July 2014 – Ornamento

The View From My Front Door Bob’s Garden Summer 2014

By: ornamento.blog July 31, 2014July 31, 2014

Art, South Philadelphia, South Philly, Trees, Turtle, Urban Gardening, Urban Landscapecreativity, inspiration, Philadelphia, Urban Gardens2 Comments

I live in South Philadelphia where there’s not much greenery. But I’m lucky because my neighbor Bob turns the hot and gritty summer landscape into an urban oasis every year. Here are some pictures from this years’ garden.

The Hawthorn tree

The Koi pond

Street view

Banana tree

Flowers bloom, die and

New flowers come up to take their place

Lotus

The Banana tree and koi pond

Bob’s BFF Barbra keeps watch over everything. Sqwalk!

If you want to see posts about of Bob’s garden from summers past, click on the links below. Not all of the slide show links work on the older posts but they will give you an idea of how the garden has changed over the years.

Take the Highway to the Artway!

By: ornamento.blog July 24, 2014July 24, 2014

ArtArt, creativity, Jana Roberts Benzon, Jeff Dever, Kathleen Dustin, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay Express, The Artway3 Comments

Last month, I made a long-awaited trip to Polymer Clay Express at the Artway in Laurel MD. My ostensible reason was to see my friends Rob and Wilma Yost but we all know that’s not true. I wanted to shop.

The Artway was easy to find. I just set the GPS and the car took me there. How can you miss it?

The place is huge as you can see and this is only one room!

Lots of magazines and videos to peruse

They have a big, bright classroom with lots of tables and lots of ovens. Scheduled teachers include Jana Roberts Benzon, Kathleen Dustin and Jeff Dever. Check out the Class Schedule

Some of the inks PCE carries

All kinds of craft supplies

More ink including the popular Tim Holtz line

All kinds of stringing materials, cording, grommets, thread and findings

The carry a full line of Genesis Paints

Some of your favorite old polymer clay videos are now on DVD and you can get them at Polymer Clay Express

Rob hard at work

Wilma packing extruders to fill orders

Check out the 3D printer!

But wait, there’s more! Laurel MD is a charming little town with quaint shops, restaurants and historical sites. There’s plenty to do after you finish your shopping. For more information, press here. And things are always happening at the Artway. Besides getting the classroom up and running, Wilma continues to improve the Dream Machine and other tools and I hear that a shipment of motors is due in the near future. To keep up with the latest happenings:

Visit Polymer Clay Express’s Facebook Page

Follow them on Pinterest

Check out their YouTube channel

And if you can’t make it to the Artway in person, you can always shop on the new and improved website!

Turn An Old Skirt into Something New!

By: ornamento.blog July 17, 2014July 14, 2014

Art, inspiration, recycled art, recycling, repurposing, Sewing, Singer Slant-o-maticArt, creativity, recycling, Sewing, thrift shopLeave a Comment

I wanted a dreamy looking leather satchel in a soft, buttery leather only I didn’t want to shell out a couple hundred dollars for it. I saw a cool looking black leather skirt in a thrift shop and I suppose they were having a hard time moving it because it was marked down to $7.00. I grabbed a back leather belt for $2.00 and away I went!

I turned the skirt inside out and marked there I wanted to cut it. Since the skirt was lined, I could skip lining the tote.

I had to decide how to work around the zipper and decided that I would make a seam there and remove it.

I’m glad I scanned the Internet for tips (see end of post) because I got myself some heavy duty needles which helped immensely. The leather I used was thin-it had been a skirt after all, and the Singer Slant-O-Matic had no trouble handling it. Plus it glided smoothly because the lining and not the leather was making contact with the sewing machine.

I cut the handles from a thick leather belt which was very hard to cut. I used a utility blade.

I attached the handles to the body of the bag with grommets I bought at Harbor Freight.

I stitched the handles to the top of the bag with a sewing awl, also from Harbor Freight. You can see that I had to make the holes with a drill, but the awl was great for passing the thread back and forth between the holes.

I installed a magnetic purse snap and I had a leather tote for under $10.00!

Here’s another one made from a suede thrift store skirt

This tutorial from sewbeittudio.com was very helpful. I also liked this one from the Vintage Ramble blog.

And here is a good video to get you started.

Pictures From My Cell Phone

By: ornamento.blog July 10, 2014July 8, 2014

Philadelphia, PhotographyArtLeave a Comment

I took these pictures across the street from the Comcast Building in Philadelphia with a cheapie Alcatel One Touch Fierce and used the software that comes with the phone to edit them. The Comcast Building is covered with mirrors and reflects some interesting points of view, wouldn’t you say?

Fireworks!

By: ornamento.blog July 3, 2014June 30, 2014

ArtLeave a Comment

I’m off to enjoy some fireworks for the Fourth. Enjoy this fireworks video from a past Fourth of July. Ever wonder why fireworks are such a big part of the celebrations? Press here.