Now, the concept of a CSA (community supported agriculture) isn't new to me - I live in Minnesota, for Pete's sake, and you learn about those within five minutes of living here since so many people participate in them - but applying them to yarn? I'd never thought about it, but it's a great idea! Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm was smart enough to come up with the concept, though, and for a pretty reasonable fee you could be a charter member with your own Yarn CSA share. If you're interested in dying yarns or just want some good ones to knit with, it's certainly an investment to look into, and at $100 a share (you can buy more than one), something worthwhile to look into! Shares can be purchased here.
If you're ever inspired by Marie Antoinette, love anything vintage or rustic, love new script fonts to play with, or (like me) are some combination or all of the above, you need to check out Old Fonts. I had a very specific holiday project in mind when I started Googling this morning, and that wonderful little search engine came through for me again! At a very reasonable $39, a gorgeous antique script font can be yours (they also have serif text fonts, but I'm ooohing and aaahing over the scripts for now). My favorites by far are American Scribe and Emily Austin because of how beautiful the forms of the letters are, but they're also the most legible (in my opinion) and fit best with what I was envisioning for myself. (If I was being honest with myself, I'd openly admit that I'll probably buy the whole collection for $199, despite the fact my expendable income is going to presents this month!)
FYI, folks, I'm away from my computer all week (Turkey Week in New York with the family!) but since I already preschedule most of my posts anyway, I figured I'd just make sure there was a week of posts put together so you wouldn't start twitching from going cold turkey (no pun intended... seriously).
Anyway, to get on with what I was really here to talk about. While perusing Martha Stewart Crafts as I generally do from time to time, I found this super-awesome wood print ribbon that I absolutely must use in my Thanksgiving or holiday entertaining decor. Bloody hell, I just have to use it, period. The gold-buttercream absolutely rocks my socks, but if it's not your cup of tea, I also saw it in blue, green and brown. The little bit of yummy-ness above is $6.99 for two yards.
The physical labor paid off: our engagement announcements came out great! The above picture is a scan, so it's not going to be color accurate, but the ink is an antique gold and the paper is a blush pink. I'm going to slowly be adding photos of it as part of my documentation of the planning process, so keep checking my Flickr account for new uploads. I'm going to try to get some done tonight.
If you're a design-it-yourselfer like I am, and you like this look, here was my supply list:
Since you need all hands in the studio that are available, I couldn't take step-by-step pictures of the process, but I will be going back soon to press the holiday ornaments for the swap, so if anyone would like to see them, comment here to request them. I will, however, give you a brief overview of what to do to press your own. I can't get too specific, because the process greatly depends on what kind of press and images you're using, but here we go:
Design your invitation or announcement, then get it ready for prepress. Convert all images to black and white, and outline our text so it becomes a vector image rather than a font. If you don't use SmartSet, the Linotronic film vendor I have linked above, contact your negative producer to see what formats they'll accept. My file was submitted as an Illustrator file. Send off your file, and you'll usually receive it back fairly quickly.
When you have your negative, prepare and make your plates. This step, and the negative making process, can be consolidated by simply by having your plates made by Boxcar Press. You can choose metal or vinyl backed plates - vinyl are more flexible and transparent, so you can easily register and square off your plates with a Boxcar base (available through them). I recommend vinyl, but it's a personal preference - if you end up washing your plates out by hand, you may prefer metal backs.
To make your plates, they need to be exposed to UV light. Place the negative so that it is wrong-reading (emulsion side down) on the surface of the plate and expose it - 3 minutes is generally enough if you have strong bulbs. The plate will noticeably be different - exposed areas will have slightly changed color. Wash out your plates gently in a lukewarm bath with a soft brush (Boxcar supplies these brushes as well, I believe) until the gummy surface of the unexposed plate has washed away and water rolls off of the surface like it would on glass. Let the plate dry thoroughly; it's best to do a flash dry with a hair dryer so that water spots are avoided as much as possible. If you have a plate dryer, let it sit in there for 10-15 minutes. Re-expose the plate without the negative for equal to or slightly more time than it took to initially expose it to completely harden the plate. If you're using vinyl plates (instead of metal backed with a magnetic base), you'll need to add plate adhesive to the back of it, which is also available at Boxcar.
