Recycled Sweater Bags for the Boutique

I've been a sewing fool for the past week and managed to complete FOUR recycled sweater bags to sell at our holiday boutique.

The first two are for young girls and are nearly identical:














The next is a tote that would work well for a knitting or crochet bag. I used a wonderful embroidered skirt from the thrift store for the lining.







The last is a book bag for a guy, or a non-girly girl. These photos are kind of dark, but you get the idea.









Mark's colleague who's been sending me sweaters from the Northwest suggested reusing the tags from the sweaters, so Mark chose the Bullock's tag for this bag. I wanted to use one that a guy would think was cool.

I'm almost done with a fifth bag, too! Now I just need to decide how to price these babies. I want them to sell, but I want to feel like I'm getting what they're worth as handmade items. Feedback would be appreciated!

Announcing Ojai Holiday Gift Boutique

I've had the idea to make gift items and sell them at a holiday boutique for years, but it took my friend Kristen to give it a kick in the pants and make it happen.

A small group of us will host a boutique on November 10th (rain date is the 17th). We've pulled together an amazing array of handmade items from a number of local artisans, including pottery, jewelery, lavender sachets and eye pillows, soaps, recycled wool sweater purses and stuffed animals, gourd art, wooden boxes, paper arts, and more.

If you'd like more information about the boutique, please contact me at lori@lzcommunications.com.

August Green & Copper Postcards

We finally got to MY color choices in the year-long postcard exchange in which I'm participating, and I really did enjoy working with these colors.

I started with copper shim, and watched it change color over the flame of a candle. Then I embossed it with a stylus, and put it on a background of fabric and leaves cut from my handmade papers, with a couple of old postage stamps added for interest. I stitched all over the background with metallic thread, and right through the copper with red thread, and finished it off with copper tape around the edges. Pretty cool!

My "True Colors" Book

I'm very excited to have joined a round robin based on the concept of the "True Colors" book that came out a couple of years ago. If you haven't seen this book, get your hands on a copy and sit down with a cuppa for a long inspiration session!

Anyway, twelve artists each begin an altered book with a color theme. Then we mail them each month to the next person on the list. So at the end of the year, you get back a book with the artwork of 11 other artists in it, based on your color theme.

My book is Blue and Chocolate Brown. I started with an old photo album with a wonderful leather cover and black pages inside. I decided to let the existing leather work on the cover shine, and just enhanced it with some Rub 'n Buff and added a few embellishments:



On the inside of the front cover, I created pockets from fabric and lace to hold twelve tags, one for each artist who will work on the book. Each artist will sign the appropriate tag, indicate which pages are hers, and embellish the tag as desired.



The inside of the back cover is just a fabric collage with a metallic tag to thank everyone.



The cover page adds a second theme: "What's Old is New Again," which the artists can use or not, as desired.



The spread on pages 2 and 3 uses photos that were in this album when I bought it on eBay. I loved the playful feel of the photos, and the suggestions of friendship between these two girls. The words around the photos build an imagined story of their friendship.





The next journal I'm going to get has a red theme. I'm thinking Asian . . .

July Blue Postcard

I just realized I never posted a photo of my July postcard, which had a blue theme. Maybe that's because it wasn't one of my favorites. But it's kinda cool, and in the interest of record-keeping:



I just painted and stamped the background, then printed the raven image onto a transparency and burned its edges with a candle. It wasn't easy to get it fastened down, as the heat made it buckle, but they made it through the mail just fine.

Rainbow Collage with My Handpainted Papers

I don't know where this idea came from, but I figured I needed to use all the background papers I've been painting, so I just cut 2-inch squares and arranged them in rainbow order from the top left to the bottom right of a canvas, "et voila!" This piece is 18 x 24 inches.



Here are some close-ups:







This will now hang in my daughter and her boyfriend's apartment, right above their giant TV. It reminds me of giant TV screen pixels!

Gothic Shrine

I've had a LOT of fun the past few weeks creating a very different kind of project: a piece of artwork with a Gothic theme. This is for a unique exchange in which artists send in their projects for photographing, and the coordinator then puts together a book of all the works, along with process narratives by each artist. Each artist receives her artwork back, along with one of the books, which will be embellished with items sent in by the artists as well.

I started with a triptych frame I'd picked up from a yard sale. My research into the Gothic period turned up arched windows, rose windows, dark wings, madonnas, angels, gargoyles, illuminated manuscripts, and rich ornamentation.

And here's my result!











Now to find the right box and ship this baby off . . . then on to the other three swaps I've signed up for this month!

NEW Handpainted Paper Packs for Sale

My background paper obsession is still going strong. It's just so much fun to get out the paper and paints and stamps and texture-making do-dads and go to town.

Here are the full sheets of the papers I've made in the past week, including many painted onto antique encyclopedia pages. (Please note: the colors will appear different on different monitors. On mine, they are a bit washed out.)







As before, I'll sell packages of at least 10 pieces about 5 x 5 inches in size for $8. I'll accept payment via PayPal or money order. One person sent me cash last time and that worked out fine, but it's a bit risky. The first person to order will also get a little extra surprise (hint: if you look at my recent blog entries, you'll have a clue). I have 13 packages for sale this time. Last time I had ten and they all sold out within a week!

This second batch of packages will include a mixture of these new papers and some of the papers left from my previous packs. See that post here.

Here are the contents of a sample pack (you will receive different papers, but I will include an assortment of colors):



If you'd like to order a pack, just e-mail me at lori@lzcommunications.com.

Thanks!

Paper Beads

Wow, I am amazed at the wild and unique beads you can make with paper, UTEE, glitter, microbeads, and embossing powders. I spent just about all day Thursday and Friday on this, so if you decide to try it, beware!

Here's what I came up with:

Bob and Marianna's Recycled Sweater Bags

Oooh, this recycled sweater bag thing is so much fun! And now it's turned into recycled shorts and vests and coveralls too.

These bags were made for Mark's colleague Bob, who has been sending me sweaters from Washington and BC Canada by the droves, and his wife Marianna. I think they're a new step forward in my bag-making journey.

Bob's bag is a book bag, with pockets from a child's pair of rip-stop shorts on the flap and a belt for the strap:





The lining is made from a rip-stop vest, with the pockets cut off and repositioned:



(these two are shot with the bag turned inside out)




I made Marianna a tote bag in bright colors, which I know she likes, with buttons to snaz it up a bit:







The inside of her bag is made from a pair of bright yellow coveralls. Here's the lining before I put it into the bag:





I have four (4!) boxes of sweaters already felted, so I guess I'll start a recycled sweater bag factory: thanks, Bob!