Kira's Crafty Life Blog

Finally...SNOW!

2012-01-29T22:49:00.001-05:00

We've had a weird, warm winter around here. Hardly any snow this season, which is very unusual in western New York. Whenever we've had snow this season, it only lasts for a day or two, then the temperature goes up again, and it rains, and all the snow melts away. I suppose I shouldn't complain, since snow is a bear to drive in, and my husband commutes to work 2-3 times a week. But everything is so much prettier with snow on the ground. I've been sick of seeing brown grass and leafless trees. It's felt like a perpetual November.

But...we had a crazy amount of snowfall today. And I think (hope?) this snow may last awhile. Are you staying this time, Winter? You're only a couple months late! ;)

*EDIT*: And now I'm hearing that it's going back up into the 40's and is going to rain this week. Blah.

Today was my mom's birthday, so we drove in to Rochester to have lunch with my parents and their friends. We had a lot of snow in Lyndonville, and visibility on the parkway was so bad that we weren't sure if we would have to spend the night at my parents' house. But when we got to Rochester, there was NO snow at all!...not in the sky, not on the ground! Amusing, since we drove through a blizzard to get there!

On the way home, though, the drive was less nerve-wracking. It was snowing, but it was a pleasant snow this time...gently falling...not blowing like it had been on the drive out.

There's a spot on the Lake Ontario Parkway where there is a little pulloff and a tree that I used to photograph almost every Sunday when we used to drive out there for church, before we moved to be closer to our church. I don't get to photograph it that often anymore, since it's usually dark when we are coming home from Rochester.
We stopped there on our way home today to let Luna run around a little, for us to look at the lake, and for me to get a winter picture of the tree.

We also took a walk in our backyard when we got home. That fence and lights are from the sewage treatment station that's behind our house (My mom commented on Facebook that it looks like a "military installation" in our backyard!). Those small trees mark the edge of our property line (the large pine and apple tree are just a few feet beyond our property).

The gently falling snow was so lovely and peaceful, and Luna has such fun bounding through the snow!

Sweater Monsters: Xeniba

2012-01-28T13:14:00.001-05:00

I made a batch of Sweater Monsters the other day in an attempt to build up my inventory for my next craft show on February 5th. Plus, it's been awhile since I made anything new!

I made this monster out of a sweater my grandma gave me. Don't be alarmed, she got it at her church rummage sale and gave it to me with the intent that I make monsters out of it! I think this is my new favorite monster (you know...the one I secretly hope no one buys because I'd like to keep it!)

I as watching "Spirited Away" when I was working on the machine sewing part of her construction, so I decided to name her Xeniba. (the movie character's name is spelled "Zeniba", but I felt like spelling it with an X instead!)

I'll post pictures from the other sweater monsters over the next few days.

"Pin It To Win It" Contest from Sunshyne Silverwear

2012-01-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

One of my friends and fellow RNEST member, Erin of SunshyneSilverwear, is having a "Pin It To Win It" contest!

The prize is a $25 gift certificate good towards any of the beautiful, handmade, recycled spoon pendants in her shop!

To enter the contest, all you have to do is create an imaginative Pinterest board using any product image found on www.sunshynesilverwear.com. Then post a link to your boards either on the SunshyneSilverwear blog, or on the SunshyneSilverwear Facebook Fanpage.* Be sure to check her blog post for additional details.

*(Please don't post contest entry links on this blog post. You must post them on SunshyneSilverwear's blog/Facebook page in order for your entry to be valid)

Haven't heard of Pinterest? Really? I know I must have mentioned it before. Anyway, it's awesome! (and, for the record, I have been sponsored to say that!) Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you can "pin" your favorite items, links, and images from the web. It sounds simple enough, but it can be addicting, so you I'll give you fair warning! But it is a wonderful way to collect all the cool stuff you like from the web into one place. You can also follow other people's pinboards and other people can follow yours. People use pin boards for their home decorating, style/fashion, recipes they want to try, products they like, and wedding planning. I, personally, have created my own Pinterest boards for fun craft projects, kids' crafts for the homeschool art class I teach, and handmade gift ideas, just to name a few. The possibilities are endless!

To read a little more about Pinterest's possibilities, read their official 'About' page here.

One last thing...As of right now, creating Pinterest accounts are by invitation only. If you do not currently have a Pinterest account, e-mail Erin at sunshyne_silverwear(at)hotmail(dot)com and she will send you an invite so you can take part in the contest! Happy Pinning!

Art Lesson: Watercolor Paper Dolls

2012-01-19T22:05:00.000-05:00

I have a friend I met at one of my early craft shows that made paper art dolls out of scraps of her watercolor paintings. I wrote about her on the blog a couple years ago when I reviewed the Second Storie Indie Craft Show.

Anyway, I have been inspired by her work and have always wanted to try it myself (even if mine didn't turn out as beautifully abstract as hers). And since teaching the art class, I have wanted to do it as a project with the kids. So a few weeks ago on art class day, I got out some watercolor paper, paints, and mini brads and had the kids make some.

(The big one on the left side is mine.) :)

Big Kids' class...

First I had them use the watercolor paints on the paper, telling them to "scribble" abstract designs with the paint. Then I had them cut the pieces out to make the arms, legs, head, and body...then attach them with the brads. I used a large needle to poke holes for them to more easily attach the brads, since it's difficult to poke the brads through the thicker watercolor paper.

Then the next week we did the project in the Little Kids' class...

The kids all had a lot of fun with this project, and I think they liked making something they could play with later.

End Piracy, Not Liberty...Protect Creativity and Innovation: Say "No!" to PIPA & SOPA

2012-01-18T12:19:00.000-05:00

Photo credit: Etsy seller RainyDayStory (Set of 9 Wooden // Original Censor Bars)

*found in the Etsy treasury "Blackout"

"Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late."- Google

Google - "End Piracy, Not Liberty"
(please take a moment to sign the petition!)

Etsy's Message - Protect Creativiy and Innovation!

Many websites have "Gone Dark" for 24 hours today in protest of these acts, including one of my favorite blogs CRAFT: (Craftzine), its parent site MAKE:

"The bills are allegedly designed to combat commercial piracy, but as we've seen in previous efforts to fight illegal content, the pirates always figure out an end-around and it's the everyday users (and in this case, likely every internet concern besides the big media companies) that would bear the brunt of these poorly crafted and overreaching bills." - MAKE:

(Huh..."poorly crafted and overreaching"...what does that sound like? Oh I remember!...The CPSIA! These lawmakers need to look more carefully at the laws they write and think about how they will really effect the American public)

Many other websites like Wikipedia and Reddit have "gone dark" today as well. As Wikipedia's Blackout message reads... "Imagine a world with no free knowledge".

Ingrid has "Eye Surgery"

2012-01-16T17:12:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine wanted to purchase one of my sweater monsters for her niece for her birthday. She wanted a colorful, stripey monster that was "not a cyclops". She was taken with Ingrid, but Ingrid did not meet the non-cyclops criteria. So...I went all "monster doctor" and gave Ingrid "eye surgery" to give her 2 eyes!

Before...

and...

After!

Ingrid really is one of my favorite sweater monsters. That sweater I made her from served me well. It was a turtleneck I got in the girls' section of the thrift store. I got about 5 monsters from it...and...alas!...there is no more of it now! I have lots of solid color sweaters right now, but I must say my favorites are the stripey ones! Another trip to the thrift store may be in order! The question is...Will I be able to get my hands on some good stripey sweaters? The current cold weather may either help or hinder my search. Either there are lots of sweaters, since the store knows that is what people want and puts out a lot of them...or there are not a lot of sweaters because it is cold and everyone is buying them up. I guess we'll see!

Treasury Tuesday: Four Years of Pantone

2012-01-10T23:30:00.000-05:00

There's a lot of buzz on the blogosphere and Pinterest about "Tangerine Tango", Pantone's Color of the Year for 2012. I've seen pin boards on Pinterest, like this one, dedicated to pinning images with the color, including the tag #PinPantone. Honestly, I'm not super jazzed about Tangerine Tango (nor was I about 2011's "Honeysuckle") I guess I'm still really stuck on 2010's Turquoise. I must be sooooo behind the times! (not really, I just really like turquoise!) I guess I could take Tangerine Tango paired with Turquoise (I like orange and turquoise together) . It just is a bit too bright for me on its own.

Anyway, I had the inspiration to make an Etsy Treasury of the Pantone Colors of the Year for the past 4 years (one color for each row). This treasury includes 6 RNEST members as well!

Four Years of Pantone

Pantone Colors of the Year:

2009 - Mimosa

2010 - Turquoise

2011 - Honeysuckle

2012 - Tangerine Tango

Crafty Pinterest Christmas Gifts

2012-01-05T17:23:00.001-05:00

My husband and I went to visit his family for Christmas, so we had "Christmas" with my parents on New Year's Eve (they had spent Christmas in Staten Island with my brother and his fiance`). And thanks to creating a "Wish List" board on Pinterest, I was pleasantly surprised and got just what I wanted! This doesn't happen often, since I don't like telling people what I want for Christmas, because I hate to make anyone feel like I have an expectation. I am always content and happy with whatever gifts I am given. I really didn't expect anyone to pay attention to my silly Pinterest wish list, but my mom and sister-in-law-to-be follow my boards and they were both paying attention!

My mom is always asking me what I want for Christmas, even though I'm super easy to shop for...so she showed the wish list to my dad and he went to town shopping online!

These are 2 of my favorite gifts...an Alphabet Rolling Stamp (from my parents), and a Button Punch (from Nicole). Everything I wanted was either craft or music oriented. I also got the "Doctor Who: Series 5" soundtrack from my parents, and the album "Invisible Empires" by Sarah Groves from Nicole. I was also pleasantly surprised when I opened the box from my brother with these hand-strengtheners inside that look like rubber donuts. It wasn't something I'd thought of, but I was touched that he had remembered that last time he saw me I was having hand/wrist pain from having marathon sewing sessions to prepare for craft shows.

I had fun punching buttons out from random paper, including the punch's packaging (the turquoise buttons) and a Pottery Barn catalog I've been saving for cutting up for collage work (because I have the crafter's curse of feeling the need to save everything!)

I've been wanting the rolling stamp because I think it will be so much more portable and convenient to use for making price tag signs at craft shows than the alphabet stamps sets I currently have. I'll probably still use my alphabet stamp sets on occasion, since I like the font, but this stamp is so fast and convenient...you can stamp entire words/phrases instead of painstakingly stamping each letter. I actually made tags the other day for presents for the families in my church (I gave each family a mason jar filled with homemade Hidden Valley Ranch Oyster Crackers...a Christmas tradition I do that my friends all love!)

One thing is that I do have to remember to "think backwards" when spelling words on the rolling stamp!

