Heart Stuffies - Victorian neo crazy quilt heart shaped mini pillows

I've been playing with digitally printed fabric! 

First I printed out some vintage images in a smallish scale.

Then I lightly fabric glued them down into an arrangement on some cotton duck stretched onto an embroidery hoop, tracing around them with a heart template.  

Then I painted and stamped a bit - I used my lumiere paints and fabric compatible metallic inks, and a little liquitex fiber medium with some acrylics.   

Then I dug into my collection of vintage lace, beads, millinery flowers, czech beads and  freshwater pearls! Embroidered fun ensued.

All of these are hand sewn - I find it easier than digging out the machine just for this small a piece. 

I can't wait to try some other things with the printable paper, some art dolls, some flat dolls, some ornaments! Have you had any results with printable fabric? Do you worry about the dye fastness, or are you pleased with your results? What printable fabric do you prefer?

Dimensional beaded russian doll softies

So I had so much fun making the flat dolls that I decided it was time to go 3D! How I got through life without embroidery hoops I'll never know.

My first attempts at dimensional dolls - these are backed with vintage feedsack fabrics, hand sewn, hand painted and embellished.

Springtime - renewal of (he)art

I didn't know what to do with my etsy store. I certainly have no intention of closing it, but I am not feeling the old business at all at this point. Too hurried, too much pressure, too much a one woman shipping factory. I got sick and it stopped being fun. Or maybe it stopped being fun and I got sick.

A much slower way of working holds its appeal - and so I'm committing to that. A life that allows me to catch up on all the things that get neglected when healing is your main job. Including relationships.

I ran into one of my friends in Target (ugh, yes) last night - it was one of those funny moments where you're thinking about someone in the early morning and then there they are in some way later in the day. It was really a tip off that it's time to do things other than work and be sick. I'm just so grateful that I get to think about more, finally.

So the etsy store is really going to be my online gallery of serious work. Well, as serious as it gets.

The bunny cuff is a vintage paper image, the beads form a bezel. It closes with a fifties glass button in kelly green, measures 6.5 inches and there's only one in the whole wide world.