Moving + Consolidating

I've been blogging in two places for nearly two years now, but from now on I'll just be posting at amyhoodarts.com. When I began blogging here it felt very important to have a separate place to talk about my own creative pursuits, and I'm glad I created that for myself. But lately there is so much overlap in what inspires me and how I hope to inspire others that splitting focus is getting difficult. I also want the flexibility of a self-hosted site. So I took the plunge, and I hope you'll follow me there. This blog will remain here for now; I'm pretty sure trying to import two separate blogs into one site is more techy stuff than I can handle. However, I will slowly be moving over the tutorials.

I know not everybody who visits here, though, is interested in the creative interests I pursue with my kids, so I've set it up (in a hacked way, I'm sure, but the best I could do) so you can subscribe to just what interests you. If you only want to read about what I'm up to with my own artistic projects, type the following into your feed reader: http://amyhoodarts.com/tag/mamablog/feed

Either way, I do hope I see you over there. And thank you so much for visiting my space here over the past two years.

July

I have so many ideas zinging around my head, and so many things I want to share and show...in time. My goals for July? Because I have been keeping up with setting monthly goals.... June's was to spend less time on the computer during the day, and I'm continuing with that goal into July (which is why all my posting is done in the evening lately). It seems I will soon be entering this century when it comes to cell phones...having stubbornly resisted anything smarter than a flip phone that merely makes and receives calls--and, annoyingly, receives texts even when I don't want them, because they're not included in my plan, and I have no idea how to return them--I have now agreed to a smarter phone and a better cell plan.

My attachment to which phone is nonexistent; my husband is in charge of that because I don't care. I tell him what I'll use it for, and he does the research, which he enjoys and I do not. I can see how having a phone that checks email will enable me to spend less time on the computer--a good thing--and that it could be handy to text here and there, especially when my husband is traveling. As long as I remember to treat the phone as just a phone when I'm out in the world, I think I'll be okay with being dragged into the world of pocket technology. I don't want to have my face in a screen all the time. So.

Other goals for July? At least one beach day per week--and think of that, a whole day set aside to just sit and be, to play in the sand and water with the kids, read a little, find sweet little shells and stones... I am deliciously unbusy this summer, as much as possible. I've signed the kids up for nothing. Our days are our own. Day trips, beach days, days spent lolling around in the yard...

They read cuz they want to. Yay!

I've signed myself up for Pages and Paint, which starts tomorrow and is at cross-purposes with my no-computer-during-the-day goal, since new posts go up in the morning. I just have to remind myself, the point of an online workshop is that it is there and waiting for me, not the other way around. I can wait until nighttime to see what goodies Sarah has for us that day.

This week, I hope to have a tutorial ready to share--it's been awhile since I've done one of those. I want to show you what I made with this month's Whimseybox supplies. And there are some good links to zipper advice in the comments section of the last post; I have more fabric cut and just need to clear the art table off so I can set up the sewing machine again.

Today, though, we spent the day at the beach (again), where I found that sweet little piece of polished clam shell--I love those small bits of shell, tossed around by the ocean until they're perfectly smooth. This is a piece of the hinge, just the right shape to show how I feel about spending my day where the ocean meets the land.

Postcards

I've completed the postcards for the postcard swap! So before I show them, I'll tell you that I always have a nagging feeling that whatever I make won't be good enough or up to the standards and that's a main thing that has been holding me back on this sort of thing. I signed up anyway. (I'm trying to be more open, remember?!) There are lots of small things that I wish were a bit better with these postcards, the biggest being that I tried three different types of glue/paste, the final one being the rice paste I use for bookbinding, and set them to dry under or in a big huge book (my art history book, which is great for this sort of thing), and some of them still have a curling problem. I hope it doesn't cause an issue in the mail sorting machines, and I wish I knew what to do about it.

So anyway, these are my finished postcards, in sets, and here are the papers I began with for the collages, if you want to look back. Some of them look very different once cut up!

