love forever

Maskmaker, Maskmaker

As promised, my masquerade costume for the company holiday party!









Slightly creepy, but in an awesome way. I made a mold of my face and stiffened vintage lace over the mold using this magical stuff. I had to do about five coats to get the thing really stiff. Then I sewed sequins and more lace pieces all over the mask. For the collar, I used a pattern I already had, sewed together a few more pieces of lace, some more sequins and whole lotta feathers. I was afraid, like many of my well-intentioned ideas, that it wouldn't last through the night, but it held up through champagne toasts, sweaty dancing and serious photobooth posing.

Here it is in action at the party with a few of my co-workers/partners in crime. They all made their own masks too- hey, as the visual team we have to represent at a costume party!


Band photo!


Masquerades are so much fun! Hiding behind a mask for the night is oddly liberating. Usually I like dressing up for the party more than the party itself but put a mask on me and all bets are off!

Bookkeeping

It's been a while since I've talked books but this week was a busy one in Appliqué Your Way-land and I wanted to post some updates:

One, I finally re-linked both of my books on the blog. One day, they just disappeared like "poof" and it seriously took me this long to put them back up. And by me I mean Mr. Loveforever, who is way more tech savvy than I.

Two, my super-talented little brother Jesse is trying to raise money to produce his second record on Pledge Music (like Kickastarter but for musicians) and, if you so desire, you can donate by buying an autographed copy of my book plus a kit to make these woodland creature ornaments above. My mom contributed this project to the book and we made the kits together. It's a real family affair folks!

Three, you can enter to win a copy of my book over at the Clay, Wood and Cotton blog. All you have to tell them is what your favorite summer read was. Easy as pie.

Get Ready for the Craft Derby!

My pals Kristen and Kristy from the always-awesome store Clay, Wood and Cotton emailed me yesterday so I could share the news of heir first-ever Craft Derby! What's a Craft Derby you ask? It's a friendly little craft competetion. Every two weeks, on Tuesdays, they will put out a call here on our blog for craft projects following a different theme. Entrants will have two weeks to send in photos and a description of their project for consideration.

There will be two winners for each theme: a Judges’ Choice winner and a People’s Choice winner. The Judges Choice winner will be chosen by Kristen and Kirsty + a different Special Guest Judge each week. The remaining entries will be eligible to be the People's Choice winner, based on voting on their blog. 

And the best part: they will collect all of the winning projects in a book, which will be available for sale as a PDF download on ClayWoodandCotton.com, and in softcover in their shop in Beacon, NY. 

So head on over an get crafting!

Fall Leaf Napkins Tutorial on Parents.com

Fall is suddenly here and I am ready to nest. As soon as the cold weather hits, I start thinking about gathering friends and family together for big dinners. I always like to use cloth napkins; they coudn't be easier to make! I'll teach you how to print on napkins using fall leaves as your printing medium over on Parents Magazine website.

Pretty Preserves Tied Up With String

Remember these jams I made a couple of years ago? Well, the lovely people over at Instructables asked me to write up the instructions for the packaging as a featured project so you can make them too!
I made mine for the holidays (an absolutely perfect gift by the way-it was a huge hit!) but these jams would be a perfect hostess gift for any time.

Thankful

letterpress print by Brad Vetter

Bear with me while I get sappy for a minute. I've been plugging away at this little blog on and off for a few years, sometimes more off than on. When I started out, I had no idea who would read, who I would meet, where it would take me.

Even though it's taken me to great places, there are times I feel like no one cares, I question what or why the blog exists for and sometimes I get a little lost in my head. I think way too much, as you may have noticed.

Blogging is a lonely job- you put a lot of yourself out there and aren't quite sure how people feel about it.
But then, little things happen that make you realize how connected we all are. Last night, Holly Becker, the uber-blogger from Decor8 and now author of the awesome book Decorate, asked me to speak at her book signing/mood board presentation and it was such an honor to speak with her and so much fun to hang out with her (we hadn't seen each other in five years!).

After the event, I went out with Holly, and a few other awesomely wonderful creative ladies (and one gentleman) and for the first time in a while, really felt like I was doing something right. We talked about making art, blogging, spending a lot of time alone and in our own heads, that nagging sense that your art is never "finished" and I felt understood and happy. Content even. Not an easy emotion for a perfectionist workaholic to feel.

I've been curled up in my shell for longer than I care to admit and I'm ready to come back out. Thanks to all the new readers who have come over from Decor8 (and thanks again Holly). I hope you enjoy your stay here! There are lots of new and exciting things coming to This is Love Forever soon so stay tuned.

 

Book Review and Giveaway: Design Your Own Tees

I adore a book that not only teaches you lots of new techniques but inspires you to make your very own creations. I can imagine each and every one of the projects in Design Your Own Tees by Jennifer Cooke (St. Martin's Press) spun into millions of other projects. You can block print, silkscreen, stitch and appliqué your way to tee shirts of course but also to everything else you own!

Jennifer is known for her bright colors and modern bold prints in both her line Raeburn Ink and in this book. Her style is such an original modern take on many different crafty techniques- I want to make everything but my absolute favorite is the hexogonal appliqué tee on the front cover. I could imagine that pattern on tees (natch), pillows, a dress or maybe an ipad cover?

So...do you want to win this book? Of course you do! Here's what you have to do: leave me a comment and tell me if you've ever done any tee shirt makeovers. What did you do? What do you want to try?

Just leave a comment by Monday July 11th 5 pm EST and I'll pick a winner.

 

Book Review and Giveaway: Vintage Craft Workshop

We picked a winner and it's...Missy! Congrats! I'll be sending you an email shortly.

Can you tell it's Spring craft book season? Hope you guys are enjoying all these giveaways, there sure are some fantastic books out right now!

