My First Treasury!

Inspired by my friend Amanda's treasury, I decided to make my own. What a fantastic way to show appreciation and shine a little light on some wonderful artists.

A treasury, for the uninitiated, is a collection of items on Etsy that fit a theme. The purpose is to make shopping easier by creating a group of like things and to raise the exposure of all involved. The cream of the crop get chosen for Etsy's front page.

With Halloween on the way, I put together a list of items inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and his writings. Have a look!

As I was searching for the items, a couple of things occurred to me.

1. The pictures of the items, in order to be front page worthy, need to be works of art in and of themselves. This stressed to me the importance of perfect item photos, which I know I need to work on.
2. Whenever possible, I chose a seller with fewer sales. That's not true for all of the items included, but, when trying to decide between two items, I did my best to pick "the little guy."
3. Compiling a treasury is more work than you would think! "I'll just pick some stuff I like and be done with it," you might say. But a good treasury tells a story. Finding items to compel the story that have awesome images can require a fair amount of looking. Even when the items were chosen, I worked with placement to create a balanced group of pictures.
4. It was a lot of fun! I may try to do one of these once a week.

Let me know what you think! Regardless of what you think of my treasury, you should click on over and check out the amazing artists!

Cracking Up

I was able to cross one to-do off my lengthy list. These sandwich board signs (4 in total) are for a friend's wedding. Andy put them together, I painted them and now they've been handed off to the crafty bride for hand lettering.

The finish is ivory crackled over brown. I've done some crackle painting before, but this has been my best result. The first difference from other experiences was that I rolled on the crackle medium instead of brushing it on, which left a heavier coat. The second difference was the wood itself. This was a composite wood and the crackle seemed to follow the texture, making it ultra super crackly.

Love it! I'll have to get some pics of the finished signs once the lettering is complete!

Playing With Fire

I had some fun this evening burning fabric for flowers! This is my first time making these and, while I'm happy with them, I definitely need some practice.

First up is a tiny silvery-gray taffeta flower on a hair clip.

The second one is black satin and is practice for my sister's vow renewal ceremony.

I also tried to make a red one without much luck. The red satin I picked up was a slightly different texture than the other and it wanted to catch on fire like crazy. Lesson learned!

Love is in the Air

There's been a distinct lack of project posts here lately. I promise I've been working on things, just not for me! I have been helping out with a lot of wedding related projects. I'll have to get some pics and post them soon, but it's been all go!

In the meantime, here's a run down.

Wedding 1:
Amanda is my sister (not to be confused with Amanda my friend mentioned in other posts). When she and Shawen were married 10 years ago, they had a lot going on in their lives and were struggling financially. They were married in their living room by a friend with only immediate family in attendance. We had donuts and coffee for the "reception!"

I have to say, this remains one of my favorite weddings. It was small, intimate and no fuss. It was all about the two of them getting married and sharing the day with the people they were closest to. Her husband remains like a brother to me and I couldn't have been any happier to see them get married.

Now, it's 10 years later and they have come such a long way. To celebrate their anniversary, they want to give themselves the wedding day they didn't have before. As much as I loved their wedding, I'm equally excited about this vow renewal! I won't go into the details of their lives, but you can take my word for it that they deserve this.

In the ceremony, I will be playing the role of Matron of Honor. Last night, I got my dress!

This little number came from David's Bridal. I'm thinking about wearing it with red shoes and making some little, red organza flowers to wear at the waist.

So, projects! Because of a debacle involving horrendous customer service (there will be a whole other post about that), my ever helpful friends and I had an emergency invitation making session. I'll also be making purses for the bridesmaids and putting together all of the bouquets.

Here's a couple ideas for flowers:

Wedding 2:
Sara and Brandon have known each other since they were kids and they really couldn't be any cuter together. We all worked at the same place previously, so while I knew them, I didn't know them well. It wasn't until we all happened to move the Chicago to work at the same place that I started to spend more time with them and now they've become two of my favorite people in the world! (I would be remiss if I didn't thank Kenney for bridging the gap.)

Sara is the consummate crafter (Brandon isn't shabby either) and has taken on many DIY projects to personalize their wedding. So far, I've helped with making bunting, linen table numbers and sandwich board signs. I'll be painting little wooden people for the cake toppers, which I'm super excited about!

I realize this is all a little flat without more pictures, so I'll work on getting more documentation this weekend.

Speaking of weekend, have an awesome Labor Day!

New Banners and Stuff!

Look at the new banner up there! A HUGE thank you to Dovile at Karamele for making my new banner package. She also made images for a business card and mini business card. Can't wait to get them printed!

Here's a peek at the mini cards...

Dovile was a joy to work with and I couldn't be any happier with the results. If you're in the market for some design work, shoot her a note!

Andy's Doctor Who Birthday

Andy's birthday was a few weeks ago and, with the help of some crafty friends, I organized a birthday party with Doctor Who themed items.

My good friend Amanda decorated his gift (a drill press) like the Tardis!

Andy with his Tardis

Thankfully, Andy was able to unwrap his drill press without destroying the Tardis. It's still sitting in the dining room until we find it a better home.

The next part of Andy's Doctor Who birthday, was the Dalek cupcakes!

Amanda pipes on a Dalek

Sara applies the... Dalek parts

Andy loved his Doctor Who birthday and a good time was had by all. Especially Dolly, who was quite tuckered out after the festivities!

Dresser Update

I'm making slow progress on the dresser. In fact, the kitty has been helping. See?

She did not like it when I had to wash her little feet.