she's crafty « artistmotherteacher.com

July 22nd, 2010

I could care less if Patrick Bateman approves

When I came home from the long drive across three states on Sunday I was greeted by a husband who missed G-tot and me dearly and a little white box that was begging to be open. When I saw the box sitting on the desk in the office I may have actually squeed a little. Or a lot.

Maybe you would too if you knew what was in the box.

See! Who doesn’t want a new best friend?

Oh wait. That was just a little something extra to make me smile—which worked like a charm. It was really the stuff on the OTHER side of the box that made me so excited.

Do you know what that is?

MY MOO ORDER! Yay. Yay. Yay!

What the hell is a Moo order, you ask? Well, Moo is a company that prints business cards, mini cards, note cards, and—at the London branch—stickers. And? They are marvelous.

I designed some cards a couple of weeks ago—social media business cards for all my bloggy type adventures and mini moos for my Etsy shop.

Getting new social media and etsy shop cards have been on my to-do list for awhile. And I’m going to this little conference in a couple of weeks. Perhaps, you have heard of it? Rumor has it there my be a few other people there. People who might just want to remember who they meet after a whirlwind weekend in NYC. So…I needed to get them designed sooner than later.

I chose sooner. I chose Moo as my printer and they DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

I love all the cards. The mini moos are adorable and will be great for tossing in with my Etsy orders.

The business cards? Be still my heart and schedule me a meeting.

One of the main reasons I chose Moo as my printer was the capability to put up to 50 different images on the “front” side of the cards. I was considering using my photographs for the front but decided to go with something that is just as near and dear to me—some of my letter series work.

I picked 10 pieces and laid them out on the cards so you only really see a portion of the design. On the back is all my info.

I really do love them. I think they do a great job of expressing something special about me. Plus, they have the potential to be a great conversation starter. The design on the front becomes more than just a design. It is a way to show who I am, what I do, and how much I love type.

A+ in my book. What do you think?

July 12th, 2010

Next thing you know we’ll be hanging up the black light poster I found in the hope chest

Remember those glow in the dark stars that you could hang on the ceiling in your bedroom?

Not the sticker kind but the plastic ones that came with a tiny supply of white removable adhesive. The kind you could only use one time because you were never given enough adhesive to reuse them once you pried them off the ceiling. Or, if you had leftover adhesive it would be completely dried out or covered in dust by the time you actually needed it.

Remember those?

They were awesome.

I always wanted a set of them growing up. Somehow that never happened when I was a kid. No, it wasn’t until I was an adult and living on my own before I actually had my own set of glow in the dark stars on my ceiling. What can I say? I was a late bloomer. Now, I don’t exactly remember which apartment I had them in, but they came with me when I moved. And for the last five years we have had that set of stars sitting in a small pink plastic bin in our basement waiting to see the light of day and glow again.

But that weird white gummy adhesive has a tendency to dry out over the years. So I never really had a way—or a need—to put them back up.

Until now.

IMG_9746 copy

A few weeks ago Glue Dots and TwitterMoms sent me a big envelope FULL of Glue Dots products. Included in that envelope were removable adhesive dots. Which instantly reminded me of those stars.

G-tot could not have been more enthusiastic about using them when I told him what we were going to do with the Glue Dots and that little basket of stars.

We washed the years of dust and dirt off of them. Then we picked off all that old white dry adhesive that still stuck to the back of the stars—but would no longer stick to anything else.

Next came the glue dots.

We ended up using 3 different packs of Glue Dots for the job. It didn’t need that many but we were experimenting with the different options to see what worked best for us. The roller worked well for the quickly covering the larger stars and the individual dots were great for the smaller stars.

G-tot and I were both too short to reach the ceiling without a ladder. I was also too lazy to drag a ladder in from the garage.

So we stuck them on the walls instead.

They are still super awesome.

Disclaimer: This post was written as a part of the TwitterMoms and Glue Dots blogging contest. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

February 9th, 2010

Inky Dinky Do

A snowy day. Nowhere to be and no pressing obligations. There are never enough of those kind of days. But today was one of those days. Yay! And I took advantage of it by doing a little something creative.

