Embracing our Creative Spirits!

Today is the Day! My interview on "Embracing your Creative Spirit" with my lovely friend Tiffany Windsor...on her inspired at home Blogtalk Radio show...I can't believe that I have butterflies...But I do. So much to try and share in short 10 minutes! The event is today at 4:00 Pacific time.

I am so looking forward to reconnecting with my old friends and sharing what is new in my life...
Probably the biggest surprise for all our old friends is the same big surprise my Husband Roban and I got on the day that our 24 year old daughter Rileigh was in labor with our first Grandchild..

I found out that I was expecting my own little miracle...at age 47 (o.k. now I really have no secrets!)!

The photo at the beginning of this post is a three generation photo. Taken last Friday of me holding my perfect and beautiful 15 month old baby Maranda Aurora Indigo Bieber and she is holding her equally as yummy 3 week old niece Brooklyn Violet Hansen (Yes... my 2nd beautiful Grandchild)

As you can see our “green healthy eat all the fresh organic fruits and vegetables you desire” lifestyle has more than proven successful! I have never felt better or been more grateful for my blessings in my life...I had no idea how much fun this would be!

When I first told my husband ( Roban) that I was pregnant he said..." I always felt like there was one more spirit for us up in Heaven waiting to come into our family"...I replied, " Well I am glad that God told you...Cause I was Floored"
More photos of my family at the end of this post!

But lets take a minute and talk… about my book and upcoming...Book giveaway! Click on it if you want to purchase a copy.
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Here are some of the projects in my book…everything is made from Felted wool sweaters from the back of the closet or from my local thrift store. The rush you get from felting on purpose is enormous! Especially if you have ever “accidentally” felted a favorite sweater! I also love the rush that comes from making a project in an afternoon…for a few bucks…vs. Spending big bucks on wool yarn taking and weeks and weeks to knit. Don’t get me wrong I am a knitter and I love to knit, but Creating projects this way feels like magic.

So here are the details. Share with me (by making a comment on my blog) your favorite recycling or repurposing craft project or wearable idea and the winner gets a Free copy of my book! Basically we are just sharing ideas on how we can redefine the supplies and stuff around our house…Can you say old unfinished needlepoint into cool new shopping bag, You know that kind of stuff.

Got to run... interview coming up! If you miss it tonight you can always down load it at blogtalk radio and hear it in your pajamas while you are making some cool project!...p.s. Add glitter! or at least put a little behind your ears...like fine perfume!
Here are photos of Skylar ( 10) Tristan (7), Rileigh 24 and my son in law Ben Hansen, Rileigh, My Granddaughter Jocelyn Rose ( and Marandas neice), Jason ( 23), Katelyn ( 18), Jocelyn, Skylar and Maranda, and of course the three generations Brooklyn, Maranda and Me!

Victorian Flowerchild

So this is what I have been up to lately...making things to put into my Victorian Flowerchild shop on etsy. Little girl dresses made from vintage treasures, cool purses, and I had the idea the other day of making what I am calling "Baby Brooches" Brooches made from vintage things and ribbonwork flowers clipped to a shirt or dress with a diaper pin so that you can remove them for eating or washing...What do you think? Just ordered some diaper pins...I'll let you know how that works out.

I am planning sort of a grand opening to let people know about my etsy shop on June 28. That is also the day I am interview on inspiredathome radio with Tiffany Windsor. I am thrilled to be connecting with Tiffany again. I will also be doing a weekly radio spot on getting in touch with your creativity. REALLY looking forward to that as I believe that is one of the reasons God put me on earth to share what I know about that and keep myself immersed in my creative spirit!
I am also getting ready to do a tutorial on my blog. I made some really cute dresses for Maranda ( my baby) and Jocelyn (Grand daughter) with a baby undershirt and an eyelet trimmed womens blouse. Very simple, and very cute. Inspired by an adorable dress that I bough for my daughter Rileigh 24 years ago and paid 28.00 for back then!
Note on the lovely Grand daughter...yes Grandchild...Yes Marandas neice... remember that thing about finding out that I was pregnant at age 47 when my daughter was in labor with my 1st Grandchild?..Let's hear it for unexpected blessings and very healthy bodies)


I am also happy that I finally made a cute purse to put in my shop I love this vintage barkcloth. I made 2 of them one to sell and one for me to use I have so many cool things to make into purses and sometimes I can't believe that me...the purse queen...does not even have a cool purse that matches my mood. Those days are over.

Creative and Kindrid Spirits!

