Craft Explosion

This is last night circa 6pm.

The Key
1. Paper Source rolls. I'll be back for you later!
2. Teal Hoody. I love you and no one else does. Also I should really wash you.
3. The purse where my driver's license and credit card weren't when I realized I needed them pre crafts.
4. Desk
5. B/c why *wouldn't* you have a family-sized pancake griddle still in the box in the middle of your studio?
6. An owl! (This could be like a where's waldo only it's owls...or carpet. Which ever.)
7. Future fabric flowers.
8. You!

Save the Dates: Try 3 and SET (by me)

I realize I had forgotten to post these. So these are the save the dates. (Click for a larger view)

They are going to be square despite the extra postage. The whole thing just wasn't working in the rectangle format.

The stamp was a test (top) but then I liked it and didn't want to have to cut out everything again. It just barely barely fits.

It's sort of loud and to the point. Maybe we'll put additional information on the back but yeah, there it is. This is how it's gonna look so only say nice things!

The top image was the test. The bottom image is a completed one. I'd like to stamp directly onto the card but it's suuuch a close call that if I mess up I'm screwed. Maybe I will try though. Maybe I could do embossing. Maybe I'm making something complicated even more so unnecessarily. STOOOOOP ME!

Save the Date Insides (by Me)

There is so much stamping in my future it's kind of hard to fathom. The Save the Dates have:
-2 stamps
-2 major cut outs
-a million tiny cut outs
-15 small and 2 large gluings
-2 large gluings

The invites may be less complex than the Save the Dates. Is that wrong?

Also I had the goal of finishing these suckers in September. I think it's possible. I also think I need to spend less time watching Greek on Hulu and more time, um, stamping.

Save the Dates: We Have a Winner

This week my goal is to clean my studio. But really you can work only so much on such a project. So around 9 my sights turned crafty. What started as a relatively clean table transformed into a fine layer of eggplant colored ink under a pile of paper, tissue and stamp parts. But I think we're really close to having an official save the date. It's way too complicated. All of my good intentions kind of went out the window. So if we weigh them and they aren't too expensive, I will go forward as is. Come Oct 1, I may have to reassess the design for the remaining count.

Hello Pretty

This is an image of pure potential. Or maybe these are the mother flags before they turn into baby flags. OK ew.

Not ew: I got all the flag fabric I think I'll need for $16 dollars at SCRAP in Portland.

I can't wait to get started cutting cutting cutting.

In other good news, Z and I both agreed that the save the dates looked really cramped. It'll cost us more in postage but we are probably going to go up to square cards. I bought some and tested one out and it looks soooo much better. Yay!

Lettering Play

This isn't anywhere close to what we're doing, but sometimes it's just fun to play with another artist's type style. Here I'm butchering Richard Perez's.

I'm trying to learn how to use Illustrator WITH Photoshop. Rough roads ahead people. Rough roads. :)

Bachelorettes

I went to like my 3rd bachelorette party ever last weekend and it was a ton of fun. I don't know the bride very well but we both know that we'd probably be good friends if we lived in the same city. I was honored to be invited. Truly a fabulous group of women. And of course, for the occasion, well, here are the creations. I'm pretty proud of the outcome. I've made the corsets before as gifts when I crewed the local theater's Chicago. I'm really excited that I now have the design to use in events such as these!

Crape Paper Flower Try 2

Here is another crape paper flower attempt.

The stem is a thick floral wire and green duct tape.

Crape Paper Flower Try 1

This is something I tried very quickly. I need to do practice flowers in a color other than white.

(Also I'm trying to learn to mix vectors with real photography so bear with me while I figure it out :)

Picture Frame Chalkboard (by Me)

So back in this post, I talked about making your own chalkboards. Here's my test run. It's simply a 99 cent picture frame, matte board and chalkboard paint. Z made the comment that if I decide to do this, I better use round frames otherwise we should just buy the square chalkboards because it would be cheaper from a time/money standpoint. Maybe....*maybe*

But now I need to find a REALLY COOL (and giant) frame. Even a rectangle one. Endless possibilities. Endless.

Save the Dates: Try 2-ish

A little success. A little fail. On the left is the front of our Save the Dates with an attempt to emboss the words. Clear embossing doesn't work very well on a pattern (the upper two on the left side attest to that.)

I like the idea of flags but I'm worried it seems too busy. I'm letting it all set.