Cavas Bus Stop Art: uplifting messges for your family

When times are so sad and distressing in New Zealand, I'm wondering if other people, like me, are turning to their favourite art, design and craft blogs for a bit of escapism. If you are, and that's why you're reading this: welcome. I hope you and your family are safe and warm.

Hopefully these lovely gems I found on Felt.co.nz and wrote about for my column on http://www.babybites.co.nz/ recently will bring some cheer to your home.

I absolutely love the vintage ‘bus stop roll’ canvas art works that are so in fashion in home décor right now – I even made my own one combining locations important to my life, and to my Australian husband's.

Now you can buy ones especially for the little ones in your life. Instead of listing locations though, these typographic-style art works list fun, positive “Family Rules” or a list of “Beach Rules”, “Dreams for your Child” or “Wishes for your child”. I love the thought of my little girls staring up at this poster and attempting not only their ABCs and starting to learn to read, but memorising such neat messages. Made by Almond Design in Melbourne, these artworks are available in colours perfect for all nurseries like yellow, pistachio, pale blue and mocha.

PS: Don’t forget to get yourself one of these fabulous WWII motivational ones especially for mums ( “Keep Calm and Carry On”!) See Studio Dollmain on Felt.co.nz


Read my original column on http://www.babybites.co.nz/

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Handmade hands for Christchurch

As you may have noticed, we haven't had the heart to post since Tuesday's horrific earthquake in New Zealand. It's been the most distressing time in New Zealand's recent history and it didn't feel right to blog about craftiness while others were trapped or waiting to hear from loved ones.

Many people we know have family they were worried for, or have found, or have lost, or are still waiting to hear.

Many crafters we know who live in Christchurch such as Nin @ The Wardrobe ( http://notchkas-wardrobe.blogspot.com/ ) or Gil @ MudbirdNZ ( http://felt.co.nz/shop/mudbirdnz ) have lost their studios, their years of gathered up craft supplies, but escaped with their families.

And everyone who I (Aimee) work with (in my day job, in the healthcare sector) have either volunteered to fly down to help with the medical response, or have helped to man the healthcare phone lines to talk to distressed or injured Cantabrians.

For those of us without medical skills, or those of us with small kiddies meaning we can't fly down to volunteer in the clean up, there are plenty of other ways we can help from afar. Trademe is running a great round-up of registers where you can offer a place for Cantabrians to stay; assist the initiatives underway; or donate to appeals.

And as they did in September, after the first Christchurch earthquake, the handmade community is again rallying around to help by offering our goods in return for fundraising.

Both Greta and I have donated several prize packages from Lily Pad Designs and Topography up for auction in L'il Magoolie's "L'il Quake Appeal" - which is bound to be anything but small. All the cool and caring children's designer product businesses in New Zealand have donated prizes to be auctioned off, with all the proceeds going to the Red Cross Appeal.

Maddie from L'il Magoolie is herself based in Christchurch and has gut wrenching, personal accounts of how the quake affected her here. Read them and you will be moved, I swear. She's very brave to be putting together an auction to help her community, despite being one of the very people who need our help and care.

Secondly, many of our good friends and crafty colleagues on Felt are passing on the proceeds of their sales this week to charities such as the Red Cross. Felt is based in Christchurch and while its owner Lucy and her family are safe, Felt's headquarters have been affected and they are really emotionally shaken up. If you go to http://www.felt.co.nz/ and have a shop around, you will find lots of listings and stores on there noting that their proceeds go to charity.

My top picks of Felt sellers donating goods are:

songbird

$12.00

songbird

$8.50

songbird

$20.00

cloudnine

$17.00

tinch

$29.00

cattaylor

$16.00

laulipop

$20.00

cloudnine

$17.00

Songbird Designs - gorgeous vintage jewellery, unique and made with love.

Cat Taylor Design - bunting and oilcloth zipper purses, perfect gifts for friends - you can stock up on presents for the girls.

Tinch Design Studio - restickable wall stickers and fabric magnetic images.

Cloud Nine Creations - beautiful hand-drawn etchings - check out the awesome wall art saying "I love NZ" or her tiny earrings and charms.

