Homemade Wrapping Paper

I take a lot of pride in wrapping presents, it is one of my favorite activites during the holidays. Choosing the perfect paper and then matching it with the perfect bow is an event unto itself, but this year I decided to do something different. I pulled out my block printing supplies, bought craft paper for $2.05/roll and went to town. I hope to pair my "Red Twinkle" paper with a twine ribbon and blue gift tag (I have to buy something to wrap first, eek!). Like usual, my dog just had to get in on the action, evidence below.

DIY Wedding

I am a DIY (do it yourself) kind of girl so it comes as no surprise that when I found a book entitled The DIY Wedding, I just had to buy it!

"The DIY Wedding blasts a breath of fresh air into the commercial, cheesy world of wedding planning. I would have saved many months of headache and money if I had it when I was engaged!" - Natalie Zee Drieu

This book focuses on putting your personal priorities first to create a wedding that is just simply you. I would highly recommend it to any brides out there who want to do it there way and save money.

Sadness.

Oh it's a sad day when you find out that your favorite magazine is closing. Blueprint was my favorite publication not only because it was so well designed, but it offered a nice combination of topics (home, fashion, beauty, health, etc..) for women of my age. At least for the blogging community, Bluelines will still be kept up!

New type!

I bought my first set of ornaments off ebay last week and they finally arrived! They are a random assortments of patterns and dingbats of varying sizes. We are slowly building our letterpress collections and hopefully we will be up and running soon!

1154 LILL Studio

When I am stalling between work projects or taking a quick second to relax my brain I usually reach for the mouse and check out a website that I can escape to for a few moments, and 1154 LILL Studio allows me to do just that. They offer customizable handbags and clutches for you to design yourself. You start by choosing the initial bag, then move on to the exterior fabric, followed by any other exterior add-ons, and finally to customizing the interior of the bag. Although I don’t buy everything I create, they have so many choices that it becomes an entertaining solution to a dull moment.

Tomorrow is First Friday

For those of you in the Raleigh area, tomorrow night (as you may know) is First Friday! Every first Friday of the month several art galleries and studios in downtown throw an "Open House" called First Friday. It is a great opportunity to check out some cool artwork.
This is a particulary special First Friday because my old employer, Holly Aiken, is opening her doors for her annual "Holiday Open House"! It looks like she'll have some new designs out and is also hosting other great designers in her store for the evening.

Preview

I've been working on a few patterns that I hope to use on products eventually so I wanted to share photos of my sketches with you. I'm thinking about getting my block printing materials out from the back of the shelf to print my own fabric or possibly have polymer plates made of my designs so that I can use them on the letterpress. I'll keep you updated if I find a fit for the creations!

minä perhonen

One of my favorite fashion designers is Akira Minagawa. In his brand minä perhonen he creates lovely hand-drawn patterns to use for clothing and furniture. His use of embroidery in his textiles is one of my favorite characteristics of his work..besides the fact that his patterns are so unique.