Ubiquitous cat post
A blog wouldn’t be a blog unless it had cat pictures right? Luckily these kitties are totally relevant to my crafting. They all received my wool cat nip treats for Christmas.
Thanks for the pics, Jaii, Amy, Alan and Chad.
Fuzzy hearts and craft hangover
So it turns out if I spend the month of December making stuff non-stop I don’t have very much energy to make much in January. Have no fear though I will be crafting and posting with more regularity in the future.
So without further ado Happy Valentines Day!
I made many of these fuzzy hearts as Christmas gifts this year. I gave them all away and then it occurred to me that I should have put pin backs on them. I did so for the one I’m wearing today. I contemplated wearing it on my sleeve but opted for my lapel instead.
Thanks arvi for the photo shoot.
Bicyclists birthday
This was a gift for a avid bicyclist friend. I was happy to use hand printed paper I recently purchased from Grizlee Adams.
Ribbonless wrapping
I know, I know, christmas is over. Just one more holiday post and I’ll save the rest of my christmas crafting for next year.
Unintentionally most of the gifts I gave this year were tiny. And as a challenge to myself I didn’t wrap any of them with ribbon.
I had so much xmas crafting going on this year that I ran out of steam for decorating my tree. I bought a tiny tree and got as far as putting the lights on. I put up a little tree village to try to extend the christmas tree spirit. These tiny packages are photographed there.
One of my ribbonless decorations were twist ties made from washi tape. I got the inspiration from Randi at Swoon Studio.
The few larger gifts I had got wrapped up in this years Sappi paper promotion.
Sappi Paper designed by Studio Hinrichs, printed by Blanchette Press
Tiny presents wrapped in the 2010 Hemlock printing promotion. Designed by Turnstyle.
Shadows of Christmas past: 2010
Last year I went to Mexico for Christmas so unfortunately I didn’t wrap many presents and didn’t get pics of the few I did wrap. I did however have some fun taking pictures of the shadows cast by my first set of LED lights.
Christmas wrapped: 2009
I used a limited color palette for my wrappings in 2009.
This gift was for my dad. The tag is refrencing the tradition I’d started of always getting him a new beanie for christmas as well as some sort of nerd toy. I think a robot might have been inside.
I wish I had a picture of the inside of this box. Inside the box I created a Christmas tree diahrama. It was a gift for a friend who had a very small apartment at the time and no room for a real tree.
I dressed up in santa style and sold stuff last weekend
On Saturday I sold at the San Francisco Center for the Book Holiday Fair. (That’s a mouthful). It was a really fun day. The neighborhood was abuzz because half a block over a line wrapped around the culinary academy for the Master Chef open call. I was a little bummed to be missing out on the santa shenanigans around town so I brought my holiday cheer and costume to the fair. Any excuse to dress up as Santa I’ll take.
The day was full of friends coming by to say hello and getting to know my fellow printers and crafters. I learned more about the patterns on the masking tapes I use from Tomoko at Tota Press. Many of her designs are inspired by traditional japanese patterns.
Serendipity had my neighboring vendors, Lynn and Emma all being new to the craft fair scene along with me. It was also my table matte, Cynthia’s, first time selling. We were a good team both having some cat related merch.
I used my Square for the first time. So easy!
My only regret of the day is that in packing up I forgot to peel my tape decorations off the wall. I raced back to the center when I remembered but one of the volunteers has already cleaned it up. Thanks SFCB for holding a great event and being a great place for people to have new experiences.
Thanks Dan for the pics!
Letterpress and masking tape
Metallic gold stripe tape.
Printing: Spent the afternoon after Thanksgiving showing my dad how the press works.
Paper: French Paper, Pop-Tone, Sweet Tooth, 140lb Cover
Ink: Tan Varnish (oil base)
Catnip noses
I have a cat. I think I have a fairly healthy relationship with him and don’t see a future for myself as a crazy cat lady. I am inspired to find amusements for my feline friend. One of them turned into this card.
Under the nose.
Printing: About 4.5 hours on my letterpress
Paper: French Paper, Dur-O-Tone, Newsprint White, 80lb Cover
Ink: Black, Warm Red (oil base)
Noses: Made of wool and catnip and are meant to be pulled off to be chewed and mangled by the recipients cat.
Christmas past: 2006
2006 was the year I reused shopping bags for some of my holiday wrap. This coinsided with discovering MaiDo, a Japanese stationer, located in the Westfield mall. I watched their wrapping tecniques and borrowed them that year. Coincidently, I’ve been purchasing most of my masking tapes this year from the MaiDo in Japan Town.
Please forgive the poor image quality. In 2006 I probably didn’t understand what a blog was nor thought I would be posting these pictures too one.
SFCB Holiday Fair
The San Francisco Center for the Book Holiday Fair is coming up on December 10th. This will be my first time selling at a craft fair. I learned to print at SFCB so I’m happy to come full circle to sell there this year. Come check it out Noon - 5pm!
Some of the items I’ll have are my past holiday cards as well as some of the other masking tape cards I’ve been making this past year.
2009 Holiday Card, Print Gocco
2010 Holiday Card, Letterpress, First project printed on my press
Letterpress gift tags
Soon I’ll be posting images of the two cards I’m making this year. Because Christmas provides lots of reasons for present wrapping, tree trimming, and hall decking I’ll be posting here more often in December. Hope it keeps you inspired. Happy Holiday 2011!
Oh, deer! Someone is turning 30 again…
Happy birthday jrob!
Wrap is re-use of new shoe tissue paper.
Mask Appeal
This coming Thursday is the Fall Gala (and auction fundraiser) for AIGA San Francisco. I’ve made two masks, one for play and one for rest.
For the first I used some thinner masking tapes I recently purchased to cover the supplied mask.
I knew for the second mask that I wanted to use wool, a material I’ve been exploring lately, to felt a pattern that could mimic the first mask.
Some people might be getting wool felted sleeping masks for Christmas…
Eight legs for Halloween
I got it in my head that I wanted to make a spider costume this year. It was both fun and challenging having all those extra legs.
Spider Ballet
Spider Yoga
Thanks Beth and Matt for helping me get some pics.
