We make great shapes

I know that Valentine's Day has already come and gone but love is everywhere and I want to share this romantic inspiration.  This is a collage that one of my etsy customers made for her Polish husband out of some color themed stamps from my shop.  In this specific case, she used Scott 1313.  First issued on July 30th, 1966, this stamp honors Poland's millenium.  This is such a great, personal handmade gift that can either be created on a card or matted, framed and displayed as a lasting token of your love and friendship.

I also want to share with you the works of an extremely talented customer of mine based in Australia.  Liska of the Stamp Collective has a great website where you can purchase her creations, read her blog, learn about great gift ideas and download some fabulous printables.

These are some of my favorite creations of hers that are currently on sale in her shop.

One of my favorite insects, a cicada.  Such beautiful handcut detail!

 

I love the subtle rainbow spectrum of this bird family.

 

 

This is such a great idea, a world map created with stamps representing the nations visited on a family trip!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

March Madness

Well, it's pretty obvious that blogging hasn't really been a major priority for me in 2014!  While the idea of it is perpetually floating around my mind, all I can really say that it's just been a really busy year and I'm sorry that I haven't made time to do it because I quite enjoy it. 

Spring time is a new time.  It's time for new beginnings and fresh starts, starting with updating this cobweb ridden blog. 

Anyway, I haven't stopped crafting.  The winter is the finest time for crocheting and a few months ago, I received a pretty awesome custom request from an etsy customer.  Some of my readers may be familiar with my cOWL's nest 45 RPM record boxes but this was a request for a LP/12" storage box in custom colors.  I decided to crochet various gradient pin stripes and I had some eye popping results.

In other news, after a pretty slow start this past holiday season was the most successful season I've had since I opened my etsy shop.  My sales totally eclipsed all previous years.  I received a multitude of positive feedback, new customers, returning customers and encouragement to keep on doing what I'm doing. 

So what does that mean for the future?  Big, better and prettier plans of course!  Over the next few wks I plan to update my inventory with mountains of new philately.  I also have a ton of other fantastic vintage ephemera to list and then if I can manage to get around to it, there's no shortage of half finished handmade projects that need to get done.  An owl's job is never done.

 

It's a crewel, crewel world!

Recently I was commissioned to complete some custom crochet work quite unlike anything I've ever done before.  My client sent me a link to this ebay listing.  She wanted 3 stars like the one featured in the listing but she wanted them done in 100% mercerized cotton instead of yarn and 8" instead of 12".

So after a fair amount of scrutiny, I reverse engineered the pattern and got to work.  If you're interested in making some of your own stars, it goes a little bit like this.  Depending on how tight you crochet, you may want to add a chain or 2 between each set. 

1) Chain 4 to create a "magic loop". 
2) Crochet 19 HDCs into the 1st chain to create your first round (19 + 3 chains = 20 total).
3) Crochet 4 HDCs in every 2 HDCs of the previous round (10 sets of 4).
4) Crochet 4 HDCs after every 4 HDCs of the previous round (10 sets of 4).
5) Crochet 4 HDCs in every 2 HDCs of the previous round and increase by 2 sets (12 sets of 4).
6) This is where it starts to get a little tricky and you need to pay close attention to your counting.  Crochet 4 HDCs after the 1st 4 HDCs, crochet 10 HDCs in the next 2 (center of 4), crochet 4 HDCs after the 3rd set of 4.  So the pattern is 4-10-4 x 5.
7) The next row you increase 4-11-4 x 5.  Then you tie off.

To create each star's leg the pattern is:

1) 4-10-4.  Flip the star and crochet backwards to start the next row.
2) 4-9-4.  Flip...
3) 4-8-4...and so on until you reach the top.  The last row is just 4-4.

Joining/finishing all the legs:

Chain 3 in the last row (which is 3 chains) of every row and connect with a single chain.  3-1-3. 

So now your star is complete and the real work is just getting started.  This was my first time ever attempting crewel work.  It's not hard but it's definitely a pain in the ass.  It takes forever and it's very tedious work. 

 

Crewel work:

Cut 10 2 foot long strings.  Bundle your strings and always keep them twisted tight.  Cut another 4-6 foot long string to embroider with.  Initially you will double French knot your string bundle to the center of the star and then you will blanket stitch the bundle all around the star.  French knot when you return to the center and start a new leg. 

