New felt house pins on Flickr!

New necklaces made from my paper beads!

My etsy shop is bursting at the seams, and I'm dying to make room for new work, so I'm working on a HUGE post-holiday housecleaning sale. Get your shop on, peeps! Over 50 items discounted.

What a beautiful Christmas! Took some pictures over the holiday of the misty, snowy landscape:

Many thanks to BluLucille for including my card in her very first gorgeous treasury!

New work, finally! Was going through craft withdrawal. Thank goodness for snow days!

Here are some amazing online shops I've stumbled onto. They are all super artsy, elegant and innovative. Many include handmade work, some of which is eco-friendly. Give them a click for your holiday shopping!

Cosa Verde- Handmade green clothes, accessories, home decor, and gifts.
Fey Handmade- Feminine, delicate, modern, handmade for women, kids, and home
Spool 72- Lovely indie-style clothes and accessories, affordable prices
Rifle Paper Company- Adorable cards, prints, posters. Some great for kids' rooms, charming wrapping paper and recipe cards.

Thanks to Modish for drawing my attention to these wonderful businesses!

Images of new felt ornaments!

Another kind Etsyian, EndlessSunner, has included one of my creations in a lovely treasury. Thanks, ES!

My pride and joy!

Thanks to juja for including my apple ornament in her charming Christmas treasury!

Just finished a two-day felt project: life size artichoke. I regretted all that ambition at first, but now that it's done, I am really proud of it! Images coming soon . . .

Many thanks to Corkycrafts and Moonovermaize for including my work in their two winter-inspired treasuries!

Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star
Spraklefrost

More paper necklaces. These were made with the pages of a catalog, strung on glittering embroidery floss, and accented with a variety of glass beads. I just wish I had some more daylight so I could get some pix that aren't so blue!

Woo hoo! This is my lucky day. My Mantis Napkin Rings made it into a post on the DIY blog! Thanks, DIY! Also, thanks to jacjewelry for including my little apple ornament in her treasury! And, for the first time, I have something in an Etsy gift guide! It's that apple again. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Getting ready for Saturday's craft show at Behnke's. Be there or be square!

Ok friends, I think this might be the wave of the future. I remember making these as a child and loving it, so why not start up again? Therefore, I submit: paper beads by bakerswife.These were created from the pages of a catalog, coated with glue, and strung along with other beads onto colorful embroidery floss.

Riding the felt wave! A bit more up on flickr:

Mark your calendars- my only craft show this season will be this Saturday, November 14th at Behnke's Nursery in Beltsville, MD, for their Holiday Craft Fair and Open House. The show runs 11 to 4, and features a raffle to benefit Autism Speaks, food from Black Cat BBQ, 20 crafters like me, and door prizes. Feel free to bring along your donations for Toys for Tots.

Images of new earrings posted on Flickr!

Halloween + rain + rehearsal + concert + roommate VERY sick with H1N1= quite stressed out. Been disinfecting and worrying constantly for the last four days. Gone to the doctor and the grocery each three times in the last three days. Wish I felt like crafting.

Updated Flickr page with images of new felt ornaments. Totally bitten by the felt bug, these days. I've been using eco-felt made from recycled plastic bottles! It's amazing how similar this feels and looks compared to polyester felt.

Still here, a bit worse for wear. Back to school and rehearsal has kept me very busy these days, and I've been feeling under the weather this weekend. Did some sewing, though, and photographed new work. These little felt cuties are pins or brooches. More on Flickr if you like what you see:

Though the return to school has kept me busy lately, I recently found time to visit the Maryland Science Center. I have to say, although I enjoyed the dinosaur bits, the rest is kinda silly and uninteresting if you're a grownup, or even a woman-child like me. I remember it being WAY more fun when I was small. Also, it was really dim, so most of my photos didn't turn out to my satisfaction. Still, where else can we find so many dinos? Here are some highlights in images.

First, you'll observe the towering sculpture depicting a Tyrannosaurus biting a Brachiosaurus on the, ahem, hindquarters. Ok, tail. Then, we have an impressive T-Rex Skull. The next image reveals the true and enormously disappointing proportion of a Velociraptor skull in relation to my finger! Jurassic Park, or the film, at least, is guilty of incredible exaggeration. He and the remaining dinosaurs pictured are part of the Chinasaurs exhibition, comprised of "authentic Chinese dinosaurs." Next I have a shot of a Yunnanosaurus, a plant eating, long necked creature prone to standing on two legs. Following him is the CREEPIEST dinosaur I've ever seen, the Oviraptor. Eek! Lastly, the friendly Robo-crab bids you adieu.

Been baking away the last remaining days of summer vacation:

Blueberry Bread Pudding
This makes four substantial servings, six if you put it in smallish bowls. My grandmother's recipe- not too fussy, not sickly sweet, so, so good.

2 C bread cubes 3 eggs
2 C milk dash salt
3 T. butter 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 C sugar 1/2 C blueberries

Place bread crumbs and blueberries in greased 1 qt. dish (the shallower the better- more surface area means more crunch along the top). Scald milk with butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, add salt and vanilla. When the milk mixture cools (we put it in a larger dish and surrounded it with ice to speed things along) combine it with the egg mixture and pour over bread cubes. Set that dish in a pan of warm water and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. No blueberries? Try raisins, shredded coconut, jam, chocolate chips, or pineapple. Or all of it. How bad could it be?

