Hoodie Production.. Design, Create, Polish, Repeat

So.. they like me!  They really like me.  :)  

I’ve sold my first few hoodies.. one is shipped and paid for, and two more are spoken for and ready to go.  I can’t believe how much fun this is.  I’m neglecting my other businesses (you know, the ones where I actually see a profit margin) because all I want to do is make hoodies.  I suppose I should just go with it.  This energy won’t last forever.

I made a second purple flower fairy hoodie since I got such great responses from the first one.  I had kind of mixed feelings.. I hadn’t re-made any hoodies before.. was it going to be boring?  Turn into assembly line work?  Was I just creating a sweatshop for myself?

Turns out, my fears were unfounded, at least so far.  I had a delightful time making the second one.  I was able to circumvent a few problems I’d run into the first time.  I came up with a slightly better way of doing the triple layer sleeves.  And this new one hangs a little better in the front when it’s open.  

I also have two more ideas I want to incorporate into future versions of this hoodie.. I want to change the embroidery on the hood, and I want to incorporate a pocket somewhere.. maybe on the sleeve, ipod-style.  I want to be able to carry my ID or my phone, but big pockets just won’t work without ruining the lines of this hoodie.

I’m already daydreaming about cutting a third one.  Also, since the first two sold so quickly, I might have to make a fourth, just in case I sell another one - I think I want one of these to keep!

But, I keep having new ideas too.  Maybe there needs to be two of me.

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21 Secrets is Going Strong

I've been having a lot of fun over at the 21Secrets ning site, learning and playing and making art.  These are the pages I have made through the class, so far:

 

 

 

If you are at all interested in Art journaling and haven't signed up for 21 Secrets yet, head over there and sign up now.  You can click on the link in my sidebar and it will take you straight to the site, or sign up via any of the artist's web pages.

There are 21 different classes over there, each with their own individual section of the website for discussion and sharing your work.  21 different teachers, and all for just under $60.  That might seem like a lot, but I worked out that if I paid for a class at the local community college I would pay £100 for just 10 classes with just 1 teacher!  This is actually an incredible deal, and since the whole site will stay up until the end of January you can keep coming back to it and back to it and learning again and again.
There are lessons and advice for absolute beginners and right up to those who have been doing this for a while.  CHECK IT OUT!

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Blech

I have been struggling with a cold or some other bug that has left me with a nasty taste in my mouth whenever eating for days now.  I was also struggling with a mini creativity block.  So I went to 21Secrets (see link over in the sidebar) and launched into a page based on two of the classes.

One of my favourite classes has been the Typoholic class as my handwriting has never been the nicest to look at.  Then there is the Secret of Beginning class and one of the things we talk about in that class is it's not just about beginning the first time you learn something, it's about all the best artists begin again and again and again and it's always good to go back to the start.

So with the bit of creative block I decided it was time to begin again and just make a page about something as simple as not being able to taste stuff!

I went to a page that I had already painted a background on and grabbed a supermarket freebie magazine.  I cut out pictures of lots of different foods and glued them onto my page.  I hand wrote the blech! at the top of the page and then sponged a couple of colours of paint that I mixed up to be a bit dark and yucky, over the top.  One of the colours I put on using just a simple kitchen sponge that I had cut a chunk off and the other I used a scrunched up paper towel.  Then I wrote in the other text over the top.

 

So, yes, a lot of the pages I make are deep, and full of meaning to me, but some of them are just fun, playing with colours, techniques or just what is happening that day! 

THANKFULLY it seems that my sense of taste is returning, slowly.

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Fairy Photo shoot at the Butterfly Gate at Coyote Hills

Today I finished my latest purple flower faerie hoodie and then Darrell and I biked down to Coyote Hills in Newark to find the mysterious and secretive Butterfly Gate and take some photos.  

We’d seen photos and heard tale of the butterfly gate several times but had never tracked it down.  Cool public art in Fremont is a little scarce and so we really wanted to find it.  After much biking hither and thither, and much back-tracking and iPhone checking, and even stopping to ask a ranger for directions, we located it at the back of the Nectar Garden near the visitor center at Coyote Hills.

