Archive for Inspiration

Minty Fresh

September 1, 2006 at 9:54 am · Filed under Inspiration, Paper, Photos, Shopping, Swaps, Web

After working on a number of projects involving squares, I’ve been playing around with another simple shape: the circle.

Metromint Bottles I was inspired by the design on Metromint bottles, which have lovely silver labels with blue or green circles, depending on the flavor. It’s a very simple design, but I thought how it might work nicely as a card design, so I started punching out circles and making measurements.

I didn’t really get very far with the card idea, beyond making sample circles and sketching out some ideas, but I did end up making some bookmarks with circles of cardstock. I needed to finish off my last swap for the month, which is a reading themed swap, and I whipped up these bookmarks and laminated them before adding the ribbons at the top.

Dot Bookmarks Dot Bookmark Close-up

Very easy to make, and it gave me some ideas for color combinations to try out. Part of my inspiration came from these postage stamp bookmarks, which I’d seen in a local bookstore recently. I might try out my own version with the various stamps I’ve got saved, but that’ll be for another day.

Oh, and I almost forgot! I wanted to share some lovely items I recently bought from a few Etsy sellers. As part of preparation for my new job (which officially started today, though I only had to sort out paperwork), I’ve been doing clothes-shopping and picking out a few new accessories. I poked around Etsy for a bit to find a new purse and managed to find some really pretty ones.

First, I bought this gorgeous bag from Mint Workshop, which, even if it’s a bit larger than I’m used to, is so wonderfully made and beautiful to boot.

Mint Workshop Purse
(More photos are available here.)

I also managed to find a cute business card wallet in a matching fabric, made by Keyka Lou, which I plan on putting my own business cards (when I get them) inside.

Keyka Lou Business Card Wallet
(More photos are available here.)

The quality of these pieces is so amazing, and I highly recommend checking out both of these sellers’ items. I try to support other crafters, and especially when I find pieces as great as these, it makes it even easier to do.

I’m still waiting on another Etsy seller purse to arrive soon, and am also looking for some nice, handmade pendants or necklaces for myself. (Recommendations are quite welcome!)

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South Bay Crafters

June 14, 2006 at 4:04 pm · Filed under Envelopes, Events, Groups, Inspiration, Stamps

On Friday, I decided to check out the first meeting of a brand new craft group in San Jose that’s entirely dedicated to rubber stamping. I wasn’t sure about going at first, but I’m glad that I did, mostly to have met more crafters in the area.

The South Bay Stampers meeting was held at a very cool paper arts studio called A Work of Heart, which I had intended to visit before but never had. The space was a bit messy, but it was full of all sorts of rubber stamp and paper supplies, including stamps, inks, diecut machines, adhesives, and a lot more. They apparently teach classes and rent the space out for parties and paper crafters.

Although there were only three of us in attendance, it made for a nice evening, with each of us working on various projects and chatting. I poked around the supplies a bit and then made envelopes for the rest of the time, spending most of my time talking to Khris, the organizer, about various crafty things. Khris teaches classes at the studio and has various crafty business ventures as well, and it was really great to hear about what it’s like. It definitely made me think about trying it out for myself (someday). We also talked about various craft blogs and organizing craft fairs, and I invited her to check out the South Bay Craft Group.

I ended up spending nearly 3 hours there and I had a pretty good time, so I’ll definitely be going to the next meeting. Hopefully we can get more people interested in joining the group and attending as well. Khris and I talked about this being a major issue in this area, that there are plenty of crafters out there, but not many get involved in groups, even if it’s totally casual and social. I’m not sure what the reason is (too tired? don’t know about groups? don’t care? too lazy?), but I’d love to figure it out. It’s frustrating because it seems like I always hear about cool crafty things happening up in San Francisco or thereabouts, but not often down here. I don’t mind driving up there sometimes, but it’s nearly 2 hours round trip, so I don’t want to do it all the time. My current thinking, though, is that if people actually organized and attended events down here in the South Bay, that interest would group and end up perpetuating itself. It’ll just take a bit of work to try and get to that point.

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Craft Jumpstart

June 3, 2006 at 9:24 pm · Filed under Embroidery, Groups, Inspiration, Photos, Sewing, Swaps, Web

My attempts at learning to knit are on hold for the time being, as I just got too frustrated with the whole experience for now. I think I was doing it right for the most part, but all the stitches were too tight and everything kept slipping off of the needles. I’ll come back to it eventually, but in the meantime, I’ve tried to jumpstart my craftiness with a bit of embroidery and sewing.

After the knitting thing didn’t seem to be working, I dug around my stash to find something I could actually do and feel good about doing. I found a kit from the DMC Linea series and decided to go with that. Basically, you get a fabric base item (purse, pillow cover) with a pattern already printed on, and then you can pick your own colors and stitch it all out. I ended up choosing some pinks and ended up with this after a few hours:

Embroidered purse

Close-up of embroidered purse

I think this series is DMC’s attempt to get a younger, more “hip” crowd into embroidery, which is fine by me, especially because it’s so easy to do and the kits are pretty nice. I don’t know if they’ve done well, but I know they look a lot better than the usual embroidery kits you find in the same aisle. It’s kind of depressing to look through all the same old designs of clothes-wearing teddy bears, fairy-filled fantasy scenes, and awful, inspirational quotes, so when I saw these, I was pretty pleased. I hope to work on a few more of these, and then move on to some of my own designs.

