wish" tag which I totally LOVE. In fact this tag turned out so nice that I ended up making this special order necklace using the same technique. I really, REALLY, enjoy the outcome of this technique but the process takes SO LONG to get desirable results that I'm hesitant to do it again until I can figure out how to speed things up a bit. That or I'll only do small pieces using the technique.

In any event, finally completing this piece has sparked the fire bug in me again and I am beginning work on some new pieces as time and Molly permit.

link back love fridays...

I'm not doing such a hot job of keeping track of my favorite posts of the week...will have to figure out a better way to do that over the long weekend. Okay, ready for some link back love? I thought so. Here we go:

The Good Neighbor - Have you had the pleasure of "meeting" Monique (aka Moki)? She has a big bunch of the cutest kids I've ever seen, she is an extraordinary photographer and artist and on top of all that she's a really generous person too. She's been busy with life lately so be sure to peruse her archives for some good stuff.

hands+notions - Faun is my hero when it somes to working with raw fibers. She dyes and spins some of the most gorgeous yarns around...check her shop if you don't already know. Besides being a super star fiber artist, she draws some of the sweetest characters you'll come across. Oh and her dog, Olive? She could change my mind about having a big dog in the house again.

Calamity Kim - There might be a few people out there who don't know the whimsy that is Calamity Kim. And those people probably don't have a subscription to Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Kim takes scraps of fabric from here and bits of lace from over there and then turns them into wearable collage art..."now with more magic in the pockets". Check out her shop and her flickr account for an idea of what I'm talking about.

go buy one of these...

I just bought one like this and I cannot wait for it to get here!! Goodbye straw wrappers who clog up my cup holder! Adiós paper napkins my children can't seem to throw away when they get out of the car! さようなら tiny gum wrappers who seem to multiply over night in my driver's side door pocket! So long forever! I will not miss any of you at all. No, not even in the slightest.

Hooray for clever craftiness!! Get yourself on over to Allyson Hill's Etsy shop right this minute and grab one for yourself...summertime's sneaking up on us and won't you be tickled to have a cute little trash catcher for all your Sonic straw wrappers? I know I will. Thanks to my mom for stumbling the link to me too.

awesomeness...

Several weeks ago Cindy posted pictures of a shirt she'd sewn for her daughter. I admired the really great combination of fabrics she used and then inquired about the bird print thinking I would hunt some down to make a dress for Molly. Well, to my surprise and delight Cindy emailed me and offered to make a dress for Molly using the fabric she had left over from the original shirt.



The colors are so great on Molly and she'll be able to wear it all summer and through the fall and winter with a longsleeved shirt and jeans or tights too. Thanks so much to Cindy for being so generous and for making such a sweet little dress!!

honey-do lists...

I've decided to put our mutual honey-do list and my honey-do list out into the ether...I think we could use some cheerleaders to keep us on track and motivated. Are you up for the task? Good! I knew you would want to help :).

Our list, in no particular order, really:

- Install ceiling fan in upstairs family room. Sooner rather than later, please. finally!
- Pick out some freaking tile for the master bathroom already and then have it installed!
- RE-caulk garage doors with paintable caulk since contractors failed to do so. Stupid contractors.
- Paint garage doors and put a second coat on front door trim.
- Repair wind damage on fence. one down!
- Finish painting foyer and wall behind the computer desk.
- Change shower head in master bathroom. hooray!

My list, again, in no particular order (except for the first one which will be done first):
- Finish moving studio out of what will be Molly's bedroom.
- Remove shitty wallpaper in Molly's room and paint.
- Move Molly into her own bedroom!
- Finish curtains for dining room.
- Go through closets. Purge and donate or sell.

Okay! Now to start chipping away at these lists!

link back love fridays...

So much for Blogger's post-in-the-future feature. I set this one up to post at 9am on the 16th and for whatever reason it not go as planned. Crap.

It didn't occur to me last week to put links to people's shops or additional websites so I need to catch those links up first and then it's on to this week's list!

