Two More Recycled Sweater Bags

I finished two more bags in the past couple of days, but only one is going into the boutique stash, as my daughter snagged the other one.

Here's Lianne's bag. I sewed the seams on the outside of this one, and used a man's shirt (with pockets) for the lining.









The other bag is made from the same pattern, which I created for my niece last Christmas, but I girlied it up with beaded trim and a macramé belt for the strap.









This one is a favorite!

MORE Recycled Sweater Bags

Just completed two more sweater bags for our boutique on November 10.

The first was one of those ideas you regret about halfway through. I had an image of a bag that resembled a crazy quilt, with random patches of felted sweater fabric and strips of antique lace in between. Let's just say I used up TWO LARGE spools of off-white thread making this one happen! The strap is a really cool black satin belt with a rhinestone buckle, but since my photo background is black, of course you can't see it. And the colors are really washed out in the photos. I have GOT to take a photography class!











The other bag was really fun and quick. I had found a funky hand-knit sweater at the thrift store, and it almost made itself into a bag. The cuff around the top of the bag is actually the waistband of of the sweater. The wonderful abstract designs were part of the original sweater design. The pocket I made on the back is from the sleeve cuff. The strap is a red leather embroidered belt, and the leather strips were already hanging off the ends, so I just added some big funky beads. All together, I'd say this one took about 3-4 hours. But why does the red look so orange in the photos???











I have enough sweaters to keep making these daily for the rest of the year, I think!

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!