Over the summer I took on a couple of side projects. It was exciting and a little bit intimidating, only because I haven’t done much work like this. And honestly the one time I did take on client work, turned out quit disappointing. But now, that they are over I’m so glad I did them. They were a great learning experience and a positive eye opener. One of the projects was for a wedding. I was requested to make garlands out of wax paper circles, they turned out beautiful, and more importantly the client was happy. The second project was a custom stamp for a small business. She is just starting up, but having some good traction and wanted to be able to customize her bags. She makes AMAZING homemade marshmallows, in all kinds of fun flavors. Anyway, in the end we decided on a scalloped cake stand with a pile of marshmallows on it. And as you can see in the picture, it turned out pretty cute. I especially like the pink on white.
I enjoy my printing, and love working with my felt. But it was so refreshing and gave me a wonderful boost of creativity to work on something totally different. It made me realize how important it is, and I’m sure most people, to keep on my toes, and challenge myself. It prevents my work from becoming to stale and me from getting too bored. And gives me new and better avenues for growing my business. I’m still very young with my business, and having opportunities like shows me what is possible. And not only what is possible, but gives me the chance to showcase some of my other skills, and who knows where that can lead too.
As much as I enjoy making my iPad and iPhone cases, I’m thrilled when I get to take on custom projects. It gives me a chance to challenge myself and think about something different. Not to mention that the tech hardware world is so big and changes so fast that it would be impossible to make a case for everything and by offering custom work I can do just that.
The case I have pictured is for a Macbook Air, I was very excited about how it turned out. The color I chose for the print and the elongated shape made it very elegant and sophisticated. Like a clutch hand bag. And more recently I’ve started taking some custom stamp orders, I’ll share pictures of those soon.
So, if you haven’t found that perfect case for your electronics drop me an email, I would love to help you out!
I’m going to tell you something, or rather confess to something, and that is I’m a big geek. You wouldn’t know by looking at me or seeing what I do,but I am. For starters I’m totally gaga over British television, I either watch it on Netflix or PBS. More recently I’ve gotten into Doctor Who. I know, sometimes I can’t believe it either. Anyway, I watched an episode ’Vincent And The Doctor’ with my husband the other night that totally threw me, I think both of us for a loop, and good loop.
So, I’ll do my best to give you a quick synopsis. Which if you’re familiar with Doctor Who it’s not an easy task. Anyway, the episode starts off with the Doctor and his current companion Amy at the Musey d’Orsey in Paris looking at the Van Gogh exhibit. Amy was looking at a painting of a church, the Dr. came over and noticed a very sinister face in one of the windows. So, they decided to go back in time to Van Gogh and find out what was going on. In the end it was a big scared ugly monster that was defeated. But the real story, at least for me was about Van Gogh. We all know that he lead a tormented life ending in suicide. In this story, back in time, he was constantly putting himself down and believing the harsh and unkind criticisim from other people. So the Doctor and Amy decide to take him to present day Paris to the museum. They then took Van Gogh to his part of the museum and there the Doctor asked the curator what he thought about Van Gogh. The curator, told how he thought he was one of the greatest artist of all time. Van Gogh heard, and broke into tears.
What’s my point you ask? Well, my point is how amazingly important it is to follow who we are and what we are made for, no matter what the critics say. We don’t know the impact we will have on this world until we step out, follow our dreams and passions.
It gave me goose bumps!
I love it when totally unexpected things like this challenge and push me to keep going, feels good.
How could you not love this lady!
My Grandmother passed away a few weeks ago, I’ve wanted to write a tribute to her but haven’t felt ready until now. You know, the death of a loved one is hard, even when you’ve had lot’s of time to prepare, like I did. She had been pretty much house bound for the past four years. She had painful arthritis in her knees which prevented her from walking. It was hard to see her deteriorate, especially when I knew how active she had once been. But, as hard as it’s been to say good bye, it was her time to go. Now,I want to celebrate her, who she was for me and for so many other people. And to give her credit.
Aileen Catherine Holt Reavis, was my grandmother, well still is. She may not be here on earth, but she’ll always be my grandma. She was the person in my life that I knew without a doubt loved me unconditionally. She was an avid knitter, and a very good one. I cherished the sweaters she knit for me. I remember a purple one she made for me, with sparkly iridescent buttons. I wore that sweater forever, until it disappeared. I always wanted to learn to knit, and as an adult when I told her I wanted to learn she gave me a vintage beginners pattern book with instructions on how to get started. She also gave me a couple sets of aluminum needles. Those simple items are pricless to me. And were motivation to keep pushing though until I got it. She would knit for everyone, if she knew you were having a baby she would knit you a whole layette set or perhaps a soft blanket that when finished would smell like baby powder. She also sewed. I didn’t see much of her sewing, but I heard plenty of stories about her staying up in the evenings to finish a blouse for one of her daughters. That was an important part of who she was and an important way for her to show that she cared and loved you and wanted the best for you.
I don’t know that she ever considered herself a creative person, but she was, very creative in her way, talented and bright. I feel more motivated than ever to continue to make things. Wether it’s a birthday cake for one of my kids or a custom iPad sleeve. It does make a difference. I don’t know a better way to show someone how important they are, then to make something, meant only for them.
Thank you Grandma for everything you taught me, I don’t have words to truly express how much you impacted my life!
I’ve always been someone who likes to give gifts that are meaningful. I always prefer to make something over buying it. Even when I do purchase a gift it still needs to have some thought put into it. I can never just quick grab a candle and call it good, it doesn’t work for me. On top of that I have a large family, five sisters and one brother so the gift challenge comes up often. Which I really don’t mind, I love to give gifts and I really love planning them out. (I also love to wrap gifts, I could go crazy!)
So here was the challenge I had or should say have with my sister Aileen. We are barley two years apart and the two oldest. We have a lot in common and very similar taste. Technically finding a gift for her should be a no brainer and really it is. But I always have a need to go above and beyond. Not to mention she currently lives in New York and has access to much cooler shops… but this is exactly what gave me the idea of making a memory/treasure box for her.
We all grew up on the west coast, Washington state to be exact and the beach was pretty much our back yard. Now that my sister lives on the other coast I thought it would be fun to put together a collection of shells, rocks, and driftwood that were all such a huge part of our child hood. All of the items that I put in the box I had been collecting for a while, so this has been a bit of a work in progress, but to be fair, most of the things I collected I had long before I had the idea for the box. I’m really not that organized!:)
I won’t go through my whole process, because that would take forever. But I will give you the basic run down of what I did. Once I decided that I wanted to put together a collection I had to figure out a good vessel to organize it all in. I found this inexpensive wooden box at a craft store, it was around $5.00. It’s a nice size and only about an inch deep which worked perfectly. My second problem was how to section everything off, I wanted each item to be self contained. I thought of making little bags out of muslin, but I really wanted everything to be visible when the box is opened. So I bought a thin piece of balsa wood and cut it into strips and then hot glued them in place to fit each item. I then lined each section with a piece of unbleached cotton. Then I filled the box. I left the top of the box to last because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but finally decided on painting a very simple wave design. I also cut a piece of felt to place on top of the filled sections to secure them a bit.
It really didn’t take much time and the balsa wood cuts like butter! It looks complicated but really, I mean REALLY wasn’t!:) I’m excited to make more of these. Perhaps with my kids, it would be great to organize souvenirs or collections from a nature walk, or maybe small trinkets from a wedding… oh the possibilities are endless!