Tale of the Multi-Tasking, Craft-and-Design-Loving, Mother-of-Two, Singaporean-Living-in-US, Corporate-Working Mom Named Grace Hester

Modern-Vintage Oxymoronic Me

I'm a little bit of modern, a little bit of vintage.  Spot on and secretly amused that it pegged me correctly - despite the obvious contradiction in both descriptions.  Find out your design personality over at Nate Berkus's Design Personality Quiz by way of Young House Love.

Etsy Copycats

To be brief and to-the-point, here's my poster,

 

Here's another from another etsy seller that was brought to my attention,

 

Down to the Spanish version of the poster.  Really?

Here's my Love Lives Cozy Here poster,

 

And here's one from another etsy seller which another kind etsy seller brought to my attention,

 

I mean REALLY?  Did you just watermark your graphic?  Why?  Afraid someone else might steal your work?  Hmm.

So there have been many other examples of this foolishness since I became an etsy seller in 2009.  And I have chosen to rise above it, and even taken the effort and money to trademark a couple of the phrases I use in my design.  But each time something so blatant comes across my inbox (thank you friendly etsy sellers and customer community!), it just chips away at my resilience.  Today, I am weak because I am medicated on Sudafed and not at my best.  But apparently, there are others who choose not to put forth their best ORIGINAL work either.



The Swanky Abode at Easton (4230 The Strand, Columbus, OH)

Stopped by The Swanky Abode a few weeks ago during a drive-by shopping trip at Anthropologie (which is across the street from The Swanky Abode).  I am SO IN LOVE with this store!  It has such a great blend of style and function and is as close to mecca as it gets for an affor-design-phile.  I managed to take some photos but promised to be back to really browse the offerings.

 
 
 
 
And lookie, here's some of Daisy Mae Designs' map pendants.  I love that they have a "local artist" section.  Way to support local artists!

Leaf It (via Half/Full)

I am so in love with these Leaf-It post-id notes by Korean designer Sangwoo Nam, available at HALF/FULL, a retail concept that showcases gems curated by Bravo Company based in Singapore.

 
My favourite is the green (Summer) and yellow (Autumn) ginko leaves. I can totally see these being used in a canvas collage or in one of my keepsake minibooks peeking off the edge.  OR you could use it the traditional way - as a post-id. :o)

 
The great news - they ship internationally for free AND you can enter BRAVO at checkout for a 10% launch discount.

Note:  I was not compensated by Bravo Company or Leaf-It for this blog post.

2011 Calendar Now in Store!

After months of fudging around with it, the 2011 calendar is now available in my etsy store!

 
 
As with last year's calendar, I wanted to use eco-friendly materials and extend the life of the calendar and case beyond 2011 so the following features still stand,

1. Paper used is acid- and lignin-free and made with wind energy
2. The 4” x 6” calendar display case (fairly rare, most others offer 4.5" x 5.25") can be reused to display standard-sized photos
3. When you no longer have a use for the calendar, you can cut each month’s card into half to create a tag for one side, and retain the calendar half as a date embellishment on a scrapbook project or page

Here are all of the months,Hope you like it!

Too Cute: Mila's Daydream

Have you seen the blog Mila's daydream?  While baby Mila's takes a nap, mom, Adele Enersen, sets up a dreamy scene around Mila, takes photos, and posts it on the blog with an apt title.  It's a combination of Marc Chagall and Anne Geddes - but mostly from the School of Cool.

These are two of my favourites,

It's a Jungle Out There

and

Imaginary Friend

I also smiled at The Bookworm, Attack of the 50-ft Baby, and Nirvana.  All so clever!

Mini Canvas Art Tutorial

On a roll here with the mini canvas, so I made this from scratch in about 30 minutes and although I think I am going to add a couple more embellishments in that open spot below "kind" and to the left of the fabric and felt flowers, it's pretty close to complete.

 I started with a 6 X 6 canvas and squeezed some Making Memories (Fresh Anthology Marine) paint on it.

After which I used a cardboard box to scrape the paint all over the canvas.  I was not looking to cover the entire canvas, just enough to give it some color and texture.

I set the canvas aside and cut a square piece of netted wide metallic ribbon from Tinsel Trading which I laid and pressed down on the canvas. 

This is a later photo but you can see how the thicker texture from the Making Memories paint acts as glue for the ribbon. 

For the embellishment, I just wanted two large fabric/felt flowers so I free-hand cut six "petals" in the shape of an asterisk.

For one, I punched a hole in the middle with one of my two favourite crafting tools of all time - the Crop-A-Dile (the other being the Corner Chomper - I love my rounded corners), and used a yellow rivet to hold the petals together.

For the second, I sewed a button in the middle to hold the petals together.

I played around with a layout and once I arrived at one, I used white craft glue to adhere the elements onto the canvas.  For the frame transparency with the sparrow border, I placed white glue behind where the petals overlapped the transparency, and also behind the American Crafts chipboard letters that reads, "Love is Kind."  The idea is to use glue only on the areas where there is an opaque element overlapping the transparency.

