Wednesday 25 June 2008

Note cards for Etsy

I've been trying to make some mini note cards and getting ready for when I open my Etsy next month I should think it will be.

They're quite simple and cute but I think that's my main style when I create them. So enjoy!

I'm loving the paper I'm using. And of course butterflies play a major role and it's a recurring theme.
I'm showing one card per set. They don't all match because it all depends on the placement of the pattern when I cut the paper out.

I guess that's what I like about them. They can look different. I'm also loving tiny rhinestones if you haven't already noticed.

Another thing that's different is I'm going to do some mixing and matching. I'm not sure yet if it's better to have matching cards per set or to mix them up. Any ideas??

And I haven't gotten round to making the envelopes yet either. I will get them done in time. I want to make at least 20-25 sets of 4 note cards before I open.

I'm also tempted to get a pro flickr account. Hehe I've been doing a lot of planning to get this Etsy shop open. I have a lot of ideas and I'm bursting with inspiration. Not just for the shop but in craftiness in general. My sewing course starts in 2 weeks!! So I'm trying to find an easy pattern for a skirt and some fabric. Feel free to suggest =)

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Journals and writing

I mentioned in my previous post that I would show a few of the items that are inspiring me. That is journals (especially leather bound with personalised embossing) and the content that goes into them.

So I had a search through flickr and found some pictures that I liked. It's a mixture of journal collections and pages from various different type of journal.

It made me want to get out to some nice little cafe armed with a journal, an assortment of different material such as pens, paper, stickers, glue, etc and just sit and reflect. Or this could be in a park, a field or even in my backyard with my own self made paradise (which I have some lovely pictures from a magazine I need to share).

1. Journals and notebooks, 2. Journals, Moleskines, Notebooks, 3. Pile of Journals, 4. My Journals, 5. Journal page 7/21, 6. Traveling Journal Kit - contents, 7. La Dame Art Journal......, 8. Art Journal - Challenge, 9. Travel Journal, 10. Traveling Journal 3rd page, 11. Art Journal, 12. 1 Jan. 2008, 1st journal page, 13. Journals and daily planners: 1991 through 2006, 14. Embellished Journal from Laura!, 15. journal shelf #1, 16. journal shelf #2

I made another little thing in photo shop.

All these items come from Jenni Bick. This site will personalise most of their journals with embossing. These are just a few of my picks. And I added the writing implements because I would love to have a little set like them.

A. Roma Lussa leather journal
B. Italian songbird soft leather journal

C. Feather Quill pen set with inkwell and pen rest

D. Glass dip pen set black

E. Vintage crackle leather journal

Anyway, I'm anticipating the opening of my Etsy. I hope it will be open by next month. I have a few ideas but I haven't really been making anything. I was thinking of having a little grand opening giveaway though =) More about that later.




Thursday 12 June 2008

Big work week finished

I have finished that huge work week. 8 days in a row. Ugh! I only had one day off and then had to work yesterday and meant to work tonight but I'm not feeling too well. I think it's from over tiredness.

Anyway, I have tried to create and catch up on letters and other things. I tried to create a letter set as I love to write letters and always wanted to try and make my own stationary.

It's really quite basic. I bought some great brown kraft paper and some parchment paper bought a damask stamp and just tried to figure out where to stamp the image. I have ideas on personalising it and making full sets with stickers. It's something I'm thinking of adding to my future Etsy shop. What do you think? As this is just a trial run so my stamping skills are the best right now. (To see images better click on the picture).

And since I was playing around with photo shop I thought I would make an 'aged' photo with a letter writing quote which I thought was appropriate. Yes my photo shop skills aren't great either as I know it doesn't really looked that 'old.'

This is a little thing I made in photo shop when I was going through a 'I want to design' day. I've loved this Audrey Hepburn quote for ages now and I like to use it all the time.

I watched this movie twice!! It had only come out in Australia on June 6 but I had to work from 10-9:15 pm so I watched it the next night. I loved it! I've been a Narnia fan for years! I have a goal to purchase all the books in different languages and to try and get different sets of it.

Here are just some of the versions I would like to own. Books and the stories on cd, original illustration covers by Pauline Baynes, and a leather-bound version as well. There are heaps of bits and pieces I would love to get.

I also bought this book last week at work. It's a Narnia pop-up book. The pop-ups are amazing!! I think it's worth it if your a fan.
Here is a sample of one of the pages. I took this image from Amazon. It's beautiful!

There are a few other things inspiring my right now but I will leave it for the next post. Narnia inspires me to think of beautiful leather bound books, journals, ink and quills, letter writing and the more. Not sure why maybe because of the feel of the movies and books.

Until next time take care xox