20 Thursday Feb 2014
Tags
2013, Altered, announcement, antique, art, audition, craft, Crafting Design Team Call, Create, Design Team Call, diy, Family, graphic 45, Graphic 45 Design Team Call, Home, idea, mixed-media, scrapbook, scrapbook paper, vintage, We Want You
It’s that time again! Time for the Graphic 45 Design Team Call!
Terms and conditions are here DTcallG452014-2. For more details, check out their blog.
Good Luck, Friends!
xo,
Christine Barker
14 Monday Oct 2013
Posted in Art and Crafting, Collage, Design Team Call, DIY & Crafting, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Scrapbooking, Textiles
Tags
Adventurous Scrapbookers, art, Cat Kerr, crafting, creative team call, Design Team Call, ICE Queens, ICE Resin, Jen Crossley, Jewelry Makers, JoAnna Pierotti, Kristen Robinson, Mixed-Media Artists, paper artists, scrapbooking, Susan Lenart Kazmer, Thespoena McLaughlin
Cat Kerr
ICE Resin is looking for new creative team members!
Due Date: Friday, October 25, 2013
Who: Jewelry Makers, Mixed-Media Artists, ICE Queens, Adventurous Scrapbookers, and Paper Artists
Jen Crossley
Why: As an artist based company, ICE Resin offers their team members generous product packages shipped directly to your home, compensation for publication, trade show designs and the support of their social media.
Susan Lenart Kazmer
Each designer is asked to create:
Each year ICE Resin participates in various trade shows, like CHA, and workshops and they rely on their Designers to come up with artwork, jewelry and assemblage to be used in the displays. (Designers receive compensation and/or credit).
JoAnna Pierotti
How to Apply: All you have to do is to cut and paste the application questions into an email or Word document, answer them and email them with 3 photos of your work to Carol@iceresin.com by Friday, October 25, 2013.
New Creative Team Members will be notified by November 11. Mid-December the new ICE Resin Creative Team will be announced to the world!
I hope you apply! Good Luck!
xo,
Christine Barker
09 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted in Art and Crafting, Jewelry, Soldering
Tags
Aleenes fast grab tacky glue, art, copper foil tape, crafting, crafting gods, diy, handmade, jewelry, LOveBug Creations, overhand knot, Pretty Little Things, Pretty Little Things Collage Jewelry Trinkets Keepsakes, Rumple Ribbon, sally jean alexander, Silver gleem, Soldering for Virgins, tassel, weller soldering iron, whimsical
Ever since I learned how to solder from Sally Jean Alexander, I’ve experienced a world of whimsical ideas revolving around hot metal.
I’d like to share with you how to make a soldered tassel using Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon. Even if you don’t solder, the first couple of steps can be used to make a tassel and I’ll explain how to finish it.
Tassel Making Supplies
Ready? Begin.
I pledge allegiance, to the crafting gods….
1. Gather your favorite Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbons together and cut them twice as long as you want your tassel to be.
2. Cut another piece of ribbon about half as long as the others and tuck it underneath the first group, in a perpendicular fashion. (I like big words and I cannot lie!)
3. Tie a simple overhand knot.* After I tied the first knot, I took both ends around to the other side and did another overhand knot so that it would hold firmly and the knot wouldn’t show on the outside.
* Even though I was on the sailing team in high school, that doesn’t necessarily mean I was paying attention to how to tie knots. If you were goofing off like me, and don’t know an overhand knot from a granny knot, check out this knot reference.
4. Are you ready to play with wire? Take a piece of wire, about 4 inches long, and bend it in half. Add a jump ring to the wire and allow it to fall to the middle/crimped part. Hold the crimp and jump ring in your hand near the “head” of the tassel and begin wrapping the wire around the ribbon about a half inch from the top of the tassel “head”. Keep wrapping until you run out of wire. Use your pliers to flatten the wire against the ribbon, you don’t want it sticking out in the next step.
5. Soldered: Now you’re ready to begin wrapping the tassel with Copper Foil Tape. Begin by covering the wire. Once you have that covered, add a piece of tape to cover the very top part. The tape needs to go from one side of the tassel to the other. Then, wrap another piece of tape over any exposed ribbon on the “head” of the tassel. Now you’re ready to solder. Hold the tassel either in a pair of pliers or in a towel so that your fingers are protected from hot solder and your soldering iron! Solder away!
Not Soldered: If you are not going to solder, you can cover the wire with a piece of ribbon. Cut a piece that is slightly larger than what you need to go all the way around twice. Use a small dot of glue from your hot glue gun to hold the end of the ribbon in place. You can alternatively use a drop of Fast Grab Tacky Glue and hold it until it stays in place by itself. If you’re using hot glue, please do not hold it in place with your fingers! I’ve seen products out there to protect your fingers, but I just use the eraser end of a pencil to hold things in place until the hot glue cools.
