newsworthy: catshy crafts published

Newsworthy? Well, magazine-worthy, anyway.

I was lucky enough to be featured in two magazines this summer.

Yarn-wrapped Wreath in Simply Handmade: Decor

Simply Handmade: Decor 2012 featured the very first thing I sold through my Etsy shop. My yarn-wrapped wreath! Delaney Gates, the magazine's editor convo-ed me through Etsy and asked if I wanted to be published. Of course, I said yes, and immediately went to work on a fresh wreath to send to the magazine. That was back in February 2012. My husband, Jamie took this photo of the new wreath along with the original that still hangs on my front door.

The neat thing about Simply Handmade is that they love Etsy! And feature many Etsy shops, even including the Etsy shops' URL prominently in the article. I even got my little old blog mentioned.

"It's My Party" Scrapbook Layout in Scrapbook Trends

Scrapbook Trends (a sister publication to Simply Handmade) published one of my scrapbooking layouts in the August 2012 issue. From time to time, I submit my pages (both paper and digital) to various scrapbooking magazines and occasionally one will be chosen. This particular page was very special to me. The fact that I broke out the paper scrapbooking supplies in the first place was the first indicator. Why was it so special? Well, it was all about my artist's reception and unofficial launch party for Catshy Crafts!

Full Circle

And to bring the whole experience to full circle, in typical scrapbooker fashion, tonight I made a page about it. This time a digital page using digital kits by Sahlin Studio.

newsworthy | Key to My Heart Elements by Sahlin Studio

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog today!

first sale : wallflowers

Like your first love, you always remember your first sale, right? Well, these little flowers were my first sale for Catshy Crafts. A friend who attended my artist's reception chose these little beauties to come home with her. Well, she actually had to wait a month until the show came down.

The flowers are hand-made by me using scrapbook paper, buttons and embroidery thread. They got a lot of compliments at the shop (or so I'm told by my friend Hannah who works there). Plus, it is the first (yay!)  (and only) thing that got purchased.  Well, that's not exactly true. A week later, I was commissioned to create an entirely NEW set of wallflowers using different papers for another person who attended the show. So I guess these are my lucky wallflowers. I'll be putting more in the shop. Definitely.

I delivered these particular blooms today with a card I made (with a freshly made flower on the front). She loved it! (too bad I forgot to snap a photo of it.) I can't wait to see how she displays them in her home. She might put a few in a frame and the rest in her daughter's room (who happens to be my daughter's BFF).

All the flowers piled in one of my garage sale finds (a crystal encrusted wire basket) which you might remember from this post.

The buttons are from my ever-growing stash of buttons: from clothes, vintage finds from thrift stores/g-sales and scrapbooking supplies.

This is how they looked at the craft show at Cupcake Royale.

it's coming down

My art show: The Pretty Craft Show : is coming down Friday night. (So, if you've been meaning to stop by, you still have a couple days :) It's been a great run. Thanks everyone for stopping by!

Everything that hasn't been sold will be going into my Etsy shop soon. I'll post again when they're up!

In other Catshy news..... I've been commissioned to re-create some of the items on display at the show for a child's room: two personalized felt banners (with the boys' names) and a set of 25 paper accordion flowers. My client picked out the patterned papers in a color palette of soft blues, browns, greys and a touch of pink. It was fun to collaborate in this way: I brought over some patterned papers in various colors and styles and she picked the ones that spoke to her. She chose colors that normally I wouldn't gravitate towards (I'm a girly girl, I guess) but they look great together!

pretty craft show : it's my party

It's been more than a week since I had my artist's reception and I am still in awe that I even had one! You see, I never thought I would have a show of my work, let alone open an Etsy shop and host an artist's reception all in the same month. It's been quite an experience for me.

1. Hailee and me 2. A peek at the backroom. 3. Zara takes it all in. 4. Jamie and me.

The artist's reception was a casual affair held at Cupcake Royale in Bellevue on a warm Friday night of Labor Day weekend. A little over 30 people came together to celebrate my work and have a little fun. Mostly families I've met through my older daughter's co-op class, neighbors and a few of the band's friends (who technically were there to see the band play ;).

