Sunday, December 18, 2011

Favorite Vintage Home Pieces












Some images of loved items in my home. All are vintage, estate found or handed down. Hey that would be a good catch phrase.


DIY Snowflake Garland



























My husband Geoff, stepson Elliott and I made the most simple and sweet snowflake garland this week. I tried making cutout snowflakes a few weeks ago thinking I knew how but then, to my suprise, I realized I really did not know after all.

Well, I ran across this fabulous post on creating snowflakes so I used it for some help. I did cut out step 5 though as it made the snowflake sorta hard to cut, maybe it's because she was using junk mail and magazine paper and I was using used scrap computer paper. Also, it wasn't necessary for us to have the snowflakes be as intricate as the poster's was (and we were working with a 6 yr old and the dexterity skills are sometimes lacking :). So basically we did step 1-4 then cut off the top and cut away along the sides.

Then, I simply ran a string on jute twine in the holes cut in the snowflakes and hung along our mirror. Came out really fresh and sweet looking. Super easy way to get some festive home decor!

Winter Holiday Desktop Backgrounds


























Perusing one of my favorite blogs, PoppyTalk, I found a post with some darling seasonal desktop backgrounds. Currently using the second image and loving it! So calming and peaceful.

First image: Geninne Zlatkis, Second image:  Desert Friends. Click to take you to the artist's site where you can download the background for free!

Fabric Design Class























































Fabric samples from a fabric design class that I took at the Visual Arts Center in Richmond, VA this past summer. Learned some great techniques such as block printing, shibori, immersion dying, and stencil printing. Would definitely recommend it for any textile design lover.

From top left going clockwise:
1. Mod leaf design I drew on craft foam, then cut out and stuck to transparent paper. Applied thickened dye and stamped to fabric.
2. Shibori technique winding silk fabric around a pole, then wind some string around, then scrunch and place in dye bath.
3. Stencil printed my chevron design with a discharge paste on blue silk fabric, then ironed to lose color. Created an awesome grungy effect!
4. I placed masking tape in diagonal stripes then sprayed concentrated dye from a squirt bottle, wait until dry and then take tape off and viola! Taking the tape of and finally seeing the design is pretty fun.
5. Triangle design using craft foam stamping.

This class really got me interested in textile design and now I'm a bit obsessed with it but in a good way. This last photo is a photo of one of the scarves I made for the Bizarre Market at Chop Suey Books in RVA. I dyed the scarf and then screenprinted using a discharge paste. Intensive process but lovely effect. See more of my hand dyed and/or printed things in my shop.





DIY Craft Packaging




New packaging that I've created for orders from my shop this month. Shipping is strangely the most satisfying and fun part of the process sometimes. I just love having my handmade goodies come together in a pretty package. It's really rather simple too, I just buy twine at my local craft store, print the tags on speckled cardstock and cut, kraft boxes and cello bags can be bought from this etsy supply shop and cute thank you tags you can get here.

I'm a sucker for receiving a nicely packaged item myself so I know it's an important step!