6. Attach a lobster claw jewelry clasp to your jumpring. Now you can attach it to the bottom of a pendant, or anything else that needs a pretty tassel!
If you have questions about how to solder, check out Sally Jean Alexander’s online “Soldering for Virgins” class or her book, Pretty Little Things: Collage Jewelry, Trinkets and Keepsakes. Sally Jean is the original artist who started the soldered jewelry trend so if you want to learn, have fun and make beautiful, artistically-inspired soldered jewelry and projects, you’ll want to learn from the best!
Thank you for visiting today and please let me know what you think about this tutorial in the comments!
xo,
Christine Barker
27 Wednesday Mar 2013
Posted in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Mixed Media, Scrapbooking, Uncategorized
Maya Road is a well known company in the crafting world that was formed to fill a need for affordable and unique products in the scrapbooking market. They currently have a Guest Designer Call for art and I think you should send in your submissions!
Here’s some background on the company:
“Maya Road was born in 2003. My sister and I were spending the weekend together, and we went shopping for all of the latest scrapbooking supplies. As we browsed the aisles, we were frustrated by how difficult it was to find unique scrapbooking products and how expensive products were. We started chatting about products we wanted to see, and we brainstormed how we could combine our business knowledge and design skills to produce the unique products for scrapbooking. Thus, Maya Road was formed.
At first, we made limited quantities of these products available to other scrapbooking enthusiasts on eBay and through our individual websites. After much soul-searching, we decided to launch Maya Road nationally with 38 unique products at HIA 2004. Since then we have added over 600 new products to our line including fun lines such as our chipboard collections, sheers, ribbons, fibers and much more!
Maya Road was founded on a belief in each person’s creative ability and on the commitment to making high quality scrapbooking products available and affordable to everyone. We believe that scrapbooking and memory keeping should be an everyday event available to everyone.
We provide free ideas cards in stores, as well as free downloadable support information on our website. Our signature products are carried in over 1000 scrapbooking stores in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and beyond.”
Here are the details on the Guest Designer Call:
Did you see that each designer picked will receive a maya road product pack worth at least $60 retail to design with? WOW!!!
Submissions are going to be accepted until the end of the day on April 16th, 2013 so get crafting!
Good luck!
xo,
Christine Barker
03 Sunday Mar 2013
Posted in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Uncategorized
Tags
anonymous, art, art magazine, artist, assemblage, assemble, Call for art, collage call, craft, crafting magazine, creative and curious, creative projects, fine art, gems, glue collage, handsome ransom, minerals, ransom-style note, rocks, UPPERCASE, uppercase magazine
I recently came across an incredible magazine called UPPERCASE. I’m waiting on my first issue and can’t wait to be inspired by this publication that is “for the creative and curious”.
I found out about several calls for art for some of their special book series’. UPPERCASE is currently looking for some assemblage artists working in three dimensions for inclusion in their summer issue. Portfolio’s can be submitted here.
But wait, there’s more! This is what their email says:
“If you missed the collage call, there’s a brand new project open to all:
The Handsome Ransom Project
A note comprised of pieced-together found letters sent anonymously through the post usually signals some nefarious deeds, but in The Handsome Ransom Project we’re asking our readers to put their scissor skills and compositional prowess to good use. An observation, a motivational message, a creative and curious statement… send us your ransom-style note in the mail and we will publish the best in the summer issue and online. Submissions must be received through the mail (no digital submissions on this one!) by April 30. Include your name and email on the back of your note or send it anonymously if you prefer.
Issue 19
Looking ahead to our fall issue, we’re on the hunt for creative projects using or inspired by rocks, gems and minerals. Submit your links!”
What do you have to lose? Get on it!
xoxo,
Christine Barker
28 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Uncategorized
Tags
altered art, art, arts, cards, craft designer, crafting, crafts, creative, design, design team, embellishments, graphic 45, graphic 45 design team 2013 audition, home decor, layout, paper crafts, scrapbook, tutorial
Did I mention that Graphic 45 is one of my favorite scrapbook paper companies? You don’t want to miss your chance to join their brilliant and celebrated design team! Not only do you get the opportunity to create some fantastic projects and show off your skills, but you get shipments of amazing new product, not only from Graphic 45 but also from the crafting companies that they partner with!
If you aren’t familiar with the story of how Graphic 45 was started, I’ll share some of the inspiring story with you. Diane Schultz worked as a designer for companies like McCalls, Simplicity, Vogue/Butterick and some other companies. At the age of 45 she went back to school and got her degree in graphic design. As a person who has gone back to school and earned a degree while working full time and raising a family, I applaud Diane for her discipline and hard work. Diane named her company Graphic 45 to celebrate her achievement.
