pamgarrison

a visit to the beautiful moss cottage

If you follow my instagram, you know I  paid a visit to my friend Mary Ann yesterday. I had a lovely day at Moss Cottage and tried to capture some of it's beauty for you.

I snapped the above pics before Mary Ann realized I arrived and came out to greet me. We promptly began a garden tour. It's always fun to discuss plants and watering methods and transplanting and garden plans and future projects. We admired all the new growth most. Something so exciting about fruit appearing, no matter how old one is (at least for me anyway!).

I was focused on capturing the beautiful steps she tiled all by herself while she carried  all my bags of art supplies in.

Perfect for a little house in the hills of LA.

We continued our garden tour on the back patio.

I was completely struck by the beautiful colors and healthiest succulents I've ever seen. We had plans for me to take many cuttings, but I realized on the drive home we never followed through on that, as always our plans exceed the time allowed. Next time!

We then moved inside for our usual exchange of various items we'd been saving for each other and as she went through my box of goodies, I snapped some of my favorite sights in her studio.

More beautiful colors everywhere.

This collection of water and sand and other items gathered all over the world is pure genius. I hope I remember to do it the next time I am somewhere special.

They are striking in a group but each on their own as well.

After a delicious lunch we settled down for an even more delicious dessert in the form of journal viewing and play.

(And no, that does not say what it seems to say on first glance!!! I didn't realize it until the funny instgram comments alerted me to it. Look at it again, you'll see what I mean.)

We were especially focused on sketching and watercoloring, as her dreamy  travel journal from her recent trip to Umbria was front and center in both our minds (and the table too). I truly can not wait for her class on it, she already had much to share I want more! So many fun different rabbit holes for us all to go down, even within the world of travel journaling. I love that about art, endless possibilities.

We discussed different pens and ended up trading a few, tried all different watercolor sets while discussing what colors and brands would make the best travel set, did a few blind contour sketches (I can't show mine here because I don't want to embarrass her, mine were so much better than hers haha- let's just say that I don't think either of us captured the fact that we were drawing a human, let alone each other), and did a couple excercises in shapes and patterns. Just play and just perfect.

And like every other time I've visited, I always leave with a desire to return SOON. Art time with friends, so so important. Sometimes I forget how much. Sometimes I think I don't have the time. I'm glad I have these pictures of me taken by Mary Ann to remind me it is, and I do. Always, always time well spent!

paper pastries stamps & discount code

 

Last week I received my new custom business stamp ordered from Paper Pastries.

I  love it! (As if you couldn't tell by the going to town with it evidenced above.)

Margaret was doing a series of new custom business card designs and needed a few volunteers. Yes, please!

I choose the Vespa design which felt very fresh and modern, different than anything I had.

 

And...Margaret was kind enough to offer a discount code (15% off!) for my blog readers that might want to place an order themselves. The discount code applies to all the custom rubber stamps here, not just the business card design.

Use the discount code PAM when ordering any custom rubber stamps for a 15% discount (expires May 28th). I just went and used it myself for this stamp that I'd pinned on my pinterest. So excited, thanks Margaret!

teaching at French General

French General is always a lovely place to spend an afternoon and this past Saturday was no exception. I do believe a fun time creating was had by all, I know I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just look at all the cute parasols above. Of course, as always, time went too quickly and some parasols might receive a little more love at home, but they're great as is.

We were surprised to see how differently they looked closed vs. open:

Love them both ways. 

Thank you to all the students that came out to play! Such a sweet group. 

Also thanks to friends Jenny and Amy who helped, gifted books, and took most of these photos!

And a really big thank you owed to the marvelous Molly Meng, who runs a tight ship with a big kind smile and killer wit. In Molly speak, "dude! you're awesome", you really are Molly, and everyone appreciated all your hard work! 

After all the clean up was done, we got a little silly with the TimerCam app... practice needed, hahaha:

And then it was over, and we were onto Sunday...Mother's Day.

I hope all of you had a nice Mother's Day weekend! 

xo

prepping for this weekend's class

I'm starting to pull together items for this weekend's Paper Parasol class at French General. Always fun to gather goodies. 