Art Lesson With Older Kids: Oval Penguins and Owls

2011-12-28T21:40:00.002-05:00

As I was wracking my brain last night to come up with a good project for the Kids' Art Class today with the older kids, I turned to The Crafty Crow, a blog with all sorts of kid crafts. There I found a link for a project for making penguins using the classic "potato print" method. I liked the project, but thought the potato prints would be a bit too easy for the older kids' class (maybe I'll use it for the younger kids...I pinned it to my Kids' Art Class Pinterest board for later). So I adapted the project a bit and had the older kids use some oval stencils I have. As I created the example, I decided that the same ovals would work to make an owl as well...it just needs bigger eyes! (and "ear tufts"). So each kid did an owl as well as a penguin.

The sample project I did before class

And the penguins in the snow were fitting for today, since we had our first real snow of the winter (finally!). I had to brush off my car and shovel the walkway and everything! I'm sure I'll get sick of it in a month, but for now I'm happy there is finally snow on the ground!

I cut a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper into quarters. I gave each kid a 6x6 square of colored paper (sky blue for the penguin, navy blue for the owl). I thought the colored paper would be a nice touch. Sometimes it's boring working on the same old white paper and it's nice to have a good background color without the kids having to worry about coloring the sky themselves.

We did the penguins first. First they trace the ovals (They had to take turns, since I only had one sheet of oval stencils). Then they paint them...the big one black (dark brown for the owls), the smaller one white (light brown/grey for the owls). Then I had them paint the "snow" underneath for the penguins (a tree branch for the owls).

My original example didn't have any flippers/wings, since I wanted t keep it as simple shapes and imagined the penguin/owl with their flippers/wings tucked in at their sides, but the kids insisted on painting them on. I indulged them and gave them creative license to go ahead and paint them on. It's a difficult balance between letting kids be creative and making them stick to the instructions. I don't want to squash their creativity, but I want them to learn to follow directions as well.

They then cut out a triangle for the beak, and squares for the feet...then glued them on, along with some googley eyes.

The finishing touch was using some rubber stamps & paint to create snowflakes for the penguin. We did stars for the owl picture...although one student asked to do snowflakes for the owl since it was snowing outside! Again...I chose not to squash her creativity.

One student asked to paint his owl's beak and feet, instead of cutting and gluing the paper. He said he wanted to practice his color-mixing and painting. I feel like using the cut-out paper looks neater, but I couldn't say no when he was taking the initiative to practice his painting skills!

All inall, it was a fun project for all, and the kids did great!

The Handmade Holiday Pledge

2011-12-27T20:11:00.000-05:00

I just said in my last post that I never officially signed the Handmade Holiday Pledge...well, even though Christmas is over, I just went and did it!A perk of "signing" it is that you get to add a link to your site/shop, so there's a little bit of self-promotion there. ;)

I like this pledge. I feel it is more realistic than pledging that ALL your gifts are handmade like some pledges I've seen in the past. Some people are hard to make or buy handmade gifts for. Men are notoriously difficult to make/buy affordable handmade gifts for. Cool, handmade stuff for men is usually pretty expensive (but, as an artist, I understand the amount of work involved and why those items have to cost more). I also like that they say "by me, a friend, or a cool artist"...so people who "can't" make anything (to which I say, "Yes, you can make something!") can feel like they can take the pledge because they can buy handmade items.

You can add a link to your own shop/site on the page for the site when you "take the pledge". "We are committed to making {and buying} handmade gifts this holiday season. Feel free to visit our websites, blogs, and shops. Take the Handmade Holiday 2011 Pledge, then scroll down and add yourself to the list. Click on the blue "add your link" button." Then you can put the cool little button (like the one above) on your blog!

Handmade Christmas 2011!

2011-12-27T19:34:00.001-05:00

I never officially signed the Handmade Holiday Pledge (which is "at least half of the holiday gifts I give will be handmade! *by me, a friend, or a super-cool artist), but I do believe that at least half of my gifts I gave this year were handmade. This month, I was working on top-secret handmade Christmas gifts for my nieces. I had to wait until after Christmas to post pictures, since I wasn't sure if they check my blog at all and didn't want to inadvertently spoil the surprise. But now I can finally share!

Pieces cut out before sewing.

First up was an "Invader Zim" hat for my oldest niece. (she is one of those teens who are borderline obsessed with the cancelled Nickelodeon show). I was originally going to make her a Cheshire Cat purse to match the plush I gave her two years ago, but my sister-in-law had asked about an "Invader Zim" hat, so I made that instead!

And the finished product!

(modeling it myself in my bathroom mirror)

Next is a Monster Purse for my middle niece (the oldest's younger sister). I made a monster purse last year that she really liked, but I ended up selling it at a show. So this was the perfect opportunity for me to make her one of her own.

Last is an Owl Purse for my youngest niece. She's REALLY into owls (of course, who ISN'T into owls nowadays?) and my mother-in-law had suggested that I make her an owl purse. (I know there are feet shown in the cut-out-pieces photo...but I forgot about them when I sewed the purse up! I don't think it mattered much to anyone though.)

And now the big reveal!...

(I wasn't at a good angle to get a good picture of her reaction...but she was VERY excited)

She was so excited that she couldn't stand still enough for me to get a good picture!

I made all 3 girls line up so I could get good pictures.

I also have a nephew (the youngest niece's brother), but I was at a loss at what to make for him. He's 17, and teenage boys are so difficult to hand make gifts for! But we got a tip from my mother-in-law that he wanted a set of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" books, so we got him a boxed set, which he was very happy with! And I an get behind that. If you can't hand-make something, books are a good way to go! I fully endorse the activity of reading! (I was quite the book-worm when I was a teen)

They were all thrilled with their gifts, which made me very happy! I think I am officially the "cool aunt"! ;)

I have a feeling I am going to start getting lots of requests for purses now! I've already gotten a few after I posted the pictures on Facebook!

I wasn't very confident in making purses before. I had only made one before as an experiment. But I thought they would look unfinished if I didn't line them, and the idea of lining them was daunting to me. But I find that if I make the purses out of sweaters, the "raw" seams on the inside of the bag look okay. So I may be adding purses to my line of products pretty soon!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:53:00.004-05:00

"God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay!

Remember Christ our savior was born on Christmas day

To save us all from Satan's pow'r when we were gone astray

Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy!

Oh tidings of comfort and joy!"

Custom Plush: "Hobbes the Stuffed Tiger"

2011-12-23T15:19:00.002-05:00

Some friends of mine asked me to make a "Hobbes" tiger plush for their son for Christmas. He's been really into the "Calvin & Hobbes" comic.

The image above is from the comic and is what I based the design off of. In the comics, Hobbes is a real live tiger to Calvin, but to everyone else, he's seen as the stuffed toy tiger in the picture.

I'm really pleased with how he turned out! I almost wish I could keep him! Well, I can always make another one! I'm sure I'll end up making another one at some point anyway! ;)

After doing the stuffed lion, I didn't think a tiger would be too difficult. The most "difficult" (ie: time-consuming) part was doing the stripes. The stripes on his back, legs, and tail were machine-stitched. But I hand-stitched the stripes on his head, since they had to wrap around from the back tot he front.

RNEST Monthly Challenge: December (Culinary Trends & Sweet Treats)

2011-12-21T23:48:00.001-05:00

Life has been a bit crazy & busy with the holidays coming up. I apologize for the lack of blog posts lately. I have some pictures I'm dying to post, but they are of the Christmas gifts I've made for my nieces and don't want to risk any spoilers! But even with how busy I've been, I scratched out a few moments to whip up this little Cupcake Nubbin as my entry for the RNEST Monthly Challenge for December. The theme for this month was "Culinary Trends & Sweet Treats". I could have done a gingerbread man, but that seemed almost too obvious of a choice! Plus I've noticed that cupcakes are pretty popular lately...play food as well.

Please take a minute to go over to the RNEST blog and cast your vote in the poll in the upper-right hand corner. (you don't have to register for anything, just click your choice!) I'm the last entry listed.

I didn't win last month's challenge, but it was neck-and-neck for awhile. I only lost by one or two votes. I did end up selling the Moustache Nubbin though!

I made this little guy in a rush, since I'd forgotten about the challenge until the day before the deadline to enter, but I'd like to make another version of the Cupcake Nubbin...one that is a little more of a round 3D cupcake. This guy was done in more of a "pillow" or "sandwich" style. I'm looking forward to trying out designs and maybe making them a new line of Nubbins...which may be crazy of me...my newest "specialty Nubbins", the Barn Owls and Ninja Nubbins, have been immensely popular! I've sold out of almost all of them at the last few shows I did this year. I probably don't need another product line, I have so much on my plate already...but I keep thinking of more ideas! We'll see. Maybe I'll offer certain Special Edition Nubbins seasonally. ;)

Custom Westie Sock Dogs

2011-12-13T18:14:00.004-05:00

I got a custom order for these 2 "Westie" (West Highland White Terrier) Sock Dogs. It was a challenge, since I haven't tried to make a sock dog in a particular breed before...

(requested monograms on the collars...one of my first attempts at embroidering letters!)

Craft Show! : Craftmas First Friday 2011

2011-12-08T12:43:00.007-05:00

The Mega-Nubbin found a home!

TARDIS earrings!

The winner of the RNEST Handmade Garbage Plate scavenger hunt with her prize!

Craft Show! : Christmas in Medina Celebration 2011

2011-12-08T12:29:00.000-05:00

Things have finally slowed down enough for me to post pictures from the Christmas in Medina show!

The Barn Owls are super popular! Almost all of them were gone by the end of the day!

This is my sister-in-law-to-be, Nicole! (with kitty ears she bought from me!) She, her mother, and my brother were in town for Thanksgiving from Staten Island.

Family photo! (from left to right: Me, CJ, Mom, Dad, Camille (Nicole's Mom), Adam, Nicole)

I wish they'd do something cool with this abandoned theater. It made me happy that they at least changed the marquee`.

Luna hanging out.

After packing up my booth, we had dinner at the Shirt Factory Cafe, then went back to the truck to watch the "Parade of Lights". Our friends met us there with their kids, and the kids sat in the bed of the truck with me to watch the parade. We always have a perfect parking spot to watch the parade due to packing up from the craft show.

There were a lot of fun floats. This is the only parade I've gone to at night. It's pretty fun seeing all the floats & vehicles lit up with Christmas lights.
(these were big stand-on lawn mowers that were made to look like big presents!)

CLOTHING SWAP TONIGHT!

2011-12-05T14:04:00.003-05:00

This weekend was a whirlwind with the First Friday (and Saturday) Craftmas Show at the Hungerford, but it was a blast! I promise I'll update the blog with pictures from my recent shows soon! Tonight is my last major event commitment for the month...then I am focusing on getting gifts made and wrapped for family members!

