W.I.P. Wednesday : Meet September’s Featured Wipster, Michelle

Happy September everyone! I love this time of year : crisp, bright mornings, bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils, carefully laid-out clothes for the first day of school…and especially all the crafty projects the autumn and the fast approaching winter holidays promise to inspire.

After a brief summer break, I’m truly happy to ring in the new school year (well, for the Northern Hemisphere anyway!) by presenting our September Featured Wipster, Michelle, who blogs at Living Slowly. Her beautiful contributions to the W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr group caught my eye, and I just had to share her talents with everyone! Here’s a little about Michelle, in her own words:

I think the desire to create runs in my family. My grandfather was a very talented carpenter and my mother spent much of my childhood sewing and crocheting things for my siblings and me.

Recycled Patchwork Beach Blanket

For me, creating art and crafting has been something I have enjoyed my entire life. Even in elementary school, art was my favorite class. I fondly remember walking through the isles of the storage room in my art class looking at all the supplies and being excited by the endless possibilities of what they could become.

One Year Birthday Ensemble

I learned to hand sew as a Girl Scout Brownie and learned to use a sewing machine in middle school Home Economics class. To my amazement, I remembered the skills I learned as a girl when I returned to sewing many years later in college.

I don’t really recall what prompted my urge to learn knitting five years ago, but once I figured it out I was addicted. Knitting is so meditative and very calming for my mind which always seems to be going in too many directions at once. Knitting is my therapy.

Knitted Baby Skirt

As unoriginal as it may sound, my biggest source of inspiration truly has been my children. Crafting has taken on a new meaning since they were born. Being able to give them items that I have made by hand and filled with love brings me so much joy. Now that my son is talking, I can hear first hand his excitement when I give him something I made. That certainly fuels my desire to make crafting a daily part of our lives and to share my love of art with them.

5 Fun Facts About Michelle:

1) My first (and only so far) bungee jumping experience was in Queenstown, New Zealand. I jumped off the The Kawarau Bridge. It was the biggest adrenaline rush ever and I would love to do it again some day.

2) I have two tattoos. I have an ouroboros on my inner right wrist and Lola Bunny (Bugs Bunny’s girlfriend in the movie Space Jam) on my lower back.

3) I am the second oldest of six kids. I have three younger sisters and two brothers. I love being part of a big family.

4) Reading is a hobby I have always enjoyed, but since having kids have had little time for. As a child, The Little House series was my favorite. I wanted to be Laura Ingalls so badly. My most recent read was the Twilight series and loved it. Team Edward for me!

5) I graduated from The Rhode Island School of Design with a B.F.A. in Graphic Design. Attending R.I.S.D. was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The school is so full of creative energy. If could be a permanent college student, I certainly would. Being able to spend my day throwing pots, playing with the letterpress machine, painting, sewing and photographing it all sounds like heaven.

Thrifted Fabric Mega Moo Beach Bag

Thanks so much to Michelle for taking the time to hang out with us at the Fishbowl! Do you have a favourite creative blogger you’d like to see featured next month? Remember, whatever your medium, we would love to see what you’re up to.

Do you have any new W.I.P.s in the works for Autumn, or even, gasp!,  the holidays? We would love to see what you’re up to! Snap a shot of your “in progress” masterpiece and add it to the  W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool. Whatever your works-in-progress, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are working on.

W.I.P. Wednesday : Sewing Childrens Pants, A Tutoral

At long last…I know I said I’d post this forever ago, but did you know that the most cutting-edge scientific research suggests that time is elastic, not linear, so really, this post is right on time!

This is so easy to do that I feel a little silly writing up a tutorial post on how to sew a basic pair of children’s elastic waist pants…but the thing is, that even though I find it all so obvious now, I sure didn’t the first time I had an inkling to sew the Guppy a pair of pants all by myself! If there’s one thing I have learned from 6 years of studying literature, it’s “deconstructing” – taking it apart, to better see how it’s put together. That’s basically what I did with a pair of Guppy’s too small/too stained pants one day, and it all became clear…not the meaning of life mind you, just how to put together a quickie but nice pair of pants for a little one.

