Barn Goodies

Over the years, my obsession with our little barn has been mentioned (and yes, I know it's actually a chicken coop, but we've called it a barn for long enough, that it is now officially The Barn). I take pictures of it in all seasons, and from all angles, and post them everywhere. Here and there, folks have asked me to make items with Barn images available for ordering. This week I finally did it.

All the Little Barn goodies you might ever want (and some it never occurred to anyone to want, ever) are now available in my Zazzle Store, Ktaylor1952 (there are evidently many Kathleen Taylors selling things on Zazzle, that was the best I could do for a store name.)

It won't just be barn images- I'm going to make some of my needlepoint designs available as note cards, and other stationery items. I've already created a Sunflower Needlepoint card, though it may not show up in the shop until tomorrow.

Here are a couple of the things already listed:

Aprons

Tiles

Playing Cards

Note cards

I'll be creating and listing more stuff over time, and I'll announce here and there when new things are available, but I'll try not to be obnoxious about it. A permanent link to the store is on the upper right of the main blog page.

This will be fun!

Wyeth-Like Needlepoint

I'm nearly ready for the cruise- and tomorrow I'll post the itinerary. I won't have internet access on the ship (or rather, what little access I will have, will be slow and expensive, so I won't be making blog posts during the voyage), but I promise to take lots of pics.

In the meantime, I'm making progress on the Wyeth-Like needlepoint.

I've started on the grass and hay- it's going to take awhile.

In and out...

The MOBI file for The Nut Hut arrived, so most of my time has been taken up with proofing so it can be uploaded for sale.

I gotta say that this never, ever, gets old. (Ignore the rectangle- it's a glitch that will be removed.)

But I did take time over the weekend to make Santa Cookies with the Grandgirls. We couldn't find Nutter Butter cookies, but these oval ones worked just as well.

Frog Girl had the brilliant notion of standing the cookies upright between the lines on my cake rack so that the almond bark could set without getting squished. I recommend that method highly. And the cookies taste pretty good too.

We haven't tried these yet, and this photo was taken from the site, I hope we get a chance to make Snowflake Ballerinas too!

In the evening, I spend a couple of hours of TV time working on the Santa Tree Needlepoint. If I say so myself, it's going to be pretty cool.

Wordless Needlepoint- Old and New

Endings and Beginnings

Wordless Next Up

More Wordless Needlepoint Progress

Wordless Needlepoint Progress

Wordless Needlepoint Progress

Needlepoint progress

I just finished incorporating the corrections and edits for my mainstream novel, The Nut Hut, so my brain is a bit mushy right now. I still have to proof Foreign Body, and Thanksgiving is this week, so it's not like my schedule is going to let up. But still, I finished incorporating those edits, and that feels very good.

In the evenings, I've been working on the new needlepoint project. I'm thrilled with how it's coming out. Worry not about the odd coloring in the face- the shading will all work out once I get a few more skin-tones in there... I hope...

The Genesis of a Project

Yesterday's Photo a Day Challenge prompt was Lips.

 

 I snapped this shot of a couple of my Vintage Barbies, with my iPhone. I e-mailed it to myself, opened it on the large screen, and immediately knew that I had the pic I wanted to share... except...

I decided that it would be even more striking if I played with it a bit. I uploaded the pic to Be Funky (a free online program that lets you do lots of cool things with your photos. Another one is: PicMonkey. I love them both). I turned the shot into black and white, and then used the *painter* function to add color back to the lips, eyes, and sunglasses lenses. I didn't *color* them, I just sort of erased the black and white overlay on those portions- the colors showing are the originals, not ones I chose.

This shot is the one I uploaded for my Photo a Day Challenge (I used PicMonkey to put an old-style photograph frame around it).

But I kept thinking about this photo. It occurred to me that it might make a very cool needlepoint project at exactly the time that I was casting about for a new needlepoint project. So I went back to the original color image and I turned it into a cartoon (with BeFunky) (it's addictive, lemee tellya).

The Cartoonizer flattens out the shading, turning each color tone into a separate area. I liked this image for itself, but it was a little too stark for a needlepoint. So I went back to the original, and turned it into a watercolor painting.

Ah- much better. It's still a far simpler image than the original, and yet the shading is less starkly delineated. I saved it.

And then I flipped it and printed it on a light tee shirt transfer sheet.

And then I ironed it onto 18ct mono needlepoint canvas and stapled it to the frame.

It's gonna be an adventure.

Wordless: Finished