The art of Redwork was born from a unique, colorfast dying process developed in Turkey where cotton could be dyed red. Until then only expensive silk was used for embroidery. Redwork or Turkey Redwork as it was sometimes called, spread through Europe and then America in the mid to late 1800s. The most popular application for redwork was on “penny squares,” which were squares of white muslin with a pre-printed design. Needle-workers wanting an authentic look stuck to primitive lettering and hand-drawn images.

Well before WWII, this fashion fell out of favor due to the availability of multiple embroidery thread colors and the advent of cross-stitch and crewelwork.

However, with the popularity of television programs featuring antique appraisals and auctions, Redwork is making a big comeback and commanding high prices. Aside from that, it’s a relaxing, rewarding pastime.

Below I have outlined instructions that adapt redwork embroidery into an eco-friendly, kid-friendly activity that travels well.

Supplies:
1 white, Styrofoam, clam shell take-out container
Red embroidery floss
Needle with a large enough eye to accommodate strands of floss

Optional
toothpick
type/pictures from magazines or photocopies of book illustrations

Step 1:
Use a toothpick to draw or trace an image onto a take-out container. If your image is from a book, make a photocopy first so that the book is not damaged.

Step 2:
Thread your needle. (Helpful tip: embroidery floss is usually comprised of 6 strands. Using all of them at once can look clumsy. Try using 2 strands for body work and 1 strand for details.)

Step 3:
Insert the needle up through the back of the Styrofoam then back down to make a single stitch. Then poke the needle back up through the Styrofoam a space away from the first stitch. This is called the backstitch. Continue stitching until you’ve covered your image impression.

Other fun stitches to try are the chain stitch, blanket stitch, split stitch and stem stitch!

Reversible canvas tote with butterfly embroidery. Purse therapy!

This year I thought it would be entertaining to interview my kids as a record of their lives and interests right now. So I compiled some leading questions and sat down with them today for a private interviewing session. 

Below are the questions I used if you’d like to capture your kids’ lives on this first day of 2012.

1.    What is your happiest memory?
2. Why do you like being a kid?
3. One word to describe you would be _______.
4. What advice would you give your parents?
5. If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?
6. What do you like to do for fun?
7. Tell about a funny time in your life.
8. What is your favorite thing to do? Why?
9. What is your favorite thing to do with your friends?
10. What do you love most about your sibling?
11. What was the nicest thing you did for someone?
12. What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?
13. What would be the ideal allowance? Tell me how you would use it.
14. What do you think makes a person good-looking?
15. Name two place we should go on vacation?
16. What is the grossest thing you can think of?

17.   Favorite color?
18.  Favorite movie?
19. Favorite tv show?
20. Favorite sport?
21. Best friend?
22. Favorite school memory?
23. Least favorite school memory?

Happy New Year!!

If you’re in need of an easy DIY Christmas gift, consider making a tea towel apron (provided you have a sewing machine or the time to hand stitch). Since you’re making it from a tea towel, most of the measuring, and all of the hemming is done already.

For less than $10 you can buy everything you need for a cute, practical and (sort of) handmade gift. 

I bought 2 tea towels for $10 at Tuesday Mornings (so $5/ea.) and a whole, 3-yard spool of grosgrain ribbon ($3) and I added a green spatula ($1.29) for a festive touch.

This is an ice skate. In cookie form, the blade part always breaks off. The Zen tangle version is much more satisfying.

Are the Holidays getting to you yet? Do you have to make 13 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange while secretly wrapping all Santa’s gifts? I’m not alone here, right?

Well, here’s what we’re going to do about it: Trace your favorite holiday cookie cutter, then fill with zentangles. I like them done on colored paper. Then cut it out and paste onto folded white paper to make your own, original card. Now send to someone who’s not expecting it - perhaps a man or woman serving our country.

This is so fun and relaxing that your kids (or your friend’s kids) will want to get in on it. Before you know it, you’ll be relaxed and everyone will be entertained. Your kids may even stop asking when it’s going to snow. (Right now it’s pouring rain in Buffalo, NY; ).

December 15th is the Artisan Showcase at my alma mater, Sacred Heart Academy. I’ve been embroidering and sewing almost around the clock to make these cute shoe bags. They’re perfect for teacher gifts, jet-setters and woman who are hard to buy for.

Let me know if you’re interested in purchasing a shoe bag, since I’m pretty much making them to order. They’re $15 each. I’d be happy to mail them out. Just add $1.50 to any order, no matter the quantity.

I’ll also be selling reusable sandwich wraps ($4) and organizers for baby supplies ($15).

Now that the days are shorter and colder, the life we had in the summer has changed significantly. It is a time when longing and depression attempt to fill the void of bike rides and blue pools. For an art therapist, it’s a great time to initiate a memory collage.

A child I work with misses the turtles from the pond he visited daily over the summer. This is a subject matter we’ve been using frequently because it allows him to spend time thinking about his turtles in a pro-active way, and through art he is able to show care and attention. This brings back the sense of purpose he felt.

I’ve always thought clothing magazines (Land’s End, LL Bean, etc.) were a great source for collage work, and his piece validates this. Clothing has blocks of textured color and gradation that helps define a 3-D shape. For his turtle he found the perfect green, puffy vest to use as the turtle shell. Visually the vest depicts the segmentation of a turtle shell. But from a tactile perspective, we all know a quilted vest is the opposite of a hard shell. Could it be that he takes comfort in stroking the shell as if it were something to be cuddled? Or is it more of a metaphor? The shell is a turtles protection from the elements as is a warm, down vest for a human.

He was so proud of his collage. The process and result were satisfying and comforting.

lizyjoy:

Love this Postcard Idea

via FPO

So you know, MnemeTherapy is not a psychological process and does not require state licensing.  Instead it uses everyday pleasurable experiences such as singing, movement, story-telling and painting in a unique combination to stimulate sustained attentive focus(SAF).  SAF has been scientifically proven to initiate neuroplasticity or the ability of the brain to remap pathways and move functions.