Valentine's Cards (much delayed post)

This was for Clayton:



This one was for Matt.

Successful Show- Plowshares Fair

My show was a success! I still have a ton of inventory, but I sold quite a lot. I'm going to update my Etsy.com site in the next week. I'm busy with lots of other things....

Holiday Monsters

I've been making notecards to sell at the craft fair in December. These are a few that will be available at The Plowshares Fair. I'll also have recycled shirts with appliques and block print designs like in the samples below. The watercolor owl t-shirt photo didn't come out well, so this is what the print will look like on a shirt.

Valentine's Day

Last week I sent out some valentines to our loved ones. I basically stole the frog idea from a store bought card that Clayton received for his birthday. He helped paint the paper, I made the crocheted heart and the rest of the card.





Then, Clayton stitched his heart with maroon yarn (scan did not come out accurate) and I made a simple white stitched card for Matt.

I made some bookmarks for Matt, too. You can see some additional lines added by Clayton in colored pencil on the second bookmark. Here are 2 of the 5 that I made. Matt already put the others somewhere. I used a tutorial from Creative Kismet.

We went to a nice brunch at Debs in Old Colorado City.

Felt Monster Valentine Tutorial

Materials:

Paper glue

Tacky Glue

Index card

Fabric scissors

Paper scissors

Blank notecard or just card stock cut into a rectangle and folded into a card

Felt scraps

Sewing machine

White thread

Buttons, bows… other embellishments

Squeezable black fabric paint

DIRECTIONS:

1) Fold your index card in half. (I cut mine down a bit because my blank card was small.)

2) Draw ½ of the monster on one side of the index card.

3) Cut out the monster.

4) Trace your monster shape onto felt.

5) Use small dabs of glue on the back of your monster. Turn over and press down onto the card stock.

6) Sew around the monster using a zig zag stitch.

7) Trim off thread ends. You can knot them first if you have the time.

8) Add some embellishments such as a bow or a heart shape.

9 Add button eyes using tacky glue

10) Cut out felt teeth and glue down.

11) Draw a mouth with the fabric paint.

12) Let dry.

13) Sign in pencil.

14) Write your own message inside and send to your valentine. You could use, "You're Mine....You just don't know it yet" or "Love Bites" for a more cynical approach.

Neato, a neat blog called Felt-o-rama linked to this tutorial. My favorite, Craftzine blog also featured it. I am so excited. Crafty Mishmash is highlighting my tutorial, too. You can also find it at Cut Out + Keep where I added it. It was "featured" on Instructables today, Feb. 12th, 2010. It was included on Totally Tutorials, too. Another artist was inspired by my tute: Altered Artifacts

Monster Mania

These some new monsters to sell at the Pine Creek Bazaar. I am still perfecting the puppet design, so we'll see what I end up with. The cards are fun to make. I sew them directly to the card stock.

Block Prints: Dogs

Here are my latest dog prints (one blank note cards). I love them, but I have only sold maybe 3 at the farmer's markets. I have plans to put them up on my Etsy.com site. I have one more dog and a cat in my collection already. I have a pug ready to print, I just need more hours in the day.

Facebook

I was invited to join Facebook and have since caught up with a lot of old friends. It's pretty fun. There a bunch of people I have been trying to find for a few years, but haven't had any luck.

I finished the block print cards of Clayton and a set of puppies, too. Cezanne was a little annoying while I was in the process of printmaking.

May Art

I have some new paintings to show off. The flower ones are small: 4" X 6" to 5" X 7". I think my favorite is the hens and chickens.




The pitchers are a few years old. I gave this painting to my sister and never photographed it. Finally, I visited her in Sandpoint, ID and photographed it. I'm hoping people like it and buy the card version. What do you think?
I'm going to be selling my cards, some block prints and paintings at a local shop. I'm working on getting everything ready. I made some business cards and I need to stuff cards and envelopes into small glassine bags.