2009 April | Lil Blue Boo

Sewing on Paper…..

April 30, 2009 By Ashley 8 Comments

I love sewing on cardstock because of the sound the needle makes when punching through the paper! Weird, I know. Working on a bunch of cards for Mother’s Day today…. I’ve got a lot of mothers, and grandmothers, and godmothers to cover in our family (if any of my family is reading this….come back after Mother’s Day!)

I printed out a photo of Sienna on cotton fabric and I’ve been stitching these to the blank cards I assembled. If you don’t own a bone folder, you need one! It makes the crease so perfect. Sienna will color the inside and I’ll “pretend” sign her name with a few of the letters backwards. Maybe I’ll stitch some paper flowers to the front or ribbon…..

Note: You can buy cotton fabric sheets at your craft or sewing store that can be used in your inkjet printer. The sheets I used are by Jacquard. They have a paper backing that peels off once after printing.

Update:

I didn’t stop with the Mother’s Day cards. I had the below fabric photos of Sienna left over from Valentines Day and made gift tags for a birthday party this Sunday. They turned out cute….especially with the whole “natural” gift wrapping look. Birthday gift wrap can be so tacky and expensive….I love making it simple. These tags would be great for party favor bags too!

Filed Under: Gifts, Photos, Things I've Made, Tutorial

My Little Pollock

April 30, 2009 By Ashley Leave a Comment

She’d rather paint on the floor…and has the whole “rhythmic” painting technique figured out. See Pollock 1949.

I recommend visiting www.jacksonpollock.org to create your own splatter/drip painting (without the mess). There is nothing to read. No ads to wade through. Just enter the site and start moving your cursor to simulate pouring ink onto acetate. When you pause the paint pools….and when you move the cursor fast the paint splatters. Hint: change color by clicking your mouse, use the space bar to clear the screen.

*created at JacksonPollock.org*

Check out Sienna’s other work here. Pollock’s here.

Filed Under: Friends and Family, My Picks, Painting, Sienna's Work

The Easiest, Softest, Cheapest Floor Pillows Ever!

April 28, 2009 By Ashley 11 Comments

I’ve been making these pillows for years…there is no cutting involved and they take about 30 minutes to assemble, sew and stuff. I started using towels because they were so soft and inexpensive…and I was finding so many prints that I couldn’t pass up!

I’ve made towel pillows for:

-Outdoor lounge chair pillows using all different colorful pool towels

-Plush floor pillows for TV watching

-Several matching dog bed pillows for Diesel for all different corners of the house

-Coordinating throw pillows for a couch or a bed

-Replacement seat pillows for our favorite Pottery Barn rattan chairs

The pillows in the photos were made for my daughter’s window seat in her nursery.

Each pillow is made from one bath towel. I have always found expensive-looking, quality plush bath towels with super-great prints at Marshall’s for around $5 to $8. I use large bath towels for big euro style pillows and hand towels for small, rectangular pillows. You could also use 2 washcloths for a square pillow. Stuffing can get expensive so if I am planning on making a bunch sometimes I will buy a few king size pillows on sale and just take them apart for the cotton inside.

Back seam of the large pillow (made from a bath towel)

Back seam of the smaller pillow with flange (made from a hand towel)

You can download my instructions for making pillows out of towels below. Feel free to email me with any questions! Send me pictures of your finished pillows!

Towel Pillow Tutorial

Filed Under: Downloads, Home Projects, Things I've Made, Tutorial

Please Pray for Lil Diesel

April 28, 2009 By Ashley 8 Comments

This post has nothing to do with crafting or painting…..it is about my little doggie who is more precious than any of those to me. We have a little 2 lb Yorkie named Diesel. He will be 8 years old this year. He is so small sometimes I think he could be the smallest dog in the world.

We didn’t buy him this small on purpose….both his parents were around 4 lbs….Diesel just never grew. We’ve had to protect him from hawks and owls who stalk him from outside. He has special stairs around to help him get on furniture. He gets his teeth cleaned monthly (he has very bad teeth). He has been a very high maintenance dog, and we love him dearly.

Last year, he was diagnosed with liver disease and has been doing well since I put him on a strict homeopathic diet. The veterinarian wanted to send him to LA to have part of his liver removed (which if you look at his x-ray it is literally the size of a grape) but we didn’t think such a small dog could live through that. Lately he has been getting more and more lethargic. Today he wouldn’t even get up to go on a walk (but he did eat a little and drink a little). I’m very sad and very worried. Please pray for our sweet lil Diesel!

Filed Under: Diesel, Friends and Family

Living in the Desert

April 27, 2009 By Ashley 1 Comment

Living right smack in the middle of a desert just amazes me. We live in this little oasis surrounded by mountains, sand, tumbleweeds and windmills. It is so different from North Carolina where I grew up. I was sorting through some pictures that I took when I first moved to Palm Desert in 2006 and found these photos:

Our old house in Indian Wells with the mountains behind it.

It doesn’t look like a desert…everything is so lush!

I remember taking this picture because the mountain almost didn’t look real.

It looked like it was just plopped there.

The giraffes at the Living Desert, a mile from my house.

View from the Palm Springs Tram

View of Palm Springs from the top of the Tram.

This 8500 feet above the desert floor and is so nice and cool in the summer.

Our friend George’s grape farm….you can see the Salton Sea in the distant left.

I would have never guessed anything would grow in the desert, but I guess with enough irrigation anything can!

By the way, it is harvest time and I LOVE these table grapes!

Filed Under: Photos

New Nursery Painting – "Today you are You…"

April 26, 2009 By Ashley 4 Comments

I just finished this new nursery painting yesterday. This original piece was hand-painted in acrylic on 1/8” hardboard and embellished using rhinestones. It has a distressed blue, green, pink and white background. The antique white frame has been hand-painted with pink flourishing detail. It features a quote by Dr. Seuss that I love to tell my daughter:

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

You can find it on Etsy here.

