Tag Archives: crafts

Aug 28 2012
2 Comments
crafty adventures, snail mail

mail art with a trader joe’s bag

We have a LOT of Trader Joe’s bags around here. I know, I know…we SHOULD be taking our many reusable bags to the store, but somehow, we always forget. Or they are in the car and we are walking… We always reuse our bags. Some hold donations ready for Goodwill, some hold recycling, some go back to the store for another round. We still have a lot though. Then one day I was noticing the fun, foodie graphics on the bag and I thought hmmmm….mail art!

All I needed were my tiny scissors and a glue stick, but I added some gold stars, rubber stamping and washi tape (of course!)

Donovan’s letter is ready to go, because I had a fun stamp for it (silverware with silverware). I have a ton of the Pioneers of American Industrial Design stamps, and I find that they work on almost any letter.

My mom is a tea drinker, so I thought she might enjoy the tea envelope. I wanted to use the 5 cent teapot stamp on it (you know, to beat the theme to death), so I just used a mishmash of stamps that added up to forty-five cents (although, I bet she enjoyed the Foxglove stamp!)

I haven’t decided who will be the recipient of the “man” envelope yet…but I do know he won’t be going in the mail until this stamp is in my hands. I’m loving that ship!

Not bad for a humble grocery bag.

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Aug 20 2012
3 Comments
crafty adventures, snail mail

more neon love

Last week, I mailed a thank you to a friend. She tweeted that she liked this, and so I ordered it (oh, and one for myself in grey), waited three weeks for it to arrive, and then finally wrapped it up in a kraft envelope with some twine, glitter and washi tape, packed it up with some Japanese treats (all of my favorites from the Japanese grocery store) and mailed it on its way.

I know summer is fading but my love for neon isn’t going anywhere… Neon isn’t really a “fall thing” so I’m going to soak up (and use up!) all of the neon while I can.

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Aug 13 2012
7 Comments
crafty adventures, thoughts

letterpress class with Rar Rar Press

I had an epic weekend: a sausage-centered party at Big Guys Sausages, a letter social with the Letter Writers Alliance & a letterpress class with Rar Rar Press. While the party at Big Guys was fun (I had the Italian Chicken Sausage and I am officially three-for-three with loving what I order there!) and the letter writing social was as lovely as always (I wrote 1.5 letters and one postcard!), the letterpress class was a huge highlight.

I’ve been wanting to take a letterpress class for a long time and Rebecca’s class came highly recommended. Unlike a lot of letterpress printers today who design on the computer and have a polymer plate made for printing, Rebecca still hand sets all of her type using old letters made of wood or metal. Some of her type is from the early 1900s! I kind of wanted to spend the whole four hour class just poking through it all and playing with fonts, but there were posters to print!

We learned a little bit of terminology (oh, there is so much terminology…and measuring & math!) and about setting our type and we learned about her two presses before we got started. It took me a long time to choose my type styles and Rebecca assisted a lot when it came to setting my chase (the frame that holds all of the letters together). It is like playing Tetris trying to fill in each and every inch of the chase so the letters are securely set and ready for print. (Rebecca joked that she can pack a car like no one else!)

Rebecca printed the rainbow background first, then we printed the text on top. Every print is a little bit different, some have darker blue-green rainbows, some are lighter …I love that about them. Naoto said I should sign each one (since they are a limited edition of 25) and I think I will. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas!

The biggest challenge for me before the class was choosing what I wanted to print. I have a long list of quotes that I love (most of them are pinned here on Pinterest), but in the end, I decided “Comparison is the thief of joy” (Theodore Roosevelt) is a perfect life lesson to have on my wall. It’s a good reminder, don’t you think?

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Jul 30 2012
4 Comments
celebrations, crafty adventures, Olympics, what's for dinner

an olympic birthday

Our friend Santron turned 30 on Friday, so we threw him a little party on Sunday night–Olympics-style. Santron loves London, so it was kind of perfect.

After making a paper chain out of Olympic flag colors, I crafted up a gold medal out of cardstock, double stick tape, glitter, number stickers and some patriotic ribbon. It was the first time I used my Martha Stewart circle cutter (even thought it’s been sitting in my craft closet for months…) and I found it challenging to use. My circles were not perfect and the end never matched up with the beginning… Is there some sort of trick to it?

Chef Hasegawa made Shepherd’s Pie and it was delicious! To make this heavy dish a little bit lighter, we used ground turkey instead of ground beef and added in extra peas and carrots. So simple & so good!

We also enjoyed gin drinks (London Dry Gin!) and giant cupcakes (not homemade) and then watched swimming and gymnastics together on the tiny TV. A relaxed celebration–the best kind.

 

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Jul 16 2012
1 Comment
crafty adventures, snail mail

the money card

A good friend turned thirty last month. He has a love/hate relationship with Guy Fieri…as in he loves to hate him. So, who else would be perfect enough to end up on his birthday card???

Do you have a friend who has a love/hate relationship with a celebrity? Maybe it’s Kim Kardashian, or Snookie, or Donald Trump?? Here’s how you can create a card of your own. It will brighten your friend’s day…trust me!

1. Find a picture of the celebrity on the internet. It’s better if you find a picture of him/her doing something obnoxious. This was easy with Guy because he is always making that annoying “signature gesture” of his.

2. Print out the picture and cut around the celebrity’s silhouette with great detail. Guy’s picture made this difficult since he has so many little spikes in his hair.

3. Think of a quote that the celebrity often repeats, type it up (in a fun font) and print it on card stock. It was difficult to narrow down all of Guy’s annoying sayings, but this one seemed to fit the occasion. I used “Star-Studded” font and I chose a dark card stock because I wanted Guy’s bleached white hair to stand out. I also embellished MONEY with my Uni-ball Signo Sparkling Glitter pen. **I seriously love this pen.**

4. Attach your celebrity picture to your card stock. I used foam squares so Guy would pop off the page a little bit.

5. Stick your handmade masterpiece in an envelope and you’re done!

So easy! There is nothing like a handmade card to make someone smile while they simultaneously curse you…

p.s. I got my photo here.

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