So here we go : pretty please let me know if anything is unclear, or if you’re an experienced stitcher and have any shortcuts or suggestions – I’d love to add them to the post.

Please keep in mind that this technique will work well for children up to about a size 4 to 6ish – because it’s an elastic waist and there isn’t any real curve to the legs it could get clumpy and get wonky in a larger size. That being said Guppy (age 4)  is now wearing size 6 pants but she’s a tall, skinny fish, so it’s still working out just fine for us.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED :

• Fabric for the new pair of pants. Be sure to pre-shrink it (wash, dry & press)
• A pair of pants that currently fit the child in question
• Aprox. 1/2″ wide elastic for the waist & the child’s waist measurement
• pins, thread, a chopstick or bobkin, masking tape, etc.
• Some groovy music in the background.
• “right side” has nothing to do with Republicans, the UMP or The Force. It means the printed side of your fabric. When I say “wrong side”, it just means the inside of your fabric, basically what your knees look at all day.

FIRST :

Fold the pair of pants in half length-wise (so the back pockets are touching) and lie them on your chosen material (which has been folded in half, right sides together.) You can either trace a line around the pants here, or just pin them. Then carefully cut out your fabric. If you’d like the pants to be longer or wider, cut/draw accordingly. Don’t forget to add a little extra fabric for your seam allowance. I’m pretty conservative (nervous about messing up) so I tend to go large on the allowance, about a quarter to a half an inch. I’d rather leave more and trim it off later. You’ll need to leave a good 1.5inch allowance for the waist (you’ll be folding that down to insert your elastic!).

Now do it again. In the end you should end up with 4 pieces that look something like this :

I know, bang-up brilliant photographing stripes on stripes. Please, call the fashion police on me right now!

SECOND :

Now take two of your four pieces and match them up, right sides together so they look like one piece. Here’s what they would look like right before matching them up:

Now flop those babies together and your going to sew from the crotch (I know, you hate that word, but that’s life kids) to what will be your waistband. When you’re done it should look like this :

See how it looks like a half of a pair of pants already? Nifty, huh? Now you go and do the very same thing with the remaining two pieces of your pants-puzzle. When you’re done, match up the two pieces (which once were four…it’s all about unity here people), right sides together, like so:

Now, if you have really good vision or a very big screen, you can see that the insides of the legs have been pinned together. I suggest sewing up one side of one of the legs, bridging the crotch (meaning keeping sewing joining/across the crotch), then sewing down the other leg. Now go plug in your iron.

If you’re freaking out because nothing seems to be matching up just take a breath – it’s ok. Use your waist as a guide and keep that as even as you can – uneven leg lengths can be fixed easily at the end, and even leg widths can be easily fixed by moving your seam in or out a little. These are elastic-waisted kids pants – little mistakes aren’t going to show, and you’ll be a pro by your second or third pair so don’t sweat it!

Have you sewn up the insides of the legs? Good, now sew the outsides. See how easy that was? Now let’s finish these babies up by working on the waist. Fold it down about 1/2″, iron your fold quickly to keep things neat, then fold down again 1/2″ and iron again. Now pin. You could probably fold down a little less here, but I like to use 1/2″ wide elastic for my waist, so this is what works for me.

Next you’re going to sew around the waistband, with about a 1/8th seam allowance, being sure to remember to leave a few inches (or centimeters, whatever) for you to insert the elastic. This is very important that’s why it’s in bold! It’s easy to forget to do this when you’re phone is ringing and your daughter is singing “Hallo Spaceboy”* at the top of her lungs next to you (and she only knows the refrain). Or whatever. Just don’t forget, or keep a seam ripper handy. Or both.

