The Ultimate Act of Creativity

We had the most wonderful Father's Day that anyone could ever have. Today Howie and I became grandparents for the second time.

Our son Matt and his wife Karla gave birth to a 6 lb 9 oz beautiful baby boy this morning. Jackson Kyle Streger made his appearance in time to be the ultimate Father's Day gift. Howie said it's the best Father's Day gift he ever got. It's going to be hard to top this next year.

Here's the little guy sweetly sleeping off the exhaustion of his long journey. His little hands are covered, but he has the most exquisite long fingers I've ever seen on a baby.

And here's Jackson's leading lady, our dear DIL Karla. I can just hear Karla thinking, "I can't believe this was inside me just a few minutes ago!"

Big Brother Michael's first glimpse of his little brother. I can just hear Michael thinking, "Oh, boy, the two of us can get into a lot of trouble together." Michael is 8 1/2 and when Jackson is 8 1/2, Michael will have just gotten his driver's license. Oh, yes, I see lots of adventures, or should I say misadventures, in the future for these two guys. Daddy Matt is looking on with pure joy on his face. Yes, life doesn't get better than this.
Gramps, AKA Howie, is absolutely glowing with happiness.
Here I am holding Jackson for the first time. No, Howie and I did not coordinate the color of our shirts when we got dressed this morning. In fact, we were in such a rush to get out of the house when we got the call at 6 AM that the baby was about to be born, that we barely spoke to each other as we rushed around getting dressed.
This is Karla's mother, Marty, beaming with joy. Speaking of rushing, she and Karla's sister, Teresa, had a 6 hour drive in the middle of the night as they flew across Pennsylvania to be at the hospital in New Brunswick, NJ when Jackson made his grand entrance.
And here is Aunt Teresa who is Karla's younger sister. Yes, Teresa, it's payback time. Now it's your turn to babysit for Jackson since Karla babysat for you when you were a baby. Look at that big grin on Teresa's face.
Here is a picture of three generations of Streger men which is sure to become a family treasure in the future. Henceforth, they shall be known as the "Tool Boys." Howie has always been a great Do It Yourselfer and Matt has followed in his Dad's footsteps. There's nothing that the two of them can't fix, build, or refurbish. Michael is quite the willing apprentice and has been getting a lot of on-the-job training. In fact, he has his own toolbox and tools. Jackson, you have great role models in your life. You're a very lucky little boy.

Global Warming?

I thought today was June 15th. In fact, I just checked both my calendar and the front page of the newspaper to make sure I was correct. Yes, it is definitely June 15th.

So why is my deck covered with hail making it look like January 15th?We were in the middle of a very heavy thunderstorm this afternoon when suddenly it sounded as if the hammers of Hell were beating on our roof. Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window and saw everything covered with what looked like snow but was actually hail. The street in front of my house looked like a river.

Wow, what wacky weird weather. How's that for alliteration?
The pieces of hail were huge. Too bad these aren't diamonds!

I'm wondering if NJ is going to be visited by the other 9 plagues this summer.

Amazingly, the weather has cleared up and the birds are back in their trees chirping away so all is well with the world except for the fact that the flowers on the deck may have been destroyed.

While I have your attention, in case you haven't heard, there is an auction currently taking place online. During the past year, over 100 artists collaborated in the making of an art doll which is almost life sized. By buying tickets for a chance to win this doll, you are supporting research for Ovarian Cancer. There is a button on the right side of this blog. When you click it, you'll be taken to the Ties That Bind website where you can learn about this project and how to purchase tickets. This is one small way that we can all make a difference!

How to Recycle, Refashion, Upcycle or Repurpose a Man's Shirt

The other day, my DH brought me a shirt and told me he couldn't wear it anymore because it had "shrunk." Yeah, right, my clothes keep shrinking, too, which is why I have a closet loaded with three different sizes of clothing. But, I didn't want to make him feel badly, so I smiled sweetly and took the shirt to add to the pile of clothing going to the rummage sale.





I looked at the shirt and no longer did I see a man's shirt. No, I saw a summer purse. Just how or why this shift in reality occurred, I cannot imagine. But I felt compelled to turn that shirt into something else. I think my brain is going Green, or maybe it's just getting moldy. Who knows?


I have a stash of lovely, new fabric. Why did I feel the need to upcycle or recycle this shirt? Maybe it was the challenge of turning something unusable into something useful. Maybe it's because everywhere I turn, people are talking about being Green. Whatever the reason, I was now obsessed with this idea.