I just found this old newspaper article written in Homedale Utah newspaper around 1950 featuring Emma Tidwell My great Grandmother.I really never knew anything about her and I was blown away by this article and the similarities between our passions

In the photo she is wearing a crocheted dress that I am sure she made herself and I remember my Aunt Janie talking about her making wood pulp flowers. I feel so honored to be part of a line of loving creative joyful giving people, as you will see that she is as you read the article. I thought my creativity came mainly from my mother’s side of the family, artists and fine musicians. And from my dad the engineering side of my brain that figures out how things work…but I guess that the magic of art and music from the Holbrook’s and the creative liner thinking brain of the Tidwell’s found the perfect marriage in my parents and blessed me with a happy heart and a confidence in my ability to figure out how to make things and sing joyfully along the way! My Mother always took us to museums, the ballet and the symphony…While I watched my dad figure out how to fix anything and everything…Indeed the Tidwell’s have spawned a long line of inventors, while the Holbrook’s, Musicians, politicians and performers

Thanks Mom and Dad for sharing the best of both worlds with your children!

Here are the highlights of the article I can't get the scanned copy with the photo to appear but I will add that when posible

Everyone who loves nature is a potential artist, declares Mrs. Emma Tidwell. Who didn’t get around to taking up painting until she was 51. At 60 she began a career in fashioning artificial flowers.

Hard work incidental to raising a family of 12 children kept her from kept her from enjoying artist hobbies when younger, although she has always fashioned decorations for Mormon Church affairs. She has been active there all her life.

She recalls an early interest in artwork and thinks nature is the best teacher. Looking back, she reflects that her first brush with creative ear was at the age of six.

Using wild flowers she could gather at a picnic, she wove a floral wreath with which to crown her best friend queen of the affair.

Lives alone

Mrs. Tidwell, who is quite active for her age, lives alone in her home on Idaho Avenue. She drew the blueprints and is justly proud of the result. The rooms of her home are decorated with her own oil and crayon paintings and one corner of her living room is reserved for displays of her flowers, fashioned into some scene from nature. Her home is alive with various forms of her art. Fine crocheted doilies cover the tables. Curtains are her windows are paper creations that look like lace. Photographs are in frames she has made. And the walls on her home are covered with plain paper on which she has painted the designs.

“My eyesight is failing and I have been forced to give up painting crocheting and sewing. But it does give me more time for making flowers” Mrs. Tidwell said cheerfully as she held up squares of delicately tinted material from which she will make a rosebud. “ I take real flowers apart and then study them for models. Then try to match them as nearly as possible when making my blossoms”.

The artificial flowers she makes are in demand for corsages, and as decorations for banquets and other social affairs. She has exhibited them and won prizes at many fairs. She was awarded a special prize several years ago at the Nampa rose festival when she displayed an exhibit of 12 varieties of roses.

Asked whether the making of flowers was a lucrative business Mrs. Tidwell smiled and replied…”A happy hobby although I do sell some of them I make them more for a hobby than for sale and I have given away hundreds of sprays of flowers for funerals and to hospitals. The happiness I get from making beautiful flowers and duplicating the real ones, the satisfaction cannot be measured in money.”

Her painting crochet work knitting and sewing are still shown at fairs in the area.

She always did all the sewing for her family of 12 children and she still makes many of her own clothes

She took a course in millenary and spent several years working in a millenary shop. She has always been a nature lover and collects pictures of scenic views. She has re produced many of those scenes in pastels and oils some of them many times to give the pictures to friends and relatives

In flower creation she has found a happy and profitable career. Something to keep her cheerful interested and interesting. She is an inspiration to those who know and love her.

Fallen Angel

This has been a big year for me..
Our beautiful perfect baby girl... Maranda Aurora Indigo Bieber was born last March 19 and we just celebrated her first birthday!. She is busy giving out her first lip smacking kisses, talk about Yummy
Earlier in the year I trained for and ran in a half marathon,
Started speaking again professionally on my favorite topic "Celebrating and unleashing your Creative Spirit!"
Although... I think I should name the talk to "Creating a joyful life while living in a hurricane...." It's all about staying centered and I am talking eye of the storm... Which I admit is easier said than done. Many more trials (I know... blessings in disguise) snuck up on me this year including but not limited to falling off of my staircase and badly breaking my foot ( requiring surgery and a shiny new Titanium plate with 4 screws ( my 6 year old Tristan now calls me the Erector set mom!) and spraining both of my wrists...which definitely slowed down my design plans. But I am feeling better and stronger every day and learning to fly... again.

