Cactus and Olive

Happy Friday

2012-02-03T09:41:00.003-07:00

I love Fridays.

Photo Bookmark Tutorial

2012-01-29T21:58:00.003-07:00

I recently did a tutorial on how to create a printable photo book mark on the Scrap Girls blog. You can check it out here. I used a picture of Olive and made it like a birth announcement. I like how here little face peeks up over the top of the page.

(ps. this isn't Olive's "official" birth announcement... I just designed those last week and should be getting them in the mail from the printer this week, so check back soon! I am really excited to share them!)

Silhouette Frames

2012-01-26T09:03:00.002-07:00

I was catching up on my blog reading, when I came across this scrapbook page on the Silhouette blog. It uses a lot of my sketch frame designs that I did a while ago, and I think it's adorable!

Olive and Her Grandma Ruth

2012-01-24T13:52:00.003-07:00

On Christmas Eve in Utah, we took Olive to meet her Great-Great-Grandma Ruth. With almost 100 years in age difference, it was cool to be able to capture a few of the moments they spent together on film. I am sure these are pictures that Olive will cherish when she is grown.

Olive's Baby Nursery

2011-12-11T20:50:00.004-07:00

It took pretty much the whole 9 months, but JB and I finally finished the baby's room, and I snapped a couple of photographs a few days ago. I am really happy with how it turned out. Almost everything in the room is DIY or upcycled, so we were able to put the room together very inexpensively.

I would have to say that my favorite thing in the room (when the baby isn't in there of course... ha) is my "rocking throne," as I like to refer to it in my head. We picked it up off of craigslist and it has this green-70's fabric on the cushions, so I recovered them in the red, and at that time it also wasn't a rocking chair. So handyman JB went to work and built rockers and attached them to the bottom-- cool, huh? then we painted it white. JB also built the front facing book shelves under the window.

I know it's hard to see the artwork, but there is an ABC embroidery that I made a few months ago, as well as two prints from Persimmon and Pink's Etsy shop. The wall hanging is a vintage gift from my friend Katy-- her great aunt made it and hand appliqued all those pockets for her when she had her first baby!

I sewed the crib skirt and also had an afternoon of paper-mache fun when I made the mobile. We decided that they kind of look like beehives, but I like them anyway ;)

The pictures on this wall are simply pages framed from "The Little Red Hen" which was my favorite children's story when I was little.

And now three weeks...

2011-12-03T10:39:00.003-07:00

...she has grown so much already! I promise not to overload my blog with too many photos of Olive for the next 18 years, but for now she is just so new and precious I can't help it :)

See my cute front facing book shelves in my nursery (in the background)? I promise I will post photos of the whole nursery soon.

When JB saw this photo he said, "Excellent!" (Think Montgomery Burns)

Newborn Baby Shoot

2011-12-03T10:34:00.004-07:00

When Olive was 5 days old, I had my good friend Megan come over to my home and do a photo shoot. She did a great job! Here are a few of my favorites.

She's Here!

2011-11-18T13:28:00.003-07:00

Olive Anne Harris was born on Wednesday of last week. She's 6 lbs 15 oz. and 19 inches long. She is healthy and both her and I are doing great. JB and I are feeling very blessed and overjoyed to have this new little spirit in our lives :)

34 Weeks

2011-10-14T10:29:00.002-07:00

I'm starting to feel really pregnant!

baby shoes

2011-09-12T15:21:00.002-07:00

I sewed these a few weeks ago. I can't wait 'til we have some little feet to put these on. I'm thirty weeks now so only a little time longer... :)

Tutorial found here.

My Makeshift Family Photo

2011-08-29T09:19:00.004-07:00

My little brother moved to college this weekend and is starting his first day of college today! He is getting so grown up. I wonder if my mom is shedding a tear or two over her "baby" growing up right now? He would like to think so, but really we aren't that sentimental of a family so I would guess no. Sorry bud!

Anyway, I remember when I moved to college and how awesome I felt to "live on my own." And even better than that? Actually getting MAIL at that new address! So, I decided to send my little bro a quick package to his new apartment. In it I wanted to include a family photo for him to put on his new desk in his new room of his new apartment. However, we haven't had a family photo taken in over two years! Shame on us. The most recent is missing two neices and a nephew, and that just wouldn't do.

I decided to design him a "makeshift" family photo until we get the next one taken. I originally planned on just collaging photos of the family together in a 8x10 frame. However, when I sat down at the computer to make it, I got this genius idea to to a radial diagram of our family with my parents in the middle, their kids (and spouse, where applies) in the first tier, and grandkids in second tier. Then I ran our family name in the blank space so it didn't look so awkward that Ty is the only one without a kid (or one on the way... if you noticed my little 3D ultrasound photo there!). I am very happy with how it turned out and definitely need to print one for me too!

Sneak Peek of our Nursery

2011-08-25T08:32:00.003-07:00

Our baby's room is FAR from being completed, especially since we are currently at a stale mate over the wall color. I thought I knew what color I wanted it to be, but after I bought the paint sample and put a portion of it up on the wall, I wasn't so sure... 5 paint samples later, and nothing has changed! In the mean time, I sewed some fabric baskets to go on our changing table. Here is a peek:

I mostly followed a combo of this tutorial from vlijtig, and this tutorial from Pink Penguin (they are really similar). However, all the fabric basket tutorials I found online were much too small for how I wanted to use them, so I made mine way bigger than these two tutorials. Just case you want to make yourself a basket big enough to hold more than two things, I will share my dimensions with you so you don't have to do the math too:

Top outside fabric: cut two 18x5 inches
Bottom outside fabric: cut one 18x16 inches
(After I sewed these together, I laid them on batting and cut out a piece the same size. This is especially important in a basket this big because otherwise it will flop over and not hold its shape.)
Lining: 18x25 inches
Straps.... hmm didn't really measure these but probably something like 3.5x6 inches
(One last note: when you do the box corners, I measured 7 inches across the bag and marked, then sewed it)

Dish Cloths

2011-08-17T10:46:00.006-07:00

Here is a quick peek at my 26 week belly:
And a quick note about what I have been up to lately. I have been craving a lot of salty food (and a fair share a sweet things too, but that's beside the point) and so my feet have been swelling up like balloons! That leaves me with the desire to only sit on the couch every night with my feet elevated... and not much to do! We were in bad need of some new dish cloths, though, so I have kept busy by crocheting a whole set of dish cloths:

This is the pattern that I have used on most of them. I like it because it's a really tight pattern without a lot of spaces-- much better for scrubbing! I have enjoyed making these as well because I'm all about instant gratification and there aren't many other crochet projects you can completely finish in one episode of Project Runway!