This is what we’re going for :

NEXT :

Grab your chopstick (unless you have a bodkin, then you’re just lucky I guess) and place the elastic on one end, like, ahem, a helmetish. Then put masking tape over that, giving it a sort of “rocket ship” type of look. It would be so much easier to describe this if I had a broom handle and this was sex-ed, but it’s not, so just look at the picture :

Now just insert this into one side of your waistband and run it through, feeding as you go. Don’t forget to fix the stray end of elastic or it’ll finish in there with everything else. Go nice and slow here because you don’t want your elastic to get all twisty in there. Once you’ve fed it through, sew the ends of the elastic together, overlapping them for strength. I usually sew back and forth a few times. Then close the little gap you left, being careful not to catch the elastic in your stitches.

And here you go, a very snazzy pair of cotton/linen blend pants made from gifted fabric from the SIL. Wish I had enough to make a pair for me! And yes, that is a huge, ugly, black thread hanging from the leg because I haven’t sewn the hems on the legs yet! I made these while Guppy was napping, and tomorrow I’ll have her try them on and adjust the length. For the final leg hem just fold like you did for the waist : fold once, then iron, then fold again. How much? Depends. If you want a more mod cuff you could fold and inch or more, really.

I hope you were able to follow along and do hope you give it a shot. It is so easy, and really doesn’t use much fabric, especially for wee ones under 3. Again, comment or email if you have a question – and send me a link if you give it a try!

A warm welcome to all our new Wipsters! If you’d like to join the Wipster list, just send me an email. The W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool just keeps growing – don’t be shy! Those photos are there to inspire, and we would love to see what you’ve been up to. Think of it as your parents’ fridge : a safe and loving place to highligh what you’ve been working on (without the strawberry jam stains on the door).

*Is it just me or is David Bowie getting even sexier? I really need to work him into W.I.P. Wednesday more often. So glad Guppy has good taste in music!

W.I.P. Wednesday : “Les ouvrages du jardin des modes”

I’m in a rather slumpy place…I just can’t seem to begin any of the new projects I was excited about, let alone finish the W.I.Ps I’d hoped to complete during my summer holidays.

One of the best remedies to such a creative block is to surround myself with beauty and creativity. Spending time in the forest with Guppy does help, as does flipping through some of my favourite art and craft books. I’ve been particularly enjoying this one, Les ouvrages du jardin des modes, and I thought I’d share a little of it with you.

This book was a 3 Euro thrift store find I happened upon during my Winter holiday in Toulouse. I was still hobbling around on crutches, but I did manage to convince my SIL to take me op-shopping, and was so glad I did. This beautiful book is a sort of cataloguing of the different project techniques that had been featured over (I think) a six-year period by Jardin des Modes. It features many techniques including : tapestry, embroidery, smocking, patchwork, embroidery-mosaics, Portuguese tapestries, and so much more. It briefly traces the historical roots of many of these techniques and gives cursory explanations. I think I’ll just let the photos do the talking. I hope you enjoy!

I think the section on smocking is my favourite.

Watercolour examples of patchwork motifs – so beautiful!

A beautiful Italian tablecloth : linen with embroidered dandilions.

These pionies look like watercolours, and the stitches look like brushtrokes.

Various stitching techniques…

A bright and cheery Swedish horse.

This book is just absolutely lovely, and has so many wonderful photos and drawings. I wish I could share all of it with you, but obviously can’t for copyright reasons. I hope you liked this little sneak peek, though.

Have you stumbled upon any new sources of inspiration? I’d love to hear about what’s inspiring you. Also, don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too. We’ve got so many new members – welcome to all of you! I’m also getting our Featured Wipsters lined up for the Autumn, with September ushering in the newest Featured Wipster.

W.I.P. Wednesday : Something with hearts.

Summer holidays, how I love thee! I fully admit to being MIA from the blogosphere, but it’s for such a good reason : Sunshine! After nearly 9 months of rain we’re finally drying out and enjoying a beautiful sun. In fact, there have only been a few rainy days since the beginning of summer holidays two weeks ago.

