Hair Cut

I cut my hair so I thought it was time to update my blog profile pic! Or should I use this one? Hmm...i dunno. I look a little intense. Ew or like my first attempt at a polymer clay doll head. I'm saving this guy for Halloween!!

Dolling Up the Divas!

Trudi putting on her lips in mi casa at our MaterialGirls NW Playgroup. It was more of a "spa" experience!

Mary getting beautimus at our monthly hair-therapy happy hour and HairSay! You are so foxy AND famous now Mary!

Laura performs a manicure and creates real nails on her hot-lookin gypsy challenge doll using Diamond Glaze by Judikins, then glitzes them up!
Neva teaches us how to improve our soles at Material Girls this morning. She gave us secrets of making feet and some of them are pretty crafty...like look at the bare-towed foot. Looks real huh!

PSYCH!!! It's an amputee and I now have the confidence to try a foot like hers, no that I know Neva's Sole Secrets : 0!
Laura's incredible doll made with multiple techniques. She used Paverpol, Luminier Metallic paints, over a crocheted piece to create the texture on her lower body. Just a gorgeous doll and talented artist!

Susan's Motown Mermaid stretched right out on the my coffee table and crunked up the jams while we admired her extreme divaness! After dollclub, Mary and I headed over to Archiver's Stamping Mecca in Katy which you can see on my new blog, Retail Therapy

Texas 1015 Onion Nirvana & Mango Salsa Recipe

As a young thing, I worked as a Salad Bar Manager in a grocery store just after moving from Nederland, Tx to the big ole city of Houston. Armondo, my boss asked me to prepare "Pico de gallo" with the old tomatoes that our customers wouldn't buy. "What?!" I'd never heard of such a dish. "You want me to chop up tomatoes, onion, cilantro and serano peppers and then people eat that?!" I had grown up just 88 miles from Houston and the closest thing to Mexican food I'd ever gotten was Casa Ole. Houston has better Mexican, Latin, Cuban, South American....you name it restaurants than anywhere I've eaten in Mexico or the US (that I've been to anyway).

So, tonight I bit right into a sweet Texas 1015 onion and my whole life passed before me. 1015s taste as close to candy as an onion can get and mixed in my mango pico, well it was truly orgasmic. Grandmas and aunts would freeze them in bunches and use them in their holiday dishes they're so good. This recipe is basic Pico de gallo but with mango and jicima and Texas 1015s. Great on fajitas, as a salad with cucumber, or straight out of the bowl with chips!
Chopped Ripe Tomatoes - 8

Texas 1015 onion - (or white onion, Vidalia onions a great substitution)- 1 or 2

One Medium Jicama - peeled and chopped (The jícama [hee-kuh-muh, hik-uh-] (or yam bean) plant is a vine native to the tropical Americas . The root's exterior is yellow and papery, while its inside is creamy white with a crisp texture that resembles that of a raw potato or pear. The flavour is sweet and starchy, reminiscent of some apples. It is usually eaten raw, sometimes with salt, lemon or lime juice and powdered chili.






3/4 cup Cilantro - chopped

2-3 Serrano peppers chopped - or jalapenos chopped to taste

1 big mango. Peeled and chopped

Juice of 1 fresh squeezed lime.


I prepare this the night before serving and add chopped avocado just before eating.

Mui Bien!!!

Opal People

Sponsored by After Midnight! (opens in new window)
Tarkine Olive Green

There's something about foreign landscapes that draws you in. The gorgeous colors of an Indian sari, the soft sands of the desert, the red of a monk's robe and the blue of a tropical ocean, the green and purple of a grapevine and the golden fur of a lion's mane, you revel in it all. Even when you're at home, you bring the many beautiful parts of the world to you, surrounding yourself with glimpses of exotic places.


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Studio Chaos

I'm in need of serious organizational therapy. This sewing/collage/altered book/utee burning studio has gotten WAY outa control. I'm only sharing this with you because it will motivate me to post an 'after' picture. My Material Girls Doll Club NW Playgroup ladies are coming over for a playgroup Sunday and the studio tour will be closed for repairs unless I get my stitch together and whip it in shape. Let me know if you can spot a very expensive Bernina anywhere in here. Buddy, the dolled-up feline wearing a designer build-a-bear gown...

UTEE and Opals attempt on Fabric

I started experimenting with opalettes from After Midnight Stamps and thought i'd melt some onto fabric and stamp a design into it. The design didn't show up, so I melted it again and again and threw one of the UTEE faces on and tried to adhere it with more heat. The face melted and distorted so I'm considering heating it up and trying something again. This was going to be a postcard for a Fiber Art Friend but i think it's too weird. We were having Akumal Beach withdrawals so yesterday we headed to Galveston for a beach, fried oyster, shrimp and Shiner Bock fix.

And a quick tour of Galveston's oldest cemetary.
And I've started a new blog called RetailTherapy for chronicling Houston area local artsy supply haunts and included Galveston's Hendley Market as the first stop.

