Photo of the week

ahhhh, summer! Best season of the year!

Watercolor Therapy

I have turned into a craft-aholic lately.  Its tons of fun and easy to do while taking care of a 19 month old.  You can start a project, go change a diaper and come back to the project easily.  But I miss making actual fine art.  Fine art requires a big chunk of time with no interruptions.  That's harder to do.  So the other night after the baby was in bed, I pulled out my trusty old watercolors.  It was therapeutic really.  Making art can be sooooo relaxing.

Even if nothing you paint is realistic, just slop some watercolors on the paper and watch them mix.  This never fails to make me happy!

Pinwheel Appliques

I saw these cute little things on a quilt once and thought they would be good for livening up some of my shirts!  I really don't know what these things are called, so I'm calling them pinwheels because that's what they remind me of.  Since I didn't know how to make these either, I did a little experimenting and figured it out on my own.  They are sooooo easy to make.  All you need is some fabric scraps, thread, and a needle!

If you want to make some of these for yourself, I'm posting a tutorial below.  These look good on clothes and could be used to decorate lots of other things too: bags, blankets, etc.

Step 1:  Trace and cut out circles from fabric.  I just used a cup and a pen to trace them.  And the best thing about these are that it doesn't matter if your circles are perfect- they still turn out great!

 Step 2:  Sew around the edge of the circle with a simple up-and-down stitch ( I really don't know the technical name for that stitch).

Step 3:  Carefully pull thread to gather the fabric into a small bunch and tie off thread.

Step 4:  Flatten out into a circle shape and sew it onto whatever you want!  Easy!

More Birthday Cards

I went crazy making cards last week.  I spent most of my spare time coming up with some more designs.  These would be good for birthday cards or anything else you want to use them for.  They are a little girly, so I wouldn't give these to any guys.  I guess my next cards will need to be some designs for the men.

ps.  my pictures really don't do these justice.  I can never find good lighting to take pictures in, but hey, you get the general idea, right?!

Photo of the week

I'm starting a new weekly post for my favorite photo I take or find as a motivation for me to get out and take more pictures. This one I took this morning at the playground by my apartment.  I love spring flowers!

Birthday Cards

It's birthday season again, at least for my family.  There are 5 birthdays in the month of June alone! Time for some serious card making.  Here are some B-day cards I made last year.  I'll post more ideas when I get more cards for this year made.

This is my most favorite card design ever!  I made lots of these last year.

 It's amazing what a pen and some watercolors can do for a card.  I just need to work on the hand writing.

Paper Cutting Decorations

I have recently tried my hand at paper cutting ( I'm always trying new art forms) and found that you can make some pretty sweet stuff!  If you want to get into it, you do have to invest in a few tools.  A nice little exacto knife and cutting board make this project easier.  You can purchase the exacto knife for a few dollars at a craft store and I bet you could use a regular cutting board in your kitchen if you don't want to buy the craft cutting board.  

 Here are a few examples of what I've done for my son's room.

I can't take the credit for these awesome designs.  I found them at http://papercutting.blogspot.com

This blog is great because it offers free paper cutting templates- so you can make your own wall art that looks creative and fun.  I printed the templates and them taped them onto the paper I wanted to use for my art piece.  I then carefully cut out the design- I have to warn you though- if you aren't practiced, your hands do get tired and sore.  After cutting, I glued them to some white paper and framed them in some thrift store frames.  I love this!  Such a cheap way to make cool stuff!