This morning I made a fort in the living room for G-tot—where we ate both lunch and dinner—and when he went down for his afternoon rest I dug out my box of block printing supplies. I carved a couple of small lino blocks and did a little printing.

I made a card with the little blob guy and made some wrapping paper with the other block.

Cute, huh?

February 7th, 2010

Imagine if I actually had a silver tongue

I have been trying to focus more on my Esty shop over the last week or so. I made a new banner and set a goal to post at least a couple of new listings per month. I have a bunch of work I want to put in there but I always freeze up when it comes to actually listing an item. It’s two things really—photographing items that do not have existing digital information and writing the listing copy. I struggle fiercely with both of those things. Which is silly considering that I’ve been seriously into photography for over a decade and have been writing on this blog for almost six years.

And yet I do.

When it comes to photographing my listings I just don’t have the right set-up. Lighting sucks and I struggle with photographing prints. Getting a really good shot is so important and I find myself deleting my efforts more often than posting a new listing. So I need to work on that. I also need to find the right size models for some of the t-shirts I have to sell. Or come up with a good way to show them that isn’t just laying flat. Like on actual people. Don’t you like seeing a shirt actually on a person? Am I making too big a deal of this? Probably.

Then there is the listing copy. Oh how I loathe writing the listing copy. Coming up with something clever that makes you want to throw your money at me in exchange for my work. I suck at that. It’s the whole “this is so awesome because…” part that really gets me. Great listings make me jealous because I never have any idea what to write in that little box. Dimensions? Check. Boring details? Check. Something really well written? Nope. So there’s that too.

And yet, even with my issues, over the last few weeks I have found myself in…

an Esty Treasury of green things for my Lime Green Sunrise print,

a ByHand Spotlight for my Peach Pit print,

and in a 12 Days of Valentines feature on Lopez’s blog for my Love Suits You prints—one of which sold within a half hour of listing it.

Which is totally exciting. You should stroke my ego some more and go check out the rest of the new stuff.

January 28th, 2010

Go Ahead and Draw Something

Check out this super cool Sketchbook Frame I got for a gift at Christmas. It holds a 4 x 6 inch photo and has 80 sheets of paper that you can draw on.

It’s made by Umbra and although I couldn’t find the exact one I have, I did find this one with a different photo placement.

Isn’t it so fun?

December 15th, 2009

Lined Up in Rows like 16 Soldiers of Deliciousness

Every year there is a small cookie exchange where I work. The deal is 16 people sign up and each of those people make 4 of some type of cookie or other delicious sweet treat for everyone on the list. That’s 64 delicious treats. You drop off your treat on the designated day with a container for the stash you are going to walk away with , little elves divide up all the goodies, and next thing you know you have a bunch of different treats just in time for the holidays. And you only had to make one 1/16 of the varieties now in front of you. Sounds pretty good, right?

This is the first year I participated. And as you can see, I made Rice Krispie treats. Which I felt compelled to tie up with some twine and a little punched circle of holly paper. For reasons that should be obvious to most. I can be a little obsessive at times. The treats were due today and I wanted them to be extra fresh so I waited until yesterday to make them. The thing is, I worked until 10:15 yesterday so by the time I got home and actually started making all the treats it was well after 11:00 pm. It also took me a couple of hours to make, cut, package, and finish off my treats. So yeah, I was up until almost 2:00 this morning making Rice Krispies treats.

But don’t they look delicious?

I mean, who doesn’t like Rice Krispie treats? And I’m not talking about those crappy things you buy at the store. I’m talking about the real thing, Rice Krispie treats made from scratch. I swear I could eat an entire pan in one night if nobody was watching.

The best part? They are so easy to make. When was the last time you whipped up a batch? What are you waiting for?

Rice Krispie Treats
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 1/2 TBS butter (cut into small pieces)
4 cups Rice Krispies

Butter an 11 x 7 (for fat treats) or 9 x 13 inch pan (for thin treats)

Melt marshmallows and butter together in the microwave for 2 minutes stirring half way. (I stir with a wooden spoon sprayed with cooking spray to keep the sticky factor down.)

