Choice Designs

paper cut magic

The amazing work of Peter Callesen. Be sure to scroll through this absolutely inspirational portfolio.

100 dollar card

My card below won! How exciting. We just got home from the opening exhibition. The cards submitted were fantastic -- funny, snarky, clever, elegant, and sweet. That little baby was worth $100 dollars. And yes for two days Kelli's Heart card was my baby, I can't tell you how many revisions and additions this card went through to become my final and winning design. It's a thrill. My real baby and light of my life came with us to the exhibition and he was the true artwork on display the collective cheer and ooo's and ahhh's when we came through the door was just hilarious. He was the highlight of the party just about everybody worked the room until they got to him. Maybe he's got some connections I don't know about.

I am trying to decide if it will be available in the shop. Gotta go, Olympic opening ceremonies are on. There will be a post about that later I am sure.

the heart of the matter

Ahh, I got time last night and this morning to beat out some new Valentine heart designs. They are a little late for this year, but love isn't just for Valentine's Day anyway, right?.  My little sweetheart is just now waking up so I must post swiftly. I am so pleased with this new pop up design, adapted into two different styles.

One so sweet:

And one kind of wild:

To see them in their entirety check them out in my shop.

Paper Cuts

Yay! It is now available. I was so excited to  finally get it back. My sister had it forever. I feel silly not taking the photos before I gave it to her. Here are a few of the gorgeous photos in the book. So as promised here are some more images. My projects got direct mention on the back cover and images are throughout the book I am so thrilled. The work of the other artists are so beautifully detailed and I am humbled to be in their company.

 

The book features the amazing work of, Barbara Buckingham, Holly Christian, Cynthia Emerlye, Cynthia Ferguson, Jennifer Khoshbin, Nicole Lombardo, Janine Maves, Tina Tarnoff, Kathleen Trenchard, and La Donna Welter.To see more be sure to check out their sites/blogs linked to their names above.

I wasn't too thrilled that they photographed my luminary upside-down. Too funny really -- to me it was obvious that the acorns would point downward. The luminary appears in 6 pictures and they are all upside-down. At least it is consistent, right?

 

I am so thankful for the opportunity. I was approached just today about possibly appear in another book. Grin.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Spring! What, no I am not down under but in my busy, messy studio I have been fulfilling a large custom order for my Pocketful of Posies card, in pink! They turned out absolutely lovely and I may start offering printing on my cards, the jury of one is still out on that. Enjoy every little hand-cut piece. The post was to end here but then I took it to the Post Office... dun, dun, dun...

The priority boxes were either to small or way too big. But then in very un-USPS fashion the employee found a box I deemed to be the perfect size behind the counter, but when he weighed it we were .6 of an ounce over weight which would have bumped the cost up $4, so before I could say anything he started cutting and changing my packing material trying to knock the weight down. I was dumbfounded, this is my friendly regular PO guy who is very by the letter in the past he has never so much as given me an inch of scotch tape to improve my packaging. What the hoop was going on, I don't know. In the meantime a line started forming and everyone was waiting for me. By the end of his alterations the package looked like a kindergarten project mangled in shipping. He was so proud of himself I didn't have the heart to take it back. On my way home a pit formed in my stomach, it looks so unprofessional, and I worry about the integrity of the altered box. It is amazing how sick this is making me. Hours and hours of work are in that box. He talked me out of insurance because he told me that only the cost of the paper to make the cards would be reimbursed. The PO is an enigma have more to say about that later for now I think I better go eat a roll of TUMS and offer a sacrifice to the shipping gods.

 
 

Fun with Vandercook

I've missed my blog. I really wish there were about 34 hours in a day. With those extra bits I might get closer to accomplishing 1/2 of what appears on my to-do list and the ideas camping out in my sketch book. Of course now that I am a mommy I somehow find 3 times as many things in both, now the to-do list, that is understandable but I honestly don't know where the time has come from to fill the sketch book.

Yes, my baby is a total inspiration. But while totally absorbed in the delicious beautiful bundle that he is, I feel that I don't want to be anywhere other than wrapped in his intoxicating aura, I do have a need to express myself artistically as well. Time with him occurs in a time warp and self-expression-time seems to get sucked down into it. Finding a balance can be hard. Who am I kidding? It is practically impossible!

