Plum Colored Mini Quilt/ Vintage Postcard Tutorial!!!

Hi again all! Here is a great little mini quilt tutorial, giving step by step instructions on how to make your very own.  So let's get to it!!! Step One: Choose the Frenchkissed postcard that most inspires you. If there is text to consider (like on the one I used* ) then you need to take the scan into Photoshop or a similar photo-editing program and go to "Image/Rotate Canvas/ Rotate Canvas Horizontal."
Next, print this onto a sheet of transfer paper, much like what you'd use for a T-shirt transfer. There are many on the market. I suggest that you play with them and find the one you like best. For this transfer I've used Lesley Riley's TAP, Transfer Artist Paper.
Step Two: Cut a piece of muslin fabric to desired length and width. If you are unsure, leave yourself some room to work with. Iron and transfer your image to the muslin. I like to center mine and then add fabrics and the like all around it.
Step Three: Cut felt backing and batting to match your muslin piece. Lay down the felt, then the batting and finally your muslin with photo on top. At this point, if you have a woman with a face (like I have) or any image you'd like to bring the details out in, then get out a bit of paint and do just that. In this example, I painted in her eyeballs, cheeks, lips and hair. It made all the difference!!! Step Four: Gather some matching fabric scraps, ribbon, trim, lace --whatever you'd like to add to frame the focal piece. For this example, I used ripped strips of remnant fabric, ribbon and Angelina fibers.
I stayed within the same color family, using mostly purples, plums and pinks. You can do as you like, to suit your taste and color palette. Experiment to see what really makes magic for you!!! Finally, sew your strips down the sides and layer. Step Five: Working with 'Angelina Fibers.' If you are not familiar with them, don't worry, neither was I! A quick search on the Internet will tell you more, but I'll tell you how I used mine here. I took parchment paper and sandwiched the fibers between the sheets. I layered several colors of the fibers over one another, but had the most fibers the same color as the overall piece. Next, I sprayed the back of this little fiber sheet with quilt basting spray, just so I can get it to lay in place.
Step Six: Place the darning or free motion foot on your sewing machine.
Begin at one corner of where you are adhering the Angelina Fibers, and just start making a pattern of curves, curling and curving here and there. Try to relax and find a Zen moment here. Be completely into the process of what you are doing, and lose yourself in it for a few minutes. It feels real nice and there's no rush.
Also, I like to set my machine speed a little lower for this so that I am not rushing through and I do not feel rushed by the speed of the machine. You will develop a feel for it quite quickly. Step Seven: To finish, free motion stitch around the figure. Add more Angelina Fibers to the top of the piece, and a little trim to the bottom. I didn't have trim that would match this piece, so I washed it in acrylic paint and water. You can hang the piece by adding a little loop of fabric to the back. Simply place it where you want it, and then turn the piece back over and free motion stitch the bottom of the loop onto the fabric. And voila: a lovely little piece to decorate your home! Happy crafting all!!!
If you like what you've seen here please feel free to leave comments, or have some fun in my ETSY store!!!
Cynthia E. Anderson
Original Cyn Design
http://www.etsy.com/shop/originalcyn01

 

Fabric Arts - Free Motion Stitched Personas!!!

This one sold at Neptune Festival to Denise Baldwin.

 

This is my latest body of work!  Went on a little sewing jag here...and had a ball with it.  I've got several more in the works and close to finish.  If you see something you want, let me know, because many of these are going to magazines to hopefully get published!

Have a great day!

OriginalCyn

Amazing Shrinking Stomach!!!

My goodness.  It's 2:16pm and I finally ate something substantial (had watermelon earlier) and am just feeling so completely stuffed right now!!!  And I ate 1/2 the portion of tofu noodles and marinara that I normally would....which, by the way, is so low in calories you'd hardly believe it!!  No, I don't and never have normally eaten tofu as a rule.  However, I am trying new things!!!  And, these tofu noodles have almost no calories at all!!!  A huge difference from real pasta.  They smell like some crazy kind of funk when you open the package, but after you rinse them and heat them up...well, I don't really notice much of a difference!  I mean, the stuff is good.  You CAN EAT IT!!!  So...yes, this is another little trick that I'm quite excited about.  It cuts an amazing amount of calories out of a meal, and leaves you satisfied!!! 

