Moving across America...

Mom was happy to see this humungous box of yarn that Scott had to use a dolly to move into her quilt shop. I just couldn't see me sitting and crocheting or knitting in my immediate future, seeing how I'm taking on this new corporate gig with Duncan Enterprises. I'm thinkin' my time is going to be preeeety busy with paint, glue, transfers, appliques, ceramics, and FUN!

I had another box, the same size...filled with fabric, but gave it to Robyn because as you can see...my Mom has TONS of fabric in her quilting stash! Now you see where I get my organizing gene. I was totally jealous of her neat little color-coordinated stash of fabric. By the way, it's all washed, dried and pressed. Ready for her next quilt, to sell on Pearls Quilts.com.

Dumpster dive sewing machine!!! Mom and Dad were at the local dumpster and emptying their trash when they saw this couple getting ready to toss this beautiful machine in with all the ewie trash! They politely asked the couple if they minded if they took it instead and of course in a couple of minutes it was in their trunk. It's beautiful! In mint condition. I never heard of a Necchi-Alco, but Mom said that it was from Sears. And....she offered it to me. Do you know how hard it was to turn it down?! But I already have a beautiful Singer and a Janome that both do everything from sewing drapes to embroidering. Mom has FIVE machines! I left there with sewing machine envy....woweee zoweee!

One of mom's latest quilt creations...all hand embroidered. She and Dad have a hand-guided quilting machine and this one has their signature perfection stitching. Gorgeous & amazing! It will sell fast.

But THIS one is all HAND quilted. I just stood there in awe. I can't believe she labors over these meticulous quilts for months, and then SELLS them.

I know this pic is a little blurry with my cell phone camera, but I took it in the quilt shop of all the quilts waiting to be sold out of the antique wardrobe. Scott's mom would love the batik fabric in the quilt at the top of the stack. Her bedroom is totally modern.

Coconut cream pie, baybeeeeee. My Mom's is the BEST!

This bear was on the corner of Mom & Dad's street at Grand Lake O' the Cherokees, where a dead tree had been turned into art by a chain saw artist.

Crafting in the car.... yeppers. That's me and Scott sculptured in play dough. I couldn't just sit there! And besides, our 3 year old grandson Zane gave me the play dough. When we were packing the car to leave, he disappeared for a bit, and suddenly he was in the front seat, placing a tub of play dough in my drink holder. He looked up at me and said "There, grammy!" He and I had made everything from the play dough... hamburgers, dinosaur eggs, happy faces, and a whole family. I think that tub of play dough was the best present, EVer....

A beautiful sunset just before we found a hotel in Gallup, New Mexico.

Next morning in Gallup, the coffee shop Camille's had these amazing lamps.

Now, I must go to flea markets and find lamps to combine for our new house!

This century plant was in full bloom in Sedona. I'll bet it was 20 feet tall.

Another tie-dye spotting! These were so cute at the gift shop in Sedona.

Ahhh....wine by the fire pit in Sedona. Consilience Wine, made by some of our close friends in Santa Barbara. The perfect ending to a perfect day.

Movin' and a groovin'....

Yes, we're movin' and a groovin' all the way from Nashville to Clovis, California. So, here we go with a new adventure!



Scott makes everything fun, and the ABF Dude was happy to get in the moment when we told him that he was going to be on camera for a video. Scott made a great barter deal with the ABF company and has been doing a time lapse on the whole thing!



Purge, baby purge! That's my motto... I am going through every single craft bin and re-organizing everything.



Does anybody remember the Favor Maker? I love this little machine! Now, all I need is a party....



Wow! An old craft book from my childhood. It's GIANT! Love it... have to craft something from it. Maybe the hair curlers keeper made out of a bleach bottle???



Random crafting....Robyn came to the rescue and picked up tons of fabric and craft tools. We couldn't resist a crafty moment on the driveway when she needed to know how to work the die cutting machine.



Jammie lightened our load by taking away extra photography equipment. Thank goodnes for her roomy car.

I did it! All my crafty stuff is snug as a bug and ready to rock-n-roll.



Finally, five re-lo-cubes are full and we shut the doors, and began our journey across America to our new home and new jobs with Duncan Enterprises....

Before we left Nashville, the gang from work gave us a going away party in downtown Nashville. I rode a mechanical bull, and of course, had to tell Elvis goodbye...


Of course we had to make a stop at a Cracker Barrel for some snacks. Scott got the extra large
size of Smarties...they were about the size of a nickel.



We stopped in Oklahoma to visit family, and found the coolest t-shirts that were tie-dyed at our fave pizza joint in Norman. Mine's purple and pink!




We stopped at the Cadillac Ranch and had a blast with a video we did for www.IloveToCreate.com in graffiti on one of the cars with Tulip paints.


The view from our balcony in Sedona was absolutely incredible. We got to meet up with some Arizona friends, and had an amazing dinner by a babbling brook filled with ducks.


We were both mesmerized by these windmills in Tehachepi, CA. There were too many to count!



The crazy octagon-dome house near Yucca, CA. Octa-home...not to be confused with Octa-Mom.
Sorry.


We made it! The cubes are unpacked, and we are settling into our cute little house at Harlan Ranch in Clovis.


We decided to take time out from unpacking to check out the Clovis farmers market tonight. Yeahhh!!! The band was decent, it wasn't toooo hot, and it was fun to check out our new neighbors.



I loved these jugs of fresh flowers. Scott loves, loves, loves sunflowers.



And I love Austin Powers. How funny is this? He was in front of a darling tea room and I couldn't resist the kodak moment. Grooooovy baby...



Snagged some organic garlic.