She took a risk and launched her company with the help of her daughter, Aimee, and the rest is scrapbooking history.
Graphic 45 Tag by Sharon Ngoo
The deadline to apply is Thursday, March 21, 2013, so head over to the Graphic 45 blog to see all the details!
Good Luck!
xoxo,
Christine Barker
03 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in Art and Crafting, Uncategorized
Tags
art, buttons, Cerdafied Leather, craft, flea market, fullerton, german glass glitter, gilding the lily, jewelry findings, Julie Weller, leather cuffs, Mercantile Flea Market, millinery flowers, oh hello friend, pearls, Priscilla Cerda, ribbons, shopping, tara wilson, velvet ribbon, Victor Cerda, vintage beads, Vintage Bruja, whinestone jewelry
I had such a great day that I just want to put together a quick post to share the inspiration. There’s nothing more inspiring for a creative mind than to take a flea market field trip. My friend, Julie Weller, and I went to the Mercantile Flea Market in downtown Fullerton, CA today.
We visited our friend, Priscilla Cerda, and her husband, Victor, in their booth and checked out their wares. Priscilla’s jewelry and mixed-media art company is called Vintage Bruja and her husband, Victor, is a master at tooling leather and makes some really cool leather cuffs for his brand, Cerdafied Leather.
We had a little reunion with some crafty friends, Mariasela Vallejo and Tara Wilson.
After the flea market, we stopped into a new shop called Oh Hello Friend. I love this shop because it’s was like a live version of Etsy. I’m fascinated with the paper piano roll display in the window. She has the cutest washi tapes, and even masking tape with red hearts printed on it! Adorable Letterpress cards, laser cut wood gift tags, bakers twine, and string envelopes. So amazing!
After that we headed over to Gilding the Lily. I’ve been hearing about this shop for years but today was the first time I actually got to go inside and see all the treasures. There’s walls of vintage french ribbons, rhinestone jewelry, drawers of vintage buttons, cases of jewelry findings, velvet ribbon, millinery flowers, vintage hats, German glass glitter, pearls, and vintage beads. Everything a fancy, altered art lovin’, girl could ever want!
Enjoy a tour of my day in pictures!
Also, I just want to remind everyone that I’ve got a giveaway going on, and I’ll be drawing the name of the winner on Tuesday, February 5, 2012. I don’t want you to miss out, so come on over and check it out!
“Creativity is essentially a lonely art. An even lonelier struggle. To some a blessing. To others a curse. It is in reality the ability to reach inside yourself and drag forth from your very soul an idea.” ~Lou Dorfsman
01 Friday Feb 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
art, craft, crafter, dawn mercedes, dawn rene, dorcas troche, ellen jarvis, LOveBug Creations, martha pineda, paper crafting, projects, ribbons, Rumple Ribbon, rumple ribbons creative team, scrapbook, stephanie eaken, tanya stilwell, zeni pradel
I’ve been teasing my Facebook friends all this week by telling them that I had something really exciting going on, but I couldn’t let them in on the secret, yet. Well, today is the day and I can finally share my amazing news! I am thrilled to be joining LoveBug Creations as a member of the very first ever Rumple Ribbon Creative Team!
I came across Lovebug Creations and owner Kimi Cremar and her mom, Pamela Lash, and their gorgeous Rumple Ribbons on Facebook and fell in love! Rumple Ribbons are individually hand dyed and bursting with color. They’re incredibly versatile and sold in different color collections so that you can mix and match to create the perfect accent for all of your creative projects. Please visit and like the LoveBug Creations Facebook page and then check out all of the dreamy colors in the LoveBug Creations shop.
I’m really excited and looking forward to creating some super cute projects with these dreamy ribbons and I can’t wait to start sharing them with you. I’m so happy to be joining all of these talented ladies on the Rumple Ribbons Creative Team for some creative fun! Please visit their blogs and check out their amazing creativity!
Congratulations, ladies!
Are you feeling lucky? To celebrate my exciting news, I’m going to be giving away a sweet gift to a lucky winner! It’s easy:
1. Just sign up to follow my blog and leave a comment letting me know that you did.
2. Tell me which of the LoveBug Creations Rumple Ribbon collections is your favorite.
You’ll be entered to win a gift, handmade by me and featuring some gorgeous LoveBug Creations Rumpled Ribbon! The winner will be announced on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 so be sure to check back to see if you’ve won! Good Luck!