We walked through the Nectar garden looking for it (did you know there was a butterfly garden at Coyote Hills?  Me neither) and eventually found it.. well, we found the *back* of it, hidden in a little alcove way at the back of the garden.   It seems the front of this gate, with the glorious iron work and gorgeous sculpting, is on the outside, approachable only from the employee parking lot.  We tried to circle around but were thwarted by a whole bunch of “NO ADMITTANCE” signs.  Hmph.  So much for “public art”.  

Well, I guess I just don’t let things like that stop me.  We snuck back there anyway.   The gate was GORGEOUS.  We managed to shoot a few photos before being chased off by a ranger (for, of all things, not having a permit to take photos in the park, WTF?).   No matter.. it was a gorgeous day for a ride, and we were successful in our quest.  

Here is a little more info about the gate.. I’d love to know the history!

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Fire Pixie Fashion on Facebook

Oooh I made a facebook page just for fashion.  Yayyy!   If you wanna like me, I made a widget.  How cool is technology getting?  Wow.

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Fire Pixie Fashion Clothing Labels!

Last night I made my first clothing labels.  This morning I installed them in the hoodies I have in my inventory.  This is WAY exciting to me.. I feel so “official” now!

I remember when I started Fire Pixie back in 2002 and made my first business cards.  I think I still have a couple of them somewhere.  It was so cute.  I printed them out and then painstakingly cut them apart and sprayed them with sealer so they wouldn’t run if they got wet.. 

These labels were pretty labor-intensive too.  I made them in photoshop and then printed them on inkjet image transfer paper, then fused them to some white fabric and overlocked the edges.  I made them in a couple different colors to match the clothing they’re going on.  They look very professional and aren’t scratchy at all (bonus!). 

Someday I will look back and laugh at how much trouble I went to.. but today, I feel proud and happy.  :)

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Queen of Hearts Halloween Costume

Got a gig as the queen of hearts for halloween at a kids’ show, so that has become my halloween costume this year.  It makes me all kinds of happy that I had absolutely everything I needed to make this costume already in the fabric closet.  (Red and black?  Hmm.. do I have any of that?) 

It made it easier that I just had to make the top - I already had a fabulous skirt and some accessories (wig, gloves, etc).  The top is what makes the Queen of Hearts, though..

I used red spandex for the top so it didn’t need a closure, and it’s incredibly comfy besides.  The sleeves were made from red satin, and the ribbons on the sleeves I made by sewing a little red ribbon onto a big black ribbon.  That was fun.  And I made the applique hearts on the front by taking sparkly red velvet sequin fabric (left over from a pair of fire dancing pants I made waaaay back in the day) and added interfacing and then serged over the edges, giving them a pretty rolled edge.  That was my first time making applique (I’m not normally the applique type) and it turned out rather well.

After I finished the costume I got another booking, this time as a stilt walker.  I think I’m going to figure out how to stilt-i-fy this costume and be a 9-foot-tall Queen of Hearts!  I can’t wait.

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Video Of The Week - Cat Deeley Talks About Her Pantene Hair

Here's a fantastic video of TV presenter Cat Deeley talking about her hair for Pantene Pro-V.

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Best Recent Haircuts

There's been some superb new 'dos cropping up all over the place recently. Here are a few of my favourite recent efforts!

Kerry Katona
Uber sexy choppy bob. Love the back view!

Kate Garraway
Sleek new bob with fringe.

Jenni Falconer
Glam "Purdy" bob.

Can you think of any others?

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The Best of People and the Worst of people

On Sunday night my car was broken into.  They bent the door right back and now it's not safe to drive until we get a new door and is certainly not weather proof or secure!

So this week if I need to go anywhere I either have to get a lift from someone OR I have to use the bus.  I don't mind using the bus, I still have my free pass from when my driving licence was revoked for 6 months due to the sleep apnoea, and as long as my journey doesn't start before 9am I can use that and don't have to pay.

But one of the things about using public transport is that you see the best of people and you see the worst of people.