Scarfed down some yummmmy corn on the cob. Woohooo!



And the trees in the parking lot were amazing.

Now, back to the unpacking and getting ready for our new jobs on Monday. I'll keep you posted!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Woohoo! I’m ready for my big announcement, and I hope you’re as excited as I am. Are you ready? Is your seatbelt fastened? Okay, here goes….

Scott and I have both accepted positions for dream jobs at one of the most respected, highly motivated and successful companies in the crafts and hobbies industries…

Duncan Enterprises!

My new position is Lead Craft Designer/Spokesperson and Scott is their new Photographer/Videographer. Yeah!! What we bring to them is a media team that produces dynamic craft/textile project designs, photography and videos for marketing Duncan products.

If you have followed my career through the years, you know that I have been associated with Duncan and their products for over 15 years. Their Tulip 3-D Fashion Paints were the beginnings of my history as a fashion art designer. In the early 90’s I had my own cottage industry selling "Glad Rags" appliqué patterns I designed and sold to Hobby Lobby Stores, which consumers painted around the edges with 3-D paint. I don’t know just how may sweatshirt models I painted for the Hobby Lobby Stores, but my partner Lisa Selvey and I filled up our trunks over and over again to deliver them.

My big adventure with Duncan and their products really took my life by storm when my friend Darsee called and said that a producer from the Aleene’s Creative Living television show had called the Hobby Lobby corporate offices and wanted someone to come be a guest on the show, and the projects had to feature Duncan/Aleene’s products. So, off we went to Buellton, California to show how to paint on shirts, glue everything in sight, and decoupage anything that wasn’t moving! Soon, Darsee and I were on the show twice a week and co-authored over a dozen books featuring Duncan products for several years. We had a ball!

Before I knew what was happening, I had an offer from Tiffany Windsor to be one of the Hosts of Aleene’s Creative Living, and I took the challenge, moved to California and became part of the family. Being with Aleene Jackson as a mentor was a life-changing experience.

That’s where I met Scott, as he was a free-lance camera operator on the show periodically. Yeah, yea, this is an old photo from way back then when Scott had more than a soul patch. (tee hee! He's gonna hate this.) After the show was canceled, Scott and I continued to produce instructional videos for the crafts and hobbies industry and we have done several projects for Duncan through design work, magazine ads, and videos.

And my love for glue products has not waned through the years. As you can tell by one of my latest books, “The Crafter’s Guide to Glue,” I reeeeally LOVE GLUE!

It has been so refreshing to work with a company that has a soul as great as their reputation. It’s amazing to be greeted with hugs and genuine smiles and kind hearts every time we are with the Duncan family, including Larry. We appreciate the hard work this company has put into the over 60 years of dedication to the consumers and employees and stockholders of this dynamic company. We are very proud to represent them. That's me with my new partner in all things crafts at the top of the blog; Alyson Dias, who is our Director of Marketing Communications.

And yes! They DO know how wild and crazy I am…(giggle) I just hope they know what they’re getting into by me being a spokesperson for them. (more giggles) Plus, just think about this…they’ve got crazy crafty chicks like Cheryl Ball, Kathy Murillo, Traci Bautista and other fabulous Designers on their team, so they can handle ME! (even more giggles)

So! It just feels like homecoming for us! We are thrilled and happy to be joining the Duncan Enterprise team for the next chapter in this crazy crafty ride for our next big adventure!

Now, the packing begins…. Stay tuned!

Big NEWS is coming....

I have BIG NEWS COMING SOON!
Look for an announcement to tell you the amazing things happening in my life. I'm so excited, and hope I don't explode!!

Call or Listen on Sunday!

Guests on Sunday include me and Phyllis Dobbs, so listen in, call in, or chat with us live. Just go to the Inspired at Home Radio page and follow the easy instructions to join this creative mix of crafty gals!

Tune In to "INSPIRED AT HOME"

On Sunday, May 24th, tune in to "Inspired at Home" radio and listen to me being interviewed by Tiffany Windsor as we discuss the latest book that I created designs for entitled, "Cookbooking" by Barbara Winkler, a former executive editor of Family Circle magazine.

If you are like most people, you have a ton of loose magazine clippings and hand scribbled recipes, or cards that people have given you over the years, that are thrown into boxes and notebooks. Mine were the same way, but not any more. I figured out that I could design all kinds of creative ways to categorize my recipes and be able to find my favorite Stuffed Shrooms recipe when I need it.

One of my favorite scrapbooks I designed was for my Mom’s 70th birthday. My entire family participate by writing about their favorite moments with my mom’s cooking or their favorite dish. Then I made a notebook with retro fabric, tons of ribbon, grommets, and 3 binder rings. You’ll love it! Best part? Some of my mom’s recipes are in there! There are ways to give recipes as a gift, and how to create an heirloom cookbook, and even a kid’s lunchbox recipe organizer.

I'm looking forward to the show, as this is quite a homecoming for me, with Tiffany being the mainstay of the "Aleene's Creative Living" television show when I was one of the hosts. She is the daughter of Aleene Jackson, the queen of Tacky Glue, and part of an extremely creative family including her sister Heidi Borchers. Julianna Hudgins is a co-host of this creative lifestyle program that treats listeners to this lively duo's ideas including creative tips, project ideas, product reviews and creative lifestyle interviews.

I can't wait! Join me, and call in to: (646) 929-2406 with your crafty questions and comments.

Paducah Quilt Show or BUST!

My trip to Paducah, Kentucky for the 25th Annual American Quilt Society Show was jam-packed with inspiration from the plethora of quilts, people and products. After driving for over 2 hours from Nashville, and across the state line into Kentucky, my parking karma paid off as my itty bitty Yaris snuggled into a spot amidst dozens of buses, up close to the Expo Center.