Cathy Callahan is one super-crafty lady and she wrote one super-retrolicious (yes, I think that's a word) book called Vintage Craft Workshop. Cathy specializes in all crafty things of the '60s and '70s and she knows her stuff: the premise of this book is a selection of crafts that were big in those decades "updated" by todays' crafters and makers. Full disclosure: I am one of those crafters.

I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit about the process of making a project for the book. It was really cool to take an amazing piece of work from the past and make it my own.

Cathy showed me this image of a bag first and told me that it could be updated in any way but that it should pay homage to the original and it needed to be made of burlap (a much loved material of the '60s and '70s.
I loved that the book looked like a fishing net but I wanted to make it a little bit "prettier" so I made some fish out of Liberty fabrics and wool felt and appliqued them to the bag instead of having them hang off the bag. So here's what I came up with!

Here's a favorite of mine for the book by artist Laura Normandin. First the inspiration, then her take on it.


Really, the best part of the book is getting some insight into the history of these crafts and seeing the inspiration behind each person's project.

Cathy's Mushroom Pincushions are nearly legendary at craft fairs and so it was very fitting for Susan Beal to remake one for her contribution and it was a trip to hear that the Flower Wastepaper Basket that Cathy made was a tribute to the same ones her mom made from old Baskin Robbins cartons!

Oh and if my endorsement is enough: Amy Sedaris loves this book!

Now for the best part: Chronicle Books gave me a copy of the book to give away! All you have to do is leave a comment below and tell me this: are you inspired by crafts of the past? How do you incorporate them into what you do? Just leave a comment by next Friday, May 27th at 5 pm EST.

Keep following Cathy's blog tour tomorrow with Mod Podge Rocks!

 

Book Review and Giveaway: World of Geekcraft

We picked a winner and it's....Anna! Congrats! I'll be sending you an email soon...

I am very excited to join Susan Beal's book tour for World of Geekcraft (Chronicle Books), not just because I have a project in it with my husband, but because it's just full of clever and witty projects and geek-tastic ideas.

hysterical star wars terrariums by susan beal

  needle felted solar system by rachel hobson

yes! lost-craft!! lost tin can telephones and swan station logbook by ryan and lucy berkely

A confession: I am sort of an undercover nerd. I like to pretend that I am way to cool for school but I usually blow my own cover. Case in point: a couple of weeks ago, I was in a comic book shop with my husband, bored out of my mind, until I caught a glimpse of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics. I ended up having a totally long-winded and incredibly nerdy converstation with the owner about the Buffy-verse and how well the comics followed or didn't follow the Buffy story. Total. Nerd. Alert.

buffy fuse bead portrait!! by shayne rioux

er-geek-onomic mouse pad by me and mr. love forever! 

My husband is a completely out and proud nerd. He's played many a heated game of Dungeons and Dragons, reads sci-fi and TK. I nearly lost him for a few years when World of Warcraft came out. He is also an accomplihed bread maker, screen printer, beer brewer, bike fixer and all around renaissance guy. That's why it was so amazing to work with him on a project for Susan Beal's book, World of Geekcraft. Not only does he really helps me let my geek flag fly but he comes up with ideas I never could have thought of. Like, a wooden mousepad with a painted sword and a leather wrist rest.

So here's the really fun part- the giveaway! Susan asked all her contributors what their best geeky memory was for the book (Mine? Meeting my husband!) and I would love to hear yours. Don't worry if you don't love computers or science fiction, you can geek out on pretty much anything right?

Leave a comment below by next Monday May 16th at 5 pm est and we'll pick a winner then send you the book!

And be sure to follow the blog tour to learn more about the book (and maybe get more chances to win the book!) Tomorrow, Friday, May 13  it's House on Hill Road & Public School!

 

 

Book Review and Giveaway: Modern Log Cabin Quilting

It's not very often that I get a craft book in the mail and immediately get to work on not one, but two of the projects inside, but that's exactly what happened with Modern Log Cabin Quilting (Potter Craft) by Susan Beal. Full disclosure: Susan is a good friend of mine, so I'm not totally unbiased but still, I absolutely love this book- Susan is an amazing crafter and an awesome teacher. You will have tons of fun with this book.





I've always been a little bit of a renegade quilter, I've never followed a pattern and just sort of patch things together at random. The world of quilt patterns has always mystified and fascinated me but I wrote off patterns as something that a person with much better math skills than I should tackle. This book makes it totally easy to understand and get right into and log cabin is such a cool quilt style with a million variations.

Speaking of variations, it really is amazing how many there are in log cabin quilting, from the very traditional to the totally modern. In all her projects, Susan shows such skill with balancing color and pattern too- quilts are so personal so it's cool to see that just a shift in color or print makes for a quilt that is totally your own.



My first stab at the log cabin was this Everything-in-One-Place Zip Bag (original above, my version below!). I love any project that puts my giant tubs of fabric scraps to good use- I could make these bags a million times and never have two that look alike, that's how much fabric I have. And actually I might- they make great gifts!

My second project needs to remain a secret at the moment- it's a present for a very special mom of mine and can only be revealed at a later date!





There are some larger projects in Modern Log Cabin Quilting too- several seriously gorgeous quilts that I would love to make when I set aside the time. I think the Anniversary quilt is my favorite- what an amazingly thoughtful gift this would be! Oh, but I also love the Vintage Linens quilt- so bright and happy.

So now for the giveaway part! I'm giving away one copy of this book to a lucky reader. All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me and Susan about you and quilting: are you an expert? a total novice? Does quilting run in your family? Whatever you want, I'd love to hear it! Then I'll pick a winner and send that person the book! Easy right?

Comments close on Monday April 11th at 5 pm EST.