Pumpkin and Costume Day

Do They Know its Halloween? from foundphotoslj

Last post of the day…. I found this image while browsing flickr for the perfect Halloween image. I thought this was perfect! Love that cat/bunny costume with the pink jumpsuit. Where can I get one? Happy Friday and more importantly, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Bunny Hop

Gold and Pumpkin Forest Moon Bun by Moonscreations

This Forest Moon Bun is from Moon’s Creations and is so cute. She has a little pumpkin body that is covered by her removable hood. I don’t typically like things that are cutesy, but I really do like all of the precious little bunnies in the Moons Creations shop. Prices start as low as $10 and go up from there. You can even have a custom moon bun created. For more from the Moons Creations shop, click here.

Shop of the Day…Rachel Austin

Trinadad by Rachel Austin

I have been a fan of Rachel Austin’s work for years, and am honored to have her artwork in the papernstitch exhibition this month. Rachel’s paintings have a beautiful textural quality, and it’s subtle not overbearing (even better). You can check out more great work by Rachel Austin right here.

Happy Friday!

Yeah! It’s Friday and it’s Halloween and I am super busy today. I have more posts lined up, but not until later today (later than usual). So, check back for that later. Just thought I would write a quick post to let everyone know.

Give and you Shall Receive

Image c/o Sweetie Pie Press

I just found out from the Something’s Hiding in Here blog that Becky from Sweetie Pie Press wants to give you a little something for recycling. Becky is collecting used envelopes with security patterns for an art project that she is working on, and she wants you to help. If you send her some envelopes, she will send you some really cool buttons (see above). What a great idea.

Image c/o Sweetie Pie Press

If you don’t have any used envelopes though, you can still join in the fun because Becky also sells the buttons in her shop along with other fabulous odds and ins. To visit the Sweetie Pie Press shop, click here.

Shop of the Day…Modern Radar

Sprout Pouch in  Pink/Red and Blue/Green

Modern Radar is the shop of the day on this lovely Thursday afternoon. The Modern Radar shop features adorable, handmade bags, pouches, and cards. You can pick something up for yourself and grab a couple of gifts for your friends at the same time. Click here to check out the Modern Radar shop.

Trash to Treasure…Tutorial

Yesterday my post went up on Vintage Indie for a DIY makeover project that I recently finished. Thanks again to Gabreial for inviting me. You can check it out right here. But I wanted to repost it here on papernstitch too…So here it is:

When I started thinking about what I could do for this post, I walked around the house a couple of times to gather up some goodies, and all I seemed to find was some house paint and an old, wooden toothbrush holder. I really didn’t like the way the container looked, so I thought I would give it a little makeover. 

I decided to turn it in to a modern vase, since I really didn’t need a fancy toothbrush holder (seriously what was I thinking when I bought that thing). You can make one yourself too, with just a few supplies: wooden container, house paint, sandpaper, paint brush, and small glass. So how do you make it?

Step 1: Give the wooden container a good rub down with some sandpaper and then wipe clean. Once that is finished, you are ready to start painting. I painted the entire piece (inside and out) white.

Step 2: Once the first coat is dry, apply one more coat to the entire surface. If your paint job is looking a little clumpy, hit it with a little more sandpaper and then move on to another coat of paint.

Step 3: Once that is finished, you are now ready to select a contrasting color for the detail areas. If your wooden container doesn’t have any engraved details, you can paint a leaf or flower motif on it to achieve the same look. I would do a couple coats of this. 

Step 4: We’re almost done,but since we are creating a vase and wood is porous, it doesn’t exactly make a great vase  by itself. So, it is now time to find a small glass that you can stick inside the opening. I happen to have avintage juice glass that fits perfectly! Slip it in the opening, fill with water, and you are ready for some flowers.

That’s it for this DIY. I have some more in the wings for next week that I am looking forward to getting posted. Until then, you can check out past tutorials from papernstitch right here.