I didn't have a clue how to do this so I Googled "recycle man's shirt into a purse." There were many instructions for turning a tee shirt into an assortment of items, but there were very few articles on recycling a man's dress shirt. Most of these had to do with turning a man's shirt into a child's dress or an apron. I couldn't find any suggestions on how to make a purse. I tried using the words "refashioning", "upcycling", and "repurposing" and got the same results. Nothing. As a parenthetical thought (I just love parenthetical thoughts), can anyone tell me what the difference is between upcycling, recycling, refashioning and repurposing? Lately, I've seen all those terms used and can't figure out if they are referring to the same activity or if there are subtle differences between them.

I decided it couldn't be that hard and set about to figure it out for myself. To be honest, it wasn't all that challenging. Should you find yourself with this same compulsion, I've written a simple tutorial. I hope it saves you some time.


Pin button placket together. Cut along the right and left side of the shirt to just below the collar.

Cut along the bottom and the top of the shirt to form a rectangle.

(Note: You can click on any picture to enlarge it)






Take both left and right piece from the front and stitch the button placket together to make one piece.

Iron a piece of heavy fusible craft webbing (I used Pellon) to the wrong side of what was the front of the shirt. I wanted to use the shirt's front pocket for my cell phone so I wanted the pocket to wind up inside the purse. By ironing the webbing to the wrong side of the front, I felt the pocket would have more strength and stability.


Place the right sides of the front and back together and stitch around three sides. Leave the fourth (small side) open so you can turn the fabric right side out.

Turn the fabric right side out. Press to even out the corners and seams. I wanted my purse to have a flap, so folded my fabric roughly in thirds to allow for the overlap. If you don't want a flap, fold the fabric in half. Iron. Stitch both sides of the purse together being sure to reinforce the top and bottom of the seam by going back and forth a couple of times.



In the picture above, you'll notice a dowel to the left of the folded piece of fabric. I decided that I needed to add a dowel to give the bottom of the purse stability. I didn't want it to scrunch up after I filled it with all my junk. Cut the dowel a couple of inches shorter than the bottom to allow for the side seams. I used my zipper foot (for the first time) and sewed as close to the dowel as I could. I then evened out the open edge (top of purse) in preparation of sewing it shut. Fold the raw edges to the inside and press.



I made a shoulder strap by braiding some thin rope I had in the house and sewing it to the back of the purse. I was being Green and using up things I already had. Hint: When sewing on the strap, be sure to reinforce at the bottom and top of the purse so that it doesn't rip when you fill your purse. Before closing the open, top edge, decide what type of clasp or closure you want. If you want to use a magnetic snap, now is the time to attach it so you can hide the prongs inside. I wanted to use a piece of elastic and a button, so I pinned my elastic in place when I was pinning the opening. Stitch closed. Add trim and button.


Voila. The finished purse. I added the trim to cover my less then stellar sewing. To the right is a picture of the inside of the purse where the shirt's pocket now holds my cell phone. That sure does tickle my fancy







All in all, I'm quite pleased with how this project turned out. I used the purse today for the first time and was amazed that I got two compliments at the dentist's office. They were quite impressed that I made it, but what really amazed them was that I made it from an old shirt. Maybe they'll think I'm poor and stop charging me those ridiculous fees. LOL

Here is what I learned from this experience:

It's was much harder to write clear instructions (anyway I hope they're clear) than to actually make the purse.

It's fun the get an idea and run with it.

No matter what Kermit the Frog says, it isn't all that hard being Green.

Thank You Cloth Paper Scissors

Here's a tidbit about me that you may not know. I love to buy magazines. When I get home, I flip through them, get all fired up, plan what I'm going to make after being inspired by an article, and then put the magazine down and promptly forget about my intentions. Can you relate to this?

The November/December 2008 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors had a wonderful cover article about decorating small jars to look like snowmen. I have been dying to try to make some myself but didn't have time until this past weekend. I couldn't get this project out of my mind. Maybe it's because I had 15 perfect jars (bought from a garage sale, of course) just sitting here calling out to me.

I'm part of a group of local artists who meet at my house about once a month. It's a very informal, non-structured group. In fact we don't even have an official name so we're known as the No-Name Art Group. Someone will get an idea and suggest it for our next get together. Then everyone else breaths a sigh of relief knowing that they're off the hook and don't have to come up with a project.