I have no idea how tonight will go or how many people will be coming...but those of us that are there will have fun! (Need directions?...Check the Facebook Event!)
I've been having fun designing the signage for this! I designed a bunch of signs to put on the tables to organize the clothes...

Craftmas Events!: "First Friday" Reminder

2011-12-01T23:39:00.000-05:00

Hello! Just a reminder that tomorrow kicks off my Etsy Street Team's "Craftmas" events!

Craftmas: Etsy Style! First Friday Holiday Craft Sale

TWO DAYS! (although I will only be there on Friday)

Friday, December 2nd, 5:00PM - 9:00PM

Saturday, December 3rd, Noon - 4:00PM

(you can RSVP to the Facebook event HERE)

"A Handmade Holiday hits the Hungerford Building! Come shop from a selection of quality items made by local artists. Give the gift of handmade this holiday season!" There will also be a scavenger hunt for a chance to win our handmade "Garbage Plate" (an RNEST group project that has been about 2 years in the making).

Be sure to check out the other Craftmas events! (the links will take you to the Facebook Event):

Clothing Swap (Monday, December 5th, 7pm-9pm)
It’s time to clean out that closet! Bring in your unwanted clothing and take home some new-to-you pieces for your wardrobe...all for free! RNEST artists will also be available to teach demos with techniques for altering and upcycling your clothes into fun, new items!
*Any clothing left over at the end of the night will be donated. Nothing will go to waste!
Creative Play Session (Saturday, December 10th 7pm-8:30pm)
Creativity boosting activities and exercises to spark your artistic inspiration and get out of a rut. Come with an open mind and leave with ideas for new projects! (For ages teen and up)

Open Craft Night: Etsy Style! (Thursday, December 15th 6pm-9pm)
Demos: glass pendant soldering, knitting, bead weaving and MORE! Everyone is invited for a handmade, fun-filled evening of simple planned projects and unstructured time with RNEST artists. Bring your crafty works-in-progress, share our supplies, experiment with our tools, and ask us about tips and techniques. A small sampling of our works will also be available for sale.

Hope to see some of you there!

RNEST Monthly Challenge: November (Movember/No-Shave-November)

2011-12-01T00:21:00.003-05:00

This is my entry for the RNEST Monthly Team Challenge. The theme for this month was "Movember/No-Shave-November".

Movember is "an annual month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November. Charitable events are held to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues." (Etsy Merchandising Desk) "A related event, No Shave November, has participants not shaving at all for the month, for the same cause. Generally one is to shave on the night of October 31st to participate. Both men and women participate in the month-long event, with men abstaining from shaving their beards, and women their armpits or legs." (from Wikipedia)

I am actually in charge of the monthly challenge posts now. I took it over from another member who is going to be a new mommy. So I get to pick the theme and write up the post. But that doesn't mean I can't participate in the challenge! I got the theme from Etsy's Merchandising Desk post for November. The Merchandising Desk posts usually have a list of trending topics that we pick from for the challenges.

Please go to the RNEST Blog and vote for your favorite item! (it would be nice if you'd vote for me, but if mine isn't your favorite item, I won't guilt you in to voting for me!)

Treasury Tuesday: Grandmother's House & Seamstress Gift Guide

2011-11-22T23:59:00.001-05:00

Here are some Etsy Treasuries I made this week...

To Grandmother's House We Go

I made this treasury with the theme of a road trip to grandma's house. I was initially inspired by the first item, a photo of some colorful suitcases...which reminded me of a little red suitcase I had as a kid that said "Visiting Grandma" on it. I was also inspired by the colorful illustration of the Singer sewing machine. My actual grandma doesn't have crazy bright color schemes like this in her house (she's more of an earth-tone kind of lady). maybe I'll make a treasury one of these days that actually represents MY grandma's style (think Adirondacks and birds). ;)

"For the Seamstress" Gift Guide

This treasury was inspired by the photo of the spools of thread. It was all I could do to refrain from making the whole treasury photos of spools of thread...but I kind of already did that once and wanted to have different items, There was originally a print from a shop I recently favoritedin this treasury, but the item disappeared, and you can't put a sold item in a treasury, so I had to replace it with something else.

RNEST & Etsy Present: CRAFTMAS!

2011-11-17T11:30:00.008-05:00

Hello! You regular blog-readers know that I am a part of the Rochester NY Etsy Street Team (aka: RNEST), a group of Etsy sellers in the Rochester area (and surrounding areas *wink!*).

A while back, RNEST applied for (and was awarded) a grant from Etsy in order to organize a series of crafty events at the Hungerford Building on East Main Street in Rochester. We originally planned to have Halloween-themed events in October, but scheduling conflicts arose with the location and those plans fell through. But, not being an easily discouraged bunch, we switched gears and decided to do some holiday events in December instead. And for the past month and a half have been scheming, planning a series of handmade holiday events which we have dubbed "Craftmas"!

I'm organizing a Clothing Swap!...

"It’s time to clean out that closet!

Bring in your unwanted clothing and take home some new-to-you pieces for your wardrobe...all for free! RNEST artists will also be available to teach demos with techniques for altering and upcycling your clothes into fun, new items!

*Any clothing left over at the end of the night will be donated. Nothing will go to waste!"

(click here to RSVP to the Craftmas Clothing Swap Facebook Event!)

I used to regularly organize clothing swaps (or "swap meets" as I used to call them) at my old church. They were always a hit! If I didn't keep on top of it and do one every few months, I'd start getting regular inquiries from people about when the next one would be!

Be sure to check out the other Craftmas events! (the links will take you to the Facebook Event):

Craftmas: Etsy Style! First Friday Holiday Craft Sale (Friday, December 2nd 5pm-9pm &Saturday, December 3rd noon-4pm)
A Handmade Holiday hits the Hungerford Building! Come shop from a selection of quality items made by local artists. Give the gift of handmade this holiday season!
*(I will have a table there on Friday!)*
Creative Play Session (Saturday, December 10th 7pm-8:30pm)
Creativity boosting activities and exercises to spark your artistic inspiration and get out of a rut. Come with an open mind and leave with ideas for new projects! (For ages teen and up)

Open Craft Night: Etsy Style! (Thursday, December 15th 6pm-9pm)
Demos: glass pendant soldering, knitting, bead weaving and MORE! Everyone is invited for a handmade, fun-filled evening of simple planned projects and unstructured time with RNEST artists. Bring your crafty works-in-progress, share our supplies, experiment with our tools, and ask us about tips and techniques. A small sampling of our works will also be available for sale.

I hope you can make it to at least one of these events! They should be a lot of fun!

Treasury Tuesday: A Cozy November

2011-11-15T12:26:00.005-05:00

I'm not a huge fan of November. I think it may be the most depressing month in the fall season. The time change makes it get dark earlier. The beautiful fall foliage has dropped to the ground and the trees are almost bare. It gets colder. It gets drearier.
BUT....November doesn't have to be all that bad! There are a lot of good things about it too!...like craft shows and our thoughts turning to the holidays and spending time with family!

I say "Make the best of it!"...so I made this treasury to turn our thoughts to staying cozy in November. It includes some members of the Rochester NY Etsy Street Team I'm a part of, RNEST, as well as artists I've met at Mayday Underground. (And other artists are included just because I like their stuff!)

A Cozy November

Be sure to check out some more Etsy Treasuries on the RNEST Blog's Treasury Tuesday!

Sweater Ninja!

2011-11-10T09:21:00.000-05:00

Here's a look at the "Sweater Ninja" that accompanied the order of Ninja Nubbins!

The Ninja Nubbins were for the goody bags for a birthday party. This Sweater Ninja was a gift for the birthday girl!

Ninja Nubbins!

2011-11-09T12:56:00.003-05:00

Here are the photos of the new Ninja Nubbins, as promised!

This is the custom set I made with each of the Karate belt colors represented.

The classic black ninja...

And a girlier, pink ninja!
My husband and I used to take a Martial Arts class. It's actually where we first became friends and then fell in love...while beating each other up in class! (so we were quite literally "hitting on" each other!) We were each given a ninja throwing star by our good friend who was also our martial arts instructor. So yeah... I have real ninja throwing stars. They made the prefect props for shooting these photos!

You Are Beautiful

2011-11-07T22:57:00.000-05:00

It isn't often you find something uplifting written in a bathroom stall...

"You Are Beautiful"

Thank you random person who wrote this in the Walmart ladies room. :)

Customer Appreciation Photos: Andy the Traveling Nubbin!

2011-11-06T21:57:00.000-05:00

One of the highlights from Mayday Underground was a previous customer showing me the following photos...

The customer and his wife had bought this Nubbin at a previous show and named him "Andy". They brought Andy with them to their trip to Paris, and took a series of pictures of him at famous Paris landmarks. The first being the Eiffel Tower!

Andy sitting on the Eiffel Tower.

Andy in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.

Andy with "The Thinker".

I was so excited to see these, and am so glad they took time to show them to me! It really made my day! It reminds me of the picture of my monsters in front of the Las Vegas sign. I love to see how much fun people have with the work I make!

*If you have any cool photos of KiraArts work you've bought, feel free to email them to me (kira(at)kiraarts(dot)com) and I'll feature them in a Customer Appreciation Photo blog!

The "Mega-Nubbin"!

2011-11-06T21:26:00.001-05:00

At Mayday Underground, there was an art exhibit called "The Root of Art Over Craft", the theme of which was the concept of "Challenging the boundaries between art and craft".

"How do you differentiate art from craft? Are they connected? Are they two separate entities? This exhibit, which occurs concurrently with Mayday! Underground, seeks to extend publicity to artisans in the area and help shoppers and viewers gain a better understanding for art and craft."

This was my submission to the exhibit...the "Mega Nubbin"!

I had put bags of rice in his feet to try and help him be freestanding. At one point before the show had opened, and we were all still setting up, he was standing (I wish I'd gotten a picture!). But the exhibit organizers moved him later (I'm assuming because he wasn't that stable and was easily knocked over).

This picture of me holding him really gives the sense of just how big he was!

I also did a painting of a Nubbin as kind of an afterthought, inspired by the theme of Art vs Craft.

A far as my thoughts on the "difference" of art vs. craft...because the lines of what constitutes"art" have been so blurred, I think of "craft" as the process of making "art". I think of "Craft" as a verb, and "Art" as a noun. Art is the result of Craft(ing).

Mayday Underground! November 2011

2011-11-06T20:51:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday was the November installation of Mayday Underground...my biggest craft show of the year!

I had so much fun seeing customers and fellow artists! I always love doing this show! My friends Casey and Amanda always do an awesome job organizing it!

Sneak Peek!: Ninja Nubbins!

