Drawing and Planning and More Drawing

Drawing and planning and making things happen on a beautiful 70 degree day in March!

Valentine’s and Other Cards

I’ve been working on some card designs lately around here and I was also sprinkling in some Valentine’s Day cards for co-workers. I love me some Valentine’s Day, and I don’t think you need a special one person to celebrate! Give and spread love all around to the people that make your days better! Here are some of the cards I’ve been working on. I can’t decide if the non-Valentine’s cards should each be made individually or if I should scan the originals and have them reproduced…hmmm….what do you think?

 

I know it’s futile to be thinking about spring now, since it’s only January, but I have warmer weather on my mind today. Just popping in to say a quick hello and to let you know that if you haven’t used Picnik before, then now is the time to do it! Picnik is an amazing online photo editing site. The sad thing, though, is that it’ll be closing in April. Luckily for us they’re offering their premium service to anyone-which is a great resource. The photo above was edited on Picnik and I usually use that site instead of iPhoto. Swing on over n check it out!

Craft Hope: Crafting for Good

Lately I’ve been asking myself: what more can I do? More specifically, in regards to how I can channel my crafty abilities into doing something that will help others. Enter Craft Hope! The site and concept, founded by Jade Sims, finds different needs and families that need help from the crafty community. The current project is entitled The Littlest Warriors and is inspired by children who are fighting against cancer. You can read about the little guy that’s the inspiration for the project here. The project consists of making beanies and or bags for kids through teens and they’ll be distributed to the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, The Ronald McDonald House, and the Miracles of Mitch Foundation. I am truly inspired by Jade and the Craft Hope team and am looking forward to knowing that something my hands made will make a little one going through a tough time happy!

Have you ever done crafting for charity? Have you participated in Craft Hope before?

[Sock monkey image via Craft Hope, their last project. Look at all those monkeys going off to kids’ arms!]

Link-y Goodness: Thursday Roundup

Hello! Just poppin in to give a round-up of all the things that I have been loving, making, and exploring this week. What have you been up to and making and creating?

Thank you to my good friend Heidi for turning me on to this podcast! I love to listen to podcasts while I’m cooking and crafting and this one, Joy the Baker, is amazing. Image via Homefries.

This altoids tin clock project found on Design*Sponge has limitless potential. ACEO’s, found paintings, cards, you name it and it can probably be translated into a little clock. Image via Design*Sponge.

Bubble prints! A fun and simple project for big and little kids, found on Vivid Layers. I think this process has a great watercolor effect, I wonder if you could do a resist on paper like in watercoloring. Hmmm?! Image via Vivid Layers.

Don’t get me wrong, I love winter, but I love how these colors remind me of the spring to come. Image via Craftberry Bush.

I found this great photo editing site, Pixlr, that has a lot of retro effects to use! As you can see, you can take webcam photos through their site and edit them, pretty awesome!

Finally, this snake. Amazing. Image via Animals Talking In All Caps.

 

Exploring The Naughty Side of Embroidery (NSFW!)

I’m pretty sure most people have a hard time associating the words naughty and embroidery. Embroidery is traditionally thought of as maybe your grandmother’s craft or hobby, which is true. But! There are many embroidery artists who have taken the medium of embroidery and realized the same provocative imagery that other artists have done for years. I feel like the NSFW images, when translated in needle and thread, take on an even naughtier feel-which is a good thing! I am coming to find that the older I get, the more I’m appreciating the exploration of the body and subjects that have been kept behind closed doors. Here are some of my favorite NSFW embroideries!

Doublespeak

Alaina Varrone

The Blue Pixie

Nike Schroeder

Mandy Besek

How do you feel about provocative imagery and embroidery? Or provocative imagery and craft in general?

The Artist’s Way and Artist Pages

a week in doodles from last year

To try and get back into the swing of things around here and in my personal creative life, I have turned to and utilized a great book. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is designed to help creatives in any medium work through blocks and barriers in their creative journey. The book definitely takes on a spiritual connection that may not jive with all readers, but I take the spiritual comparisons and connections as a general higher power. Each day you are supposed to do 3 pages of journaling to help move through your blocks. At first it seemed like a real challenge to fill 3 entire pages but eventually words and thoughts came out that I didn’t even know were lingering. After getting these things out on paper, it was as though they weren’t floating in my head anymore. Doodle journaling also helps to get the days events out of your brain to make room for creating. I would definitely suggest checking this book out or at least doing some serious journaling. I have found that it’s helped me immensely with my blocks!

Do you already do artist pages or journaling? Have you worked through this book before? 

An Unintentional Hiatus

Well. Life over these past few months has taken many twists, turns, ups, downs and side to sides. All of this has left me feeling like I have nothing to share, nothing to give to this blog and nothing to really write about. I never wanted this blog to be deeply personal, just all of the things that I love to do and make and that’s why I decided to just take a leave of absence. Call it a New Year’s Resolution if you will but in recent times I have woken up. Or maybe I’ve just moved my way through the fog that has put a halt to creating and sharing. I’m very excited to jump back in with both feet and get back to who I am beyond all of life’s mess. And that’s a person who can’t help but create and share with others and engage in a community of crafters and artists! So. Here is to a new year of creating, making, engaging, and getting back to it all. I am very much looking forward to this!

Craft Corner View

 Just poppin’ in to say a quick hello from my craft corner! Hope you’re having a good crafting week!

Mixed Media Jewelry

Lately, I have been loving the combination of fibers and metals coming together to create pieces of jewelry. It probably stems from my love off all things mixed media and I appreciate making mixed media something you can incorporate into your daily life as opposed to keeping it on the wall.

image via Julia Petit

There is a wonderful tutorial showing you how to create your own pieces of woven thread and metal jewelry over on Julia Petit’s site.  It’s not in English, but the pictures are thorough. Here are some other mixed media jewelry pieces I really love:

Via The Whirlwind

Via Yara Jewelry Design

Via Lush Baubles

Via AAlicia Accessories

Via krize

Via Madz Has Runaway