New store coming in my area Creative Inkling

I am so excited that there is a new store coming to our area. This store is called Creative Inkling and is located in Hatboro. The store owner had a previous store in Peddler's Village. 

What's so amazing is that they have a second floor with rooms that people can rent. So if you want to have a creative retreat with friends, you can arrange to stay and will have a studio space to use for your group. The whole building was renovated and it looks amazing.

Here are pics from my first visit:

Check out their Facebook site and see more info including the great tools they have for doing jewelry classes. They have a lot of fun stuff planned. I met Edie the creative director and she showed me around the studio space. It looks so wonderful. Loads of light, great chairs, lots of room. 

Also, Karen the owner showed me the rooms where guests can stay overnight. The prices are so reasonable and the rooms look great. All new beds and furniture and nice big clean bathrooms. The kitchen area is so nice, with a big long dining table and sitting area. I wanna stay over, even though I'm local.

I cannot wait to see what classes are coming up. Edie did mention that they are teaching a terrarium class and it involves soldering.  I'm ready to sign up! I think the class list will be ready when they have their grand opening in a couple weeks.

So thrilled to have a store around. I've missed it.

Trying new stuff THE BEST

So a year or so ago, after watching tons of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer videos (including the online show Make it Artsy) where she uses the Brother ScanNCut I decided to purchase one.  These machines are great because you can design the art that you use in the machine. 

The video that blew me away is making your own stamps with the Brother ScanNCut. 

Video making stamps ScanNCut

I ordered the supplies (although I must not have ordered the full "kit" because I don't seem to have the downloads for the images she uses in the video).  

I found this image of a leaf, that I love.

The leaf image was the basis for the stamp and above you see the negative image left in the silicone material after I used the ScanNCut to create the stamp.  

Here are samples of me using the newly created image to stamp on paper.  I really prefer to use paint for the images, as they turned out better than using ink.  It might be that there is a coating on the silicone which makes ink resistant.  

How amazing to be able to cut out your own stamps using the ScanNCut.  Love it!

Sewing maker madness

So as I was ready to work on the fabric to repair my patio chairs I realized that my free 10 year old ancient sewing machine was no longer working. I had to make the call, to buy new or repair it. I realized that although these old metal sewing machines were the best ever made, I don't have all the bells and whistles included. Plus the time and effort to find a repair shop and have to wait . . . ughh.

My awesome hubby bought me one for my birthday and I feel like a kid with a new toy. I had no idea how wonderful it is to have a new sewing machine. I got a Singer Stylist 7258 and I LOVE this machine. It has decorative stitches, has 8 different feet included and it's so easy to thread. I'm so thrilled I had to make a couple projects. I made some fun zippered bags and again, YouTube has so many great videos to show you exactly how to make these.

I have a feeling I'm going to be making these for the holidays as gifts. I have tons of these bags and frankly, you cannot get enough of them.

Here's the VERY first one, using saved fabric from old clothes. The wildest one is the inside lining of this bag which is from an old Coca Cola shirt I had from 20+ years ago. I loved the fabric and so I put it to good use.

I personally cannot believe I made this. For the first few days I was literally carrying this bag around with me like a little kid with a teddy bear.

Then I decided I wanted to branch out and use some of the GORGEOUS Trader Joe's bags that I saved up. These bags have great artwork. So here's the second one I made!

I ordered a pack of 8 inch zippers online and they come in fun colors, so I used them on this bag.  Total blast.  Now I want to play with having a two zipper section bag and integrating clear vinyl for the bags. It's just the beginning of my research and development on this one.

Mad Maker

These days I am so excited and energized and feel like a mad maker.  I just want to create and so I have loads to share. 

First project success is that I had some sad and damaged chairs on the patio that needed new life. I purchased cushions to cover up these ugly ancient metal chairs but alas, the two favorites (rocker and glider) both had rips that turned into gashes. 

Thankfully I found a YouTube video from a company called SailRite that showed you step-by-step how to repair the chairs.

Repair sling chairs

Here's the before:

and here's the after:

SO EXCITING.  I will say that nothing is ever as easy as it looks when someone else does it. However, after the third chair I feel that I've gotten the hang of it and I'm getting better. My hand is bruised and sore from dealing with the tension bars that have to be installed after the new seats are in place. 

Interesting thing is that I needed to use petroleum jelly to help slide in the fabric in the channels on the sides of the chair. I noticed that the petroleum jelly made the chairs look brand new. Although I didn't have to paint the chairs, the metal looked faded. So I coated the metal with the petroleum jelly and they look new.

Four of the six chairs are done so I hope to have the rest done soon! 

New York Christmas in July

Sorry, I didn't realize this post was in draft mode and never officially published. Let's call this Christmas in July!

It's been years since I've been to New York city during the Christmas holiday. It is so inspiring and charming to be in New York around the holidays. If you can survive the Rockefeller Center hoards, it's worth every moment.

I went with my dear friend Chris and my favorite windows are at Bergdorf Goodman. This year the theme was celebrating New York's cultural institutions.

My photos do not do justice to the artwork because of the glare. So here's a link to a site that will take you through all the windows.

They are magnificent.

Bergdorf Goodman windows slideshow