2011-11-01T15:16:00.003-04:00

I got a custom order request from a loyal customer for "Ninja Nubbins" for a Ninja/Karate themed birthday party for her daughter. She wanted 15 Ninja Nubbins in an assortment of colors to include in the goodie bags for the party. I made 2 of each in Karate Belt colors...white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, red...and one black ninja. I also made a large, multicolored Sweater Ninja that will be a gift for the birthday girl! (pictures will be coming soon!)

I liked the idea so much that I am making some black ninjas and pink ninjas to sell at Mayday Underground this weekend! I will be making a made-to-order listing in my Etsy shop next week!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T14:00:00.005-04:00

Hello loyal blog readers! Sorry I have not been such a loyal blogger lately! I've had a lot going on and focusing on getting ready for the November edition of Mayday Underground, my biggest craft show of the year! (And it's in only 5 days! Yikes!) Anyway, I'm taking a break to blog about my Halloween fun...

My favorite part about Halloween is the costumes. This photo was taken when I was "playing" around with makeup a few weeks ago, trying to get ideas for my woodland faerie queen costume.

Here is the first incarnation of the costume at a party I went to on Friday night. My costume consisted of a black bridesmaid dress (thanks Kasey!), my reversible corset, and my green velvet Renaissance Faire cloak. But on Saturday morning, I went to JoAnn Fabrics with my Mom and got some faerie wings and foliage in order to make my costume a bit more impressive and more "woodland faerie" like.

The foliage changed my color palate a bit and made it a little warmer and less monochromatic, but I think it turned out nicely...although my makeup when I was "playing around" was a lot more defined than my makeup was last night. But it was fun to do nonetheless! I love having an excuse to do crazy makeup!

We spent Halloween night at my parents' house, since last year at our house, we got maybe a grand total of 5 trick-or-treaters. It may have been because last year's Halloween fell on a Sunday though. We may try staying home next year. I'd like to try hosting a costume party for our friends!

I originally bought the fall leaves garland to make the headpiece, but I ended up liking the berry garland better and pinned the leafy garland to the back of the cloak so that the leaves looked like they were cascading down the back. But then, CJ and Mom suggested I bring the ends of the leafy garland around my shoulders and pin them in the front. I think that detail really made the costume! Almost every mother that came with trick-or-treaters commented that they liked my costume!

Luna was my little faerie buddy! (she only tolerated the wings for so long though. But whenever she would shake, it made the wings flutter! She looked adorable!)

(I like how the motion-blur makes it look like her wings are fluttering!)

CJ put on a skeleton mask and pretended to be a dummy sitting in the chair. He scared a group of kids really good!

Mom's tiki-torches with colored flames! (blue, green, and red)

Mom & CJ hanging out on the deck.

Sweater Monsters

2011-10-20T09:09:00.000-04:00

I started off making my monsters out of socks, but after the 5 years I've been making monsters, my material preferences have swayed towards sweaters. I have a few theories about why this has come about. #1. "Worn out" sweaters tend to have a lot more "usable" material than worn out socks. Worn out socks are usually threadbare or stained on the heel and/or toe. Sweaters are rarely truly "worn out", just unwanted. At the most "worn out" means it has a hole or is unraveling, which is easily remedied. Whereas, threadbare-ness or stains on a piece lowers its quality appearance.

Anyway... reason #2 I like using sweaters is that I can get a lot more monsters out of one sweater than from one sock. These two monsters are the last of this particular sweater. (the same one I used for Ingrid and Iggy)

I haven't come up with names for these two yet, but I probably will when I list them in the shop.

Art Lesson with Little Kids: Color Mixing Chart Placemat

2011-10-19T20:24:00.005-04:00

Today in art class, I did a project for little kids to teach them about mixing paint colors...their own Color Mixing Chart!

We've been working with paint lately and I thought it would be a good thing to cover (besides that it's a standard art requirement for homeschooling). So last night, I used a circle stencil and drew a blank chart onto pieces of 11x17 construction paper. (I have a bunch of this paper that I was given by a teacher friend I used to work with when I was a one-on-one aide for a kindergarten girl with autism)

To cut down on my costs, I only bought the primary colors of tempera paint. So whenever we're working with paint, I usually get asked "what colors make...~insert secondary color here~". Now, I can just ask them, "What does your chart say?"

I'm planning on either putting clear contact paper over them or taking them to Office Max to get them laminated so the kids can use them as their placemats. I've been using those blank pieces of paper as their placemats in an attempt to protect the table a bit, but un-laminated, they soak in water, paint, glue, or whatever else the kids are working with and I always end up throwing the paper away. When I laminate them, the various mediums can simply be wiped off and the placemat can be reused!

Treasury Tuesday: Festively Fall

2011-10-18T10:42:00.004-04:00

I got on a treasury-making kick this week. Sometimes, when you make one, you've got to make more!

This first treasury was the last one I made, but is my favorite one. I was inspired by those grey fall days (it was quite grey and rainy the latter part of last week and the weekend), but with a splash of color...

Cozy Festive Fall

The next one was inspired by my itch to go apple-picking (I'm hoping to finally go this weekend!). I live in apple country and it's become something of a fall tradition since we moved out here.

Itchin' To Go Apple Pickin'

The final treasury (which was the first one I made this week) is all about...you guessed it...MONSTERS! I find it interesting that the word "monster" no longer conjures up images of grotesque, scary creatures...but of funny, friendly, and sometimes furry creatures instead. I think this is thanks to Jim Henson, as well as the Disney/Pixar movie "Monsters Inc." The color scheme was inspired by a Halloween decoration aisle at a store. While shopping with my husband a few weeks ago, I noticed that turquoise seems to be the newest "Halloween color". At one time there was just orange and black. Then green was added. Then at some point purple joined in. Now it seems that turquoise has been added to the mix. You won't find me complaining though...turquoise is my favorite color! And I love pairing it with orange! So that's the back-story for this treasury.

Cute & Creepy Halloween Monsters

Oh yes...as usual, please check out the Treasury Tuesday post I do over on the RNEST blog!

Art Lesson with Older Kids: Toilet Paper Tube Owls & Cats

2011-10-17T17:43:00.001-04:00

The little kids had so much fun with the Toilet Paper Tube Owls/Cats that I decided to do the project with the older kids too...

Make It Monday: Toilet Paper Tube Owls & Cats

2011-10-17T15:39:00.009-04:00

I've fallen behind in posting pictures of the kids' art classes, so I thought I'd make this a Make-It-Monday post...

I originally found this project for making owls out of toilet paper tubes via Pinterest (oh, how I love Pinterest!). The original project is for owls, but I thought the general shape would work for making cats as well, so I had this kids make one of each if they wanted to.

(this first owl & cat were my examples that I made)

Bend the opposite sides at the top of the tube to shape 2 pointy ears (the original instructions call for you to tape the top, but if you pinch the cardboard "ears", you don't need to...plus masking tape doesn't take the paint well)
Paint the tube (I use this part to teach the kids about color-mixing with the paint)
While you wait for the paint to dry, cut out eyes and beak/nose, and draw pupils onto the eyes. (I cut the eyes out with my Cricut before class, but the kids cut out the beaks/noses themselves)
When the paint is dry, glue on the eyes & beak/nose

This is how the table looked when the kids were done.

Treasury Tuesday: Purple, Orange, and Black

2011-10-11T15:34:00.004-04:00

I was featured in a Halloween-esque treasury this week, created by my friend and fellow RNESTer, Jackbear.

Purple, Orange, and Black

Check out the Treasury Tuesday post on the RNEST Blog for some links to more Etsy Treasuries!

Make It Monday!: Go Ahead! Make Your Own Monsters!

2011-10-10T12:03:00.000-04:00

I'm often amazed that more people don't make/sell upcycled plush toys like I do. Although, the fact that there aren't a lot of plush-makers in my neck of the woods probably helps my sales at craft shows!

I've heard comments before about "not giving away my secrets" in order to help my sales. But, honestly, I like to spread the joy of making things and I actually encourage people, especially kids, to try their hand at making their own monsters. Sometimes, once someone tries their hand at something, they appreciate the work that goes into it and are more likely to purchase your work. I learned this concept from a guy that I met at the Niagara Celtic Festival who makes chainmail jewelry and does free tutorials at the festival. He says since he started doing the tutorials, his sales have actually gone up, since people appreciate the work that goes into making the jewelry. Sure, some people may just stat making their own, or even selling their own, but I prefer to think of it as creating a colleague instead of a competitor.

Anyway, in the spirit of "giving away my secrets", here is a nice, simple tutorial I came across on one of my favorite blogs, Craftzine, for making your own "free range monsters". (As an FYI, I didn't write this tutorial, nor do I have any affiliation with Craftzine other than simply enjoying the blog!)

* image credit: Craftzine

Here's a tip from the tutorial that is also one of my own secrets about where I get my materials:

"I find the best and cheapest place for crazy monster skin to be the children's clothing section of my local thrift store. For a couple of bucks, you can take home a bright pink fun-fur jacket or a pair of bright blue corduroy pants. Cut the clothes up, making sure to maximize the usable flat parts of the fabric." Most of my best, most colorful sweaters come from the children's section of my local thrift store...specifically the girls' section. Although I often have to repress a twinge of guilt that I am taking a cute sweater away from a potential little girl!

New Nubbins Photos For Etsy

2011-10-07T13:30:00.005-04:00

I took some new photos today of some Nubbins for my Etsy listing. The photos I had for the listing previously were from back before I started using the wooden crate background and the spools of thread, so I did a re-shoot so my shop photos have some continuity and look cohesive.

Gotta love my berry basket of vintage wooden spools of thread as photo props! (and the vintage cloth tape measure!)

If anyone had walked up to my porch while I was staging this photo, I'm sure I must have looked ridiculous, painstakingly placing those spools of thread around the Nubbins, trying not to knock them over. Yes...even the spools in the background in the basket. I specifically placed the most colorful threads on top of the pile. LOL! But it makes for a good looking picture!

Monty the Sweater Gremlin

2011-10-06T22:00:00.001-04:00

I just finished this guy last week after buying the sweater at the thrift store on Monday. I LOVE the turquoise color! This has got to be one of my new favorite monsters! I'm so tempted to keep him for myself!

*EDIT: I've actually decided to submit him for the Whimsical Art Trail exhibit at Strong national Museum of Play!

He photographs really well! I love that first picture.

Sitting...
Standing...
Close-up...

Treasury Tuesday: Most Beautiful Stripes

2011-10-04T12:03:00.005-04:00

I was featured in this beautiful, stripey treasury this week...

Most Beautiful Stripes

Unfortunately, the item that was featured is a sweater monster that I sold this weekend at the AC Homecoming Celebration! Naturally, if I sell something at a show, I need to take the Etsy listing down so it doesn't get double-sold, right? But if I unlist it, it won't show up in the treasury! So...my temporary solution has been to label it as "reserved" so no one will buy it, but I can still keep it in the shop and in the treasury for a little while! I'll probably unlist it in a week or so. In the meantime, you can click on over and see it as a part of the treasury.

