Bags, Bags and more Bags...plus a little bit of painting

I've been busy working behind my machine.  I've been so enthralled with my new projects that I find it hard to step away from them some times to do my needed errands.  I wanted to share an art bag that I just recently finished.  I'm really excited with how it turned out. I used a slashing technique to add dimension to the fabric. The female is hand drawn, painted, free motion stitched by me and then appliqued on to my custom designed bag.  So excited to share with the world!

Little man and I had some fun making non toxic paint yesterday, the coloring up the backyard for nearly 2 hours and joyfully washing away our art with the water hose.  Have any of you ever made cornstarch paint? (1 cup cornstarch, 1 cup water, food coloring)  I'm happy to report that we got the paint ALL over ourselves, including a white tshirt (which i set aside for painting so not a big deal) but when I threw our clothes in the wash last night, every last bit of cornstarch paint came out of our clothing without a trace. And NO,  I did not use any bleach. So it is a messy yet fun project that cleans up better than kid intended paints and markers.  Here are some pictures from our messy fun!

1 cup of water, 1 cup of cornstarch, mix, mix, mix. Pour into their individual spots and add food coloring.

Not so good for paper but...

A little liquidy, did not work so well on paper but was a lot of fun on the ground (and rocks, and hands, and...)

The colors we began with.

a splattering of color

Something gooey and colorful to stick your hands in.

I'm thinking this could make for an interesting Halloween Costume next year. Incredible Hulk anyone?

We started off with yellow, orange, purple, red, green and blue. We ended up with light orange, neon orange, turquoise and a whole bunch of....

paint on the ground. I wish I could have captured this craziness on paper, that would be an interesting backdrop to an illustration!

Christmas is just 4 days away!  I'll try to write again but if not, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Thanks for being such great, supportive followers of Threads and Pencils, the support means the world to me!

Almost Christmas, creative ventures flourishing just in time for the holidays!

While my son is taking a quick break from jumping couch to couch, I thought I might sit down to write. Sometimes the task of writing seems overwhelming. I feel like my words are repeated over and over again, or i haven't any new ideas to share and think perhaps sitting down will just make my readers bored.  I hope not, but I think about these things.  But today, I wanted to share a few of my latest creations. 

I've been having a lot of fun with my sewing machine, a little bit of art mixed in, bento box preparations are still a hit (though some nights I am so tired that I wonder why I just don't make a sandwich for everyone) and today a small greeting card "box" idea that is NOT my own idea but totally worth sharing as I LOVE it!   I'm not one for buying the mass produced greeting cards, I feel that I have enough crazy ideas swirling around in my head that i should be able to sit down and make my own cards. I feel this way about my girls too, I encourage them to make their own before thinking of buying something.  So we tried out a new "card" idea today.  Instead of a card actually, it is a banner in a box. Perfect for a birthday but I think it would do for any holiday or occasion that "requires" a card. 

I started out with a simple $1 box (though I'm sure if you AREN'T in Hawaii you might actually find such a box much cheaper!) I decorated the top with the name of the recipient.  With a bit of card stock, scrapbook paper, glue or tape, ribbon, I made a Happy Birthday Banner with a couple of extra circles for loving messages from my girls to their friend.  I'm pretty sure this is all self explanatory, make the larger circle still small enough to fit in the box...space the circles on the ribbon far apart enough that they can fold like an accordion into the box.  For a special little touch, with your scraps cut out confetti shapes (sorry Mom!), much easier if you have one of those funky shaped hole punchers.   And watch your friend smile as she opens her greeting box.