I was browsing Repro Depot Fabrics yesterday when I came across their Black and White section. Color me a graphic designer, but I love the classic graphic quality of keeping things stark black and white (no pun intended, really. I try not to be that cheesy). I spent a good few minutes oggling the above three fabrics which are, in order, Ava, Flutterby, and Yoko (which is probably my favorite, but not only because of the Beatles connection in the name!).
If black and white isn't your thing, they've got a lot of other awesome fabrics that are really worth checking out. Enjoy!
So, as of last night I am officially engaged! It's so strange when I stop and think about it, and it will take a while for me remember to call Devon my "fiance" rather than my "boyfriend"! It's absolutely perfect timing for... ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Confused? Well, I'm taking another letterpress class at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts starting next week, and now I have a great project to work on. I wanted to do an engraved-style announcement since I don't have a huge amount of time before the class starts, and pre-existing art will cut down my design time drastically. I went to the antique book store today but couldn't really find what I wanted, so I just did a few minutes of Googling and found this amazing disk of engraved floral and animal illustrations. I bought it immediately for current and future use - at $95 bucks, there was really no reason not to (it may seem like a lot, but is actually dirt cheap for as many high res images as you're getting royalty free). I know I wasn't the only person looking, so I hope this helps!
I don't think I'm going to ever get used to Minnesota weather. Last week it was in the 50s and felt freezing, now it's back up in the 70s. Nonetheless, fall is coming, and I feel it.
Fall means two things to me: Yankees crunch time, and "I NEED TO BUY MORE WARM CLOTHES!!!" minor freak out time. Now, if I could knit, and not miserably fail every time someone taught me, I'd be going to Yarn Lust. Every yarn is a piece of eye candy, with an awesome color palette and name to match. Being an undeniably huge fan of blue, I love Charity (above), and it makes me think of spring - and that hopefully it will come soon (I'm probably in the wrong state to think that...)! If you're going more fall-themed, Bliss (a blend of pinks, reds, and browns) or Earth (a blend of moss greens, tans and browns) are great choices.
It's already been established that I'm a paper crafts fan girl. I'm sure you get that by now. In school, I loved the ease of using bookbinding tape to finish off a book, but I could never find anything other than a rather dull, dawdy beige - almost like muslin in color. Well, that's really no fun, and it certainly doesn't offer any extra aesthetic value. That's why I squee (yes, squee) over the colored self-adhesive book tape from Paper Source (right) and Making Memories (left).
Taking a road trip during the summer? Why not buy a standard-size post card at every destination and, using your road map when you're done (or another decorative paper) cut two pieces to the size of the post cards and bind them together? You'll need to align the left edge and glue the cards together with PVA (binder's glue) and let it dry overnight with weight on top of it (I've found binder clips work pretty well too, if they're heavy duty big ones). Finish and reinforce the glue bind with the self-adhesive tape for a really attractive but simple touch!
This isn't in the area I usually find myself blogging, but what do you think: real flower? Or very well crafted gumpaste flower?
It may sound silly, but I think that part of my self-identity as a crafter and designer means that not only do the things I make have to look amazing, the things I eat have to as well. That brings me to the situation at hand. I hate coming to parties with my hands empty, regardless of how much food the host is making. I'm known for baking in particular, so when I was invited to my co-worker Rita's luau party (tomorrow night), cupcakes it was. The dilemma? Making enough cupcakes that looked good on a weeknight.