So diversions aside. I managed to teach my first class at Genesee Center for Arts and Education, Printing and Book Arts Center teaching basic pop up techniques. It went well, I forgot to take pictures, though. I take tons of pictures but so often when I am working I completely forget to document an event or process, makes me a little batty. And...   I got a call from the Letterpress and Book Arts center asking if I would design a month for a fund raising calendar that they are putting together. 12 months 12 artists. I decided to use this opportunity to delve into the world of the polymer plate. 250+ calendars that people will pay money for--no better time to dive in head first, huh?

I did remember to take pictures of some of the process.

I ended up making some simple cut paper snowflakes and created a winter landscape with them for my polymer plates.

I mixed a lovely mauvey silver but it didn't seem to show up on the  paper as well as I had hoped but maybe once I add the second color maybe that will help bring out the color more. It does have a subtle shimmer which richens it up a bit.

 

I'll be adding color #2 tomorrow.

grove of natural monuments

So here I am three weeks post Artist Row, and I have been virtually absent from my blog and my shop. For two weeks I grabbed any half-busy moment to work on my stock and display for the show. In the frenzy I did come up with a bunch of new cards and ideas galore! So many of the ideas are still whirling in my head because time, oh sweet precious time...

Here is my grove of sweet tree cards gradually appearing in my shop.

 

We have a great swing tree in our yard and now there is one in a card.

Oh sweet prize, an acorn. My dad is a huge fan of the movie "Ice Age" which I didn't even think of when I created this card (I haven't even seen the whole thing).

 

The elegant ginkgo. Already featured on Sun Shines on the Ginkgo Tree.

Weeping cherries. Who decided they were sad. They look bouncy happy to me.

 

The graceful Japanese maple. I have five of these in my yard. They were a wedding gift. Isn't a tree a lovely wedding gift? I sure think so.

There is more to come.

paper 'stache

This is all I got done but it was something. I just had to do it. His outfit reminded me so much of an early 1900s swimsuit. Of course he needed a 'stache to complete the look. We both had great fun playing with this papercut coif for his upper lip. Of course the day he develops any peach fuzz will probably make me cry. For now I will revel in anachronistic cuteness.

Gingerbread paper

Yesterday I trolled some of the blogs featured in Artful Blogging. I was zipping through some images at One More Moore (gorgeous blog, by the way) from a trip she took when I had to scroll back, a virtual double take, something caught my eye. Hubby and I were watching a movie but out came my scrap paper and some scissors.

Before I knew it I was searching Google images for Victorian porches: snip, snip, snip and out came some more...

 

And more...

 

 

I wont talk about what was littering the floor after the Karin Scissorhand Frenzy. Love my Dyson, is all I've got to say about that.

I think I feel a new blog header coming on.

a starry tutorial for you (and me too)

I gave myself another assignment -- yesterday was leaves, today flowers. I wanted to employ the little method of making a 5 pointed symmetrical star. Thanks to Betsy Ross we have an easy way to create a perfect little star with a few folds and one snip.

So in honor of the Perseid Meteor Shower, in more magical speak, shooting stars I thought I'd offer this little tutorial for any readers and so I can find it again when I forget the order and proportions needed for this clever little trick.

(I had a star theme for my wedding so we made lots of these little enchanting polygons for decorations. Which are now the background for my tutorial.)

Start with an 8.5" x 10" piece of paper. Yes, you have to trim your standard sheet a bit.

 

Fold it in half.

 

Fold the folded sheet in half vertically and open and then fold it horizontally and open back to the original fold so that it looks like the second picture below.

 

Bring corner A to the right to meet the horizontal center line and crease. Be sure to fold from the vertical crease line. Like so below.

 

Now take point A again and fold it back on itself so the two folded edges are on top of each other like the picture below.

 

Now fold corner B over the top and crease it along the last fold.  The second picture below is a picture of the form from the underside, for reference only.

 

Lastly, fold corner B back and crease it so that the top fold lays along the fold made in the previous step. These directions sound nuts I'd be lost without the photos. 

You should have this nice point where all the folds fall evenly together this is the part that will be your star. All the top points will be cut off. There is a lot of waste.

 

Now the fun part.The one snip that makes all this folding worth it! From corner B cut on an angle down towards the point. Your degree of the angle determines that sharpness of the points on the star.

 

Now unfold...padadadadadadada (that's my drum roll)

 

Magic!

Thanks Betsy!

Now try changing that one straight snip to a curved cut. Flowers! I just love making hand cut snowflakes. Now you can do the same thing to create quaint intricately detailed, five-petaled flowers. Each one a surprise when you unfold it.