I'm thankful that Jenny is gifting a copy of Creative Lettering to each student! (I hope she'll bring copies of her newest book Stamp It! for us to see too.) As for the lettering, it will be fun to see if they choose to use one of the specially designed fonts from the book on their parasol, or maybe none at all. I'll be bringing some good quotes in case they want to add one, like I did on this one that cute Sophia is modeling:

Or was trying to model until her Aunt Molly decided to photobomb her! 

Molly will be there on Saturday too...if you join us, be sure to mention her picture posing skills ;).

There's plenty to share and we still have a couple of spots if you have an opening in your Saturday afternoon, we'd love to have you join us. You can register here if so. Back to gathering more pretty things...

today's mood & art journaling

The journal page above was actually from the other night. It's been a long week already (think I started with a bad attitude on Monday and kept it going), and the other night I sat on the floor with a pad of construction paper and scissors and a glue stick and had fun fun fun. Here's another spread from that night:

The Target Kid Made Modern line of construction paper has great colors.

Anyway, this morning when I woke up a funk had set in. Not enough sleep, need to drink more water, excercise more yadda yadda yadda. Nothing big, just worries, real and imagined, too much to do, headache, etc.We all have those days. 

Usually, if I wake up grumpy I can adjust my attitude with a little art journal play. So I grabbed some paints and my journal with that in mind.

I even tried a change of location from the usual, this time sitting in the dining room.  I didn't make it into the TimerCam app pic haha:

Obviously, I didn't shake the focus on my mood much!

Silly girl. 

So I grabbed my camera to head outside and capture some things that made me happy and sat down for a bit. Luckily, Jennifer called about some future teaching trips we have in the works and we had a long art filled conversation. During the phone call I began to doodle and then started painting on the pages too:

It was a looooong phone call ;). And just what my funk needed. The colors didn't hurt either.

Art journaling worked it's magic on me once again. (And friendship too, of course.) So grateful I started doing it all those years ago, can't imagine my life without that form of play and expression. If you've always thought about it, but never done it, I say take the leap and join all us art journalers out here in the fun!

i love to repurpose

I love this little planted wooden bowl so much. 

Thought I'd share this in case you want to make one too. 

I found the serving bowl at HomeGoods, it had a big crack in it all down the side and on the bottom. Which meant it was super marked down. I couldn't resist getting it to use as a planter. I had already gotten some succulents from Home Depot that were in need of a home, so I just tucked some dry moss in the crack to keep the dirt in but still let it drain, filled it with a little succulent fast draining soil and tucked the plants in. 

Really couldn't be easier. I love it on our outdoor dining table. I think it would make a great gift to bring to someone's home too.

I thought it was a fluke, but then a friend mentioned she saw another cracked wooden bowl at a different HomeGoods, so maybe they bought a whole lot of the damaged ones. I know I'll be checking the clearance isle first the next time I'm in one! 

modified quilt project wip

Yesterday, I showed pictures of quilt pieces I was cutting this weekend and referenced yet another quilt project I was throwing into the mix. I know I need to finish up the others, but sometimes, an idea takes hold and I just need to pursue it a little to free the space in my crowded, idea filled brain. I think I called them octagons yesterday, but today when taking these photos I realized that they are actually hexagons. 

I picked up this started and abandoned quilt top in Kansas. As a creative type that leans towards more projects than time, I can understand how such a thing comes to be and I love the thought of putting all that love and work to good use by collaborating with the original quilter. You can see there are some hexagon flowers off to the right that never got added to the quilt top.

I'm pretty crazy for all the vintage fabrics. I am constantly inspired by the old quilting fabrics, always have been. I plan on someday making a line of my own too, somehow mixing the vintage feel with a more current style. One of many dreams. :)

Colors, pattern, scale, combinations...so much to see and learn from. 

I have ideas for the piece of already sewn together quilt, but for now, I was itching to use some of these loose pieced flowers...

I also bought this quilt while in Kansas. (There are some mighty good deals to be had in Kansas, especially at Whatever Craft Weekend.) I believe this finished quilt cost $40 when all was said and done. All that work!

The truth is, I was attracted to the chartreause color, and the white (with that sweet bit of pink thrown in above), and the overall the clean lines of the design. I am not attracted to the hand painting, it really gave me pause when considering whether to purchase. I'm sure many people find it beautiful, just not my thing here.

