10 years for Tin or Aluminium?!?

My husband and I recently celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary!  When I started thinking about what I would like to give to him as an anniversary gift I looked up the "traditional" anniversary gifts for 10 years. Apparently the first decade of marriage merits a gift of tin or aluminium.  In my search I read "new" spins on traditional gifts, with suggestions like "utensils for the barbecue."  Don't get me wrong, he might have liked barbecue utensils, they make great gifts, but I feel like the marking of the first decade deserves something more heart felt.  So I looked around me for inspiration...and there in the east wing of my studio...better known as the coffee table in the living room....were the embossed aluminium little birds I'd been working on.  That sparked an idea....

I decided to make a little book with photos of pivotal moments from the last 10 years and set them to a "Love Story"/ "Fairy Tale"/slightly silly narrative.  The cover of the book is decorated with an aluminium embossed heart...I was excited to work in a bit of tradition in to the gift.   The book itself is made from pieces of scrap-booking paper I cut in half and sewed down the middle to bind together.  I made two page spreads starting with the day we were married and one for each of the following years.  I manipulated the photos to give them a bit of a worn in feel, using some of the fun effects available in Photoscape.  Then, I added the text in Photoshop.  

It was great fun going back and looking at the last 10 years in pictures.  We have done so much together and our bond continues to grow stronger!  It was fun to look back and remember and to share stories with our children.  I loved making the book and, as it turns out, he loved it too.  

It was so hard to narrow my picture selection down!  I took a few that I couldn't quite squeeze in the book and put them on the back cover.  

Super Cape and Masks Class 2012

Super Capes and Masks Class 2012

September 21, 28, & October 5 from 9:30 to 12:00

Vicenza Arts & Crafts Center

Super Capes and Masks are excellent sewing projects for the beginner.  In this class we will learn machine sewing and hand stitches, too.  Choose to make a traditional Super Cape....

.....or add a twist, like a Super Princess Cape.....

or a Super Bat Cape.....

 or a Super Lady Bug Cape! 

You may also choose to make a hooded cape......

.....great fun for wizards, or Jedi Knights.... 

.....or Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf alike!

The possibilities are endless, and your creativity is highly encouraged!  With Halloween just around the corner who will you finding hiding behind a cape and mask?  

Register at the Vicenza Arts & Crafts Center Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 to 6:00 or on line with Webtracs! You may pick up a supply list from the Arts Center or you can download one HERE. 

Lemur!

the original lemur with the original lemur hat

 It all began with a discussion with my favorite "almost-teen" about The Golden Compass series and what our daemons would be if we could have daemons.  A lemur suits her so well.  A couple of days later when I pulled out my lady bug hat pattern to finish, I got completely side-track and ended up with a lemur hat pattern instead!  The lemur hat was very well received. Turns out the hat was popular with the younger crowd as well, and yesterday we had round two of lemur hat production.  I had a lot of fun choosing colors for the second round of hats!  All summer long my children have followed said "almost-teen," and she has taken it all so well, it seems only fitting that their daemons might take on a lemur shape, at least for a while, just so they could spend more time playing with her. 

Subdued lemurs

their true nature

hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil....or I'm not listening, I won't tell you, and I'm hiding from you.

YEAH! The crazy lady with the camera said we can go!

September Classes 2012

Next week I begin my September class schedule at the Vicenza Arts & Crafts Center!  I am very excited about September's classes....so if you are looking for something new and fun to do, I'd love to see you in class!!!  Remember you can sign up both at the Arts Center and online through Webtracs.  

Sewing Boot Camp

Wednesday Sept. 5, 12, 19, & 26  from 18:00 to 20:00

Drop and give me 20 stitches! Learn basic sewing machine operation and machine sewing trouble shooting.  Learn basic hand stitching, including how to sew on buttons, patches, and make hems. 

Drawing Italian Villas

Wednesday Sept. 5, 12, 19, 26, and October  3, &  10 from 9:30 to 12:00

Expand your drawing skills in this 6 week class.  The first two weeks will be spent in the classroom refreshing basic drawing skills and learning perspective drawing techniques.  The remaining 4 classes will be spent on location at different villas in the Vicenza area.  Read more about the class HERE.  

Baby Steps to Sewing

Thursday Sept. 6, 13, 20, & 27 from 9:30 to 12:00

Learn the basics of both machine and hand stitching!  Making a series of three baby friendly projects while learning how to operate a sewing machine, trouble shoot common problems that arise, learn how to sew straight seams, curved seams, and basic hand stitching.  We will be making a baby blanket, bibs, and a baby friendly stuffed animal.  These projects make especially lovely gifts!  Read more about the class HERE.

