Handmade angel ornaments made from paper clay. They look like cookies! I rolled out the paper clay and laid my printed angels out on top. Using a knife, I cut around the images leaving a little border. I didn’t realize that the clay shrinks as it dries so next time I will leave more room. Luckily I remembered to poke some holes for the wires beforehand too. It took a long time for the clay to harden up, over a week. Then I painted the dried clay with permanent ink so they would be colorful. Glued on my images with mat medium and coated with matte medium and matte varnish for a finished look. Then came the wires and sweet little glass pearl beads.
It’s Valentine’s Day- and my most favorite day for making crafts! The red hearts are little lapel pins that were super fun to make- just glued my favorite art angel face onto a paper scrap for the body, onto a little wood heart. Gave it a coating of Glossy Accents and added a Swarovski crystal for the bling. After gluing on a pin back, these little ladies were ready to be worn on the town.
The bird and nest ladies were my designs, glued onto larger heart wood blanks. Added some strong magnets to the back and they were fun to hand out.
I also included some of my paper ladies that I used for Valentine cards. I made them the same way that I did my Christmas tree labels. Sticker paper is the best for making unique sticker visuals. I like to seal my with spray acrylic to shine them up and give them some depth.
I have been on a mini art book binge lately! I am obsessed with little journals with embellished spines. However I am not patient enough to learn how to weave and sew these books- coptic stitch is so tricky! So I took the cheaters way out and purchased The Cinch. It’s a great tool and a fun way to make a spiral bound notebook. For the Bird Book and the three heart books, I created the covers using my art and applied it all to a wood cover. For the tie, I used sari silk ribbon. The spiral bind makes it go together so quickly! For the Crow book and the Red and Green books, I used a paint chip sample to cover the spine and used the binding holes to tie on some embellishments. These books don’t open very wide which makes it more difficult to write in but they look nicer than the spiral binding. I’ve posted some pics of my other handmade books here.
Okay, I admit it. This year I bought my Christmas cards from Costco. There just wasn’t time for the homemade card creation and I had to go with the quick and cheap route. Although the cards turned out great- I really hate that expanse of plain white on the mailing envelopes. When you go the the mailbox, you know before you open it that it’s a Christmas card from Costco. So this year, I decided to jazz up my envelopes with colorful stickers made by me. My color laser is out of ink so I had to get creative. I found a great clip art tree silhouette and typed in pretty words using a font I purchased at Creative Market. Then I printed out a sheet of them on full sheet sticker paper. To add a pop of color I painted a wash of green Dr Ph Martin india ink around the tree, not caring if there were little bits of white still showing. The ink is great because it is waterproof and will not run if the mail person is caught in a downpour. After they were completely dry, I punched them out with a paper punch (which was a little tricky) and stuck them to my envelopes. Voilà! Customized, colorful stickers that will make even Santa take note.
Every year at Thanksgiving, Juetten Personal Financial Planning sends out a card to their clients to let them know how important they are. I worked with them to design a branded card that was festive, seasonal and personal. The beautiful images were found at Creative Market which is any designer’s dream. We were able to upload the design to SendOutCards where they do the printing, addressing and mailing for you. A very cool way to reach out to your customers during this holiday season!
Recently I did an illustration for a local marketing group in Woodinville- www.ontramarketing.com They were looking for a whimsical young chef who was carrying a tray full of delicious food drink. They were able to add some color and create successful business cards for the client.
Check out my latest batch of 4×4 art boxes. The fun part is that I pretty much worked on all the designs simultaneously! Had a bunch of my photos and painted backgrounds and then just collaged and glued and worked it out as a set. No, they don’t match but they all came from the same place. Of special note is the incredibly lovely handmade polymer beads that adorn the top part. Some of the beads are howlite, and some are stone but the polymer ones were made by my cousin, Janice and they are one of a kind, specially designed to match my images. It was super fun to collaborate with her and it took me awhile, but they are finally ready to be posted. On Etsy now.
My daughter has introduced me to the joys of Zentangle! Once you get started, you can’t stop. The supplies are simple, markers and paper and a fine tipped Sharpie. Kind of like meditation only you end up with something fun.