Paducah is a mecca for quilters and quilt enthusiasts from all over the world. Last year I came away with bags of fabric, patterns, tools, pages of sketches, and inspiration for new products. And this year proved to be even better!

Equipped with my camera phone, shoulder bag, a banana, and list of events, I paid my admission, got my hand stamped, and quickly made my way to the Simplicity/Wrights booth to check out the crowd. It was so crazy, I couldn’t even get close enough to see our new machines being demonstrated! I could only see the tops of the heads of Mimi and Michele and Darlene and the other gals working the booth. No wonder, with the show attracting between 30,000 to 35,000 consumers with an addiction to quilts!

So, I headed to the quilt displays and became enthralled with the creativity and amazing art represented in every quilt flown in from all over the world. These quilt artists compete for over $127,000 in prizes for hand sewn and machine sewn quilts. Bonnie Browning, executive show director, said that 388 quilts from 47 states and 15 different countries competed in the 25th annual show this year with the Best in Show winner this year coming from Australia.


I picked up this funny quilt block to make a pillow for my mom. She has enough fabric to make a quilt for everyone in her county!


One of these days I'm gonna save my money for one of the antiques sewing machines like my great gramma used to piece quilts back in the day.

Okay, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this block of sayings, but I'll think of something.

And this block is going to become a cute flag for my mom to fly outside her little hand-quided machine quilting shop, Pearl's Quilts!

There are over 400 Vendors vying for the attention and over $20 Million dollars that will be spent by consumers at this show. And I was there to spend money as I started the hunt for the coolest products I could find.

Also on my to do list was a birthday gift for my mom. She was complaining to me recently about her dull scissors, so I was on the hunt! Well, come to find out, the AQS (American Quilt Society) had these beautiful scissors for a fund raiser, and they even came in a gold box! I will add them to a bounty of quilting goodies for her birthday and enjoy her squeals when she opens the package!



Of course, I had to have my daily coffee fix, so I found the local hang at Kirchhoff's Bakery in an old building with the bakery on one side and the deli on another. Mmmmm. I also had a little personal coconut cream pie that would bring a tear to your eye it was so good. (Almost as good as my mom’s.)

High on the top of my list was to visit the Paducah Quilt Museum. And I was enthralled with the beauty, the colors, craftsmanship, and art that I experienced in viewing the quilts. My quiet enjoyment was slightly squelched by a very obnoxious curator who went on and on about their rules of not touching the quilts. But, I will never forget how much appreciation I had for the quilt artists and how much love they incorporated in the works of art in textiles.









The cute boutiques and gift shops in Paducah, Kentucky are one of a kind. The artists are diverse and their creativity captured me. There were steel sculptures, broom makers, glass blowers, and jewelry makers, just to name a few. I peered through the window and watched a man make these amazing pecan pies that made my mouth water.




I had a 15 mile drive to get to my hotel at Harrah’s in Metropolis, Illinois and this ginormous blue bridge I had to drive over was insane! It was crazy cool and scary at the same time. The room was wonderful, the food was excellent and the bath was divine at the end of the day. I would definitely stay there again.

Friday was fabulous at the show, as I met Robyn at the coffee shop and we made our way through all 400 of the vendor’s booths. I saw my mom’s quilting idol, Kaye Wood, who has the Kaye’s Quilting Friends award-winning television program. She was busy at a booth demonstrating and signing autographs.

Some of the quilts took my breath away with the details, like this one of a kitchen scene. Absolutely unbelievable.

Robyn and I walked down to the historic district and became absorbed with one of the local antique shops.



For some reason the groups of collectibles caught my eye. Robyn, who is an amazing photographer, was in heaven.








At the end of the day I headed back to Nashville, but I had ONE more stop…..the giant, uber-famous Hancock’s of Paducah. I have never seen anything quite like it. It was a fabric feeding frenzy. Women were everywhere, with carts full of fabric. I had to pick up some Michael Miller trims that match some projects I’m working on.

Well, that’s it. My trip to was good, and I picked up some good ideas as the Research & Design Manager for the Simplicity Creative Group. Now, it’s back to work, write the reports, and look forward to next year!

Sleevies 2000 vs. Snuggies 2009

Okay, there are SOME of you that will believe me when I tell you that a friend and I dreamed up these crazy blankets with sleeves when I lived in Santa Barbara in 2000. And there are some of you that WON'T believe me, but check out my HAIR! It was very long at the time as you can see, and I'm totally 9 years younger in these pics.

Believe it or NOT, we really did dream it up (and obviously some other people did too) when we were watching those commercials about the funny sleeping bag thingies to set around in during the cold weather.

Well, we went so far as to do this cheeeeze waddy photo shoot as you see here, and then went to the LA fabric market to source felt fabrics, get pricing, and create the pattern. I sewed up several SLEEVIES and sent the presentation to a buyer at one of the craft chains and they said YES!

The only problem is, we needed about 100K to purchase, package and ship these things we called SLEEVIES, and we just didn't have the moolah!

The Aleene's Creative Living Show that we were working on, had been canceled and my friend and I certainly didn't have the cash or enough friends to float the loan. Preeeety sad, huh?

Soooo, we ended up canning the idea and forgetting all about it until this winter when the SNUGGIES commercials hit the airways. Geeeeez! Had we only known! Wah. We threw a little pity party and moaned when we started seeing them show up everywhere, and even witnessed a pub crawl right here in our town a few weeks ago. We ultimately missed out on a million do$$ar once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make it BIG!

