Happy St. Patrick’s Day and luck of the Irish to you! I have a lucky patch of shamrock’s growing in a natural area close to my house and nothing says St. Patrick’s Day better than a shamrock. I love to look through patches of clover for a lucky 4-leaf clover and did so this morning.  I figured that finding one on St. Patrick’s Day would be extra lucky. Right?

And I did find one. I didn’t pick it like I usually do, but left it to grow, hoping it will bring better luck that way.

After having good luck finding my 4 leaf clover, I’m now going to look for a rainbow so I can find the pot of gold. I know its out there somewhere!

Happy St. Patty to all of you!

Phyllis

I just received a copy of a beautiful new quilt book Bed Runners & More and am trilled that I have 2 quilts featured in this book. Bed runners add such a dramatic decorative touch to a bed and bedroom! Published by House of White Birches and edited by Carolyn S. Vagts, this book has instructions and patterns for 9 bed runners with some coordinating shams for different looks for the bedroom. The theme of the book is seasonal, with bed runners for the different seasons of the year.

I designed Summer Blossoms runner with 2 pillow shams. I adore and love these hot and spicy colors in the Penny Lane fabric collection from Quilting Treasures. They definitely say “summer time”! This runner is 81″ x 27″ and the shams fit regular size pillows. The fuchsia flowers are appliqued.

My other quilt is Warm Splendor made with the beautiful warm and cozy fall colors in the Cornucopia fabric collection by Quilting Treasures. The size of this bed runner is 77 1/2″ x 30″ plus the prairie points on each end. Both of these quilt runners are easy to make and make great projects for a beginner quilter as well as the experienced quilter.

I hope you look for this book for the other fabulous projects included. It was fun designing my projects as well as sewing and quilting them, so I hope you will give them a try!

Happy Quilting!

Phyllis

Get out your craft supplies!  March is National Craft Month. To celebrate, many of the craft companies are planning lots of activities and specials, so click to see these activities all listed on CraftPlace.org.

I’ve always loved crafting and have created crafts from childhood. Oh, all the crafts I have worked with – drawing and painting, sewing, designing doll clothes, batik, macrame, stained glass (this was my only drop out due to too many cuts and blood), decoupage, paper crafting, embroidery, cross stitch, beading (both jewelry and sewing), crochet, needlepoint, quilting, crewel, rug hooking, and mosaics. I know there are plenty more that just didn’t pop out of the top of my head. I love taking classes and whenever a class was available on a craft technique, I took it.

Let me know what you love about crafting. Me – I love how relaxing it is and how little everyday life stresses fade away when crafting. You can come home from a hard day at work and let a little crafting soothe you. As a designer, I can get stressed by deadlines creeping up, but when I start working on the projects, I’m in heaven! I also love the creative aspect – no two craft projects are the exact same, so you’ve created something totally unique. Its also something that you can do with your kids for some really good times together. The list of perks from crafting just goes on and on!

Seriously, let me know about your crafting loves or experiences!

Phyllis

I love, love needlework and have collected needlework books for years. I just added The Complete Photo Guide to Needlework by Linda Wyszynski to my collection and have to say that along with it being a beautiful book, its also the most comprehensive book I have. Needlework is so versatile. In addition to all types of needlework projects you can create, you can also use needlework to add beauty and detail to quilts and sewing projects. A few embroidery stitches can also make such a difference with your favorite craft technique, even paper crafts.

This book has photos and diagrams for 200 stitches you can use for creative embroidery, crewel, silk ribbon embroidery, bead embroidery, cross stitch and needlepoint. In addition to all the photos, the book is filled with easy to follow diagrams. With this book, you will have all the information to get you started with needlework – stitching equipment and supplies, canvases, charts, fabrics, threads, ribbons and much more.

Included in The Complete Photo Guide to Needlework, published by Creative Publishing International, are projects to use with the different techniques. You will love this book whether you are a beginner or an experienced stitcher.

A little bit about Linda – I’ve known Linda for at least 20 years. She is the most talented needlework designer I know and designs for numerous magazines and books as well as correspondence classes for The Embroider’s Guild of America. She worked very diligently on this book to insure its completeness and to design the beautiful projects. She was aided by her husband Dennis, who created the graphs, illustrations and took the photographs – a winning combination to produce a beautiful book!

Put a little stitching in your day!

Phyllis

Pinterest does seem be paying attention to all the bad press its been getting in the last few weeks.  I wrote the “Pinterest – Love It and Do It Right” post a few days ago to give tips on how to pin an image to avoid copyright infringement as well as to provide a clear link back to the image source.