I have been keeping up with my favourite blogs, but please don’t be sadfaced if you’ve not been receiving comments as per my usual – I’m just trying my best to be a full-time mostly-on-vacation mum to one very energetic 4 year-old who would so enjoy having a back garden to play in! As some of you know, we live in a tiny flat in the city, so from the moment Guppy is fed and dressed we pretty much head out the door for the park or the forest or the castle grounds…taking advantage of some real quality time together since school is (mostly) out for both of us.

Enough blahblah!

You may remember I gave you a sneak peak at the gifts I was working on for Guppy’s teachers. Well, let’s just say that I wasn’t getting the embroidery done fast enough and I found myself the day before the last day of school with the gifts not completed. I then made an executive decision to change plans and just make two cute little pencil-case sized pouches and fill them with vegan chocolate. I asked Guppy how she felt about this and her only reply was, “Make something with hearts.”. Ok, fair enough.

Because I don’t have any fabric with hearts on it I had to go with the appliqué method, which looked really cute I think. I just cut out two hearts per trousse – one larger in purple vegan felt, the other in lavender cotton.

I hope they liked them. Or at least the chocolate in them!

Don’t you love the wonderful blurry hurry-up-take-the-picture-we’re-late-for-school picture quality? You know you do! It’s like a crazy-crafting action movie I tell you.

Having Guppy at home with me all day has really put a few speed-bumps in my crafting time, mostly because she just needs to get outside and play. I’m sure once the rain is back I’ll be crafting up a real storm again…

Are you crafting away, despite the beautiful sunshine and warm temps? Whatever your works-in-progress, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.

W.I.P. Wednesday : Grammar School Drop-outs & Haste Makes Waste. The story of my pie making apron…

If you’re looking for the Sweet Freedom contest winners, please go here! Congratulations once again to the lucky ladies.

I had a rather difficult time adjusting to school as a 5 year-old.

In fact, I actually quit school, at the tender age of 5. Twice.

The first time was because a mad brute of a boy who stole my bouquet of pussy willows. And injustice. These were the most beautiful, silvery-silky-soft pussy willows I’d ever seen, and my father lovingly soaked his feet as he trod through the freezing-snow-just-melted swamp to cut them down for me. I was bringing them to show and tell because we’d just learned a song about about pussy willows*, when this obviously uncivilized boy tore them from my hands and stomped them into a puddle of mud. Adding insult to injury was the fact that there were no sanctions, no punishment, nothing. Just a stern mutterance*of disapproval from Mrs. A. The nerve! I stomped off and was home before Mrs. A even knew I was gone. (Luckily, we lived just down the street from the school.)

The second time was because I was in protest of my teacher’s obvious academic ineptitude. I was insulted and incredulous as my teacher, Mrs. A, made us write our first names in all capital letters! All capitals! I was horrified that this sage-looking woman in her 50’s seemed to lack the basic knowledge of common English grammar, knowledge I possessed, somehow missing the subtle yet important nuances between the capital and lower-case differentiations. Moments after I walked in through the front door, eyes rolling and head shaking disapprovingly, Mrs. A called my mother, asking if I’d shown up. Hump!

Thus it should come as no surprise to you, gentle reader, that I had little respect for the often ridiculous activities we were to accomplish for Mrs. A. She had us use terribly fat and difficult to hold pencils, making it a chore to write, and because once we were done with our busy-work, we were allowed to play in the miniature log cabin in the corner of the classroom, well, I rushed through her little mundane activities as quickly as possible. Why bother putting any effort into it, really? I mean, she had no idea first names took a capital letter after all.

As you can imagine, Mrs. A did not appreciate my slapdash work-ethic, and often had me re-doing activities two, three and four times, until it was to her liking.

“Stop rushing, it’s too messy,” was her response when I’d hand her my work.

Things were growing more and more tense for Mrs. A and I, and my mamafish knew something had to be done. Mrs. A knew I was bright, precocious, and that I had no regard for her methods, even at 5 years-old. Poor Mamafish had to do what many parents find themselves forced to do : explain that the teacher is the teacher, that even though I was right about many things, Mrs. A was still the teacher, and that if I didn’t try to do things the way Mrs. A wanted them done, well, it was going to be a very, very long school year.

