Sketch Inspirations: Cake

click the image for credits

I've been intending to post for the last week, but I've been under the weather with allergies. On the bright side of being stuck in bed for most of the day, it leaves more time for art. Specifically, opening up my sketchbook and seeing where it takes me. When I was a girl I filled sketchbooks with abandon. I created characters, scribbled cute animals, recorded what I saw around me and what made me smile. I didn't think about whether my art was "good" or not, I just drew until the inspiration ran out for the day (or if I had to go to bed). Now? Now I rarely crack open my book. It languishes by my bedside, unused and leaving me filled with feelings of guilt. It's not that I don't want to draw, it's that I'm scared. What if I'm not good enough? To get over that feeling I'm going to be sketching or painting a little something every day, thanks to inspiration from the 20 Minutes a Day Challenge.

That leads me to the large mosaic of cake pictured above. Lately I've been going through large stacks of books from the library. When going through cookbooks I started to notice a personal trend; pretty cake photos not only inspired me to bake, they also inspired me to draw. Just as cakes come in an infinite array of delicious flavors, they also come in a never ending parade of different sizes, shapes, colors, and textures. They can be styled so many different ways, from the simple to the complex. Coupled with the fact that I've always found food illustration inspiring and I've found a major theme that I want to practice! I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes me, I have a feeling that more baking will be in my near future down this path.

What's been inspiring your art lately?

Counting My Blessings

I started putting together my project box for the Counting My Blessings project yesterday and now that I can see all of the colors coming together I am getting more and more excited. Since this project is all about being thankful for the blessings in our lives I decided to go with a palette of my favorite colors. The colors that jumped out at me while I was going through my stash. I'm going to use a basic unbleached muslin for the base. I love the softness of the fabric and its lovely oatmeal shade. Since it was my grandmother who first got me into the world of needlecraft (I used to cross stitch all the time) I thought it would me a nice way to honor her memory while I worked on my first embroidery project. I was able to find her hoop and am using the project box she used to store her current projects in. Now to get started with the actual stitching... First up? Drawing and stitching in the grid for the squares.

In other news, I have a facebook page set up for Quirky Charm! It's located here and I'll be using it to keep up with general updates. There will be posts there each time this blog is updated as well as whenever I list something new on Etsy. I also have it set up so anyone can upload photos, I would love to see what people have done with something they've purchased from me as well as what they've done inspired this blog (a recipe tried, craft tutorial followed, community project joined, etc.).

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! I've been thinking about doing something a little special for about a week now and I finally had a brainstorm last night as I was drifting off to sleep. Between thrifting excursions and my own stack of work our outgrown clothing I have a bunch of materials waiting to be upcycled into something new. With this being Earth Day I also wanted to challenge myself to only use what I had around the house. Thus, this bracelet was born.

The fabric itself came from a broomstick skirt that had seen better days. It was too tattered to donate, but I didn't want to send it to the landfill either (you might recognize it from a headband I made a while ago). It had the perfect texture to tear into ribbons and braid with unfinished edges. It just so happened that I had some beads from an old project in my bead box to add a little sparkle.

Gathering my materials I thought I was good to go... Ha! This is one of those projects that stretched my limits, even thought it looks simple. The braiding process went smoothly enough, but attaching them together was a different story. A pile of scraps/thread and my first bent needle later and I have something that works. I was hoping to make a second to put up in my shop, but I really need to fine tune the process first. Though it was frustrating at the time, I am grateful for the difficulty, I feel like I know more about my sewing machine now (and I've finally overcome my fear of dealing with needle problems).

This personal challenge has me thinking up new things to do with the things I already own. I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes me, I really want to adopt an 'Earth Day is everyday' mantra for my life. What have you been up to today?

My materials all laid out after I finished tearing the fabric.


Braiding in progress. This clip board was a life saver.

Big Announcement!

As promised, I come today with two big announcements. Before I get to the one pictured above I would like to mention the redesign of Quirky Charm. It's not a huge change, I kept the general structure the same, but I freshened up the color scheme to something more personally meaningful for me. I also switched out the header to something more representative of my current aesthetic. Behind the scenes I've also set things up to run more smoothly when I want to add new features. I am much happier with my little slice of the web now.

