5 things...crafty edition.

Again, I'm a day late. I have an excuse this week though...Daniel and I drove down to see my parents in Punta Gorda, Florida yesterday...a whopping 14-hour drive from home. We've been absolutely worthless all day. Simon got to play with Mac's puppy Arabella...she's a Scottie (of course) and she's absolutely adorable. I was so excited they got along! Simon's not good with other dogs. Anywho, I'm going to get this post going so I can go to bed. I'm still worn out.

1. Embroidery.

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I spent a few hours in the car yesterday embroidering some cards for my parents. I'm terrible at getting things in the mail on time (for birthdays, holidays, etc.) so Mom's Mother's Day present and Dad's Father's Day present made the trip down with us...we were halfway here when I realized I didn't have cards for them...so, since I'm in the business of making cards, I decided to make some for them. I was really happy with the way they turned out...I'll have to grab some photos of them later & get them posted. Mom's was my favorite...it's just says "happy mother's day" in cursive with some curly designs in the corners...but it took me 3 hours to stitch it. She loved it though.

2. Crocheting.

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3. Letterpress.

(all photos from weheartit.com)

I would LOVE to get my hands on a letterpress...I've looked up tutorials on instructables.com on how to make one...but I just don't have the tools to do it right now. I would love to start doing more graphic design work to sell on etsy (mostly wedding/other social event invites), but I really, REALLY want them to be letterpress...and there's just nowhere at home that would do it reasonably enough for me to print through them. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to have to do it myself.

4. Hand-written typography.

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One of my favorite things about doing any sort of graphic design is sorting through hundreds of fonts to find the perfect one...I took a typography class my junior year of college and it absolutely ruined me. I'm completely obsessed with type now. (I know...I'm such a nerd.) I can't look at anything now without analyzing the type on it. Lately though, I haven't had the time I would like to devote to finding new & exciting fonts, so I've been hand-drawing them...and now I can't stop. The past few posters I've designed have all had hand-drawn type...my boss loved them so much that he's asked me to design a tattoo of his son's name (which, by the way, is Battle...so awesome) for him...and I'm working on 2 logos for clients that wanted hand-drawn text. I love it so so much. I think it just has so much more personality than most fonts can offer.

5. Clean studios/craft rooms.

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I'm DYING for a huge craft room/studio all to myself...but for now, I share mine with Daniel & all of his guitar equipment. In case you were wondering, his equipment takes up a ridiculous amount of room...especially considering he has 3 combo amps of various sizes, 2 large speaker cabs each with their own heads, 12 guitars (9 electric, 2 acoustic, 1 bass), 2 washtub basses, harmonicas, an electric organ...etc. I have been confined to a corner. I want a huge room that is organized (much like these photos) with a chalk board wall for me to scribble & sketch on (I sketch better when I can do it BIG...my shaky hands don't allow for small details) with lots of windows & natural light and shelves EVERYWHERE. I love shelves (clearly since they were on a previous "5 things" post).

Well, I've had a significant amount of coffee today and I'm still crashing. Simon is glued to my side (as usual) and the husband is starting to look sleepy. I hope to get some crafting done tomorrow...today was a good day off though.

Time for bed.