Oh well! Chalk it up to being HIGH on ideas, and LOW on cash.

Clipboard Wall

Isn't this a great wall? I totally love this, and Scott snapped a picture when he was waiting for me to try on a cute jacket at Anthropologie in Nashville last weekend. It's just such a great idea that I want to copy it in my studio. It's all different sizes of clipboards nailed to 2 x 4's and then drawings are displayed in each one. By the way, I bought the terrific jacket for ten bucks! Yes!

Speaking of my my studio, Scott also took a pic of my urn of tools. He said it was art. My favorite tool is my snowman scissors his mutti gave to me. They make me smile every time I use them.

Scott..... wearing a Rainbow Color Selector on his head. Yep, he's loony bins.

Everything's better with tassels...

Just when you think that a shawl can't be any prettier, add tassels, and you'll turn it into gorgeous!

Pom Pom Boa

This pompom boa is so fast and easy to make, you will not be able to stop with just one. You can make them is all different sizes, colors, and types of yarn. You can even use up all of the left-over yarns in your stash for a beautiful and unique boa, by tying several different colors of pompoms onto one boa. Also, if you brush the fibers when you're finished, it will make a completely different look for your boa. Have fun!

Steps:
1. Cut one strand of yarn 60" long. Lay aside.
2. Wind yarn around the PattieWack Pom Pom Tool at the 4-inch width, until it is nice and full. Count the number of times you wind the yarn, to reference the rest of the pom poms for an equal size. Cut off the yarn when you have the fullness you want.
3. Cut a 16-inch strand of yarn, double it, and use it to tie around the center of the pom pom.
4. Cut the yarn at the top and bottom of the pom pom, and pull it away from the tool.
5. Tie the pom pom to the end of the strand from Step #1. Fluff the pompom with your fingers and trim any long strands.
6. Continue to make pom poms and closely tie them onto the strand, until it is the length that you want, after adding the tassels.
7. Wind yarn around the PattieWack™ Tassel Tool at the 5-inch length, until nice and full.
8. Cut a 10-inch strand of yarn and tightly tie it around the top of the tassel.
9. Cut a 12-inch strand of yarn and bind the neck of the tassel.
10. Push the tassel down the PattieWack™ Tassel Tool, very slightly. Cut the bottom of the tassel, and pull the tassel off the tool. Trim the bottom if needed.
11. Tie the tassel to one end of the boa, using the loose strands at the top of the tassel.
12. Repeat Step# 7 thru Step# 10 to create a second tassel, and tie it to the other end of the boa to complete.

GUIDE FOR NUMBER OF POMPOMS NEEDED:

2-inch Pompoms = 36
3-inch Pompoms = 26
4-inch Pompoms = 22
Add two 5-inch tassels to create a 58-inch Boa

This is only an estimated guide.
The size and weight of your yarn
will vary the amount of pompoms needed.

Outrageous Ceramics!

My mouth flew open when I saw these outrageous ceramics. They are inspired by mathematical patterns and ratios found in nature, and created by Dutch artist, Anouk Omlo.

To read more about it, go to Inhabitat.com and get ready for your mouth to fly open, too!

Love Bus

I love this bus! Found it on Extreme Craft and just about blew a craft gasket! Yes, it is crochet stitches covering every inch of the bus. Now THAT is extreme crafting.

Busy Girl

Yeppers, I've been a busy girl!
Scott caught me today in the middle of a multitude of projects.

He came home from his ride and freeeeeked out because I've been gathering all this stuff to upcycle, transform, and turn trash into fashion!

You know, it takes a lot of tools to make the magic happen...

It's taken over the house. You can barely see my piano.

My location layouts are ultimately the most important thing, so I can line up the shot list for photography

Of course, there has to be a poodle applique in there somewhere!

Feathers, bamboo rings, safety pins, tassels....yes!

Yes, that's an old lunchbox. don't ask.

Purses, vests, skirts, t-shirts, you name it...I've got it.

Okay, so I really am getting projects done, as you see here.

Belts, caps, and of course, MORE purses!

I Love Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day! My hubby made breakfast this morning while I was out on my walk, and surprised me with a bouquet of roses, cards, and shmooooches. We plan to go out for dinner and to see the new Pink Panther movie tomorrow. I spent the day designing recycled bottles into jewelry and look forward to a break!

Hope your day was SWEEEET!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

Need a last minute Valentine's Day bouquet??

This is a great way to express your love, and with a SWEEEET sentiment.
Grab a flower pot and fill it full of candy, and add this poem I wrote myself:



If you really want to do it up right, check out the instructions for the Candy Gram Bokay on the Pattiewack website. You'll find a cute poster idea that you can glue the candy to, or make the bokay for your special someone on this special day.

Then, let the sweeeeeet candy gorging begin!

Happy Valentines Day, everyone...

Watch my LifetimeTV.com video NOW!

I am so excited! My Valentine's Day video is now ready to see on Lifetime TV's website at www.MyLifetime.com, where I show how to create a beaded Valentine Suncatcher. I made it with glass beads that catch the sunlight in your window, or you can give it as a Valentine's Day gift. You could also make your beaded heart to hang from a chandelier above your dining table as a party decoration. If you use it for a party, it would look terrific to put more beads on wires for napkin rings, and to wind around the stems of goblets for more party decorations.

Another great idea if you are having a girlfriend get-together, is to fill martini glasses with beads and then for entertainment, everyone could make their own suncatchers to take home!




When you go to Lifetime TV's website, you can also see Valentine's Day videos from the other Lifetime Craft Experts; Leah Fung,Vickie Howel, Kathy Cano-Murillo, and Jennifer and Kitty O'Neil.

