A Little Color: Guerilla Art

Phone Booth ala Afghan: by Knit the City

The world needs more guerilla art, don't you think?  It just makes me happy when I think about coming across any of these little numbers.  I think I may need to start a guerilla art movement of my own some day because you should be the change you want to see in the world and all that.   Whatever the case, enjoy the color of street rebellion...

Lego Stone-Wall Filler: by Jan Vormann

Raining Color: via Street Art Utopia

Yarn Pot Hole Filler: by Juliana Santacruz Herrera

Fallen Trees as Colored Pencils: via Street Art Utopia

Lucky Day Give-Away Winners

Hello.  It's me again--that funny bunny prototype.  You know, the one she almost ripped apart and refashioned in to some other bunny more to her liking?  Well, I am happy to say that I will be leaving this cursed place where I was created and going elsewhere--namely, to one of you if you were one of the people who purchased a Spring Variation pattern in the past week.  So, please listen up because I am about to announce the winners of the Lucky Day Give Away:

Winners of the Lucky Day Give Away Who Purchased a  Copy of the Spring Variations project Set:

Give Away 1--Funny Bunny Prototype: Raven Waterfall

Give Away 2--Set of 4 Framed Spring-y Embroidered Designs: Naomi Taylor

Give Away 3--Gift Set: Kristin Geraci

And now for the lucky Chez Beeper Bebe reader Lucky Day Give-Away:

Gift Set Winner: Ally's Threads

She tells me she will be emailing you all shortly for your mailing addresses so she can send these off straightaway--but of course, she also said she would announce the winners on Saturday and here it is already Thursday.  Shows you what kind of blogger she is (the sort who contemplates ripping helpless bunny plushies limb from limb, I can tell you!).  I am off to stuff myself in an envelope in the hopes she will get me on my way to Raven dear as soon as possible.  Ta-ta.

Spring Variations Give-Away at Sparkle Power

Are you familiar with Candace over at Sparkle Power already?  If not, please stop by for a visit--not only because she has a a very real and lovely blog, but she also has a super Etsy shop with some great prints (dear Mr Beeper gave me the You Are My Sunshine print this year as a gift) and on occasion super lovely fabric flag garlands made from vintage fabrics (bought one of those for myself as gift too).

Oh, and you should also hop on over there because she is hosting a giveaway for 5 copies of my Spring Variations pattern.  Yeah, 5 of her readers will win a copy of Spring Variations and all you have to do to be in the running is leave a comment indicating which project of the set you like best.   You have until Tuesday, April 26th to pay Candace a visit and leave a comment. Easy, right?

Find the give-away right here.

Spring Variations: A Set of 15 Projects + A Lucky Day Give Away

This set of projects is coming to you SO much later than intended, but here it is and I am done.  DONE, I tell you! And more importantly than my elation about the completion of this project, is the fact that I am really, really pleased with how it all came together, the array of projects, the way it looks...getting these things completed is sometimes just way more riddled with probs than one would ever know from looking at all the happy photos of the completed projects.  

But enough about that!  Let me tell you a little bit about this set of 15 projects  (my achievement orientation rearing its ugly head again--No! 10 projects are NOT enough--15, I say!)...first off, they are all variations on 4 common themes (bunnies, jelly beans, daisies and pinwheels) and common techniques or mediums (like embroidery or making scented bean bags).  What I love about this is that it allows you to get comfortable with a given design or technique--and then you can apply it again, except in a new way.  For instance, the funny bunny plushie's hat becomes a cashmere baby hat--or the fruit scented jelly bean bags become flower scented lazy daisy shaped bean bags.  

You can see the full array of projects above.  There is lots there--everything from paper craft to embroidery to sewing to making play dough.  And most of the projects can be completed in 30-90 minutes for a quick crafting fix when you need one--or, if you are like me, for a quick handmade gift at the last minute.  I also love that a handful of the projects are aimed at children so you can give them some distraction while you work on the project that you actually want to make.

Spring Variations is a PDF file so it will be emailed to you.  It contains complete instructions, illustrations and photos for all of the projects--as well as full sized templates.  You can find the project set in my Etsy shop, here.

And, in celebration of my completion of this project, I am going to offer a little promotional give-away  for several items that were the samples I made as I was designing the projects.  Here's the deal, the first 15 people to purchase a copy of the pattern from my shop will be entered in a drawing for the following three items (so there will be 3 winners--one for each item):

1) My Funny Bunny Plushie Prototype (who you may fondly recall from this blog post)

2) The complete set of 4 small embroidered designs all neatly framed up in their little bamboo hoops

3) A gift set containing a jelly bean-shaped zip pouch, a mini pinwheel, a set of 2 pinwheel hairpins, an applique little bag, a Happy Flower packet of wild flower seeds, and a Lazy Daisy Lolly.

AND, because I love my readers too--even those who may not purchase a copy of Spring Variations--I am going to offer a second gift set like the one listed in #3 above for anyone who leaves a comment here about anything they damn well feel like--except you should include your email address so I can contact you in case you win and you need to leave a comment by the end of day tomorrow as I will announce the winner on Saturday.  Any questions?

Good.  Now please go visit my Etsy shop where you can see the project set and read lots more about it (bring a cup of coffee and a cookie--the listing is long).  Also you can lots more up close and personal photos of the various completed projects here.

Yes, There's Some More in My Shop...

More stuff you can buy--it's all in my shop.  There are some sweet little bunny plushie bunny head brooches made from recycled suit coats, and some simple embroidered zippered pouches, and then another Funny Bunny--only this one is extra fancy since he is bigger than the others and is all cashmere in an extra lovely shade of blue.

Oh yeah, about that set of patterns--still working on them.  Funny how the project you thought would be simplest to make ends up being the project that drives you to drinking lighter fluid and then contemplating burning down your workshop.  I think I have it in hand now...of course one can never tell so my only hope is to have the patterns available before Easter...I have dreams too, you know.

In My Shop: Bunnies & Bean Bags & Quilts--Oh My!

I made these.  They take bean bags to a whole new sensory level because they are scented.  Yeah, that's right--the jelly bean bag ones smell like fruity jelly beans--and each petal of the lazy daisy bean bags smell like a different lovely flower.  And yes, I freely admit I am obsessed with bean bags, so no need to whisper about me back behind my back.   But if you like them as much as I do, you can buy them because they are in my Etsy shop, right this very second.  They will also be a part of that pack of spring-y patterns I am putting together this week (i.e. gallons of late night green tea, Craig Ferguson on the TV, husband in bed alone sleeping).

Oh, those Funny Bunnies and the Lazy Daisy Dolly Quilt are also in my shop if you decide you need one for yourself or someone littler in your life.   Find all the goodness here.  Must return to my personal late-night sweatshop of pattern creation now...

Lazy Daisy Dolly Quilt

I've been wanting to design a doll quilt for some time--so here you go.  It is my lazy daisy dolly quilt.

It's super simple to make--just a basic quilt sandwich and then the flowers appliqued on top.  Of course, I used those repro feedsack fabrics which I love--and the top is actually just part of an old uber-soft pillow case I had laying around.

This pattern will be part of the set of springy projects I am putting together.  They might be available, maybe, sometime next weekend--barring outbreaks of illness in my family, any natural disasters on my block, or unexpected bouts of laziness which might overtake me.