What a HOOT! December 29, 2011

Oh geez, what a headline!!  It’s just proof. . .I’ve become obsessed. . . with OWLS!

It started with this ring I saw on Etsy.

Then this fabulous necklace I purchased from a boutique while on a girls trip to Denver.

And now I can’t stop, owls are everywhere and I can’t stop photographing them or “pinning” them! I’m in love! These cuties were at my favorite thrift/junk/antique store, Back In The Day, in Omaha.

And so were these awful things but I think they are so cute!

There’s “Owls on a Branch”.

And an owl on a branch made to be a jewelry holder from Urban Outfitters.

They also had an owl photo frame (not found on their website). . .

. . . and another owl jewelry holder, I mean just search “OWLS” on their website and soak in the goodness. So cute!

There were glass blown owls at the Hot Shops Holiday Open House. . .

and original vinyl and wood art owls too.

I even found very scary owls at Goodwill.

And flying owls on lamps at The Afternoon.

And all you hunters know where to find these owls. . . that’s right, your local Cabela’s!

An owl and Christmas themed luggage tag, oh my stars!

How adorable are these handmade felt owl ornaments?

I even found owl ornaments made out of toilet paper rolls! Feliz Navidad!

This is just precious, found on one of the DIY blogs I follow and now I can’t find the actual post!

I saw these at Anthropologie. . .

. . . and absolutely fell in love with this guy.  The colors are gorgeous and he’s winking, how clever!  If I had a million dollars I’d own all of these but I just own one, and taking photos of all others suffices. . . for now!  Happy Whoolidays!

Smiles,

Megan

Handmade Holiday Banners December 18, 2011

I’ve always been intrigued by how Miss Lynn from Create Breathe designs with so many layers and textures and colors.

Like this banner for her home.

Or this happy birthday banner full of lace, paper, jewels, buttons, yarn and probably 10 other things I’m not seeing!

Or these gorgeous planers.  I always like how free she is with her stitching and the texture that adds to her designs.

My holiday banners were inspired by Miss Lynn’s work. . . I think I could have added a few more layers of texture but am really really loving how they turned out!  And they go so well with the yarn wreath I posted about recently.  The big frame used to be an old screen door I got for free at the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store. I cut out all the old screen and painted/stained it.  It now hangs above my couch, fun to decorate with wreaths and banners.

I cut out triangles from thick watercolor paper I had in my stash, I actually had all the supplies in my stash!

A little mock-up design.

Then I used the paper triangles as templates, cut out red canvas triangles and glued one on top of the paper.

Then I took to my sewing machine! I chose white thread so it would contrast against the green rick rack and red canvas and lace.

Next I sewed on the white pom trim which secured the red lace as well.

I mocked up the banner in InDesign so I could pick a fun font and get the size right.

I printed out all the necessary letters and cut them out.

Placing them exactly where I want them.

I ended up having to cut them out and trace around the letters with a soft pencil because transfer paper didn’t work well on the canvas.

And then I painted in the outline with white acrylic, and I forgot to take a photo!

Such a beautiful mess of paint and trim and lace and coffee and pencils and tape, I love my old drafting table! I lined the banner pieces up, ready to string them together.

I used a little hole punch typically used in book making and strung some yarn through.

As you can see, I glued a second canvas triangle to the back of the banner after I had everything stitched.  I also used one continuous piece of yarn so that as I use decorate with this in different places I can adjust the width of it.

Always have to add buttons!

I used hot glue to attach the buttons. I love the different button designs.

And there you have it!

Here’s a mock-up for the second one. Again, all items I had in my stash. This time I just used green Canson paper.  It has a little texture to it.

Cut them out and stitched them up. I thought the lighting was kind of cool coming through the mini-blinds.

I picked out a font and printed them out again from InDesign but because this was paper I was able to use transfer paper to trace the letter on the banner.

I used prisma colors to fill in the letters.

Hot-glued the buttons on and strung it with yarn.

And there you go!

Such a fun project that didn’t take a lot of time or pre-prep.

What hand-made decorations have you created this season?  Leave a link below, I’d love to see!

Smiles!

Megan

Local Artists at Hot Shops December 4, 2011

We wandered over to Hot Shops’ holiday open house today, I think this is the 3rd year in a row we’ve attended this, we have our favorite artists now like Crystal Forge, the glass blowing studio; or DarZart, the puzzle piece lady; the paper-marbeling corner (which they didn’t have this year, sad) and the Prisma Color smudger guy (he wasn’t there either!).  But we met some new artists this year and now have a couple of new favorites.

This is by Brian from Very Vector. His Etsy shop is closed right now and unfortunately he doesn’t have a website but you MUST keep looking for his shop to open.  His design is clean and simple and a bit retro. He screen prints on wood panels amongst other mixed media designs.

Aren’t these tea towels just gorgeous?  We watched Kitt Hamersky in The Fiber Studio work the huge looms.  I just can’t even imagine preparing a loom to even weave the simplest of designs.  Such preparation and patience. The red and white pinwheel design was my favorite.

Here’s a huge loom midway through a project which was an easy one, only 8 pedals and 2 different colors of thread. Would you have the patience to thread each of those strings, prepping the loom?  I loved the colorful spools of thread in the background. Would be cool to decorate with an entire wall of wooden shelves and huge spools of colorful thread.

This is the pattern she was using, watching her work the loom with her feet pushing the pedals and hands weaving the spools back and forth was like watching someone play the organ.  There was almost something very zen about it.

ROYGBIV

DarZart, aka (by us) as the puzzle piece lady, was working on a whole lot of baseballs. I think she had about 20 canvases in progress of painting, perfect for a little boys room, don’t you think?

Look really close where the seams of the baseball are, can you see the puzzle pieces she’s painted over? They add so much texture to her art. If you visit her studio at Hot Shops she has a giant turtle painted beautiful shades of green and textured with puzzle pieces, it’s SO COOL!

Happened upon a gorgeous photograph of a Princess Lasertron design on the runway during Omaha Fashion Week from G Thompson Higgins Photography.

I fell in love with these little guys from Crystal Forge, the glass blowing studio.  Glass artists have SO MUCH patience, I could never do it. They just keep heating and rolling the glass, swirling, heating, blow through the little tube, heat again and roll again, repeat repeat repeat. Wow, such an appreciation for the labor and vision involved in these creations.

If you’ve never been to Hot Shops you must go! They have an open house in the spring too. Check it out.

What local art shows do you like to attend?

Smiles!

Megan