Laughing Songbird Interview

My good friend Bethany recently interviewed me for her blog, The Laughing Songbird. Stop by to read my interview and enjoy some entertaining stories of Bethany's life in the English countryside while you're there. She will also be posting a tutorial of mine in the next few days so stay tuned!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's is a good day for stuffed french toast...

and handmade cards.

My card to Zach (left) was drawn in Illustrator. The letters in the bowl make up our names, the numbers in the measuring cup our anniversary date. When I first designed this, the letters were green, but as it got closer to Vday I thought, hey that would make a cute valentine, so I created a version in shades of red. Zach's wonderful card to me is hand drawn. (Juicebox is a nickname of mine).

Zach's amazing gift to me was a Fenton Art Glass hobnail apothecary jar. It matches my two other pieces and I love it! I also got some pretty white carnations and green mums.

Zach concentrating hard as he attempts to master all 100 obstacles in his new Perplexus puzzle game.

We finished up the day with a lovely dinner at Ciola's Italian-American Restaurant. Zach had the veal rollatini (veal rolled with provolone, spinach and prosciutto in a marsala, mushroom and artichoke heart reduction) and I had the ravioli al tartufo (mixed mushroom raviolis tossed in a truffle cream sauce). We split a cannoli for dessert. Also our $25 coupon that we bought for $1 from Restaurants.com kept a high class meal under $45.

Way Good Day Feature

My XOXO drawstring bags were featured on Way Good Day!

M on the Side Feature

Bear in Briefs was featured on M on the Side! Check out her blog to see other etsy valentine's picks and her own etsy shop full of great hand printed clothing and illustrated work!

Image from mchenwears.com

Button Monogram Pillow

I hosted another women's craft day at my house this past weekend, and was able to finish a throw pillow I've been working on for our guest bedroom. The case is made from a bronze colored silk with an invisible zipper so that the pillow form can be removed. This was my second time to install an invisible zipper. The concept is simple: use a zipper foot, sew a straight line, and don't sew over the zipper teeth. Even so, I still find it a little intimidating, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I also added a white pom-pom fringe, with the help of this tutorial. A while back I ordered some white vintage buttons on Ebay, which I used to make the letter "K" on the front.

Bear in Briefs

I've had an idea for quite some time. A new friend to add to my etsy shop. I will warn you, it's a little risque.


You see, it's bear...

but he's not wearing much.

I think his big heart makes up for it.

Fireplace Makeover

The 1980s, the decade of brass...

(c) David Corby, 2006

Well, not that kind of brass. This kind:

Before

Brass is great for some applications, but along with the wooden handles, was really dating our fireplace...sometimes it's just time to move on, so we broke with the shiny brass and updated it with a little paint.

After taping off the glass and tile, I used a sponge brush to apply high heat paint. Make sure to have proper ventilation and wear a mask, because this stuff gives off some pretty strong fumes.

A couple coats of paint later...

After