Filed Under: Nursery Art, Painting, Things I've Made

Itty Bitty Cork Stamps

April 25, 2009 By Ashley 20 Comments

I love making little, itty, bitty stamps from wine corks. Not surprisingly, it seems the better the wine the better the cork. So each stamp probably ends up costing me about $20 to make. All you need is a wine cork, a pen and an exacto knife. To make a stamp pad, I use an old wash cloth and pour a little acrylic paint on a 1″ x 1″ area…the wash cloth soaks up the paint just enough so you can dab your new cork stamp on it without saturating it with paint. Draw your design on the top of the cork and carve it out carefully using the knife. Do a couple test stamps to see if you need to keep carving!

This morning I made a cute little cheese stamp to make little labels for a cheese platter. The card holder is a wine cork that I cut in half and sliced a 1/8″ cut in the top.

Filed Under: Home Projects, Recycled, Things I've Made

A Little Promo For My Little Sister……

April 24, 2009 By Ashley 6 Comments

My little sister Perry just sent me some new promotional photos. I love them and had to post a few! Perry has been playing the Duramed Futures Tour, the developmental tour for the LPGA. She is trying to raise money right now for her tour expenses. For some of the larger contributions she’ll fly out, put on a golfing clinic and participate in a golf outing. You might have seen her over the past year as she starred on the TV show Road Trip Myrtle Beach on the Golf Channel. Go to her fundraising website to see her video!

A little known fact about Perry is that she is also an awesome seamstress and crafter! She made all her bedding and pillows for her college dorm room, makes great headbands to match her golf outfits, and keeps amazing journal/scrapbooks of her golf travels.

I’m pretty proud of my dad too who plays the senior amateur tournaments. There is an awesome profile on him from the Society of Seniors.

Filed Under: Friends and Family, My Picks

Journaling – Part III – Just draw it!

April 24, 2009 By Ashley 4 Comments

The thing I love about “art journaling” is that I don’t have to come up with words to describe a moment in time that I want to remember. I was a math major in college and never really had to do much writing so I struggle with it! This entry back in 2006 was just a picture I drew of the “perfect lunch” with my mother-in-law Gale. We were at this charming little cafe called Squeez-In in Truckee near Lake Tahoe and ordered enough veggies for 4 people…and ate all of it. It was such an awesome spread that I had to draw it in my journal.

Other ideas for your journal:

Draw a map of a place you want to remember. I was on a plane once drawing the below map of the old farm where I used to keep my horse when I was younger. The lady next to me leaned over and commented “you must be writing a children’s book” and I think she was puzzled when I told her that it was just a journal entry. Mr. Rea, the farmer, was such a character and the land had been in his family for over a 100 years so there was much to explore. I had so many memories that kept coming to mind as I drew and labeled that I could barely keep up: the broken down tractors everywhere, the secret locked fields, the tree that Hurricane Hugo claimed, the wrecks on the curved road…..I thought I’d post this page for all my friends that grew up at Rea Barn.

Draw the layout of your childhood home. Draw the floorplan of an old house you want to remember. You will be surprised at what starts triggering your memory….furniture, where you chipped a tooth, the wallpaper color, the fort you had in the attic…..

Draw random pictures from the moment. Flipping through some of my journals I’ve found the most random drawings: embroidery stitches I wanted to remember, seating charts, the shape of a cookie….. My little 2.5 lb yorkie Diesel loves his little miniature toys. Each one has a name. These are old “friends” of his before we had our daughter Sienna. Now he is only interested in whatever she is playing with.

If you need a new journal check out the charming vintage journals by Robin of The Fancy Lamb! Robin repurposes old books into journals. She even throws in an original book page here and there throughout the journal as a surprise. I love recycling old items into new so these are right up my alley….slight imperfections, character and unique charm. Robin has offered 20% off any journal purchase to Lil Blue Boo readers, so make sure to include “Lil Blue Boo” in the notes to seller! Thanks Robin!

Filed Under: Journaling, Things I've Made

Super Yummy Chicken Fried Rice

April 23, 2009 By Ashley 5 Comments

I love my wok. Here is a recipe for chicken fried rice that I prepare at least once a week using it. The fried rice is always a huge hit with guests and is an easy one-dish dinner. We prefer it to our favorite Chinese restaurant now, especially since I use organic vegetables. The secret to great fried rice is to use white rice that has been in the refrigerator a few days.

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Vegetable oil
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small bite size pieces
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 large white onion, chopped in small pieces
2 teaspoons minced garlic (I use the kind in the jar that you keep in the fridge)
4 cups cold, cooked rice (best if 2-3 days refrigerated)
1 cup fresh broccoli florets
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup small julienned or chopped carrot pieces
4 tablespoons soy sauce

Beat eggs with salt and pepper to taste. Heat very little oil in a frying pan and scramble the eggs. Turn on to a plate to cool and cut into smaller pieces. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, toss chicken strips with the sesame oil and some salt and pepper to taste. Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil over high heat in large frying pan or wok and stir-fry the chicken pieces until lightly golden, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until onion has softened (starting to look clear).

Add the broccoli and carrot and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes until tender.

Add the frozen peas and fold through gently. Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes until heated.

Add 2 tablespoons more vegetable oil and when hot, stir in the cooked rice, tossing with soy sauce and mix evenly. Keeping mixing until very hot.

Remove from heat and stir in cooked egg.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Random tip: Did you know you aren’t supposed to use metal utensils or soap on your wok? You keep it “seasoned” by only using water and scrub brush to clean. I didn’t know this with my old wok and ruined it!