Deborah's shop and fiber artist's website

Tricia's art and illustration website

And now, this week's Link Back Love:

A Small Fox in a Big World - Sarah makes the most adorable softies and you can have one of your very own if you like...just visit her shop.


Creative Kismet - Regina is one of my favorite creative bloggers. She is thoughtful and generous, sharing tips for more eco-conscious living, great tutorials and yummy recipes. She also hosts fun swaps too! Stop by her shop for some really beautiful work.


Kleas - Kristin is another of my favorite blogland people. She's one of the queens of embroidery, makes really fantastic ATCs (of which I have several!), and is a great swap momma too.


Greenbean Baby Art - Ellia never ceases to amaze me. She gets so much art work accomplished and so much blogging done and keeps her kiddos right in the middle of it all. Check out Greenbean Baby Goods to see what I'm talking about.

Mariekuniek.com - Marieke is another blogger who does a whole lot of everything: illustrations, softies, papier mache, tutorials, etc. Most recently she's taken on lampwork beads and has been cranking out some really great looking beads. Visit her shop to see what I'm talking about.

it's getting closer...

Go read this post over at the Spoonflower blog. At this point my little Epson printer has never been happier. I think I've released some demons from this printer with all the fabric I've been running through it the last couple days! Hopefully I'll have some nice things to show for the all the abuse little Epson has taken lately.

wheeeee...

Prepare to waste a good thirty minutes with this one...

measurements for grandma 5/14...

Mom, these are rough numbers. Number one, I couldn't find my measuring tape so I had to use Caleb's plastic-possibly-stretched-out measuring tape and number two, I took the measurements while Molly slept. And tossed and turned with clothes on.

chest: 18.25 inches
shoulder to shoulder: 7.5 inches
shoulder to knee: 17 inches
shoulder to hip: 10 inches

I'll take her actual measurements and revise when: I have my measuring tape, she is standing and Lynn is here to help wrangle the wiggly one.

did you know...

that along with changing your filters monthly, you should wash the outside of your A/C unit every three weeks or so in the summer to maintain optimal efficiency? That's what our A/C guy told us last night as he pressure washed both of our A/C units. Neither of us had heard this before. Upon googling the information I couldn't find anything that specifically said to wash the unit, but I did find a lot of sites suggesting the coils be kept dust free for better efficiency, so maybe that's what he was talking about.

Did you know today is the first day in three hundred ninety-two days that I've worn a regular bra? Molly is now officially weened! She won't drink whole milk with any regularity yet, but she doesn't want to nurse anymore either. I can say she is drinking whole milk more often this week than she was last week and at least she doesn't turn her head away in disgust like she did the first several times we offered it to her.



Did you know Logan graduated to Wolf Scout last night? He also earned his communication belt loop and his bicycling belt loop too. Logan finished out his Tiger Cub year with eighteen belt loops! We're going to work on earning pins this summer. In all probability he has already earned a few (we just haven't double checked the requirements on ScoutTrack yet), but there are so many to earn we'll have plenty to keep us busy over the summer.

Did you know I am up to my eyeballs in housework? It's true...time to get back to dusting and vacuuming and changing all the sheets! After the kiddos are all down for the night I'm going to finish a bracelet I owe to one very patient Calamity Kim and maybe work on some new jewelry pieces or some lampwork. I feel like playing with fire!

a random link for your enjoyment...

here. I'm still thinking of what I want mine to say.

a tiny painting...

Jana's birthday was a very long four and a half months ago. I have started and stalled on several ideas for gifts for her along those four and a half months. Luckily inspiration struck on Saturday when my brother called to say, "we're pregnant!" to which I replied, "HOORAY!!" This new little baby will be my first Proff niece or nephew and I couldn't be more thrilled for them. The boys are over the moon about having a new baby in the family and even more excited about having a cousin who lives (relatively) close by. Lynn is currently delusional, thinking we should have another baby so this new baby will have someone closer to his/her age (uh, no thank you...I'm just now getting my body back to myself)...as if Molly isn't close enough. Sheesh.