I also featured this treasury over at the RNEST Blog's Treasury Tuesday post. I often feel weird making the featured treasury one that features my own work, but I think that this treasury is beautiful and well-put-together even without my item in it! Plus, it reminds me of the recent hulabaloo and brouhaha a few weeks ago over the Missoni line coming to Target. (I use the term "recent" loosely. I know I'm a few weeks late on the uptake here). Pfft! Don't go crazy waiting in line at the store! If you want mod, stripey, multicolored items, this treasury proves that you just have to check out Etsy! And you support independent artists instead of a mega-corporation! (Not that I have anything against shopping at Target...) ;)

Speaking of the Missoni craziness, a friend of mine wrote this on her Facebook status a few weeks ago and it made me laugh! "Damn you Missoni for Target and your wild zig-zags, making women everywhere look like my grandma's old couch!" Ha ha ha!

Speaking of DIYing the Missoni trend, here's a tutorial I found via Craftzine for making your own chevron shoes!

Custom Raccoon Bride & Groom

2011-10-03T13:31:00.003-04:00

I made this custom bride & groom raccoons set for a friend who wanted them as a wedding gift for her friends (their last name will be Coon).

Craft Show! : AC Homecoming Celebration 2011

2011-10-02T12:55:00.002-04:00

This wasn't technically a "craft show", but I had a table at a local private school's homecoming celebration. I was there last year, and they loved my work so much that they invited me to come again this year! I was really honored, since every other person that came up to my table remembered me from last year! Kids are actually starting their own collections of my monsters and other plush.

This is definitely a great "show" for me and I look forward to doing it again next year! The organizers are super nice and super helpful, and the kids and parents are great. I made a lot of sales!

Mom got me this antique mini washboard to display the bottlecap magnets on. Since we were at a school, I edited out the magnets that had bottlecaps from alcoholic beverages (which I later found out would have been fine to have out, but I wanted to be safe!)

This little girl came running up to a group of her friends who were standing near my table. I saw her face painted with the nose and whiskers and said "Oh! You need some ears!" I had meant the kitty-ear hair clips, but she saw the leopard print hat instead. She tried it on and showed her dad, and she was too cute to refuse and he got her the hat. (and they were nice enough to let me take a picture!)

Art Lesson with Older Kids: Felt Finger Puppets

2011-09-28T14:16:00.001-04:00

This is one of the few store-bought ready-made kits I've done with the kids. I thought it would be a good introduction to sewing for the kids (who frequently ask me to teach them "how to make Nubbins"!)

The 2 main issues with this problem with this project were... #1: that the kids had issues with learning how to make a knot in the thread...and #2: White glue is extremely frustrating for kids to work with when working with felt (white glue only really works with paper). The glue kept soaking into the felt and the kids were getting frustrated because they kept pressing on the pieces or picking the whole thing up, and felt pieces and/or googly eyes would come off. But ultimately they learned that the project needed to be left alone to dry and I think they really did enjoy it, despite their glue-frustration.

RoboBox Stencil Art

2011-09-15T01:19:00.004-04:00

I don't have a recap of the Kids' Art Class for you this week, because I cancelled it. One of the kids was out of town, plus I've been wanting to rearrange the "classroom" (aka: my dining room). But I can share a project I want to do with them at some point.

Last week while catching up one of my favorite blogs, Ohdeedoh, I came across a post about these interchangeable stencil sets. I thought they'd be a cool project to do with the kids, but didn't think I'd actually order them for myself. I shared the link on Facebook, where my husband saw it and decided to order all 3 sets for me! They came in the mail 3 days later.

This is the "RoboBox" set...

Each set has 3 stencils...the "head" shapes (yellow), the "face" shapes (blue), and "accessory" shapes (red) which in the RoboBox set are mostly antennas.

The set comes with its own super fine-tipped markers, but there are only 3 of them, and they don't look like they'll last for too long...so I've been using my fine-tipped Sharpies.

The sets are designed for drawing just the heads, but CJ and I have tapped our creativity and utilized the shapes to make bodies, arms, and legs too. (The top robot is CJ's...the bottom one is mine.)

My Robot #1

My Robot #2

CJ's Robot #1

Art Lesson with Little Kids: Foam & Felt Fingerpuppets

2011-09-07T13:31:00.000-04:00

I bought one of those foam & felt fingerpuppet kits at one of my last visits to Joann's, and decided to use it for the little kids' craft project this week.

I was lucky I got any pictures this week though. I think I overestimated how much the little kids would be able to do without help on this project. White glue (whether "school glue" or "Glue-All", like I bought) can be frustrating when using it on anything non-paper or 3 dimensional. And with felt, it tends to just soak into the fabric and then not stick like it's supposed to. So every few seconds one of the kids was calling for me to help them... mainly the younger two. The older two seemed to take most of their issues in stride. I ultimately decided to reinforce certain parts, like the antennae and wings, myself with hot glue. If I ever decide to do this project again (the kit has enough pieces to make 12 fingerpuppets) I need to find a better glue, yet one that is still kid-friendly. The instructions in the kit called for a "low temperature" glue gun. I may have to look into getting one. Yay for the amateur-art-teacher learning curve!

Ultimately, I think the kids had fun...and that's what's most important.

Dragonfly

Butterfly

Ladybug

Bumblebee

Pictures they drew during "free drawing" time.

Mom's Letterbox Journal

2011-09-06T17:11:00.000-04:00

Here is a peek at Mom's Letterbox Journal...

The journal itself was made by SoftShellCrafts. Mom bought it at this past spring's Mayday Underground show. I think the map is of part of Michigan.

These are all letterboxes she's found since August...

Labor Day Letterboxing

2011-09-06T13:51:00.000-04:00

CJ and I went on our first letterboxing excursion with my Mom on Monday when my parents came out to visit.

Letterboxing is kind of like Geocaching, but with rubber stamps...

"Letterboxing is an intriguing pastime combining artistic ability with "treasure-hunts" in parks, forests, and cities around the world. Participants seek out hidden letterboxes by cracking codes and following clues. The prize: an image from a miniature piece of art known as a rubber stamp—usually a unique, hand-carved creation." - from AtlasQuest

My Mom has really gotten into letterboxing lately. It combines some of her favorite things...rubber stamps, roadtrips, and adventure! She recently found a site, AtlasQuest, that lists letterbox locations online, and you can search for letterbox locations in your area. She did a bunch of them over her vacation that she and Dad took with some friends of theirs. And she did a search on AtlasQuest for letterboxes in the area near my house, and found quite a few of them. We decided, on a whim, to go find one of them when Mom and Dad were visiting us for Labor Day.

Mom searching for the letterbox...

A big part of letterboxing etiquette is secrecy, I guess, just in case other letterboxers are around, so you don't spoil it and make finding the letterbox too easy for someone else. Something my parents and their friends have found is that having a dog is a great "cover" for gallivanting around outside, since it just looks like you're taking your dog for a walk.

Luna enjoyed being out-and-about with us.

Another part of preserving the secrecy is that most people take the letterboxes back to their cars to do the stamping...

*WARNING! STAMP SPOILER BELOW!*

(for some letterboxers, the surprise of seeing what the stamp design looks like is half the fun, so if that's you, go no further!)

**************************************************

This is what is in the box...a stamp (hand-carved) and the logbook, where you can see the signature stamps of others who have found the letterbox! Some letterboxes will have an ink pad included as well, but a lot of them don't, so it's wise to carry your own ink pad with your signature stamp.

This is Mom's "signature stamp", an Adirondack chair stamp that was hand-carved by Jackbear Stamps, and was given to her for her birthday by me and CJ. A signature stamp is "The stamp letterboxers use to identify themselves, both in the logbooks of letterboxes they've found and for exchanges. Also called personal stamps.".

"Letterboxers stamp their discoveries in a personal journal, then use their own rubber stamp, called a signature stamp, to stamp into the letterbox's logbook." (well, or vice versa, like Mom did!)

I'm not sure CJ and I would like to be hard-core letterboxers, (some people get really involved in this hobby!) but it seems like a fun activity! It's one of those things we could do on one of those "It's awfully nice out today, lets take the dog and go somewhere!" kind of days! According to Mom, there are at least 30 in the Medina area. And I think fall is a great time to do this type of thing! It may even be a cool activity for the Homeschool Art Class!

If you want to learn more about letterboxing, I'd encourage you to poke around AtlasQuest and/or Google "Letterboxing".

Art Lesson with Older Kids: ATCs and Monkeys

2011-08-31T19:17:00.001-04:00

This week, inspired by my own impromptu art session after last week's class, I introduced the older kids to the idea of making their own Artist Trading Cards (aka: ATCs). I've known about ATCs for a few years now, and have recently been surprised how people are just recently discovering the ATC phenomenon. When I was picking up one of the kids for class and told his mom what we were doing today, she said she was excited I was doing ATCs because she'd just read about them and thought it was an awesome idea...and a friend of mine on Facebook just discovered it too. Is there something "new" out there about ATCs for kids or something? I've just kind of figured maybe the only reason I knew about them already was because I'm such an art geek!

I'm still all about watercolors and rubber stamps. They are both such good art mediums for kids when they are so used to just being allowed to use crayons and/or markers. Kids love to paint...I think mostly because paint isn't a common medium they are allowed to use...because paint is messy. Eventually we will get to one of my favorite mediums, acrylic paint... but I'm not confident enough yet to brave those waters with more than one young child. (because paint is messy!) The thing about acrylic is that if you spill, drip, spatter, dribble, drobble, or otherwise get it on something other than your paper/canvas, it does not wash out. Maybe I'll test the waters with tempera paint...since they're washable. Although as an artist, I'm kind of a snob about tempera paint. I don't like it. It doesn't have the same opacity of acrylic. But I digress...

Watercolor is fine for now. No one has complained yet!

I'm always amazed at just how quiet and focused they all get when it's time to do the drawing worksheet.
This week's worksheet was how to draw a monkey.

Ava, the lone girl of the group, always loves to dress up her drawings when she's finished the basic figure. She's all about princesses and dresses and fashion. And she'll give most of her drawings personalities and stories. I didn't get to hear the story about these dressed-up monkeys today.

My "Art Class Rules" on the wall, along with some of my own drawings. (please disregard my awful, awful, outdated wallpaper!)

I actually had Eli for the day today. His mom had an appointment that she would not be back from before art class, so I offered to have her drop him off before her appointment and have him hang out with me for the day so he would not have to miss art (and she would have one less kid to worry about!) This kid really loves art. Almost every Sunday at church, he asks me if we are having art this week. Before class today, he sat down on his own (between Lego building sessions) and decided to copy the monkey drawing I had by the Art Class Rules. I think he did a pretty good job for sight-drawing with no step-by-step instructions!