“Haste makes waste,” Mamafish told me as I was colouring at the kitchen table one afternoon.

I had to ask for a translation, and a quick one to boot, because I didn’t understand what “haste” meant, but I still had pictures to colour, and re-runs of Wonder Woman to watch, and a fort to build outside, and all of that before it got dark, so hurry up Mamafish and tell me what it means…

The following day at school, I sat very concentrated before my busywork, so much so that it took Mrs. A by surprise.

“You’re working rather hard on that,” she offered.

“Well, you know, haste makes waste.” I replied matter of factly, secretly hoping she also had to ask her mother what haste meant.

I’m here to tell you that I am still, quite often, in a hurry to get things done. And sometimes, after rushing through something to get to the next thing (geeze, I wish it was to watch Wonder Woman) I hear the voice of Mamafish saying gently, “Haste makes waste.”

There was indeed a huge amount of wasted time put into this apron. I wanted it done faster than possible, and found myself ripping so many seams for really stupid mistakes. I was too busy to follow a pattern, and this one is loosely based on another one I made using the suggestions from Bend The Rules Sewing. And even though, in the end, I vowed to take my time and if it didn’t get done in time for this month’s Tie One On, well then, it didn’t get done, I still fouled up a step and have an unsightly double stitch line along the waistband – though it can’t be seen from the front, because luckily it’s on the inside.

Haste makes waste, kids. Wise words to live by.

*mutterance: shellyism, the muttering of an utterance.

*Here is, for your musical enjoyment, the pussy willow song I learned oh-so-long ago:

I know a little pussy,

He’s very fuzzy and gray,

He lives down in the meadow,

Not very far away.

He’ll always be a pussy,

He’ll never be a cat,

For he’s a pussy willow,

Now what do you think of that?

Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow…

Scat!

Have you managed to get any lingering W.I.P.s finished up? Whatever your works-in-progress, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.

W.I.P. Wednesday : Rush, rush, rush!

If you’re looking for the Sweet Freedom giveaway, go here! Three more days to enter!

I hate feeling like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, however, that’s pretty much what I’m looking and sounding like right now. I’ve got so many plates spinning I’m feeling a wee bit dizzy, but I know it’s pour la bonne cause.

Working on appreciation gifts for Guppy’s two teachers is becoming a real priority since her last day of school is next week. I’ve just started stitching this adorable elephant that I modified from this free pattern (thank you!). Guppy’s class spent the year studying around the theme of circus animals, so I thought this cutie could look sweet on a little zipper bag…perhaps with some dark chocolate inside?

Who doesn’t love cookies? I’m only making “special” gifts for Guppy’s teacher and her aid, but not wanting to leave anyone out, I made a double-batch of the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (with chocolate chips, because I can!) from one of my very favourite cookbooks, The Joy of Vegan Baking for everyone else – everyone else meaning the team of aids and auxiliary personnel who do so much for the kids and who often don’t get the thanks they deserve. It’s so fun making cookies and cupcakes for her school, because they are viewed as wonderfully exotic by the teaching team – and they always ask me for the recipes. I brought these to the school last week after Guppy’s school programme. She was a lion, and she roared the very best, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her Mamafish!

And lastly, here are some pattern pieces I cut out to make two aprons – and if I can get them done in a jiffy I’ll be sending them off to this month’s Tie One On. The theme this time around is “Pie Making Aprons”, which I think just sounds so fun and summery…the flower print fabric is so cute, and I think it works really well with the gingham. We’ll see in a few days…

I can’t wait to see what everyone has been up to W.I.P.-wise! Whatever your works-in-progress, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.

W.I.P. Wednesday : Wee Gallery Goodness

Don’t you just love happy accidents? I found the lovely Wee Gallery totally by mistake one day, and what a happy find! Just gorgeous prints and other lovelies for babies and small children…though I feel I can speak for adults when I say I love them, too!

I was extra lucky the day I found Surya’s blog, because that very day she put out a call for some testers to sew up some kits to make soft books and I was chosen! Fortuitous, indeed.

