At this time of year, I know everyone else is snatching up red and white baker's twine to tie up their adorable presents, but I'm smitten with the orange stuff, available here. Maybe it could go with these printable orange gift tags for a zesty little holiday package.
This Sunday is the first Sunday of advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas. If you'd like to count down the days in December, download this sweet free advent calendar from Mibo. Just 10 minutes assembly is required, plus a craft knife, ruler, and glue.
And in the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'm taking tomorrow off from blogging to stuff myself with turkey and enjoy the company of some wonderful people.
Sharon Rowan sent over a link to these little bird bookmarks she designed. You can download and print them right here. And as always, if anyone else has designed a lovely printable freebie, written a super DIY tutorial, or stumbled onto something fabulous, send me a link. I can't feature every submission, but I always love to see what you guys are up to.
Here's another freezer paper stenciling example, printed a couple weeks ago when I was trying out the technique. I had grand aspirations to get the fabric sewed into a zippered bag to use as a sample at the Craft Social stenciling table. But I ran out of time, of course. I finished it this weekend, only a week late.
I think of this blog as my vacation getaway, a happy diversion from commercial graphic design work. (Except for the occasional logo quiz, of course.) But I'm compelled to mention a hilarious site which designers everywhere will appreciate. Clients From Hell is "A collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers." Welcome to the wonderful world of graphic design! (Via Coudal.)
If you've got some time to kill, try this logo matching game. A fun way to look at logos if you're interested in design. I could have used this diversion during the short breaks in my jury duty this week. The case ended yesterday, so now I'm tending to the backlog of logo, stationery, and signage projects that piled up while I was gone. How come I don't have a "time-saver" category for posts?
Friday's Chicago Craft Social was lots of fun. The theme was handmade gifts and holiday decorations, like these felt gingerbread ornaments. I made the half-eaten gingerbread man using Elsie Marley's free pattern, available here. The tiny houses are based on Betz White's design in the e-book Crafty Tree Trimmings: Six Festive Holiday Ornaments to Make, for sale right here.
If you're the type to plan ahead—way ahead—you can download this free printable 2010 calendar by Erika of Gleaux at Love. Obsess. Inspire. I'm an expert procrastinator myself, so I don't need this until at least mid January.
Here's another free printable, courtesy of Amy Moss at Eat Drink Chic: a mini greeting card, envelope, and stationery set. Help yourself to this quirky little man with a candy cane right here. He says "holiday" in a subtle way. Well, actually it looks like he says "Greetings." But you get the drift.
(Image by Amy Moss)
Sew, Mama, Sew's third annual Handmade Holidays round-up of tutorials is in full swing over on their blog. Every day during the month of November, they'll feature a themed collection of sewing projects from the internet—all gifts you could make yourself. A daily recipe and printable are included, too.
One of the projects at this Friday's Chicago Craft Social will be freezer paper stenciling. I'm helping lead this table, so I needed to give it a test drive and make up some samples. You know how a project usually has four tedious steps you tolerate and one step that's super fun? I think this is one of the few where all of the steps are fun. Or maybe that's just me. I'm now in the grips of stencil mania. I'm stenciling everything.
To stencil your own stuff:
Buy a roll of freezer paper (approx. $3.99) or beg a piece from the guy in the meat department at your grocery store. Draw your design on it and cut it out with an X-acto knife. Then iron the paper, shiny side down, onto the fabric you're going to stencil. Iron another sheet to the back of the fabric to keep the paint from soaking through. You can use the iron setting that corresponds to the fabric you're stenciling.
With a foam brush, stenciling brush, kitchen sponge, or other paint brush, apply fabric paint to the cut-away areas. I used Jacquard brand textile paint from the local art store.
Let the paint dry (use a hairdryer if you're the impatient type, like me.) Peel the freezer paper off. Set the paint by following the directions on the jar — usually ironing will set it. Ta da.
Husband Alex usually makes lattes for us on Saturday mornings, so here's my secret plan to spruce his up. He's out of town at the moment, so I have plenty of time to practice dusting cocoa properly. Right now it sort of looks like this says "I blob you."
I drew the design on a piece of paper, then laid a plastic lid on top. (This one is from a deli container I saved.) With an X-acto knife, I cut through the plastic, tracing along the design underneath. A tip: you'll never be able to cut the shapes out in one pass. Make many cuts on top of each other until you break through.
Lay the stencil on top of your mug and sprinkle with cinnamon or cocoa. Dust the powder through a sieve or strainer to make a very fine layer.
Since cutting your own stencil is a bit of a pain, you could also get some from Amazon or CoffeeStencil.com. And if you totally dig stenciling, don't neglect your cakes and cupcakes!
