Sue Bleiweiss

just puttering about...

I haven't done too much in the studio this week other than some straightening up and organizing.  I recently got my hands on a couple of discontinued wallpaper sample books and this morning decided to use them to make up some new notebooks using my Bind-it-all machine.  I have decided I love working with these wallpaper sample sheets.  They've got nice texture and they're sturdy enough for stitching with.  I've got lots of ideas for these!

inside is filled with some blank white paper and some colored cardstock along with some envelope pockets:

and the back has a little pocket with a mini notebook tucked inside:

I'm keeping this one for myself but I did prep a couple more sets of covers to make some more:

I"ll have those done in a day or two and hopefully into the shop by Friday.  I also managed to get some paper bags painted up and distressed for another project that I have in mind:

Some great color variations in these papers.

The Mixed Media Surfaces for the Fiber Artist class officially starts today.  There's plenty of room if you're interested in joining the class.  All the registration information is on my website here.

It's a beautiful sunny warm day here so I'm heading out to enjoy it, have a great day!

Belle Armoire article!

I can't even tell you what a thrill it is for me to see myself in the pages of Belle Armoire!  I just got the May/June issue yesterday:

and when I turned to page 22...


The article is all about painting and writing on fabric with Stewart Gill paints.  I am so happy with the photography and the layout.  They did such a nice job with it!

A new bag and signs of spring!

I'm having some fun playing with this abaca fiber:

I decided to use those postcards that I created a couple of blog posts back to embellish the front of this new abaca bag.  I've got a couple more projects in mind for this stuff and I"ll be writing about working with it in issue 4 of Fibre&Stitch.

Sandy's got some great sneak peeks from the Creative Mixed Media Journaling Techniques class on her blog.  Take a look here.

And check out the flickr group for my Journal Making for the Fiber Artist online class.  The students in my class have posted some more photo of their journals.  I think you'll agree that they're a very talented group!

What started out as a rainy gloomy day has turned into a sunny pleasant one with temperatures just a hair under 70.  I am enjoying it very much!  Once I hit the publish button on this post I'm headed back out to my lounge chair on the deck but I'll leave you with this parting shot of one of the trees in my backyard waking up after a long cold winter...

Have a great weekend!

postcards

Found a new fiber to work with called Abaca.   Very cool stuff.   I used it on these postcards:

I've got a couple projects brewing that involve working with this stuff.  Stay tuned for more hopefully later this week!

And the winners are...

I decided to pick 4 winners since I got so many comments and I have 4 silk velvet fat quarters and loads of lace.  So without further delay the winners are:

Pippa of http://hippopip.blogspot.com/
Anna of http://annanowicki.blogspot.com/
liz  of http://newsfromthebasement.blogspot.com/
Deb of http://justenoughtime.wordpress.com/

Would you please all email me at suebleiweiss@yahoo.com with your snail mail addresses and I'll get your goodie bag out in the mail to you right away. 

Thanks to everyone who played in the giveaway! 

swaps, gifts, journals and more!

The VAST theme challenge for March is Green and so I created a green journal for it:

This has a gorgeous glass button embellishment on it.  More photos here.

These two are actually gifts.  One is for someone who did something really nice for me and one is for a swap with the BBEST group:

It's a secret swap so the person won't know that they're getting it until it shows up at their door.  The insides of these are filled with colorful pages and some of that very cool velvet paper.

And this is another journal made with that white embossed wrapping paper:

Some gorgeous papers in this one.  More inside photos in the shop.

Sandy has finished testing the lesson for weeks 3&4 for my Journaling Techniques class.  She got some fabulous results!   I'm now starting to get weeks 5,6&7 organized and written for her to test.  This class is coming together faster  than I anticipated so there's a chance that I may be able to run it sooner than September.   

In case you missed the previous post, registration for the Journal Making for the Fiber Artist online class is now open, click here for all the details!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Lots of stuff...

Couldn't come up with a good title for this post so "lots of stuff" will have to do!  First up I have very exciting news to share.  My good friend Terri has written a book!  It's called Creative Paper Quilts: Applique, Embellishment, Patchwork, Piecework and it's available for pre-order on Amazon here.  I'm so excited for you Terri!