In bigger news, I've opened up an Etsy shop! This has been a long time coming, but I've allowed procrastination and self-doubt win. I love crafting and scouring shops for vintage finds, but I've always kept my dream of making a living by things created by my own hands locked in a little box in my heart. Little pieces of doubt still make their way in from time to time, but I'm finally taking the first step towards doing something I'm passionate about.

Come visit me at Quirky Charm. At the moment I only have a few vintage pieces listed. They're the last few things cleared out of my grandmother's estate after we took the rest of what we didn't choose to keep for consignment. This feels right to me. She's the one who started me down this crafty path and in doing this I feel as though I'm honoring her crafting and vintage loving tradition. Here's to a wonderful new chapter in my life!

And now I will be returning to a more regular posting schedule. The behind the scenes planning and preparation for these two announcements took up so much of my time that I've allowed a pile of photos to pile up. I'm looking forward to sharing them with you.

Her Secret World

She sat quietly on her bed. Daring not to breathe. She sat and dreamed of a new world, a new life. Even the slightest breath would blow that fantasy away forever. She dreamed of a world far from her own. A quiet apartment where she would spend her days covered in paint and cookie dough. The walls would sparkle as her small cat wove around her ankles. Were she to stick her head out the window, as she often did to watch the sunrise, she could smell loaves of bread baking at the bread shop down the street. Most of all she was free there. Free to laugh. Free to love. Free to embrace the world around her in her joy. Inevitably that breath would come though. Her world, evaporated like a puff of smoke. She would sigh and go on with her day, her world locked up so tightly in her heart that even she forgot it was there sometimes.

A Work in Progress

I've been bitten by the painting bug, it would seem. Ever since I finished up a painting for my mom for Christmas I haven't been able to put my water colors away. Unfortunately I've also been lacking the inspiration to actually finish a piece, but instead of hiding them away I thought I would share some of my works in progress. Maybe this will give me the spark I need to finish them...

From the Bead Shop

I am a saver. When I receive something I particularly love I have the habit of saving it to savor at the best possible moment. For the most part this is a good trait, it has enabled many a wonderful experience that would have otherwise been wasted. Sometimes, though, it becomes a little ridiculous. This is one of those times...

I've had a giftcard for a local bead shop for well over a year now. In fact, this April would have marked two full years of the card sitting in my wallet, waiting for the right moment to be spent. Tired of waiting, and worried about the balance going away due to lack of use, I took the plunge on Saturday and purchased the lovelies photographed above. Some have a definitely purpose, like the gold ring along with the moss green which are to become a two stranded necklace or the shells which are to become a lovely pair of earrings once I find (and can afford) some seed pearls. Others, like the pink stars and the unusually colored lady bugs, have no destined projects. I have ideas swirling, but none that stand out as "the one".

In the end spending that giftcard was worth the plunge. I will have a new necklace to show for it at some point soon and some new pieces to inspire future projects. Hopefully this will get me on the path to finding a better balance between savoring something to the fullest and holding onto something much longer than I ought to.

As for this morning I am writing this from a comfy booth at Panera, in front of a large bay of windows, watching the storm brewing outside. Despite not wanting to get up this morning, this was so worth it.

Braided Headband

Not surprisingly last week was chaotic... again. When things get like that I need to take time out of the day and do something that I can put all of my focus in. After seeing this post at Smile and Wave I knew what I wanted to do.

I have a small drawer of clothing that I wear only around the condo. Generally this includes stuff that is a bit faded or torn, but is still comfy and wearable. During my latest closet cleanout I retired quite a few pieces to this drawer, so much so that the drawer was full to bursting. I hate to throw things away and now I have a few things I can do with these fabric scraps. I am a headband junkie (with my super short hair it's just about the only type of hair accessory that works for me) so this was the perfect project for me. The one pictured above was once a broomstick skirt. I love the result and can't wait to try it again (I have a purple striped shirt next up on the chopping block).

Detail-wise I changed a few things up from the tutorial. I hand-stitched the sewing portion of the project as I was sitting out on the patio while I was putting this together and didn't want to pull out my machine (I would recommend using a machine if you have one handy though, it would have saved me a bit of trouble). I also used clear elastic instead of white as my hair is so short that the back of the band is visible when I wear it and I wanted a more invisible look.

What do you do with old clothing that's too far gone to sell or donate?