Happy Valentine's DAY!

California Fun!

The CHA trip was amazing. I took my vacation to head to Anaheim for the Crafts and Hobbies Association trade show, and to hang out with friends in Southern California where Scott and I previously lived for 10 years. The trip began at the show where the corporation I work for, Simplicity Creative Group had a nice booth representing tons of eco products to support the theme, “It’s Easy Being Green.”

My position as the New Product Development Manager has been especially fulfilling as I have developed sustainable products including appliqués, transfers, biodegradable water bottles & decals, keychains, and non-woven recyclable bags. I also had fun coordinating one of the show stoppers; a trash bag tutu, made by Stefanie Girard. We caught several peeps standing behind the magazine clippings bustier and tutu for snapshots.

For the past 5 years, Scott and I have been shooting video for our video series as Craft TV Studios, which is sold to Creative Home Arts for their craft club. We also upload the videos on the web for the companies we choose to shoot. Being registered as Press, we were also able to shoot video for a documentary Scott is working on. We interviewed CEOs, designers and manufacturers in the crafts industry about how the new eco standards and green movement is impacting them. We spent some quality time with industry giants such as Robert Workman at Provo Craft and Bill Gardner with Craftrends, as well as Mike Harnett with Creative Leisure News. The documentary will be edited by Scott and eventually submitted to Current TV Network.

I finally got to meet Cathie Filian, who hosts with Steve Piacenza on Creative Juice, which airs on DIY and HGTV. She was so excited to finally get to tell me that she’s an Oklahoma gal, too! She has so much energy and filled up the room with her giggles and bubbly personality. We were all at the same party hosted by Carlos Garcia at Scrapblog.com.

What a party! Everyone was there. We got to hang with Traci Bautista, who is a fabulous collage artist and has her pic on every bottle of Aleene's Collage Pauge in the craft stores. She’s a sweetie, and so talented. Oh, and Stefanie Girard was there too. She’s one amazing fashion and crafts designer, and the sassy chick who made the tutu for my display in the Simplicity Creative Group booth. She has several crafty blogs, and you can go check her out to see what fun she had at the show with her new book, “Sweater Surgery.”

Deborah Norville was there, pushing her new yarn line for Premier Yarns. She is an avid knitter, and Deborah is an award-winning journalist, a bestselling author, and anchor of the television newsmagazine, Inside Edition.

Not to be upstaged, Paris Hilton made an appearance to promote her new kids craft kits in the Wooky Entertainment booth to promote her new Paris Creativity collection of crafting products.

The paparazzi were thick, and as you can see, she caused quite a stir with the curious onlookers. Scott got some great footage as she snuck in from the back of the building.

It was an absolute madhouse. If you are interested, you can go to Allison Orthner's blog to read all about it.

I ran into an old friend from my days as a host on Aleene’s Creative Living. Joann Pearson is an absolute doll, and has been the lead Craft Designer at Michaels for 20 years. Her knowledge, skill, ability to follow the trends and her amazing creativity make her a guiding force in the craft industry. It was great to see you, Joann!

I also met up with Vicki Howell who is the knitting expert at LifetimeTV.com and she looked beautiful as ever, even as a glowing expectant mom. I hung out in the press room talking to 2 amazing designers, Joan Fee and Lauren Johnston to talk about projects we are working on together. I can't believe I forgot to get pics!

I was stunned when I went to the EK Success booth and saw all of the Swarovski crystal designs in the glass cases. Check it out! And, if you click on the pic, it will be much easier to see.

Okay, the trade show was fun, but Scott and I were happy to leave and get into the vacation groove. Santa Barbara was absolutely GORGEOUS! Yeppers, Scott’s in his hap,hap,happy place.

I love shopping in Santa Barbara!

This public post is turning into one giant staple. I just think it is stunning and almost becomes art when you take a pic up close. The local bands and nonprofits as well as the stores, post their info here. I wish we were going to be there on February 7th. You can bet we would be at Reds to hear Inez and The Redemption band.

We met up with old friends and shopped State Street, checked out our old hangs, noticed the grafitti on the public post, and ate some of the best sushi in the world. Kat Shannon who is a host on KZSB 1290 AM Talk radio in Santa Barbara, Jen Fullerton, Susan and Peter Levin, Gloria Tracy, and even the bartender at Joe’s made it feel like a homecoming week.

Ahhhhh, Santa Barbara will always be a beacon to me and this sunset made me feel like I’m back home.

Speaking of home, the gang from Santa Paula threw a cocktail party for us at the Iron Horse, and we couldn’t stop laughing and telling stories. Peggy Kelly, Reporter from the Santa Paula Times was there, and our good buddy Frank held down the stools and brought us up to date on the local scoop.

Scott talked tourism promotional videos with John Blanchard, on the Board of Directors for Limoneira. Connie Tushla, former Chamber Board President, and Jeanne Orcutt, Curator for the Santa Paula Oil Museum brought their charm and sophistication to the party.

We had a hilariously fun time. Barbara Kroon, President of the Soroptimist International of Santa Paula was a blast as usual. I didn't get a pic of Sam Hishmeh, President of the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce, but he was as suave and GQ as usual. It was so fun. It was just too short, that’s all!

We had to stop by the Santa Paula Coffee Company to see if everything was still the same and check our email with the free wi-fi.

Venice Beach was still the same, only a little more crowded than a year ago.

Malibu was beautiful and I saw DOLPHINS!! I counted 5 dolphins frolicking with the surfers as we sped down the Pacific Coast Highway.

This cracked us up in the Nashville airport and seemed like the perfect ending to our crafty business trip/vacation adventure.