I served three varieties of cheese and crackers (all courtesy of TJs), which I labeled with my own computer-printed kraft cardstock signs on toothpicks; two box wines (also from TJs) and a few other bottles of wine (that actually went back home with us). I made a guestbook for guests to record their comment and some felt giveaways for all the attendees. I had my family my side.

One of the baristas and his band played the event, adding lots of atmosphere and eliminating that awkward silence that might occur at a party (or does that just happen at my parties?).

One of the reasons the party was fun. The live band! Plus all the kids running around on the outdoor patio :)

All in all, I shared my work with my friends, celebrated and my show and made my daughters proud. It was a fun night! (The only bummer was that my good friend and curator of the show wasn't able to make it.)

And that was my night!

p.s. In case you are reading this blog and you happen to live in the Seattle area, you can still pop in the shop and see it before it all comes down at end of business on September 30. Pick up a free felt giftie while you are there (they are located by one of the windows across from the front counter if there are any left).

i make stuff

Yup. That is true. I can't help it. I love creating stuff. Here is a page I made using some digital kits by Danielle Thompson for her Kitschy Digitals shop at JessicaSprague.com. Danielle is a former scrapbooking rockstar who now does graphic design and other kitschy crafts. She even writes a column for Ohdeedoh. I'm lucky to work with her digital designs.

i make stuff | Kitschy Digitals Homespun Stitches + Clothesline Digital Kit at JessicaSprague.com

And one more page with one of her stitched flowers....

1 2 3 blow! | Cosmo Cricket's Odds and Ends Paper and Elements + Crystal Wilkerson's Rounded Template + Kitschy Digitals' Homespun Stitches @ JessicaSprague.com

You can see more pages created by the rest of her design team -  using her new kit, Homespun Stitches on her blog.

almost ready: artist reception for Pretty Craft Show

It's the eve of my artist's reception at Cupcake Royale. And I have to say I'm pretty nervous about it all.  I am not a party girl, even though I love to make festive things for parties. from the invitations (my show flyers) to the decorations (all my work in the show) to the favors (yes, i made party favors!) to the scrapbook pages I will make after the party is all over, i love creating. but the actual party itself gives me the jitters. but I will take a deep breath and enjoy my little launch. I will have my family there. And my friends. So that's all that matters, right?

almost ready | Cosmo Cricket's Clementine Paper and Candy Candy + Kitschy Digitals' Homespun Stitches + Queen of Quirk's Right Round Accent Pack (photo frames + button)

a sneak peek at my little gifties for everyone who comes to my reception :)

back to the shop

make it pretty | my mantra on back of all by b-cards.  you can also see one of my little price tags.

It's less than a week until my artist's reception and I went back to the shop today to add my final pieces: my artist bio and a larger felt piece as well as add a few missing price tags. I also put out my art show flyers (which I forgot to take a photo of, darnit).  I also took loads more photos, in general because I had my two girls with me.

I've gotten several RSVPs for my artist reception. Are you going? I hope you are. I've been busy making some cute little felt flowers for my giveaways - a special little thank you for coming to see my show and supporting my new little crafty venture!

pretty craft show poster | a trio of wall flowers and a hand-stitched title.

my artist bio | embellished, of course.

limited edition: my art show flyers

I am relying on e-mail and facebook to get the word out about my artist's reception at Cupcake Royale (which is coming up fast!) But I decided (yes, last minute) that I should create a flyer/postcard. At the very least as a memento of the show itself. At first, I was going to use a scan of a "poster" that I made for the show. The poster is 12" x 12" piece of kraft-colored cardstock hand-stitched, spelling out the name of the show and has a few of my "wallflowers" adorning it. But it wasn't working for me when it came time to put the flyer together. So I fell back to that "purple rain" felt piece that I posted a few weeks ago. So even though I said it wasn't the official flyer....it is now.

Here's a peek of the flyers will look like.