Copyright issues are at the heart of a big problem with pinning and repinning images. After a photographer, Kristen with DDK Portraits, wrote a blog post on why she was tearfully deleting her Pinterest boards, she received a phone call from Ben Silbermann, the owner of Pinterest. A REAL LIVE PHONE call. Please read the blog post on Kristen’s phone “Date with Ben Silbermann“. It does sound like he genuinely wants to address and correct the problems with Pinterest.  Yea!  DOUBLE YEA! Fingers and toes crossed because I do love Pinterest.

So stay tuned and to quote Bob Dylan with a word change – “the Pinterest, they are a-changin”! (We hope!)

And remember – protect you images always with a watermark, an id with your name or url, or all of these.

Phyllis

Everyone loves Pinterest!  One word describes it – beautiful!  The pin’s (photos, images, tutorials, crafts, etc.) are all so gorgeous and inspiring.  You can get easily lost in a time warp with Pinterest (I know that from first hand experience!).  Its one of the fastest growing sites as well as becoming one of the most important tools for driving traffic – if used correctly.  There are also some pitfalls – such as violation of the copyright laws. Sometimes people are unaware of the copyright laws and without realizing it, violate them.

One way to avoid infringing of copyrights is to secure permission from the image owner before pinning it.  Plain and simple – case closed!  Some people may not want an image they posted pinned and Pinterest recently developed some code you can use to prevent pinning of an image.  Meanwhile others love having someone pin their images (and I’m one – see below).  And when you do pin something, always provide a link to the blog or website that the image came from (read below for the correct way).  Always!

I found this blog that explains how to pin correctly with 4 simple tips. Basically, when you pin, find the link where the image is located. Do not give the general url for the blog or website but use the permalink.  For a blog, click on the title of the article containing the image.  That will give you the permalink  showing at the top of the web page and is the link you should use.  In Pinterest, click at the top on “Add”, then paste the permalink.  You will get a dialog box where you can select the image that you want posted.

When pinning correctly, someone can click on the image pinned  and go to that web page to find out more information about the image pinned.  This way, you are really “sharing the love” of the pin. I have found many interesting blogs and a lot of useful information by clicking through the image.

I want to say that I personally love to have someone share my images on Pinterest, if done correctly with a permalink.

Also, to help protect your images when you are posting an image on your blog or website, place your name and link directly on the image so that it has your identifying information on it in case it “strays”, whether on Pinterest or elsewhere. I recently had one of my images found in Google inages show up on someone else’s’ blog without crediting me (a big blog no-no and a copyright infringement). Someone I know saw it because of my identifying information and contacted me. So protect your images (and put the identifying info where it can’t be easily cropped out by someone unscrupulous, and yes, unfortunately there are some of those people out there)!

Also be aware that Pinterest’s Terms of Service are becoming quite a controversy. I’ve read a lot on the for and against them, mostly against, and personally feel that they need to really make some big changes in them, BIG changes. So you need to weigh the pro’s and con’s when pinning an image.

For more on the benefits of using Pinterest for marketing, here are 56 ways to market your business on Pinterest.

Have fun pinning the correct way!

Phyllis

UPDATE – Flickr has now added coding so that the images on that site cannot be pinned.

I love Little Red Tulip, a new online store from which you can get assorted one-of-a-kind personalized products for kids and adults. My Wine Time! art images are now available on products including notebooks, binders (for notes, recipes or your favorite wines), coasters, and clipboards featuring both red wine and white wine art.  These are perfect for you wine lovers.

More Wine Time! products will soon be available on journals, note cards and invitations. All of the items can be personalized with your name or initial. The coasters and notebooks have designs on both sides, with one side available for personalization.

Please check Little Red Tulip out for a wide assortment of gift, stationery, office, baby, and home accent products, all with unique art from various artists. I will also have more of my art collections coming soon.  And while you are at it, please check out my bio on the Little Red Tulip blog along with the bio’s of the other artists.

Bottoms up!

Phyllis

I just received a copy of Quilted Gifts from your Scraps & Stash, by House of White Birches.  Its a book filled with all types and sizes of quilted projects, from quilts, backpacks, pot holders to pillows and much more for 40 great projects for you to make. I’m delighted that one of my quilt designs is included in this book.

Daisy Pocket Quilt is the perfect size to use as either a wall hanging or bed quilt. The diagonal striped blocks are pockets so that kids can store their favorite items while adding a splash of color to their room. I used the bright, colorful fabric “Kids go Green” by Kari Pearson from Quilting Treasures to compete the quilt. The quilt is pieced with the large daisies fused and appliqued. I hope you will make one for the kid in your life – its an easy and fun quilt to make.