Craft Hope

2011-08-09T14:01:00.005-07:00

Craft Hope just posted their next crafty service project: making Christmas stockings for Tornado Survivors. If you remember, I did a craft hope project at a baby shower I threw earlier this year. We made birthing kits for women in Haiti. It was a big hit at the shower and also felt great to help women that aren't as fortunate to have access to medical care like I do.

I think that this stocking made from vintage fabrics which is on their website is adorable. I also quickly found this roundup of stocking tutorials (and this one too!) on tipjunkie.

Scrap Girls!

2011-07-26T11:33:00.004-07:00

Hello!

I am excited to announce that I have started designing digital scrapbooking products for scrap girls.

All my stuff I have deisgned so far can be seen here, but I will post a few of my fave's.

Wow I think I have blogged more this last week than in the last three months combined. Hopefully I can keep it up :)

I never was good with the self portraits

2011-07-25T12:49:00.003-07:00

I have a new appreciation for all those bloggers that take pictures of themselves all the time. It is hard! This is the best that I could do. I was talking to my aunt on the phone the other day and she wanted to see a picture of what I look like pregnant. So here I am!
But really. this is the best of like 30 shots I took...

Check Yes!

2011-07-19T16:00:00.006-07:00

I don't think I have ever mentioned this on my blog, but one of my clients I do regular design work for is Intermountain Donor Services.

Here are a couple of my favorite things I have designed for them:

As much as I love all the other design work I do, I especially love the work I do for IDS. Designing cute ribbons and hearts to go on scrapbook pages is fun, but I feel like the stuff I do for IDS has more "substance." It educates people and (hopefully) motivates them to become organ donors, and ultimately, save lives.

I have been thinking more about this lately because my Aunt Julie is going in tomorrow to receive a bone marrow transplant as the next step in her battle against leukemia. She is fortunate enough to have a sibling that is a match (my dad, in fact!), and her chance of recovery goes up greatly because of that. Other people aren't as fortunate. So, today as I am thinking of Julie and wishing there was more I could do to help, I figured I could at least blog about organ donation and encourage everyone to check yes and possibly save someone's life in the future.

Just a little something I sewed for...

2011-07-18T08:25:00.003-07:00

...the baby girl that I am expecting in November!

We went in last week and had the ultrasound to find out the baby's gender. JB and I are thrilled to start our own little family.

I know this may be silly of me, but I have been waiting to blog that I am expecting a baby until I had something cute to blog with the news. JB was out of town this last week for scout camp, and so I was able to have quite a bit of time to sew, so now I do! I bought the pattern from a relatively new etsy shop from italy that I just discovered: Puperita. It was a little beyond my skill level of sewing, but I learned a lot while making it. I finally had to step back and stop trying to follow the instructions so hard, and just think, "well, if I were just going to figure out how to do this without instructions, how would I do it?" and from there on it was pretty smooth sailing. What does Benny the Jet say in to Smalls in Sandlot? Something about "thinking too much." Yes, that was my problem... I think :)

Just a few things...

2011-06-06T09:23:00.003-07:00

First.
I have to tell you how crazy it is to live in Tucson sometimes. I feel like I really live in the WILD west. A while ago I was out in my backyard clipping the dead roses off my bush and I noticed something in the corner of my eye. A BOBCAT was taking a nap on my neighbor's porch! Not that I knew it was a bobcat at first... I had to call JB and have a whisper conversation that went something like this: "JB! There is a large cat like animal on the neighbors porch. Should I be afraid? Do I need to go inside? Will it hurt me? What kind of animal is it?!"

(ps. This is my official apology to my next door neighbors, if you do or will ever read my blog. I am sorry for being a creeper and taking pictures of your back yard. But it was A BOBCAT! I couldn't help it!)

Second.
I have been sewing a ton lately and as soon as I get some pics of myself in the clothes taken, I will show off my cute new shirts I have been whipping out!

Third.
Do you follow Oh Happy Day and did you see her free 7 day trip to Paris giveaway? If not, run over there and enter! It can't hurt, right?

Matchbox Notepad

2011-05-16T10:54:00.004-07:00

I have always thought those mini matchbook notepads were so cute, so this week I designed a few for the Silhouette Online Store.

They are fairly simple to assemble but here is a quick tutorial to clear up any questions:

1. Fold outside cover of matchbook notepad along perforations.

2. Insert blank white pages (cut out of regular weight printer paper) under bottom flap and staple. I estimate that around 14 pages is all my stapler could handle, but test it on your own stapler. It could fluctuate based on your paper weight!

3. Fold over the cover and tuck it under the bottom flap, above the staple. It's that simple!

Fabric Flower Brooches

2011-05-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my friends and I threw a baby shower (I know! Another one! But I think we are done for a while...) for two expecting mothers-- one expecting a girl and one expecting a boy. We played off of "boy vs. girls" for the shower theme, and divided the guests into teams as they arrived.

To divide them into teams, we had them pick a fabric flower pin to wear. Pink to represent the girls team and blue to represent the boys team. The games we played were pretty chill-- actually the whole shower was pretty chill-- my favorite kind! And, as a bonus, the flowers acted as a great favor! I'm all about party favors that will actually be used after the shower.

I basically followed this rolled fabric flower tutorial from My Sparkle with a few changes-- I backed it with felt, glued a safety pin to the felt to use to secure the brooch, and added some fabric leaves!

Teapot for Silhouette

2011-05-02T10:04:00.008-07:00

Hey! This week in the Silhouette Online Store, watch for my 3D teapot design. I am including some pictures and instructions on how to assemble it in this post.

1. Cut out all pieces.

2. Fold along perforations. (but i don't fold the ones along the top of the teapot until for ease of assembly.)

3. Use tabs along the length of the teapot body to glue it into a hexagon shape.

This is what it looks like after you glued all the sides together.

4. Use the tiny tabs along the bottom of the teapot to glue the panels together, so that it tapers in.

This is what it looks like when you glue all the bottom panels together.

5. Take the hexagon shape and fold all the tabs, and glue them. Then take the piece and set it in the bottom of the teapot.

6. Fold perforations along the top of the teapot.

7. Use tabs to glue top panels together.

8. Take the little circle and stick it thru the slit on the top of the lid.

9. Turn lid over. Fold and glue the little tabs down to keep the handle in place.

10. Last step! Glue the little tabs on the side of the lid to adjacent panels.

Safari Mobile

2011-04-28T09:22:00.002-07:00

I try not to shamelessly self promote my etsy shop on my blog too often here on my blog, but today I had to make an exception because I just love my new product so much! I had a customer email me about a custom order for a safari themed mobile. I started playing with the idea and am pleasantly surprised with how it turned out!

