A Visit From Lemon Squeezy Home

Christie from Lemon Squeezy Home has joined us today to let us in on her creativity process. You definitely need to check out her Etsy shop, Lemon Squeezy Shop.....some serious cuteness going on! If you needed a lift of creativity today, Christie's the one to do....take it away....

Mosaic Artistry

The process for me to design and complete a mosaic can take anywhere from just a few days to several months, depending on the size of the piece and what else is going on in my life.  I also own a Cafe & Catering Co., so I am pretty busy several months out of the year. 

Giveaway - Trendy Feather Earrings

The weather today is.......wait for it......SUNNY!!!!! WOOT! This has made me in the mood for a giveaway. A fun and funky artist Amy Corn has offered a cool set of great earrings for a lucky reader!

Visit AmyCorn's Etsy site or her Facebook site Here

To enter to win, just leave a comment below with your fav item she currently has listed for sale (make sure to include your email address).

Giveaway will end at midnight Wednesday, April 13th.

*If you Tweet this giveaway you'll get an extra entry, just tell me in a separate comment below.

Good luck!

Fabric Coffee Cozy

How to make a fabric coffee cozy...

Instructions by: Rachael Lindsay

Level: Beginner

Time: Less than an hour

Topic: Sewing

These coffee cozies are so fun and unique. These are an absolute favorite in my Etsy store. There are so many types of fabric to use, and they can fit any personality....

Jewelry Designer

Can I just tell you how completely thrilled I am to introduce you to Maria Goti Joyas?! Her jewelry is uber amazing and she is ridiculously talented. Check out a few of her pieces throughout this posting, but be sure to check out her other sites as well.....every single piece is stunning. I'm humbled that Maria is willing to let us in on her life, inspiration, creativity and artistry.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself
A: My name is María, I’m 25 and I live in a little town in the north coast of Spain called Navia. I studied jewelry and gemology for 3 years in the European Center of Gemology and Jewelry at Oviedo’s University. I’ve been working in my own workshop since I finished my jewelry studies designing and creating my own jewelry line. I do every piece one to one by hand, from the melting to its finish. I mainly work with silver because I love the variety of finishes, textures and contrasts I can create with it, combining it with gold, copper, pearls and natural gemstones. I love natural gemstones, especially raw and druzy. What I like the most is working with one of a kind and unique pieces.

Tin Earrings

Constance, from Studio C Jewelry & Gifts has a wonderful Tin Earring tutorial for us today! Be sure to check out her beautiful items in her Etsy store here ....or next time you're in Baltimore go visit her shop at 4337 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD 21214!

How to Make Tin Earrings

Level: Intermediate

Time: Expect 1-4 hours

Topic: Jewelry

List of Ingredients:

Gloves

Tin Snips

Eye Protection

Oval and Round Plastic Templates

Various Pliers (Flat Nose, Padded)

Files

Tin Item (Plate, Canister, Tray, etc.)

Spray Cleaner

Paper Towels

Lint Roller

Sharpie Pen – fine point

Settings

Jewelry Findings

All of the above items can be found at your local hardware store, office supply store and on Etsy.

Step 1: Safety First!  Tin tends to produce lots of tiny splinters and shards, so wear protection!! 

Step 2: Clean the tin with the spray cleaner and paper towel, dry off before marking with Sharpie.

Step 3: Using your template, choose a design on the tin and mark your oval and/or circle with the Sharpie pen. 

Step 4: With the tin snips (I’m right handed, so I’m using the “go-left” snips that work for right hands – there are left-handed tin snips as well) cut through the tin and work as closely to the black line of the pen as possible.  Just so you know, some tin is really difficult to cut as it can be pretty thick and can be a bit painful.  Canisters are usually thinner than trays.

Step 5: Clean up any tin shards or splinters with the lint roller.

Step 6: Cut and file the tin to fit into the lace setting.

Step 7: Pull back the lace loop where you want it to hang from the earring finding and also where you might want to place a bead (though this step is optional).

Step 8: With the tin now in the setting, use the pliers in a closed position (hold them closed) to push the lace down over the tin without pushing it all the way down.  Use the padded pliers to crimp the lace on top of the tin.