Laulipop Vintage dresses - beautiful upcycled cotton summer dresses. I've already bought the purple and blue one for my miss one.

There is also a couple of facebook-based handmade auctions - just type in 'handmade for Christchurch' or 'charity auctions for Christchurch'.

Please have a hunt, and lend a hand. xx

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Gian Paolo Barbieri Fashion Photography Photos

Read-Gian Paolo Barbieri Fashion Photography Photos

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Article in the Maine Edge: A kitschy, retro, new and unique shop for Bangor.

A kitschy, retro, new and unique

shop for Bangor

By Jenn Wayboer
edge intern

BANGOR - Jodi Renshaw has turned her passions and her dreams into a new store for Bangor. This Handmade Life and Studio 36 opened earlier this month downtown at 170 Park Street. The shop is full of all kinds of wonderful art and handmade products, and the studio provides a professional space for local photographers to meet clients and expand their work.

This Handmade Life started out six years ago as an online shop on the popular online handmade marketplace, Etsy. At the time, Renshaw and her husband were looking for a way to make the money they needed to adopt their son, Isaac. The concept came about because Renshaw wanted to create as handmade a life as she possibly could.

"You're the author of your life, so create your best life" Renshaw said. And it was this ideal that made her want to know who created, by name, all the products around her instead.

Everything in the shop is handmade by someone in the United States, but not necessarily in Maine. Etsy has become a great resource to pull products from around the country into the shop. The goal is to support local and creative economies. Currently, the shop's selection includes paintings by local artists Lyndsey Marston, creator of 3 Legged Dog Ink, and Jim Lagasse, whose art is also being showcased in the Bangor Public Library, along with photography by Michele Barker and Tom Grogan. There are handmade gifts such as the journals/scrapbooks that Renshaw makes herself out of Golden Books, along with tote bags she sews, and her own photography, both serious photography and some done by posing action figures and older generation toys.

"The journals are a way for adults to play with kids' books, to play with the books we grew up with," Renshaw said. "And I like to play with toys and I'll do anything to have the chance to play with them. I want my shop to really be different and fun...and maybe a little bit silly."

Soon the shop will be receiving handmade sock monkeys from Tennessee and the original Harry Potter puppets from the popular potter puppet videos on YouTube.

The upstairs of the building houses Studio 36. Currently there are four local photographers in the co-op, but the space is available for any photographer who needs a professional space to rent. For only $25 an hour, a photographer gets use of the studio, all of its backdrops and props, lighting and dressing room area. The studio was previously on Hammond Street and was established when Renshaw was looking to rent a space to do her own photography and found out that no such place existed. It has been a success from the start and has already helped some photographers get a jump-start on their careers.

The studio will also be a place for people to come and pick a photographer to do the work that they need done. One of the rooms will showcase work done by the co-op photographers and have portfolios of artists' work. There will also be portfolios of models so that the studio can act as a liaison for them as well.

This Handmade Life and Studio 36 will both be fully up and running by the double grand opening that will take place on March 18. Both make great artsy additions to downtown Bangor.

Stop in and talk to Renshaw about either business, or check them out online at http://www.etsy.com/shop/thishandmadelifeand http://www.studio36bangor.com. You can read Renshaw's blog at http://www.thishandmadelife.blogspot.com/. Both This Handmade Life and Studio 36 also have Facebook pages.

THANK YOU JENN & BANGOR METRO! Article can be seen in their online newspaper by clicking here.

Love,

Jodi

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Paper Crafters Get Together V2.0

Yes!!! The paper crafters get together is back this year!! Don't miss it! I'm planning to attend it too! Hope to see you all there!! Please check out the poster above for the details or for more information on how to participate and also to reserve a place for the get together, do visit Miyyah@Kertas Facebook Fan Page for more details. :)

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That Mysterious Ticking Noise --- comes to Bangor!

I LOVE this video! So much so ... that I have been wanting my own set of Harry Potter puppets ever since I saw this ... about 3 years ago. And finally, I have found a lovely young lady who makes them ... AND is willing to sell them in my shop!

Here are some examples of her work ... and of the goodies that will be making their way to the shop ... via Owl Post ... asap ...