Supa Sexy

Supayana Grey Cotton Flapper Top

Supayana is a clothing shop that sells handmade, one of a kind and limited edition pieces. And let me tell you, the clothes are incredible. There is not one piece in the entire shop that I don’t like. Yana, creator of Supayana, is really environmentally conscience and it certainly shows in her work, considering the majority of all the clothes Yana makes are made from recycled or second-hand fabrics. 

Supayana Grey Cotton Long Sleeved Dress and Supayana Reconstructed Wool Sweater with High Collar

Each piece looks so well-made and is completely my style, I can’t possibly choose a favorite. But maybe you can…Be sure to check out Supayana right here.

Shop of the Day…Nea

Red Poppies Wall Wear by Nea

Janick of Nea is a very kind lady, who happens to be extremely talented as well. I am excited to have her as the shop of the day today. Janick’s simplistically, gorgeous Neawear (jewelry and wallwear) makes me smile. And I hope it will do the same for you.

Side Note: The Nea shop just celebrated its 500th Etsy sale recently. Congratulations! Make sure you go check out Janick’s shop right here.

Saint Kitten

Laundromat from Saint Kitten

Cassie Beck makes beautiful photographs. She has a shop called Saint Kitten, where she showcases her lomography, polaroids, and digital photos. After I was contacted by Cassie a short time ago, I browsed her shop and fell in love with many of the images. In these three photos in particular, Cassie’s clear focus on perspective and scale takes these photos from good to great. Very nice! For more from Cassie Beck’s shop, Saint Kitten, click here.

High Rise from Saint Kitten and Grace from Saint Kitten

Tortilla Girl

Pont Neuf Painter Dress and Montmartre Plaid Painter’s Dress

I received an email last week from Becky of Tortilla Girl, to tell me about her wonderful handmade clothing and bags. You may already know Becky’s work from the Peppermint Twist sweater in Stich in Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook. But since, I have apparently been living under a rock, I didn’t know of Becky’s work until recently. The Tortilla Girl shop has some really sweet (and comfy) clothing right now. So, I picked a couple of my favorites to showcase here. The sleeve and neck details are quite nice. Don’t you think?

Big French Lace Bag and Luxury Button Scarflette in Purple

As you can see, Tortilla Girl has great accessories too. I am loving the color of that scarlette with cute button details. For more from Tortilla Girl, visit Becky’s website and shop.

Another papernstitch Treasury…

Amy of Morphologie and Aqua Velvet has made another wonderful treasury that showcases papernstitch exhibitors. Some of my favorites are the painting from Rachel Austin, the mod chair napkins from Avril Loreti, and the carrot coasters from Wonder Thunder. But they are all fantastic! You can check out the treasury right here. Thanks again Amy!

Shop of the Day…Leanne Graeff

“Your” House Tea Towel by Leanne Graeff

I love Leanne Graeff’s work. She makes wonderful tea towels and prints (some are even customizable) that fetaure anything from tractors to houses! If you haven’t checked out her shop yet, now is the time. Click here to visit Leanne’s shop.

Art School Dropout

X-Large Sweet Treats Pouch and Owl Pendant Necklace- Peach

I have been loving all the great little pieces from Art School Dropout lately, so when I got an email from Jessee about ASD’s new Christmas ornaments (below), I was pretty excited. Your Christmas tree is sure to be the envy of all your cool neighbors with those rockin’ roller skates. And I have been eyeing that Sweet Treats pouch (above) for quite some time. 

Anatomical Heart Ornament- Grey and Skate Ornament- Green

 Jessee was kind enough to hook up papernstitch readers with a special discount code (thank you): 

papernstitch_15_1008

Its for 15% off and expires November 25th at midnight EST, so make sure you head over to Art School Dropout and pick up a couple of things with your discount!

Blog of the Week…Morning Craft/ Betsy Walton

Well, I was so busy yesterday, I lost track of time and wound up not posting the blog of the week on Monday like I normally do. Sorry about that, but I am posting it up now, and I should tell you, it is certainly worth the wait for this blog! The site Morning Craft showcases the artwork of the talented Betsy Walton and Betsy also has a blog on her site, and it is REALLY great! There aren’t many posts, but the quality is what counts here: excellent art inspiration. Check it out right here and make sure to check out Betsy’s shop, where she sales her beautiful artwork.