I love having the meetings at my house. I know you must be saying to yourself, "Why that Judy must be crazy. Why would she want to have everyone over? First she has to make sure the house is clean and neat (at least a little bit), then she has to gather the materials needed for the day's project."

To be honest, that's one of the best parts of getting together. I get to share my valuable Junque with people who understand my passion for acquiring. If I were a gourmet cook, I'd have elaborate dinner parties so I could share my cooking skills with friends. So what better way for an inveterate garage sale shopper to spread her joy than by sharing her "stuff."

Howie loves when everyone is here. Deep down in the bottom of his heart I know he's thinking, "Maybe we can get rid of some of this stuff." I'm thinking, "Maybe I can get rid of some of this stuff and make room for some new stuff." After all, garage sale season is rapidly approaching. Also, one more thing, if I had to take "stuff" to a meeting being held somewhere else, I'd need an 18-wheeler!

Saturday's project was to decorate bottles to our hearts content. I was worried that we wouldn't have enough jars for all of us and that we'd run out before the afternoon was over. I kept emailing everyone to bring jars since I had only 15 and we were sure to go through those quickly.







What was I thinking? We each were barely able to finish one bottle in the four hours that we were together. Gosh, it looked and sounded so easy in the magazine article. But we did have a lot of fun.



Here's the finished results. Aren't they fab? (Double left click on picture to enlarge)
Projects from left to right: Elizabeth, Roberta, Judy, Doreen, Jan

So, here's a great big thank you to Cloth Paper Scissors for publishing such an inspiring article that even I was compelled stop procrastinating and start creating.

Today's lessons learned:
1. A play date with friends is always fun whether you're 6 or 60
2. You can never have enough Junque
3. Even the bad habit of "some day I"ll get around to it" can be overcome with the proper inspiration.
4. Just because the magazine article highlighted snowmen jars, it doesn't mean that you, too, have to make snowmen jars. We were all sick of Winter and didn't want to think about snow so we let our muse take us wherever she wanted.
5. Since all the "stuff" is still spread out all over the house, I might as well go and decorate some more bottles.

Post Script: In the middle of writing this, I stopped to eat lunch. We had left-over Chinese food from last night (after all, tomorrow is the Chinese New Year.) We had one fortune cookie left so we shared it (this means that Howie got to open it and I got to eat it.) Guess what it said?
"Begin...the rest is easy." Do you think the Universe is sending me a message?

One World-Heart Giveaway

And the winner is .........
Drum roll please.......
Doda from Doda's Creative Wanderings

Congratulations, Doda, as soon as I hear from you I'll mail off your prize.

As a relatively new blogger, I was amazed to discover Lisa Swifka's international event-ONE WORLD-ONE HEART. Not wanting to miss out on this opportunity, I just signed up to be a participant.

If you are not aware of One World-One Heart, please click on the logo on the sidebar for information on how to participate. Basically, the purpose of One World-One Heart is to make it easy to meet new friends, visit new blogs, and expand your horizons. Oh, and as an added bonus, you have the chance to win something wonderful.

Here's what I'm giving away. This 7-inch ornament can be worn as a pendant or a pin. Or it can be hung on the wall to bring a smile to your face.

In case you are wondering what you have to do to win, the rules are quite simple.

1. Please leave a comment on this post, and this post only, before midnight Eastern Standard Time on February 11, 2009. The drawing will be held on February 12, 2009.

2. You must make sure that there is a way for me to contact you. Please do not leave an anonymous comment with no way for me to contact you.

3. You do not need to have a blog to enter and you can live anywhere in the world. I can't wait to see where all the entrants live.

This isn't a rule, but it's a great idea. Click on the logo above or on the sidebar and you'll find a list of blogs to visit and see what is being given away by the other participants. I'll bet you find blogs that you'll want to revisit again and again.

Happy surfing!

The Continuing Saga of the Intrepid Curtain Embellisher

Allow me to continue to amuse and amaze you with my adventures embellishing the plain white curtain (see blog post dated January 6, 2009 ).

But, before I do this, I would like to go on record as having developed a new art craze.
I am sure you are quite familiar with the world of mixed-media and altered art. One month, everyone is altering cigar boxes and everywhere you turn, there are articles and posts showcasing these charming, altered boxes. Three months later, we're all decorating corsets. You can't turn around without being hit in the head with a corset (perish the thought). And so it goes, from altered books to embellished sneakers.