Branding

2011-04-25T08:26:00.005-07:00

Every year in the spring JB and I head up to Southern Utah to brand the calves on the family farm. Basically, this is how it goes down: I play with my camera for a couple of hours and pretend to be a real photographer, and JB and the guys do the dirty work.

Baby Shower Quilt

2011-04-18T08:53:00.004-07:00

I realize that I said I was going to blog about the second half of the baby shower I threw. And then suddenly a month passed!

Anyway, I am way excited to share this with you. Sometimes I really hate baby shower games and activities. Sometimes they are fine. But I wanted to come up with something unique and cool and memorable for Juli's shower.

I have seen at some showers where they have a bunch of quilt squares and fabric markers, and they have everyone write a message to the mother-to-be, and they make it into a quilt. I decided to take that idea to the next level and make a fun, graphic quilt. I have been seeing these fun freezer paper stencil tutorials all over the web and they inspired me! I cut a bunch of 8" white cotton quilt squares, had little pieces of freezer paper available, and fabric spray paint.

Then, as part of the shower, I had each guest sketch up little design on the freezer paper, cut it out, and iron it onto the quilt square. Then, I used fabric spray paint to set the image. The great thing about this is anyone can do it. If some of the guests weren't feeling particularly artistic, hey! Do a polka dot pattern! Anyone can cut circles out of paper, and it looks great!

Here is the finish product:

I love that Juli has this cute keepsake from her shower that everyone got to contribute to.

One tip: I had the spray paint on the back porch and I told guests they could spray theirs if they wanted to, but if not I could do it later. But if I ever did this again, I would just do them all myself at a later time. I felt kind of bad that some of the guests left the shower with blue and or black fingers from the spray paint. Plus, one of the paints clogged half way thru and it was too crazy to try and unclog it in the middle of the shower.

Me Gusta.

2011-03-22T11:57:00.002-07:00

New from CB2:
The most rad beach cruiser ever.

At Christmas we helped JB's dad pick out an electra beach cruiser for JB's mom. Since then I have kinda wanted one.

But now that I see these I am in love! (in my mind right now I am imagining JB's retort: "You just want it because it looks cool." Me: "What's wrong with that?")

Maybe if I start riding my cheapie bike more I can justify getting one of these...

Train Shower part 1

2011-03-21T07:45:00.005-07:00

I threw a baby shower for my good friend last weekend. I went with a train theme for the invites and decor.

For one activities at the shower, we assembled safe birthing kits for women in Haiti. I was so excited about this activity! As we were there celebrating Juli, and showering her with gifts, it was cool to recognize that not all pregnant women aren't quite as blessed. One in 10,000 women in Haiti have access to a doctor. One in 8 children in Haiti die before the age of ten. So, an organization called Konbit Sante is collecting these disposable safe birthing kits in an effort to provide more sanitary births for them.

Later this week I will blog about the second activity of the shower!

Up!

2011-03-08T15:19:00.004-07:00

I know I have mentioned how much I love the movie "Up." I ran across this photo on Say Yes to Hoboken today. How awesome is this?! Apparently the National Geographic Channel used 300 weather balloons to make this real house float.

Now I want to see them re-enact my other favorite animated movie, and send a rocket into space and shrink the moon!

Giveaway winner

2011-02-21T10:08:00.002-07:00

Congrats to Jamie, who won the giveway, and thanks to everyone who entered!

mobile giveaway

2011-02-18T22:32:00.006-07:00

***GIVEAWAY CLOSED***

Alrighty! Have you been following Made by Rae and MADE's Celebrate the Boy Month?

About a year and a half ago I was chatting with my sister-in-law, and she was telling me how hard it is to find a cute boy baby mobile. She suggested I try making one. After a little trial and error, I created the airplane baby mobiles I sell in my esty shop.

In the spirit of Dana and Rae's CTB, where they are focusing on sewing projects for boys, I thought it would be perfect to give away one of my airplane mobiles. So, a couple months ago I emailed Rae and set it up!

Just comment on this blog post to enter, and make sure to include your email in the comment (loni (at) gmail (dot) com).

I will be closing the giveaway on Sunday evening at 10 pm MST. Afterwords, I will pick a winner at random and post it here, as well as email the winner. Also, I will ship anywhere in the U.S., but sorry, this give away isn't open to international winners.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS for the next week I will be offering 10% off of all items in my shop, using the coupon code CTB2011.

O-S-M

2011-02-14T15:26:00.003-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day! We treat this holiday pretty chill around our house, however we will be going out for some yummy indian food at our favorite restaurant tonight.

I ran across this cool card on etsy today. I love it. It reminds me of my favorite children's book, "C D B."

The card is from voltapress's etsy shop.

Amazing Quilts

2011-02-11T14:50:00.002-07:00

Maybe one day I will finally catch up on the 1000's of blog posts that my google reader so nicely informs me that I am behind on... but probably not! I was kind of making an attempt to catch up just barely, but I got side tracked by these lovely quilts, blogged by Ayumi of Pink Penguin. She went to a quilting festival in Japan and posted upwards of 50 pictures of the quilts there. I am amazed. You MUST to check it out! You won't be sorry, I promise!

So... I'm finally posting some projects from Christmas

2011-02-10T17:08:00.004-07:00

I remembered today that I haven't posted a few of my sewing projects from Christmas time.

I sewed this bag for my grandma! She is kind of hard to shop for but who doesn't love a new handmade bag? Plus, she is pretty much the queen of sewing and is always doing everyone else's sewing projects. For instance, she took my wedding dress and deconstructed the sleeves, then changed them from a cap sleeve to a 1/2 length sleeve with a cuff which I LOVED. She had to do all this hand beading and craziness. Basically she is awesome. Anyway, I figured she would enjoy something sewn for her instead of by her for once. :)

The tutorial from the bag can be found here.

Giveaway!

2011-01-24T09:36:00.001-07:00

If you hop on over to A Little Etsy Love this week, you can enter to win one of my airplane baby mobiles.

A big thanks to Erin for the feature!

2011-01-14T09:29:00.003-07:00

My heart and prayers go out to those affected by the tragedy that took place here in Tucson on Saturday.

Image from CactusHuggers.

Project Restyle

2011-01-03T11:10:00.003-07:00

I have a new plan to try and limit my new years resolutions, in hopes that with only a few I will actually accomplish one or two of them. :)

I week or two ago I read about Project Restyle on Smile and Wave, and have decided to add this in as a fun "resolution" this year-- learn how to remake things fashionably, on a small budget. So this is me officially committing to Project Restyle.