I printed them at home on my Epson R1800 and Red River paper (double-sided matte 60 lb). I only had two sheets of this paper. The rest of the flyers will be printed on Epson matte photo paper (not intended to be printed on both sides), but it will have to do. I love how it looks on the Red River paper. My printer was giving me lots of problems lately, but after cleaning the ink heads, replacing the gloss optimizer ink cartridge, remembering to turn off the printer when not in use (the ink head were contantly getting clogged from leaving the printer on!) and finally using this new-to-me brand of printer paper, I think I love my printer again!

more from the show



memory pages | priceless

It seems every weekend I visit the cupcake shop where I'm exhibiting my work (now through September 30) that I add a bit more (a lot more) pieces. I did not realize how many pieces it takes to fill up a space! Last weekend, my trusty friend and curator, Hannah, and I hung some of my scrapbook work. Because scrapbooking has been such a huge part of my life for the past 5 or 6 years, it seemed fitting to include some of my favorites pages. Pages that touch on themes of everyday celebrations, love, cupcakes and babies. Pretty appropos for a cupcake shop where each cupcake baked, frosted, and eventually devoured is a mini-celebration in itself.

For about a dozen of the pages (both 12 x 12 and 8.5 x 11), I hung them in plastic sleeves, strung with kitchen twine and held in place with clothes pins. A casual presentation. For two pages, there are a bit more formal. I framed one in a black shadow box (which I use to display a few my pages at my home). Another page is digital scrapbook page that I had printed at Shutterfly as "mounted wall art".

you've been framed | priceless

For two other pieces ("you've been framed"),  I shrunk down several digital scrapbook pages and select photos and backed them with cardstock. I clipped them to twine with mini clothes pins and silver binder clips, which was then hung inside of empty vintage frames. I love the idea of displaying mini versions of my favorite pages and photos rather than full-size versions. Plus the photos and prints could be switched out whenever the mood struck. For this piece, I also clipped a hand-stitched heart in the corner.

mini felt flowers | 15.

Last weekend, I also priced each piece. Of course, the personal scrapbook pages are not for sale but everything else will have a tag like this one. And if you can't make it to the show, I will be putting everything on Etsy in October. (If you can't wait that long, please do contact me at catshycrafts@yahoo.com. We can work something out.)



wallflowers

wallflowers | In the Making's It's A Start Template #7 (coming August 22) +
Cosmo Cricket's Hey Sugar Paper Pack (coming August 22)

Most of the paper I used for my paper art in Pretty Craft Show (and in my soon-to-be-opened Etsy shop) comes from my ever-expanding (but-not-so-much-lately) stash of scrapbooking paper. They come in so many different colors, patterns and styles, usually in 12 in. x 12 in. (the conventional size of scrapbook pages). I usually go for either a simple clean graphic style (like American Crafts) or the shabby chic, vintage, slightly roughed up style (like Cosmo Cricket). I'm also a fan of Cute (but never juvenile) graphics or hand-drawn illustration  (like Nancy Kubo or Designs by Lili).

More and more, scrapbook paper manufacturers are going digital. That is, offering their once paper-only products as digital paper for use in digital scrapbooking. So it was a happy coincidence that this particular paper line will soon be offered for digital use at JessicaSprague.com (where I am a Creative Team member) because I happened to use some of the paper for part of Pretty Craft Show installation.

So my two worlds collided. And I made a digital scrapbook page (with Photshop CS2) using digital papers and photos of the wallflowers that I made by hand using the paper papers. I also made my own digital embellishments. See the trio of flowers along the bottom? I extracted (basically cut and paste using the elliptical marquee tool) these from a photo that I took at the show).  I added a drop shadow and now they are custom-made embellishments to go on my digital page.

By the way, if you want to learn more about digital scrapbooking, JessicaSprague.com is the best place to go!

p.s. I replacde my banner the other day! It's a bit large, I know, but I really like how the cloud in my "purple rain" piece is a perfect place for adding words. And the purple and grey felt worked with the rest of my blog design.