These are more or less random collages in that I had no plan when I began and simply wanted to play with the papers and see where it led me. I think the two on the right, and the one on the bottom, are the most successful. The bottom one was created by cutting the striped paper into one-inch strips and then piecing them together, almost log-cabin style but not quite. I find the stripes much more interesting this way. Each bit becomes its own little composition. I really enjoy slicing painted papers into smaller pieces for just that reason.

I've been thinking of this next set as the "seashore set."

After these collages were dry, I stamped them, using blockprinting ink. You can see where it took me a couple of tries to realize that where the paper joins, I needed to apply a bit more pressure. I'm actually okay with this skip where it occurred though. It's proof an actual person made these, yes?

If you count, you'll see that's just nine. Going against my own wise instinct, I tried to paste too-big a piece of vellum onto one of the postcard blanks, and it curled horribly. Since I needed to make more, I decided to make extras. These four were watercolored, then block printed.

Totally abstract, and I like them quite a bit. I cut the watercolor paper to size, then used rice paste to glue the watercolor paper to the postcard blank (I'd printed these out on cardstock, so I could personalize them with the swap date, my state, and my name and blog address). Most of them didn't curl too badly. I accidentally smudged some ink on the bottom right one though, so I don't think I'll mail that one out for the swap. The stamp, by the way, was carved at a parent/child program, with a textile design as the inspiration.

So those are my postcards. I hope they hold up through the mail. I hope the recipient enjoys them. Despite my huge insecurities with this sort of thing, I went ahead and signed up for the Art House Co-op's 4x6 exchange today, so I'll be thinking on what to do for that next.

Shared with our creative spaces...such an inspiring community of bloggers!

Some other fun things around the web lately:

* I have a post on Kidoinfo on the wonders of freezer paper for the uninitiated.

* After a couple months of waiting, I received my Whimseybox invitation this month and signed up. I just think it sounds like a cool challenge and a way to explore different materials. I was pretty excited to see the invite in my inbox, and the first one should arrive, I think, while my husband is away, so perfect timing there! Fun things in the mail are always nice when I'm holding down the fort alone.

* You've probably heard about Taproot by now. I was really excited to get an email telling me that I would be receiving a free trial issue because I'm a Nova Naturals customer. I don't remember how or when I first came to Nova Naturals, but I know I only had two kids at the time. When I first saw the announcement about Taproot, the fact that Nova Naturals was involved made me more interested. I have always admired not only their products, but their philosophies and customer service (plus they're located in the only state without a coastline I'd ever want to live in, Vermont). Their catalog is so beautiful that when my daughter was a toddler, she would carry it with her everywhere. I love the toys we've purchased from them; they have a soul. Even after reading of their involvement, I was completely surprised that they'd send a trial issue. Really, these small considerations make me so happy! And I'm eagerly awaiting to see the magazine in person. (Yes, I subscribed, too..they had me at "valued customer!")

I hope your days have contained some sweet surprises as well!

Embroidered: Handkerchief for a Collaboration

I don't consider myself a particularly political person. I vote, and occasionally I'll be moved to contact one of my elected officials over an issue (and occasionally I'll even hear back). I once took my two young boys to my US Rep's daytime "town meeting" so I could add my two cents about health care reform, despite the glarey looks from one woman in particular who seemed to think that even though moms of young children might vote and might have opinions, they shouldn't show up in public unless their kids are sedated or not present. But really, that's about the extent of it as far as public politics. I've never gone out and protested anything. I do have thoughts and opinions, but I tend to try to live what I think in a quiet way, through how I vote and where we send charitable donations, for instance.

When I saw the announcement on Mr. X Stitch about Hanne Bang's new project (either of those links will take you to an explanation), I knew I'd participate. I suppose it's a political statement, but that wasn't my first thought. What I thought was, That is a simple fact of truth.

I have boys. (I know women serve too, but if this country ever re-institutes the draft, I doubt it will include women.) I have boys who race through the house shooting bad guys and tackling each other and pretending to kill. I also have a boy who carefully catches insects in the house and puts them outside; who has broken down over a dead butterfly at the beach; who, that same day, when hundreds of comb jellies had washed up on shore, not only tried to save them but went and told some other kids to stop throwing them around like that! He wants to know why people go to war, why can't they work out their arguments, why do people have to die? (I've told him that a career in the military would not be a good choice for him. He is, at heart, a pacifist.)

