Lovebird Ladybird

cheap & easy! hip holiday decor #2 - Paper Wreath

This is not my original idea, so I'm going to skip the instructional and provide you with a link! The Red Thread has a great tutorial for constructing this paper wreath and once you get the basic idea, you'll be good to go!

The only difference between the wreath I made and The Red Thread's is that I used index cards for my leaves, while she used wrapping paper. After making mine I can tell you that wrapping paper would probably be MUCH more malleable than the index cards were. But really, you can make this out of any paper you desire. Vellum would be RAD.

To finish it off I glued a chunk of an old necklace to the top and place a paper bow on top of it.

Have fun!

cheap & easy hip holiday decor #1 - make your own fabric banner

Okay, I decided to make this a short running series of posts with ideas and how-to's for decorating your home on the cheap and making it look rad! Today's idea is a banner I made the other day with a line out of a zine (I Hate This Part of Texas) that I loved and it seemed to fit the holiday theme as well:

 
I made this baby totally out of scraps and didn't even bother to sew it. To make your own-

1. Figure out a phrase or word for your banner (or use this one!)

2. Tally up how many letters there are and cut out your triangles accordingly. I did not measure mine- everything is eyeballed. I prefer the imperfection, but do it however works for you!

3. Find a font that you like (I used dafont.com) and then type in your phrase in your text editor or in the preview screen on the site.

4. Lay each triangle on top of your monitor and trace one letter onto each piece of fabric very lightly with a pencil. You don't want to damaged your screen doing this.(I used an old pillowcase for my fabric and thus it was see-through. You might decide on a darker color and then this trick won't work for you.)

5. Trace over each letter with a black sharpie. (Not on your monitor!)  Regular old sharpie is fine- just make sure it has a semi-fine tip if you have any thin lines.

6. Instead of getting ribbon I made my own by cutting thin strips of fabric. If you have ribbon around, that's great. I didn't, so I just worked with what I had.

7. Lay your letters out in order. Sew, or in my case, glue your ribbon or "ribbon" along the top of each set of triangles. I used some liquid stitch.

8. Hang that baby up! I added some lights I had laying around and there you are! A fabulous, cheap and rad holiday masterpiece.

xo -kelsie

Illustration Friday - Fast

Here'e my entry for this week's Illustration Friday theme: Fast.

In the course of messing around with the photo that eventually became the outlined figures of Mr. Bird and Sid the dog- I got to thinking about how fast the weather can change on you or just how quickly snow can pile up.

I have severely edited the background photo but it is being remixed under creative commons- Here's the attribution info for the original photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elventear/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

What did I learn from this challenge? I learned that when making your own photoshop brush of snow falling you must invert the source image! Keep it under yr hat and have a lovely evening!

Birds of a feather

The market is coming up and I've been working on all sorts of pretty new things! Journals, jewelry, cards, etc. Here are a few of the new journals!

 

I've been painting and stiching and gluing up a storm!

 

Must get back to work! Hope to see you this saturday! Huntamer Park in Lacey.               10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Art Journaling Magazine - Autumn 2009!

Yesterday I mentioned that my copy of Art Journaling had arrived. I figured I would post a couple photos and also say that there is some flat out amazing work in there! It's more like a book than a magazine and is definately worth the price. I'm really thrilled to be a part of a publication so full of amazing artwork!

I really like how they photographed my work! I haven't seen those journals for awhile so it was a fun surprise to see them again like this.

How weird and cool! haha. Needless to say, I'm stoked. And like I said, this issue is so full of great ideas, tips and techniques. It's totally worth picking up.

Mixed media party

That's right!  I've been having a one lady party and have been busy busy busy. I managed to finish a couple pieces even though it is deathly hot! Sitting in front of the fan is the only way to do it. I'd be drowning in a pool of sweat if it weren't for this sweet machine.

Onto the good stuff:

This guy got a hairdo last night with some gel medium and a prickly brush. He also has this dashing jacket courtesy of my poor judgment at an overpriced vintage shop a while back. It was this cute skirt that ended up have a waist A LOT smaller than my own that for some reason made it home with me. Oh well, onto a bigger and better life as artwork.

So he's all done and is available in the shop!

I also finished up this little lady:

 

And you can find her over here, too.

In other exciting news, I found out that I'll be selling in the Lacey Farmers Market! So if you happen to live in the Olympia/Lacey area stop by!

Saturday - August 8. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday - September 12. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

See you there!

Inspirationalizing

The book that I was talking about the other day- the one about making paper jewelery, has been totally inspiring! I'll admit, 79% of the stuff in the book doesn't really appeal to my aesthetic, but the remainder? Oh my. I've got so many great ideas floating around in my head thanks to that book.

Many of the photos have instructions to go along with them, but I'm really enjoying (and being inspired by) the photos that are just exhibiting more work from modern jewelery artists.

There was a photo of a paper flower in the book that I think was a brooch. I have this wacky old wallpaper and used it and then hooked it onto a headband. I later remembered, thanks to a terrible pain, that I have a really big head! Headbands and I just don't get along so I sewed a barrette on the bottom and everything is right with the world again.

I've been on an earring making extravaganza as well- there's only one photo to show right now but whatev:

These are my corrugated cardboard earrings. I really love them but will be changing one thing: If you try to make some of these, take my advice- they are too light right now. I made them by tracing circles onto double walled cardboard and pulling off one side of the covering.

This leaves them with one smooth side and one corrugated side. I am going to cut two more circles, peel the paper off one side and then glue them onto the already made earrings (flat sides together). This will give them more weight and will make them look a little better.

chips & herdez = delicious

Okay, wow. It has been HOT here. I'm pretty much digging it but, whew! The humidity is killer. If feels/looks/smells like a storm is brewing. Being a fan of thunderstorms, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I was out in the garden earlier. Things are starting to grow and that makes me happy. It's a pretty amazing thing to think that these amazing plants that will soon feed us, came from tiny seeds.  I love it!

I'm listening to randi rhodes (love her) and plotting a walk with the pup. I found this FANTASTIC book at the library today: The Art of Jewelery: Paper Jewelery by Marthe Le Van. Oh. My. God. There are some amazing things in there & after reading it I have so many ideas, I don't know what to do with them all! Just look at this bracelet on the cover:

In keeping with the book recommendations, I've got a couple more for you. I've been weeding the picture books and along the way I've been making note of books that I love. Meaning that they have stellar illustrations- I'm not reading the text so I'm really not commenting on that. Okay, so a few books you should check out that look amazing:

Sparkle and Spin: A book about words by Ann & Paul Rand

Check out all of their books (and his design work as well!) they are so fantastic!

I Love You Dude: A long short story by V. Radunsky

This is another one that you need to look at other works by this artist. There are so many other great books, this is just a personal favorite and a candidate for next tattoo. :)

 

Princess Aasta by Stina Langlo Ordal

Another tattoo art candidate- this book is just so beautiful. Go look! psst- Your local library most likely has all of these! Go do a little search over at WorldCat. They'll tell you what libraries have it in your area. Awesome!