I don’t know the back story, but one of the vacant gates had these adorable kids crafts hung up for everyone to see.

It was freezing and icy while we were gone, but it was good to get back to Nashville.

We made it home and all the way to the Pie In The Sky for a glass of wine and killer pizza. Here’s to another CHA trade show.

Cheers!

Packing for the CHA Trade Show!

It's that time again, and I am almost packed and ready to hit the bed so I'll be fresh to jump on the plane and fly to Anaheim in the morning. This trade show is the largest one in the world for the hobby and craft industry. I've been going since the 80's and it never gets old to me.

There are always fashions shows like this one that showcase the fashion crafts every year. It's so exciting to see all the many ways to experience crafting.

This year my company, the Simplicity Creative Group under the brand of Wm. Wrights, will be participating in the fashion show on Monday night. I promise to get pics and blog about it. I'm also looking forward to the California sunshine. I'm leaving my gloves and boots in Nashville, and head for some fresh sushi and the In-n-Out!

The Inaugural Gown

Shock and ahhhhh, is all I can say about this amazing gown, worn beautifully by Michelle Obama. My favorite part was the over the shoulder swag of dimensional lace, by a little known designer, 26-year-old Jason Wu. The creamy dress was embellished with Swarovski crystals and fabric petal appliques. The gown was perfect for her statuesque features. This is a lady who can wear J. Crew or Jason Wu with ease. The next four years are going to be filled with fashion. How fun is that?

Happy Inauguration Day!

Michelle Obama wore an Isabel Toledo ensemble to the Inauguration celebration today, and looked very presidential indeed. It was a creamy golden yellow that spoke without saying a word, for the optimism in the air. I was mesmerized by the fabulously engaging musical performance of “Air and Simple Gifts.” All four musicians, violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, clarinetist Anthony McGill, and pianist Gabriela Montero brought tears to my eyes with this special composition by John Williams.

"Simple Gifts" was written by Elder Joseph while he was at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine in 1848. These are the lyrics to his one-verse song:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Thank goodness for FaceBook at work and earphones.

I’m watching the Inaugural Balls right now, and can hardly wait to see what she is wearing! Lady Bird Johnson wore yellow to the ball, and looked fabulously chic and trendy in 1965.

Of course, who could possibly compete with First Lady Jackie Kenndy. But after all, this is not a day to compete, it’s a day to celebrate.

More later….

Happy 85th Birthday, Aleene!

It's hard to believe that the Queen of Tacky Glue, Aleene Jackson, is 85!

Happy Birthday to a veteran of the Crafts & Hobbies Association. This is one courageous business woman who has stuck with her ambitions and pioneered the crafts industry as we know it today. Her determination and promotional skills led to regular local TV segments in the late 1940s, when TV was in its infancy. You probably have a bottle in your house right now, of the famous craft glue with her name on it. The inventor sold her the rights to the formula, and with her marketing savvy, the famous gold bottle became a big seller, and Aleene's Tacky Glue still sells all over the world.

Her Craftmaker's Caravan, which toured several major cities throughout the U.S. was important for widely promoting crafts to consumers. There had been no craft industry before, since crafts were thought to be part of the hobby industry. It is quite fascinating to me, as I can't imagine not having do-it-yourself show on television, and trade shows to promote crafts as a business.

Here I am on the set of Aleene's Creative Living, with Aleene during a shoot for the taping of the daily show which aired on TNN back in the day before DIY and HGTV. As one of the hosts, I enjoyed learning the business of how-to segments from the queen herself.

The Aleene's Creative Living show became a huge part of my life as a host. And as you can see here, we attended charity events in Santa Barbara and enjoyed each other's company. This is a pic of Aleene with me and Tiffany, Heidi, Star, Jen and Katherine.

Heidi Borchers followed in her mother's crafty footsteps, and designed hundreds of projects for one of the first monthly craft clubs for Leisure Arts. She has a fab website that showcases her talent for things creative.

Tiffany Windsor is pictured here with her mom Aleene, and is still much admired by her fans and all of us who worked with her on the show. Everyone in the family has gone on to other adventures and are doing well. Aleene's three daughters including Candace, have a nice website where you can contact them at Inspired At Home.com.

You can find out more about Aleene in her biography; Aleene: A Tacky Lady by Aleene Jackson.

Happy Birthday Aleene!

Recycled Bottle Caps

I'm really into recycled crafts right now, and this one is ubber-easy. I used an empty CD cover, added a pic of us doing a shoot at the LA Fashion Mart, and then hot glued bottle caps around the edges. I had to cut circles of foam core board to glue inside the caps, before gluing them to the frame because of the 1/4" space inside the caps. You could also use recycled foam food trays for the circles for a completely recycled craft. EASY recycled, and cool!

Placemat Purses

Okay, I have to tell you about my addiction to placemats. Scott can tell you that every time we are in Pottery Barn or Target, or any department store, I simply must check out the placemats. So, it was inevitable that I would get the notion to turn placemats into clutch purses! This one is cotton twill that reminds me of khaki pants. The wooden buttons were already bordering the edges. All I had to do was sew the edges together and add the huge wooden button. A little velcro closure is all that's needed to finish it.

I really scored with this placemat I found with the square shell buttons around the edges. I cut a branch of leaves from grey wool felt and glued onto the front. Then I sewed men's shirt buttons onto each leaf with a platinum bead in the center. This one was long enough to fold over far enough that I didn't need a closure.

Layers of Wright's trim are what make this clutch so cute. I add layers of felt flower cut-outs with a few beads and pinned it to the clutch with a safety pin. The cottony placemat has fringed ends, which I just love.