First thing to go was the homemade batter and icing - sorry dry ingredients, you'll just have to be used another time. Emergency stocked cake mix and icing (yes, I stock emergency mixes and icing...), you're up! I'd also generally make my own fondant decorations at this point, but since that often takes longer than the cupcakes themselves, obviously that had to go to. That's where Pfeil & Holing steps in. The've got a great assortment of gumpaste flowers (I've used several on photo shoots before), and my experience with them has exceeded expectations. The flowers even look better in person than they do on the site.
Why did I share this? I know in my usual cone of vision on this blog, but I thought it would be a fun thing to share. After all, as creative folk, we're always trying to find new things to make our life a little more attractive and colorful, and heaven knows there's always a bake sale or party to think of!
My one piece of advice - if you're buying for cupcakes, don't purchase any decorations over 2.5" wide. They'll be too big for standard sized cupcakes. Another point to note is that P & H has a $50 minimum order - so get your dusting powder and tools at the same time!
First off, let me apologize for being slow lately. I've been very busy, and hardly on the computer at all. Saturday I had a lot of people over so I spent most of the end of last week either cleaning, shopping or cooking in preparation for it. Needless to say, I'm still exhausted two days later. I do, however, have a recipe I'm going to share for amazing cookies I made for the event, but that will probably be at least a week from now before I can do it. We'll see!
Anyway, thanks to a friend of mine who is about to launch her own craft line, I've become once again motivated to work on one of my brands that I had half-abandoned a while ago from lack of time and, to be honest, my constant crafting ADD - note my acknowledgement of "one of my brands", because yes, there have been many. I've already shared my packaging concept with her, and she was excited, so I'm excited. While looking around a variety of packaging and container sites, I saw these cute little flat tins from SKS Bottle. I think it would be an awesome way to package little cards or gift certificates. They might not suit everyone's tastes, but I think they'd be perfect for anyone whose line had a modern flair to it. SKS also has a kind that has a sliding top - that could have a lot of fun possibilities, too!
I've decided to buy a sewing machine. Yes, I know, I do just about a billion things at once. I suck. I can't settle down, and I always have to be doing new things to get rid of my extra creative energy. Last time I sewed was forever and a day ago, I must admit, but I've positively decided it's time to get back into it.
It's still an expense, and my logical side decided I still needed more "persuasion" before running to Target for a snazzy little machine (any suggestions, by the way? I'm open. I don't need ever stitch available under the sun, just something reliable, and preferably on the smaller side).
I decided to get "inspired" by going through a bunch of different fabric sites that I love, including Purl and of course, the hometown hero, Crafty Planet. While both sites carry the line, for some reason Nigella by Amy Butler (her new line) really popped out to me at Crafy Planet (maybe because the crops are a little too tight to judge good patterns on Purl?), and I decided I wanted needed it. I love this pattern - it totally doesn't go with my decor, but as a graphic designer, it makes my mouthwater. I probably wouldn't have named it spinach, but heck, it's pretty damn tasty anyway. This guy above is $14.95 a yard at CraftyPlanet.
For most, there's nothing better than a wonderful warm, relaxing bath. For the creative, there's always an added bonus knowing you made the soap. Or the bubbles and bath salts. Heck, you even made the lotion you're going to use after you come out! Does that sound like it should be you? Here's the goods to get you into crafting Bath and Body product.
Suppliers - Multiple Bath & Body Areas
Bramble Berry: supplies for making soap, lip balm, lotions, bath salts, and more. Includes molds, colorant, exfolians, fragrances, and more. Just starting out and don't know what to do? They also offer kits.
Wellington Fragrance Company: despite their name, Wellington stocks various bases (including body gel, liquid hand soap, bubble bath, lotion, shampoo and conditioner bases), molds, flavor oils, and salts. Not surprisingly, they also stock fragrances (what a shock!).
Save on Scents: I love these guys. While they originally primarily fragrance oils (their selection is great, they've started to expant their collection to packaging (vials, bottles, rollons, and more), melt and pour soap bases, colorants, and a variety of other bases including shower gel, lip balm, scrub, lotion, and other various bases.