Now that I am feeling better , have really been enjoying doing hand work and am getting ready to launch some things on etsy.....My goal is to have things for sale by Friday! Mostly little girls one of a kind dresses with vintage laces and silk ribbons etc...
Something I can do with a sweet little one at my feet....and a smile in my heart...regardless of swirling hurricanes

Confessions of a Reluctant blogger

Yes I admit it...I have avoided blogging for all the wrong reasons...You see I had the concept of blogging stuck in my mind as a "look at me...don't you think I amazing" type of concept. Which really does not make any sense as I love LOVE The blogs I check out...they are very from-the-
heart.... Yet something inside of me was confused or maybe insecure about sharing...It is not about "How cool do I think I am" But about "Look at this amazing thing, truth, blessing, idea I have discovered that I can't wait to share!!!" So Now that I have gotten that off of my chest..I am committing to be a prolific blogger and share beautiful and inspiring things of all kinds. Truths that I have learned or am learning about Life, heart, home and family!

2009 My year to shine!!! I started out this morning getting some truth off of my chest and then drove myself to the ocean and did my formerly traditional polar bear dip! It felt amazing, powerful, cleansing and pure. Not that the water in Santa Barbara was really that cold but the sky was very cloudy and the water had zero visibility! I could not see a thing. But somehow that was the great part...I trusted and dove in anyway, out of my comfort zone, trusting in God, myself and the future. The way I plan to live my life from now on.
Last year was the hardest of my life. Filled with the greatest blessings and the hardest challenges. Yet I emerged ( with Gods help) triumphant like the Phoenix from the flames. 2009 is my year (our year) to shine, to continue stepping out into the light, celebrate our creative spirits, connect with joy and be grateful for all that God has blessed us with!

This year I will be sharing a new craft tutorial, idea or project every month and I can't wait to get photos of the first one...That I have been promising forever, but right now I am off to make some raw vegan lemon bars!

SweaterElla

Enchanting Sustainable Style

from

"SweaterElla"

by Katheryn Bieber

"Be the change you want to see in the world!" Gandhi

Just as CinderElla (SweaterElla?) went from frumpy to fabulous.....The real magic in any CinderElla story is simply a shift in perspective.

I am always on the look-out for treasures waiting to be rediscovered, recycled and remade into fabulously fun felt-a-licious things...and my designs are always infused with joyful passion and a love of beauty. My latest projects and designs are created from recycled sweaters and fabrics, often lined with silk blouses and other lovelies discovered from thrift store treasure hunting adventures... and finally they are embellished with my life long stash of all things vintage

While I do have original designs available for purchase at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5066053
I am intensely passionate about creating and sharing projects, plans and inspiration. (Let's just call it my therapy). I will be sharing new ideas and tutorials on a regular basis...at least once or twice a month

After all

" We are each of us angels with only one wing,
and we can fly
only by
embracing each other!"

and speaking of flying...I am flying high that my new book

"Felt it, Stitch it, Fabulous"

got a really good review from Booklist...

Here is a copy of the review

Bieber, Katheryn Tidwell. Felt It! Stitch It! Fabulous! Creative Wearables from Flea Market Finds. May 2007. 128p. illus. index. Sterling/Lark/Chapelle, $24.95 (1-60059-067-5). 746.
This is not a knitting book, although it looks like one. Using a technique she calls “fast felting,” the author turns old, discarded sweaters found at flea markets, thrift stores, or even the back of the closet into clothes and accessories that look handmade. And at first glance, you would think this was just another felted knitting book. The projects are contemporary, creative, and stylish. The process––shrinking old sweaters to create felted materials––saves both time and money, for quick results. Bieber covers every aspect of the process, from finding appropriate feltable garments to arranging the pattern pieces to maximize the details of the felted materials. The author assumes some basic sewing experience, but the projects can be completed using either a sewing machine or by hand. Most helpful are the sections on finding the correct sweater and photographs illustrating the before and after of different types of knits so readers can see what kind of results to expect. The projects have strong appeal to knitters and sewers as well as the reuse, recycle, and repurpose craft movement. —Jennifer Palmer

You can check out my new book "Felt it, Stitch it, Fabulous"at
Amazon.comThat's all for now I've got to run to pick up my sweet kiddies from school and start preparing my first tutorial to share with you on my new blog!

Here is a hint...If you have ever seen old dusty framed needlework projects at the thrift store and felt the passion of the designer but felt sad that they were sitting there feeling lost and left behind..I have a wonderful way to give them a new purpose and great new lifeSending Creative Joy,Katheryn BieberSweaterElla's official Faerie Godmother