Shortly afterwards I received a lovely and very complete Soft Book kit to sew up. This is a very satisfying project because it is a one-sit affair : very easy to follow instructions, nothing to measure or fuddle with. Depending on how quickly you sew and if your iron is set up, you can have this project done in 30 minutes flat, maybe less. Or longer, I suppose if your thread jams up, your telephone keeps ringing and you notice that there hasn’t been any noise from Guppy’s bedroom in a few minutes – silence is always a bad sign. Even with those distractions I was done in less than 40 minutes, so there.

Surya also had some just beautiful Circus Coloring Cards up for grabs. She graciously sent me the PDF file, and Guppy has been really enjoying colouring them.

Though Guppy recently turned 4, she does usually colour a little neater (she doesn’t get that from me!). I asked her about the jiggly lines and she looked at me, somewhat exasperated, and sighed, “Mumma, they’re moving!”. Well, silly me. That should have been obvious I suppose.

These sweet colouring cards are now available in her Wee Gallery Etsy Shop. You should also check out their Wee Gallery Store for other beautiful prints. And thank you again Surya for allowing me to test your pattern! It was a real pleasure.

Are you being buried by a pile of unfinished W.I.P.s (or is it just me?). Whatever your works-in-progress, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.

W.I.P. Wednesday – One busy bunny!

With only three weeks left until les grandes vacances or summer vacation, things are a wee bit crazy. Trying to wrap up this year, and prepare for summer workshops, get together appreciation gifts and just the general craziness of life is upon me. I’m so affected by the weather, and with it raining every day for what seems like an eternity doesn’t help.* Seems like when the sun is shining and it’s warm I’m twice as productive…are your batteries solar powered, too?

Remember when I drafted this pattern for Betty Bunny? Guppy brought Betty to school as her nap-time doudou, and her teacher loved it! She asked me where I bought it because she wanted one for her daughter; feeling thrilled, incredulous and blushing, I admitted that I had made the stuffed animal myself. Her teacher continued to gush, and said more than once that she would love to have a bunny like that for her little girl, but because of my inability to sell myself, that was the end of the conversation.

Monsieur Fish scolded me when I related the story, asking me why on earth I didn’t offer to make one for Guppy’s Teacher (known here on in as GT) and sell it to her. I wanted to, but this was indeed the first time this had happened to me and I didn’t know how to react. I wanted to offer to make her one, but didn’t know how much to charge, honestly. I’d not payed attention to how much time it took me, and had no idea how to add up the cost of materials, etc.

I let a few weeks past, but every time I saw that bunny I would inwardly cringe. I didn’t want to let an opportunity pass me by, but wasn’t sure how to approach it, so I made a bit of a compromise. The next time I saw GT I nonchalantly said that if she had some fabric that she liked, I could make a bunny for her. I reasoned that since I wasn’t sure about charging her, if she supplied the fabric, then I could chalk up the labour as some free advertising for potential future bunnies. The only problem? She loved the brown corduroy I used and wanted that. Sigh.

In the end, she brought me about 2 meters of fabric she’d chosen for the bunny’s body, and I told her I would try to scrape up enough corduroy to do the rest (knowing I didn’t have much left). She loved it, and it really gave me some confidence as to my sewing skills, because I can see that possibly opening an Etsy shop next year could be a reality. I still have tons of work to do researching how to do pricing, etc., but it’s a good feeling.

This is the one I gave to GT. The “in progress” bunnies above are still not finished, but I would like to get them done before my mojo is gone. I need to raid my stash to find fabric for their arms and legs as my brown corduroy is gone…I’d also like to make some less girly ones…so much I want to do!

Have you managed to get any lingering W.I.P.s finished up? Whatever your works-in-progress, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.

*Ever since the canicule (heat wave) we had here in 2003, the weather has just been haywire. Even the summer of 2004 was more normal, with bright sunny skies for most of June, July, August and the beginning of September. Now, it just seems to rain all the time. Thanks global warming.

W.I.P. Wednesday : Meet this month’s featured Wipster, Nicole!

