Craig's Birds

My husband, Craig, is one of the most prolific artists I know.  He's constantly making the most amazing drawings and watercolor paintings and has filled dozens and dozens of sketchbooks and watercolor pads over the years.

On most holidays and gift-giving occasions I am a recipient of one, if not several, of his wonderful works.

I love small things and I love birds so naturally, my most favorite of all these pieces are his tiny watercolor paintings of birds.


Some of the birds he paints are based on real birds.  Some, he just makes up.  They're all fabulous and I adore this little collection.

Fun With The Fuse!!

One of the greatest things about being a part of the Fiskars Design Team is that we often get a sneak peek at  the new products they are bringing to market.    It's pretty exciting, but it can be REALLY difficult keeping these secrets until the reveal.  Especially when they're as exciting as what Fiskars revealed this week...  The Fuse Creativity System.

The Fuse is an all-in-one die-cutter/embosser/letter-pressing machine.  AND you can do all these things with just one pass through!   Here's a quick little video showing what it can do.



What excites me the most about the Fuse is that it's very heavy-duty.  The dies are steel and will cut through felt, suede, chipboard, even balsa wood.

I also found that you can cut through several layers of papers at a time too!    I used the Fuse to cut out these little books.



With great ease  I was able to punch through 14 pages of text-weight paper, 2 pages of cardstock, and a layer of washi tape with one pass through the machine.  

It was so simple, I was able to create 32 of these little books in only an hour!!





I have yet to really dive into the embossing and letterpress capabilities, but once I do, I'll share those with you as well.

There is SO much potential with the Fuse and I can hardly wait to explore more.

If you pay a visit to the Fiskateer blog, you'll be able to see a lot of projects with this tremendous machine.

Stop on By Today!

If you're free this afternoon, please come on by for the Urban Shopping and Cocktails Event!

Here's a little blurb about the event from the show's creator:

Super creative vendors, RavenRoot Botanicals, Amazing paper craftiness from Laurie Cinotto, Cool and beautiful jewelry from Parisienne Girl Designs, Dewy & Byrd Co., art, accessories and jewelry from "Debo's Chain maille and industrial art", Nomes and Debo's Amazing Stuff, RustyLUXE, Tasty deliciousness from The One Spot and Libertine Tacoma, and last but certainly not least we will have the lead singer from Halcion Halo offering their first album for a great price and some live acoustic as well :-) 


There will be tasty snacks for you to enjoy while you shop. We will have a delicious vegan choice and bacon cheese deliciousness! Yummy signature cocktail as well. It involves vodka :) All we ask is that you show up, spend at least $5.00 with our vendors (that shouldn't be too difficult) and enjoy yourself! 

Today (Saturday May 19th)  from 2 - 6!  

842 S Sprague, Tacoma WA

(Please park on S 10th St)


I'll be bringing lots of pins, hats, paper birdcages, garlands, ornaments and lots of other goodies. OH, and my kitty magnets, card sets and toys too!

It's going to be FUN!  

Hope to see you there!!

For Brides, Maids and Partygoers!

After I finished up the big hat and head piece project (see post below) I decided to keep running with the concept.  I had so much fun making those tiny hats, I wanted to do some more experimenting and create some pieces to sell at my craft sales and on Etsy too.

Here's a peek at the new pieces.    They will be available in my Etsy shop soon.  

Many of them are tailored for brides, but they work well for bride's maids or partygoers too.   The base of the hat is made of a special glittered paper that does not shed or shatter. The hats are adorned with handmade paper flowers, vintage millinery bits, paper bows, feathers, tulle flowers, and rhinestones.   They are light-weight, comfortable, and easy to wear (and dance in)!

They'll be up on Etsy in the next couple of days, but if you can't wait until then, feel free to send me an email, and we can work something out.  I'm taking custom orders too!

Another Mention in Martha!

Last fall, Shira, the real weddings editor at Martha Stewart Weddings, connected me with a lovely bride named Marnie, who's wedding was going to be featured in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

Marnie was planning her  New Year's Eve wedding and was looking for someone to create party hats and head pieces for the lady guests to wear at their reception/New Year's Eve celebration.  The hats would be passed out moments before the clock struck twelve.

Within the first few minutes of my conversation with Marnie, I knew this was going be a really fun project.  She told me all about the celebration and the many details and surprises they had planned for the guests.  She described her color palette - a bold and exciting combination of  aqua blues, oranges,  and reds with glittery gold accents.  

After our phone call, I was feeling quite inspired and I whipped up a few samples.

I sent Marnie several images of these pieces  and she decided on the the styles, quantities, colors, etc, and officially placed her order of 140 pieces.

There were three styles total, but each style had several color variations.

There were fringed headbands with scalloped  "2012" medallions.






There were giant crepe paper bloom hair clips made in Marnie's bold palette.








And there were tiny paper hats.  Many tiny paper hats.



All of the hat bases were made of a wonderful blue-green glittery paper and they were topped off with feathers, medallions, tulle flowers and rhinestones.    They were festive and fun!




I made a little stop-motion movie of the whole making process.  You can see weeks of work compressed into a two minute movie.



The issue of Martha Stewart Weddings is currently on the stands.


Cover photograph by Kirsten Shultz/Martha Stewart Weddings, Real Weddings Special Issue. Copyright © 2012.

Story photographs by Belathee Photography/Martha Stewart Weddings, Real Weddings Special Issue. Copyright © 2012.

You'll see many details of Marnie and Jamie's wedding featured inside this issue including a couple of pictures of the guests sporting the hats I created.

Usually, 140 of anything handmade is a lot.   It was such a great project - from planning stages to delivery on the final product- it never felt like work for one single moment.

Thank you Shira for sending Marnie my way!  And thank you Marnie for being such an awesome bride to work with!   It was a complete pleasure  and honor to be a part of the wedding and the magazine too!

To view more wedding details, please visit this post on The Bride's Guide!    You can also read more on these follow-up posts here and here.