Back to Artsyville!

A collective sigh of relief went out in my neighborhood this morning. The kids went back to school. I'm ready to get back on track, back on the path to Artsyville. Last Friday, I was thrilled to see a preview of my new Cloth Paper Scissors video workshop, available tomorrow! Then this morning, I was delighted to see that Cate Prato wrote a great blog article about some of my work. I feel so lucky to get such a boost of encouragement as the new year starts. A huge hug of gratitude goes out to Jenn Mason, Barb Delaney, Cate Prato, the Cloth Paper Scissors team, and the folks at Interweave in Loveland, Colorado!

One of my goals for 2013 is to really look at things in a new way, not just artistically, but in my personal life as well. My family was playing Boggle the other night and we had one of those collective ah-hah moments. As each of us wrote our list of found words, we each felt we had exhausted all our options, we had surely found every possible word in the Boggle box. However, as we read our lists, we each realized we missed at least 5 or 6 other words, and some of them were right under our noses. We talked about how this game is so much like life. In so many situations, we become set in our ways, certain that we know all that is possible. By taking another look, by shifting things around, and by sharing our situations with others, we can see things in a very new light.

This little project is a result of seeing things a little differently. Last fall I wanted to use some feathers for a wire and paper piece I was creating. Having none, I decided to just walk around outside for a while and think about how to create something else. A change of scenery gave me the idea to use small sticks with paper and embroidery floss to create these fun feathers. I liked them so much better than my original idea!

All you need:

Here's the how-to:
1) Make a feather shape with paper of your choice. Fringe the edges on each side.
2) Place the stick in the center of the feather.
3) Cut at 10" piece of embroidery floss (two strands.)
4) Starting at the tip of the feather, wrap the middle of the 10" piece of floss around the back of the feather. Bring the floss pieces to the front of the stick, cross the pieces, and take them back through the fringes to the back of the feather. Cross them in back and repeat.
5) When you get to the end of the feather, wrap the end of the stick several times and tie a tiny knot. Add a dot of glue.

I'd love to see what you are up to this month. If you try the feathers, please leave a link in the comments so we can take a look!