My work space

Here's a little tour of my work space!  I scored this industrial midcentury desk when we moved into this artist community - the art gallery next door was getting rid of it, and I was in the right place at the right time... so I decided to be one of those fancy people with TWO desks - best decision ever. I like that I can leave a project out for a few days and still have another workspace available for other tasks, heehee. 

It's taken me a long time to find the right layout and storage for my needs, but this is by far the best set-up I've had so far - I feel like I've been way more productive. The biggest game changer: the dark grey drawer unit in the picture above (it's the ALEX unit from IKEA - I've always wanted one, and I finally got one with our tax return this year haha) the drawers are big enough to hold 11x17 prints in them! and they're shallow enough that I can store all my loose sketches without everything getting lost in a giant pile :)

Whenever I find small vintage suitcases or train cases like the ones above, I like to use them to store extra art supplies and sewing stuff. It kinda doubles as decor, kinda? I mean, some people might see it as clutter, but I like it. Anyway, at the moment I'm working on some new brooches for my etsy shop - hopefully I can have them up in the shop soon. Right now, the shop is empty and sad. I'm also working on something I'm calling "TinyArt Originals" for the next art show in my building. I'll give you a hint: it's going to be tiny :) hahaha.

- Elizabeth

DIY Kitschy Christmas Wreath

When it comes to Christmas decorations, I can't have enough kitsch. If it isn't kitschy and just a little bit frightening, then it isn't Christmas. Today I threw together a super kitschy wreath for the holidays. It's so bad, it's good. It makes me happy. Ahh...the holidays are finally here. (please excuse the low-light & poor quality of these photos. I couldn't wait for daylight.)

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
-a styrofoam or straw wreath from the craft store
-wide fabric ribbon (the busier the better! I found mine at the thrift store)
-a stapler, scissors, hot glue gun
-pipe cleaners (or pipe-cleaner-esque ribbon! which is what I used)
-cardstock
-watercolor (or whatever paint you wanna use)
-a focal piece (you can use an old ornament!)

This isn't really much of a tutorial. Just a little peek at some of the steps. You'll wanna wrap the wide fabric ribbon around the styrofoam wreath, so it's completely covered. (I secured it with a couple of staples in the back!) Then, make a scalloped edge using pipe cleaners, bending and stapling every couple of inches. I made a little watercolor banner out of cardstock that I attached with hot glue. The part that really pushes it over the edge with kitsch is that slightly disturbing santa figurine that I scored at a local antique shop (also attached with hot glue). Whenever I go into antique shops this time of year, they're BURSTING with horrifyingly kitschy christmas figurines. So, if you wanna find a good focal piece for your wreath, this is the best time to find something!

Happy kitschy crafting!

-Elizabeth

PS: Use coupon code SBS2012 to get 20% off your purchase in the shop, for small business saturday!

DIY: Colorblock Framed Messages

Yes. That is fake wood paneling stenciled onto particle board. Pretty awesome huh? haha. I can't take credit for it, though. I wish! This is a wall in our laundry room, and, it was begging for a pop of color and a little reminder for us to empty our pockets before running things through the wash. Which is a reminder we so desperately need, haha. So I made this color-block framed message out of an old thrifted frame I had laying around.

Here's a little DIY tutorial if you wanna make one, too:

1. Type something up in your favorite fonts, flip it horizontally, and print!
2. Use the print-out as a guide, and paint wherever you see negative space (everything but the letters themselves) I used about three coats of "antique white" craft paint, but you can use whatever you want! (note: because of the thickness of the glass, you'll want to look at the letters straight on as you paint, because the slightest change of angle when you view it, can skew the perspective of the letters.)
3. While that's drying, paint your frame! I used "golden yellow" and "roman stucco" for the short sides, and then mixed those colors with a bit of white for the long sides).

You can paint the glass all the way to the edge, but I kept the messy unfinished edges because I like the way it looked, and it fit the unfinished look of my laundry room, too. Do whatever looks best to you. I put some tea-stained graph paper and woodgrain contact paper inside the frame. You can use whatever you want, though - fabric, a photo, scrapbook paper, whatever. I think it'd look really cool painted to the edge, with a photo peeking through the letters. Hm, maybe I'll do that for a "home sweet home" sign, heehee. The possibilities are endless with this one. Below is a little sample of some signs I typed up for a 5x7 frame, and reversed. The links to download the reversed jpegs are below the picture.

right-click and "save as" to download:
home sweet home
check your pockets
home is where the art is
bless this mess

Have fun with it! :)

-Elizabeth

Farmhouse Photos: The Picture Wall

The first thing you see when you walk into our house is this narrow bit of wall straight ahead of you. It was pretty bare for a while, and the paint was peeling in spots. It was just a sad, lonely thing to look at. And so, we began our hunt for things to hang on the wall. It still has a way to go before it feels complete, I think, but here is what we've got so far:

From top to bottom: A leftover save-the-date from our wedding, A really old photo of a mountain scene, another old photo of a mountain (but this one, I liberated from an old 70s text book, heehee), an awfully stereotypical rendition of a native American girl that I scored during the western-day sale, a clipping of the Puget Sound from an old map of Washington, and a framed lace doily.

