Soldered Pendants, Oh Deer!

My best friend and I made these pendants while I was teaching her how to solder. A lot of fun, and she was a quick learner!

Oregon Coast Through the Viewfinder

We spent a beautiful weekend on the Oregon Coast; beach combing Moolack Bay, exploring seaside shops, watching the autumn sun set over the Pacific ocean, and climbing a light house. Seeing everything through the viewfinder of my Duaflex was such a treat.

Here's what I saw:

Craftgawker!

Awesome! Lovers of Notcot and Taste Spotting rejoice! Craft Gawker is the cousin to these endlessly inspiring websites. (via Twig & Thistle)

Stamp Class Fliers

I'll be teaching a stamp carving class at the 100th Monkey Studio, and here are the fliers:



Create Your Own Hand-carved Rubber Stamps For your Winter Holiday Gift Cards!
Leader: Alison Wood
Create and carve rubber stamps for a hand-made holiday. Hand carved stamps are a great way to add a personal touch to winter-holiday cards, gift tags, or wrapping paper. In two hours we will show you where to pick up the relatively cheap materials, different techniques to use, where to find inspiration, and neat ways to put your stamps to use. When we're finished with the basics we will take time for each participant to carve a few of their own stamps. We'll also be stamping and trading hang-tags to take home and get crafty with. Come and check out just how simple it is to get into this unique and inexpensive hobby.
Saturday ~October 17th from 12-2pm
Cost: $15
Punchcards applicable!

Snow Man Stamp

What a difference a little color makes! This is the image for my new holiday stamp carving class that will be taking place a the 100th Monkey Studio next month. He's pretty cute, and friendly, too, if you couldn't tell.

Time Based Art Festival in PDX

We went to the opening of The Works for the Portland TBA Fest. Some of the exhibits were breath-taking (See: Ethan Rose's Movements), some fun and playful (See: Fawn Krieger's National Park), and some a little esoteric for my tastes (See: robbinschilds + A.L. Steiner's C.L.U.E.: color location ultimate experience), but the (literally) old school style was refreshing and fun, right down to the wicked vending machines.

What a Cutie!

Sweet find at a Rad garage sale. A Polaroid Spirit! Now to track down some coveted film....

More Adventures Through the Viewfinder

I am having so much fun learning more about TTV. I watched this How-To on faking the technique and it worked like a charm!

Here are some great layovers to use with this technique, including the one I used above: Logotip's Free Textures.

I unfortunately am without Photo Shop software, but Paint.NET is free and easy to use!

A Sweet Summer

After being endlessly inspired by one of my favorite bloggers/crafters (Elise Blaha), I have been working all summer on my mini book. Although this summer hasn't been blog-post heavy it has been full of sunshine, crafting, and general all-around-happiness.

Here are some of my favorite pages:

TTV - Watercolor Edition

Through the Viewfinder is a technique I've been trying to master with my DuaFlex for awhile. For some reason I am having a lot of issues with glare:



But I enjoy the look so much, today, I decided to paint a TTV!


If you want to know more about TTV, check out this wonderful tutorial and Flickr Group! Those are two great places to start. Then wait for your obsession to bloom from there!

Summer Pages

I've created more summer pages bases around some ideas in my Get Crafty class. I haven't use either of these techniques much in my journals, although both are things I use often in art.

The first was to create a page using your own painted paper. This picture is from awhile back, but it fits my summer theme and I adore the colors, and the subject matter:



The second is to stamp your own paper. I'm not terribly impressed by the results, but I will be trying this again, and often:

Homework Update!

Yesterday's task was to use personal photos as journal embellishments. What a wonderful idea! I'm learning that with a creative journal like the one I am making, it is best for me to have a day to ruminate on events and to put them in perspective before getting any glue sticks into the mix. I've been using sticker paper to print photos, and it seems to be working great!


And this little comment on the bottom of the cupcake box is the icing on the icing on the cupcake.

Getting Crafty!

One of my favorite bloggers (Elise Blaha) has offered another class on paper crafting! This workshop will kick-start my summer of craftiness, and I'll be posting my "homework" assignments here when I can.

Today we were asked to find patterns in nature (both organic and man-made). I found a lot of inspiration on a classic Portland journey.






And one of me and my sweetie, just for fun:

Class Announcement!

Class Announcement! I will be teaching a stamp carving class at 100th Monkey Studio in SE Portland on July 11th. The class is only $15 and all of the supplies are included! It is so exciting to have the opportunity to share something that I love so very much! I'll keep you updates about the class happenings!

Create Your Own Hand-carved Rubber Stamps
Leader: Alison Wood
Hand-carved stamps are a great way to add a personal touch to your creations! Carving your own stamps is easy to learn, and an inexpensive alternative to store-bought rubber stamps. In this 2 hour class, you will learn the basics of stamp carving including information about tools and materials, where to find inspiration, different carving techniques, and how to put your stamps to good use! Come and explore the unique experience of carving your own stamps. In this class, you will create 1-3 small stamps, and trade stamped tags with other participants!
Saturday ~July 11th from 12-2pm
Cost: $15
Punchcards applicable!

Paper Hobo

Current Obsession: Paper Toys!

This was so much fun to make, and fairly easy, too!

Don't Miss:

• Hobo Paper Toy
  
• Paper Designer Toy - Flickr Group
  
• Paper Toy Templates - Flickr Group
  
• Huge Paper Toy Community
  
• Free Templates from Nice Bunny
  

Quick Pic - Lolli-Fun

Quick Pic - Overdue Valentine

Lolliscotch Sample Packs

We've been busy making lollis for the past few weeks (all of 2009, really) and now that all of our sample packs have been sent out and taste tested, I figured it was time for a round up of the photos and an intro to all of the flavors.

We sent out 9 different flavored mini lollipops to some of our friends and family for their thoughts. We've had great feedback - and we're more excited than ever about making Lolliscotch work. Here are our new flavors:


Spicy Prickly Pear:


Pineapple Sunshine #6:


Cinnamon Roll (my favorite!):


Peppermint Tea Party:


Sweet Orchid:


Sweet Orchid, back - sprinkled:


Sweet Orchid, back - color swirled:


Prehistoric Pebble:


Banana Flambe:


Lemonade Stand:


Strawberry Short Cake:


(Unsuccessful) Brontosaurus Birthday Party:


Tasted terrible, but looked awesome:

Have a Happy Day!