I Saw Red - Inchies!

If you haven't already discovered the inchie trend just know, they are a blast to make! You can churn out a bunch of these teensie-weensie pieces of art in no time at all. I first heard about inchies on Lia's blog, Art Junk Girl. She challenged herself to make 1000 of these little squares during 2007 and sure enough she did it! I found making inchies to be a rather addictive activity once I got started. Lia is so organized, she made herself an inchie kit so she would have everything handy in one place whenever the inchie-making-mood strikes. That sounded pretty dandy to me, so of course I had to put together one for myself too. I put all my supplies into this little tote I got at Michaels last summer. Now I can take the kit with me and create inchies wherever I go!

Don't forget to check out the list of other I SAW RED pics and posts on Sara's Sadie Olive blog here.

Monday Catch-Up

We're back from a weekend at the cottage feeling rested and invigorated. I had heard that getting away can work wonders on your mindset and perspective of things, but have never actually experienced it as much as I have since we built this cottage. I guess I've become a believer!

I had hoped to go to some of the antique malls while we were there, but didn't make it to any of them...boo-hoo! But I did get a new Vera Bradley purse in this pattern to replace my old favorite one in this pattern.

I was able to find time to work on some more inchies (#65 thru #96) as you can see. I brought along my inchie-on-the go kit that I heard about from Lia. In addition to the ones pictured here, I am also working on a set of red-themed inchies that I am almost finished with. And I heard that the fabric green inchie swaps from ArtErratica have been mailed out and I already know how I am going to display them.

It has been raining so much here that I am thinking of building an Ark soon. I don't like this kind of weather because it gets so gloomy looking in the house and kind of depressing. We have lots of windows and the house is usually always filled with bright sunlight. Dreary days like these are not good for the mind or body. But life is good as I signed up for some new round-robins last week, so I know where I will be spending a lot of my time in the next few weeks (or months!) regardless of the weather. Have a happy Monday!

Side-tracked - Part Two

Ok, I think I used this post title not too long ago so I am calling it Part Two - I am certain there will be many future posts dealing with this issue. Today I spent the day finishing up several loose ends around the house. Paying bills, balancing the checkbooks, sorting thru my flip-flop bin, cleaning off my desk, washing all the throw rugs, scrubbing down the bathroom and clearing off the diningroom table which seems to be the catch-all for the entire family. Well during my desk clearing, I found the Bazzill one-inch chipboard squares that Lia send me and I thought they might be good to use for the base of my green fabric inchies that are due on Wednesday for ArtErratica. So I proceeded in covering both sides of of the squares with green patterned paper and setting them aside to dry. Under my inchie supply box, I came across the pile of old magazines that I need to go thru before I toss them. So I started to flip through them and in doing so I discovered some images and words and phrases I can use in my regular inchies. So I cut them out. Then I thought why not just put together a few inchies since I had all the supplies right there. Ok, twenty inchies later I had enough to mount and put in my inchie album so that is what I did. And there they are pictured above. Sorry about it not being very clear. A few of the inchies are 3-dimensional and the scanner didn't like that at all. So after making 20 regular inchies, I still haven't made the 16 green fabric inchies that have a fast-approaching deadline right around the corner. Another example of how easily distracted I can get. Oh and did I mention that my family managed to clog up both bathtubs and of course tomorrow is Sunday and the plumber is going to charge us a fortune to come out to fix them. Hope you all are having more fun this weekend than me!!

Easily Side-Tracked

Are any of you easily distracted like me? Gee, I am beginning to think I need a personal assistant (or something like that) to keep myself on task. Lately I seem to be going in a million directions and don't get anything done. For example, yesterday I had every good intention to spend the entire day in my studio to work on all the projects that are in various stages of completion. But I first had to go to the bank, the post office, and a take care of a couple of returns. One the returns was at Homegoods and even though I kept saying to myself I will not go any further than the customer service counter, I found myself wandering around in the bedding section. And lo and behold, I found the perfect comforter to use on the twin beds in the guest room at the cottage. The fact that we don't even have any beds up there yet shouldn't make a difference, should it?

I have been toying with the idea of having a green and brown color scheme in the guest room for a while now. I occasionally take a peek at the bedding in stores just to see if anything catches my eye. I passed up on cute green and white polka-dot comforters several months ago but talked myself out of buying them because we had so many other more necessary things to buy for the cottage. Now I am sorry I didn't buy them. But when I came across the comforter above (it's a little more yellowy-green than this picture) I didn't want to let another one get away.