I don't know. I can't say no wars are justified, because, well, we live in a world that spawned Hitler. I do wonder why it has to get that far, so often. I have no good answers for my kids. I thought about these things as I stitched, and I thought about how the language of war has infiltrated our language, how we say This means war! or declare a war against this or that or the other. And how that means that someone is going to win, and someone is going to lose, and there is no in-between or room for negotiation, because in a war, someone has to die. Someone has to lose, if we're saying it's war.

So I'm sending my embroidered handkerchief off to Denmark, where hopefully it will be joined with lots more from all over the world and displayed as a reminder of this simple truth. And I'm paying attention to how often I unwittingly use or even think language that sets up that dichotomy of winner and loser because that, at least, is something over which I have control.

The craft-minded details: I ironed a piece of freezer paper to the back of the handkerchief to make it easier to write on (hat doffed to my sister for telling me about that trick), then wrote the phrase in my own handwriting using a washable fabric marker. (I peeled the freezer paper off when I was done writing.) When I finished the embroidery, I sprayed the handkerchief with water to remove the marker. The handkerchief came from my father-in-law.

Favorites From 2011

Over the beginning part of this year, I gradually realized that I had more time to make things. Bit by bit, my days and evenings were opening up, and I found myself with time to experiment with different ideas. Partly this is because my youngest was getting older, and partly, I think, it's because I'd made a commitment to get creative with my children on a regular basis, and the general air of creativity and experimentation was at least as good for me as it was for them. (This was one way I solved the problem of not having time to do my own stuff; I simply focused on art activities we could all do together instead.) At any rate, as I had more time to make things--things that didn't fit into my kids and art blog--I really wanted to talk about and share them, and I started this blog.

Of course, besides a way to share, a blog is a great way to document. I learned to embroider this year, and I sewed clothes for myself for the first time--just skirts, which are easy, but still! I got very crafty in little ways, and I challenged myself to write tutorials for several items. I wanted to pick out some of my favorite projects from 2011. First I thought I'd make a little photo collage, but the more I thought about it, the more I leaned towards Pinterest. I've been avoiding, thus far, pinning my own projects, because I don't want to come across as all hey! look at my blog! But for my own personal use, it's really great to have a board set up with pictures of my favorite creations from this year. (If you want to see all of them, the board is here. But don't feel obligated!)

Source: salamanderdreams.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

So what makes something a favorite? I noticed the projects I tend to like best are often the ones that stretched me in some way, like this two-layer drawstring skirt. During the spring and early summer, I set out to sew several skirts for my daughter and myself. This was the last one I sewed, and the best--it felt sort of like a final exam (although I still have much to tackle with skirts--like zippers, for example). I had an idea of what I wanted and I set out to do it, without a pattern, and what I ended up with pretty much matched the picture I had in my head when I began. There is so much happiness in that for me!

Source: salamanderdreams.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

What else makes something a favorite? Being so thrilled with the end result, like with this boy dolly (which, by the way, my daughter loves--she says he has a "beautiful smile"). I fiddled and finagled with enough here that it was interesting to make; I knit the overalls pretty much winging it; and the hair, the hair, the hair!! I love his overall personality. I also like making gifts, I like making things for my kids, and this was a gift for my daughter. Of course it's a favorite!

I can't post pictures of all my favorites here (which is another reason I decided upon just making myself a board), but one more--our wool felt Advent calendar, photographed in the proper season this time.

Source: salamanderdreams.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

This is a favorite for so many reasons. I loved making it--hand sewing wool felt is really lovely, even though I did it in July. Working with materials that feel good in the hand leads to a really enjoyable experience. This is another project that I envisioned and set out to do. Each of those numbers was cut first from paper and then from felt, carefully, with precision, because I intended to make something that would last. All month, as I've seen it hanging across our window, it's made me happy. I am as pleased with the finished product as I was with the process, and my children love it, too. While I had no problem with temporary countdown calendars that lasted only that year, I am really happy to have "our" Advent calendar, that will come out every year from now on, as do the (handknit) stockings--a touch point for my children when they look back on their childhoods.

