December 6th: It's the Holiday Season!

It's official the holiday season... which means that most people are hustling and bustling around trying to get all of their shopping done. This year I have decided to give handmade - inspired by Etsy's "Buy Handmade" pledge. I have been busy working on items for family and friends and have decided to extend my handmade pledge to my immediate family's Christmas cards. I have been making card for a long time now, but I have never actually designed my family's Christmas card! I have even made Christmas cards for school projects (don't ask me why) and for contests, but never for my family!

Here are three designs that I have made in the past. I want to choose one to use for my family. Which do you like best?

December 1st: Threadless

I'm trying my hand at t-shirt design through Threadless.com. I would love your feedback on my design!

November 23rd: Warm Up!

Here's a hat that I made for a craft show that I had a table for this past weekend. I'm new to the whole sewing thing (yes, I know that this is a knitted hat...), but I have been considering taking on more sewing projects and eventually opening a store of Etsy. I think it could be a fun way to mix my current state of unemployment with my current desire to craft.

October 6th: What Now Wanderers

Today I decided to design a banner for the blog that I contribute to, "What Now Wanderers". I was looking at a lot of Matte Stephens' work before I started to draw and his influence is easily notable in my work. I hope you like it!

September 21st: Recycled Notebook

I first heard about recycled notebooks by accident. I came across a video tutorial on how to make recycled notebooks from old cereal boxes and used printer paper while looking for something entirely different on google (a something that I can't currently remember...possibly relating to chocolate chip cookies or The Office). Anyway, I came across this video last winter and have been harboring a secret desire to make a recycled notebook of my own until now. Tonight I decided that there was no better time to get cracking on my recycled notebook project. Here is the fruit of my labor:

It may not look like much, but this little guy took me the entire Emmy Awards to finish! It is made from an old popcorn box, a crossword puzzle from an old magazine, pieces of a would-have-been-trashed gift bag, string, and pieces of used printer paper. I'm not sure when I will get around to using this notebook, but it was something that I felt like I "had" to do... something similar to covering my bike with Peanuts comic strips. I may never fully realize why I sometimes feel the undeniable urge to do things like creating a recycled notebook, but for whatever reason, doing things like this makes me feel more like me.

Mr. and Mrs.

I created these two little guys for a t-shirt design for Threadless. The design is still in the works and I will post the link to it when it's closer to being finished. Until then, please enjoy the company of this lovely couple..they're quite friendly.

Mrs. Rat
Mr. Rat

August 27th: The Little Garden