Anyway, roughly four months ago I purchased a stack of canvases to use in assemblages or some kind of mixed media sort of thing for both Jana and Katie for their birthdays...nothing was working out the way I wanted so all efforts were benched several times. I knew I wanted them to focus on a patron saint of some sort but just couldn't get it to come together in my mind. Leave it to a new baby to do the trick. After some googling I decided Saint Anne would be perfect and since it was Mother's Day too I figured I would incorporate the three of them (Anne the grandmother, Mary the mother and the baby Jesus) together. This is the initial drawing:



I love the faces in this drawing. I think I'll carve a stamp from this drawing too...I've had that itch again lately. I wish I'd been able to better replicate the faces in the painting, but then again, I've never been very good at duplicating a drawing exactly the way I want to. I am happy with the way the painting turned out though. I'm running by the Catholic bookstore tomorrow to look at their medals and santos so I might do something more to it tomorrow before I box it up and send it off.

happy mother's day...

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and Lynn's mom, to Patsy Nana, to my Aunts Patty, Liz and Geraldine, to my sisters Katie, Beth and especially Jana(!), and to Misty and Rose too. Some of these women are moms many times over and some don't have children of their own, but they're all special. Each one of them has filled that "mother" position at some point in my life and/or my children's lives and I love them for it.

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends too. I hope it's a great day for all of us!!

this just in...

I just received an email from Etsy Dallas reminding me of their 1st Annual Beer-B-Q Extravaganza coming up next Sunday, May 18th. From the looks of things it should be a great time. My only hope to attend is by enticing my husband to leave early for the FC Dallas game so I can swing by to do some quick shopping. My chances are slim since we'll have Logan and Poppa Lee with us. I'm kind of bummed, though I think I'll survive. You see, Lynn scored tickets to THE game of the season vs. the Los Angeles Galaxy and if Mr. Beckham can keep himself injury free I will console myself by watching him play some exceptional soccer.

link back love fridays...

I've been hesitant to list a blogroll here for one reason or another (there are soooo many I enjoy...not enough time keep up with it...don't want to leave anyone out and the list goes on). Luckily, Holli built a website dedicated to Link Back Love! I've had this bookmarked for awhile now and have decided that now is the time to start working on this! So from now on I will do a Friday post dedicated to my favorite posts of the week as well as a list of other blogs that have directed readers back to my blog. Sort of a "baby steps" approach that will rectify this issue for me. Yay! Now, on to the love:

My Love - Raesha is a super kind, super sweet creative type. She's a thrifting goddess too.

Deborah's Journal - Deborah is a fiber artist and a very active mom too. We've had to good fortune of meeting a couple times in person and she is every bit the doll you might expect her to be.

Frizzelstixs - Tricia is an illustrator, painter, maker of adorable critters and awesome embroideries (of which I own one...will have to find a picture of it...or just take another one). Prepare to be crushed by cuteness.

More Art, Less Housework - Dawn is one of my very best friends and we've never met in person! She sews, she beads, she collages, she prints, she does a whole lot of everything. She also finds the best links to share too.

Crafty McGee - Who doesn't know about Crafty McGee? She's been lying low lately but if you wander through her archives you'll find plenty of inspiration!

young author's day...

Tomorrow Logan's school is celebrating Young Author's (Authors'? Authors?) Day and Logan decided he would participate, but only if he could illustrate his book the same way I did for Ellia's paperbag swag book. Fine by me...it's becoming slightly addicting, that cut paper collage.

Anyway, we read through the requirements on the flyer sent home:

• the book should be written at home and must be the original work of the student, although there may be assistance in editing.

Book Components:
• Cover: title, author, and illustrator
• Dedication page: who the book is written in memory of or honor of, location, and copyright date
• Title page: title, author, illustrator, and publishing company (Be creative!)
• Story: containing a main idea
• Illustrations/Photographs: any medium may be used
• End Sheet: a blank sheet of paper
• About the Author: biographical information about the author and illustrator using he or she
• Back Cover

Book Format:
• All books should be bound in a way that does not interfere with the print or illustrations. Bindings might include staples, yarn, brads, stitching, tape, or a spiral. Any type of paper or writing utensil is acceptable. However, it should be clear, neat and legible.