Trash to Treasure…Coffee Table Edition

Image c/o Summer via Craftster

Below is a wonderful DIY coffee table that I found while lurking on Craftster over the weekend. This is such a cool idea! Summer came up with the idea after spotting a $7 vintage library card catalog at her favorite thrift store. That’s right I said $7. 

So, she brought it home, sanded it, re-sanded it, and added some modern table legs…and voila! Make sure to check out Summer’s blog here. 

Image c/o Summer via Craftster

Don’t Forget

I posted the following over the weekend, but I thought I would post again just in case you don’t scroll down to older entries and see it….

Papernstitch will be celebrating the first exhibition with a BIG giveaway. I have already started collecting goodies, but thought I should open this up to anyone who would like to contribute. So, I will be accepting products from now until Tuesday, November 4th.  All you have to do is email me at papernstitch@gmail.com and put GIVEAWAY in the subject line. Then I will send you the address of where to send your promo goodies. Just make sure you get them to me by November 4th (Super Tuesday). I will be making the post announcing the actual giveaway on Wednesday. We will be selecting at least three winners for this giveaway, so you can send as much or as little as you would like (retail anywhere from $10 to $100). My only request is no breakables, so that we can ensure these goodies will make it safely to the winners. Of course, when I actually post the giveaway, everyone who sent products will have a link to their shop in the post.

DIY Mobile

Today we have a DIY guest post from Christine, who is a stationery designer living in Suffolk, England with her husband to be and little dog Toby.  Christine is the owner of Paper and Cloth and has two excellent blogs here (papercloth blog) and here (crafty bride blog).

Materials: scrapbook (or any pretty) paper; cardstock; pencil; little scissors; double sided tape; cotton thread.

1. Choose a shape, I drew a bird a while back so I used this to make my template. Any other shapes would work well such as flowers, circles, squares and so on.
2. Use a piece of card (cereal packet or similar would work well) to draw your chosen shape on. Cut it out. You now have your template.
3. I folded my paper so I didn’t have to draw around my template too many times! I managed to fold it into quarters and was still able to cut through it ok. Draw around your template with the pencil and cut out the shapes. I have seven birds on my finished mobile so I needed to cut out 14 shapes.
4. Lay out your thread. Leave enough at the top so you can hang it up when you’re done. Lay your first cut out shape, right side down, underneath the thread. Put a piece of double sided tape over the thread and then match up another shape, right side up, over the top. Press it down.
5. Continue this way, spreading out the shapes evenly until you’re done. Cut the thread off at the bottom and hang your new fancy mobile up wherever you fancy. 

Thanks so much for the tutorial Christine. Make sure to check out Christine’s shop when you get a chance. And stay tuned for another DIY project from her on papernstitch very soon.

Shop of the Day…Nosideup

Le Chignon by Nosideup

Nosideup is the shop of the day to ensure that Monday is indeed off to a good start. This is one of my favorites from the intricate, yet simplistic drawings of Nosideup. That is a pretty fierce hairstyle. Don’t you think? Love it. For more from Nosideup, click here.

Wooden Dress

Wooden Dress by Grace Johnston 

I found this dress on Craftster, and was in awe. So, I contacted Grace and she was so kind as to agree to me posting something up. Then later that day, I saw that CRAFT:zine had beaten me to it on not one but TWO posts that I had planned. Darn it.

Well, that’s enough whining…on to the incredible wooden dress! The entire dress is made of laminated and bent wood (and some bolts to hold it all together). This dress is beautiful on its own and has an architectural vibe. But there is more to this dress than meets the eye: IT CAN CURTSY! When you pull on the rings at the sides, the cables make the skirt rise. WOW! It’s no wonder that it won an award at the Uncommon Threads Wearable Art Fashion Show in Baton Rouge, LA last weekend. For more of Grace’s innovative work, click here.