Inspiria- cirque du CCSA!

Our trade show team has been working their happy butts off this week to prepare for the largest convention of the year for the ceramic arts industry in Kansas City next week. Our booth will showcase the latest in bisque to the attendees of the Contemporary Ceramic Studios Association and also have some pretty snazzy make-it-take-it goodies, too. And the designers on hand will be our very own Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo and Traci Bautista to kick things off to a crafty good time for everyone.

I took these snappy pics of just a teeny few of the massive amount of bisque from our Duncan Ceramics that will be shown in the booth. How exciting! If you own a ceramic arts studio, you won't want to miss it on September 11 - 14th.

Alyson Dias, our Marketing & Communications Director at iLoveToCreate recently got a call inviting the Tulip brand to be a part of New York City's Fashion's Night Out event, and she just posted the announcement on FaceBook today. How exciting and outrageous!

She also announced that... "the ever-fashionable and totally talented Erica Domesek of ps-imadethis is using Tulip Fabric Spray, Tulip Stencils and Tulip T-Shirt Forms in a DIY event at Tia's Place at Grand Central Station in NYC on Sept 10!!!"

Woot-woot!

Fresno Etsy Chicks

What a group! The Fresno Etsy chicks invited me and Kathy Cano Murillo to their meet-up tonight at the Red Robin. We caused quite a stir with Alexa Westerfield who is the amazing blogger at Swell Designer. We swapped bizness cards and discussed the plethora of marketing ideas for designers to get published, licensed, and sell our designs. Kathy gave us some great tips for organized a maker fair and ways to write about crafting. With this core group there are jewelry makers, pet fashionistas, custom costumers, felt makers, knitters, bloggers, and more! I know, I don't have an Etsy Store yet, so they made me an honorary member/craft consultant. Isn't that nice? I really do plan to open a store, seeing how that I have tons, tons, tons of supplies and designs filling up space in my garage. It's time to get busy and jump on the Etsy train.

The Simple Things...

Sometimes it's the simple things that make a difference. Here's the perfect example. Just take a TP cardboard tube, glue some fabric around it, and now you have a grrrrreat cord wrangler!

Bread Dough Jewelry

I've been sitting on the couch, kneading Aleene's® Tacky Glue and white bread together so I can make bread dough jewelry today. Tomorrow morning I am going to be on the KMPH Fox 26 Morning Show here in Fresno, along with Cheryl Ball and Allee Marderosian. We will be on from 6 til 10 a.m. and be demonstrating 10 fun summer crafts.

So, I thought it would be a great time to remind everyone about the easy dough that you can make with glue and bread. The necklace and bracelet in these pics are from my book, The Crafter's Guide to Glue. I made the classic roses and pressed them into fancy shaped paper clips. Then I assembled them with jump rings. The colors came from little drops of acrylic paint. Today I experimented with puffy paint and food coloring. Fun!


Here's the scoop on how to make your...


Aleene's® Tacky Glue & Bread Dough

1. The basic bread dough formula is one slice of bread to one tablespoon of glue.
2. Remove all of the crusts from the number of slices you'll need for your project and tear into small pieces.
3. Put the bread in a plastic bag and pour the appropriate number of tablespoons of glue into the bag (1 piece bread to 1 tablespoon glue). Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until it becomes smooth and workable.
4. At first it will be sticky, but keep kneading. Due to differences in climate and moisture in the area, you may need to adjust the ratio of bread to glue.
5. If after 10 minutes the mixture is still too sticky, add more small pieces of bread. If it is too dry or stiff add a few more drops of glue.
6. You can color the dough by adding a few drops of paint to the dough.
7. Roll the dough out on a smooth and clean surface as you would with cookie dough. Use your fingers or cookies cutters to mold and cut shapes.
8. Small projects will take hours to dry, while larger ones could take days.
9. You can store the dough in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator for several months.

Treads and Threads

Supplies:
Bicycle Tire (auto tire, or tennis shoe)
Prewashed Cotton Tee Shirt
Tulip® 3D Fashion Paint (Black Slick)
Newspaper
Clothes Pins
Disposable Brush
Paper Plate

Steps:

1. Place newspaper inside shirt. Hold in place with clothespins.
2. Generously apply paint to the tread of a bicycle tire, the width of the tee shirt, using a disposable brush.
3. Roll the paint covered tire over the tee shirt to stamp with the tread.

Pattie's Pointer:
Boys and girls will both love this funky technique for stamping their tee shirts with tire tread. You can use anything with a tread, such as an automobile tire, or tennis shoes or hiking boots. For a tread-theme decorating idea, you can stamp a lampshade, window shade, and pillows for the teen or tween who loves motocross, cycling, or just loves dirt!

Faux Moustaches

Every once in a while, you meet someone who you have a crafty connection with, and Kelly Georgette is one in a million. I met her in Nashville, and she said that she remembered watching me with her gramma every day at lunchtime when I was a host on Aleene's Creative Living. She was so excited that she was meeting someone that loves to craft as much as she does. Well, as an intern at Simplicity Creative Group, she was our go-to gal. Anything we dreamed up, Kelly could do it. Her quick wit and fast crafts made my work easier in new product development, and she also kept the office happy with her cute outfits and new crafty ideas.