I really have not been hungry much.  I mean, I'm not even hungry at the REGULAR TIMES OF DAY!!!  I'm just NOT HUNGRY!  I was discussing this with someone the other day and we were saying how once your body starts to GET WHAT IT REALLY NEEDS from the foods you are eating, then there is no need to keep filling it like we did before....with loads of processed foods.  The foods I was eating before just were not nutritious.  And you know what one of my favorite awful things to eat was?  Noodles.  Cheesy noodles, I called them.  They came in this package where you rip off the top, dump in water to the fill line, microwave, add a packet of processed cheese powder...and voila...cheesy noodles.  Well, there's no fruits and vegetables in it for sure!!!  Now, I haven't tried to make some "healthy" cheesy noodles with my new noodles, but I'm gonna!!!  Just not now.  I've severely cut dairy out of the picture for now.  I may have a bit of cheese on something if I really, really want it, or cream in my morning 1/2 caf/ 1/2 decaf cup of coffee (that I only drank 1/2 of today!)  It seems the less I have of all this stuff (bread, dairy, starch, meat), the less I want any of it.  In fact, I don't have one little desire to even eat any of those things right now.

Along those same lines, I was actually CRAVING A FRUIT SMOOTHIE yesterday!!!  And I don't mean some ice cream sundae treat....I mean real fruit...and that's all!!!  It was so satisfying that I wasn't even sure I wanted to eat any dinner!!!  I did eat some dinner though....because I knew I should.  I had some grilled shrimp and steamed broccoli w/ a tiny bit of shredded cheese on top.  Completely satisfying in every way. 

Am I amazed.  Yes.  Definitely.  Things (diet-wise) haven't really ever seemed to go this well.  But, I have been saying no to alcohol completely, and I believe that this alone has helped me stay on track.  I know for myself, that when I drink a lot of alcohol in an evening, I always crave terrible foods (McDonald's & cheesy noodles) the next day.  I would also drink up to 10 cans of gingerale in one day.  Not all the time, but when I was feeling especially dehydrated. I have cut out the gingerale completely and drink spring water with a splash of light cranberry juice...and when I really want it, a diet soda. 

Now, because I've actually been out LIVING LIFE, I've not had as much time to keep up with the process on the blog....though I am writing tons in my new journal (especially for this...my new way of living!!!) and hope this will turn into an ECOURSE eventually.  That being said, this post was written last Friday.  Today is now Tuesday.  I was really good all weekend, except I decided to have some drinks Sunday night.  And you know what?  It just wasn't worth it.  I didn't drink a gastly amount or anything, but I could still notice the next day I didn't really feel like LIVING!  At least not living well.  I think that if I do drink in the future, it will be a 2 drink maximum.  But right now, I'm really not interested.  I have soooooooooooooo much to do and catch up on that I just don't have time to be mucking things up! 

Finally, I was not supposed to weight myself until this Thursday (once a week) but I did it anyway this morning.  And, there was virtually no loss.  Only .4 of a pound since last Thursday morning.  Now, if you knew how good I've been and how overweight I am you'd say, what?  And that's what I said too.  But I am not giving up because of the number on a stupid gadget.  I can tell my face looks so different.  My complexion is better, my mind is better and clearer, my body is working better, I am sleeping better....and I FEEL BETTER ABOUT MYSELF, AND HOW I'M LIVING!!!!  These are huge things.  Also, since I am clearer, I am learning so much about myself, and the way I choose to handle or react to what happens around me.  I'm realizing that my ego is quite huge...though I often feel really rotten about myself.  Seems like a conflict, but it's not.  Goes hand in hand for me.  And though I feel bad that I have been behaving this way for so long without realizing it, I am so thankful to be realizing it now, so that I can make that change.

Ok.  Enough for today.  I know there's like, about 1 person reading my blog....but I don't care.  If others need it they will find it.  And it is helpful and joyful for me to do it. 

Have a blessed and wonderful day dear hearts.  Walk through life with your head high, your heart right and a smile on your face.  You are special and everyone needs your gifts to help make this world go round!

Thanks for stopping by,
Cynthia

"When it is Dark Enough, You Can See the Stars," Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes things hit us- disappointments, dark days, loss, depression....sometimes we are finally hit so hard that once the heavy storm starts to lift, everything becomes crystal CLEAR....we can FINALLY SEE THE STARS. 

photo from laketepako.com

Lake Tepako, New Zealand

Wow!!!