Step 9: Open the loop on the earrings (I’m using leverbacks, but any earring finding will do) and place the tin on the finding and close the loop.

Step 10: If you are placing a dangle at the bottom, like I did, thread a bead onto a headpin and then loop it around the lace loop and wind it closed.

Step 11: File off any sharp spots from the setting, you’ll be able to feel the roughness with your fingertips.

 Final Step: Wear & Enjoy!

Pattern Giveway from The Fuzzy Noggin

Adrienne from The Fuzzy Noggin is joining us today to throw some creative inspiration our way! Be sure to read the whole interview, as she's been kind enough to do a something special for our readers....

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself.
A: I am a 33 year old stay at home mom of 4 kids (8, 6, 4 & 2), enough said. No but seriously, my day is filled with all things that pertain to having kids and running a household, it is very glamorous. I drink way too much Dr. Pepper and don't work out nearly as much as I should. I love all things crafts and get such enjoyment out of seeing something transform from nothing to something! I have knit for about 8 years and crocheted for only about 2 years, but once I started to crochet I could not stop. I love blogging and I think I may be the last person on earth still not on Facebook.

Q: What events and/or people have led you to become an artist?
A: I have always loved art. My brothers were very artistic and I wanted to keep up with them. I took a lot of art classes in high school and college and actually started out as a dance major (but it was way too time consuming so I switched degrees). Anyway I have always created things mostly just for my own pleasure. I see something and wonder if I could make it, and usually it doesn't turn out too bad. So anyway as far as my crochet patterns go, one day I saw this adorable hat on a little girl and I looked at it closely and realized it was not knit so it must be crochet. I did not know how to crochet so I went and bought an "I Taught Myself to Crochet" kit, watched some video tutorials on Youtube and before I knew it I was crocheting. Not long after that a friend of mine asked if I could make a monkey hat for her little girl. I could not find any patterns I really liked so after a few trials and errors I came up with my own. I put the pattern for sale on Etsy and it was a hit. Since then I have not been able to create all the patterns in my head fast enough.

Q: How do you come up with your creative ideas?
A: I find inspiration everywhere...changing fashion trends, hats my kids want, holidays, different yarns and textures, colors, requests etc.

Q: What’s your quirkiest attribute?
A: I am a bit OCD about organization. It drives me NUTS when things are out of place. I used to have dinner plates in 4 different colors (4 plates of each color) and I would make my husband put them away in the cabinet in sets of 2 and in the correct color order. It is much easier for him now that all of the plates are white. Just typing this makes me realize I have issues.

Q: What would you say to someone who says they aren’t creative?
A: I hear this all the time and I don't buy it. My response is always the same...you will never know how creative you are until you actually TRY to create something.

Q: Where are your items available for sale?
A: Etsy, Ravelry, & Annie's Attic (on their website as well as their catalog)

Q: What project/s do you currently have on your plate?
A: I want to branch out from just hats, although I do have like 5 hat patterns in my head right now. I want to do some leg warmers, bags, and a couple of other accessory type things.

Adrienne has been kind enough to offer our readers a GIVEAWAY from her Etsy store, The Fuzzy Noggin! Check out The Fuzzy Noggin and comment at the bottom of this post sharing which is your FAV pattern in her store! Every comment will be an entry to Adrienne's giveaway for 2 FREE PATTERNS! HOT DOG!!! Comments will be accepted until Monday, March 14th. Be sure to include your email address so I can easily contact the winner.

Giveaway Winner & Introduction of Jeanette Lim

Congrats to Fit Moms Fit Kids for winning our giveaway! I will email you for the details.


As for our details of the giveaway....


Jeanette Lim from "Big Little Felt Universe" was kind enough to offer her book to us as a giveaway! Her book has published in the United States this week. Check out her book on Amazon.com and check out her Etsy site here.

Truly....check out Jeanette's Etsy site...it's AMAZING! I've never seen felt food products so incredible! Seriously! It's worth your time to check out her products, really!!! Check it out here!