Then I found the matching pillow shams, along with a couple others that coordinated nicely. I also found sheets in a skinny stripe similar to the pattern of the middle pillow sham above.

All the while I am finding all these shams, I am still searching for a second comforter to match the first one because I need two of them for the room. And what's this? Another pillow sham! Well this one is grand because it adds other colors to the mix. Remember how I wanted to have a green and brown color scheme? Well the sham above has the brown in it (those skinny leaves are actually brown) and it has turquoise in it as well, which will tie-in the downstairs color scheme. I like when the colors of a house flow from room to room. Well, I simply HAD to have this pillow sham too. A bed can't have too many pillows, right?

Uh oh. . .what is this that I found on the clearance shelf? Two of these polka-dot plates marked down to one dollar! I debated about buying them because afterall this is a bedroom, not a kitchen. But I went back to them after I figured out I could hang them on the wall. I love plates on a wall in any room. And these plates remind me of that polka-dotted comforter I missed out on months ago.

And next to the plates I found this lonely aqua hobnail water goblet priced at $1.00 also. I swear I heard it cry out, "Take me home too" Why not? I can put it on the nightstand filled with chocolates or mints or some other treat for the guests. I can rationalize anything if I put my mind to it.

All these great finds, but I still only had one comforter for two twin beds! So then came the journey to two more Homegoods stores. . . with no luck. I even dragged my husband to a third store after dinner last night, but to no avail. So guess what is on the agenda for today? I have two more TJ Maxx/Homegoods to check out. With the nature of these types of stores, you have to make the rounds of the other stores right away because in a week they will have all new styles of comforters and I will never have a chance of finding a match.

So as a result, the work on my studio desk as well as the boring household chores will have to be put off until tomorrow. . .again! Wish me luck!!!

More Swapping

I signed up for yet another swap today. This one is being organized by Maria over at The Junk Drawer. She's calling it the "Tussie Mussie Goody Swap" and sounds like it is right up my alley. Each of us will make a tussie mussie and then fill it with goodies. I have had some blank tussie mussie cones in my to do stash for quite a while now so when I saw this swap posted I jumped at the chance to join in! Doesn't it sounds like fun? The deadline for sign-ups is Friday, July 20th so there's still time for you to be a part of it too!


We went up to the cottage again this weekend, but there was no time to do anything fun this time. My husband had two truck loads of topsoil delivered as well as a load of mulch. The construction of the cottage last year left the front yard stripped of any decent soil and since most of the county is sitting on bedrock it was necessary to have good soil brought in. So all our time was pretty much spent spreading that all around. And we are no where near being finished. I think maybe we got 1/4 of the soil spread and most of the mulch put down where we want the planting beds. I think my DH husband thinks we are both still in our 20's and can still do this type of manual labor without any effects on our bodies. Needless to say I am pretty stiff and sore today. Like they say in the commercial, "I'm all Advil!" Fortunately the weather cooperated and it wasn't too hot or humid, so at least that was a plus.


I brought my supplies with me as I planned to make more inchies in the evenings, but I was too wiped out to do anything other than watch season two of 24. But when we got back home, I saw my order had come from Cerri over at Little Pink Studio and the contents of her Collage on the Go Kit will make some wonderful vintage inchies. She still has a few kits left, so if your are into making inchies you should check it out.

More Inchies

New Obsession

Look what I am addicted to....INCHIES!! I discovered these tiny little delights on ArtJunk's blog and it was love at first sight. Each of these little squares is 1"x1" and so much fun to make. Dear Lia has been so sweet to explain how she makes these and give me the details of her "inchie on the go kit" that she put together so she can make these teeny tiny creations wherever she goes. That did it for me ~ I just love the idea of being able to slip a little box into my bag and have everything with me to create art. Love it!!! The photo above shows my first 16 creations and there are more to come. I made these while watching TV the other night. When I cut out my first inchie square I was shocked at just how tiny one square inch actually is and thought how in the world am I going to fit anything on this tiny canvas? But once I got going there was no stopping me. I am so into making these that I signed up for the Green Inchie Swap at ArtErratica where we each have to make 16 fabric inchies in the color green. Besides Lia's fabulous blog, I found this site and this site for more inspiration. Take a peek and you might even get hooked yourself!