One of my iPad cases wrapped and ready for it’s journey overseas! I wish I could join it, but maybe next year:)
I’ve been working on printing scarves in my head for awhile, and I finally took the plunge. So here is the one of the first, and I hope many more to come. These first scarves are bandana size, and I’m looking at sourcing fabric for making longer softer scarves as well. I think I’ve figured out what I want to use, I just need to do a little experimenting. Anyway, I’m excited about them so far, and really looking forward to doing more printing and playing around with color and pattern.
Last night I was testing out my newly made light box, which, once I get the hang of it will come in handy. I did, long ago take a photography class, but that was before digital cameras. (Whoa, I’m really dating myself!) So I have a decent understanding, but digital photography is a bit different ball game. With 35mm, it is all manual, and once you know the basics you can go from there. But with digital, you must read through the manual and find out what all the buttons do, and what setting to put the camera on, etc…
The first set of photos I took, were o.k., but not great, I thought they needed more light. That’s when my husband stepped in, found the manual, and started playing around even more. I’m not sure if it’s a personality thing or a gender thing, but he is much more of a tinkerer than I am. Anyway, we ended up with some photos that are pretty good for beginners. He also gave me a new nick name, hence the title of this post, which made me laugh:)
The top photo is one of the Valentine’s I made this year. The heart shaped cards and envelopes are from Paper Source, I love their products and couldn’t resist the color combination, so, of course I had to make Valentines this year. The cards come blank, so I drew the flower and then added the gold bow. Simple and elegant. And the bottom photo are swatches of a couple of my print designs.
I’m looking forward to playing around a bit more with my new tool and hopefully figuring out my camera;)
I’m very proud and excited to introduce you all to my latest iPad cases! They have been a true labor of love and a few steps closer to my bigger dreams of printing textiles. The linings have been hand block printed by me using custom mixed inks. I will have these up on my shops soon, but feel free to contact me if you are interested. They are $45.00. And as always, I love to take custom orders!
I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day, mainly because I do not subscribe to cheesy, unauthentic romance. In fact when my husband and I were getting to know each other I very clearly informed him, he was never to buy me a stuffed animal, EVER. He will also never buy me any mass produced heart shaped jewelry….
But with that said, it doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun with it. Especially since I’ve had kids, every holiday is fun and I wouldn’t take that away from them. I also can’t pass up an opportunity to be creative. And that is where these heart garlands come in. I learned how to make these as a kid, and remembered them when I needed to come up with some seasonally appropriate decorations, but didn’t want to fill the windows with pink, red, and lace.
Here’s what you’ll need:
-Tissue paper in any color or colors
-medium weight paper to make pattern
-pencil
-white craft glue or glue sticks
-scissors
-mini or regular hole punch (optional)
-hole reinforcers (I think that’s what they’er called, also optional)
O.k., so these are super easy, and go very quickly. First thing to do is to create your pattern. This can be done by tracing a heart onto the medium weight paper or folding the paper in half and drawing a half heart on the fold and then cutting that out, then opening it up. Stack your tissue up, as many layers as you can cut through and then place the pattern on top and trace with a pencil. Cut out the hearts, as many or as few as you like, as long as it is an even number.
(A trick for cutting layers of tissue is to staple along the outside of the traced pattern. This way the tissue won’t shift around and the hearts will all come out even)
The next step is to start gluing. Take one heart and place it on your work surface, place a line of glue in the center of the heart, then lay another heart on top, on this heart you will place glue on the outer most edges,then place a heart on top of that one. And now just keep going, alternating from the center to the outside until you have the length you desire. Once all the hearts are glued let them dry throughly. (This is important because if you open it up too soon it will fall apart and you will have a sad mess.) When the garland is dry gently open it up. At this point you can punch holes on the end hearts for hanging and reinforce with those little hole reinforcers(you can find them at office supply stores). You can make these garlands with any symmetrical shape, which makes them very versatile. They are also a very inexpensive way to fill a lot of space.
Have fun!