For instance, this morning in less than 5 minutes I went from hearing a parent yell at their young child to "#*%!#£$%*&! Shut UP" to hearing a conversation between a little boy (probably only 4 or 5) and an older lady.  She was explaining to him that she wanted the driver to hurry up and get back because she needed to get to the train station to catch her train which was leaving in 10 minutes.  I couldn't help smiling as I heard him tell her she didn't need to worry because if she missed her train he would chase after it and make it come back!

The worst of people's behaviour and the best of people's behaviour.

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Will You Climb Out on Your Own or Wait for the Wave?

I am having a fantastic time over at the 21 secrets site learning all sort of new techniques and having fun.

What is 21 secrets?
A fantastic set of classes put together by some awesome people in the art journal world. 21 separate classes for just $59. And for any UK art journalers worried about your credit card charging you for paying in dollars (ours does, £2.50 per time), you can pay by paypal and avoid them that way!

You can check out the 21 Secrets site by clicking on the link over in my side bar.

One of the classes I have been really excited about taking was "Layers of Tissue with Hanna Andersson". There is a page that has been forming in my head that I knew I wanted to work in tissue paper but wasn't sure if it would work. It's a vision that God gave to one of our church leaders but I believe it could apply to other people, individuals even, and I think even non believers could get something from this.

There's ship sitting in a valley on a dry river bed, it's a huge ocean going galleon, it's not meant to be sitting on dry land in a valley.  But it's moored in the valley, it's tethered, attached.  It's been stuck there for a while in the wrong place, not doing what it is meant to do.  Some people have got off the ship and begun to try and climb out of the valley in their own strength, trying to claw their way out up the sides.

The thing is, there is a huge tidal wave like wave coming down the valley, ready to sweep that ship further along the valley, and right out to sea, where it gets to be what it was meant to be and do what it was meant to do.  BUT there's a problem, that mooring!  It's moored, it's attached to the valley!  If that wave comes while that boat is STILL moored, it will break it to pieces quite probably.  So how do we get the ship off it's mooring?  What is the mooring?

The mooring is an attachment to the past, to the things that were and have now gone, in a bad way, a hanging on to the PAIN of the things that have gone, clinging to the pain of lost relationships and so on.  If that pain is released, if those situations are let go of, then the ship will be free to go with the flow when that wave comes and end up right out to sea.

So, as I said, I was excited about the "Layers of Tissue with Hanna Andersson" class because I was going to learn some tips about using tissue paper on the page.

I am not someone who can draw very well, so I got a photo of a valley online, printed it out in washout mode, so that it is just barely an image cut it in half and glued that to the page.  Then I worked in tissue paper over the top of the picture, using the image to guide me where to put things.  I've scrunched the paper up slightly as I glued it down using matt medium and in some places I've put 2 or more layers of ripped up pieces.

I didn't have any light blue tissue so decided to paint the sky but figured that taking white tissue and scrunchig it up much more and then using acrylic paint as a kind of glue I would be able to make great clouds and I am really pleased with the way they turned out.

I printed out and cut out the picture of the galleon and glued that onto the page on the dry river bed.

And finally I painted in the wave.  I waited for the sky to dry first and then used tracing paper to mark the shape of the wave on the page.  I filled in the wave with blue and then white acrylic paint and then stippled more white paint around the wave to make spray.

So there you have it . . . .

Are you stuck?  Is there some pain from the past holding you back?  Do you need to let it go?

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1000 Gifts

Here is my entry for this week's Thankfulness journey, in no particular order . . . .

228. The wonderful robin who seems to have adopted our garden and will often sit right next to my husband working in the garden, or on the outside handle of our glass back door while I am in that room.  It just brightens my day and makes me feel so thankful and blessed.

229.  The stone that hit the windscreen of my car on the way to Wales this week only cracked it and didn't smash it or come through the open side window and hit me.

230.  Finally had a conversation with eldest son who has moved away a couple of weeks ago.

231.  School assemblies in Wales went well.

232.  The people who broke into my car overnight only broke into my car, not the house.

233.  They don't appear to have taken anything, not that there was anything of value in there anyway.

234.  The two nights away in Wales meant some alone journaling time that led to some fairly deep conversations with God.

235.  I also got some art journaling done while there.

236.  21 Secrets opened on Friday and whooooohooooo I am having a BLAST!

