Candied Fabrics » Inspiration

One Moment: My husband’s hands

Candy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:30:46 +0000

I’ve posted previously about how I find the evidence of an artists’s hands in their work to be inspirational. I spent the lion’s share of yesterday writing a tutorial on how to make an ultimate storage cart (coming on Friday over at Lillyella). My twitter friends were regaled with quips about how much I loved looking at pictures of my husband’s forearms while I was editing the photos. Yes, I do find them to be very attractive…but I think it goes deeper than that.

Andrew is professional trombonist, and a full time University administrator (he’s Dean of the U of Redlands School of Music). For most people, this would be more than enough. But he still finds time to make things with his hands… fulfilling my wishes for useful furniture and beautiful floors. His ability to do practical things was one of the qualities that made me fall in love with him over 19 years ago, and while staring at pictures of those hands yesterday I was reminded of how incredibly lucky I am.

alamodestuff Linda has started a weekly meetup based on taking a moment each week to really notice something as you go about your daily grind life. I need to do this. You may want to too – read more about it here:

One Moment: My husband’s hands is a post from: Candied Fabrics

Inspiration in the Making

Candy — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:57:38 +0000

I thought I’d share some photos I took while making my Pocketin Boards.

What was a stack of pockets waiting for topstiching became elements to use for playing around with composition!

Inspiration in the Making is a post from: Candied Fabrics

Inspiration: Lisa Wharton

Candy — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:44:43 +0000

Lisa Wharton, of Urban Bird Online: her art is full of birds, and house images. She loves stacks, multiples of things. She is a printmaker, but doesn’t repeat things, each piece she makes is one of a kind.

Sound familiar? Seriously, kind of scary, how much my process resembles hers.

If you don’t see the video above PLEASE click this link to Vimeo so you can see a 2 minute video about Lisa, her work, and her process.

Inspiration: Lisa Wharton is a post from: Candied Fabrics

Kicking Down Doors

Candy — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:25:39 +0000

It’s Monday, and I’ve got a lot to do in the next month. So much so, that it overwhelmed me a bit this weekend, and as a result, I got less done than I thought I would, which is setting me up for a downward spiral. (Please note, some of the stress and lack of focus is coming from things beyond my control). I woke up early this morning (due to fretting) and did what I’ve done so many times before – open up my Google reader and look to see what’s happening out there. And what greeted me was a great Monday morning post from Scoutie Girl Tara. She’s created a wonderful, free, printable/iphone wallpaper of an awesome phrase that describes her outlook on life:

And this is of course, exactly what I needed. Today I’ll be kicking down some doors, which are some of the things I’ve been putting off doing cause I don’t want to do them. I’ll do them, and get on with things! Thanks Tara!

And speaking of Tara, she’s offering an e-course in May called Between the Lines, telling the story of you & your business. I so wish I could take this course! I have improved my blog by following her advice in her ebook Blogging Your Passion, and weekly, something she writes on Scoutie Girl or her personal blog inspires me. She has a gift for putting into words the feelings I have about why I (and others) feel so strongly about making. This gift extends to me – it helps me zero in on a particular swirling topic and get it expressed on my blog. The awesomeness of this is that writing about issues helps me figure out why something is working, which ultimately leads to me working more/better/faster!

However, May means something called “May Term” here, which is me cramming an entire semester course into 3 and a half weeks, NOT the best time to add anything else to my docket. I do encourage anyone out there who’d like to “level-up” their internet presence to either sign up for Between the Lines or get her ebook Blogging Your Passion, I know you won’t regret it!

As a PSA, these links to Tara’s products are affiliate links, which would provide me with a wee bit of cash to keep this blog ticking away.

Kicking Down Doors is a post from: Candied Fabrics

Inspiration: Skinny LaMinx

Candy — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:22:40 +0000

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write about the inspiration I get from the work of Heather Moore, a.k.a. Skinny LaMinx! She’s an illustrator and designer living in Cape Town, South Africa. She has a very distinctive style to her screenprinted fabric, and she sells yardage, as well as cushion covers, teatowels and all sorts of lovely stuff from her Etsy shop.

What I truly love is her way of mixing the positive and negative space in her designs. This is something really unique to screen printing, but you can my interpretation of this in my Botanical Sketches, be they found on my going green journals, freshly picked baby outfits, or my series of small art quilts. Although I love her color palette, the thing that rocks my world is her paper cuts:

Seriously, how much do these totally rock? It’s just her hands, some paper, and an exacto knife. Truly, deeply, completely amazing.

I’ve been meaning to write about how much her art inspires me for too too long, and for this I am sorry. But there is a silver lining – she’s having a Pocket Money sale right NOW! She want to get together some extra moolah for her upcoming trip to the States, so if you’re hankering for something beautiful from her – now’s the time! Me – well, I’ve got some seriously inspirational tea towels that are way too nice to use in MY kitchen (the boys and hubby don’t get the concept of “the pretty towels”), so I’m pondering the best way to use them.

Thank you Heather for amazing me with what you can create with your hands! You are truly inspirational!

Inspiration: Skinny LaMinx is a post from: Candied Fabrics