Please drop in sometime to see them for yourself! AT ONLY $25 each ... they are a wonderful, handmade in the USA product that is also quite economical & totally ENTERTAINING! Heck - you can even make your own videos with these guys :)

Check out more videos from the Harry Potter Puppet Pals here on YouTube. Perhaps there is a future for you in creating similar videos???

See you soon,

Jodi

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A pink blue quilled bird

HB084

I'm so excited about this design. It's a request from my aunt actually. This birthday card is for her dear friend and ex boss hehehe! :) She wanted a birthday card with a bird on it. I am really out of ideas and I just did a simple design with the usual technique I've done before. Only this time around I made more branches and leaves but just one bird sitting on it. And the bird has an eye! A black eye with silver glitters on it...hahah...kinda funny looking though. By right it doesn't seem to make any sense how a bird can actually stay on the branch like that and not fall off of it! LOL! But in the art world....anything can happen hehe!

I also made a pop up cake inside it......a very soft color combination that would suit the colors of the card itself. Sweet pastel colors. :) I didn't print any wordings for the card but I did use a clear stamp to stamp the Happy Birthday wordings on the card. Love that one. That clear stamp is a gift from a dear friend. Thanks again CC for that clear stamp. I'll bet you've forgotten which clear stamp you have given me hehehe. So many of them actually are still not in use. No ideas coming out for them yet. Soon there will be I hope hehe!

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Colorful quilled gift cards

It's all done! Yay! All the gift cards are all done and ready for delivery. They will be delivered by hand. I sure hope my customer will love them. I had a great time making them. It's so easy to do and it's all about playing with colors. 

I wish I had time to do more but time is kinda limited right now and I'm only able to make 25 pieces of them. There is one of them that is soft lilac in color but the color doesn't seem to show very well in the photos.  In the photos it looks like blue. Don't know why. This is always the case whenever I take photos of that particular color paper. :(

My favourite would be the soft blue and the yellow ochre. Love those two color combination a lot :).

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I {heart} re-designing - Felt Tip Couture Shoes

We love customising and re-designing, but it never occurred to me that shoes could be customised too! You can draw straight on to canvas shoes with the right pens and it is SO much fun.

This tutorial on The Craft Revival used kids shoes, but I thought I would try some adult ones... inspired by this Wonder Woman* patch, I drew some bold shapes (first in pencil, then black) and then just coloured in like a colouring book - fun! I love how the blue has come out looking like denim.

Of course the pens are going to go further on small shoes... I left the sides plain white so I wasn't just using up ink (I think I will do some stars on the back panel).

The pens are Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens and I found them in an art shop - the colours are in packs and work out to be about $5 each, but you could buy a single black one and try monochrome too (the key is that they are waterproof once dry). I'm not sure how far they will go - I am going to try some for Miss 4 next.

*Like Strawberry Shortcake dolls, the Wonder Woman TV series is one of my most vivid childhood memories - and it is about to be re-made...

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Things I'm loving...

It has been a busy week but these things have made me smile...

This new Lego game is like Pictionary but you build instead of draw - we got it for my brother-in-law's birthday and it looks awesome! Available in NZ at the Warehouse or fishpond (cute review here).

Did you know that the Auckland supercity means all 55 libraries are now amalgamated? I had forgotten to check out the revamped Birkenhead Library until a couple of weeks ago, but it is lovely... airy and modern with lots of natural light, and a playground right outside.

NZ artist Sarah McNeil is known for her beautiful animal sketches, and is having a sale to clear her Etsy shop - how cute is this "Trying to be happy a lot of the time" print? I bought the set of quilt notecards.

And finally, if you have the Living Channel on Sky (or want to watch online), take a look at Kirstie's Homemade Home (Monday nights). It fits perfectly with our re-design theme, and just in last week's episode Kirstie made a cool teenager's bean-bag (with pockets for remotes!), stencilled on some window blinds and made a glass bowl. This week she tried the machine embroidery that is like drawing, I can't wait to try it myself.

See what everyone else is loving this week on Paisley Jade's blog (and check out her amazing rainbow cake!)

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My Creative Space - Pooh Messenger Bag

I love messenger bags and have found another awesome tutorial - my first bag project was this easy tote. This time it was a surprise for Miss 4, who has been using shopping bags to imitate my shoulder-bag ever since I went back to my part-time job a few months ago ("Bye mum, I'm off to work").

