Cutting and Pasting, not just for kindergarten

So i've never really thought of myself as an artist, a sewer yes, a quilter yes, crocheter, knitter, gluer and the list goes on. I've really been inspired by the little Artist Trading Card's i've seen on craftster and i decided that i would try and get in on the fun. I got a little nervous at first because i cant paint and i cant draw, which are two very important area's of art. I decided to join the fun anyways and that my medium would be cut and paste. Here are two that i just did for an ATC swap on craftster. The "I is for Ice cream" is going to a girl who is trying to complete her atc alphabet! "Polka dot" is going to a polka dot lover i'm sure. I'm going to be sad to see them go. I had a lot of fun making these. I'm thinking about doing some larger scale cut and paste artwork in the future. It reminds me of elementary school art class, and its so much fun!

Think Pink.....and a little green!

I moved into my rental house in April. The first things i moved in and set up were my sewing and craft supplies, but i never got around to decorating. I've had such a busy summer that i just recently got around to unpacking all of my cute little things. This is one of my little display shelves. I tried to use bright and colorful things since i cant paint the walls. The fun little green storage container, green and pink kitty painting, and pink heart box came from a pink swap i did on craftster. The blue ceramic dress and the beaded ivory dress form were birthday presents from my sister. I made the hot pink doily and my latest project, the paisley journal. After my last post about the first two journals i made, i've been working on perfecting my journal making process. I'm so happy with how this paisley journal turned out that its going to be the first one i list in my etsy shop.



Speaking of pink and green, I went to visit my sister this weekend and to help her settle into her dorm. She shares my addiction with new bedding so, of course, we went shopping. She already had a few pink and minty green accents so thats what we went looking for, i think we found it!

We found the green striped pillow and went from there. The green curtain is made from a nautica flat sheet that was on clearance. You could never get enough fabric by the yard for the price of that sheet!

Back to School

Today was the first day of the fall semester, it also happens to be my last semester as i graduate in december. I was fidgety and bored last night so of course i sat down at my desk and made something! Usually my spur of the moment craft projects dont turn into anything useful or cute, but i was pretty excited with what i did last night!
I've made journals before, but I made them with fabric covers, this time i wanted to try a traditional hard cover. The newspaper journal was the first i made, and i think it came out really nice. The second one I made to celebrate going back to school. I dont know if you can tell from the picture but there is a quarter button on the lower right of the journal.


I made the apple journal a little different, I laid down a layer of thin batting before i wrapped it in fabric. I like the way it is slightly puffy on the front, but i dont know if i like how it looks on the inside. The first decorative page doesn't lay as flat as it does on the newspaper journal. I'm thinking about making some of these to list in my etsy store, but i haven't made up my mind. I dont know if my book binding and book making skills are as advanced as other sellers on etsy. I love making these little books though, so i may just keep practicing until i'm comfortable enough to list them.


As for the sock in my previous post, I did finish them that day, but i had an airhead moment and i gave them away before i could take a picture of the finished project. Oops! I'm working on a pair of socks for me, so hopefully i'll manage to get a picture of those!

Stuff I Like/Stuff I'm Doing

We shall, my friends, start off with stuff I like. Because, let's face it, you need my help. (Oh my God, I am so just kidding. I love you!) (Or am I? Do I?) (I am. And I do.) (Okay. I'm done.)

-First of all, CRAFTSTER.ORG! I think I might have been the last crafter on Earth (or Uranus... hahaha) to hear of the Craftster forums, but oh man, am I glad I did. Got a question that's even tangentially related to any form of craft or art? A quick search on Craftster will yield you all you ever wanted to know and more. It's a great place to show off your stuff and receive feedback, and to learn all about various techniques you're interested in. The forum is well organized and enormous, and the people are super friendly and helpful. I love it. I also love the Swap forum, where you can sign up to craft around a specific theme for another person who, in turn, crafts for you. You end up with a lot of really cool stuff and the satisfaction of giving someone else something really cool.

-Next up, my XYRON STICKER MAKER. I am in love with it. Seriously. We'll be announcing our engagement any day now. It was only $7.99 at Wal Mart (you'll pay about $5 for replacement cartridges) and will make stickers out of anything flat and an inch and a half or less wide. I've used it to make stickers out of magazine and newspaper clippings, computer printouts, random doodles, shapes cut out of cardstock, and even fabric. This thing is AMAZING. You'll be suprised how many different things you want to put stickers on once you can make them yourself.

-Another link in my favorites list is TACKORAMA.NET. First off, everything on the site is free, which fits riiiight into my budget, and secondly, everything on the site is awesome. There are retro/vintage fonts, dingbats, clipart, stock photography, wallpapers, and more. I use a lot of Tack-o-rama stuff in my (poorly executed, few and far between) graphic design endeavors, and they always make things look extra-classy. I also like to print random stuff out from that site to use as embroidery patterns.

-POPGADGET.NET is a blog with multiple contributers all about what they call "personal tech for women." It is about that and so, so much more. For example, on their front page right now they have news about the new Google Click-to-play ads, mp3 player sunglasses and shoes, a new portable DVD player, and a novelty mouse. The writing is concise and witty, and they feature some truly interesting/useful/bizarre stuff. If not for PopGadget, I would have never known about the upcoming Nintendo Edition of Monopoly. And trust me, that is something I needed to know about.

-I'm pretty sure that in my version of heaven there will still be REPRODEPOT.COM. I have to actually limit my visits to that site because every time I look at it I find at least 15 new things that I want to buy. They sell the most adorable buttons, ribbons, patterns, and fabrics on the web. I want to use their fabrics for every project I attempt, and were it economically feasible, I probably would.

Speaking of projects I'm attempting, here's some stuff I'm doing:

-I was so inspired by these Log Cabin pillows that I've decided to try my hand at, well, not a pillow, exactly, but a pin cushion. It's a work in progress, but I'm liking the way it's looking. Once I've perfected them (give me a week or so) I'll probably be listing a few in My Store.

Funny tangent: When I told one of my sisters that I was making a log cabin pin cushion she thought I was constructing a tiny little home fit for the likes of Johnny Appleseed or Paul Bunyan or whatever out of brown felt. She, obviously, is not a quilter.

I really dig log cabin stuff. I've got big plans for it. I think I'm going to work on sixteen inch pillows and even journals like these other ones I've been working on for my store.

-I really love these journals. They're the perfect way to get rid of all my good-sized scraps of fabric, and they're so deceptively simple to make! Well, the paper folding can be a bitch, but I get through it. I've already sold two, but I had a hard time letting them go!

Okay, I can hear tiny little kitten voices begging for me to come and play with them, so I'll end this here.

Happy crafting! (Oh, was that a little too... yeah. From now on I'll just say have a nice day.)