Remove mixture and stir once more. Immediately add the cereal. Stir to coat (again, sprayed spoon)

Press treats into the pan. Cool. Cut. Eat.

December 9th, 2009

Hands Down the Cutest Reindeer I’ve Seen all Year

You know Dasher and Dancer all those other reindeer, right? This guy would probably be Rudolph since he has a red nose.

Cute, isn’t he? Want to make one or two or all 9 of them?

Supplies:
1 or 2 sheets of construction paper for the antlers (we used brown to be more authentic but any color would be cute)
1 sheet of construction paper for the head (I had a tan sheet laying around but you could use any color that contrasts well with the antlers), glue stick, googly eyes are optional (I just happened to have a pair on hand)
1 sheet of construction paper to mount the reindeer to (I imagine this is optional but I like the way it looks)
scissors
glue stick
marker for eyes and nose

For the antlers, trace your each of your child’s hands on a single sheet of construction paper.
Trace your child’s foot on the paper you are using for the head and cut it out.
Glue the hands (antlers) to the head (foot) from the back. The toes of the traced foot will be the top of the head.
Add eyes and a nose with the marker (or googly eyes if you have them!)
Glue the reindeer to the larger sheet of construction paper if desired.

Tah-dah! Now you have a ridiculously cute reindeer and a nice memory of the size of your child’s hands and feet if you hang on to it after the holidays.

December 2nd, 2009

Click on Through to the Other Side

Hey you. Yeah you. The one that is reading this in their feed reader. I have a new masthead up for December. So be a doll and click on through.

Won’t you?

And then leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Thanks. You are fabulous!

November 20th, 2009

One more reason I love my bone folder

Thanksgiving is less than a week away, I’m hosting dinner for 10 and I have yet to buy a single item. Hell, I have yet to figure out how big of a turkey I need to feed 10 people. Plus, I have absolutely no room in my freezer for a large bird. Not when it is stuffed full of blueberry waffles, ice cream, and soft pretzels. Mmm…soft pretzels. I have however spent a ridiculous amount of time cutting out and assembling these little paper Thanksgiving characters. So far I have assembled a turkey, a pumpkin, a little Pilgrim boy, and a Native American girl.

I still have the Pilgrim girl and the Native American boy to cut out and assemble along with the Thanksgiving dinner table. Cutting the flat pieces out is a completely tedious task but they are so freakin’ cute when put together that I just can’t stop myself.

Maybe I should get started on the Christmas ones soon. Want to make your own? You can download the flats from Macula. Just don’t forget your exacto knife and glue stick.

November 17th, 2009

It’s Captain Featherhands

Wait…no, it’s just a little turkey G-tot and I made this afternoon. Isn’t he cute?

Want to know how we made it?

Supplies: 3 or 4 sheets of construction paper for the feathers (we used 1 each of red, orange, and yellow) & 1 sheet for the body (I had a tan sheet laying around but you could use white and have your child color in the body), glue stick, googly eyes are optional (I just happened to have a pair on hand)

Trace your each of your child’s hands on a single sheet of construction paper.
Stack the other papers you are using for the feather underneath and cut out the hand shapes.
Trace your child’s foot on the paper you are using for the body and cut it out.
Glue the hands (feathers) to the body (foot) from the back.
Fold a scrap of orange construction paper in half and cut out a small triangle (with the bottom of the triangle on the fold). Glue to the body for the beak.
Add googly eyes or use a marker to draw two eyes above the beak.
You could also cut out a waddle from a small scrap of red construction paper and glue it under the beak if you would like.

Voilá! Instant turkey and a nice memory of the size of your child’s hands and feet if you hang on to it after Thanksgiving.

Next thing you know we’ll be hanging up the black light poster I found in the hope chest

Inky Dinky Do

Imagine if I actually had a silver tongue

Go Ahead and Draw Something

Hands Down the Cutest Reindeer I’ve Seen all Year

Click on Through to the Other Side

One more reason I love my bone folder

It’s Captain Featherhands

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