Knitting Journal - a Bunch of Itty Bitty Things

So since making my very large, very labor intensive blanket, I've found that I've been drawn to very small, very instant gratification projects. Coincidence? I don't think so. :)

Hedgehog for Dene
Yarn: unidentified scratchy wool (body), Red Heart Comfort Solids (face), Sugar n' Cream (nose)
Needles: US 2, US 4Pattern: Little Oddment Hedgehog from Little Cotton Rabbits


My friend's daughter was dying for a real hedgehog for Christmas but her parents vetoed that. So I offered to make her a little (less smelly) hedgehog. I've made several of these hedgehogs (I believe this is my 5th one) and I have basically re-written the pattern and modified it until I feel like this one is just exactly how I wanted it to look.

Headphones Whale
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US 2, US 3
Pattern: Knitted Headphone Whale by Brigitte Read

Made this for my son. The whale holds a pair of headphones. I don't feel like mine looks exactly like the pattern which bothers me. My tail is different from the pictures even though I followed the pattern exactly. Grrrr!

Oh well, I guess it does it's job.

Mouse for Jonece
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US 4
Pattern: Toerag the Tube Mouse by Whodunnknit (FREE!!)

Now this little mouse may be my favorite toy ever. He has so much personality and is just too cute!! Great pattern! My only modification is that I added whiskers.

Art Journal Page 2/25/15 - Pink Neighborhood

I'm a little late getting my Valentine themed neighborhood into my Art Journal. I've had the houses done for quite some time. I just haven't had much time to work in the studio. But today was the day. And I'm rather pleased with how it came out.

For these pages, I began by squirting pink and white paint onto the pages.

I then spread the paint around with a credit card. This is a fun way to mix paint while leaving it still sort of splotchy and not too well mixed together.

After the paint had dried, I laid out all the elements where I wanted them. (The houses were all made using THIS METHOD). I then adhered them to the paper with Mod Podge.

Now that's A LOT of pink! :)

Sunday Sketch 02/22/15

Sunday Sketch 02/15/15

(This was a Sunday sketch. I wrote feb. 16th but it was the 15th.)

First Friday Art Class for February 2015 - 3 Types of Lettering

We always seem to do some sort of lettering in February--I guess our thoughts turn to Valentines.

For today's class I decided to do 3 different types of lettering with the girls. All three are seen in the picture above--Faux Calligraphy (as seen in the words "february 2015"), a style I haven't named yet (as seen in the words "art Class"), and Art Deco Lettering (as seen in the word "Lettering").

(TIP: We found that working with our trusty Papermate Flair pens worked MUCH better than Sharpies! Of course Micron Pens are my first choice, but a little too pricey for kids.)

We began by talking about some general tips to keep in mind when doing any lettering...

We then dove right into style #1...

Faux Calligraph was our next style. I gave the girls a handout with basic cursive letters on it with the instructions to change any letters they didn't like. It's also OK to mix uppercase and lowercase. NO RULES--that's our mantra!

(Not sure why I wrote "cursive" instead of "calligraphy". I corrected it--post production).  :)

Our last style was the Art Deco Lettering...

Everyone did an amazing job!

Everyone's lettering has its own unique personality...all are lovely and wonderful!!

See you next month!