Mean Ole Dean and our Blissful Akumal, Mexican Get-A-Way

Daddy Stitch, Lil Stitch and I had planned to leave for Mexico yesterday for a little Caribbean family fun. But a little ole Cat 5 named Dean convinced us to leave early last week with hopes of returning before the storm's expected arrival in Cancun yesterday. We landed safely in Houston Monday while our fellow Akumal Beach Resort guests were evacuated to a hotel in Merida. We are of course so relieved that this beautiful little beach village was not destroyed though damaged from the storm. We want to go back tonight. It was the best vacation we've ever had!

Cordelia and Esmerelda joined us for a much deserved girl's trip! They had many fans watching their poses and photo shoots.

Beautiful beaches of Tulum. I think in a hurricane, I would like to stay in one of these Mayan temples. They're pretty tough!

Lil Stitch snorkeling her first reef in Akumal Bay! Daddy stitch and I adore diving but this trip was all about snorkeling with her. We saw the famous "wall of fish" in the bay, a cloud of thousands of slivery fish that swim together in near the same spot. LilStitch wanted to dive down into them but i was nervous as I who've dove to 100ft have never seen such a massive swarm of fish! The fish parted revealing the biggest baracuda we've EVER seen as well. I thought it was a shark he was so big. Baracuda are normally harmless in clear water as long as you don't mess with their food. We left the wall of fish.

Akumal is the village of turtles and the locals take great care of the wildlife. In August, baby sea turtles hatch in their nests on the beach and run for the ocean. On our last night we were treated to hundreds of babies saved by the resort staff and brought to the ocean. The turtles get confused by the restaurant lights and run toward it! The staff surrounded and gathered the turtles in baskets. One of them was wearing a chef's hat which prompted my daughter to shout, "Mommy! Are they going to cook them?"

Holiday?!!

I will be out of the zone for a few days on Holiday. Wah? With no access to phones, puters, email or anything! Bliss.

The Adventures of Cordelia

Check out the adventures of Cordelia, a living art doll and the brainchild of my friend Mary. Cordelia is a world traveler and has a full spread in this month's Art Doll Quarterly . She is off to a much deserved Mexican Caribbean vacation next week so look for her "waistin away again in margaritaville" updates. And just like all of us living dolls, Cordelia thrives on comments and compliments so leave a couple on her blog; Cordelia's Adventures .

PostSecret

Real human secrets. Gut-wrenching and real. I'm sending mine on in. What about you?

A little someting I'm working on for someone

I think she's pretty. It's just that she had to apply her lipstick from the rearview mirror, while in the car and flying down the freeway with a mocha grande lodged between her legs. Sure, she can easily fix the lips with a little pencil at the red light. Or, the next time traffic comes to a grinding hault for no freakin reason.

More UTEE Madness

Little tin pins, fibers and beads encased in clear ultra thick embossing enamel. This time I poured the molten utee into silicone ice cube trays. I learned this from The Artful Mama's "Seaglass and Utee" post 5/25. The silicone ice cube trays easily release the UTEE unlike the candy foils from my first attempt.But wait. There's more...

I'm often asked, "so, what are you going to do with all of that...stuff?" love that one. I have however been asking myself the same question about my collection of utees. Many pieces have been incorporated in the altered book box for Emmy. I'm loving making the altered book. And the utee, well if it involves heat, burning and melting stuff, great!

i really like this piece. i poured clear utee into a metal cookie cutter laid over the image. after the utee set, i let the piece soak in water and rubbed the back of the paper image until it was translucent but retained pieces of the image.

Scary stamp! This is SO creepy. I made a stamp from that "magic foam" stuff you heat and press any old three diminsional object into it make a stamp. This doll made the freakiest stamp! pretty cool. My daughter was scared of the image but happy i didn't encase the doll in utee! None of her toys are safe,

My World

no, they can't even act natural for a second when i'm trying to capture a beautiful daddy-daughter storytime moment. i'm the luckiest lady in the world.

Altered Book & UTEE Embellishes

Tin dragonfly encased in UTEE.


Use caution when playing with the UTEE because when it's hot it may drip on your hand. It gets so hot. It then hardens on your flesh immediately and when you go to rip it off, the top layer of skin goes with it. It really hurts and doesn't make a cute embellishment for your altered book.

Cute tin things seconds from being drowned in hot utte. This experiment didn't work out too well since the foil candy wrappers do not release the UTTE. Only the dragonfly made it out okay. My hand was saved by alovera and ice.

So I made UTEE girl-faced embellishments. I'm using many of these pieces in the altered book I'm making for a swap with Emmy . This book should have been completed last month. I will be very proud to send it once it's done though and I think she will like it.

A Big thank you to everyone who commented on my first utee's! Mary will be getting antique utee keys delivered since she's right around the corner and Karoda's will be sent along with a few fun charms.

