Last Hurrah Sale – 50% Off
A couple of years ago I started an Etsy shop selling custom labels and stickers. After some time, I realized that what I loved most about it was making the designs, not printing the labels.
So I changed the focus of my shop to creating designs for people, and selling PDFs of the designs that were ready to print and could be used as many times as they wanted.
Well, although I still love doing graphic design, and although I am still doing custom requests for labels or party deocrations, I have started focusing on other things, and thus will likely close my etsy shop soon.
SOOOOO….I am having one last sale of all items in my shop – every design, with custom text, for 50% off.
Just use the coupon code “50off” – please help spread the word!
Come check out my designs!
There are SO many different uses for my designs:
Party decorations
Hang tags
Envelope seals
Gift bag stickers
Favor bags
Handmade packaging
Book plates
Gifts!
Address labels and more!
Simple fleece elmo hat
If you child is anything like mine, he/she is probably obsessed with the little red monster they call ELMO. Given the temperature around here, I recently ordered a knitted elmo hat from a website…and was not very happy with it. So, I decide to knit one for Radha myself. Well, several days into, after I already knitted the earflaps and the black mouth, I realized that I made the hat large enough to fit TWO heads into it. So, I had to take it all out. In the meanwhile, I decided to make her an Elmo hat made out of FLEECE, and this is how it turned out! I actually saw a blog post on Made by Rae about how to make a simple fleece hat, and based my elmo hat off her tutorial. I would definitely check out her tutorial for the details of how to construct the hat. I will describe below how I made it into Elmo and the one change I made to her design.
First you start by cutting your inside and outside fabric. I used red for both since I was doing Elmo. I had to cut my pieces larger than Rae’s tutorial describes, because the first time I cut them as directed, the hat was way to small (i think my fleece may not have as much give to it).
Measure the width of the head that you are making the hat for, and the width of the rectangle you need to cut will be that head circumference, divided by 2, plus 1. Radha’s head circumference is 18 – so the width of my piece was 10 (18/2 = 9, 9+1 = 10). The height of your rectangle should be about 12 inches. Cut the fabric on a fold on one side, so that there will only be a seam in the back of the hat, instead of down the front as well. Also, make sure to lay the fleece so that the stretchy side is along the width of your hat.
Then you cut out the ear flaps. The height of the flaps should not go past 3 inches. You also want the flaps to be slightly more towards the back of the hat than in the middle, so that there is larger opening for the face.
Tips:
1) Make sure you remember that the fold of the fabric is the front of the hat, so the ear flaps should be FARTHER from the fold and closer to the open seam.
2) Don’t move the ear flaps too far off center – it becomes a little strange (see above picture)
The second time I made the hat I started with rough cutouts from the front and back, and then went back and curved out the edges.
Next, sew the open vertical seams of both the inside and outside material. I used a 1/2 inch seam allowance, and used an overlocking stitch.
Next, place the fabrics right sides together, and sew the bottom seams along the earflaps together. I used a straight stitch here, and then cut out some fabric so that it wouldn’t bunch too much when it was turned right side out.
This is what it looked like once you turn it right side out.
Next I gathered the pieces of elmo’s face! I used fuzz balls that you can buy from any craft store for the eyes, and then used orange and back felt to cut out the pupils, nose and mouth.
Then sew your pieces onto the outside of the hat. You could also sew the pieces onto the fabric BEFORE you sew the bottom seams of the hat together, so that it is easier to maneuver in the machine.
Once you have put everything onto the hat that you want, you then take a 1/2 inch strip of the fleece and tie it around the top of the hat about 3 inches down from the top. I then cut the top of the hat fabric into strips to make a pom pom. The beauty of fleece is that it doesn’t fray – so you can cut it as much as you want.
(Note: Again, this is all from Rae’s tutorial, I’m just paraphrasing what I did to make it into elmo and to remove the seam from the front of the hat. My pictures aren’t nearly as good nor are my instructions as clear, so please check out her post!)
And viola! You have a genuine elmo hat! As you can see, the hat my daughter is wearing above is different than some of the samples above in that there is no seam down the front (i mixed up the front and back the first time I made the hat…what can I say, I’m a novice!)
Hope your little one enjoys it as much as mine!
Friendly Inspiration
We recently met a family from Radha’s class who gave us the above eggs when they came over for dinner. Aren’t they beautiful? I had NO idea that natural eggs come in so many different and wonderful colors! This family has 6 chickens that live in a coup behind their house, and is the source of their daily eggs. Some lay brown eggs, some lay blue ones and other lay greens ones. I find them so much more amazing to look at than the plain old white ones we see in the store!
Well, this family has opened my eyes to many other things about the food industry as well. I will no go into a whole diatribe about it now because I do not yet know nearly enough to be able to speak knowledgeably about it. But I will say that they have inspired me to read and research more about our food and where it comes from, and thus to eat more responsibly.
What have I done so far?
1) I have watched Food Inc. – This documentary is available instantly on Netflix – which is where I watched it (through my Apple TV of course). I was crying within the first 5 minutes and pretty much throughout most of the movie. It is profoundly eye opening and something that I think EVERY meat eater should watch.
2) Watching the above (and talking to our new friends) itself has led me to eat less meat and buy meat more responsibly (at least for now I am trying to buy “cage free” meat that is preferably grass fed.
3) I am now in the process of reading the Omnivore’s Dilemma. I am already at the point where I feel like I can’t eat ANYTHING without feeling guilty! Nevertheless, I am glad that I am reading it and learning about the craziness that is our food industry. Actually, every time I read it I start sweating because I get so upset.
I still have a long list of other documentaries and books to get through that my friend has recommended to me. I will keep you all updated as I go. I recommend reading and watching them as well so you too can be inspired to make a CHANGE
My favorite educational photography site
People often ask me how I learned photography, and the truth is: practice. Trial and error. Immediate feedback from digital cameras. I took one short class during college, but learned more about developing my own prints than photography in that class. The real way to learn is to understand the mechanics of how a picture is taken, and then practice. I will write more on this later, but i wanted to share one of my favorite sites to learn about what makes a picture. It is called: Cambrigde in Colour and can be found here: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/
It a very detailed site that explains everything you need to know about taking a picture. I will write another post soon about the main things i consider for each picture…but i figure this is a start!
<a
Packed
This image is a good depiction of what it is like to travel through the streets of Delhi – at least if you are a local there. There isn’t really a concept of “safe travel” which is why I would never drive there. I did once – in a parking lot – but was too scared to go on the streets…and I am not a timid driver. 😉
Pray
Sometimes you can take beautiful and inspiring pictures of simple objects in your house. This is a Buddha statue that a friend bought for us. I really like the way it looked with the glow of the candle on reflecting off of it.
Give
On my last visit to India, my family sponsored a meal for local children in the village. Every time I look at these pictures, I am reminded of what a privileged life we live.
Warped
Millennium Park; Chicago, IL
This pictures makes me feel like I am in Gotham…during a bright sunny day.
Journey
Embarking on a journey. India style.
Meditation
This is a picture I took in a small temple in india. Whenever I look at this scene I get this feeling of peace and serenity while remembering god or a high power in general. What I love Is the juxtaposition of this one person sitting by himself and meditating against the room packed full of people below.
I get so busy day to day and have been bad about making religion a regular part of my day. So I try to look at this picture often to at least have a moment of remembrance when I do.
ClayArtists.org Blog 