faux bois storage box

i love cardboard. i do. i used to collect sheets and sheets of it for future painting projects (as a cheap alternative to buying canvas), but i don't really paint anymore. i still find uses for it though. my mom discovered this plain cardboard box full of big bopper magazines from when i was a kid. man, that was a trip to go through! recycled all that crap (and got a good kick out of pouring through all the jonathan brandis-RIP- and edward furlong posters i'd saved), and then i was left with a perfectly good, yet not so attractive storage box. i have a big expedit bookcase from ikea, that houses my crafting supplies. the box fits well in the cubby.

so, to give it some curb appeal i thought i'd go for a faux bois attempt. it was pretty easy, and super quick! i just google image'd "faux bois" and got an idea of what i wanted. i roughly penciled in some rings and lines, and then went over it with a black marker. bing! donesies.

i mean, it's not perfect or anything, but i think it's kind of whimsical and neat!

'step one' and 'reilly'

two more embroidery projects i managed to bang out:

the first one was inspired by... and this is going to sound incredibly pathetic and cat-lady-esque, but... my cat. she was meowsering around, bidding for attention, which is both cute and annoying, and i blurted out at her, "how can i love you better?" the phrase struck me as something that could be really romantic in the right context. (i did fear that it could sound sarcastic, but i think the bright bold colours sway it to the more sincere side.)

the second one was inspired by a viewing of the film Cyrus.
 

if you're familiar with john c. reilly, you know he has an expressive face. if you're not familiar with him, pick up a movie and watch it. any movie, seriously, he's probably in it. i was just so taken with his profile, i had to commit it to 2D embroidered form. watching the trailer now, i think the nose could use some work... but overall, i love this piece, particularly the colours. i love love love the muted, warm yellows in the fabric. so country rose. i also love the placement. i don't really plan ahead too much, so it was a happy surprise when i noticed that one of the flowers lands perfectly in front of reilly's mouth. it just looks pretty. like he's smelling the rose.

 

as for the the movie, it's really funny, as is the insanely talented mr. reilly!

vintage theatre signs

google imaging 'vintage theatre signs' for a project, and i found this image from the vancouver sun. love!

granville street, vancouver- 1960

something for myself

well, now that i've finished with the major baby book project, i finally got around to executing one of the many ideas i've had floating around in my head lately. this was a really quick embroidery project (it took one and a half evenings to complete).

i didn't necessarily want perfect lines, such as the kind i strive for in my baby books. i made a rule for myself that i couldn't undo any stitches. if it looked wrong or awkward, i just had to keep going forward. (okay, there were two or three stitches that i re-did.) i think the result gives it a sort of lively, hand-drawn quality. i absolutely love the natural linen that i found at a value village. i need to find more!

i draw the image on the canvas with a disappearing ink pen. is that cheating? i don't know, but i really like the look of the sketched ink on the canvas...

the image is one of possibly more to come of what i guess could be called a diary series? words and images that may or may not shed some light on what sometimes goes on in my brain.

not really sure what to do with it now. i don't feel inclined to hang it on the wall, but i do like it. maybe i'll sell it on etsy one day. but the important thing is, i finally got to produce something for myself. and that feels pretty good.

birthdays!

one of my friends recently had a japanese themed birthday party-- everyone contributed amazing japanese food, and donations for the disaster relief fund. in keeping with the theme, i whipped up a super simple japanese flag birthday card in about 2 minutes! i cut a piece of white cardstock to size, traced a circle (from a spool of thread) onto red cardstock, cut it out, smeared a bit of glue in the centre, and then sewed it on. super super easy!

remember to open the card before sewing! i forgot the first time, effectively sewing the card shut! *facepalm* but, a second card took NO time to reconstruct!

that same weekend, one of my dearest friends, a cycling enthusiast, celebrated her birthday so i made this tshirt for her! (well, i didn't make the shirt, but i stenciled it.)

it's a take on the classic 'I <3 NY' tshirts.

and while we're on the subject of stenciled tee's, here's another one i made a few months ago for grant, the lead singer of local band behind sapphire. the story is, i've seen them play numerous times (one of my amazingly talented friends often plays trumpet for them), and at one show, i noticed grant had created a sapphire out of blue painter's tape on the back on his shirt. (it's a sapphire on his back. 'behind sapphire', get it?) but since blue tape is low tack, it eventually fell off. i admired his ingenuity though, and promised him, sort of jokingly, that i'd make him a real shirt.

ironically, i used blue tape to stencil the lines. it works beautifully!

close up: nice crisp lines.

grant was a real sweetheart when i gave it to him at their tour kick show at st james hall. he wore it like a cape that night! i highly recommend you give them a listen, they are delightful!

drumroll please!

after six months, i've finally finished THE BABY BOOK! well, i started it six months ago, but i can't say i spent the entire six months labouring away. it took me a good month to sketch out the concepts for each page. then the cutting, and the sewing, and the embroidery... but the most difficult part for me was coming up with dynamic environments for each setting. also, i took a couple of breaks from this project, to work on painting/decorating/setting up my house, and a preparing for a few fun birthdays :)

anyways, the pictures!

i like this one, but i was a little disappointed that the pink cloud doesn't line up exactly. it's something i'll need to be more careful and aware of the next time.

i had a lot of trouble with this one. i'm not super satisfied with the apes, and it took me a long time to figure out how to create a simple, yet effective image that conveyed the jungle.

one of my favourites, but again, the cloud doesn't line up :/

my favourite page!!

i prefer the monkey on this page, to one on the 'ape' page. i was blatantly inspired by the barrel of monkeys toys!

the end! i was in such a hurry that i forgot to stitch the author's name, but whatever! i brought it to work yesterday, and my co-worker/client absolutely loved it!

murder at the juice joint!

one of my dearest friends decided to have a murder mystery party to celebrate the recent entrance into her third decade. her husband put together a fantastic 1920's themed party for her, and i offered to help. he utilized me in the exact element that i'm comfortable with: decorations!

the frame is part of their actual decor. it's normally empty, and i knew i wanted to fill it with something, so i cut out some letters and created a sign for the juice joint that hangs above the fireplace.

they have a winding staircase that leads up to a mezzanine (which was used for many a speech that night). originally, i had wrapped a super long sting of christmas lights around the railing, but when i got to the top we realized that the lights didn't work! bummer; it was going to look so amazing! i had this other set of lights that wasn't long enough to even go a quarter of the way up the railing, so i wrapped it around the post instead. not as visually stunning, but still added to the atmosphere. you can sort of see in the photo that i ended up wrapping a long stings of beads around the railing instead.

a sign for the bathroom, aka the water closet. this was a really minor but neat detail that only took a few minutes to whip up. i like the old fashioned hand instead of an arrow.

the mantel: pearls, framed photos of famous gangsters.

the welcome table. here everyone gets their character objectives. 

i had very little to do with this set-up, except for...

the framed photo, and the confetti... 

another framed photo, and the name tags--the graphics were provided by the game company (the murder mystery package was bought online), but i printed them out, glued them to cardstock (ie. a cereal box), laminated them with packing tape, and hotglued pinbacks. beats a sticky label that would likely fall off throughout the night!

 and finally, i made this mugshot plaque (i traced fridge magnets for the letters, glued them onto black card, and then glued that onto a used thick card mailing envelope for stability). we had guests stand against a wall and have their mugshot taken when they arrived :)

i'm muggin'!

photo by s. clarke