Here it is!  It feels like I have not crafted in a long time so this was a nice welcome.  Now I want to make more!

  
 

Mini Canvas Project (Free Downloads!)

I wanted to share the service project that we did for the Hitchcock Center for Women for the Hebrew National Better-Than-a-Picnic picnic.  In addition to soliciting the general public for donations to go towards USO of Northern Ohio and the Women's Center, we were tasked with thinking up projects that the event participants could make and that we could then gift to the two charities. 

We had determined that cards would be great for the troops via USO, but for the Hitchcock Center for Women, we expanded the idea of the cards into something that the women and children at the Center can use as decorations or something pretty to have and to decorate their space.  So we made mini canvases with motivational sayings/sentiments on them.

This variation of the project was designed with ease-of-assembly, and speediness in mind since our target audience were likely to be kids, or non-crafters.  So it is fairly minimalist but I think that was part of the project's appeal at the picnic.  Starting with the supplies:

Mini canvases
We used 4X4 sizes

3.9 X 3.9 pieces of heavyweight paper
I used these paper pads that were already cut to size and had adhesive backs

Embellishments of choice
We picked up large foam letters, foam shapes, and buttons.

Pre-printed sentiments (Free printable download below)
I searched online for faith-neutral sentiments about courage, strength, hope, joy.

White glue and/or double-sided adhesives (preferably archive-safe)

Sawtooth picture hangers

Mini Canvas Art Instructions:

1. Starting with the mini canvas, take one of the heavyweight cardstock and paste it onto the canvas as a backing.
2. Select a sentiment and then build a layout using the embellishments.
   (Sample layout downloads below) 
3. Assemble your collage by sticking down the sentiments first, then layering your embellishments on top
4. After the glue has dried, hammer the sawtooth hanger into the back of the canvas
5. Hang and enjoy!

Some other variations of this project would be to change up the size of the canvas, paint the canvas or use other embellishments like rub-on transfers, trim, fabric, vintage buttons.  You can also use wooden plaques in lieu of canvases.

I designed some sample layouts and printed them out as guides at the event but most people just let their creativity go and I saw some really nice color combinations and layouts!  A lot of the adults who made a mini canvas commented on how un-intimidating the project was since most of the elements were pre-made and had complimentary colors.  It also helped that the foam embellishments were kid-friendly and repositionable when you first put them down.

Download sample mini canvas art layouts here.

Download printable sentiments here.

 
  
  
Here are examples of other mini canvas or canvas art,

A Gallery of Mini Canvas Art Curated from Flickr:

If you have made some form of canvas art in the past or know of a good canvas art link, please share below!

Grace Hester Designs First Etsyversary & Special!

Wow, time has really flown this past year.  So much so that I "missed" my actual First Etsy-versary!  I know it indicates that I joined Etsy on July 15, 2008 but I really did not start posting items to sell till around May 2009.  As a matter-of-fact, my first sale was a bag that my mom made while she was here visiting!  Totally unrelated to prints and paper goods.

Over the last year, I have had such an awesome ride with my store and it has really become a creative outlet for my random ideas.  I've also met so many cool friends and fellow etsy sellers, too many to name. 

Well, to celebrate my Etsy-versary, I am going to offer an unprecedented deal.  Just for today, I am offering the following four prints 50% or more off plus the cost of shipping!  These are standard prints that cannot be customized for this offer.  Scroll down the page to go to the "hidden listings" and check out the price.  The color shown will be what you are purchasing.

Please also consider signing up for my newsletter - it comes out quarterly and there's usually a big special tie-in.  For instance, my subscribers received an even more unprecedented deal on these prints yesterday.

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Love Can Be So Blind and Strangely Blissful - 11 X 14

Love Lives Cozy Here - 11 X 14 Print - Tan, Khaki, Beige, and Black

 

Love Lives Cozy Here - 11 X 14 Print - Pink and Black

Typography Poster - Modern Fonts Collection 11 X 14

Thank you once again and please feel free to tweet, facebook, blog about this special!

Giraffes Nursery Print on Young House Love

I know it's small.  And that no one can probably see it. But my giraffes family keepsake print is displayed on the walls of Young House Love's baby nursery.

Woot! 

I offered to create something for them after they hosted a giveaway from my store earlier this year as a thank you and they asked if they could hold off till baby girl arrived.  Of course!  We ultimately customized it to their nursery colors and of course their print has three giraffes vs the four shown in the store listing photo.  It was also re-sized down to a 5 X 7 to fit the frame.  The archival-safe paper used means that they can remove it from the frame and add it to their scrapbook when baby 2 (or 3 or 4!) comes along. 

Anyway, head on over to their blog post on how their well-designed home has changed since the arrival of baby Clara!  It made me smile a little as I reminisced about when Noah and I went from a couple to a family of three, and how certain things in our small ranch home changed so our new addition could feel at home too.