Treasury Tuesday: What Large Eyes You Have!

2011-08-30T23:07:00.000-04:00

My Barn Owl Nubbin was featured in an owl-themed treasury this week!

My, What Large Eyes You Have

Owls...still on top. They may say foxes and hedgehogs are the new "it" animals...but owls are still big. :)

As always, check out my Treasury Tuesday post on the RNEST blog for more Etsy Treasuries! (one of the RNESTers had her treasury featured on the front page of Etsy last week!)

RNEST Monthly Challenge: August (Trending Colors)

2011-08-29T15:55:00.005-04:00

Hello my loyal blog readers!

It's time again for the RNEST Monthly Challenge! August's theme is "Trending Colors". "According to Etsy's marketing team, the most popular colors this month are deep jewel tones, fluorescents, classic reds and kelly greens".

I entered more than one item in this month's challenge (we're allowed to do that!), but the one that has the most votes so far is Iggy the Sweater Monster...with his notes of kelly green and turquoise (ah yes...LOVE the turquoise!). I'm in second place as of now. Please take a second to pop over to the RNEST Blog and vote in the poll on the upper right of the page. You don't even have to register or anything, just click! Voting ends at midnight tomorrow!

Cool-Colored Sweater Monster Siblings

2011-08-28T20:22:00.001-04:00

Here are some new sweater monsters! (they're from the same sweater...so they're siblings!) I actually made up little personalities for them and everything!

Ingrid the Sweater Monster

"Ingrid is a huggable monster made out of the arm of a striped sweater with a scheme of cool colors. Despite her one-eyed, monster-like appearance, Ingrid likes to think of herself as a prim and proper lady. One of her favorite pastimes is attending tea parties and practicing her British accent."

Ingrid is actually one of my favorites! She's got a huggably squishy, floppy quality to her that I just love. The kind that makes her the perfect stuffed animal for a kid to snuggle with at bedtime!

Iggy the Sweater Monster

"While his sister Ingrid is a prim and proper lady, Iggy is a little troublemaker and loves making mischief. His favorite pastimes are sabotaging his sister's tea parties and hiding people's socks. That favorite pair of socks you can't find?...Iggy probably hid them! Just look at that smile! You KNOW he did it!"

*Iggy is actually my entry in my local Etsy team's Monthly Challenge. Pop over and vote in the poll on the upper-right corner of the page if you can spare a moment! (You don't have to register or anything! Just go and click!)

Etsy Favorite Friday!: Cat & Dog Salt and Pepper Shakers

2011-08-26T15:19:00.004-04:00

It's amazing the things one finds on Etsy. Many people know that Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade items, but it also is a place where you can sell vintage items. ("vintage" is defined as anything 20 years or older). Earlier this month, a fellow RNEST team member created a vintage, dog-themed treasury that included a listing for a set of Cat & Dog Salt & Pepper shakers from the shop Lisa's RetroStyle...

Cute and Kitschy Cat and Dog Plastic Salt and Pepper Shakers

I saw the listing and gasped in surprise. I have that same set! (although in a bit more of a worn condition)

See?
It's one of those ridiculous moments where you realize that it had never crossed your mind that there could possibly be another set like the one you have! Mine is a bit of a private nostalgic family treasure. The story behind my set is that they were my great Aunt Carrie's (aka: Aunt Grandma). But she didn't use them as salt & pepper shakers...she kept them in the red, wooden toybox I used to raid when I came over to her house when I was little. And the cat & dog were some of my favorite things to play with! It was years before I even realized they were supposed to be salt and pepper shakers. You'd think the holes in the tops of their heads (in a "S" shape on the dog and in a "P" shape for the cat) would have tipped me off.

I still have the red toybox too. I used it for the background of these pictures. And I still keep toys in it for when my friends' kids come to play!

I've had these kind of selfishly hidden up in my craft room on a shelf, but I think I may start keeping them in the toybox like old times! I'll let a child enjoy them like I once did!

Post-Art-Class Inspiration

2011-08-24T17:29:00.009-04:00

After teaching art class, I often feel inspired to play around with the supplies and make some art myself.

So I made a little ATC (Artist Trading Card) using the watercolors and my monster rubber stamp (custom made by my friend John of Jackbear Stamps).

I also did some extra watercolor and rubber stamping on the paper I used to show the kids how to do the sticker & watercolor project.

Then I made myself another button painting. I think it would look cute framed on a wall. I can't decide whether to keep it or to try and sell it in the shop.

And here's a look at the beautiful mess the dining room table is! Sure, it's chaos, but all the color makes it look so pretty! (and besides, it won't be that hard to clean up!)

Art Lesson with Little Kids: Button Paintings

2011-08-24T16:48:00.009-04:00

This week it was the little kids' (2-4 year olds) turn to do the Button Painting project...

While waiting for the watercolors to dry before stamping the button design, I had the kids put stickers on their paper and use the watercolor over them. Then I had them take the stickers off to reveal the white design.

I ended up stamping the names on them myself, since the kids' attention spans were pretty much gone and they were more interested in moving on and playing/reading books in the living room. (I accidentally stamped Shea's name on Liam's paper, but caught my mistake and fixed it as best I could. Whoops!)

At one point Joy came in from playing in the living room, and insisted on helping me stamp Shea's name on her paper

I particularly liked Joy's starry-sky looking painting. (the shape in the middle was from a handprint sticker)

The kids always love coming over for art!

KiraArts Portfolio Book Preview

2011-08-23T13:50:00.004-04:00

I think last week was freebie week for me! I ordered the free fabric swatch from Spoonflower, a free 8x10 collage print from Walgreens, and a free photobook from Shutterfly! And the only thing I had to pay shipping on was the photo book!

I love Shutterfly. They do good prints and always have good deals and freebies. Every once in awhile I'll get an email from them with a promo code for free prints. This week I got a promo code for a free 8x8, 20 page, hardcover photo book!

I've made photo books before with pictures of my wedding...one for myself and one I gave to my in-laws as a Christmas gift a couple years ago. When i got the promo code this time around, I was trying to figure out what kind of book to make and it dawned on me...to make a sort of KiraArts portfolio. It can be something to have at craft shows to show to people my past work, but also to have on-hand when I'm out and about and someone asks me what I "do". Telling people you make plush creatures out of recycled clothing doesn't quite do the work justice... you kind of have to actually see it to understand.

I'm excited about the book. I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail. I took a few nights to finish designing it (one of them staying up WAY too late because I thought the deadline for he promo was the next day...when I actually had a few days left). The graphic designer, control freak, and perfectionist in me contributed to it taking so long. I can't just upload pictures and slap them in a pre-made layout...no, no, no...it has to be perfect! And just when I thought I was done, I would double check the pages and decide something needed to be fixed or changed. I had this fear in the back of my mind that I would order the book and find that I had overlooked some small, stupid detail when I got it. Well...I guess that could still happen. We shall see!

Treasury Tuesday: Mayday Preview

2011-08-23T12:34:00.005-04:00

Can you believe I almost forgot to apply for Mayday Underground's fall show? Luckily, I remembered a few weeks before the application deadline! Now, I'm included a treasury that gives a sneak preview of the work from some of the applicants...some of which are fellow RNEST members as well!

Mayday Preview

Rochester's largest Indie Craft + Art show, Mayday Underground, comes to the Main Street Armory on November 5th. Find out more at the Mayday Underground Blog.

Last year's November show was my most successful craft show to date! Let's hope this year's does just as well!

Check out this week's Treasury Tuesday on the RNEST Blog for more Etsy Treasuries!

Free Spoonflower Swatch!

2011-08-18T15:56:00.005-04:00

*ATTENTION: This is NOT a sponsored announcement! I just thought it was cool and wanted to share the coolness with you all!*

Today is "Free Swatch Day" at Spoonflower.com, a custom-printed fabric company! (I found out about it via Craftzine) You can upload your own design, or choose from designs on the site. I just ordered my own 8x8 swatch! This offer is available until tomorrow, August 19th, at noon (eastern-standard time).

This is what my fabric will look like!

Some more info:

"This offer is limited to one swatch per customer. To activate the discount, add a swatch-sized piece of fabric to your shopping cart between noon EST on Thursday, August 18 and noon EST on Friday, August 19, then proceed to checkout. The discount will be subtracted from your cart total automatically. Note that in order to receive your swatches, you need to follow the transaction through to the order confirmation page. [And yes, shipping is free, too.] This offer works for your own designs or for any of the designs available for sale in the Spoonflower marketplace. Offer is limited to ONE SWATCH PER CUSTOMER." -via Spoonflower's Blog

This is the original design I uploaded. The site repeats it for you and there are different options for how to repeat it.

I'm not sure what I'll use the fabric for right now...but I'm thinking that I'll make myself a new pouch to hold my fabric scissors when I'm on the go (my scissor tips are very pointy!). I've been using this pouch I made awhile ago.

Woodland Creatures Series: Hans the Hedgehog

2011-08-15T16:10:00.000-04:00

After having a poll on my KiraArts Facebook fan page, it was obvious the masses were clamoring for my next plush in my Woodland Creature series to be a hedgehog...

So here he is! Hans the Hedgehog!

I've known that hedgehogs are right up there in popularity with owls & foxes, but I'd been putting off doing a hedgehog because I just wasn't sure how I was going to the "spikes" on his back. But I realized that I had some lovely faux fur fabric I'd gotten from the Joann's remnant bin awhile back. And it was perfect for getting that "spikey" back texture...although the fabric itself is quite silky and soft! (making Hans extra huggable!)

Hans did get sold at the craft show this weekend though. But I'll be sure to make another hedgehog to list on Etsy to give you non-locals a chance! ;)

(I also have another fox and raccoon in the hand-sewing stages right now!)

Craft Show! : Bread & Water Theatre Art & Music Show

2011-08-15T10:12:00.003-04:00

Hey, I'm actually posting pictures of a craft show the day afterwards! (instead of 5-7 days later!)

These are from the Bread & Water Theatre Art & Music Show I did yesterday.

We drove straight to the show rather than dropping Luna off at my parents like we usually do when I have a show in Rochester. She kept barking at the event coordinators and other vendors while we were setting up, so I made her sit on my chair. She seemed to feel more secure there and didn't bark as much. Once my mom came to be my "backup", CJ took Luna and went to my parent's house to hang out with my dad.

I'd signed up to have a table outside, since people could see me when they went by the building, which would help me get more business. What I didn't count on when I originally filled out the application was the weather today. But there's always a risk involved when you have a spot outside. It was hazy when we got there...after I was set up, it started sprinkling...but then it turned into an all-out downpour, and the event organizers decided to move us inside. I had my tent, so my table and I were both dry while they moved the other vendors without tents inside first. I originally wasn't thrilled about having to move inside and kind of hoped to wade it out and hope the rain stopped...but then the lightning started (and really LOUD cracks of thunder overhead)...and inside seemed like a good idea!

