Wood you be mine? *free* printable

I made these cards last year while preparing for a craft fair that took place just before Valentine's Day.  I'm a sucker for pretty much anything faux bois, and I liked the idea of a heart shaped knot within the wood grain pattern.  I couldn't help but add this little pun.  After all, isn't Valentine's Day just an excuse for silly plays on words?!

These are set up to print four cards to an 8.5" x 11" page.  There aren't any tick marks on the printable.  Just print full size on a decent quality cardstock, then cut the page in half lengthwise, then again crosswise.  You will end up with four cards that, when folded, are 2.75" x 4.25".  The cards will fit in a #5 coin envelope or a standard 3.5" x 5" envelope.  I lucked out and found some red envelopes in this size at my local craft store.

This is what the printable sheet looks like.  Go here to download your own Wood You Be Mine printable pdf.

Happy silly pun day, er, I mean Valentine's Day!

Pretty, happy eggs

I love coloring Easter eggs.  I always have.  I love the way a simple white egg is transformed into something so bright and lovely, so evocative of spring.  As a kid I remember drawing elaborate patterns with crayon on eggs, before dipping them into the dye.  And I remember my dad drawing each of our portraits (yes, on the eggs), then trying to color them just long enough in pink dye to look kind of like our pink skin.  Often, they looked instead like we had been out in the sun too long!  But we loved the effort he put into each careful drawing, my sister and I giggling over the results.

On Sunday afternoon, my son and daughter and I sat down to dye eggs.  My son is careful and meticulous like me.  My daughter loves the transformation, throwing eggs into dye baths with abandon, just to see the surprising results.  This time we used washi tape (regular masking tape would work fine, too), rubber bands, round stickers, and a white crayon to decorate our eggs.  I especially liked the unexpected results, such as the way the pink dye (only the pink!) created a speckled finish for some unknown reason, and the way the color seeped behind the stickers and some of the tape for a tie-dye effect.  My son was pretty disappointed about the latter, since he had a fully formed idea of how he wanted his polka-dot egg to look!

Now my daughter asks every day if we can dye eggs again.  I promised we'd do it again tonight, and I expect we'll find another time, too, before Easter arrives.  It's a good thing my family likes hard-boiled eggs!

P.S.:  My overall favorite is the asterisk egg!  I dyed it in pink first (to get the speckle effect), then in yellow (for a nice warm shade of orange -- my favorite color!).  But, really, I love them all.

Featured in Stitch!

Yippee!!  I still can hardly believe it!  I am thrilled and honored to have two projects featured in the Summer 2012 issue of my very favorite sewing magazine, Stitch!  Stitch is a quarterly special issue modern sewing magazine from Interweave press, and I've been a huge fan since it's very first issue.  I designed the linen Good Day Sunshine pillow cover specifically for the issue.

The Little Apple Apron is actually a few years old.  I designed it as a gift for my son three years ago but it seemed perfect for the Summer issue.  I'm glad they thought so, too!  The image on the left is courtesy of Stitch, the one on the right is my own, of course, with my then-five-year-old hamming it up for the camera!

Again, my Good Day Sunshine pillow cover (photo courtesy of Stitch), and Little Apple Apron (my own photo).

Patterns and instructions for making both of these projects can be found in Stitch Summer 2012, available in select stores, and online, now!

DIY: Fabric Ornament Tutorials

It's not too late!!  Maybe you're even one of those people who have already finished your shopping, making, and baking... and you're looking for another project.  There are some of those people, right?!  Just to be clear, I am NOT one of those people.  Yes, I'm still shopping, making, baking, decorating, cleaning, strategizing, and otherwise preparing for Christmas. In fact, I just started last week, when I took down the last of the [ahem...] Halloween decorations.  I know, I know... pretty pathetic.  Anyway, these fabric ornaments are so adorable, you may have to add them to your "to do" list, no matter how long it already is!  I know I'm planning to make a bunch of the cute little houses to give as gifts... even if I am working all the way up 'til Christmas Eve.  Shh... don't tell.

Here's the round-up of tutorials, clockwise, from top left.
1.  Home for the Holidays ornament from Retro Mama
2.  Owl ornaments from Juicy Bits
3.  Felt polaroid Christmas ornaments from Katie Cupcake
4.  No-sew fabric ball ornament from Everyday Beautiful
5.  Simple sewn bird ornament from The Purl Bee
6.  Holiday mitten ornament from Oliver + S

Happy handmade holidays!

From textile to print

I've been busy printing, scoring, cutting, and packaging sets of holiday cards so I can post them in my shop and have them to sell at a couple of upcoming local craft fairs.

The images on the cards began as fabric appliqués.  I was originally inspired by Syko's lovely postcards.  I love the way she uses stitches almost as if she is drawing on the fabric.  I also love the bright colors and whimsy in her work -- check out her stuff if you're not already familiar with it!  Anyway, I just couldn't stop thinking about this idea of turning one medium into another. And maybe I was also intrigued by the idea of using a medium I'm pretty comfortable with (fabric and thread) to create something else I love, but am less skilled with (ink on paper).  So, I rolled these ideas around in my head, and at about this time last year, I designed the Christmas tree appliqué below.  Here is the process of how it went from sewing machine to printer.

The image on the left is a photograph I took of the original appliqué.  For some reason I used a beige-y speckled muslin for the background.  Please don't ask me why, since my intention all along was for the background to essentially disappear.  Fortunately, I am armed with a version of Photoshop which, although rather old (actually, ancient!), still takes care of the basics.

So, I photographed the textile, taking care to get as little glare on the shiny buttons as possible (something else that was fixable in Photoshop).  Then I imported the image and began playing with brightness and contrast until I was happy.  The image on the right (above) is what I ended up with.  I was having so much fun, I then started playing around with hue and came up with four more funky versions of the tree.

Last winter, I printed these on pre-scored card-making printer paper from Avery and called it a day.  But I wasn't quite satisfied.  This year, I've experimented with several different paper types, weights, and textures. I finally settled on Paper Canvas from Red River Paper.  I has a lovely textured surface, a nice weight, and it takes color beautifully.  I bought myself a bone folder and a mini paper cutter... and away I go!

I'll be selling them in sets of 10 (some with only the original tree, and some with the original plus assorted funky colored trees).  Oh, and I've added a new card design this year.  It has similar bright colors of fabric, but is made of many circles... that form a circle...  Can you guess what it is?

DIY: Upcycled Sweater Tutorials

I love, love, love these two sweater skirts from Anthropologie, especially the one on the left.  The skirts, and the fact that I can't really afford to buy either one, got me thinking about my stash of felted and unfelted sweaters, and what I might be able to make with them.  I thought I'd share here some of my favorites of the tutorials I found for upcycling sweaters into fun skirts, and a dress (Isn't the dress amazing?!).

1.  Anthropologie Inspired Sweater Skirt from Your Homebased Mom
2.  Upcycled Sweater Dress from Simply Step Back

3.  Child's Skirt from Crafting A Green World
4.  Hip Huggie from Betz White

I tend to use tutorials in the same way I use recipes.  That is, I peruse them to get a good idea of the concept, the process, the flavor combinations... then I use what I've learned to create something of my own. So I'm not quite sure what I'll do with these lovely ideas yet.  But when I figure it out, I promise to let you know!  And if you end up trying any of these tutorials, or making something else based on any or all of them, I'd love to hear about it.