Originally, I was thinking that I’d buy some readymade items and embroider them, but after looking through some newly acquired craft books and fiddling around with my sewing machine, I think I might make some of my own from scratch. Awhile ago, I’d emailed Sarah of Hip to Piece Squares about how she makes her tote bags (aren’t they all just gorgeous?!), since I couldn’t find any good patterns elsewhere, and she offered a lengthy set of instructions to get me going. I put off trying it out for awhile, but after making a zippered pouch at our last South Bay Craft Group meeting, I was able to figure it out. The approach isn’t too different really, with one using handles and the other a zipper.

My First Totebag My First Totebag - Lining View

I messed up on a few bits and even had to rip out some stitches at one point, but I like it as a first try. I even made a little zippered pouch to go with it!

Handmade Zippered Pouch - White, Black, Red

Handmade Zippered Pouch - White, Black, Red - Inside

I’ve also been trying to catch up on old projects and intended projects lately, and it feels so good to get them done. First, I finally washed and ironed a major embroidery piece that I worked on for months and that is a very belated wedding present for a good friend. (No photos yet, but after it’s been framed and delivered, I’ll post some.) And then I sewed up a pillowcase that I had intended as a Christmas gift for my sister. It was so much easier than I thought:

My First Pillow - Front

My First Pillow - Back

She’s attending my alma mater and is a lot more “rah rah” than I ever was, so I thought this would be perfect for her. We’ll see what she says when it arrives though. ;)

Anyway, I feel so much better having worked on all of these projects now. It’s just no fun being in between projects, so I’m hoping to keep up this momentum and move on to other things. It’ll help, considering that I have a bunch of swaps on Swap Bot to work on over the next month or two!

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Rock Scissor Paper…Scrapbook!

March 16, 2006 at 6:57 pm · Filed under Inspiration, Paper, Photos, Shopping, Web

A few years ago, I happened upon a great stationery site called Rock Scissor Paper. I really like the style and colors of their designs and they sell cards, photo albums, and a few other related items.

Earlier this month, they released a new line of scrapbooking kits, complete with album, paper, stickers, and other accessories, and in designs very similar to their other products. The papers are really quite lovely, and would make for great envelopes, so it’s too bad they don’t sell them separately! ;)

Rock Scissor Paper - Seasons Rock Scissor Paper - Dream House

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Shopping for Paper

March 11, 2006 at 8:54 pm · Filed under Envelopes, Events, Inspiration, Paper, Photos, Shopping, Web

I went up to San Rafael and San Francisco on Thursday, mainly to visit a few paper stores in the area. I’m not exactly lacking in paper supplies, but I wanted to check out a few stores I hadn’t been to before. I didn’t buy a huge amount of stuff, but I was inspired by various things I saw.

First, I went to the Paper Zone store in Corte Madera, to see one of the stores I’ve heard so much about. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed though, mainly because they didn’t have many of the metallic papers shown on the site. Those “Aspire Petallics” ones on their home page are just gorgeous, but I guess I’ll have to order them online if I want them.

After a few other stops, I headed back south towards San Francisco, stopping to have lunch in Japantown. I stopped in the Kinokuniya stationery store there, of course, and looked around for a bit. I didn’t buy anything, but I did get some ideas for cards from the ones they had for sale. They had some really lovely cards that incorporated fabric and paper, and now I want to try something similar by wrapping chipboard or cardboard shapes in some sort of patterned material.

My final paper stop of the day was the Paper Source store in the Marina. I’d only been to their Fillmore store before this, but that one is tiny in comparison! They had a lot of really nice flat wrap papers, some metallic papers, and lots of amazing letterpress stationery. I picked out a few paper sheets and packs, and toyed with the idea of letterpress business cards after I saw a lovely card with blossoms on it.

Metallic Paper (by Valerie.) Flat Wrap Papers (by Valerie.) Blossoms Letterpress Card (by Valerie.)

I can’t really justify having any proper stationery like that made right now, but the visual effect of letterpress is quite nice. The color palette seems limited, at least among what Paper Source offers, but the debossed printing is great, especially done on certain textured papers. I bought one mini greeting card done in this style, but now I’m thinking about taking letterpress classes at The San Francisco Center for the Book.

I’ve actually been drawn to the idea of learning print design lately, mostly as a result of making my own stationery and browsing through paper stores. I’ve long had an interest in graphic design, but I chose not to pursue it while I was in school. It keeps coming up though, especially lately, so I’m thinking about it again, even if I just take a class or two. For now though, I guess I’ll just keep up with my envelope silliness.

Oh, that reminds me! I’ll actually be giving a little demonstration at next month’s South Bay Craft Group meeting, to show how to make envelopes. I’m trying not to make too much of it, but I can’t help but think of more and more details that I want to include. I figure I’ll cover the basics at the very least, but there are a few neat alternatives that would be nice to mention too. I just don’t want to bore people with nerdy little envelope things. ;)

Speaking of envelopes, I listed a few assortments of origami paper ones on my Etsy store. I’ve only sold one item on that site before, but I figure it’s worth a try with a few more.

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