LINEN TEA TOWELS

One of my favorite blogs to follow is a "Bird in the Hand".

http://http//a-bird-in-the-hand.blogspot.com/

This Lady's sewing techique is very inspiring to me. She takes a little bit of this and a little bit of that and puts together these wonderful little creations that just make you smile. Something about her work makes me feel close to my grandmother, who taught me to sew. This week I was so inspired by one of her post that I pulled out all my favorite antique laces, old fabrics and got busy creating a my own little creations to make others smiles.

These beautiful tea towels are handmade of linen fabric and are almost 40 inches long. I hate a skimpy tea towel. All of the lace on them are from my collection of vintage laces, some of the fabric is even vintage. The images are either my own watercolors paintings or images I have collected over time. There are only 6 towels and each towel is a unique piece of art. After this week they will be going into the Boardwell Cottage but you can purchase them directly from me for only $24.95.

By the way I hope they are making you smile.

Quarterly Ribbon/Cloth Flower Swap

My flowers for this Quarter's Swap

Something special for Terri, our hostess.

Joanne's Ribbon Shop at Lakewood 400

Some of Joanne's Flowers

Joanne's Ribbon Shop at Lakewood 400

It's time again for the Quarterly Ribbon/Cloth flower Swap in Marie Anntoinette Mail Art Group.

This is one of my favorite swaps to participate in. I also love to purchase my ribbon from my favorite place. It's a little shop at a monthly antique market , I am not even sure if it has a name, all I know is that a very sweet lady named Joanne owns it. She also has an etsy store.

http://www.ribbonemporium.etsy.com/

She has the most amazing ribbons. Most of the ribbons are vintage and she hand dyes them. When ever I visit her, her hands are stained many colors. My children hate to go with me because I spend way to much time visiting with her and dreaming in the shop. Just take a look at the pictures and you'll see why.

The first picture is of my flowers made for the swap the quarter with Joanne's ribbon. I have been using a book she recommended, RIBBONWORK, The Complete Guide. So many projects so little time. The second picture is of a little ribbon work I did for our swap host, Terri.

Let me now what you think.

New Stationery Now Available

The Famous Shoe

Tennis Anyone

I love Bunnies

Flowers from the Garden

I have had so many request for my watercolor stationery sets lately that I spent the entire week last week printing, cutting, folding and stuffing. So there they are ladies, just as you requested. The first set is the ever popular "Flowers from the Garden". Second is a new "I love Bunnies" set. Most of the bunnies are the same but I've added a new one that I created this season. The last two sets are everyone's favorites this time of year, the famous "Colorful Shoe" and "Tennis Anyone". The first two sets come with 5 different cards and the last two sets are 5 of the same note card. Each set is only $6.95. Please get them, while I got them. They go fast. They make great end of the year teacher gifts. These sets are all preprinted but if your looking for personalize sets or to see my full line of stationery check out my website

http://www.lulusletters.com/

Badges & Players - Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group

Badges & Players - Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group: "badge"

Miroir à main de la Reine - The Queen's Hand Mirror

I know I have mentioned before that I am a member of the Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group. This month our challenge was to a create a hand mirror for a queen and send it to a partner.

The pictures above are of the mirror that I created for my partner. I used a vintage silk fabric for the base and used silk ribbon to embroidery the flowers on the back. I trimmed it out with vintage lace and ribbons. Of course I had to add a little vintage jewelry to jazz it. I sure hope my partner Sara will like it and appreciate all the sewing that went into it.

Newest Watercolor Painting

A lovely friend brought me this orchid back in October to thank me for something and I have managed to keep it alive until now. I decided to honor the orchid and my hard work by not taking a picture but painting it. Oh, for you smart ones, the oranges are fresh.

Georgia Bloggers Winter Meet-Up

This is just part of the marvelous supply box that I recieved from Marcy. I love everything in it.

All the girls and 2 of my 4, 4 legged girls.

Salt shaker dollies.

My salt shaker dollies.

We made 10 salt shaker dolls in all. Aren't they to die for?

Last week I had the privilege of hosting the Winter meeting of the Georgia Bloggers, this is a great group of ladies that have creative blogs here in Georgia. (I will be listing their blogs on my site once I figure out how to get them on there.) This group of ladies are all very different. Some of us are full time artist and some of them are full time career women that just like to create in their spare time.

I had planned a working session for our small group. We were to be making several different types of fabric flowers and beaded salt shaker doll. Well as things usually go when a group of women get together, plans change. Everyone got so excited about my Beaded Salt Shaker Dolls that the flower projects just wilted into the distance. I can't say that I was too upset because everyone had a marvelous time.

The four of us created from 11 to 5 only stopping to enjoy a quick bite and enjoy Sharon's wonderful homemade Blueberry Cobbler. The blueberries came from her own backyard last summer. We southerns have to brag a little when we grow our own stuff and can cook it too.
It was so good, I ate it for breakfast on Sunday morning.

One of the best parts of the day was when we swapped supply boxes. We each had made up a box of supplies from our own stash to swap with each other. I was lucky enough to get "The Queen's Box" aka Marcy's box and it was filled to the top with amazing goodies. I'll have to create "The Queen" something special from the wonderful supplies she passed on to me.
I bet she has so many in her studio, she won't miss a thing she gave me. That was one of the rules from the swap. You couldn't go out and purchase anything to put in the swap box, it all had to come from your own stash. If you have an art group, you might want to try this type of swap, it's a great way to clean out your studio and make others happy at the same time.

The day ended with Bella being given the assignment of planning the next meeting. I guess that's part of joining the group, you have to plan an event to be excepted. Good luck Bella, I hope you can get people to RSVP better than I did.