King of Spades Card Final

Here's my finished version of the customized card project we did. Click on it to see it a lot bigger and better!

King of Spades Project

Here are some more recent things I have been doing for school. The first is where we had to trace a playing card in Illustrator for practice using the pen tool. We also had to keep each color on it's own layer which was a little difficult at first but once I got the hang of everything it was pretty easy. If you click on either image they load much bigger than the little photo here.

The second one is the one I am currently working on and is obviously unfinished, but the project is to take the card and change it into something of your own. I chose to change my card into the King of Ice Cream instead of the King of Spades. I thought of it because at work we use spades to scoop ice cream and the cone with scoops on it fit well where the sword was.

I'm not sure how I like the gummy bears yet... I will probably change them around some before my final. I'll post again when I have it all done. I learned how to make a pattern today also, which is a lot more simple than I ever thought it was. That's what I used for the sprinkle pattern in the hat. I am also thinking of adding some spoons and chocolate chips in there somewhere.

Spring Logos

My first "project" in my graphic design class was to design 4 logos depicting a season. I was assigned Spring.

Hiatus

Phew, I have not posted here in so long! School has started and truth be told I have had very little time to be creative lately (outside of school). I will try to post some projects I am working on soon, but until then I will be on hiatus from my blog!

Sleep Mask / Door themed ATC

Today I finally got around to making a sleeping mask for the swap I am in. The send by date is tomorrow, so I really waited until the last minute, haha. I just wasn't feeling motivated to sew anything for a while and I knew if I had tried to make it before I felt like it that it wouldn't turn out and I would probably just get mad making it.

I used a pattern and instructions from Amy Butler's book In Stitches, which has tons of great projects and the instructions are really easy to follow! Anyway, I think it turned out pretty good. I really like the fabric I used on it.

I also made a "Doors" ATC today. The only requirement was that the card have a door that opened on it. I chose to do an old looking door with graffiti all over it and then it opens up to a nice landscape. I typed up the words on my typewriter to add a little extra to my card.

Stationery Set

I recently put together this package for another swap on www.swap-bot.com I'm in. It was a Wish List Swap where your partner lists some things they like and you pick 4 to either make or buy and send to them. I made almost everything I sent to my partner.

Handmade Items:
Cupcake themed Stationery Set (10 envelopes, 20 sheets of paper, 25 stickers) - I printed off a cupcake designed paper I made and folded them into envelopes, then printed off paper to go with and made some stickers for closing the envelope or whatever else she wants to use them for.

Decorative Envelopes - I took some pages out of an old How-To Painting book I had and cut it up and made them into envelopes.

ATC Blanks - I have a bunch of cardboard strips that Tom brought me from his work that I use as Blanks for making Artist Trading Cards so I packaged up a set of 25 for her then printed off a little label for them also.

Store Bought Items:
A set of alphabet stickers
Mini Alphabet stamps
Little Apple Envelopes

Hopefully my partner likes everything! I think the stationery turned out really well... I might be making more in the future to sell on my Etsy shop, as soon as I get more ink for my printer!

Handmade Hedgie

Just a quick photo of a hedgehog I made out of felt for another swap I am in :)

Reusable Grocery Bag Attempt #2

Today I spent about an hour or so making another Reusable Grocery bag for that swap I'm in. This one turned out better than the first, but I am still not completely satisfied with it. It turned out a lot smaller height-wise than I wanted it to be because when I was sewing a French seam into the bottom to close it up, I missed the lining twice and had to keep sewing it smaller. I think I ended up taking about 2 inches off the bottom, which stinks. It was all going really well too until I messed up on the bottom!

The good thing about it is that it does fold up into the pocket on the front which is what I really wanted it to be able to do. I think I will send this one to my partner, plus I don't really want to make another and have it not work out like the first one. Now I just have to find two kitchen items to put inside of it. I think I am also going to draw out a little instruction sheet for how to fold it up into the pocket.

Reusable Grocery Bag

I am part of a swap on Swap-Bot where you either make or buy a reusable grocery bag and send it to your partner with 2 other kitchen items. I looked up a couple patterns for reusable bags online and decided to try to make my own instead of just sending a premade one from the store. Here are the results:



It holds a gallon of milk, 2 bottles of wine and a box of oatmeal very easily (not recommended for a meal)! And here it is on my hook by the door ready to be used!


I realized when I was making the bag that next time I will use a more light weight fabric because you are supposed to be able to fold up the bag into the little pocket on the front, but since I used 2 heavy weight fabrics, it wouldn't fit. So I think I will keep this one for myself and make another one tomorrow to end up sending to my partner, hopefully!

I also started working on my painting for my Dad today, but I don't want to post photos until it is all done so that I can post all the photos sequentially as I painted it. Plus, right now I am not really liking how it looks but I know it will get better as I go along.

Painting for Grandma

A painting I recently finished for my Grandma. It's about 20"x20" and painted in oil. The birds are called Orange Chats. I gave it to her yesterday and she loved it! It took me about a month or so all together to do, from beginning to end, though I did take a few big breaks while doing it.

I started out with a kind of rainbow of colors sunset type background but I didn't like how it was turning out so I had to wait a few days for it to dry enough that I could paint over it. I think the purple background came out a lot better also. I wish I had gotten a better picture of it besides from photobooth on my computer, but I forgot to take one with my real camera before I gave it to her! Doh!

Now I am starting a painting for my Dad. I went over to his house and helped him look up online photos of beach scenes he liked, and he ended up picking out something he liked. So far I have just sketched it out on the canvas, but I plan on starting the painting of it tomorrow. I'll be sure to take photos of it as I go and keep track of the progress here.