Sweet Cakes: if you're looking into bath and body as a business opportunity, Sweet Cakes offers bulk supplies for melt and pour soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion bases. They also supply packaging, lip balm bases and flavor oils, and a wide variety of fragrance and essential oils. Want to test out the scents? They also offer themed 1 ounce fragrance sampler packs.
Wholesale Supplies Plus: offering molds, fragrances, various bases, and packaging, WSP has a good selection that covers all of bath and body crafting. There's a particularly good selection of melt and pour bases to suit anyone's personal preference.
Suppliers - Soapmaking Exclusive
Creation Herbal: offering essential oils and soapmaking ingredients, Creation Herbal also offers organic alternatives for those crafting for that market. If you're interested in doing a more advanced soapmaking process than simple melt and pour, they have beginner recipe kits complete with all necessary ingredients and a step-by-step book to help you through it.
Suppliers - Fragrance Exclusive
Scent It: various fragrance oils available in various sizes, including sample sizes if you'd like to experiment before you buy a bulk size.
Suppliers - Packaging Exclusive
SKS Bottle: a really, really great variety of packaging options for bath and body products. I've used them before while I was in school developing a fictious bath and body line for a packaging class - and I'd use them again.
Books - Soapmaking
The Soapmaker's Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch: featuring recipes and techniques, this book helps inspire new ways of making your soaps unique. Probably the best feature of all, Cavitch also offers insight on soapmaking for profit, including the hardest part for all of us - understanding the government's rules and requirements!
The Natural Soap Book by Susan Miller Cavitch: also by Ms. Cavitch, this book features soap recipes in the cold process method using all-natural ingredients. In addition to the recipes, Cavitch also discusses ideas for creative packaging and presentation.
Soapmaking for Fun and Profit by Maria Nerius: geared slightly more towards the business side of soapmaking, including pricing and marketing, it also addresses how to develop recipes and setting up a workspace.
Melt and Pour Soapmaking by Marie Browning: through great imagery and easy to follow directions, this book will help you make your melt and pour soaps even more unique with discussions on fragrance, additives, colorants, embossing, embedding and more. Though the title would suggest it's only a book about melt and pour, there are also recipes included on hand milled soaps, bath salts, bubble baths, massage oils, and bath powders.
Making Natural Liquid Soaps by Catherine Failor: in addition to all-natural recipes for shampoos, bath and shower gels, and bubble baths, this book gives insight into the chemistry behind bath and body product, and how to use different hard fats and soft oils to the best advantage. There's also information included about how to formulate your own blends, and addresses basic techniques that everyone can follow.
Hey, it's what I went to school for! Well, sort of, but it ended up being a large part of my education. Paper arts is one of those craft categories where you can pick a project that's either really, really cheap - or really, really expensive. The best examples would probably be simple card crafting on the cheap end, and bookmaking on the "wait until your next couple of paychecks" end, but both are fun and rewarding. For a paper geek like me, it gets my heart racing. Here are some supply sites and general resources on the web I find to be really helpful. I can't offer you any tutorials on the web because I still haven't found any that I like which illustrate and explain it well for beginners; I've included some good binding books in place of any web tutorials.
Suppliers - Bookbinding
Talas: they have everything under the sun for the book arts and are the first company I went to in college for more advanced supplies. They've got a great selection of book cloth to choose from (sample swatch books available for purchase!), and their book selection is definitely worth checking out (a number of them I either own or have read).
Hollander's: I'd heard about these guys recently. Their retail storefront is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but they also sell their supplies online. If you're a beginner, they have large variety of text blocks already sewn and finished so you don't have to worry about the sometimes frustrating steps of gluing your signatures. All you have to do is add your endpapers and attach to your covers!
Suppliers - General Paper Crafts
Paper Mojo: I could stare at their Contemporary Prints section all day. They've got all sorts of awesome papers to choose from, from patterned to lace to tissue.