Mountain Cows in the Valley of the Sphinx

   Northern Italy has a vast system of intertwining hiking trails. However, unless you know exactly where you are going, finding a specific trail is not without it's challenges. Many of the individual communities publish little brochures about the hiking trails and natural phenomonon in the area, but the directions on how to find different places are sparse, if they exist at all. I found one such brochure featuring "Valle delle Sfingi," which translates to "Valley of the Sphinx."  After 4 years and 3 unfruitful attempts, we FINALLY found our way to the Valley of the Sphinx!

   High in the hills north of Verona, happy cows graze in rolling pastures dotted with solitary trees.  Fences made from red marble slabs weave their way across the horizon adding a unique element to the landscape. Just North of Camposilvano, in the Parco Naturale Regionale della Lessinia, an unmarked gravel road veers off to the east. 

Red Marble Fence

    The Sunday we found the Valley of the Sphinx, cars lined the main road, hikers could be seen traveling down the gravel road, and in the shade of the trees were people enjoying picnics.  The gravel road leads to a farm house with a locked gate.  This is where we stopped a couple of years ago, sure we were in the wrong place. However, this time scores of summer travelers had made a clear and distinctive path that circumvents the farm house and leads to the pastures that lay just beyond the locked gates.  Within a few minutes of hiking the large limestone monoliths, for which the Valley of the Spinx is named, come into view.  Visitors can wander through the maze created by these enormous stones and see the bovine inhabitants while listening to the charming "tink" "tink" "tink" of their cow bells. 

Valle delle Sfingi - Valley of the Sphinx

Mountain Cow with her Cow Bell 

Other hiking trails lead out of the Valley of the Sphinx; a day could easily be spent exploring and enjoying this beautiful and unique area.  On the ridge to the south, beyond the rolling hills, you can see the expansive valley that houses the city of Vicenza far in the distance.  We took a trail marked 253 and headed north up a hill, that as it crests reveals a spectacular view of the Dolomites.  The trail is partially flanked by the unique stone slab fences.  Cows and hikers share the trail.  We visited in August when the wildflowers were well past their peak.  About the only things blooming were different types of thistle and the distinctive, prickly, Carlina acaulis.

View of the Dolomites 

Carlina acaulis and bee

A Walk Along the Fence

A View into the Valley

Ribbons of Rock Fence

Rock and Barbed Wire

Pretty Mountain Cow Posing for a Picture

Long afternoon shadows

The entire Lessinia area is absolutely beautiful and well worth the hour and a half drive from Vicenza.  We visited during the August heat and found a 10 degree difference in the temperature between Camposilvano and Vicenza...that's 10 degrees Celsius!  We will be back!  

Drawing Italian Villas Class 2012

Drawing Italian Villas 

September 5, 12, 19, 26, October 3,  and 10 from 9:30 to 12:00

Vicenza Arts & Crafts Center and at Various Locations in the Vicenza Area

As you sit perched upon the villa lawn, pencil and paper in hand, the beauty and magic of Italian architecture is revealed in the subtle details. In this class, you will visit four different beautiful villas in the Vicenza area to study and draw them.  Our first two weeks of class will be at the Arts Center, learning perspective drawing, reviewing basic drawing techniques and composition, and discussing a brief history of Italian villas in the Vicenza area.  Then we hit the road for our final four weeks of class, studying and drawing villas in the area.  

You will be responsible for your own transportation, car pooling is encouraged and can be arranged during our first two weeks of class.  

Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf

Oh My! What a pretty red cape you have Little Red! 

Yesterday I finished a Little Red Riding Hood cape I made from the Hooded Cape pattern I have listed on Etsy....so today it was time for a photo shoot! 

I started this cape two years ago when I taught my first capes class at the Arts Center.  It was mostly done, minus the clasp and the hem....slacker....I know.  

My daughter has been really enjoying the Little Red Riding Hood story every since some of the parents at her preschool did a little Red Riding Hood reenactment so I was inspired to finish. 

And since you can not have a Little Red Riding Hood without a Big Bad Wolf I decided to also make a wolf mask as well.  The wolf mask pattern is not yet on Etsy, but hopefully it will be soon!  

I am gearing up to teach another capes class at the Arts Center starting in late September.  Sewing capes was the very first class I taught at the Arts Center two years ago, and I am just as excited to teach it this year! 

The kids and I had tons of fun taking these pictures!  Hope you enjoy them.