So, this is a sampling of my favorite things from 2011! Truly, I was all over the place with my efforts this year--stamp carving and bookbinding and sewing and embroidering and knitting and things I can't even categorize, like making crayons and candles. Sometimes I wonder if I'd be better off focusing--would I then really excel at that one thing? But I can't imagine doing that, not yet, anyway. I am having much more fun following my scattered interests and seeing what I decide to do next. (Quahog beeswax candles? I totally didn't see that one coming, to be honest!)

What about you? What did you create in 2011 that stands out for you?

Packages

It's a good thing I didn't leave too much to this last week, since the treatment for Lyme appears to be, at least at the beginning, worse than the disease itself. I'm doing small things in small blocks and I keep falling asleep. This is very frustrating! One of the tasks I've left to do is the wrapping, so last night I wrapped the teacher gifts, which are the first to be delivered.

The lighting is so poor! And I'm too tired to arrange them nicely out on the deck with some natural grey light, instead of the indoor grey light. But those are my brown paper packages stamped with trees, and some have pine cone tags. Inside, of course, are notebooks (and coffee cards), and the larger ones are mitts.

And recently, I received a package of my own in the mail from Lamina at Do A Bit. I was the lucky recipient of one of the items she gave away for her 100th post, this screen-printed tea towel:

She has a much better photo of it on her blog, because she lives in Australia and they have all the natural light this time of year! (And plus, I didn't iron it before I took a picture of it. Blame the Lyme for my laziness!) I began to follow her blog thanks to Our Creative Spaces, so not only have I found inspiration and some new blogs, but I've a lovely new tea towel, too. If you haven't visited her blog, go do! She shows lots of screen printing and stamping and loads of other fun creative stuff.

Why Handmade

Happy Monday! I'm over at Kidoinfo today talking about why it's so important to me to make at least some of my holiday gifts by hand. I know most people who read this blog also love to make things by hand--if you want to jump on over and chime in on why, please do! You can read the full article here.

Snapped: Frost Pattern

Friday morning we woke to freezing temperatures--literally. When my daughter and I went out at 9 am to run errands, the passenger side doors were frozen shut. This is kind of annoying when it's not even Halloween yet. But then I got into the car to turn it on (and thaw it out) and I saw the beautiful, delicate frost patterns on the windshield. I tried to capture them before they melted.

None of my photos do them justice, but this is the best I have to share with you. What a fleeting delight they were, these feathery, fern-like patterns in the thin thin ice.

**

I decided to sign up for NaBloPoMo. I haven't done this since 2007, and while some things have changed (the hosting site is now Blogher, and you can pick any month of the year to join in), the basic premise is the same: post something every day for a month. My goal is to post a project of mine, or an idea for a hand-made gift that I think is great, or a gift item I love, or a photo I've taken...a little snippet, in other words, that I hope adds something interesting or beautiful to your day. I'm not sure I'll succeed with daily posting, especially since I have another blog, which means two posts for some days. In fact, I think I'm a little crazy. But crazy in a good way.

Bits and Pieces

I wish I had something finished to share, but progress is sooo slow. My daughter and I had gotten into a pretty good rhythm in the spring, which allowed me to occasionally squeeze some of my own projects into the day. Then her brothers were home all summer, and we all did lots of cool things together, and when we weren't, she still had them to play with her, and now... now, my day has no cracks into which to squeeze anything. We might eventually get back to a rhythm that allows me to do some things alongside her, rather than right with her. Probably right before school gets out in the spring...

Meanwhile, though, I have nothing much to share. The Girl's Best Cardigan only needs the second sleeve and some itty bitty buttons. It took nearly an hour and a half to cast off the entire edging with the picot cast off! This is what I work on in the evenings, although one evening I took a break and did this.