Martha Stewart Crafts: whatever, I'm a sucker. Really beautiful ribbon, paper, punches, embellishments, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Kraft Outlet: I love brown kraft paper. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it's awesome. Kraft Outlet has a whole bunch of nifty things for packaging, stationery and other various paper-based projects in sweet, sweet kraft.
Creative Paper Crafts: I found some pretty cute rubber stamps here. They've got supplies for a variety of crafting techniques including origami, embossing, and quilling, as well as scrapbooking supplies.
Resources and Information - Letterpress
Don Black's First Press Suggestions: want to get into letterpress but you don't know which machine to start with? Here's a good page to get your started.
Briarpress: the letterpress printer's haven. Whether printing is new to you or you're been doing it for a while, there's something for everyone, including classifieds (need a printer?), help forums, and workshop / class announcements.
Martha Stewart Crafts Projects: if you're doing paper crafts, might as well go the patron saint of all things (somewhat) crafty, Martha. There are actually a bunch of really cute projects here that can really inspire new ideas and don't necessarily utilize her product. It's well explained and illustrated, too - heck, I used to design and create place cards for a living (worked at an invitation store), but I'm not sure I could have explained the process of pop up place cards better than the way it's described in the Themed Bird Party place card instructions!
Books - Book Binding
Making Books by Hand by Mary McCarthy: I bought this book back in school during my sophomore year, when I was first getting started in bookbinding. It was a really helpful reference on alternative binds or little things I could do while constructing my book to make it special. I'd definitely say it was a worthwhile purchase, especially for a beginner, because of its clear photos and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.
The Encyclopedia of Papermaking and Bookbinding by Heidi Reimer-Epp: this book really has a bit of everything in the process of making a finished book, from the papermaking process to several varieties of binding. It's well illustrated and explained, so anyone of any skill level in either area can easily pick up the crafts.
Among many things I dabble in, I love jewelry. Other than paper crafting, there's really nothing more relaxing that wrapping wire while watching a movie - I can't really explain it, and maybe it's just me. If you're one of those who, like me, love to keep their hands busy, it's certainly a worthwhile thing to pick up. Here's some suppliers and tutorials to keep you busy (in no particular order).
Suppliers
Fire Mountain Gems and Beads: really great supplies to get you started. There's a lot of diverse stuff, and their customer service is very helpful.
Rings and Things: Probably my favorite supplier. They've got a lot of unique items, and it's my go-to place for charms at the moment. Shipping is very quick, and their customer service is amazing.
JewelrySupply.com: I have yet to order from them, but they seem to have a pretty good assortment. I like to do a lot of simple charm work in my jewerly, and I'd definitely consider them when buying in the future.
Frost Creek Charms: Exclusively silver-toned metal charms, but they have a great selection.
Laramie Studios at EBay: Far and away my favorite source for vintage beads. Since they're located near Providence, Rhode Island (which used to be the jewelry capital of the world), they have great resources at their fingertips and have great finds! They're consistently very helpful and friendly, as well.
Beadin' Path: A somewhat recent find for me, Beadin' Path has a lot of great Vintage jewelry supplies, including Lucite beads, cabs, and pendants. I like that I can shop by color, which is really helpful when I have a project already in mind and know the color and material I want to work in.
Tutorials
Fire Mountain Tutorials: Fire Mountain has a lot of really great beginner to advanced tutorials to learn from. They're well-written and extremely helpful, regardless of what level of crafting you're on.
Norma Jean Polymer Clay Food Tutorials: Mini polymer clay food jewelry is pretty big, and nobody does better tutorials for getting into makng them than this website. The bakery section? Far and away my favorite - I'm a carbs kind of girl.
So everyone loves Paper Source, right? If you're there as frequently as I am, though, it starts to add up - particularly if you're buying in bulk for business purposes. For paper crafting businesses, Paper Source stock means quality, but depending on what you're buying, it can make the end product a little less profitable considering all your hard work.