But, have you ever seen anyone alter a curtain? I'll bet not. I know I'm on the cutting edge of a new trend. Remember, you saw it first here. Before long, I'm sure there will be articles in Somerset and Cloth, Paper, Scissors on how to alter plain white curtains. Workshops will be held at various venues on how to embellish the plain white curtain. Before you know it, many people will claim to have created this art form. But I will have the satisfaction of knowing that it all started with me. LOL

I digress. Back to the saga of the now blue sun printed curtain. As I mentioned, I was still not particularly thrilled with the results of my day's labor of love (or maybe that should read my day's frustration).

I proceeded to spend the next day, working on the curtain. You may have heard the saying, "less is more." Well, my saying is "more is never enough." With this in mind, I set about to try to salvage my project.




The first thing I did was to try to add texture and depth to the curtain by using fabric inkpads and a brayer wrapped with rubber bands.

















I was totally unimpressed with this step. Next, I tried using rubber stamps. After using both bold stamps and alphabet stamps, I began to like my results.

Feeling encouraged, I decided to make some fabric birds and butterflies to add to the curtain.


I found some interesting fibers and attached them to the curtain hoping they looked like branches. Then I pinned the birds and butterflies to the curtain. Here's a close up of the top half of the curtain.













But, standing back, I think that the bottom half of the curtain still looks a little sparse. What do you think? I'm thinking maybe some flowers would be a nice addition.





One of these days, I'll get to it.













However, I'm still very pleased with the way this altered curtain has turned out so far. (Now don't forget that you first read about altered curtains here.)

The Dolls of 2008

A year ago, after an amazingly successful Twelve Days of Christmas swap in which I participated, I jokingly said, "Next time, why don't we have an Eight Days of Chanukah swap?" I, of course, promptly forgot about this idea until August when I was gently reminded about my suggestion. Hence, the first ever (that I know of) Eight Days of Chanukah Swap was launched. What a fun swap!

I decided to make a doll for each of the seven participants.


The first doll I finished was a mermaid for Joanne Thieme Huffman. Being a fan of Joanne's blog (see side bar for a link to her blog), I know she frequently uses mermaid images in her art. I decided to crochet her doll and then embellish her with some doo dads. Originally her hair was a mustard-green colored fringe, but I sprayed it with Color Mists which I had gotten from Aileen (Outside the Margins), and got just the perfect blue/green/gold color I wanted.


When last seen, Ms. Mermaid was swimming in Lake Michigan.











Next up was Connie William's doll. Connie happened to mention that her favorite colors were black, white, and red. Immediately I thought of making her a Pierrot doll. Amazingly, I had the perfect head and arms to use for this project. More amazing was that I knew where I had put them! I used a wonderful product called Apoxie Sculpt to attach the head to the base. I first fell in love with this two-part, putty-like product in Linda and Opie O'Brien's "Who's Your DaDa" class at Art and Soul '08. (More about Art and Soul in another post.) I used antique white buttons for the hair and a small piece of window shade for the collar.

Being a Chanukah swap, I decided to make Jewish Grandmother dolls for Sandee Hyde, Fran Saperstein, and Kara Klein.


Here they are waiting at Newark Airport for their planes to leave so that they can spend Chanukah with their families. Being good Jewish grandmothers, their shopping bags are filled with food and, of course, they are bringing lots of presents. These are the first stuffed, cloth dolls I've ever made. I must admit, I think I have a new addiction.

I bought a copy of Knitted Babes because I liked the whimsical knit dolls on the cover. When making a doll for Joyce Vance, I immediately went to this book for inspiration and knitting directions since Joyce is the queen of knitting. This doll took on an identity of her own and became a ballerina. Joyce's daughter, Ellie, is a ballerina. I guess my subconscious was at work here.





I could have spent the next month, knitting clothes for this doll. I think my inner child was just screaming to get out.














Last, but certainly not least, was the doll I made for Amber Dawn. I know Amber makes wonderful jewelry. When thinking about jewelry and gems, I thought about gypsies. I don't want to be accused of being politically incorrect, but Gypsy Girl had a velvet bag with her that was filled with jewels of an unknown origin. She arrived at Amber's home hoping to trade the jewels for a place to stay. The biggest challenge I had when making Gypsy Girl was her clothing. Not having any patterns for doll clothing, I had to remake the dress several times until I figured out how to get the top of the dress to fit her.
























What a great swap. I had fun making the gifts I sent out, and I certainly loved the gifts that I received.