This is a pinecone from the Split Stitch pattern, and it means I've begun working on some Christmas presents. This is on linen, and I plan to make little sachets with some pine needles added inside. I'll add a ribbon for hanging, too.

All week I've wanted to get to the fabric sitting on my ironing board. Finally, finally, I managed to cut it, and this, sadly, feels like a Great Achievement.

We have toddler pants (the flower print), jammie pants for my 7yo (the red; see below because it's so cute), and material for the girl's caterpillar/butterfly pillowcase. Now I just need to sew, which is easier said than done. My 7yo says the noise keeps him up, and I can't get to it during a weekday at the moment, and our weekends have been crazy lately. Maybe next weekend? Anyway, this is the fabric I'm using to make new jammie pants for my sensitive-to-sewing-machine-noise 7yo:

How cute is that?!?! Robots. On sale at Fabricworm. It just screams 7yo Boy to me. (To him, too; he approved it before I ordered it. I believe in having the kids pick out their own yarn/fabric/whatever, since it helps guarantee happy recipients.)

In other news, it was my birthday this past week. I requested, and received, a tiara, a proper metal and crystal one, not plastic. My daughter is modeling it here (hair wet from a bath), because if I modeled it, you'd get a close-up view of all my grey hair.

I wore it to parent-teacher conferences, which were on my birthday. Then I wore it the next day, too, because it's sparkly and pretty. I think I'll wear it a lot. I would have worn it to the zoo on Friday but it was drizzling a little and I didn't want my tiara to get wet.

And finally, Pam, a fellow knitter in London, did the most lovely thing this week. A couple of weeks ago she emailed to say she was planning a trip to Normandy. She remembered I'd written (on my old blog) about visiting my great-uncle's grave in the American Cemetery there and wondered if I could send his name and where his grave was located, and if they visited, she'd bring flowers. She did indeed visit. I woke up to an email this morning with pictures of his grave with the flowers she'd brought. It made me tear up. Her post about her visit is here.

My Creative Space: July 7

I've been making progress on my holiday project, as you can see--or I was, until a headache got the best of me a couple nights in a row. Then I spent another evening sorting through the last three months' worth of digital photos, editing and selecting the ones to print. I do this every three months so it doesn't get away from me, and I know they're all on the computer, but it's not the same as sitting with the kids and flipping through the pages. They'll want those albums some day, I hope. At any rate, tonight I'll get back to it--sewing wool felt onto wool felt is just delightful, and I'm completely smitten with the results so far.

As for that big ball of string, it's Aunt Lydia's No. 10 crochet cotton. I so loved knitting my Hemlock Ring Blanket last winter that I tucked away the idea of making the doily version in the summer. Now it's summer, and I finally got around to buying some thread. That's 1000 yards of string for under five dollars--quite a bang for the knitting buck, don't you think? I haven't started it yet, and I'm worried the cotton will be too slippery against the metal needles (and I'm going to have to buy a circular at some point; I don't have a circular in size 1), but I can't use bamboo needles that thin--they'll break. Even my metal sock needles have a bend to them. Apparently I'm a forceful knitter?

The kids and I have also been creative... making sun prints on paper and t-shirts, and working our way through some science experiments from the Steve Spangler site. I tell you, it's like summer camp around here, except better, because we serve ice cream for afternoon snack every day.

See more creative spaces here.

Red

I skipped rainbow day (Thursday) at the Summer Colours Week Flickr Group, but while we were at the beach yesterday, I found some red for today.

This isn't quite the shot I had in mind, but people will get in the way.

My daughter happened to be dressed in red at the beach, too.

Not surprisingly, I've made about zero progress on any sewing or craft projects lately. Actually, after the first full week of summer vacation, I've made negative progress, because I pulled out the knitting project I'd been working on. You know how sometimes you're not really committed to a project? I thought maybe I could go up a needle size, I wasn't sure how much I was loving it, so when I dropped some stitches picking out a messed-up cable round, I turned it all into string and called it a day. I have no idea what I want to knit, though.