Luckily for you, there's a way around it! (Or perhaps, it's through it?) Enter Waste Not Paper, Paper Source's wholesale division (thanks for the clarification, Jan). You'll need to provide a retailer number of course, but if you've followed standard legal procedure, you should already have your EIN (unless it's your Social Security number) and other documentation to prove you're authorized to buy wholesale.
I found this while catching up on Paper Crave, so a huge thanks to them for finding my favorite supply site of the moment. I've said in the past I have a huge designer crush on Damask, so when I saw that Impress had a stamp you could build a pattern from, there was just no other option other than my heart would be stolen. Considering the size of it, $8.75 for seems like a really good deal. Further investigation also turned up a super cool chandelier for $7.75, among many other really up-to-date stamps that let you make stamps on or before trend, not after like some stamp assortments do. They also supply you with some really great card-making ideas in case you're stumped, so definitely take a head over there and check it out!
Well, our crafting circle went well. We were all taking out our supplies, and the next thing we knew the sun had gone down and 6 hours had passed. Isn't it crazy how that happens? I have to take pictures of the work I completed (two necklaces, one pair of earrings), then I'll share. My to-do item of the week is to edit down my list of names to craft under so I can design and print my business cards. Oh, busy busy busy!
On another note, has anyone seen Martha Stewart : Crafts? Like her or hate her, there's some really cool stuff there. It's only at Michaels and it's a good long run of various scrapbooking, cardmaking and other papercrafting materials and kits. The website says that it's coming in May, but it's been out for about a week at a few Minneapolis-area stores. Some of it is a little on the pricey side, but the quality is good and, like all things Martha, it's clean and attractive. It's worth a look - you never know what might appeal to you.
Okay, so I may not be the next Top Design winner, but I think my taste level is pretty good. When a friend asked that I blog up some fabric options for her for a toss pillow project she's interested in working on, how can one resist? In addition to the "easy on the wallet" options she was looking for, I've also added some higher end ones to suit anyone's needs.
Remember - unless you're making one massive pillow (which, you know, maybe you are), you won't need a full yard. Figure out the size of the pillow insert you need to cover plus seam allowance and multiply that by two (you are, after all, covering both sides of the pillow). You may find you can make two, three or even more pillows out of a single yard, depending on the fabric's width and the size of the final product you're going for. The more pillows you can make, the less money it took to make each one... hooray for cheap pillows!
FUN AND FUNKY
These picks are all fun patterns and trendy accents on the cheap. The four picks I found here were all from my favorite one-stop-shopping site, Etsy. Taking it from the top:
Amy Butler's Forest Pods in Cerulean from Cheapthreads: This one is available in several color combinations, but there was just something about this one that caught my eye in particular. I love the graphic organic shapes and how they appear to be lazily blowing in the wind. Depending on the size of the pillow, you could probably make two or three coordinating pillows with this 36" x 44" fabric piece, or even more if you like smaller pillows! $17.50 per yard.
Cinderella Print on White Japanese Fabric from Dreamrains: How cute is this? It's the perfect way to make anyone feel like a princess without being too girly. The graphic stylized silhouette illustrations are beautiful and incredibly detailed. These come in fat quarters (18" x 20") but if you order more, she will not cut them into fat quarters - you'll get one piece equivalent to the two or more pieces you purchase. $7.00 per fat quarter.
Pink and Brown Damask Cotton Fabric from Cheapthreads: Together, two trends that never seem to die down - pink with brown, and damask. It's definitely a pattern that stands out, so it will work best with solid pinks and neutrals. Want a more classic version that fits with any color scheme? This pattern is also available in black and white. $7.95 for the yard.
Birds of a Feather in Mint by Cheapthreads: I'm a huge fan of engravings, so this pattern was sure to catch my eye just because of the illustrative style. The color scheme wouldn't fit in my house, but gosh darn it, it's great! The lime really makes the blue pop and together they make a really interesting and unexpected color combination. $8.75 per yard.
