This is the only reality there is. If you can get it down on paper, in words, notes, or color, so much the better.
/Henry Miller
Hello my dears!
I was the lucky and very happy winner of Craft Actually’s Blogiversery giveaway! I got this beautifully crafted Circular Needle Holder in my favorite colors: green and pink! Look how well made it is:
Helena of Craft Actually writes:
It is padded with some batting to protect the needles and fits about 8 sets of circular needles ranging in size from about 2.5mm to 8mm. The middle stripe is twill tape for decoration or I thought it could be used for writing the needle size on with a fabric marker.
Isn’t’ that cool? I absolutely love this gift (and the yummy card that came with it) because 1) I didn’t own a knitting needle holder before and 2) I fell in love with the fabric when I first saw it online. I’m so happy I was the one to get it! Yummy! Helena is very productive and makes great stuff. Go visit her etsy shop Mossy Design to see what I mean. I think her blue and green Baby Quilt is fab and had to show it to mom.
Also this week I’ve received a paper package from my friend Our Lady of Perpetual Cookie Consumption, Jeaninne of Boodzoo Studio! Small pieces of happiness in an envelope:
Everything is beautiful but my favorite is actually the two small pieces that Jeannine has decorated herself:
I just had to post a photo of these two for your to be inspired by too! The first one is a Chinese newspaper print with lettering and paint (stamped with bubble wrap perhaps?) and the second one is a painted paper with needle (?) perforations all over! Also included in the package was this rainbow pile of painted paper towels that I got after our conversation about these towels after my post about of Traci Bautista’s book about collage.
I want to start experimenting with these towels this week and I want to paint some of my own too though i don’t know if I have any paints that will look this bright and fun… I will have to experiment – oh what fun! Art is all about experimenting to me because I never know what will come out!! I think you all should go visit Jeaninne’s blog The Other Side of Somewhere and also her etsy shop Boodzo Studio! Her mixed media quilt Through a Labyrinth is a favorite of mine! It reminds me of a mini quilt about my grandmother that I’ve been working on for a few years and should finish!
On another note I went to Panduro (Sweden’s only big craft shop) this week and picked up the new Autumn catalog there. The store has exploded with scrapbooking supplies (papers, papers, papers) and fun new items that I wish I could play with. I only got this wonderful set of owl and bird stickers, but I’m going to go through the catalog and mark what I want (W), need (N) and will keep dreaming about (D)! I want new canvases, pink paintbrushes (from Tilda), a pile of new glue sticks (as always) and a little bit of this and that. The stickers, scrapbook embellishments and glitter letters are also creating cravings within iHanna today…
Though with gifts received in the mail this week I feel extremely content and lucky! I hope you do too what ever gifts you’ve received this week, material or non material! You are a lucky star and your light shines though all the way! You have a whole wonderful week ahead of you! Enjoy the upcoming week and remember to give, it will give you back a nice feeling…
hugs from I, Hanna!
What lovely gifts! And this post is so full of colour and joy today! A delight for the eyes. So great that scrapbooking supplies have arrived to your corner of the world.
I don’t know if you know this but there is a wonderful company in Sweden that produces GORGEOUS rubber stamps. They are called Magnolia stamps and their website is http://www.dreamcottage.nu My mother and I just made an order with them, not that we needed more stamps but we just couldn’t resist!
Have a wonderful day.
Sophie
wonderful gifts!! thanks for another great post:)
Those are wonderful gifts!!! I also love Traci Bautista’s book and dyed paper towels…you can use them for almost anything.
That’s all wonderful! And I believe the perforated paper is Brailler writing! And for the person above who wrote about Magnolia stamps, it’s Panduro that markets them! Your sweet owls are wonderful, and I really like Jeanine’s work, and it’s amazing to see that even her backgrounds, before becoming “real” work are gorgeous! Enjoy it all! I really like the quote you put at the beginning. :)
I meant Braille, of course! :-))
Apple!
What do YOU do with dyed paper towels? Please let me know, I’m a bit hesitant on what to do right now… I guess decoupage glue would be a nice start?
Hagit!
I was thinking of Braille too, but it’s just plain paper with punched holes… I think Braille is more like marked dots that are raised but not punched through? And don’t tell me you’ve got Panduro in Tel Aviv? :-)
Thanks for commenting!
WOW what great gifts! There are some very talented ladies around the blogosphere!
Oh my! Thank you for all the nice things you had to say. *blush* You are very kind!
The textured paper is Braille, from books for the blind. Isn’t it interesting?
The two papers you showed were actually made in a Traci Bautista class I took earlier this year. The dots were made by sponging paint through a stencil made from what we call sequin waste. Hmmm. I’ll try to post a photo of what I’m talking about.
As for the paper towels – you can rip them into pieces and glue them on things, just like paper collage. I use matte medium. The inks will smear a bit from wet glue, but sometimes that looks neat too!
I can’t wait to see your paper towel painting/dyeing results!
xoxo
Those are such pretty items! And my, all the lovely colors! :)
Love, love, love the stickers! Makes me wish I live in Sweden. Or at least spoke the language so I could drool over the website. Have fun with all the stuff and don’t forget to show us what you do with it!!
such beautiful mail bounty!!!!
wowzers!
can’t wait to see what you make
with this!!
:0)
Wow, lots of nice eye-candy.
I love the paper towels! Such yummy colors :)
Hanna! You are a lucky lucky girl. I like that needle cozy and I don’t even knit! I hope Helena doesn’t REALLY mean she only likes blogs with cats! Or, maybe her cat only likes blogs wif cats.
Anyway, I also just found out that you are in the 1000 Journal pages book! And my friend just told me she ordered it for me for my B-Day! So, I get to see all those great pages, including yours.
I love those painted paper towels, don’t you? I made some last year, but I think since they aren’t acid-free the leftover ones seem to be turning. I am going to dissolve some egg coloring tonight or tomorrow and use them on watercolor paper! Acid free, and so toothy, I can’t wait to sketch over the paint!
Thanks for inspiration, as usual.
Decoupage glue would be a nice start. That’s pretty much all I do with mine. I just use them as backgrounds or I cut shapes out of them and just use them as collage elements.
Sometimes I don’t even dye the paper towels. I use them to clean up messes and to “undo” a painting mistake I have made and they always come out looking dyed without any effort.
Thanks for your lovely comments ladies! Makes me smile, you are so generous!
Jeannine,
thanks for letting us know about the Braille – it sure creates a cool mixed media texture! I know what sequin waste is – yes, finally something I know! I’ve got it in some swaps and gifts (thanks miss KoolAid!) over the net, but haven’t seen it in Sweden (as usual)! I will use mine like a stencil soon because I really like the look of that! :-)
Apple!
Thanks for the advice too, “happy mistakes” are the best art form, right? :-)
What a wonderful, colourful blog post Hanna. I agree with you about the gorgeous fabric used on the needle holder. Congrats on your blog giveaway win. I love the colours of the paper towels too. What would we do without colour in our lives?