Basically, you take unwanted, damaged or unusable vintage or used items, take before and after photos, and share them with the group on flickr.

And of course I will be posting them here for you all to see!

Tutorial: How to import designs into Silhouette Studio

2010-12-28T14:29:00.005-07:00

This blog post is for all Silhouette digital craft cutter users-- especially those who are new to the Silhouette or Silhouette Studio software.

I am going to show how you can import .gsd files into the silhouette software to cut. The .gsd file type is what I always save my free designs as for Silhouette users.

Also, this tutorial is on their mac software, but I am assuming it is basically the same in the pc software.

1. You need to download the file from my blog and unzip it. If you are just using the Silhouette, don't even worry about the .svg file in that folder (SVG files are for Cricut users who also have the additional program "Sure Cuts A Lot" which allows them to hook their cricut up to the computer and cut designs that aren't on their cartridges). Save the .gsd file into whatever file folder on your computer you have decided to keep downloaded cut files in.

2. Open Silhouette Studio. Select "File --> Import to My Library"

3. Select the file from whatever folder you have saved it in.

4. It will ask you to name the file and add keywords. This is optional but I went ahead and added a few to help me find it in case I have a lot of files in the future. Hit OK.

5. Next you have to access your library. I have highlighted the little shortcut button in pink. It's on the left of the screen. Click that to access your library.

6. Next you will need to click "My Own Designs." It is a sub folder of "My library". I have pointed it out with a huge pink arrow in this next picture. Double click on the design that you added in (in this example, it is the 2011 design.) When you double click it, it will be added to your drawing area.

7. Go back to your drawing area (by either closing the library with the "X" in the upper right corner of the window or by hitting the shortcut button on the left). The design is right there on the drawing area. I am not sure why it sometimes comes in colored weird, so I click the "Line color option" button at the top and change it to all grey. However, it isn't necessary to do this. It will still cut correctly without doing so.

Free 2011 Cut File

2010-12-28T10:16:00.003-07:00

New Year's Eve is almost here! I hope you all have some fun plans. We have JB's family in town this week and so we will be celebrating with them.

I designed this download with the idea in mind that the "2011" could hang from the top of a scrapbook page.

Click here to download a zip file with a svg and a gsd file inside (for both Sure Cuts a Lot and Silhouette users).

Enjoy!

ps later today (or maybe tomorrow...) I will be doing a tutorial of how to load these files into the new silhouette software for anyone that needs assistance so look for that soon!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T17:36:00.003-07:00

JB and I never got around to taking professional pics for our Christmas card this year. Can you tell? :)

This picture is from "Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm" just north of Tucson. I was seriously afraid that they were going to attack me. They tried.

Vintage Print Baby Dress

2010-12-17T08:02:00.004-07:00

Last night I whipped up this baby dress from (surprise) Made by Rae. It's her itsy bitsy baby dress pattern that you can get for free on her blog. Hers is for a newborn, so I did enlarge it quite a bit.

Other changes I made include sewing rickrack around the middle instead of piping and lining the skirt as well as the bodice. The strawberry print (though adorable) is very VERY sheer, so that's the reason for additional lining. It wasn't hard to add at all.

The fabric comes from an estate sale that I went to the other morning-- I got a whole tub full of fabric for only $5.00! ! After sorting through it, there wasn't as much as I had hoped because a lot of it was scraps under 3 inches big. Apparently this lady saved everything! But this strawberry print and a few others totally made it worth it.

ps I know that the new mother that I made this for reads my blog but I am hoping that she is too busy to catch this post... :)

Christmas Tag Printable File

2010-12-16T17:33:00.003-07:00

I was working on a few little Christmas projects today and designed these tags to go on them. I love the crisp contemporary style.

Since I am in a very Christmas-y mood, I decided to share them with you as a free download!

Click here to download an 8.5x11 pdf file with 12 up on the page, all ready to print. I'm just trying to make it as easy for you as possible. I know how crazy things can get in the next 10 days. :)

I am planning on attaching them to little jars of jelly to give to my neighbors. Let me know if you use them and what for!

S & O Productions feature

2010-12-15T08:32:00.003-07:00

I received an email the other day that a etsy treasury I was in was featured was featured on a blog, S & O Productions. It's a beautiful blog, check it out! and here is a quick shot of the beautiful treasury that was curated by Amanda of RustBeltThreads.

3D Ornament Tutorial

2010-12-09T16:12:00.007-07:00

Coming soon to the Silhouette online store... some more 3D ornaments! I am including instructions on how to assemble one of them, and then the others are similar enough that you should be able to assemble all of them from looking at this.

1. Cut out all pieces.

2. Assemble grey top of the ornament first. Fold all tiny tabs over and use the one on the end to glue the sides together.

3. Insert the hanging loop into the two slits on the top of the grey circle. then glue it down using the two tabs, and glue the circle to the sides using the rest of the tabs.

4. This is what the top grey portion should look like assembled.

5. Fold all perforations that are on the main body of the ornament.

6. Use the long tab on the side to glue it into a circular shape.

7. Glue the tiny tabs all along the top portion.

8. Use the glued tiny tabs to connect each section to each other. Glue the tab to the back of the adjacent piece.

9. This is what it looks like after the top portion of the main body is all glued together. Next, attach the grey top to the main body using those two little tabs. So, stick glue on the outside of the tabs.

10. You will probably have to stick your finger or a pencil from the bottom of the ornament and use it to apply pressure to the inside of the grey top to get it to stick.

11. Fold down bottom portions and all done! You can glue these or adhere them to each other in some way but you don't need to. Also, on another version (the one with the stars) the bottom part is designed differently and you will need to use the tiny tabs to adhere the pieces to each other exactly like on the top half of this one.

There was an old lady...

2010-12-08T14:05:00.003-07:00

who swallowed a horse. She died, of course.

A couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law called me with a great idea. Her daughter loves the story "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly." She had the idea to buy a set of blank nesting dolls and paint the old lady and all of the stuff that she swallowed on them. I LOVED the idea and instantly agreed to help her out. I just put a few last touches on them this morning and couldn't wait to post them!

Baby Pants!

2010-12-07T10:15:00.004-07:00

Over Thanksgiving I was up visiting the family and we had a baby shower for my sister.

As you are all probably aware by now, I am still majorly on my sewing kick (and I can't wait to share some of the cute things I have been making for Christmas!). So, for Cali's shower decor, I made a bunch of the basic baby pants and baby tights from my favorite sewing blog, Made by Rae. Rae is awesome and both of those pants are free tutorials/patterns from her site.