She is obsessed with Winnie the Pooh (unavoidable really as I am too and have been brainwashing her since birth), so I have combined denim offcuts with some Pooh accents. If you do not recognise the applique on the flap, it is from the TV series 'My Friends Tigger and Pooh', which has little in common with the original stories but involves 'super-sleuthing' mysteries. It was a very easy applique, just a question-mark shape I already had from my t-shirts, plus a triangle with rounded corners.

The lining fabric was leftover from a pinboard Aimee made my daughter as a baby shower present (see - since birth!) and Spotlight had the Pooh and Tigger twill tape in a clearance a few weeks ago. I followed the tutorial pretty closely and just made the strap approximately 2/3 the original length so it was child-sized.

It was so much fun that I am trying to figure out what I would like on one for myself - applique? some patchwork? The beauty of the messenger bag is you can embellish the flap however you want. Thanks mmmcrafts for a great tutorial.

Around 200 creative spaces are on show every week at http://www.kootoyoo.com/.

p.s. If you are not a sewer but would like to get a messenger-style bag for a little person you know, these gorgeous ones are currently on sale...

p.p.s. I love these bags by the very clever Cat Taylor

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Quilled gift cards

What have I been up to lately? Well since my PC is down......I've been busy keeping up with small orders and I have also been busy doing this small project. It's an order I got from a dear friend. She has always been ordering gift cards from me. She uses them to put money in it and write in short wishes for wedding couples on their wedding day. I do the same as well if I ever go to weddings as I prefer to give money instead of giving gifts to the newlyweds. I believe they need the money more than another new iron hahaha. ;)

I've never made gift cards with quilled decos on them before so I thought of doing it this time around for her. Was planning on making multi colored gift cards, all in soft toned colors. The quilled flowers are just simple designs. Tried to make it as simple as possible coz I need to make a lot of these for her.

I'm not that happy with the color choices.....wish I can come up with some other color combination for the gift cards. I don't hate them.....I just want to do more....perhaps I can think of more sweet colors later on. :) 

Thank God my aunt let me borrow her laptop so that I can blog about this today. Until my PC is fixed, I'll be using her laptop to blog whenever I can. :) Sorry if the photos are not that clear....I used my hand phone camera to take photos of my cards these days.....from there I would email it to my own email address and then I can upload them here. It's a new experience for me and I kinda like doing new things...hehehe!

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3 Legged Dog Ink - at This Handmade Life shop!

Meet Lyndsey Marston ... and her belated and beloved dog, Enza. Lyndsey is one of those amazing people whom you meet and absolutely fall in love with within minutes. She is kind, modest, interesting, interested, vivacious, inspiring, and just plain lovely. Oh - and did I mention, talented!? Very! Her work literally gives me tingles.

Not too long ago, Lyndsey found out that her canine buddy, Enza, had developed cancer. In order to give back to Enza as much as Enza had given her, Lyndsey took some time off of work in order to be there for her dog, and provide the best end-of-life care possible (see what kind of wonderful person Lyndsey is?). During that time, Lyndsey worked on some art projects that helped her through this process ... and that served as a loving tribute to Enza.

And they amaze me. Truly. So simple, yet so incredibly brilliant and striking.

Well, after a few online and in-person conversations, Lyndsey has decided to sell her work at our shop: This Handmade Life in Downtown, Bangor. And I seriously could not be more excited! She not only is going to sell some of her original work (including pieces such as the one shown above) ... but she has generously offered to sell some prints of her original work! From 8x10 to 18x24 prints ... to greeting cards and postcards. All printed on heavyweight matte surfaced papers.

Drop by and see her work. It is so much more emotional and compelling than anything I could possibly show you here. And I guarantee you will want to take something home with you.

For my part, I would love to fill my home with her work :)

Here are a couple pictures of her non-Enza work ... but please visit her website to view more.

Thank you for learning more about all the offerings of our new shop. It is important to us that you KNOW who our artists are - and what inspires them.

Please stay tuned for more information about our other artsist, including painter Jim Legasse.