As for no-time-for-projects, I'm okay with that. I'm sure we'll even out a bit as summer goes on, but on the other hand, the kids have a scant 9-and-a-bit weeks of summer vacation. That's really, really not long at all. There is so much we want to do together, and not much time, and yes, I do feel like school is a huge intrusion on our lives, and my patience for it gave out somewhere around April vacation. Nine weeks! Ridiculous. So, no creative spaces post this week, but maybe next week. You never know.

Pink & Blue

Tuesday's color in the Summer Colours Week Flickr Group was pink. My daughter and I saw these flowers on our nature walk last week:

And over the weekend, we saw these down near the Bay:

I think those are some sort of beach rose, but botany was never my strong point.

Today's color is blue, but these photos are from last summer. First, a view of the scoreboard at a Red Sox game at Fenway Park during the ritual singing of "Sweet Caroline," because around here, summer and the Sox go hand-in-hand.

And then there's this one.

Blue indeed. I love that my summer includes views like this as part of the routine.

One more under blue--an action shot of my daughter wearing her newest blue skirt, last seen here as a mere folded rectangle of fabric:

I'm telling you, she doesn't stay still.

Yellow

It's Yellow Day in Poppytalk's Summer Colours Flickr Group. I won't be able to take pictures for all five colors, I'm sure, but I managed yellow. I only added two to the group, but I'm posting the outtakes here, too.

One day last week, my daughter and I went for a nature walk nearby. I told her the colors we were looking for. It was a grey, overcast day (later in the day we had some pretty impressive thunderstorms), so the photos don't really have a summery feel. For a while we followed the yellow trail...

...and my daughter spotted a yellow leaf on the ground:

Yesterday I took some more summery yellow photos. My son and I walked up the street to take a picture of these pretty yellow flowers:

Wouldn't you know the first photo I took (of many) ended up being the one I liked best? And just up from our house is this yellow sign, which I requested the town install, in a rather futile attempt to get people to slow down and follow the posted speed limit:

Summer should be about children at play. My kids and I have loads we want to do this summer, and I'm sure we'll all learn loads while we're at it, but it will be real-life hands-on self-directed play-filled learning, with nary a worksheet in sight. Here's to summer, y'all.

My Creative Space

I remember, what seems like ages ago, seeing creative spaces on some Australian blogs I followed. I didn't realize until recently that our creative spaces is now hosted on its own blog. It's a really nice place to find inspiration and peek at what some very creative people are doing, and I want to join in! I share my creative space with my kids, and today (hurrah!) is (finally!) the last (very last!) day of school, so I'm not sure how many of my projects will get attended to over the next couple of months, but either way, the creative spaces in this house are usually pretty interesting.

Earlier this week I finished another simple A-line skirt for myself.

This is fabric, again, from the Purl Soho sale, and again, it's an elastic waist. What I really wanted to do was a drawstring waist with two buttonhole slits at the front for the drawstring to come out of, but I'm not really on comfortable terms with my buttonhole foot yet. I did try it on scrap, but I just wasn't confident enough to attempt it on the skirt. Also, even though I narrowed this waistband from the last skirt I made, it's still too big. I don't know if I'm not getting an accurate hip measurement or if I'm just cutting with too much caution, but I could take a couple inches from that and still get it over my hips. (As it is, I adjusted the elastic to be a bit loose, since I often wear skirts and pants around my hips and not my waist.)

At any rate, when my daughter saw this skirt, she asked where hers was. So that leads me to my picture of my creative space as of this morning.

The folded rectangle of blue fabric in the back is waiting to become my daughter's skirt, and the narrow strips next to the felt will become a couple of scrunchies for me, and that about does it for the two yards of fabric, except for scraps from cutting out my skirt pieces.

The felt is wool felt, 18" squares, that I ironed last night. It's for a hand-sewing project I plan to do this summer. Can you tell from the colors that it's a Christmas project? For once I'm not only thinking way ahead but doing way ahead. That's the plan, anyway!

See more creative spaces here.

