Temporary Interruption of Website Service

Hi everyone! We apologize for any inconvenience but our website will be down temporarily as we switch to a new host. The current website will go down on Wednesday Dec. 29th and the new one will go live on Thursday Dec. 30th. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Kristin and Jan

Peek at our Christmas Touches

Season's Greetings!
Thought I'd let ya'll have a peak at our home decorations. I have been collecting Christmas decorations for years, some people say I have way too much....maybe I do and maybe I don't....kind of like a fabric stash you just never know what you will need. Notice the quilt...you just knew I'd relate this to "fiber" somehow, didn't you. This is "Winters Blanket", part of my Minnesota series. Every few years I get nostalgic, make a quilt to honor where I grew up and then come to my senses...and remember how cold and long the winter's were. Still love to visit but after the Fourth of July. The skates were actually Kristins when she was little.
Found this Santa at a craft show in 1991, he's by Boardwalk Originals. This year he's standing guard on the hearth in the family room.
Our entry is 2 stories, every year I decorate the stairway and then the space looks unbalanced ...not finished. So this year I went vertical....well as much as I dared cause I have a teeny tiny fear of heights.

My 12 Connected Challenge Piece for the "Icon" theme; "Simply An Icon" by Jan Girod

Have you ever fought within yourself over doing what first pops into your head, in a test it is called "second guessing" I used to do it all the time. The moment the new word was "unveiled" 2 months ago I pictured doing this piece, at least in some fashion. However, I spent the entire time trying to talk myself into doing another piece when all was said and done I found myself back at the first thought, the first image that had come to me.Several years ago I had the opportunity to tour the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. When we found ourselves in the space with the Russian Icons, I was stopped in my tracks. Have you ever felt like your moving in slow motion? There I was standing in one spot, turning slowly, wondering how I was going to look at them all. They were exquisite! Some extremely ornate, some expertly painted, others were very primitive; but all were very beautiful. I could have stayed there all day; however I heard someone rather loudly instructing me to move on, move on. All I could think ....was oh no....please let me stay here...I swear I will be on the bus in time. Poor guide was afraid she would loose her job, I moved on, but have always felt like I missed out. Someday, maybe someday I will return.

Please check out www.12connected.blogspot.com to see the challenge groups work. It is amazing how different everyone's work is and how each person interprets the given word.

Cyber Monday Sale Now Open

Our Cyber Monday sale is now in effect and runs through 12/3. The discounts are as follows:

10% off Books, Tim Holtz, 7 Gypsies, Glimmer Mist, Scrapbooking and Metal Supplies
15% off Inkjet Fabrics, Patterns and Silk Items
20% off Thread, Notions, Paints (excluding Golden Fluid Acrylic), Dyes, and Paintstiks.
25% off Fabric (excluding $6/yd clearance fabric)

Don't forget Free Domestic Shipping on orders $75 and over. Items must be in stock to receive the discount.

Whoopee! We Survived Houston

International Quilt Festival, Houston 2010 is but a memory...we have survived to tell about it. After many long hours of setting up our booth Kristin is just a wee bit slap happy. Our booth is ready for opening night, even if we could have used a quick nap. They opened the doors at 5 PM Wednesday for Preview Night and the crowds were still there at 10 PM absolutely ready for a weekend of fun. Our booth looked pretty good when we finally finished, packed full of goodies just waiting to find a new home.

For those of you who have not been to Houston this is the Make It University "MIU" open classroom. We each taught 2 classes, we had loads of fun and hope all those who participated did too.

Kristin worked in Open Studios showing how she makes her Mixed Media Collages on watercolor paper on Satuday. Here she is enjoying chatting with the attendees. She also made several ATC (Artist Trading Cards) for trading. Attendees come to the "tree" in MIU just to trade their artwork and chat with like minded souls. Kristin enjoyed trading her little pieces of art.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to shop and chat. We love seeing old friends and making new ones. We are now off to the Mancuso show in West Palm Beach, FL; November 12-14....stop on by.

Yippeeeeee!

We finished our kit preparation for MIU Houston yesterday. Whoopeeee! This doesn't look to bad, does it? Now consider these are only 1 of ours and a small glimpse at that.

Here is the full picture (just one of us though...no space large enough for both) and I even cleaned up the floor before I took the photo....couldn't let anyone see that mess it was awful. Even the dog was trying to figure out how to reach his bed. Hope you can join us in Houston for some fun and laughs. Some how people always hear us laughing aisles away...just follow the happy sound.

Make It University & Open Studios International Quilt Festival

Open Studios

Saturday November 6th 4-6PM Kristin Rodriguez

Make It University

Thursday November 4th 1:30-2:30

Tag Journal by Janelle Girod

Alter shipping tags using Glimmer Mist and Distress Inks. Then use papers, fabrics, found objects and stamping to complete your journal.

Thursday November 4th 4:30-5:30PM

Mixed Media Card by Kristin Rodriguez

Use paint to alter commercial scrapbook paper in order to make a unique card. Use paper, paint, stamps, and found objects to create.

Friday November 5th 4:30-5:30PM

Mixed Media Collage by Kristin Rodriguez

Using watercolor paper as the base you create your own colorwashed/stamped background. Then use fabric, paper, ribbons, found objects, and TAP photo transfer to create your collage.

Saturday November 6th 10:15-11:15AM

Canvas Journal by Janelle Girod

Participants will use painted MistyFuse, watersoluble crayons, canvas, papers, TAP photo transfer, metal embossing, and more to create an art journal.