Happy Quilting

Phyllis

Valentine’s – a day that love is in the air! And a day that we express our love, love from our heart. The heart represents our feelings of love and I want to share my heart with you. I doodled this simple heart on an art journal page I worked on recently.

Express your love, but not just to your significant other – share it with your parents, your children, and friends along with a Valentine hug.  And don’t forget to hug your pets – they give us so much love too!

These other talented artists are participating in a Valentine’s Day international blog hop. So please check out their blogs for  extra Valentine art -

Chris Chun (thanks Chris for organizing this!)

Allison Langton

Gabby Malpas

Patricia Shea

Sharon Himes

Barbara Johansen Newman

Skye Rogers

Belinda Strong

Ellen Blonder

Peggy Jo Ackley

I wish you a happy Valentine’s Day!

Phyllis

Welcome back for more great products and displays from the Craft and Hobby (CHA) Winter Trade Show held in Anaheim, CA. If you missed my first CHA review post, please visit it to see some great color and design.

One of the fun trends I saw at CHA was paper sculpting and the Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) booth had so many fabulous projects, I took photos of all just about of them.

The bird, fish and peacock were all gorgeous and my favorite was the peacock with its tail “feathers” cascading to the floor.

Loved the paper flowers!

The paper sculpture tree held streamers of the beads from their bead line. DCWV also won the best booth for an island or peninsular. The DCWV booths at prior shows were also spectacular, including the one with full size paper dresses.

June Tailor had several new products in their gorgeous booth. Two of their new tools were the Rosette Template and the multi-size flower template as shown with the layered felt flower. The rosettes made with the Rosette Template can be used as accent pieces on boots, knit caps and much more. With your imagination, you can come up with tons more uses. The fringe on the cap in the top center was made with their new fringe tool. And I love the colors of pink and orange color combination they used in this section of the booth.

The gorgeous rose and hydrangea pillows were created with the Rosette tool and I guess you can tell that I love this tool!

I ran into the talented and beautiful Claudine Hellmuth at the Ranger booth after she finished her demonstration using her product line for Ranger -  Studio Paints, Studio Brushes and Studio Sticky Back Canvas.

Debi Schmitz of Expo International is just adorable!  She’s pictured above holding some of the new feather swirls that come in both the bright colors she is holding as well as the more neutral colors that are pictured right below her. They are beautiful, no matter which color!

Peacock’s are really trendy in both design, decoration and motifs. Their peacock feather adornments were gorgeous, especially with the bling in the center.  The hats are about 5″ – 6″ and are so cute. Expo had an entire line of the small hat adornments.

The EK Success booth had a line of crewel kits for their Dimensions Brand, all designed by Lori Siebert. I’ve always loved crewel and embroidery and am excited to see this type of needlework being featured.

In the recent years, Duck Tape has been put to much more creative uses than just being used as tape, with all kinds of fun things being made with it including clothing. Shurtech Brands displayed a prom dress and suit, all made with Duck Tape.

Vanna White was at CHA again, presenting the Lion Brand Yarn runway show. Vanna has been the spokesperson for Lion Brand Yarns for over 14 years. This display of their yarns really made a splash of color!

I don’t usually get excited about irons, but this one is the exception. The Oliso steam iron the “iTouch” is fabulous and its on my shopping list. You just leave it flat and after a few seconds, prongs come out of the bottom and lifts the iron up from the surface. You don’t stand this iron on its “rear” end like most irons, but leave it flat. When you get ready to use it again, just touch the handle and it lowers back to the surface. So no burned or scorched fabrics!  And since it stays flat, is harder to knock over. Oh, another thing I love about it is that it fills on the side instead on the front top end.

More paper sculpture – the pinwheels in the Silhouette booth were cute and fun!

For you sewers and quilters, Sullivans USA had some exciting new products that caught my attention. The top photo shows cutting rulers that sharpen your blades as you cut. In addition, they have a new mat, Add-a-Mat, lets you size the mats as you need them.  This is a great idea for travel where you need to take a cutting mat, like to classes, or are limited in storage space.

CHA has a lot of educational seminars. Tony Ford, the COO of ArtFire and CHA’s Emerging Technology Expert, conducted two classes. I attended both, which were outstanding. I attended a seminar by him at the CHA summer show last year and learned so much. So I made sure to be at both of his seminars this time as well.

One of the fun things that took place at the CHA show was a flash mob dance before the show opened. We’re standing around above trying to blend in and look natural in the crowd before the flash mob.  All of us wore pink She’s Crafty aprons from Charity Wings and had to cover them up prior to the flash mob.

I’m looking forward to working with many of the fabulous products that I’ve shown you, so it will be a fun year!

Happy Crafting,

Phyllis