My other good friend Sandy has agreed to be my official tester for my lessons for the Creative Mixed Media Journaling Techniques class and she's posted her sample from the first lesson here.  Keep your eye on Sandy's blog as she'll be posting more samples as I give her more of the lessons to test for me.

Remember the white embossed paper that I showed you in my last post.  Well I got a few pieces painted up yesterday:

Copper...

I'm not sure that this one is done yet, I think it may need another layer or two.  It feels a little too bright for me.

Black:

I was going for an embossed black leather look with this one.   Not entirely sure it's there yet.  This photo isn't the best, it's actually a bit darker than what you see here. 

Silver:

This silver surface is very shiny in person.  I think I may leave this one the way it is and make a wedding memories journal from it. 

Brown:

and here again I was going for a distressed embossed leather surface.  I think I like this one the way it is.  Not sure though, I think I need to leave it for a day before I decided if it's finished.

Thanks to all of you who emailed me about my foot both through my blog comments and directly.  Once I get used to this clunky boot I think I'll be fine.  I'm just grateful it's not my hands so I can still be active in the studio.   Now if we could just get rid of all this snow and cold I'd be really happy!

a little change of plans...

Been having some trouble with my foot lately and today after a trip to the foot dr and some xrays I found out why.

A fractured bone in my foot ...

so this will be my footwear for the next 6 to 8 weeks.  Hopefully it will heal, if not the bone will have to come out.  I'm really hoping it heals!

So that means my weaving project has come to a screeching halt because I weave with my right foot.  Not a happy camper about that.

But the good news is that I did some fabric cutting testing with the  Cricut
By ironing a piece of fabric between two pieces of freezer paper I was able to get a pretty close to clean cut.  So yes, a Cricut will cut fabric.  Not as cleanly as it cuts a piece of cardstock but it will cut it.  I'll be playing with this technique a bit more.    By the way, I bought my Cricut from the very nice people at crazyscraps.com.  After much shopping around they seemed to have the best deal and they're very nice to deal with.

So now that the weaving project is hold for a bit I'll turn my attention back to working on some other things that I don't need my foot for.  First up is this:

I picked up this roll of embossed textured wrapping paper at the gift store last night.  It's actually a pure white but it's a gray snowy day so I didn't get a great photo of it.  It's a gorgeous roll of paper and I'm thinking that after I transform it a bit with some paint and other things it will make a fabulous surface for a journal.

presents for me!

It's been a banner week for me for getting good things in the mail.  First off this gorgeous gourd bowl from Terri. 

I just love this bowl.  The shape and the colors are just perfect.  It makes me want to sign up for her new Gorgeous Gourds class that starts in April.

and I treated myself to a new bag from a wonderful Etsy seller that I met through the  Etsy Boomers group.

Don't you just love this bag?!  And it's so well constructed and sewn.  I can't wait for spring to get here so I can use it and show it off.   Check out Kimbuktu's Etsy shop here.

And last but not least, the UPS man delivered this on Thursday:

a new Cricut Expression machine!  I'm having a lot of fun playing with this.  I also managed to get some new notebooks and journals added to the etsy shop this week.

But now it's back to the loom.  Handwoven magazine loved the pillows that I sent them that I blogged about here.  They liked them so much they asked me to weave one more so that's what I'll be working on for the next few days.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A good cause and a new journal

I don't know if you are aware of Ami Simms initiative to raise money for Alzheimer's research or not.  You should really pop over and visit the website to learn how you can help support this very worthy cause by purchasing a donated quilt.   I just bought myself one by the very talented Annie Nordmark (who doesn't have a blog unfortunately).  This quilt is is called "Wild Dreams"

and it's perfect for my living room, although I am very tempted to hang it on the wall and display it.  But it looks so good draped over the edge of the chaise I might just leave it right where it is.   You can click here to read the artist statement that goes with it.    Annie I just love it and I'm so glad it's mine! 

And I added a new chalkboard journal to the shop this morning:

Detail photos in the shop.  This one comes with journaling tags made from the chalkboard fabric!

Have a great weekend everyone!