Okay! That's a whole lot of information to process for a first grader. Lucky for Logan his kindergarten teacher spent a good amount of time last year teaching his class about authors and illustrators and their jobs as well as the anatomy of a book. And also? His mother is a fanatical collector of children's books and has been known to wax poetically about her favorite illustrators and authors. And another thing? His mom likes to make books from time to time...or at least she thinks about it; plus, she has all the equipment she would ever need to do such a thing.

So here's what we did: Logan sat down to brainstorm what his story would be...it was fantastical to say the least so I finally offered up some advice to save his patience and my sanity: keep it simple! You only have a week to complete this book. You have all summer to work on your blockbuster Star Wars meets dinosaurs meets Bionicles meets Logan with a bow and arrow book. Then he totally A.D.D.-ed out on me asking what sort of things we were going to do this summer and I said, "Logan, I haven't even thought about it yet. What are somethings you would like to do?" From there he rattled off a gozillion things and then the lightbulb turned on..."Hey! Instead of writing about what I did LAST summer I could write about what I WANT to do THIS summer!" Cue the ticker tape and confetti! The ball is rolling. He made a short list of things he wants to do this summer, decided on a title and then we worked on sketches for his illustrations. There was editing involved with reminders: relatively small pictures can only hold so much information before they are just a jumbled mess; getting too detailed is liable to make you lose interest before you're able to finish; oh! and keep it simple! Then we moved onto the publishing company business...he wasn't keen on making up a name until I suggested he use a play on words with our last name and then he came up with Lyons ROAR (has to be capitalized so that people know it's supposed to be loud) Publishing and the logo should be a roaring lion head with a fish in it's mouth (for no other reason than just because). Then he didn't want to draw his own version because he and Caleb both liked the little face I drew to illustrate his description (no big deal, I enjoyed making the logo). Then, in an effort to minimize his urge to use one of everything, I asked him to tell me the colors he wanted to use in his illustrations. We pulled all sorts of different papers out and chose his favorite patterns and textures and then put everything else away, on the shelves, in their containers, out of sight. Molly dumped all the fancy edged scissors and paper punches out on the floor and Logan decided which would be used for what as well as what shapes we would need to cut on the Cricut. We got to work assembling each of the illustrations. How I wish I'd have thought to take pictures of the work in progress!!! UGH. I can't believe it didn't even cross my mind. Anyhoo, I typed up his story, mounted the illustrations and bound the book. Logan sewed the spine and only needed help untangling everything a couple times. Without further ado, I present My Big Summer Plans written and illustrated by Logan:

















I am so proud of Logan for being so creative, for asking for help instead of melting down and for listening to suggestions and then improving on them instead of ignoring them altogether. Sigh, my own little author/illustrator!

Updated to add a pic of him reading to his classmates. He was so excited and proud to share his book!

Ban the Orphan Works Bill!

To Whomever proposed this bill:

Take a seat and imagine someone stealing a wad of money out of your pocket EVERY TIME you sit down to your desk to do your job (you know, that thing that puts a roof over your head and feeds and clothes your family). Imagine having to pay SOMEONE ELSE a sizable chunk of money in order to claim ownership of the work you've done. Imagine having to pay SOMEONE ELSE a chunk of money per task to have a chance at some sort of residual income earned from your work. This proposed bill is essentially allowing large companies to mug and steal from any and every creative-type in the United States. It's disgusting.

Take a moment to sign this petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-artists-rights. They're goal is to collect 20,000 signatures so get on over...it only takes a minute.

Take a moment to write your Representatives and Senators. The Shawn Bentley Orphan Acts of 2008 (S. 2913) and The Orphan Works Act of 2008 (H.R. 5889) were simultaneously introduced to Congress on April 24th, 2008. Here are few links I've collected that provide plenty of information on the bills as well as steps to be can be taken to have your opinion heard:

From the Illustrators' Partnership: Orphan Works - No Myth and How Registries Will Orphan Your Work.

From the Illustration Friday blog (see comments for great information sources): Orphan Works.