While the results are amazing and a true testament to old fashioned handicrafts, I do not recommend this project unless you have a truckload of patience and time on your hands.

Finally, my client is going to embroider the finished stars onto her own pillows.  This last image gives you an example of what they'll look like.

1960s US Philately

Business-wise, this is generally the beginning of the busiest time of the year for my etsy shop.  However, admittedly, this year has gotten off to a slower start than usual.  I shouldn't and don't want to complain though since on an annual basis, my business continues to grow.  I mainly just blame the shaky economy.  I'm extremely thankful for the steady business that I have and I'm especially appreciative of my loyal and enthusiastic customers.  But let's not forget the new customers either!  In spite of all of the competition out there, I know I've created something really special and unique and I'm so pleased that 930+ Etsians have favorited my shop.  Now I wonder how long it'll take me to break 1,000.

I recently acquired a fairly comprehensive collection of US philately from the 1960s.  I've spent the past weeks sorting through everything and after endless hours of sorting, labeling and organizing, I've finally processed the bulk of the collection.

Can you blame me for drinking a little wine in the process?

Here's a few close ups of some of my favorite sets.

Wood Ducks, Scott 1362.

Johnny Appleseed, Scott 1317.

Mississippi Statehood, Scott 1337.

Homemakers, Scott 1253.

Bill of Rights, Scott 1312.

I'll be back very soon with an update on a really cool custom crochet project I've been working on!

Hasta Luego!

My dear friend JY is a high school Spanish teacher.  She loves Spanish culture and any Spanish speaking countries and she travels a lot.  Her next big trips will take her to Mexico and then Spain.  For her birthday, I decided to switch gears a bit (since last year I gave her a crochet scarf and the year before a handmade handbag) and put my scrapbooking tools to work.  She's recently expressed an interested in writing while travelling so I made her a Mexico & Spain inspired travel journal.

Perhaps this post will inspire you to make your own journal to accompany you on your next trip or create one to give as special handmade gift.

Here's some of the inspiring vintage (& non-vintage) ephemera I used: old Nat Geo's, maps, postage stamps (of course) and plenty of colorful scrapbooking paper.

Being a record collector, I used old record covers for everything.  In this case I used the covers to make my journal cover and also a few book marks.

I used vintage accounting ledger for the journal pages.  

I stitched the binding of my book with my sewing machine and then reinforced the binding with vintage textured framing tape.  I covered the journal cover in a map of Spain, lined it with old stamp album pages and reinforced the pockets and edges with colorful washi tape.

Since I used gatefold LP covers to create the journal, they made natural pockets.  This is where JY can keep her receipts, passport, postcards or any other bits of ephemera she picks up along her journey.

Then I really went to town and decorated every single page of the book with images and ephemera from Spain or Mexico.

And now it's back to the grind for me.  I have a couple crochet projects that I really wanna finish before I turn into a pumpkin!

Crochet Pencil Skirt Party!

My fingers have been extremely busy lately.  I've been crocheting non-stop everyday and I'm very pleased with the results.  This isn't my first time crocheting skirts but this is a new pattern I just developed and I really like the belt loops and crochet belt that ties in a bow.  I love holidays and celebrations and the general idea of wrapping myself up like a crochet present. 

Here's the skirt I made with variegated red, white and blue yarn with white trim and a blue belt.

It's always fun to see how the variegated pattern works itself out.

And here's the super bold, racecar striped bright emerald green and blue-violet number!

I love this shocking color contrast!

These skirts are so flexible, form fitting and fun! I'm wearing them with bright tights but I would total rock them with leggings or bare legged too.

Rocktober

Rock on crafty people! Can you believe that October is already here?! Well, it's pretty obvious by my lack of updating that yet another busy autumn is under way. I currently have a lot of projects on the horizon but unfortunately, everything is still so far from being finished that I'm not quite ready to start bragging about them yet. So in the meantime, here's some pretty origami imagery from the Asian Inspiration scrapbooking kits that I assembled for my etsy shop over the weekend.

Mini satellite flowers.  These really pop with full 3-D effect.

I love the way the square posies look before they're full assembled.  Someday I'll get around to making a textured collage with a bunch of them.

 

Finished posies in all of their bold and beautiful symmetry.

 

 

Does anyone else love Bonchon Korean fried chicken as much as I do?

 

 

These paper kokeshi dolls are so much fun!

 

That's all for now.  Back to the grind but I hope to be back with a more substantial update sooner than later!