237.  Good friends who are not afraid to speak truth.

238.  Apology accepted.

239.  Forensics on their way!

240.  School that I should have been at this morning being understanding of why I now can't make it.

If you wish to participate in blogging about your list of 1000 gifts, head on over to a holy experience, by clicking on the banner at the top of this post.

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Art Journal Pages From trip Away

While I was away in Wales I did manage to do a little bit of art journaling on the go although mainly I stayed in my written journal.  For me, I don't think it will ever be either or, it will most probably be a bit of both with something I do in the one, sparking an idea for something I need to do in the other and vice versa.

I had prepped the background for this before I went and the two stencilled ladies.  I knew the main phrase that I wanted to use for this, but the bible verse on the left, the bird, and all the stamping etc was decided on and done while away.  The only thing I would change about this page is the crayon (gold silver and bronze) lines on the right hand page, they didn't come out quite how I was hoping.

The only part of this page that was prepped before I went was the background, the rest was done on the go, with one little bit being finished off after I returned home.  The only phrase I had when starting this page was the Singing in the Night, the rest of it came as I worked the page.  I love the cosmic shimmer (a UK version of glimmer mist)  over the image of the woman.
Singing in the night,
Dancing in the Dark
Sunbathing in the Rain

It's about turning your face towards heaven and believing that the drops that fall on it are heaven's rain.
It's about standing in the face of circumstances that say otherwise and choosing to believe God's best.

You turned my mourning into dancing.

Stay tuned for more pages!

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Oooh I got Crafty Bargains!

I'm not confident enough in my camera or computer to do a Haul video but I can at least make a Haul blog post and boy did I get some bargains!

I was heading over to Wales for a couple of nights doing some talks in Schools over there for a charity I volunteer for and decided to pop into a couple of different craft shopping places on the way.  The first was a garden centre with a fairly decent craft section.  I had something specific in mind!  I wanted to get a set of unmounted alphabet stamps.  I already have about 3 sets in different sizes but wanted another set or two.

So I wandered into the craft section and WOW there was a whole corner of slightly older supplies marked to £40 worth of supplies for £15.  basically there were baskets and calculators for you to work out when you had £40 worth and then they would bag it up for £15.  And yes, you guessed it there were unmounted alphabet stamps in there!  So I got 3 sets!

As you can see I also got an unmounted background stamps set from the Victoria and Albert Museum collection, a couple of sets of the velvet rub ons from Laura Ashley and some alphabet stickers in different fonts. To top all that off one of the alphabet sets had an acrylic block that was longer and narrower, perfect for stamping words or phrases.  Oh and one thing I forgot to put in the photo, I also got a pack of paper raffia in shades of blue.

Then I headed on a slight detour into a town that is more or less on the way because they have a QVC outlet store.  Oh yes, everything that gets returned to QVC or items that they have over ordered end up in here.  A lot of the stuff isn't actually that much of a bargain but occasionally certain items will get majorly reduced and I got all of THIS for less than £6.

It was highly amusing shopping in there because there was a couple in the craft section and she had 2 baskets full of stuff and he was saying things like "D'you think if I threw myself at the corner of this shelving unit you might release me from this torture" and "the circulation has been cut off to my arms carrying all this stuff for you" and "can't you just have children woman, it would be cheaper."  It was all said in a very light hearted manner, so I looked at her and said "I won't tell him I just got £40 of stuff for £15 at ___" and named the store I had just come from.  Oh my word, you should have seen the look on his face! BWAHAHAHAAA.

The papers in the set on the right are single sided with 4 of each paper.  The other two rows of papers, centre and left, are double sided with two of each, so you've got a picture of each there.  Top that off with 2 full sheets of stickers, plus various other sticker sheets and chipboard bits and pieces.  Then 2 packs of 4 wood mounted background stamps.  ALL THAT for less than £6!

Oh yes, I had a good day!

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