It's all too easy these days to LET ONESELF spin down a tube out of control, letting this chaos continue to gain momentum towards some horrible outcome all because we can't let go....of the past, of anger, of hurt, of perceived wrong-doing.  In the end we are allowing and actually HELPING the very things we say we detest....the things we believe are not productive for us as a whole....to posses us, making us just like them (jealous, angry, envious, lazy, small minded, greedy, addicted, mean, disrespectful...).  Thus, we throw away our true potential and become enslaved in a prison of our own making, adding to the demise of ourselves individually, as a species, and as a planet.

It's only when we reach a certain destination...things look hopeless, we realize it's change or die...that we finally decide to STOP, take INVENTORY of our lives, and make a change.  It's no wonder we get so lost in this world as well, being inundated with all the propaganda we see everyday...the greed of big business dictating what we buy, where and who from....the ads, tv commercials, billboards, advertising false deliciousness in every mouthful of fast food that is only seconds away on most every corner in our country.  The envy of celebrities and all they have, that is heavily propagated in our country every moment in a thousand different ways.  It leads us to WANT, AND WANT, AND WANT....we want to FILL A PERCEIVED HOLE IN OURSELVES...but all the stuff in the world (shoes, purses, necklaces, clothes, diamonds, cars, homes, vacations) will never fill that hole.  We have become the 99% being led around by the 1% on chains with rings through our noses.  We are living in ZOMBIE-LAND....and whenever we awake for a few seconds to what I like to call "THE REAL," we quickly put ourselves back to sleep because it all seems too overwhelming....too much to deal with...."others aren't complaining, so why should I ostracize myself thus?", we say, and go straight back to our caves, and put those blinders back on.

LIVING THE TRULY GOOD LIFE ISN'T EASY, BUT IT'S SO WORTH IT!!!

Just think about it....and leave a comment dear hearts, I'd love to hear from you because, I'm writing this just for you and for me today, tomorrow and the rest of our lives:)

All My Best,
Cynthia

Goodness, in all it's Forms!!!

Morning!!!  GOOD MORNING in fact!!!  Today finds me sitting here sharing with you the cup of GOODNESS I'm having for breakfast.  Take a look at these gorgeous colors.  The famous artist God, created all these beautiful, unadulterated colors in our NATURAL, RAW foods....and it tastes every bit as good as it looks.  What's in this cup?

2 royal gala apples
2 celery stalks
1 clove of garlic
3 carrots
1 cup spinich
1 med/to lg beet
All juiced!!! 

Juicing gives your digestive system a break (from so much breaking down of foods), while feeding your body uncooked, raw!!!! foods which are just FULL OF ENZYMES our bodies need and often don't get enough of, nutrients, vitamins and minerals needed for optimum health and wellness.  When we cook our food all the time, we cook out a lot of the nutritional value....and cover it up by throwing a ham hock in with the collard greens and so forth. 

You don't have to deprive yourself to live a full and beautiful life.  You just have to find a CREATIVE AND INVENTIVE way to MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU!!!  And why not add creativity into every aspect of your life?  I mean, gosh, it's sooooo much darn fun!!!!

Now, SOMETHING TRULY INSPIRATIONAL!!!  Visit the link below to see the beautiful video...it will surely make you smile:)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=1378237514624

Now go out and have a WONDERFUL DAY....maybe you will be the very person to make it wonderful for someone else less fortunate than yourself. 

Peace and Love,
Cynthia

Detox, Exercise, and a New Diet!!!

(I wrote this last night -Tuesday, but was too tired to finish it!!!)

I am completely nackered after a day of, "trying something new!!!"  I've done juicing and I've done a small detox before by juicing, but it has been an extremely long time ago, and since I have developed a lot of bad habits that don't contibute to good physical (and mental) health, I'm doing a detox (to get rid of toxins in my body) and kick off A NEW AND MUCH HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE!!! 

In fact, I'm having a good time experimenting with food, cooking, doing research into healthier living, and basically doing a mix of things to see exactly what works and what will satisfy me for life....because it's really about a life change, not another failed diet.  Part of the experimentation is actually getting back to the spiritual, connecting with everything around me.  Enjoying different meditations, and realizing I'd like to write some of my own.  Getting inspired and inspiring others.

So, I hope to write here about my progess every now and then, giving some great recipies, tips, tricks, and tools to help inspire you to greater health in your own life.  Sometimes it's just nice to know you're not in it alone, and that others have gotten to a low points in their lives, or have gotten out of balance, but IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO GET EXCITED ABOUT LIFE AND TURN THINGS AROUND!