Greetings Wipsters! It’s the first Wednesday of the month, and that means it’s time for June’s Featured Wipster. Meeting so many creative and classy bloggers from all over the world has been one of my favourite things about W.I.P. Wednesdays. I am perpetually inspired and recharged when I see everything you’re crafting and dreaming up – thank you!

Sleepy Sack

This month’s featured Wipster is bubbling over with creative energy! I’d like to introduce you to Nicole who bloggs at Frontier Dreams where she shares her knitting and sewing creations, inter-woven with adventures in mothering two of the cutest little kidlets you’ve ever seen. Feeling harried and overwhelmed by the frenzy of the 9 to 5? Pay Nicole a visit and you’ll be quickly reminded of the beauty in simplicity that is all around us. Enough of my prattle, here’s a bit about Nicole, in her own words…

My grandmother was definitely a huge inspiration for me. Almost every memory I have of her involves her creating something. I remember one year I so badly wanted to be the princess from Voltron for Halloween but there was not a costume available. I can still vividly see my grandmother watching an episode of Voltron with me sketching out the princess’ dress. She then made it from that sketch and it was PERFECT, I loved it so much. I want so badly to make those kinds of memories for my kids. I hope to have them grow up appreciating the beauty of hand made.
As far back as I can remember I have always had some kind of artistic or crafty outlet. I would go from one thing to another but always hung on to everything I learned. When I was little it was drawing and painting, as a teenager it was sewing. I also went vegan at the age of 15 so I started getting into cooking and baking.. After high school I became obsessed with photography. Then I dabbled in a little bit of everything (to many things to name). My friends would call me ‘the Vegan Martha Stewart’. But it really wasn’t until my girls were born that I really got into creating. I really owe all of my inspiration to them. I can’t fully describe it, but somehow when they were born, I feel that I was born. I had a strong need within me to create beautiful things to surround them with.

Cupcake Hat

knitted farmyard

Here are Nicole’s 5 Fascinating Facts:

1. I’ve had an obsessive love of sharks ever since I was a little girl and I saw the movie Jaws. Yeah, I know that movie scared most people away from sharks but it had the opposite effect on me. We watched it while on vacation in Florida. My mom said I watched the credits to see who played Jaws and I searched for him in the ocean and pools. I have a shark tattoo on my hip and shark week is my favorite time of the year!

felted pumpkin

2. I have participated in civil disobedience during protests all over the country (USA) for various animal rights issues.
3. I would love to have a Duggar sized family (18 kids and counting). I know that desire won’t come true but I can still dream, right?

4. I secretly wish I was a pilot,(especially if I could fly those old WWII planes with pin up girls on the side-oh how I love those planes) or a professional swing dancer.
5. Since I turned 18 I have not lived in the same state for more than 4 years at a time. This was even before I met my husband (who is in the United States Air Force), I just had this need to travel and explore. I have gone from New York to Georgia to California to New York to Louisiana to Pennsylvania to South Korea to my current state of Virginia. We move again this summer to Oregon.

Thanks so much to Nicole for taking the time to hang out with us at the Fishbowl! Do you have a favourite creative blogger you’d like to see featured next month? Remember, whatever your medium, we would love to see what you’re up to.

Have you managed to get any lingering W.I.P.s finished up? Whatever your works-in-progress, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.

W.I.P. Wednesday : Killing you with cute…

Looking for the Daring Bakers Post? Go here…

I thought I’d treat you to a little cute today…

Remember when I made the bibs and this doll for my niece? Well, colour me thrilled because her official “doudou” is indeed the little dolly I made her.

You know how you always hope it’ll be the one you made? I’m feeling very special, especially since I haven’t been able to give my little niece a squeeze or a kiss yet…darn Atlantic Ocean separating us!

I sure can’t wait to meet my niece in person! But this little dolly is a great ambassadrice. Ok, enough proud auntie gushing…here’s a little sneak peak at a little something I’m working on :

What have you been up to W.I.P.-wise? Whatever your works-in-progress may be, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.