Love,
Jodi

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Black felt electric guitar

HB083

:) Finally I get to blog again here today hehehe with the help of my aunt's laptop again but but but......I'm not quite satisfied with the photos I'm sharing here with you today. Due to the problem with my PC, I am not able to upload photos I took of this new design using my digital camera...instead I had to use photos I took with my hand phone instead for this post today. The colors are not that clear and the sharpness of the photo is not up to my satisfaction either but no worries because I have kept the nice photos of this design elsewhere so that when my PC is fixed I will upload them here to replace the ones shown here today hehehe!

I've made an electric guitar before but I made it using foam materials.....you can view the card I made before at the link HERE.......but this time around my customer insist that I use felt materials. I've never in my life used felt before in any of my card designs. I've never bought any before either. Luckily there are a few people who are selling them online and I managed to get in touch with one who had the colors I was looking for. Felt materials are quite expensive but I got a good bargain hehe :). So for the first time ever, I played with felt. Quite interesting really....didn't even know how to draw the pattern on it etc etc.....lucky me coz I got some tutorials from the seller herself and I successfully managed to cut out the pattern of the electric guitar. Phew! What an experience! hehe!

Another issue was how to make the pop up inside the card. I had a hard time deciding a pattern for that one. Finally I came up with this pop up music notes that popped at the top and bottom of the birthday wish. I wish I could have done more with it but didn't have any other ideas hehehe....plus my customer insist on those colors only and must only have music notes as part of the design. Nothing else. So that's all I was allowed to add in it. I'm so glad that my customer is happy with my design! hehe! I love it too and didn't want to part with it actually huhu. Perhaps one day I'll make another one with my favorite color hehe!

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Baby Bites Column: Handmade Love Notes in a Bottle for Valentines Day

Handmade love notes and yummy treats for Valentine’s are the best way to say I love you to your partner. They’re even better when they’ve been made by your kids! Check out these two fabulous ideas you can make with your children at home this week, without having to spend a fortune.

I simply adore Mini Eco’s “love note in a bottle” made with invisible ink and paper cut out hearts. The invisible ink is made with lemon juice – how clever is that! You could pick up the love hearts or some little craft gems from the craft stand in your local stationary store. You could also substitute the paper hearts with confetti, beach shells, or flowers from your garden, or how about making one of those garlands of paper dolls to put inside, to symbolise your family holding hands?

I also love these little cupcake wrappers, called, ‘treat and trinket trays’ made out of fabric scraps and ribbons. A downloadable free pattern from US fabric designer Heather Bailey, the pattern also comes with a chocolate cupcake recipe. Easy!

Read my original column on Baby Bites online magazine here, and while you are there, enter Baby Bites' 2nd Birthday Prize Draw! It's amazing, loaded with goodies and includes a giveaway prize of a lily pad.

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My Creative Space: bum-shuffler pants

My Creative Space this week is filled with scraps of fabric and wadding, which piece by piece I am trying to put together to make a pattern for special bum-shuffler pants.

My 15-month old is a dedicated bum-shuffler who has no inclination to want to walk yet. I am getting sick of ruined leggings, shorts and MCNs (modern cloth nappies) - with ingrained dirt, food and floor messes on them, so I'm trying to come up with a solution.

She also gets grazes on her little bottom and legs a lot too, as a result of the friction. (She is SO fast!)

I figure a gusset padded inside with slim-line wadding, like what I use in my lily pads, will cushion and protect her bottom. If the gusset is made in plain black or brown or grey, to hide the stains and wear and tear, I could then use my lovely patterned lily pad fabrics to decorate the legs and make them look stylish. Maybe even with turn ups or ruffles? Maybe even turn it into a skort pattern?

If I use my 100% cotton fabrics, then she won 't get too hot in this heat. In the winter, maybe I could instead make them from merino (if she's still not walking by then!)

The great and wonderful Made by Rae blog has given me the idea for this project - she makes "Big Butt Pants" especially for babies with MCNs (modern cloth nappies) - the pocket style of cloth nappies of which I am a dedicated convert. I'm going to buy her pattern, then work on re-designing it with the wadding in the bottom, for my bum shuffler.

Wish me luck!

For other creative projects coming to life this week, visit the other bloggers over at My Creative Space on Kirsty's blog.

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