LUXE FOR LESS
These babies are a little more refined, and a little more expensive, but not as hard a hit on your cash reserves as they could be! Isn't it great when higher end doesn't mean high prices?
Joyride Stripe Fabric in Sage Green from Hancock Fabrics: Oh so yummy. I'm not generally a gold fan, but this color combination is gorgeous. It's simple but elegant, and with a width of 58", you can get a lot more pillows out of a single yard! $11.99 per yard.
Quilted Suede Diamonds in Chocolate Brown from Fabric.com: I love the look of quilting on fabric. There's something about a diamond stitched pattern that just screams higher end to me while still being simple. It's such a small detail, but perhaps that's what makes it precious. Whatever it may be, I can definitely see this making a really attractive throwpillow that could fit any room. It's lack of pattern helps it blend in, but the stitching detail keeps it unique and adds texture to the solid color. This fabric is also fairly wide, measuring 54" across. $19.95 per yard.
Plush Stripe Fabric in Pool Suede from Hancock Fabrics: This pattern is perfect for summer in my opinion. It may sound a little corny, but the color scheme reminds me of a summer sunset over a lake, where everything from the water to the landscape starts to glow a warm orange-gold color. I can't imagine how those colors couldn't make you happy, even in the dead of the winter. This fabric measures 55" wide. $19.99 per yard.
TRADING UP
When you work in the retail industry, you hear a lot about "trading up" - buying something more expensive and of a better quality so you can have a more aspirational lifestyle. If you're looking for my picks to fit that description - well, here they are.
Venetian Brown Fabric by Ballard Designs: Without a doubt, this is a gorgeous damask - more delicate and more feminine than others, with a great sense of white space that allows the pattern to breathe and be appreciated. I love the dark chocolate patterning on the cream. This fabric is 54" wide. $30.00 per yard.
Luxe Blue Fabric by Ballard Designs: Fabric fit for a queen (or king)! The damask patterning on this fabric has a subtle yet gorgeous crown that fits in seamlessly to the feel of the other ornamentation, and the colors are so soft - you'll have to look twice. Forget a pillow, let's upholster a throne! $30.00 per yard.
Whew! That was a long post. Back to rebuilding the site! Hope this inspired you, and definitely check out the rest of the sites and Etsy sellers who have been listed here - you may find other patterns that work for you!
As a paper nerd, I personally need to make sure I'm on top of every up and coming paper trend or company out there. Well, in my research, I came across these great papers from Crate Paper, which has a very extensive collection that I thought would be a wonderful thing to pass on to paper crafters everywhere!
My favorites (highlighted above) are all parts of larger collections, but what really appeals to me about all of the papers is the vintage look to all of them. Since they're primarily scrapbooking papers (but obviously can be used for other reasons), it's wonderful that they have a great sense of age and history to them - as if they were there to share all your memories with you. That's not stopping them for being incredibly stylish either, though. They all share a great sense of color, and some boast unexpected color assortments that I think work pretty well together.
After a couple of years of hearing more and more about it and me, well, being a broke college student for most of those years, I finally bit the bullet. I bought myself a Gocco printer on Ebay last night, and I'm totally convinced it's worth every penny I spent for the brand new starter set (with machine) that I just bought.
What is a Gocco? It's this amazing machine from Japan that came about in the 1970s. It's essentially a silkscreen studio in this one little tool that looks like a toy. You can expose your screen (called a "master") and then print directly onto fabric or paper. The size you can print to depends on the model you're working with - mine does 4" x 6" - perfect for post cards and invites (after all, paper is my "thing").
In celebration of this exciting splurge, and in anticipation of some fun activities I'll be able to post, I'm giving you a Gocco (pronounced Go-Co, not Gokko) themed post for the craftsty types and the crafting fans!
So... an update at this point is majorly overdue. Sorry about that.