I just love her Kelly Georgette Etsy store and the cute moustaches and decoupage plaques there. If you go buy something from her, tell her Pattiewack sent ya...

Time to make a FOUNTAIN?

Is it time to make a FOUNTAIN for the deck? I know... you thought this was a chiminea didn't you? Well, it was... until I grabbed some heavy duty industrial strength Aleene's® Platinum Bond™ 7800 All-Purpose Adhesive glue and turned it into a fountain with broken china and grout. Be sure and coat the inside of the base with rubber that you brush on, and that you pick up at the local home improvement store, and drill a hole in the chimney for your pump cord to go through.

If you look really close, you'll see a miniature tea set that I added for a touch of whimsey.

After you glue broken china all over; you let the glue dry, you grout it, and then spray with sealer... Add the pump, cover it with broken dishes, and pour in your water.

Now, you're ready to plug it in, serve up some cool drinki-poos and enjoy the soft trickle of your fabulous fountain.

Romance Novel Jewelry

I found some paperback romance books at the antique store in Clovis this weekend, and it reminded me of this pretty necklace I made using the in jet shrink plastic in my online Pattiewack Store. You will just love how fun this is to make, and it's a real conversation starter.

Supplies:
PattieWack Ink Jet Shrink Plastic
Ink-Jet Printer, Scanner, Computer
Romance Novel Book Cover(s)
Hole Punch, Scissors Wooden Tongs
Heat Gun
Clear Embossing Ink, Clear Embossing Powder
1/4 inch Gold Jump Rings
22 Gauge Gold Artistic Wire
Beads
Wire Cutters, Needle-nose Pliers
1/4 Inch Organdy Ribbon (36 inches)

Steps:
1. Scan book cover,reduce color saturation until colors are pastel. Reduce size to 3x2 inches.
2. Print the image with ink-jet printer, onto PattieWack Ink-Jet Shrink Plastic. Let dry.
3. Cut out the image, and punch hole in the center top and center bottom of pendant.
4. Shrink the pendant with a heat gun, holding the pendant still with wooden tongs, and keeping it from curling. Heat until the pendant is flat. Use the tongs to help flatten the pendant.
5. Tap embossing ink gently onto the pendant, then cover with embossing powder. Heat with heat gun to melt the powder. Do not overheat.
6. Add jump rings to top and bottom of pendant. Add wire and beads to the bottom of the pendant.
7. Thread ribbon through the top jump ring to complete necklace.

The Teen Choice Awards!

Our Media Crew is at the Teen Choice Awards tonight, and are giving away swag filled with Tulip Fabric Paint. We've been tweeting all day, and having a blast with all the celebrities

The little girls from Desperate Housewives had so much fun, and didn't get a drop on their dresses.

Click here to follow our TWEETS!

Tiger Beat with Allee Inside!!

Next time you're browsing the magazine rack, check out the latest TIGER BEAT MAGAZINE for Allee Marderosian's new ad spot for iLoveToCreate! Allee designed the vibrant t-shirt with Tulip® Soft Fabric Paint™ and Tulip® 3D Fashion Paint™, then made her creation extra bright with Tulip® Glam-It-Up!™ Iron-On Crystals™.

I snapped this pic right after Alyson Dias, our Marketing Communications Manager dropped off the Tiger Beat mag with Allee's ad in it, and Allee was so excited I thought her cheeks would burst!

Allee is the queen of graffit art and tie dye creations in our design studio. She rocks.

Way to go, Allee!

Let the show BEGIN!

Yes, those are guys in skirts, and BAGPIPES! They circled the building and played the cermonial pipes to start the show last week for the CHA Summer 2009 trade show. If you're not in the know, the CHA stands for Crafts & Hobbies Association. This show features everything from paint and glue to scrapbooking and glitter.

Our show stopper at booth #801 iLoveToCreate, was the Crafty Chica shrine, designed by Kathy Cano Murillo, our star designer of all things glittericious. And Mark Peters was the very first one to poke his head in the shrine and get his crafty shine on. Too funny! We had quite the crafty crowd all through the show, as you just couldn't pass by our booth without poking your head in the shrine for a kodak moment.

CHA Summer Set Up

The iLoveToCreate booth was fabulous! Alyson and I worked our booties off setting it up with the weird help of the union dudes. I promise, I could have gone out for lunch and had a cocktail in the same time it took one of those guys to walk across the booth space. But, as you can see if you click on the pic for a closer look, we did it, and it looked great.

The iLoveToCreate team at home did a fantastic job of coordinating the whole thing, with lots of hands on deck. Mandy was wonderful, and Patty & Alexa were outrageously creative with the whole set-up. I loved all the gold frames around the Aleene's adhesives.

I was all set to go with my Aleene's Adhesives Make & Take demo. Looks all nice and neat at this point, before the crazy crafty buyers hit the booth.