And that's where the old quilt pieces come in...

I'm thinking that I'll like the quilt better if in the center of each square I put one of the pieces surrounded by white to cover all the painted parts. (Sometimes I think the part that is original would look good showing in part, but not this time.) I haven't decided how I'll enlarge the fower with a white border yet, you can see I was trying more hexagons, just not sure yet...

I didn't have enough flowers for all 20 squares, so I made a cardboard template based on the vintage pieces, and began cutting fabric this weekend. I went to my stash and chose vintage fabrics, reproduction vintage fabrics, and new fabrics.

 

I started hand sewing them together too, but just today decided it was taking too long and that machine stitching would be fine in the name of progress.

The top three left are machine stitched, those on the top right are vintage, the middle is the sets still to stitch, (down to four!) and the bottom row is all handstitched from this weekend.

When working on a project like this, I count down over and over, it helps me keep going when at first the number feels large. I'm sure some of you out there do this too? I especially do with repetitive sewing things- numbers to cut, number to stitch etc. A means of  crossing items off a mental list? I don't know.

Anyway, after I stitch these four I'll experiment with white border ideas and then likely apliqué them on. As far as quilting projects go, this adaptation of an already completed quilt shouldn't be too time consuming...I'll keep you posted! 

weekend creative goings on

I hope you had a lovely weekend. 

Mine was pretty full, lots of different things on my creative to do list. I made good progress on some, no progress on others...the way it often goes, right? 

I did stop to smell the roses and photograph them too. I love the photo above of the beautiful bloom in the early morning. another flower from the same rose bush later in the day below. I wish I knew the name of the rose! It came over from the old house and lost it's tag in the process. It's not an Abraham Darby, but it is an antique rose. 

I've been remembering to pick up my big camera (vs. my iphone or little camera) a bit more these days. I am happy about that. Not sure if it's due to learning to document from a different angle (project life), my rededication to my blog, or the desire to work on taking better photos, but I'm happy about it, whatever the reason. 

So here's a little of what I captured of my weekend in photos:

I went out and cut some flowers first thing Saturday morning, which starts the weekend off right for me. Something so grounding about time in the garden. 

I have always loved flowers and flower arranging. I miss it, I used to do it so much more often.

There  seems to be a paint jar near the kitchen sink more often than not, so this time it was put to use as a vase: 

Found it hard to stop taking photos. Love that pink paint spot too. 

Let's see...what else did I grab photos of?

I washed all the various quilts/quilt tops that I've collected over the years (and that arrived from my Whatever Craft Weekend shopping- pics soon). I've got a bunch of various projects going on quilt wise and wanted to know that everything was clean and ready to use/sort/figure out what I'm doing with. Been thinking about an insta-flash sale, they seem so poplular these days. 

I started cutting out some octagon shapes so I can create some quilt flowers to match the vintage ones I already have. The plan is to add them to this quilt top in order to cover the fabric paint areas I'm not fond of. One of the many quilt projects in progress mentioned above. Of course, I'll blog all about them eventually. 

A girlfriend came over with a giant canvas that she wanted to replace in her house. She bought it years ago and it was very dark. We figured I could lighten it up. Even if it needs a little restretching (painting over it is making the canvas wrinkle a little) she's ahead $ wise, and will lighten her family room a lot. Not sure where I'm going with it, but it was fun to start and visit with her at the same time. 

She doesn't want any bright colors, but I couldn't resist just a little Nova Paint on there in Fluorescent Red! I had to reassure her many times that these were just the beginning layers :).

Since I was already in the garage, I started on a little stool I recently bought in need of some TLC. I coated the rotted parts of the top with wood putty and am in the process of sanding it smooth (ish). I don't think I'll try to match the color, might be fun to have it be a stripe of something else. 

My new daily use printer arrived. I had hoped to set it up, but never had the energy or focus I knew it would require from me. Hopefully today, as soon as I finish this post. Which should be now. :) As you can see, many projects in progress, none complete. Here's hoping this is a very productive week. Sort of feeling a bit behind and it's just begun. Hate starting Monday that way, hope your week is off to a better start!!!  

upcoming class at french general

I made two more Paper Parasol samples for my upcoming class at French General and sent them off to the shop without remembering to photograph them or share them here. I'll try to get some more photos of them soon and will post them here.