How to Make an Earring Display Card

Julianne, from Made By Jewls has stopped by to offer a great and easy tutorial on how to make cardstock diplay cases for earrings (or any jewelry for that matter!). What a great way to make a gift more personlized or begin selling your pieces! Also, be sure to check out Juilianne's Etsy shop here

Level: Beginner

Time: Less than an hour

Topic: Accessories

Hello, I'm Julianne from Made By Jewls! I've had a lot of people ask me how I make my earring cards and so I've decided to do a tutorial. It's really easy. Here's what you need to get started...

a rubber stamp with your logo on it. (I did my design in Illustrator and then had it made into a stamp at http://www.rubberstamps.net/. There are other companies that make stamps like vistaprint and make sure to check out your local companies because you may get a better deal)

an ink pad. I used black, but you can use whatever color you want

scissors, a paper punch (this will make your cards the shape and size you want), and cardstock (I used an oatmeal color but you can use any color you want or even patterned paper!)

Okay, now I'm going to show you how to make your cards.

Place your stamp on the ink pad

 

Then press the stamp on your paper and repeat the process until your paper is full. Make sure you leave about a 1/4 inch space between each one so it'll be easier to cut them out.

  

Now you're going to cut them out with your paper punch. I turned my punch upside down when I was cutting them so I could see what I was doing.

 

Continue using your punch to cut the rest of your cards out of the paper.

 

Use your scissors to cut away some of the left over paper on the outside so you can get to the ones in the middle of the page.

 

Once they're all cut out, you just need to poke holes in them (if you're using them for earrings) and then you're done! Enjoy you're new cards, I bet they look awesome!

 

You don't have to make your cards look like mine, get creative and make them your own! Of course you can use a circle if you want, but you could also use a rectangle, square, heart, etc.

I've seen some really creative cards out there...

like this one from Allora Handmade

 or these by Emily Sparks

Let me know if you have any questions, would like me to whip up a logo/stamp design for you in Illustrator, or even to show me the cards you made! I really would LOVE to see what you come up with! Have fun!

Design, Printing & Sewing All in One!

Recently I was given a wonderful opportunity to get to know a bit of the creative inspirations of a wonderful textiles artist, Mariam! Mariam self describes as "a French-Malian artist born in Africa, raised in Africa and France, and now living in Brooklyn." Her blog and Etsy shop launched in 2007 due to her "desire to create a new, young, and multi-cultural home fashion brand."

Check out her Etsy Site: www.etsy.com/shop/Angelshair

And of course her blog too: http://theangelshair.blogspot.com/

Q:Tell us a bit about yourself.
A: Hi and thank you for having me on your blog! My name is Mariam. I am a French-Malian artist and home fashion designer living in Brooklyn. I love multiculturalism, and originality. This is what I try to show in my creations. All of my ideas take roots in my double culture. I love to travel the world and to discover unique and different approaches of art and design. I have a special passion for fabrics, and they are one of my favorite medium.

Q: What events and/or people have led you to become an artist?
A: As far as I remember, I have always been an artist. So being an artist has come naturally when the time has come to choose a career. I do not have the feeling that I choose to become an artist, I do not feel I had a real choice. This is the only way I feel true to myself. More than a way to earn my life, this is who I am.

Q: How do you come up with your creative ideas?
A: At every moment, by traveling, spending time with family and friends, having a coffee, watching a movie reading a book, listening to a music. In general, by having fun.

Q: What’s your quirkiest attribute?
A: I speak 3 languages (almost 4) and have lived on 3 continents. I am not sure if this is quirky, but this has become an attribute to me.

Q: What would you say to someone who says they aren’t creative?
A: I think everybody is. I would tell them to start creating something, anything, and put themselves in a creative mindset. This will allow the ideas to flow. Like anything in life, creativity is something that you need to develop if you want to excel in it.

Q: Where are your items available for sale?
A: My items are all available at http://www.angelshair.etsy.com/

Q: What project/s do you currently have on your plate?
A: I am working on my 2011-2012 collection which will as usual articulate around 3 themes: 
Africa, Europe, America. I hope to be able to introduce it in a couple of months.

A gigantic thank you to Mariam for letting us get a glimpse of her creative spirit!