Hearty thanks to VeesVintage for including my earrings in her breathtaking treasury!
Also, many thanks to mooshoopork for her explosive treasury!

If you live in the Baltimore area and you've never been to the American Visionary Art Museum, get thee hence! It's the wackiest, sparkliest, strangest, most compelling museum I know. The premise is that all the work within is known as outsider art. This means that it comes from artists who often teach themselves, who are driven to create without the influence of the "inside" of the art world- art schools, professors, and mainstream galleries. These people are every bit as fascinating as the art they make, so be sure to read about each artist as you wander through the collection. The current exhibition hinges on the intersection between art, science, and philosophy. A lot of the artists included are scientists themselves, or philosophers of a kind, or have unique ideas about spirituality which heavily influence their body of work. Some highlights from the exhibition:

- Applique textile art by Chris Roberts-Antieau, impeccably made and often humorous (my fave = Godzilla)
- Assemblage Stegosaurus by Leo Sewell
- Patty Kuzbida's assemblage guitar, which includes most of a porcelain head of lettuce. Yup.
- Karen and Steve Alexander's crop circle photography
- Julian Harr's creepy/cool wood sculpture juxtaposing brightly painted animal parts in a mystical way
- David Anson Russo's glorious and PROFOUNDLY anal-retentive structural drawings and ceramics. Think of Escher's Relivity turned up to 11 and observed through a magnifying glass.
- Kenny Irwin Jr.'s ballpoint pen drawings- who knew pen could do that??
- Jeff Smith's cleverly disturbing Abacus, which is like a mirror universe piano.
- Walter Kitundu's wooden Birdsong Bench, which you can play like a xylephone, but don't you dare sit on it! Super neat.
- Gerald Hawkes' elaborate matchstick sculptures
- Fred Kahler's super detailed ink drawings
- Dalton Ghetti's MINUSCULE pencil graphite carvings. These are so cool I had to buy the postcard of the alphabet set. It will blow your mind.

If any of that is intruiging to you, you will certainly enjoy the permanent collection just as thoroughly! Admission is 14 bucks, 8 with student ID. They don't let you take pictures inside, but outside the museum there are plenty of sculptures and neat things to photograph and explore. There are three separate buildings, so be sure to visit each one when you go.

Also, note: the gift shop is WICKED cool. It's full of offbeat original arts and crafts, weird toys, lots of upcycled stuff, creepy jewelry, cards, and great gag gifts. I bought a gorgeous handmade basket, imported from Nepal. It's created with discarded plastic wrappers and, for costing me only 30 dollars, it's quite sizable, easily 13 inches across. It would make an awesome project to teach at school if I can figure out how to do it! What a nice opportunity to talk about recycling. I also got a long necklace made with paper beads for 20 bucks, and of course, the postcard. Go forth, friends, and visit AVAM!

Many thanks to Sassafraslane, who kindly included my bracelet in her bold, fiery treasury!

En fuego lately! Seven new necklaces in the last two days, plus three new pairs of earrings, a bracelet set of three, four felt magnets, and a custom order of six pairs of earrings, all made in the last week. Getting the most crafting time out of summer while I still can. School is around the corner! This picture is of the seven necklaces, and explains, I think, why glass beads are so stinking awesome. See my new stuff on Flickr.

Many thanks to pianobenchdesigns for including my new orange magnet in her bright and sassy treasury!

While my air conditioning was broken, I was over at my Mom's making all of these. There's more to come over at the Flickr site- lots of tiny ones made into magnets.

Check out designsbynight's faboo treasury, featuring Baltimore area crafters in spring green splendor! Thanks for including my bracelets, dbn!

Hearty thanks to Flirtbags, who kindly featured my bracelet in her super-sweet and girly treasury!

Many thanks to JunkyardGypsy, for including me in her lovely treasury!

Please check out ArtandAngelsbyRose's adorable treasury! Thanks for including my earrings, Rose!

I've been a bad girl! (A bead girl?) Gorgeous new loot from the bead show.

Going to the bead show tomorrow morning! I expect to be very bad indeed. Tee hee!

Hearty thanks to Anni2008 for including my bubblegum earrings in her sweet pastel treasury! And, in another stroke of luck, the same earrings are included in this gorgeous treasury by TheFancyLamb!

Thanks to capitolagirl, who so kindly included my boom card in an action packed treasury!

New work completed and photographed- more posted pix on Flickr.

Another happy purchase from FunktionalSpa! Now I smell better than everyone, hah.

Many thanks to Mysticwind for including my earrings in a bold, fiery treasury!

Fifth Grade
Name Cubes

Unfortunately, this is the only project I have nice images for in 5th grade. It is really neat, though. I have posted the template in the largest file format, which was printed on heavy white cardstock. We used our names as a springboard for a nonrepresentational design. Drawing media includes sharpies, fine and extra fine, and crayola markers, as well as some flair pens. To spice things up, we applied different types of mark making: solid, blended, dots, scribbles, hatching, and crosshatching. Each letter of the name represents a personal trait- like quiet, friendly, playful, etc. Legibility is unimportant in this case.The folds are super tight because we used a ruler and bone folder to make them line up- keep them as crisp as you can for a neat cube. DON'T CUT OFF THE TABS! :)