Here's the original sample post with more photos. 

Although we called the class Painted Parasols, truly, there is no paint involved. We'll be painting them with thread and notions and ephemera and colorizing a different way. I can't wait to share the fun supplies I found that work so wonderfully on these. (and those tools I found to not work so well), for those students that go home with the urge to make more. 

I'm telling you, I find this play rather addicting. They are just so pretty. 

I wonder if students will choose to personalize theirs or make them more like the original sample that I made. Will they be gifts, or personal treasures made to keep? 

You know I love hand lettering, and will be sharing some favorite styles, and fun new discovery which will make drawing letters or designs on your paper umbrella super easy. 

We'll have all the supplies and goodies needed but students can bring any special trinkets or a family photo if you'd like to add extra special meaning to it. Really, anything goes when it comes to these flights of fancy! 

Looking forward to spending the day creating alongside those of you able to join us. 

Painted Parasols at French General 

Saturday, May 11, 2013 • 1-4pm

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home made journal cards

As I've mentioned, I'm participating in Project Life this year. A main part of Project Life is the page protector pockets and filling them with either photos or something else like journaling cards. I showed you some I made previously with washi tape, and here are some I made the last few nights with pen and markers. 

I simply used this pen and doodled on the back of these cards that a friend gave me. 

and then I got out my Copic Sketch markers and had more fun:

Pretty fun and super easy. Can't wait to use them in my project life spreads. Thought maybe some of you doing project life might want to illustrate some of your journal cards yourself too. Put a link in the comments if you do!

new art journaling pages

a change of plans

 

Remember the scraps from a few posts ago (that many of you were kind enough to give feedback on, thank you for that) ? Well, after playing around with them for a bit, I ended up going a different route. (if you follow me on instagram you already know about this change of plans and if you commented there, thank you, too)

I took the scraps and appliquéd them onto an old piece of fabric that has faded remnants of a cross stitch pattern. You can see it in blue if you look closely:

I love the idea of using up all the bits and scraps and remants of crafts gone by.

Still love the scraps together:

You can see, I didn't worry too much about clean or hidden sewing ;).

I simply laid it out, then pinned and machine stitched away. Here they are in the planning stage:

Unfortunately, I didn't look at this photo before stitching, because I prefer the E this way above to the taller one I created when sewing different pieces on...but of course, it doesn't really matter.

After stitching the letters onto the front piece of fabric, I sewed on a label that I rediscovered recently onto the back piece. I ordered them years ago from namemaker.com .I remember being disappointed that the labels were broken up, and not one continuous ribbon, but the single is perfect for this type of project.

Once the front and back pieces were done, I sewed the three sides together and inserted a down pillow purchased at IKEA. Then I simply slip-stitched the 4th edge closed by hand. Super easy pillow, but love that there is not another one exactly like it anywhere!

washi tape love

 

I'm sure I've shared with you before my love for washi tape, and really, colored tape of all kinds while we're at it. I've collected quite a lot over the past few years (I have bought online from Freckled Fawn and Cute Tape before, and in person at Michael's and anywhere else I've come across it. I even bought the kids' colored tape from Target. As I was looking for links for you, I stumbled across this which I might need to get, darn it, and this, which I am getting for sure. As far as art supplies goes, it's a pretty inexpensive item with a lot of bang for the buck. I store mine in something similar to this, (I can't find the exact item) and it makes it really easy to see what I have and easy to access it too. 

I started making a bunch of striped journaling and weekly date cards for my project life album that I'm keeping. I used these cards for a base for the most part.

For this one I covered an old date journal card that I had, that's why you can see through to a design under a couple of the stripes. That doesn't bother me though.

I had used all patterened tape before, but then started loving the solids.

For the card pictured above, I used my little dream machine to cut out the oh yes on scrapbook paper and then did stripes of washi behind it.

I find the washi cards easy to help tie in colors on a weekly spread. For example, my printer was acting up, so the photos came out with pink and purple hues. I added in a digital card from here, and decided to use the washi tape to make some cards that would match, as purple is not a standard supply color for me.

It's a fun way to choose your colors. I took the photos above just to show the difference adding or changing one color makes in a color palette. 