The bohemian satin ribbon is scrumtious on this one. There is trim along both edges and I made a rosette with the ribbon and sewed beads along the middle of the ribbon and in the center of the rosette. The placemat is suede, and feel so good to carry. I added a magnetic closure and it works perfectly.

Weiner Dog Bag

Sometimes ya just need a little weiner dog applique on a messenger bag to make you smile. And don't forget the rickrack and pompoms! I made this cheezie bag for my book, "Crafter's Guide to Glue" and forgot how cute it is.

So, you can use this handy dandy pattern and make your own, or pick up the book at Barnes and Noble Or Amazon.com, or you can just stare at it and giggle.

More Ceramics...Boxes!

Tanya Moller Jensen's ceramic boxes are fabulous. Not to be missed; her wall pockets and votives. I simply love the simplicity of these. I keep saying I want to start learning how to do ceramics. Years ago, I made some fun things when I went to a ceramics class every Monday night with my mom. We made some of the most funky things, like an ice cream cone shaped cookie jar, and a life-sized kitty cat. Weird, and long lost in a garage sale somewhere.

Ceramic Corsets!

Who knew that you could turn something as hard as ceramic into something as soft as a corset? Well, Nicole Moan has it figured out as you can see. Her art is a virtual explosion of creativity in a form that you can wear. I saw a peek of her work when I was channel surfing and came across a show call Split Ends on the Style Network and just couldn’t stop watching.

In her bio at her website, 4 Anything Art, she writes how that they are relatively comfortable as corsets go. Now, I don’t think these are something you would wear to breakfast, but for a shocking party dress, how could you go wrong?

This amazing artist from Oklahoma City, was featured at the Swatch Watch Alternative Fashion Week in London, England. The models who wore the corsets also had slip (the liquid form of clay) in their hair for unique designs.

Nicole works in themes, from super heroes to bridal gowns. I would love to see how she forms them into their custom shapes. Perhaps she uses actual models, or mannequins…I don’t know. But they are certainly mesmerizing with each being an art object to admire. Sure makes me want to take up ceramics!

Cookie Intervention!

Help me! The snacks and Christmas cookies have taken over! I found myself in the middle of the floor, covered with Mutti's & Pop's Christmas cookie cut-outs, chex mix, toffee, and cinnamon pecans. What are we going to do?

We need a cookie intervention! Scott is in a cross-eyed coma on the floor, too. Somebody help us!

Fun Birthday!

Yes, I had a stinkin' birthday. You'd think that sharing my day with a big holiday would make people forget, but oh, no. I got gifts. I got spoiled. I got lovins. And I'm calling Darsee right now to tell her how much I love the freakin' fun stuff she sent!

She loves craftin'up her cards as you can see, and of course she sent crazy fun jewelry. The cuff bracelets say peace and love, to match the rhinestone peace earrings. The cute patent leather red tassel is a keychain from Sandy and I got gift cards and other neat stuff from lots of peeps. Thank you EVERYBODY!!

Scott made yummy pizza with avocados and basil and tomatoes and black olives with goat cheese, which is my favorite. That's hummus, brie cheese & crackers, cookies & popcorn. Isn't that silly? Oh, and the martinis are acai and grapefruit with slices of honey crisp apples.

Joan sent the fabulous bouquet of flowers with matching vase and candlesticks. Absolutely beautiful! You'd think she could see my house all the way from the California coast, they match the house so perfectly.

Yep, he spoils me. Gotta make notes, so I can do his birthday up big, too. We are both capricorns, and like so much of the same things, it'll be hard to come up with a surprise.... but I'm up to the challenge...so look out birthday boy.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Nashville! It's been a laid back day, after a champagne toast by the fire last night.

We slept in this morning, watched the Rose Bowl Parade like everyone else, and then I got busy in the kitchen making our traditional black-eyed peas with cornbread and a carrot cake. My momma has never let a new year's day pass without cooking this meal so that we would be prosperous all year.

I had to don my new apron that was given to me by one of the interns at work, Kelly. She gave it to me because she knows how much I love kitschy things.

It's such a hoot! It has a big red heart that says, "How to keep your husband." And then it has all these cartoons with quotations in English and French. It says things like:

• Always look innocent! Cela vous va' faites la sainte nitouche!
• Watch your weight! C'est la chair qu! Semble s'enfler
• Kiss him often! Baisez-le, mais souvant!
• Have dinner ready! Avant tout, le diner!
• Get up for breakfast with a smile! Au de'jeuner, un sourire apportez!
• Don't open his mail! Ne touchez pas son courrier!
• Don't nag! Ne le crondez pas!
• Don't go thru his pockets! Ne fouillez pas dans ses poches!
• Don't gossip over the phone! Pas des comme'rabes au te'le'phone!
• Don't get mad or jealous! Pas des folies ou de jalousie!

The sayings withouth the translations are:

• Let him read his paper in peace!
• Encourage his hobbies!
• Praise his in-laws!
• Don't be a know-it-all!
• Don't go over the budget!
• Don't look sloppy over the breakfast table!

Isn't that hysterical? The cute pin-up style girls in the cartoons are adorable. Talk about politically incorrect, and a jab at the old ways of the 50's male chauvinist. It is certainly a conversation piece. *giggle Kelly said she found it at Pangaea, one of my fave shops in Nashville.

Scott's favorite (he says) is "Kiss him often!"
Thanks Kelly!

I'm Ba-a-a-a-a-a-ck!