***
A few fun things around the web--I want to try and participate in Poppytalk's summer colours week. Doesn't that sound like fun? Again, not sure how well I'll do getting online with all the kids home, but we'll see. I also am thinking of signing up for this sewing workshop...my only hesitation is how much time I'll have in July and August, but I might just give it a try anyway. And finally, with my kids in the studio hat on, I'm guest posting today here at Mama Pea Pod.

Giveaway Day Winner!

What a lot of fun I had participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day! I really enjoyed your comments and reading about what inspires folks--everything from autumn leaves to laundry on the line to all the ways people showcase their projects on the Internet. And your enthusiasm for my little book really made me smile. I wish I had a bunch of them to give away, but there's only one, and it will be on its way to Emily from The Handmade Experiment as soon as I can get myself and my toddler to the post office.

I think I'll try my best to participate in the next Giveaway Day, too. I tried to get to as many blogs as possible and was just in awe of the creative people out there and the things they were willing to give away. I was lucky enough to win something, too--Gina's denim bag with the wax crayon-resist turtle patch. When I entered I followed all her links back to see how she'd done it--it's a really neat process, and I'm trying to figure out how I can try it with my kids without burning anyone!

So thank you again for entering, and I hope you won something somewhere, and if not, I hope you found some interesting new blogs to follow (I know I did!) and enjoyed Giveaway Day. And thank you to Sew, Mama, Sew for throwing the party and inviting us all.

Giveaway: Win This Book!

Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day is here! Welcome to those of you visiting for the first time!

Here at Salamander Dreams, I'm offering a handmade book--one that can be used over and over. Did you ever get a beautiful blank book and feel like you didn't want to actually use it? I've solved this problem by giving this book pockets instead of pages.

This is an accordion-style book with six pockets. You could put anything you want in those pockets--photos, coupons, receipts--but I admit I've been thinking of it as an inspiration book. Tuck those random things you find into the pockets, so you remember that exact color blue you saw in the magazine when you're standing in front of bolts of fabric at the quilt store. Or tuck a bit of your yarn so you can match buttons. I don't know about you, but I have a few too many notebooks lying around, yet still, I tend to write things down (an idea for a project, yardage needed for a sweater) on random bits of paper. The solution? Pockets. (Well, I suppose the solution for lots of people is an iPhone, but my phone only makes calls, plus I like pretty paper!)

Normally, accordion books open out like, well, an accordion, but I've given this one a delicate ribbon binding, so it opens like a typical book.

And, of course, one ribbon on each side extends so you can tie it shut. The book is made with paper-wrapped book board and bookbinding paste. It's meant to be used, but I don't know how it will survive if it lives in the bottom of your bag. (It wouldn't hold up living the bottom of my bag, but I have three children and my bag is approaching that of Mary Poppins.) The book measures 5 1/4 inches wide by 6 1/4 inches tall, with pages measuring 5 1/2 inches by 5 inches, with 3-inch deep pockets.

I will ship internationally! For a chance to win, leave a comment here by 9 pm EST Wednesday, May 25. If you'd like, tell me something that inspires you. (I love color! Very inspiring.) Make sure you leave a way for me to email you. If your email address isn't part of your sign-in (for instance, your Blogger profile), please leave it in your comment. I'll also announce the winner Thursday so check back in case I have trouble contacting you. The winner will be chosen randomly, and nobody related to me is eligible (but if you're my sister, I'll make you a book anyway!).

If you like what you see, I hope you consider following me here or on Twitter. It's not a requirement to enter this giveway, but when I decide to start making so many books I need to sell some, you'll be the first to know. Good luck! And thanks for visiting.

~amy

**comments are now closed!**

Sneak Peek

Don't forget, Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day is this upcoming Monday, May 23! At last count well over 300 shops and blogs are participating, including me. Here's a sneak peek of what I'll be giving away.

So don't forget to stop by on Monday for your chance to win!

Guest Post at Sunflower

With my kids in the studio hat on, I'm guest posting at Sunflower Creative Arts today. I was delighted to be asked to contribute to their "I Was That Kid" series. How to choose what, in our childhood, most shapes the adult we become? I'm not sure. I could have written a dozen very different pieces that were all accurate. You can read the one I did write here.