 

I started making diagonal cards, and then used the triangles cut from the edge to make cards themselves. You know me and my love for scraps of all kinds...

I used some Project Life arrow stickers here, as well as an old card that I covered in washi tape trying to make my own chevron design.

Oh washi tape, I love you!

Have a favorite source for wahi tape that you'd care to share? Tell us in the comments.

More washi tape love on my instagram  ( pamgarrison is my user name).

quilting update

 

I've been working on all the quilts I showed you before in fits and starts over here since that post. Thought I'd share a little update. Above, you can see a shot of my latest obsession, stitching all the itty bitty pieces that have been cut off edges or scraps from who knows what. Some of these are super tiny, (like 1cm x 2cm), some bigger. I'm just finding shapes and colors and patterns that I find are pleasing together, either becuase they clash perfectly, or compliment each other, and then machine stitch them together. Seeing them grow is quite satisfying. I have always been a lover of scraps, be it paper, fabric, whatever. Hate to see anything go to waste, and love the challenge and the resulting organic nature of what's created, since it certainly wasn't the plan from the outset.

It's really fun to iron these patched toether pieces too, they clean up nicely ;).

Can you see how tiny some of the pieces are? So fun to see them all crammed together willy nilly.

Here's what I've got so far:

I laid them all out and thought about making them all (or most) a similar size and then adding a white edge to them all for similar sized quilt squares, (yes, I've added yet another quilt in progress to the mix with the addition of this new one - that makes four) but after I placed them all close together, I really am not sure which way I like best:

Feel free to chime in if you have a strong opinion. Not sure where it'll end up, but I'm sure I'll love it when it's done! How could I not love a quilt made from orphaned scraps, right?

Stay tuned for progress updates and decisions made...you'll likely know as soon as I do!

 

project life • week 8

 

Project Life week 8, February 18-24

See that picture bottom left? That's the biggest reason I'm doing this project, to have our lives documented for my kids. Only 8 weeks in, and he's looking at it! Love.

I've really appreciated technology even more since taking this on, because it makes it so easy to get photos and texts from my daughter capturing her life at college, and it makes me realize how easy it is for us to stay in contact vs. what it would be like without the benefit of today's inventions.

But I won't even pretend that having a reason to play with fun papers and flair ( like the Studio Calico items above)  aren't another reason I am enjoying this project so.

I wrote on the photo Sunday Morning with an app called Over that I like a lot.

This week was pretty standard. I used a cut up piece from my Paper Source calendar for the week date card. And since I was cutting into it, I used the month and glued it onto the Scrapbook dividers to break up the months in my album.Of course, I'll have to wait until after each month is over and I've torn the used calendar sheet off the wall to put them in the album, but that doesn't really matter.

Other than that, it was business as usual. Still happy to be doing it, and onto week 9!

i am not a quilter

I don't consider myself a quilter, (I think of quilters as artists that follow patterns and have studied and learned the art of quiltmaking and therefore know what they're doing), but I have made some quilts none the less.  Above are two quilts that I have made- one a simple square patchwork I made for my family to use and my daughter to inherit, made before my son was even born, and the bottom one is that Big Crazy Summer Journal Quilt I took on a year or two ago now. 

When my son was born I made him a baby quilt made of patchwork squares and alphabet letters. I went looking for it today, but couldn't find it anywhere. (It's somewhere, I'll find tucked away safely one day.) All my friends that had children at the time recieved the alphabet baby quilts too. It was back before I had gone digital, so I don't have any of those photos readily available either.

Recently, my firend Charlotte gifted me with her second fabric line and I wanted to make her something out of it. What started as a small pillow or journal cover has turned into a little blanket, or lap quilt. I ordered more of her fabric and grabbed what I had left of her first line and began a crazy quilt of sorts. I'm still working on it (shown above), but will show it here for sure when done.

Anyway...while I was working on that quilt, I started thinking about the quilt I had started long ago, intending it to be another family quilt used regularly by all so that my son will have a quilt from his childhood too. Out it came and I finished piecing the top last night. I'm going to batch quilt I think- do the stages- top, binding, quilting etc. at the same time vs. one all the way through. I plan on showing finsihed photos of it too, when done.