I know, I know! It’s been forever since I did an update on my blog. I profusely apologize. It sucks when I go to someone’s blog and I’m expecting some fun ideas, news about what they are working on, and find that it hasn’t changed in months. My bad. I have no excuse except for working nonstop, photo shoots, finishing a new book, the holidays, and nursing a sore shoulder. Yes, I’m going play the pity card. There is a funky hallway going into our master bedroom and I was in such a hurry that I forgot about the left side of my body needing to clear the opening. Arrgh! The doctor says it will take up to 3 months for my rotator cuff to heal. The steroid shots were not pleasant, but all the babying from Scott is fabulous. And baby I’m gonna milk it. *giggle*





Project Runway Behind the Scenes Video

Hey, you won’t believe the fabulous line of products I have been working on. You all know that I’m a huge fan of Project Runway. Well, we have acquired the licensing for Project Runway products and I have been a maniac for the past several months as we developed unbelievable trims and goodies you can embellish your wardrobe with. I have always loved making rosettes out of just about everything, and when I saw the episode where the designers were repurposing jeans into extreme outfits, I decided that we just HAD to have Zipper Rosettes and Zip Trim!

The products will be in your local Michaels sometime in January, and at Target.com to order online. The photo shoot was unbelievable, and of course Scott shot it in our distribution center. I had a blast creating all of the fashion for the models to wear. The best part about the products is that you can use fabric glue to attach everything! So, not only can you sew it onto garments, you can also glue the giant gems, zip trim, rosettes, and studs to your shoes and purses and jeans.















Field Trip to Loveless Cafe

Field trips on the weekend are pretty much the norm for us, since moving to the Nashville burbs. We heard so much about the Loveless Café that we simply had to go see what all the fuss was about. My momma makes the most divine biscuits in the world, so I was pretty skeptical about the biscuits everyone talks about from the Loveless Café. But, when they brought out those biscuits and gravy and homemade jellies, I flipped out! OMG, they were fabulous. Buttery, flaky and endless. Yep, they keep bringing them out until you say, “stop!” We brought some home and ate on them another couple of days.



New BOOK!

I said that I’ve been busy, and I mean busy. Check out the new book, Cookbooking just now available at Barnes & Noble and of course at Amazon.com. I designed nearly all of the projects in the book, and Barbara Winkler wrote the content about them. The book is all about how to organize your recipes in creative ways. If you are like most people, you have a ton of loose magazine clippings and hand scribbled recipes, or cards that people have given you over the years, that are thrown into boxes and notebooks. Mine were the same way, but not any more. I figured out that I could design all kinds of creative ways to categorize my recipes and be able to find my favorite Stuffed Shrooms recipe when I need it.














One of my favorites was the cookbook I made for my Mom’s 70th birthday. My entire family participate by writing about their favorite moments with my mom’s cooking or their favorite dish. Then I made a notebook with retro fabric, tons of ribbon, grommets, and 3 binder rings. You’ll love it! Best part? Some of my mom’s recipes are in there! There are ways to give recipes as a gift, and how to create an heirloom cookbook, and even a kid’s lunchbox recipe organizer.



I plan to put them on our website to buy soon, but meanwhile you can scoop one up online or at the book store.

Holiday Videos at Lifetime!

Have you been watching the holiday videos on MyLifetime.com? The cute little stocking that I sewed up for the Christmas project is so easy, but you’d never know it by looking at it. And don’t forget that you can personalize yours by cutting out felt letters and gluing them on. I know it’s too late for this year’s stocking, but it’s a perfect time to get started for next year. One of the cool things about handmade stockings is, that they are perfect to stuff and pop into a fedex mailer to send anybody on your list. Fun!


CHA Trade Show theme: "It's Easy Being Green"

Right now I’m busy as bee working on new products for the upcoming CHA Trade Show in Anaheim at the end of January. It’s top secret right now, but it involves the theme of the show It’s Easy Being Green. I can’t wait to see what all of the other manufacturers present for their new products that speak to the need to recycle and sustainability of crafting. After all, that’s what we crafters do best, turn scrap into art. This has been one of the most satisfying challenges of my position as New Product Manager at Wm. Wrights Company. We recently combined all of our sister brands under the umbrella of Simplicity Creative Group, which has given me the opportunity to combine efforts with the talented team at Simplicity headquarters in New York. Our company just keeps designing amazing new products and marketing strategies to keep us on the cutting edge.

Punkin Fun in Nashville

South of Nashville, there is the most adorable pumpkin farm you ever did see. Scott and I had to explore, take some photos and hang with the locals. They had itty bitty punkins, that are just perfect for building topiaries.

I made these with dowel rods and wooden discs. Drill a hole into the wooden disc, the same width as the dowel rod. Glue one end of the rod into the disc, then paint it black. When it's dry, you can pierce your little punkins as you stack them on top of each other. Scoop out a place on the top to shove a votive candle into the punkin for a topiary candlestick. Now you can tie raffia around the bottom or place in an urn for a fabulous fall centerpiece!

You can get more details from the Project Page at Pattiewack.com on how to make the topiaries.

Don't throw away your topiary holders after the pumpkins dry out, because you can use them for apples, gourd, and clove-covered oranges for a terrific Thanksgiving centerpiece that looks great, and smells heavenly.


The Nashville Farmer's Market is huge! We had a blast looking for fresh veggies to take home for a homemade soup for the week.

I'll be coming back here to pick apples next time. Wow!


Then we headed to historic Franklin, Tennessee for the annual Pumpkinfest. Good grief, it was crowded, but it was FUN!

I couldn't help it, I had to have a funnel cake, baybeeee. OMG, there was SO much powdered suger, you could barely see the funnel cake underneath. Yummmmmmmieeeee.

I love autumn. It's the best season of all.