It's weird to think that someone made it and was very proud of it at some point (judging by the frame, anyway) but it still ended up in the thrift store. I initially just bought it for the frame, but the darn thing started to grow on me after a while, so I kept it like it was :)

On another note, it's so weird to see how well our different tastes blend together. Like, Franklin has a very distinct style, and so do I, and we've somehow found this weird balance in between, and it works really well. There's like a really weird rustic, bohemian, kitschy, vintage, lazy professor sort of vibe going on in this house. It's strange, but I really dig it, haha.

-Elizabeth

In Slumberland

Our bedroom is still very much a work-in-progress, but here's what we've done so far to make our space a little more cozy:

I had some fabric lying around, and draped it from the ceiling to soften up the hard slants of the walls. I wanted to add more billows above us, like a canopy bed, but I ran out of fabric - drats! I added a hanging light so we could read in bed, and I sewed together some "book pockets" for the wall, because we don't have room in our little nook for a nightstand.

Franklin has an obsession with the old Nemo in Slumberland comics by Winsor McCay, so I wrapped some mustard colored yarn around some wire and spelled out "slumberland" in cursive. I wanted to dangle great poofy clouds from the ceiling, but I didn't have any poly-fil handy, so I pinned some doilies up, to sort of symbolize clouds? or something. Haha. I really want to get some kind of reclaimed wood headboard now. Wouldn't that look awesome against the fabric?! I think it would look pretty sweet, and it'd cover up all the rough edges of the fabric I was too lazy to deal with, yay!



a few details: 1. Franklin's book-pocket contents: Merlin 2. My book-pocket contents: Redwall (I'm almost finished!) 3. I sewed a pillowcase for Franklin, and screen-printed by hand an illustration I made of Little Nemo's bed. It reads, in French: Sweet dreams, my little Nemo 4. One of the MANY doilies I have leftover from our wedding.

That's pretty much it! Hopefully I can manage to purchase (or make!) the reclaimed wood headboard I see in my head. It'll be a while though. We haven't the means or the money right now. But someday!!

-Elizabeth

A sweet paint job

I bought this knick-knack shelf at the thrift store about a month ago, with the intention to give it a make-over. Today, I finally did. I come across shelving like this all the time at the thrift store, but they're usually pretty beat up. This one was no exception, haha. With some craft paint & some contact paper, I covered up all the rough bits and prettied it up a bit. I'm actually quite pleased with how it turned out.

BEFORE:

WHAT YOU NEED:
-vintage floral contact paper, preferably... (I used up the last of what I had, too. drats!)
-mustard yellow paint (I just use the cheap craft paint you can get for a dollar)
-sponge brush
-hammer (for removing replacing nails in the back, to take the back panel off)

I like using the sponge brush, 'cause you can dab the paint on and avoid those dreaded streaks and lines of paint that you tend to get with a paintbrush (time consuming, but worth it if you despise paint streaks like I do!). You can remove that chipboard panel on the back by prying the nails out with the back end of a hammer. Then, apply your favorite contact paper, and nail it back on!



AFTER:

Hooray for adding more kitschy cuteness to my work-space. I think I'll use it to display my finished brooches, maybe. I left the drawers the way they were 'cause the wood-grain really pulled it all together. Anyway! I'm excited to do this to more things, heehee.

-Elizabeth

Farmhouse Photos: The Living Room

We have officially moved! Whew. I forgot how much I hate moving. It was definitely worth the pain of moving to get out of our tiny little apartment and into this ridiculously huge farmhouse. We're still working on unpacking. Slowly, but surely. More pictures to come, but for now, here's our living room:

1. one of my favorite parts of the house - a nice little spot for listening to records, underneath the "love is awesome" chalkboard we made for our wedding. Plants love records and records love plants. On the bottom shelf is a jar with dirt and twigs that Franklin sent me when we were writing letters.  A little piece of Washington that I've carried with me since!

2. Our little fireplace nook turned bookshelf. I spy lots of sci-fi. And, yes, that is a copy of Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies. 3. My golden owl collection, keeping a close eye on the books.

We're still working on my craft room. It's a complete and utter catastrophe at the moment, but I'll post up some pictures once things are in working order. It's pretty sad how we're so easily able to fill a 4 bedroom farm-house with all of the stuff we managed to cram into our super tiny one-bedroom apartment. I think it's about that time we watch a few episodes of hoarders to scare ourselves into a purging frenzy. I say this, of course, right before we head out the door to hit up some thrift stores, haha.

Anyway! Now that we're done with moving, I suppose we haven't really got an excuse to neglect this blog like we have been. Thanks for sticking around!

 -Elizabeth