I stringed (strung? strang?) a line across the room like a clothes line and clothes-pinned the pants as well as some simple paper flowers (which I cut out with my Silhouette) to the line.

It turned out adorable. And best part? The decor doubles as my gift to her, so now she has a bunch of cute pants and tights for her little girl to wear when she arrives!

mmmm

2010-11-22T14:57:00.004-07:00

I am still drooling over the sugar cookies that I baked up for a baby shower this last weekend. I was frosting them at about midnight and got all crazy with the patterns in the icing. They were way soft and fluffy cookies too-- it's a recipe I found in JB's family cookbook-- Sour Cream Sugar Cookies.

And we have a winner...

2010-11-11T06:42:00.005-07:00

Thanks to everyone who entered to win a Silhouette download card from my blog!

The winner is Lynne who said:

I will be contacting her today to send her prize!

Thanks again!

Christmas Crafting Already?!

2010-11-10T12:22:00.003-07:00

I am excited to share this adorable mini-accordion scrapbook project that my mom made. I think it's such a cute idea.

My little brother is still in Northern Italy serving a mission for our church, so he won't be home for Christmas (but will be shortly after! Yay!). So, he will miss the annual "Nativity Story" skit that that grandkids do on Christmas Eve. So, my mom dressed all of my nieces and nephews up in the Nativity clothes and took pictures of them. She then created this adorable little book to send to my brother.

Besides being a great gift to send to someone who isn't going to be home for the holidays, I think it would make a great decoration to sit on a shelf or across the mantle.

ps. don't forget, today is the last day to enter to win a Silhouette download card by commenting on this post!

Silhouette Download Card Giveaway

2010-11-05T13:03:00.006-07:00

NOTE: GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Did ya'll get that email from Silhouette this week that said the Quickutz issued download cards will expire on Dec. 31st of this year? Well, when I received it, it made me remember that I had a $25 Silhouette download card tucked way away in a box at the top of my closet!

I have dug it out, and am offering it to one lucky reader as a prize for being so lovely and reading my little blog. :)

So here's the deal:
-To enter, become a "follower" of my blog and then comment on this post. Pretty easy.
(And if you already follow the blog, just go ahead and commend and let me know).
-Include your name and email address ("loni AT email DOT com" or "loniatemaildotcom")

An additional entry in the drawing will be given if you blog, tweet, or facebook the giveaway. Just comment again and let me know that you did so!

This give away will close Wednesday night. I will use a random number generator and announce the winner on Thursday.

Good luck!

Hey/Hay

2010-11-04T17:51:00.002-07:00

I am loving this "Hey" themed treasury. Just in case you don't know, a treasury is a member curated list of items for sale on etsy, in this case curated by OhMyAmersand (you won't be disappointed if you click the link to her awesome shop). I never cease to be amazed by the creativity of sellers--and treasury curators, in this case--on etsy.

(free) Snowflake Download

2010-11-04T15:16:00.004-07:00

Sorry I have been MIA for quite a while! I went to visit my family for a week, and I have been playing catch up on all my work since I got back. To make up for it, I have a free download today. Enjoy!

Click here to download a zipped file with a .gsd and .svg cut file inside.

3D snowflakes

2010-10-14T16:05:00.002-07:00

I designed these today for the Silhouette online store, and am way excited about them. I want to make tons of them to hang in my front room all through the holidays. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Bag Tutorial Roundup

2010-10-12T12:32:00.003-07:00

I have been bookmarking tons of different bag tutorials as I run across them on the web for weeks now. I thought I would share some of my favorites!

1. The One Hour Bag from Skip To My Lou
2. Little Boxy Pouch Tutorial by three bears
3. Free Diaper Bag Tutorial by makebabystuff.com
4. the basic messenger bag by mmmcrafts
5. For Pleat's Sake tote by U-hangblog
6. Pleated Pouch by Skip To My Lou

This is me embracing AZ

2010-10-05T14:11:00.003-07:00

I set aside a Saturday a few weeks ago and put up two dozen jars of prickly pear jelly. Why do they call it "putting it up," by the way?

I used this recipe from homegrown evolution.

I do have a few different pointers about how to harvest your prickly pear fruit. I called up a friend of mine who has been canning prickly pear jelly for over 30 years. Here are a few of her pointers: don't bother burning off the spines. just harvest your fruit (with big metal tongs, like the bbq grilling tool ones), rinse it off, and then stick it in the freezer overnight. Pull it out, let it thaw, and then mash it with a potato masher. Strain the pulp twice, once with an old (but clean of course) pillow case, and the second time with a strainer and cheese cloth. Then your juice is ready! Also, it can be used for more than jelly. You can also make syrup, use it with lemonade as a drink, or marinate meat with it.

I'm so glad I called her! Not only did her pointers help out a ton, but she also had a great anecdote about not washing the pillowcase with your underwear after you are done using the case to strain out the pulp and pricklies... I will let you imagine the rest... :)

Hey Interweb Friends!

2010-10-01T06:54:00.003-07:00

If you hop on over to Freckled Nest right now, Leigh-Ann is doing a big giveaway that includes one of my airplane mobiles and a lot of other awesome handmade items.

Just thought I would give you a heads up ;)

Kitchen Watercolors and free download

2010-09-27T10:10:00.004-07:00

Last week I got together with a group of my friends and we had a "craft day" which was a blast! I decided that I had to craft something just for me and not to be sold in my shop! I feel like I craft a lot, but my home doesn't usually reap the benefits (though sometimes I do decorate my own home with things and then just take them down if and when it sales. Is that weird?).

I decided to make these silhouetted images of food and kitchen items to hang in a row in my kitchen. The way I made them was, I cut watercolor paper into 5x7 pieces. Then, I cut out all of the images I wanted out of regular white cardstock, in the middle of a 5x7 rectangle. I took each image and lightly spray glued it to the water color paper, and used the cardstock as a kind of mask. The watercolor did blled into the cardstock in a few places, but mostly i was just careful not to not paint up to the VERY edge.

After it had dried for a few minutes, I peeled off the cardstock mask and voila! nice silhouetted images!

I am offering the whisk as a free download!

Click here to download a zipped file with a .svg file and .gsd cutting file of the whisk image.

3D Bat!

2010-09-24T08:32:00.005-07:00

So. This will be in the Silhouette online store later this week (hopefully later today!) Here are the instructions of how to put it together!

Here are all the pieces. There are two different little shapes (bottom right corner) and you will end up using one or the other. The rounded one is for if you are hanging it with string or fishing line, and the rectangle one is if you are hanging it with a ribbon.