As some of you may know, Minnesota just got bombed... with snow. Actually, everything is so white it looks like the Twin Cities area doesn't exist anymore. Nobody's in work today (the sound of my typing on the keyboard is almost echoing on my floor) which means... time for Comfy Day!
Yes, that's right, we should all be home wrapped in a nice warm knitted blanket or snuggling in bed, keeping your feet warm with some happily home-crafted socks. There's no way better to get excited about spring while keeping warm in winter than using yarn crafted by Brooklyn Handspun.
I love the sense of color they put in the yarns at Brooklyn Handspun. It was the most difficult thing, trying to figure out which two to feature - they're all beautiful, bright and fun! There's a new batch that should be coming out soon, so keep going to the website as frequently as possible - they sell out fast! You can get a preview of the upcoming yarns at their blog. Yarns are generally $22.
How clumsy of me! I've been so wrapped up in developing a new resource to post that I've completely lost sight of posting more crafter-based posts. Good thing I stumbled across this supplier recently...
The appropriately named Frost Creek Charms (they are, after all, from Minnesota, and as I'm learning in my first winter here, they don't kid about their cold!) has a great selection for any jewelry artist or crafter looking for some finds to make their project unique - don't let their simple website fool you! Their site may not be as finely polished as, say, Fire Mountain, but they've got it where it counts - the assortment is great and so are the prices (when browsing, remember that the pricing is by the dozen unless noted otherwise!). I'm really in love with the featured cute and original take on the charm standard of the heart lock-and-key that is so frequently seen, and at $10.94 per dozen, I'll probably have to snatch a few of these up when I've got some spare change.
Another thing I really love is how easy it is to find what you're looking for. Since they specialize in charms, you're not pouring through a large assortment like on other sites. They're divided by subject, so it was remarkably simple to find pieces to suit the ideas that have been floating around my head. Although I'm not a paying customer yet and can't speak to their customer service and turn around, I'm incredibly pleased with my front end experience and would definitely recommend at least a brief glimpse.
Now I might not be the person who's the most hip on what's "in" on the fabrics scene - I put down my sewing needles in favor of graphic design - but oh my goodness! These are the best of both worlds. The color palette is trendy and gives a modern edge to the retro-inspired patterns. If you like the pattern, but not the color, never fear! The patterns also come in several color schemes within the palette itself.
The collection, called "Flea Market Fancy" by Denyse Schmidt, can be found online in several places but I've found that CraftyPlanet has the largest variety (although still not all of the collection!) available. One yard with 45" width is $8.50 at CraftyPlanet. A complete gallery of all of Denyse's Flea Market Fancy fabrics are available at FreeSpirit Fabric.
I was a RISD kid. If there's anything I miss more than some pasta at Bob and Timmy's or some of the amazing All-American Chocolate Layer Cake (which is, well, the Holy Grail of all cakes) at Pastiche on historic Federal Hill, it's the ready access to all things imaginable in terms of art supplies. Beads is certainly no exception; there was a pretty good place on the infamous Thayer Street on College Hill called Beadworks that had (and I'm sure still has!) a great selection. What made jewelry making supplies even more readily accessible was the fact that Providence has a rich history in the field; Providence used to be the Jewelry Capital of America.
It's really no surprise then, that when I found EBayer ellielantern's store, Vintage Beads at Laramie Studios, I would encounter lots of finds. To say the least, I bid my little heart out and came up with some really cool vintage beads that I doubt I'd find anywhere else, including the awesome hank of beads above that I'm just dying to use. It's definitely worth the look if you need something unique, and there really is something for everyone. She's got an impressive variety and a good combination of Buy It Now items and auctions. Between the awesome inventory, and her great customer service, I highly recommend checking out this store on EBay.
What's in the Try This at Home Reading Room this month? Here are our May recommendations, powered by Amazon.com!
: featuring recipes and techniques, this book helps inspire new ways of making your soaps unique. Probably the best feature of all, Cavitch also offers insight on soapmaking for profit, including the hardest part for all of us - understanding the government's rules and requirements!
