Archive for December, 2009

meredith dittmar

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Meredith Dittmar’s creations are absolutely stunning. There are so many layers and details to each piece.

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See more of her work here.

cake plates

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

I made a lot of cake plates for gifts this year. Here is a small sampling of variety. Each plate was personally chosen for its recipient; a german plate for my sister, tea leaf for for grandmother and the kentucky plate for my mom.

I must say they were a big hit with everyone!

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I took photos using my new portable photo studio. Still need to work on switching out backgrounds and decorating the scene, but I think this is a good start!

winter wonderland

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Mine was full of snow, good food and lots of family time. I arrived in WV safely after a long long drive. Much longer than normal since the last 120 miles I was going about 30 mph on the Interstate because of the snowstorm. Here are some pictures from my holiday.

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pom pom pom

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

I am in love with using yarn pom poms as bows on all my gifts this year. It’s a great way to use leftover yarn and gives the gifts a unique and raw flair.

p.s. If you have kitties its best to make these when they aren’t around. My two little ones couldn’t resist constantly attacking and playing with them.

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yarn pom pom tutorials here or here

plastic bag pom pom tutorial here

images via flickr and domestifluff

beautiful losers

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

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I watched Beautiful Losers last night. The film explores the lives of artists who have built their existence and art around the do-it-yourself way, with various roots in graffiti, skateboarding, surfing, hip-hop and punk cultures, until they reached adulthood. These artists include Shepard Fairey of Obey notoriety and “Thumbsucker” director Mike Mills.

Referred to as freaks, weirdos, punks and losers, the film focuses on how the group pioneered the do-it-yourself way. It was a subculture made by kids, for kids. But kids grow up, as these artists inevitably have, but they have been able to stay true to their old ways.

This film is very inspiring not only because of all of the incredible artwork, which involves diamond painting  and coal painting but because of the common drive to create amongst these artists.

One artist that really stuck with me was Steve Powers. Steve Powers is a former graffiti artist under the name ESPO (“Exterior Surface Painting Outreach”). He more recently partnered with the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia to revive the lost art of sign painting. This series “A Love Letter For You” is absolutely stunning and it is nice to finally feel like I know the artist behind this series. I hope to see this in person soon. A few of my favorites:

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Every single one of these artists are extremely talented and since watching the movie I have been driven to research them all. You should do the same.

paper-cutting perfection

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

The John Lewis Christmas poster campaign is paper-cutting perfection designed and illustrated by Kate Forrester. The campaign includes 10 completely unique and intricate typographic images of their slogan ”Give the Perfect Gift.” The posters are beautiful and make me wish I lived in the UK so I could see them in person. Bravo Kate.


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See more of the campaign here.

See more of Kate’s work here.

design crush

Monday, December 7th, 2009

For a while now I have been following type designer and illustrator Jessica Hische. She is the mastermind behind Daily Drop Cap and the gorgeous new font Buttermilk (which I recently purchased and am now obsessed with.) But seriously every single thing she does is beautiful.

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You can see a little insight to how show comes up with her daily drop caps here.

Check out more of her work here.

fancy seeing you here debut

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Today was a big day for fancy seeing you here. I participated in an internal craft show at my real job, Discovery Communications, which happened to be my first craft show ever. I have to say I have been dying to participate in a craft show for some time now, but have never had the guts. But my new motto is “stop dreaming and start doing” and it’s really been working for me. I tried to have a nice variety in my booth; some letterpress cards, vintage button goodies, cake plates, plant terrariums and some screenprinted tees. (The tees were a collaboration with the pedal pusher.) All in all it’s been a ton of hard work along with many ups and downs, but seeing people react so warmly to my handmade goods was wonderful—I can’t wait for my next show! Here’s a few pictures from my setup:

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I will keep you posted on when items will be available in my shop!