Sew Wild Promo!

I am getting more and more excited about all kinds of creative things I have happening in the near future and one the biggest is the release of my new book- Sew Wild! The book is complete with a DVD and when I was filming the content for the DVD back in the fall we also filmed a promo video where my fabulous editor Elaine Lipson and I had a little chat about Sew Wild.

good for the soul...

good for the soul from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

hello bump

p.s this might be the strangest process I have EVER experienced!

a peek inside my sketchbook

italian bread salad

I am such a fan of simple, fresh and flavorful salads- especially during the summer months and after falling head over heals with this greek panzanella salad I started making the italian version.

The reason I LOVE a bread salad is because we love good bread in our household. Every week we grab a loaf of rosemary garlic bread at our local farmers market. Sometimes we eat is all while other times we have part of it leftover and little hard and stale (perfect for a salad)

The bread is the star of the salad so a good artisan bread makes all the difference!

I start by cutting up all of the bread into cubes.

And then select some of my favorite vegis and herbs- I am always changing them up depending on what is in season. But for this salad I kept it really simple- tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber and fresh basil herbs.

Besides a deep love bread we also love good cheese! For this salad I use good whole milk mozzarella

and I chop it up into bite sizes chunks.

Then I create a dressing with good extra virgin olive oil, a splash of red whine vinegar, a little bit of dried thyme and oregano and crushed garlic.

Last I mix everything together and drizzle with the dressing.

The salad is so fresh and tasty and a perfect summer side dish.

watercolor backgrounds

My latest online class- Watercolor Bliss is well under way and the latest lesson is all about creating backgrounds with simple techniques! For those of you not taking the class, I thought I would share a little peek into what we are creating.

watercolor backgrounds from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

song- such great heights by postal service

i can't seem to escape color...

Trader Joe's SUPER YUMMY fruit juice gummy candies :)

happy fathers day!

herbed cream cheese

One of my favorite treats is any kinds of herbed cheese spread and I've discovered that it is almost easier to make your own.

There is nothing better than using fresh herbs in any kind of cooking- they are so simple and delicious! I picked some of my favorites- basil, sage, oregano and a little bit of chives and I diced them up

I added the herbs to cream cheese- but you could use any kind of soft cheese.

I mixed up the cheese and herbs.

The herbed cheese could be used on all kinds of things- crackers, sandwiches, bagels, in recipes but my favorite is to use it with vegis.

I like to cut up a cucumber

and add a dollop of herbed cheese to the top of each slice.

Last I add a tiny basil leaf to the top of the cheese.

Oh how pretty!

And this my friends is one of my favorite things to snack on throughout the day!

sparkle market tote

You can never have too many tote bags on hand and recently I made a few little stylish market totes that I can take to the grocery store or farmers market.

To start I used a new product from ilovetocreate called Tulip Fashion Glitter Shimmer Transfer Sheets.

It is a like a sheet of glitter (but without the mess) that can cut into shapes and letters and then iron onto fabric. WAY easier than using glitter :)

I knew that I wanted to created doily inspired shapes from my shimmer sheets so I start by folding my sheet- corner over.

I trimmed the excess and was left with a triangle.

Then I folded it over again

and again.

Next I cut the outside edge with a curve

and then I went to town cutting out little shapes...think cutting paper snowflakes.

The result is a lovely piece of shimmer paper.

Next I peeled off the protective piece of plastic

and placed it onto the surface of a blank tote.

Using a press cloth I ironed town the shimmer sheet.

and removed the press cloth.

I decided to use some of the little hearts leftover and ironed them around the outside of the design.

Of course I couldn't just keep it simple and I decided to add some little embellishments with Beads in a Bottle- another super cool product (a little like 3-d paint but hardens up like beads once dry).

I added little embellishments to the surface of my design.

Of course I couldn't just make one so I made one in turquoise

and one in hot pink.

And now I have a great little collection of sparkly market bags!