Thursday, July 29, 2010

Craft-a-holic - Half Apron with Ruffle Trim

My fellow crafty addicts, I cannot be the only one who has ever wanted to make a super cute vintage-inspired apron, right? So after scowering the vast internet, I found an easy project on one of my favorite craft blogs, Grosgrain.


I can't wait to try it out! Especially now that I have some great new embroidery patterns added to my stash!

Monday, July 26, 2010

My First Love

One of my earliest memories, besides playing with my giant Optimus Prime transformer, is having a crayon in my hand pretty much all the time. It was like an extension of my hand or fingers. Even as I got older, when ever I was bored or feeling a bit twitchy, I would pick up a pencil or marker and start drawing. After struggling to find my niche - I could never really get the realistic groove going - in manga and comic style, I became even more attached to the art form. I spent several years learning to translate my love of drawing into the digital world and became quite awesome ;) with photoshop and using a pen tablet.

After writing my first Graphic Obsession post, I was asked to show some of my art, so here it is kids!



a character I was working on for a comic that never came to be






two separate characters for comics I would like to do sometime...maybe...


I have a lot more scattered around, but these are my favs and some of my best work. I can only hope to get better and maybe someday, I will be lucky enough to have someone ogle my work. And, yes, I like chics with guns. Dunno why...

Graphic Obsession - Tara McPherson

I am a lover of graphic art. I have dabbled in the genre a bit and have found that my artwork and drawing skills really come alive. It's like I have filters on my eyes and my hands draw my world in comic and graphic form.

I accidentally found artist, Tara Mcpherson, while looking at some embroidery patterns on Sublime Stitching.



Her art work is so amazing! I have absolutely fallen in love with the ethereal overtones contrasting against the sinister and dark drawings. Her style is a very modern take on classic comic book drawing with hints of manga influences thrown in. Something I absolutely swoon over!



Ms. McPherson has done what I have always secretly wanted to do; make amazing art and do it for a living!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Craft-a-Holic - Felt Matryoshka Dolls

Good afternoon my fellow crafty addicts!!!


One can never go wrong with making felt toys. Especially ones that are beautiful, colorful dolls!

Matryoshka Dolls are Russian nesting dolls and I have always loved to unique and lovely designs.

The great thing about this tutorial is how customizable it is. You can decorate your doll how ever you want!


SnipSnappy Tutorial

30-something

Last week I turned 30. I can say, whole-heartedly, that I was not looking forward to this particular birthday. I would no longer be the 20-something girl. I was now going to be the 30-something woman. For some reason, I felt like everything would start to sag and wrinkle and age immediately and I could no longer do some of the things I truly enjoy doing - watching south park, the simpsons, and family guy. Or buying ridiculously brightly colored eye shadow and were it with confidence, or anything like that. I was slightly terrified of turning into a boring adult.

During this first week of being 30, two things happened.

One, a wonderful friend (who is about to be 31, so very wise, and cool as hell) remarked about the dreaded age..."Whatever, being thirty is awesome. People actually take you serious now."

Second, we were invited to my sister-in-law's 21st birthday at some local hipster coffee shop. C asked if I wanted to go, and my reply "Heck no! There is no way, I wanna spend the evening with some stupid 20 year old kids..." Immediately following that I groaned and replied "Crap. I am thirty." and hung my head in shame.

I think I am ok with my new age. I spent a lot of my 20's looking for something, making mistakes, and eventually finding my niche. I learned a lot about myself and who I want to be. Now I feel comfortable with my life and where it is going.

Especially since it includes these people.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Etsy Shop: July Updates

I have been quite the busy crafty bee lately (i.e. more crafting, less blogging. sorry guys!) and finally updated my Etsy Shop with tons of new goodies (and some old ones that never got listed. oops!)



Hair Bows (as seen in a previous post)

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Bunny Pal Chew Buddy - made with organic terry cloth

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two new hand bags made with super cute summery fruit fabric

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Upcycled crayons (love the skull molds, so punk rawk!)

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And a lot of other stuff too! So go check it out!

More stuff coming next month. My head has been overflowing with inspiration lately!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Craft-a-holic - Craft Academy!!!

Good morning craft-a-holics! I have found something that is truely worth blogging about.



Craft Academy!!!


Two of my fellow Etsy Austin team members, Renee Rice & AJ Kosarek started Craft Academy a few months ago, and I knew I had to sign up. Not only do I get super awesome crafty projects like the ones I did for M's 2nd birthday and video instructions (how cool is that?!?!), but I also get to meet fellow craft junkies! What they have put together is something really quite wonderful.

Summer session is closed, but you all gotta check out the fall sesh. It's gonna be sweet!

Scraptastic!

I am a pack rat with crafty stuff. I will constantly buy fabric or yarn or pretty much anything without a project in mind. It's a compulsion I think - part of my crafty addiction. But alas, I have recently discovered a fantastic solution that is as easy as it is freakin cute!



I am a total sucker for hair accessories. In fact I bought an adorable headband for M this weekend when I told myself I wouldn't (whoops!). I love barrettes and clips and the like. So naturally, I knew I would be making a ton of the fabric bows when I found the instructions on-line. Best part? I made all five in about 3 hrs. Including waiting for the glue to dry! I can pretty much promise you will be seeing a lot of these in my Etsy shop!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Birthdays and Crafty Love

July 1st, 2008 at 8:05 pm, I gave birth to an 8lb wrinkled crying little baby girl. Ever since then, being a mom has completely changed my life and I am a better person because of it. Yesterday, we celebrated M's 2nd birthday with the Austin family. It was a long, exhausting, wonderful day, and I am a little sad to see my baby quickly growing up. But being me, and having some fantastic inspiration from my Craft Academy classes, I made some really great things to make her party extra special!


One of the classes was a special 4th of July party pack that had some wonderful crafty ideas to throw a great summer party. One project in particular was Cupcake Ice Cream Cones. I can't think of anything better for a little girl's birthday!




I used a white cake recipe and gel food coloring to tint the batter bright rainbow colors. The rest...well, it's confidential. ;}

I decided to be sneaky and top the cupcake cones with actual ice cream, cause you can't have cake without ice cream! It also served as a great candle holder!



Another class was how to make a fabric banner. I customized mine with ribbon and some pretty cherry fabric.



It turned out so freakin' cute and was deffinately a hi-lite of the party.

I hope every year I can do something special for my baby. Because, well, how could i not want to make a wonderful birth day for this cutie?!?