1. Connect the wing shapes.

2. Slide the body shape over the intersection of the wings.

3. Take the little circle with the legs and fold the legs so that they point down.

4. Take the leg circle and slide it over the bottom part of the bat's body. You will need to bend the bat's body, as shown.

5. spread out the wings and body pieces as shown.

6. Take the hanging piece, fold along the perforation, and put a dot of glue on the side without the hole cut into it.

7. Slide the hanging piece onto the back of the bat, so that it glues onto the underside of one of the wings.

8. Attach ribbon and hang!

Monarch Butterfly Mobile

2010-09-21T10:17:00.003-07:00

I have made a played with a few different versions of butterflies over the last few weeks. Last night I finally decided on one that I like for my shop. Look for it later today!

Muumuu refashion!

2010-09-20T08:32:00.003-07:00

My latest project from Home Ec, refashioning an old dress. I can't wait to try it again!

This was the before. I had to crop out my face because I guess wearing that muumuu made me make not so pretty facial expressions :)

3D Pumpkin Tutorial

2010-09-15T10:17:00.007-07:00

This week in the Silhouette online store I am releasing this adorable 3D pumpkin.

Here is the tutorial of how to assemble it.

1. cut out all your pieces:

2. Take the rectangle piece with tabs (this is the center of the pumpkin), and curl it into a cylindrical shape. I found it helpful to rub it on the edge of my desk to get a smooth curve without any hard creases! Apply glue along the tabbed area from top to bottom.

3. Glue to other side. You may have to hold it for a moment to get it to stay. Congrats, that was the most difficult part of assembling!

4. Fold down the little tabs.

5. Apply glue to one tab on the top and bottom of the cylinder. Make sure they line up vertically. I started next to the overlap to make sure.

6. Take one of the long, curved pieces and attach it to the glued tabs. This shape is symmetrical, so it doesn't matter which direction it is glued-- either end can be attached to the top.

7. Repeat step 7 all around the pumpkin.

8. This is what it looks like after you have all the long strips glued on. Almost done!
If you look closely on the center column, one side has 4 slits cut into it. Make sure that side is on top.

9. Take the two stem pieces, and slide them together thru the slits.

10. Place the 4 edges of the stem into the slits at the top of the center column. All done, good job!

Please comment if there are any questions or confusion. Thanks!

Apartment Therapy

2010-09-10T09:51:00.002-07:00

I was thrilled this morning to wake up and find my baby mobiles featured in a post on Ohdeedoh, Apartment Therapy's children blog. I think I might have peed a little bit. Or maybe just "squealed like a 13 year old girl at a Twilight movie," to quote my friend Breea.

Just had to share. :)

Detailed Leaf Download

2010-09-09T17:29:00.003-07:00

The feeling of Fall is in the air (Well... not really here in Tucson. I guess a better thing to say is that Fall is all over the blogosphere)!

Click here to download a GSD (compatible with Robomaster software) and an SVG, zipped into the same file.

Enjoy.

Happy Friday!

2010-09-03T11:02:00.001-07:00

Wow this week flew past.

found here.

TheFancyLamb created this etsy treasury with such great, fresh colors, I had to share.

ps. I really did plan on designing a free silhouette shape this week. I don't know what happened! Next week, I promise! xoxo

Nesting Measuring Cups

2010-08-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

JB and I spent this last weekend in San Diego with my sister and her husband. We had such a blast (as illustrated in the silly picture below).

While shopping at an adorable little boutique in Seaport Village called Urban Lounge, I came across these Matryoshka Measuring Cup Dolls. I had to buy them.

I was going to photograph them in my kitchen, until I remembered that it still has the awful grandma-ish vegetable wall paper border (no offense to my grandma if you read this! I love you!). We just moved into our new house about 3 or 4 months ago, and I have yet to take on any major redecorating projects. But wouldn't these dolls be a great inspiration for kitchen decor? Maybe find a few prints on etsy for the wall, some fabric for a table runner, etc? It could be adorable. That will have to be a post for another day because today I need to show you all the other awesome products from the company that makes these!

These cups are from a company called Fred. Here are just a few of the other awesome products they sale:

I will take one of everything, please. Thank you!

oh happy day

2010-08-25T07:29:00.001-07:00

Do you ever stumble across a new blog and then think, "Where have you been all my life?!" This happened to me last night, as I was browsing thru sewing tutorial links (because I am completely addicted to sewing right now, if you can't tell from all my sewing related posts :) ).

First, followed the link to these fabric baskets (which I can't wait to make. I may have to stop everything and make one this morning.) My office is badly in need of some of these babies.

But then as a I browsed the rest of the blog's post (blog is called Vlijtig and she is from the Netherlands) I was blown away by all the beautiful projects. Here is just a little sampling of things I loved:

This is also a tutorial, how to make gift pouches.

So, has this ever happened to you? Stumble across a blog and immediately you MUST add it to your reader? Please share links!

sewing class update

2010-08-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! I am here to give the latest update on my sewing class. I am loving it! Here are some recent pics:

"All is Well" bunting. Whew... that one took a long time!

Gift pouch (which I adjusted the size of, to package my baby mobiles in from my etsy shop!)

Baby Shower Pics

2010-08-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday I threw a baby shower for my friend Sarah. Sadly, I was running around like crazy before it started, so I wasn't able to capture pictures of all the decorations or get very high quality on the ones that I did stop to snap!

A snapshot of the food table. I made the newspaper/fabric scrap flowers and also the stuffed bunny! I actually used a pattern from marthastewart.com called the Menswear Bunny but just used the cotton instead of wool. It worked just great.

This is my new take on those adorable tissue paper pompoms that are all over the place right now. Instead of using 8 layers of tissue paper, I alternated 4 layers of tissue, and 4 sheets of newpaper. I love how they turned out (be aware, they are quite a bit more difficult to fluff than the all tissue paper version (but worth it!)). Also, If you look under the pompom, you can see the scalloped fabric bunting that I made for the mother to be! I went and secretly picked up the same fabric that she is using for her bedding and then created the bunting. I love this decorating idea because it's something that she is going to be able to take home and decorate her nursery with. So, it doubles as shower decor and a gift!

My first project

2010-08-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

I completed my first home ec class assignment last night! Fabric Napkins with ricrac edging. I feel so accomplished!

I am officially calling these my Vegetarian Cloth Napkins. (Even though I am not vegetarian.) I found this print with a old fashioned woman looking appalled about butchering a duck. Its so silly and funny, I couldn't resist buying it!

Newspaper and Fabric Scrap Flowers

2010-08-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

I am planning a baby shower for this coming weekend. I bought a few yards of fabric to make decorations and had a little bit left over. I wanted to make some of those fabric flowers that are all over the web right now, but for most of them you need long strips of fabric, and I just had little pieces. So, instead I made up these oversized flowers by using newspaper and fabric.