And this blur of action is how it looked when they came to take advantage of the action at our booth. It was like someone was directing craft traffic straight to our booth.

Keep coming back, and I'll show you some of the tacky jewelry we were making... with Tacky Glue, no less.

iLoveToCreate

Our new iLoveToCreate sign being hoisted above our booth at CHA gave me goosebumps! I've got lots more pics on my iphone, so keep checking back for more...

I Heart Brini!

I just love Brini Maxwell, and I was checking out crafty videos on youtube and found this great highlights video! My favorite is the Styrofoam fruit!

We made it to California!

We made it to California, and my favorite grocery store.. Trader Joes. This bottle of wine cracked me up! The $2 Chuck was right there, ready for us to throw in our cart, too. Yeah!

Angelcots.... these white apricots were soooo juicy. They have a cute name, too.

Clovis is soooo pretty, quaint, and pedestrian friendly. We have spent many evenings on the outdoor patio eating Italian food, Mexican food, and having a nice glass of wine or frosty mugs of beer. Our fave coffee shop keeps giving us cookies when we drop by, and the owners even invited us to their house for their 4th of July swim party! We feel like we've found a new hometown.

We've just about finished unpacking everything, and I put this shelf off for last. (sigh)

But, I do have to use my books for inspiration, and I seem to be LOTS more creative when I'm organized.

We decided to make the "media room" our home office. Yeppers, I have to SHARE with Scott-poo. I love my "new" drafting table since we spray painted it bright red.

Anyway, the french doors are clear glass and show all of the clutter in there and can be seen from the living room, kitchen and dining rooms. Soooo, I saw a crafting/gluing opportunity!

I had these IKEA curtain panels left over from a stage that I set for one of Scott's videos, and thought they just might work for a door covering.

They're great, because I can still see through them, but they obscure the view just enough.

Ta-Da! All I needed was a little adhesive, scissors, and cool curtain panels.

Moving across America...

Mom was happy to see this humungous box of yarn that Scott had to use a dolly to move into her quilt shop. I just couldn't see me sitting and crocheting or knitting in my immediate future, seeing how I'm taking on this new corporate gig with Duncan Enterprises. I'm thinkin' my time is going to be preeeety busy with paint, glue, transfers, appliques, ceramics, and FUN!

I had another box, the same size...filled with fabric, but gave it to Robyn because as you can see...my Mom has TONS of fabric in her quilting stash! Now you see where I get my organizing gene. I was totally jealous of her neat little color-coordinated stash of fabric. By the way, it's all washed, dried and pressed. Ready for her next quilt, to sell on Pearls Quilts.com.

Dumpster dive sewing machine!!! Mom and Dad were at the local dumpster and emptying their trash when they saw this couple getting ready to toss this beautiful machine in with all the ewie trash! They politely asked the couple if they minded if they took it instead and of course in a couple of minutes it was in their trunk. It's beautiful! In mint condition. I never heard of a Necchi-Alco, but Mom said that it was from Sears. And....she offered it to me. Do you know how hard it was to turn it down?! But I already have a beautiful Singer and a Janome that both do everything from sewing drapes to embroidering. Mom has FIVE machines! I left there with sewing machine envy....woweee zoweee!

One of mom's latest quilt creations...all hand embroidered. She and Dad have a hand-guided quilting machine and this one has their signature perfection stitching. Gorgeous & amazing! It will sell fast.

But THIS one is all HAND quilted. I just stood there in awe. I can't believe she labors over these meticulous quilts for months, and then SELLS them.

I know this pic is a little blurry with my cell phone camera, but I took it in the quilt shop of all the quilts waiting to be sold out of the antique wardrobe. Scott's mom would love the batik fabric in the quilt at the top of the stack. Her bedroom is totally modern.

Coconut cream pie, baybeeeeee. My Mom's is the BEST!

This bear was on the corner of Mom & Dad's street at Grand Lake O' the Cherokees, where a dead tree had been turned into art by a chain saw artist.

Crafting in the car.... yeppers. That's me and Scott sculptured in play dough. I couldn't just sit there! And besides, our 3 year old grandson Zane gave me the play dough. When we were packing the car to leave, he disappeared for a bit, and suddenly he was in the front seat, placing a tub of play dough in my drink holder. He looked up at me and said "There, grammy!" He and I had made everything from the play dough... hamburgers, dinosaur eggs, happy faces, and a whole family. I think that tub of play dough was the best present, EVer....

A beautiful sunset just before we found a hotel in Gallup, New Mexico.

Next morning in Gallup, the coffee shop Camille's had these amazing lamps.

Now, I must go to flea markets and find lamps to combine for our new house!

This century plant was in full bloom in Sedona. I'll bet it was 20 feet tall.

Another tie-dye spotting! These were so cute at the gift shop in Sedona.

Ahhh....wine by the fire pit in Sedona. Consilience Wine, made by some of our close friends in Santa Barbara. The perfect ending to a perfect day.