Nesting Instincts

Most ladies when they are pregnant have the "nesting" urges that kick in at some point, that drive them to organize like a crazy lady.  Well, I've been waiting and waiting for that to happen to me, because I am not a natural organizer in my home.  I was actually sort of excited for that urge to kick in, thinking that would be a great time to clean out closets and organize the house a bit more before the baby comes.  But then I had a realization not too long ago.  My nesting urges were kicking in, but in a different form!  What I want to do is make stuff for my youngest daughter.  I have picked out a paint color for the crib (a bold purple!) and I've bought bumpers/sheets/etc, but what I'm going to make is a crib skirt and paint it in the design I want.  You know how it goes - you decide on a paint or color scheme, then you can't really find the exact bedding that you want in the colors that you want so you end up settling for something else.   Not this time!!  The idea hit me, in that fluttery feeling that makes your heart beat a bit faster, as I was reading (of all things) a Martha Stewart Living magazine.  I probably read this mag once a year, but I got suckered in by the cover :)  On the cover was bright, happy poppies and these are one of my favorite flowers of all times.  So in reading the article about poppies, it hit me that I could do the baby's room in poppies - but in the colors I wanted!

So off to the computer I went to research fabric paints and techniques and I have to tell you I am so excited!!  One of the paints I found you can use (and some of you already know this, I'm sure, but it was news to me) was the Shiva paintstiks, and I already own some of them and I just adore them.  And another exciting thing was that I found a line of iridescent colors that I didn't even know existed!  Super cool - I can use them for painting the poppies and for my art journal.  I held off for a couple of days, thinking about these, and then decided to go for it. You can buy them here, or Dick Blick carries them too, in cool little sample packs.


I also found this page chock full of tips and hints on how to do this painting thing on fabric (Don't ya love the internet for information??) and again, I could barely sit still for the itch to jump on this project...


Now I have all of my supplies in hand, and even bought my fabric today at the store.  I was like a kid in a candy shop.  And while I was there, I bought a free motion stitching foot for my sewing machine, which I've wanted to play with for a while...   So, as soon as I have some time and energy, I will start on this project.  If it turns out, you can bet I'll be sharing it here :)  If you have any tips/stories/what-not-to-do things to share about fabric painting, please feel free!!


In the meantime, I also did some glazing today.  Trying to fill up the kiln so I can run a full load.  It's hard to decide what to work on - there are so many things I want to do in the studio!!

Happy creating to all of you..
~Kelly