Owl Mobile

2010-08-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

New in my etsy shop today:

Sneak Peek

2010-08-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak peek of my newest mobile I started designing for my etsy shop. I will hopefully have the rest of it figured out and posted tomorrow!

Baby Sock Invite

2010-08-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

I am still gushing a little over how cute these baby shower invites are. It was my friend's idea to put them inside a little baby sock. Everything is just so tiny and adorable.

So, the plan is to see how many people show and bring their little socks and then the expecting mom gets to have as an additional present.

Here are some free downloads for you! I made them for a boy or a girl, and you can print them out and then fill in your own information.

(just click on the images so that they open to their full size, and then right click and save them to your computer!)

Tea Cup Instructions

2010-07-31T09:29:00.000-07:00

I have had a few requests for instructions on how to assemble the tea cup design for the Silhouette. So here the are!

Home Ec Here I come!

2010-07-30T15:20:00.001-07:00

I am extremely excited for a "Home Ec" Class that I just signed up for from the Rachel Denbow (you can check out her awesome blog here). It's a 5 week online beginner's sewing class with 26 projects, and you learn a new sewing technique with each project. I am stoked to actually learn the right way to use my sewing machine. Not to mention, I think its time I know how to make more than pajama pants.

Here are a few things that I am excited to learn to make:

Fabric Cubby/Tray

Hanging Shoe Organizer

Flying Geese Quilt

Bahh now I just have to hope that I follow thru and do all the lessons!

Wedding Shower Invites

2010-07-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

I am in love with these new wedding shower invitations that I just designed for my etsy shop.

Being a mac user, I have been having problems figuring out how to use the print and cut feature of my Silhouette. I usually just cut it out right from Illustrator with the Mac Plugin.

So, when I finally figured out a way to use it to produce all my own custom design ideas that I have been storing in a little file in my head, I pretty much died of excitement (My sister can testify of this. I have bugged her about it like 6 times in the last 24 hours!).

I am selling this in my store as the actual invites that I would ship to anyone would purchase. However, I am wondering if any Silhouette owners would be interested in buying the personalized design files (for this or anything else I have in my shop that I cut out)? If so, send me a convo thru etsy, and I can sell you just the cut files!

Tea Cup

2010-07-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

After I finished designing this for the Silhouette, I thought, "Now I need to plan some kind of party just so that I can use this tea cup!" It would make a great favor holder or gift box.

Look for it this week in the Silhouette Online Store!

while browsing the interweb...

2010-07-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

I ran across this site. The Paper Place. It has beautiful paper and good web design! I fell in love. I may need to purchase some of this paper. For what, I'm not sure!

Elephant POOP wedding bouquet

2010-07-17T11:43:00.003-07:00

I wanted to post a few photos of what I have been working on this week.

I had a customer contact me via etsy who is having a Green Wedding. She asked if I could make her wedding flowers out of non-tree paper. I had never thought about it, but I figured I could find a way to make it work.

I found a site online who sells paper that is 75% elephant dung. yes. you read right. ELEPHANT POOP. (disclaimer: it doesn't smell like pooh! Thankfully! What bride would want a bouquet that smells like pooh?)

Pearl Paper

2010-07-15T16:05:00.003-07:00

I recently designed some bridal shower invites for a friend. She wanted to have one of the colors be silver on the invite-- but still keep the printing prices relatively low. That pretty much ruled out the use of a silver spot color. However, my sister-in-law referred me to Prodigitalphotos.com where they print on this awesome metallic paper! They call it pearl paper on their order forms. I just received the invites in the mail yesterday, and they grey color totally turned out silvery! It was like Christmas!

I don't think you can really see the metallic finish in this pic, but here is the design of the card. Throwing a tropical bridal shower yourself? Check out my etsy store to purchase this card design!

Adirondack Stencil Tutorial

2010-07-11T14:41:00.007-07:00

I have been thinking for a while about patio furniture and what I want. Prior to yesterday, JB and I have been using our camp chairs on the back porch. Sad, I know!

So, yesterday I went to Lowe's and purchased 4 Adirondack chairs. I was planning on buying tan ones and then spray painting the whole surface of each chair into different crazy colors, but I was pleasantly surprised to find these blue ones already there. I love the color of them, plus leaving them blue cut the work in half, which I am all in favor of!

Ok. So here is the process:

1. Wash the chairs. Make sure they are really clean.
2. Cut out stencils (on my silhouette, of course) of the designs I wanted to use. I will provide free downloads at the end of this post!

3. I sprayed a light layer of spray adhesive on the back side of each stencil before i put it on the chair. This way, the spray paint doesn't leak under the sides of the stencil. After I put the stencil where I wanted it, I covered the surrounding area with newspaper, using masking tape to secure it.

4. I then applied a thin layer of spray paint the chair, where the stencil is. After waiting a few moments, I pulled off the newspaper and stencil, and started on the next spot.

**because I am not a patient person, I did one portion right after the other. But, I was really careful not to touch the previous sprayed sections with the other stencils or even the newspaper. Doing so will smear the paint!

I am including cut files for the flower stencil used on two of the chairs pictured above.

Here are the links to download a zipped folder of cut files (.svg and .gsd) and also a .pdf for anyone who wants to go at it with an exacto knife. There are so many possibilities for their use. You could use them to stencil a wall, a bag (I think I am going to take them to a canvas tote next), or a scrapbook page. If you do use them, I would love to see! Also, these files are for personal use only.

4th of July

2010-07-07T08:35:00.001-07:00

For the 4th of July, JB and I went up to Utah to visit family. The kids went on a treasure hunt and got a bunch of glow sticks. I had a blast playing with the shutter speed on my camera, and they were good sports trying to hold still for the shots!

Welcome to the Jungle!

2010-06-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

I have been noticing a lot of cute jungle themed baby bedding lately. Because of that (and because my sister-in-law is having a baby TODAY and her nursery is jungle themed) I have a new baby mobile in my etsy shop.

Vinyl Designs

2010-06-25T10:41:00.001-07:00

I have had a great week... two trips to the pool in this 100+ weather we have had down here (and will have for quite a while). Not to mention I did some vinyl wall designs for a company called Devinyl in Austrailia. I had to post one so you could see, I am happy with how it turned out!

While I was working on the vinyl designs, I doodled this flower and am uploading some free cut files for it!

click here for an svg file.

click here for a gsd file (robomaster software compatible, just unzip it first).