OMG I bought a Melting Pot

if i were a criminal, i'd bumb off Texas Art Supply and go straight for the UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel). like i needed another obsession over a medium and a very expensive one at that. not that fabric ,embellishments and all that that entails are cheap. oh no. just don't buy the ultra thick embossing enamel thinking it's your moma's powder. get ready to break out that mastercard. i'm sure crack is cheaper and not as addictive. my problem began with the desire to make those painted washers you may have seen in cloth paper scissors with the glass paints and sprinkles of metallic UTEE. I made 30 of them and just found them where i suspected. My child had them hidden in her room as they make glorious play monies.

then i sprung for this contraption:that is not blood or an illicit drug, it's the UTEE. those old keys are not keys at all, they're UTEE that i poured into the "mouldy pour" and they look just like the real old keys i bought at art and soul. if you'd like some of these old keys, email me and i'll send you some. i have a plenty of utee in several colors. i rounded down the cost of everything you need for your melting utee adventure because my accountant reads this. btw i used a 40% off michaels coupon for the melting pot itself. everything else was just necessary...

$ melting pot 35 bucks but hey 40% off!
$ clear utee <-the big jar 11

$ flex 11 <--something i didn't know i needed until i bought...

$ the suze weinberg melt art video 18

$ bronze utee 7.99

$ pearl utee 7.99

$ black utee <--can make faux dicronic glass with it 7.99

$ gold utee 7.99

$ to dye for colorants 7.99

$ moldy pour mold compound 9ish

$ the plastic tools that won't melt like the ones i melted, 5.99

$ craft sheet - had it!

$ perfect pearls - 11ish

$ bees wax - 7.99 <---cool project on the video

$ memory glass 4.99

$ rubber art doll face mold 5.99

$ project pan for melting the beeswax 6.99

oh i'm sure there's more. why didn't i marry tim holtz? then i could have a direct link to ranger. and that suze weinberg is a genious and must be a brazilionaire. pretty awesome stuff! pay no attention to the time stamp of this post. it's the utee and i need help.

Schmooze with Suze Website

Fibre Cards Finally Finished

I'm really happy with the way my Greek ocean fantasy vacation fiber postcards came out. Above is the fantasy villa my husband and I are staying in for the month while we're on Holiday in Greece. We'll have a fully loaded bar and Bernina in the dressing room - i wish. I included pressed wood ferns from my backyard and hope they'll hold up.

These cards are extremely tardy and heading overnight to a couple of very talented fiber artists in the UK. I wanted something special for them since I'm so late with the June Birthday swap and even July is now over....according to my boss. SO, I'm including some of my dyed silk, little Utee faces, nuno felt, and maybe some nice dyed silk velvet in my FAF swap birthday friend's envelopes to make up for my slacker swaptality.

I call this one Sea Garden because it looks like my scuba diving adventures in the Caribbean. The fern looks just like kelp. Apparently in the UK, it has been raining and hailing for something like 80 days and they've had absolutely no summer. In fact, it's been pretty cold there! We've had rains daily in Texas for over 40 days but at least it's hot and we can pretend it's summer and really going on a "holiday"

And the newest addition to our family "Buddy"!

Belated Blog Birthday

Stitchtherapy turned 1 on July 2 so I'm wishing it a belated birthday blog! and many more...on channel 4: My first Post:



My first post is born!
Creativity IS my recovery and my joy.
Recovering from what you ask?
Laundry List of stuff I'm Recovering From:
The daily grind, wretched grief, past traumas.
I began sewing a few months after the death of our infant son Weston in April 2003. An urge to sew things compelled me. I saved up and bought a computerized sewing machine. I made a few dresses for my then 3-year-old and made myself a few blouses. Once I innocently attended Houston Quilt Festival in 2003....I went completely insane....but in a good way. I've always been creative but never committed to it on a regular basis until I realized the healing I gain and the joy it brings me. I've since converted my son's nursery into my art studio where I now spend glorious hours creating.
I believe the creative act fills a missing/damaged piece of me and helps get the pain out and into something positive and beautiful....exept for those "dark" works which are beautiful but in a scary way!OK...What I like to make so far: quilts, collage, and the latest...artdolls.
*NOTE: I did not make the butterfly. Walt Whitman did.
On with the show....

Dark clouds go away

It's been one week tonight since the last tragedy and I seriously considered never mentioning it here. It's just so horrible and i like my people to be happy. Do not read on if you want happy news.....

Well the new kitten, Muffin, met a quick but tragic death last Monday night. My darling husband stepped on her accidentally while carrying his computer and killed her. I feel for the poor guy, the husband I mean. I was hard on him. We all took it hard..myself being the most hysterical.

We adopted a new kitten from the shelter named "Lucky" well, that's what i wanted to name the new little guy. He has been named "Buddy" by my daughter however.

I am finishing up my altered book for Emmy but I'm late with it because I get so carried away....and it's my first altered book. Tonight I used Ultra Thick Embossing Powders and glass paint on several new washers I bought at the hardware store. They are very shiny but I'm not sure how to incorporate them. I will finish this book box and It will be wonderful.