The transition was quick, since I got a lot of help with moving all my stuff inside from the event coordinators as well as some other vendors. One of the girls had a big golf umbrella, and kept going back and forth from my tent to the building, holding the umbrella over people who were bringing my suitcases in. CJ came back and took down the tent for me...and got completely drenched! Oh the things my loving hubby does for me! (he went back to my parents' house and borrowed their dryer as well as some of Dad's clothes).

I was ultimately glad that we moved inside. There were more artists in there and we got to listen to/watch the musicians and performers. My table ended up right in front of the stage! My favorite acts were the bellydance troupe, which made me want to learn bellydancing! (for exercise purposes only!...not for public performance!) and the masked cellist, which made me want to go out and buy a CD of cello music!

The cello music was so relaxing and beautiful!

Another reason I was glad to be inside with the other vendors (who had originally opted to be inside) was that the other vendors were my best customers! And although this wasn't my most successful show (I did make my booth fee though), I had a lot of fun and am glad I did it! :)

Etsy Favorite Friday!: Portal 2 Posters!

2011-08-12T10:34:00.005-04:00

For this week's Etsy Favorite Friday, I give you some more evidence of my geekdom. I love Portal & Portal 2. The funny thing is that I've never actually played. I just enjoy watching my husband play (as does my mother! She actually gave Portal 2 to CJ for his birthday!). I have played the 2-player co-op games with him in Portal 2. But I get intimidated at the idea of playing the storyline by myself. I think I'd get frustrated. But it is a fascinating and funny game to watch.

Anyway, on to Etsy...I discovered these Portal 2 themed posters from theKROPshop in my search for items to include in my Through the Portal treasury I decided to make. I love the beautifully simplified graphics paired with humorous quotes from the Portal 2 game.

Portal 2 Wheatley Poster

Wheatley is an interesting little character. My favorite thing about him, besides his British accent, is that he is essentially just a ball/eye, but designed in a way so that he is able to emote so well! The game designers did a wondrous job with him. (As a side note...speaking of wondrous jobs and Wheatley...check out this Wheatley puppet someone made for a cosplay! It's awesome!)

Portal 2 Atlas Poster

*all image credits: theKROPshop

I think this poster would be perfect for an office cubicle! I may need to order one or two of these posters for CJ for his home office for Christmas. When we play the co-op game together, he's Atlas (blue), and I'm P-Body (orange)...(which I find humorously appropriate, since P-Body has a bit of a more feminine walk & build.) Be sure you go to TheKROPshop's Etsy shop to see more posters.

***If you've never seen the Portal games and have no idea what I'm talking about, my apologies. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, you can do a search on YouTube and check out some of the videos posted of the gameplay.

Pinkish Sweater Monsters

2011-08-11T10:21:00.002-04:00

Well, this first monster isn't technically a Sweater Monster... she is made from more of a thermal knit and is more closely related to the T-Shirt Monster. But she's big like a Sweater Monster, so the other sweater monsters accept her and let her hang out despite her non-sweater texture.

Yup...another big mouth, pocket mouth Sweater Monster. This sweater had a bit of a mock-turtelneck that I incorporated into the design with a little folding and sewing to make it look like some big ol' lips for the monster.

Art Lesson with Older Kids: Button Paintings

2011-08-10T20:02:00.002-04:00

I had all 3 "older" kids (5-7 year olds) this week for art class. This was our project...a button painting (like the one I did here).

(The 2 with no names at the top-lefthand corner are mine). i think Ava's (in the bottom right) may be my favorite. (Shhh!...don't tell the kids I said that! I'm not supposed to pick favorites!) It's not as squared-up and structured as my example and like the boys' were...the buttons are kind of willy-nilly...but that may be what makes me like it. The buttons look like they're all spilled out across a table. I may do one myself like that. I'm really liking this project and have been inspired to do a couple ATC's/ACEO's using watercolors and the stamps.

It is interesting to now see the dynamic of having 3 kids in the class. I'm starting to see the differences in how the kids work. One follows directions well and finishes the steps quicker than the others, but is very talkative and easily distracted. One is quiet and very focused, but doesn't always follow the specific directions I give, whether they weren't listening or just forgot. And one has an active imagination and gets focused on making up stories of what they're drawing and enjoys drawing little details, and in their excitement, sometimes forgets what the original directions were. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but they all did very well. And I didn't mind the kids who didn't follow the directions exactly, because their work turned out well anyway. And the bottom line is...art is about having fun, right? (well, the point of the art CLASS is learning too) I have to walk a fine line between having expectations, directions, structure, and rules...but at the same time, reassuring them that mistakes are okay and that sometimes mistakes make a piece of art turn out even better. (I got a lot of "I can't make a perfect circle!"...even after I said that their circles didn't have to be perfect! LOL.)

For the main project, I showed them my example and told them to make 5 circles with the watercolors, in whatever colors they wanted. After the watercolors dried, I had them use my Button stamp to stamp the button design onto the circles. The I had them use alphabet stamps to write their names on their papers...which I thought looked pretty cool with the overall design.

I originally had planned this project for the little kids, due to its simplicity and how it looks cool no matter what. But then I thought the older kids would enjoy it as well! (and they did!)

While we let the watercolors dry, they worked on some new How-To-Draw worksheets I'd made. One for how to draw a boy, one for how to draw a girl.

They were all very quiet and focused while they were drawing...

I have to be prepared for what to do if a kid finishes before the rest. I've debated between letting them go to the next step of the project or having them wait for the other kids to finish. As of now, I've been having them wait, but giving them scrap paper and letting them doodle until the rest of the kids are ready for the next step. (any art teachers out there have some advice for me?)

Green & Blue Sweater Monsters

2011-08-10T09:46:00.003-04:00

Here is another pair of sweater monsters made from the same sweater...

The son of one of my friends saw this guy and asked "Why did you make that monster yelling?" LOL! I didn't intend to make him look like he was yelling! It's funny how kids perceive things!

The reason his mouth is so big and wide is that it's the neck hole of the sweater. And it's a pocket-mouth!

Treasury Tuesday: Portal & Pink

2011-08-09T11:34:00.003-04:00

Happy Treasury Tuesday!

This week I have 2 treasuries for you...one I geekfully created...

Through The Portal

And one I was featured in, made by a fellow RNEST member, featuring lots of other fellow RNEST members!...

RNEST Under The Pink

Check out this week's Treasury Tuesday Post on the RNEST Blog for more Etsy Treasuries!

Multicolored Stripey Sweater Monsters

2011-08-09T10:00:00.001-04:00

These two monsters are almost the last of this particular sweater. (This monster was made from the same sweater as well). I still have enough left to make one more large sweater monster, I think. That's one of the things about making things out of recycled clothing... it's almost sad when you use the last of a particular item of thrift store clothing that you enjoy working with. Because once it's gone, what are the odds you will ever find the exact same sweater again? (I actually did find a sweater at a thrift store that was the exact same sweater as one I'd made some favorite monsters out of, but didn't buy it for some ridiculous reason!).

This guy(girl?) reminds me of some sort of rabbit/gorilla hybrid because of the ears and how the arms are so long. It will actually stand on its own when the arms are positioned right.

Here is another "Big Mouth" monster where the mouth is a pocket. This is becoming a common design.

I folded over the white part of the mouth at the top and stitched it, but left a bit out to make a cute little snaggle-tooth.

Rainbow Sock Monsters

2011-08-08T10:00:00.001-04:00

I cranked out a bunch of sock monsters and sweater monsters the week before Hearts + Crafts. I was so busy trying to get them done and photographed before the show that I never posted the pictures. I'll post the pictures of them over the next week. First up is a pair of rainbow sock monsters...

I need to make up some names and personalities for them for the Etsy listings. Leave me your suggestions in the comments!

Here's a peek at my "photography studio"...aka: my front porch. I like photographing on the front porch because it gets the most natural light. (I just have to be sure to plan my monster photography during the day).

Art Lesson with Little Kids: Collage

2011-08-04T18:20:00.008-04:00

This week, I had an art class with the "little kids". I decided to give the younger siblings of the kids I'm teaching a chance to have art class so they don't feel left out, since their older siblings get to come have art. Since the kids are so young, this class is less of an "art class" and more of a "craft time". I've decided to alternate weeks between older kids and younger kids. This was the first week with the youngin's. The group has two 4 year olds, one 3 year old, and one 2 year old.

We did a simple collage project. I cut out little person shapes with my Cricut and had the kids color them, then had them color a 8.5 x 11 piece of paper for the background, then had them color a smaller piece of paper to cut out pieces for a "house" and glue them onto the background paper. I kept it really simple, and they all seemed to enjoy it!

Can you tell which work is from the two 4 year olds, the 3 year old, and the 2 year old? ;)

The 2 year old had a hard time following directions...but hey, she's 2! She seemed content to just color and be a part of the class though.

For the next "Little Kid" class, I am planning a project using watercolors and my Button stamps, similar to a project I did myself. I may even do that project for the older kids too.

Hearts + Crafts Indie Craft Market: Summer 2011

2011-08-03T20:42:00.010-04:00

So, I was at the Hearts + Crafts Indie Craft Market outside Java's Cafe in Rochester, NY this past Sunday.

I am so bad about getting photos of shows posted right after a craft show. It always takes me a few days to recover... About one day to recover physically (for some reason, craft shows are so tiring!) and the rest of the week to recover my house after neglecting housework for the week before a show!

The weather was a little crazy. We got rain, thunder, and sunshine...all in the 7 hours we were there! Luckily, we were underneath an overhang that covered the sidewalk, so when it rained, no one's tables got really wet. And the rain didn't last long and soon gave way to hot sunshine that made steam rise off the wet street. But there was a blessed breeze that occasionally blew through the street between the tall, downtown buildings, so it wasn't unbearably hot. (Thank You, Lord!)

As always, I was freaking out the week before about not having enough stock, and I had way too much! There were actually some monsters I didn't end up putting out! (~gasp!~) There just wasn't any room! I have to remind myself that doing a show where I only have a 6 ft table space is much different than a show where I have an entire 10 x 10ft space.

I did have to stock up on Nubbins after my last show on the 4th of July. Nubbins are always the most popular item.

I made some new signs for the "Bunny Nubbins" and "Owl Nubbins".

Mom came, as always, to help me out and be my backup. In return, I gave her a corner of my table to sell her coffee cup greeting cards, post-it notebooks, and "Monster finding" binoculars!

The girl on one side of me was brand new to the craft show scene. This was her second show ever! She made these beautiful paper flower arrangements. The most impressive part was that she hand makes the paper herself! She was a sweet girl. I hope she does well and continues to grow her business!