Father's Day Gift Idea (Free Download)

2010-06-16T11:24:00.001-07:00

Is your dad as hard to shop for as mine is? It seems as if anything he really needs or wants, he just goes and buys it for himself. So, for Father's Day this year I finally decided on baking him one of his favorite treats from his childhood, peanut patties. To make it an extra little bit special, I designed some vintage style labels to go on the top of the treat bag.

As a gift to you (man, I have been feeling so generous these days!), here is a generic copy of the file. It is 7 inches wide and fits perfectly across the top of a quart size ziplock bag.

click here to download the file.

Indian Mendhi Design + Free Download

2010-06-14T09:10:00.001-07:00

My designs in the Silhouette Online Store this week are inspired by Indian Mehndi designs. I would have never thought of doing that, but it was on the list of designs suggested by a customer. I love how intricate and beautiful the artwork of this Indian custom is.

I am offering a free download from of this design that matches the rest of the designs in store:

click here for an .svg cut file of this design.

click here for a .gsd cut file (just un-zip the file and then it can be opened in the robomaster software).

Have a happy day!

Just do your best

2010-06-10T10:38:00.001-07:00

Just dropping in to post some of the new stuff in my Etsy store!

Paper Corsage and FREE DOWNLOAD!

2010-05-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

I was doing my daily google reader stop, trying to clear out some of the 1,000's of unread blog posts that I never seem to catch up on, when I came across this beautiful flower on holidash.com! I instantly fell in love and had to try it. ONLY I didn't want to sit and cut them out all by hand. That's what my Silhouette is for, right? :) So, I looked at the tutorial there, set up some cut files, and came out with this:

I followed her instructions pretty closely, as far as construction goes, with the following changes:
-I used paper instead of felt (obviously!)
-I glued the pieces together with hot glue
- I didn't bother with the cardboard and different color of felt for the base-- I just glued everything to a 2 inch diameter circle.
-After I got the petals all glued on, i put the 1" diameter circle on top, then took a 12"x1/4" piece of paper and curled it, then hot glued it in the center!

Like I said before, I don't take credit for the design or idea of this flower, all instructions came from this blog post and the designer is Megan Reardon. You can also find this corsage at notmartha.org. However, if you do want to make them from paper, I am uploading free cut files that you can download and use!

.gsd cut file (can be opened with the robomaster software and cut with the silhouette!)
.svg cut file (for any cricut/ SCAL users that may happen upon my blog)

Good Luck and I would love to hear from you if you use the file!

Branding

2010-04-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

Until I met JB, branding only had one meaning to me: that of a graphic designer-- logos, marketing, how a company is perceived, etc.

Then, I married a farm boy! Now, every April we travel to Blanding to help brand the calves.

San Xavier del Bac Mission

2010-04-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend I visited the San Xavier Mission, just south of Tucson. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this gem in the desert.

Etsy Treasury

2010-03-31T10:51:00.001-07:00

If you hop over to this treasury on etsy, you will find one of my airplane mobiles in a great collection called "Been Around the World"

My new favorite way to surf etsy

2010-03-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

wow. You can call me slow but I just discovered my new favorite distraction. Making the "recently listed" items on etsy fill my whole screen and just watching them roll across my screen. Like this:

some of my favorite finds:

from erinjaneshop

from huebyjennyhouston

from michaelvanstudio

from JuniperLane

from farouche

from GreenGardenStamps

Real Inspiration

2010-03-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

I took some art classes in high school with a girl named Meghan. You can see her self-portrait below. She has cerebral palsy, but she hasn't ever let it stop her from doing anything she set out to do. She paints by holding the brush in her mouth. How amazing!

(images via this article from Deseret News)

And if that isn't amazing enough, she has now decided to complete a marathon and triathalon. Only problem? She needs a special wheel chair to do so. So, some of her friends are working with another organization to raise money for Meghan to get a chair. They need $1,500.00. You can donate at this site.

I am inspired by her determination! It should also be mentioned, whenever I encountered her in school she was always so happy and optimistic. I like to post on my blog about art or design that moves and inspires me but none of that cane beat this.

Italia

2010-03-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that my little brother is serving a mission for our church in Italy right now? He has been gone for just over a year. Today he emailed home some pictures from when he visited a cemetery in Genova (I think that's the name of the city). They were so beautiful I just had to share a few!

He mentioned something about how this cemetery used to be one of the 7 wonders of the world, but isn't anymore. I guess something more wonderful came up... ? haha

Featured Artist

2010-03-10T11:02:00.001-07:00

If you head on over to the Silhouette blog today, you can catch a post about me-- as the featured artist this week! Also, if you head to the online store, you can fine this free download that I designed earlier this week.

Very Green

2010-02-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

Ever since I saw this post on designmom's blog, I have wanted to paint something BIG green.

I love her green piano.

I don't own a piano and don't really want to yet because we live in a second floor apartment. So, I decided to take my green obsession out on a dresser we bought for $50 on Craigslist.

I won't lie, JB did most of the work. I sure do love him!

Book cover

2010-02-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

If I didn't have anything else to do, I would be perfectly happy spending all day trying to think of cool things to make with my silhouette (and sometimes I do it anyway).

I made up this idea last night. It is for an upcoming activity we are having with the youth at our church-- the cover of a book I am going to make for each of them.

I made it by layering 5 pieces of cardstock. Each piece of cardstock has a different portion of the image cut out of it, so that the layers create the image!

I can't decide if I want to make the final ones all out of white paper or different colors? And I am planning on finding some kind of ruby gem at the craft store to go in the circle cut from the bottom!

Baby Mobile

2010-02-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

I am way excited about the new things in my etsy shop (well, one right now, more on the way)! My sister-in-law Shanny recently had a baby boy and was telling me how hard it is to find cute boy mobiles. So, I designed some 3D paper ones!

Vancouver 2010

2010-02-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

I have been anticipating these olympic games for years. I joke not. About 4 years ago I did a graphic design study abroad thru USU. As part of that study abroad, we designed concept torches for upcoming olympic games to be displayed at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

My group designed a torch for the 2010 Vancouver games.
Here it is:

This is the real torch for this Olympics:

Some similarities perhaps? ok maybe just a few, but still... pretty cool! :)

Valentine's Garland

2010-02-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

I used the "Love Banner" I designed for Silhouette to make this cute banner/garland for my apartment.

Letterpress love.

2010-02-05T07:43:00.001-07:00

If I had buckets of money at my disposal, I am pretty sure that the first thing I would buy is a letterpress printing machine.

I especially want one after I see lovely things like these:

from DingbatPress on etsy.

from anemoneletterpress on etsy.

from lot9press on etsy.