But late one night, while playing with the pretty fabrics, an idea came to me and in order to be able to move on from obsessed with the idea, I pursued it. I kept picturing a white quilt with pinwheels scattered on it. By starting some pinwheels, I felt like I could then get that "I can't wait to try this idea" out of the way and finish up the other quilts. But then again, Maybe I should finish this top and batch all three. :)

Yes, I'm a crazy person.

But you already knew that by now.

All this play at quilting has really got me more interested in it than ever. Currently, I just muddle through and try to figure things out as I go along, but I'm feeling a desire to learn more, understand more. Last night on my instagram feed I showed a picture of my completed top for my son's quilt, and when someone asked for a good starting quilting how to book, Jemellia suggested this one. Maybe I'll start there...

 

italy in the works

 

As I've mentioned before, Amy and I are co-teaching for a week in Italy, September 2014. The class info will be available soon...we've just got to finish up all our samples first! Which is what the sneak peek is above, one little part of the class.

And another part...

Look how beautiful this marbled paper is from Italy! I could stare and stare at it. One excursion over the week will be to a paper shop to see this beautiful marbeling in action. (I'm saving my pennies already!)

Like I said, first to finish up...more very soon! The more we work on the class, the more excited we get for the trip, it's going to be fantastic!! Hope some of you will be able to join us, if you think you might, save the date: September 28- October 4, 2014!

art play day

 

Earlier this week I had an unexpected, and much needed, play date with some art pals. April had the bright idea for some fun together, but it took over a month of waiting to find a day that would be open for all. It's silly how "busy" I think I am, like so many, prioritizing small things and thinking big things can wait. Part of my working on "order" in my life this year is to work on that prioritizing, the order of things, because time with art pals should come before lots of things that are ahead of it on the list. I imagine most of us get pulled by the things of life, ( I like to think I'm not alone in this anyway!).

Amy took us to one of her favorite shops, Lala,  in Laguna Beach. It's super cute with clothing and home items all made in India on hand printed fabric. If you head over, be sure you check out the sale rack, that's where we found some cute things. I snapped the picture of the storefront, above, I found it super cute.

I love this photo I took of Jenny and her cute new scarf (especially the way she tied it). Thankful for my ever present iphone that takes great photos (I can only imagine how good the iphone5 pics are, mine's a 4 but plenty good pics to me), because it has literally changed my life, I take so many more photos now than ever before.

Next we went to Victoria Beach. We all brought a little water color set and a journal of some sort to play in.Very light packing was the goal.

Christine and I forgot our sunscreen, we're already getting a little pink here I think.

We all commented about how fun it was to try different supplies and tools that are other artists' go to's. Sharing whatever we brought, of course.

{thank you Jenny and amy for sharing your photos}

And before we knew it, it was time to pack up and get our kids from school. Always too soon, but even a very little bit of art time with friends makes such an impact. I just need to remember to move it up the priority list and do it more!

project life • week 6

 

Project life week 6, february 4-10

When I finally got around to finishing week 6, it was fun. Lots of pictures to be found on my phone and on the computer from my camera. Love how this project is helping me to see my life a little differently, from a new perspective, and the committment to documenting it causes me get those photos printed. It reminds me of the very early days of blogging, where everything in my life was seen with a new pair of eyes. Instagram does that for me too, and now this project...It's good for me to look with a fresh mindset. I'm grateful for the projects that encourage me to do so!

inside the water color set sketch book

Probably not a big surprise to hear that I love watercolor paint sets. I guess one could say I collect them, but all kinds, not just vintage ones, every kind, from new to old, inexpensive dime store sort to fancy art store kinds.  So what's a girl to do in order to remember what she has? What the colors look like, what the sets contain? I decided to document them all in one sketchbook, like I mentioned yesterday. Here are the pages that I've done so far:

I've got just a few more to enter, for now...until some more work their way into my life. I don't know if you read on the photos my writing about the sets, but my oldest purchase was one from college, I've had this love for a long time ;). Among my favorites are the one I wrote about yesterday, the two I bought in Paris, and this one, my most recent purchase, from an antique store:

Look at the tiny porcelain water dish!

But really, they are all so loved, look at these colors:

What's not to love, right?!?!