17 Thursday Jan 2013
Posted in Art and Crafting, Uncategorized
Tags
a place to bark, arlene baker, art, artist, be aware foundation, cha, cha winter 2013, charity wings, claudine hellmuth, craft, craft and hobby association, craft designer, crafter, elaine hull, Elena Lai Echeverry, embroidery, fiber, french general, glitter, graphic 45, jenn mason, jo packham, kaari meng, laura mccollough, mixed-media, quilting, ranger, scrapbook, scrapbooking, sewing, suze weinberg, suzi blu
I was really hoping to go to the Craft and Hobby Association 2013 Winter Conference and Trade show (CHA) this year. As a major art and crafting fiend, it’s marvelous to see all of the new products that the craft and hobby manufacturers are creating before they’re available in stores. I wanted to be a part of it so much that I put an offer on my Facebook page that I would be a slave at CHA in exchange for a badge. I was willing to build a booth, promote products, do a demonstration, lead a make and take, whatever it took to get me to Anaheim so that I could be a part of the Craft and Hobby Association Conference and Trade Show.
The last time I went to CHA I did product demonstrations and before that I had experience doing everything from building the booth, meeting manufacturers for advertising in a publication, promoting product and tearing down and packing up the booth. I was really hoping that someone would hit me up and tell me that I was going and I was infinitely disappointed when I didn’t get any bites. Imagine my delight when I saw that Elena Lai Echeverry of Charity Wings posted on her Facebook page Monday morning that she needed a couple of volunteers to help out in the Charity Wings booth and was there anyone available to help? I jumped on it immediately and enthusiastically, like a girl with new glitter kind of excited, and sent her a message. I was so truly happy when she called and asked me to come up and help. You’ve never seen a girl get dressed so fast!
It was so exciting to walk through the hall and see all of the vendors new products on display. I love to see the new scrapbooking papers, stamps, embellishments, as well as new products from the sewing, quilting and embroidery companies. There is really something for every type of artist, crafter, and hobbyist, from scrapbookers to mixed-media artists, and from model builders to fiber artists.
After I got familiarized with the details on Charity Wings I got to share their mission with the CHA attendees. Charity Wings is a non profit organization that hosts and sponsors scrapbooking crops, online raffles, mixed media events and fairy fly by appearances. From their Facebook Page, “Charity Wings is a 100% volunteer run organization whose mission is to raise money and awareness for noble causes through unique scrapbooking and crafting events and to coordinate and promote “creative” opportunities for crafters to give. We raise money for the worthy causes we support.” These causes include “A Place to Bark” no kill shelter, Hurricane Sandy Victims, the Be Aware Foundation and many others.
I had so much fun being in the booth! I got to see people I’ve met through the years, meet the owners of scrapbooking stores, chat with art and craft designers, and giggle with my friends who work in the art and crafting industry. People who came by the booth included Jo Packham, Jenn Mason, Suze Weinberg, Arlene Baker, Laura McCollough, and Kaari Meng. Artist Suzi Blu worked in the booth on Saturday and Sunday painting “Live” and stopped by on Monday to drop off her finished work of mixed-media art.
During my lunch break I ran from booth to booth quickly snapping pics of some of my favorite new products. Among my best loved companies is Graphic 45. I always love their unique and amazing designs! I also stopped by to see Claudine Hellmuth doing a demonstration in the Ranger booth. Another of my favorite lines of products is from Tim Holtz for Ranger, I can’t get enough of the Steampunk/Cabinet of Curiosities theme! One of the highlights was meeting designer Elaine Hull for the first time. We’ve been friends on Facebook for a little bit and it’s always fun to meet people in person after you’ve had a conversation online!
Here are some of the snapshots I took. I’ll be posting more photos that I took on my second day of CHA so come back to check those out. I’m also going to be posting pics and talking about my experience at an event I went to over the weekend. The Art of Craft is held at one of the most special places on earth, French General, in Los Angeles. Kaari Meng is an incredible event organizer and I met some really talented and genuinely nice women. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!
In the meantime, enjoy these pics that I took at CHA.
Sharing my art
As Unique As You Are
Visual Storyteller in Southern California
Airstream travelogue as the Ginger-Owsen dynamic duo roam with their dogs Belle and Lulu
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A blog that showcases clothing designed, made, and worn by the blogger herself.
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Arte, diseño y vida
create. love. live.
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Jenna Abts
art + love = life. From provocative to prosaic, disconsolate to delightful & from cursed to enchanting. This is the story of my fairy tale & my happily ever after.
art + love = life. From provocative to prosaic, disconsolate to delightful & from cursed to enchanting. This is the story of my fairy tale & my happily ever after.
art + love = life. From provocative to prosaic, disconsolate to delightful & from cursed to enchanting. This is the story of my fairy tale & my happily ever after.
art + love = life. From provocative to prosaic, disconsolate to delightful & from cursed to enchanting. This is the story of my fairy tale & my happily ever after.
art + love = life. From provocative to prosaic, disconsolate to delightful & from cursed to enchanting. This is the story of my fairy tale & my happily ever after.