I hope you will take some time today and really look at and appreciate the food you are putting into your body.  Try to eat some raw foods in their natural state, close your eyes and really taste the goodness, appreciate the goodness, and thank it for the nourishment it is providing to your body.  And after you nourish your body, nourish your world and your spirit today in whatever manner you find most desirable.

Have a Great Day!!!

I'll be here again tomorrow!!!

Cyn

Castles...in the Air!

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."

Henry David Thoreau

(Photo: Mathew Gallaway, by Jim)

I liked this one today.  I sort of feel like I have been crafting castles in the air...and somehow forgot to put a foundation there....I can see the image of this giant, pretty, heavy castle standing on match-stick stilts.  (Then I found one on the internet!)

What are some of the true solid pieces of a good foundation?

1. Good Health, physical, mental---taking care of yourself

2. A Routine...for all you want to accomplish

3. Organization

4. Goals, big and small, and a time frame for accomplishment

5. Spirituality, a realization of our connection to the WHOLE (this goes to a higher sense of purpose and being in this world, and a more enlightened and accepting perspective of all around us.

6. A source of income

Well, that's what I could come up with this morning.  What can you add to this foundation, or conversation?  Don't be shy, comment away, your thoughts and feelings are always important:)  Have a wonderful and prosperous day.

Cynthia

Great Apron I Found on ETSY!!! Cupcakes and Polk-a-dots!!!!

And a POOFY THING at the top!!!!

How cute is this?  You can check out the shop at the following URL:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/67943400/womens-cupcake-apron-full-designer

Have a great day!

Cynthia

"Twenty Years from Now..."

" Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. "

~ Mark Twain

I've been doing this most of my life....in one way or another, however, I have been very disappointed lately.  My answer when things don't work out is to just try harder, look for a better approach, try to educate myself....get up, and try it again.  At some point though, when all this TRYING seems to get you nowhere but miserable, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate EVERYTHING, and start over from scratch.  I mean, I already feel like I'm at ground zero, so the only thing left to do is start to remove the rubble and rebuild.  GIVING UP IS NOT AN OPTION , and when you're at the bottom, there's nowhere left to go but up.  So UP UP AND AWAY...If you don't believe it nobody will.

What am I really talking about?  I'm talking about the desire to be unconventional in my vocation...and the belief that one can do this.  Of course, I still believe that is possible, but I think there also comes a time when you have to look around and evaluate whether or not this pursuit is still currently worth it.  Perhaps it's not the right time for this venture.  Is is taking a toll on your mental, emotional, physical, and financial health?  Then maybe it's not the best thing for you.  Maybe it's time to find a BETTER WAY.  A way you can be happier and get more out of your life.  A way you can stop beating a dead horse.

So, that's what I'm doing.  I'm making major changes.  I'll still be here, I'll still be blogging, doing my OriginalCynDesign facebook page, making art.  But now I'm going to get published so more people can find me, make some video tutorials, you tube videos, and e-courses to sell over my blog. 

I'm going to be SELLING OFF ALL KINDS OF WONDERFUL SUPPLIES AND MIXED GRAB BAGS!!!  on ETSY!!!  And I'll be searching for a day job.  If I haven't found anything good by Christmas, I'll go back to school for a year and get my masters in teaching and teach school.  I'd really- actually -LOVE to do that.  I'd like to get out of the house.  I'm tired of being cooped up in here ALONE...ALL THE TIME (drives one a bit bonkey!)...plus it doesn't exactly facilitate finding those great friendships, staying fresh and fit, and the like.  So, that's my new plan. 

STAY TUNED FOR LOTS OF GREAT SUPPLY KITS, & GRAB BAGS OF ALL KINDS AVAILABLE ON MY ETSY!!!  I've got a large variety of tons of supplies I just won't be using anymore...there will definitely be lots of good gets!

All my best,
Cynthia

Free Original Art Giveaway WINNER!!!

Allright, there were 7 participants is this great giveaway....thanks so much for your participation.  I have put the entries in a bowl and am about to mix them up real good, and pick one.  Drumroll please......and the winner is:  KingdomKards!!!  You did an awesome job spreading the word, so you and one other had the most chances...and YOU GOT IT!!! 

I'll be sending it out as soon as I get your address!  Thanks again to all who came, saw, commented and participated otherwise....it is surely appreciated!!!! 

Take care and tune in later for more on my HORRIBLE SHOW WEEKEND!!!!  Maybe I'll save u from LOADS OF COSTLY MISTAKES!!!  Stay tuned!

Cynthia