On my other side was my fellow RNESTer John of Jackbear Stamps. One of the other booths, Peace Love Bird, were giving out paper moustaches on sticks...so John took inspiration and made himself a paper beard! (Beards or moustaches? Which is the cooler trend?)

All in all, it was a great show. I had lots of fun seeing people from other shows... fellow vendors and customers alike! As well as a few people who I wasn't expecting to see (and you have that "out of context" moment where you can't figure out who they are!).

I recognized this little girl and couldn't remember where I'd seen her beautiful little face before. As she was examining the Nubbins, she told me "I already have some of these! You did a show at my school!" and I realized where I'd seen her before! She was such a sweetie! And...her mom bought her a new monster (which I'd just finished last week!)

(*image credit for above photo: Lisa Barker)

I had a great time. This show is a keeper! You can go here to see some more photos of the show, taken by the show's awesome co-organizer, Lisa Barker! :D

Etsy Favorite Friday!: The House of Mouse

2011-07-29T11:43:00.005-04:00

I had a thing about mice when I was a little girl (a good "Oh They're so cute!" thing, not a bad "Eeek!" scared of them thing). I loved mice. I loved movies and books about them. An American Tail was my favorite movie when I was 5. I even had a pet mouse for a little while that I named Fivel. I loved to draw mice. I used to draw a little mouse in the margin or at the top of all my school papers in elementary school. (with sad faces on the math paper mice...because I didn't like math!)

Well, this Etsy seller, TheHouseOfMouse, combines my childhood love of mice and my current love of the geeky (and British).

11th Doctor (Matt Smith) Mouse

"The House of Mouse is a sister-act made up of two British sisters; Anna and Naomi. Anna founded The House of Mouse in 2007 and Naomi joined to make a partnership in 2010. Both Anna and Naomi sew and share the duties of this full-time business." (from their Etsy profile)

Harry Potter Mouse

Lord of the Rings Mice (set of 6)

They don't only have geeky, British, pop culture mice though. Take a look at the shop and check out all the different kind of mice they make.

Treasury Tuesday: Green & Fireflies

2011-07-26T12:02:00.005-04:00

Here are some Etsy Treasuries for you! I'm featured in the first one, and I made the second one...

Green With Envy

If 10 Million Fireflies...

Check out more treasuries on the RNEST Blog's Treasury Tuesday post!

Make It Monday!: Button Stamps from Spools & Craft Foam

2011-07-25T09:05:00.000-04:00

Awhile ago on the blog, I showed you the button stamp I made from an empty spool and craft foam. There's a link in the post to the tutorial that originally inspired me, but I've finally gotten around to taking photos for my own tutorial!

Materials:

Empty plastic spools (you could also use old prescription bottles)
Craft foam (the kid you find in the kids' craft section)

Tools:

Hot glue gun
Scissors
Hole punch
Marker, pen, or pencil

Use the spool you want to use to trace 4 circles onto the craft foam (I did 2 circles on blue and 2 circles on red.)

Cut circles out.

Take one circle and punch 4 holes in it to look like button holes (you can do 2 holes if you'd like).

Use the hot glue to glue one of the blank circles to the top of the spool. (You could also use chipboard if you'd like. It might even work better. The first circle is just a base to glue the other part to.

Glue on the "button" foam circle.

And there's the first stamp!

Take the second red circle and use a smaller spool to trace a circle.

Cut the circle out so you have a hole in the middle. The circle should now look like an "O".

Glue the blue foam circle onto the other side of the spool, then glue the "O" on top of it.

Remember when you used the hole punch earlier? Salvage those little foam dots from your hole punch. These will be the "button holes" for this side of the stamp.

Carefully glue the dots in the middle of the "O" to look like button holes. And now the second side is done!

One stamp...two designs!

Note: Be sure to clean your stamp off after using it!...especially if you plan on using the other side right away. Failure to do so will result in inked-up hands! I usually use cheap baby wipes from the dollar store.

I did a smaller one with a two-hole button design.

Happy Stamping! :)

Etsy Favorite Friday!: John W. Golden

2011-07-22T13:35:00.005-04:00

My favorite items for this week are from the popular Etsy seller John W. Golden. He is known for his ability to reproduce traditional styles and methods digitally. He actually has his Lunastrella series in Target stores.

No Monsters Allowed Print 6 in x 10 in

He's most popular for his"By Order of the Management" posters. I think I first saw them on Ohdeedoh. My favorite one is the "No Monsters Allowed" one (ironically enough!). There's also posters/prints that serve as friendly reminders for kids, such as...Brush Your Teeth, Wash Your Hands, Share Your Toys, Be Kind, Eat Your Vegetables, Keep It Down, and more!

Dachshund (Black and Tan) Print 8 x 10

I also like his Dog & Cat Series as well as his Critter Series. The black and tan dachshund is my favorite...since it looks like Luna!

The Enlightened Fireflies Print 8.5 in x 11 in

I've had the song "Fireflies" by Owl City stuck in my head lately, reinforced by seeing them outside in the country fields at night lately. So I kind of like this print too. I actually was inspired by it and made a whole firefly treasury last week.

Art Lesson with More Kids

2011-07-21T13:13:00.001-04:00

I've recently taken on two more "students" for art lessons...my friend, April's 2 older children, Samuel and Ava. Eli, my regular student, wasn't able to make it this week. But it worked out alright, because I could get used to working with more than one child, which I was nervous about. It turns out that if I plan well, everything works out fine.

The kids did great for the first half of the lesson. They were very quiet and super-focused on their drawing. I think I planned too much though, since they started to get a bit antsy during the second half, when we were doing a "sight drawing" project. The other part of it is probably that sight drawing is hard...even for seasoned artists. And I'd given them some challenging pictures to work from.

Samuel's was probably okay, since it was already a cartoony line drawing (a freebie postcard I'd received from Happycloud Thunderhead). But Ava had chosen a photograph (one of my photos of vintage spools I bought from Etsy), which was more difficult for her than I'd realized. But she did a great job and stuck with it. They both did. I just think that next time I either need to end class earlier or give them simpler Sight Drawing subjects, like cartoons or line drawings.

I think they both did an awesome job though.

I often forget about how kids attention spans are. I forget that the wonderful experience of making art doesn't always capture their attention for as long as it does for me! Teaching kids is a challenge for me, since I have to scale back and try to remember how kids are. I have to walk that fine line between not patronizing them or making things too easy...and doing something too advanced and expecting too much of them. I want to challenge them, but not completely frustrate them. Well, frustration is part of the process, I suppose. But my #1 Art Class Rule is "No saying 'I can't'!" (or "it's too hard!"). I encourage them to replace "I can't!" with "Can you help me?"

I realized that with more kids and not being able to devote myself to a lot of one-on-one attention, I have to make class more structured instead of kind of go-with-the-flow like I have been doing with Eli. I have to actually have a structured lesson plan.

My Lesson Plan for this week:

Drawing Exercise (a worksheet I made from scans of a page in "Drawing With Children", with a series of very simple abstract drawings that the kids need to copy)

"Doggie Drawing" Lesson (a worksheet I made myself from scans of the "Illustration School: Let's Draw Cute Animals!" book I recently bought)

Sight Drawing (I give the kids a picture and they try to copy it)
Free Draw! (The kids draw whatever they want. It's their reward for being good during class.)

This week I even wrote class rules on my small whiteboard and went over them with the kids before class.

My Art Class Rules:

No saying "I can't!" (My #1 art class pet peeve. I want to teach them to try. And just because something takes a long time, it doesn't mean they "can't" do it or it's "too hard".)
Follow Instructions (as opposed to deciding to deviate from the instructions and do whatever they want)
Take Your Time (Now that there's more kids, I want to discourage the idea of racing each other to see who can be done first)
Work Quietly (kids can be chatterboxes!)
FOCUS! (When in art class, it's time to focus on art, not think about "Oh look! A bird!" or "I got a new Star Wars Lego set!")

We'll see how next week goes with all 3 kids...well...maybe 4 kids... since another one of my friends asked if her son can get in on this kids' art class action. But I think 4 will be my limit for now (who are all either 6 or 7 years old). I can only fit 4 kids at my dining room table anyway!

Etsy Favorite Friday!: Boy Wizard Pillow

2011-07-15T13:36:00.003-04:00

The last few weeks I haven't done one, but Etsy Favorite Friday is back! And I decided that in honor of the last Harry potter movie coming out today, today's Etsy favorite item is the Boy Wizard Pillow from Etsy seller wdkimmy (aka: Pantoufle de Verre).

Boy Wizard Pillow

She has pillows for other Harry Potter characters: the Girl Wizard Pillow, Red Head Wizard Pillow, and Evil Boy Wizard Pillow. She also does various superhero, comic book, and fairy tale characters.

My Contribution to the RNEST Garbage Plate

2011-07-13T12:52:00.005-04:00

So, many of you know I am a part of a local Etsy Street Team called RNEST (Rochester NY Etsy Street Team). There is a group project that has been around for over a year...the RNEST Garbage Plate. If you are a Rochester local, you should have at least heard of a Nick Tahou's Garbage Plate.

"A Garbage Plate is a combination of one selection of cheeseburger, hamburger, red hots, white hots, Italian sausage, chicken tender, fish (haddock), fried ham, grilled cheese, or eggs; and two sides of either home fries, French fries, baked beans, or macaroni salad. On top of that are the options of mustard and onions, ketchup, and Nick's proprietary hot sauce, a greasy sauce with spices and ground beef. It's served with rolls or Italian toast on the side,fresh from the bakery next door."

I don't see the appeal myself, but I'm one of those borderline OCD-ish people who doesn't like my food to touch! But many people in Rochester LOVE to eat garbage plates and there are copycats at many restaurants in the city and surrounding suburbs (they use a different name of course, since the term "Garbage Plate" has been trademarked by Nick Tahou's). My husband actually prefers the one at Henrietta Hots over the "original" Garbage Plate at Nick Tahou's.

Anyway...RNEST has a group project: making our own, handmade Garbage Plate. We pass the Plate around each month (or every few months in some cases!) and each member contributes something different to the plate using their own crafty medium. So far, there's the actual plate itself (by The Quilted House), a veggie burger ( by Duncan Creative), onion-y meat sauce (by Buenahelena), mac salad (by Jackbear Stamps), and hash browns (by Peaches Products)...and now it has a hot dog (by me, KiraArts)!

I brought it to the monthly meeting on Monday and everyone absolutely loved it! I had second thoughts about putting the monster face on it, but that's what everyone loved the most because, with that Nubbin face, you can tell it's from KiraArts! (otherwise, it's just a fleece hot dog!)

I got suggestions that I should make more of these, and other foods, since play-food is pretty hot in the handmade market lately.