My Martha Stewart Touches

Here are my attempts at trying a few Martha Stewart touches of decorating.

I've wanted to do this one for several years and actually got it done this year. It turned out much better than I expected! I've seen similar hanging baskets like these in nearby Davidson, NC (a small college town) and always wanted to use the branches cut from my Christmas tree to make some for myself.


I use the hanging baskets that hold my summer flowers and pull out all the dead foliage, but leave the dirt for next year. Then I just cut the huge branches from the Frasier Fir tree that were trimmed to make it fit in our Christmas Tree Stand. I stuck those into the dirt first and then filled in with branches of other greenry that I cut from around our yard. There is long leaf pine, cedar, and Holly. Whoever said to "Deck the Halls with Holly" had to be dipping into the Egg Nog a little too much! That stuff is so sharp and prickley!

I intended to add battery operated lights to each of the four baskets but when I went to the local craft store (Michaels) they had already put everything on drastic clearance and there were none to be found. Oh well, maybe next year.

Next is my Poinsetta Arrangement. I've been doing this one for a couple of years now. My husband gets up the day after Thanksgiving to hit the big savings sales. I personally haven't found anything I wanted that desperately to fight the crowds for, but he loves going out and getting those "deals!" I'm glad that he does, he always comes home with $.99 Poinsettas. They're small, only 1 quart size, but I put four of them in this one container and then spend the rest of the Christmas season pointing at huge $15 and up plants and saying "Mine look as good as that one!" What fun to have a nice huge arrangements for only $4. I just leave the plants in the pots they come in and put them in the container and I'm done.


So this is about all for my decking of the halls!

2010 Christmas Tree

A few years ago I took pictures of many of my Christmas Ornaments and featured them with stories of why they are special. I think I faded out in that project, maybe if I can get my act together I'll resume that for next year. Meanwhile, I'll give you a few glimpses of the decorating for this year. I didn't get a whole lot done this year and after my granddaugther saw my tree all decorated she asked why I didn't wait for her to help. Oh boy!!! It's a deal, she'll definitely get in on that fun next year! I sure hope she's still willing then!

Each year now since our children have families of their own, we go together up into the NC mountains to choose and cut our own trees. Well we don't have to actually cut them, they do that for you after you've chosen and tagged the one you want. This give the very particular members of our family (mainly my husband and daughter) a very wide selection to choose from and the grandchildren a chance to see where the trees actually come from, etc. Overall usually a very fun family adventure. For me, this year it was a scary adventure to go up into the mountains while it was snowing. (I can hear you northeners snickering!) My husband was driving, so that wasn't bad. It's the other drivers that make me nervous with potential skidding into us, etc. But we all made it up the mountain, quickly picked out our trees and hurried back down before they closed the roads. (The road further on up the mountain was closed while we were still there.) But it was very beautiful to pick out a tree with all the snow. Here is our chosen tree just before it was cut. These are Frasier Firs.

After we get down off the mountain with our trees, we usually stop for lunch. This year we ate in downtown North Wilkesboro, NC and to our delight their parade was that day so we had a perfect indoor, in the warm, seat for viewing! We're all smiles now that the trees are bought and we're out of the cold!



Here is the tree, all decorated. This year we put the train around the bottom for the enjoyment of the grandchildren. It takes up a bit of floor space, but it's been worth it to see them play with it.

Final Fabric Inking Lesson 3

I finished my last lesson with the fabric inking. We're suppose to make a journal cover as well, but that will probably have to wait until after Christmas. Here are some of my latest pieces with the class.

This first piece was actually a piece from the last lesson that didn't work correctly. I redeemed it by crumbling it up while it was still wet and stuffing it in a cup. I left it on the shelf to dry all week and then ironed it out. All of the marks and wrinkles are actually marks from the ink.

This next piece was another attempt at marbling the fabric with the ink. I again had a few problems, but I think this technique takes practice. I did use a shape that matched the fabric shape so that there wasn't so much white space around the edges.

This is another marble technique piece with green added.

I again used the extra marbling ink and used a foam brush to paint this fabric. I love this piece and plan on using embroidery stitches, beads and other embellishments to adorn it.

This next piece was an experiment that I tried. I drizzled the ink on the fabric that was wet and then after that I added rock/ice cream salt, the big pieces. This caused the ink to wick up into the salt. I left this to dry overnight. It does have a small crystal effect, but I was expecting more. I'll try this again with a smaller piece of fabric and not use so much salt, or put it down in piles. Also, I may not start with wet fabric. I'll just drizzle on the ink and see what happens. But the main lesson learned with this piece is to try experiments on smaller pieces of fabric since I don't know for sure what's going to happen.

This last piece was wet fabric that was fan folded. Then I drizzled on the ink and used a plastic spoon to rub the top layer. This caused the ink to seep through all the layers and blend as well. It looks very much like fabric that uses regular procion dyes. I've made some very similar and it can be purchased here at ArtFabric But I like the way this turned out.

I've enjoyed this class. I had never used pigment dyes before and this was a great way to play and try new things! I've learned that I like the stamped and rubbing effects. I like the fact that they can be used very quickly and on fabric that is commercially dyed or printed. That makes these dyes a great tool in altering fabrics that may not take dye or are already saturated. Overall though for many of the techniques I'd probably use dye when possible. Dyes are tremendously cheaper than these inks. A very small bottle (only an ounce or less) cost about $4 before taxes and/or shipping. I originally bought 6 bottles and they are almost all gone. I would use these dyes to paint and draw on the fabric and plan on doing so more experimenting with that. I already bought more colors and certainly plan on keeping them on hand to use as the need arises.

I hope you've enjoyed following along with me in my classes. I've already signed up for another online class that begins January 14th. It's with Ellen Lindner called Instant Art Quilts. There's still time to sign up for it, so join me in this new adventure! I'm also planning on taking some more classes through Joggles, but their schedule doesn't come out until December 16th. We'll have to see what's offered and I do have to pace myself! I have learned that I get so much more from the classes when I actually do the work and participate in class discussion forums. Not always easy, but well worth it!