Feeling crafty?

When I was little, we always enjoyed visiting my Aunt Miriam and seeing what she was creating. I remember once sitting down in her basement, and within about 30 minutes, she had made my sister and me a whole tray full of poofy hairbows. (This was the mid-nineties and exactly what I would wear for the next several years.) Some had rosettes that she had just twisted together using plain ribbon. I'm still amazed.

She always made dolls and doll houses, and I just went through our old family pictures and found one of a cupboard that she had painted and papered to become a doll house for her daughter, who could just sit on the floor, open the cupboard, and voila! A doll house. (Someday I hope to make one for Penny.)

Anyway... this isn't a eulogy. This is an advertisement! This woman can-- and does-- make just about everything. She's done designs for all sorts of decorating and crafting magazines, and now she's started a blog. You can visit it here.

Sometimes I like to make things, but I don't really know what to make. Sometimes I know what I want to make, but I don't really know how. Miriam can help! She's up-to-date on the latest ideas, and she also loves the classics. Just recently, she took an oil painting my grandmother had done (see, this creativity definitely runs in the family... to a point ;), and somehow transferred copies of it onto special paper with special stuff and made it look like originals stretched on canvas. She teaches you how to do it here.

Anyway... check it out! And keep it in your sights, as she is posting more and more crafts and ideas.