Another Art Show How To (or this is how I did it; packaging edition)

If you're just finding this post and haven't read my previous post where I focus on creating an eye catching display using mostly materials I already had on hand click here and catch up. I'll be adding a link there to this post so you'll be able to find your way back.

The drawers we used for display, the one in front is
filled with our ornaments, tissue
and our packaging

So while I was spending the last few years making mental notes about the best ways to do a craft/ art sale some pretty cool ideas were filed away in the back of my head. One of my favourite blogs from an artist who has some pretty fantastic ideas and tutorials for this type of stuff/ not to mention just in general is ArtMind. She's posted tutorials on making your own scratch cards, contemporary price tags, adding your brand to your packaging and of course recycled bags. Mitzi of Artmind is someone who I would love to emulate. She spends her days being super creative and artistic, she's major organized and she loves sharing her ideas.

Our folded envelopes and Tissues

While I was sitting down on the computer to find her tutorial on making the recycled bags (which is something that I will be using in future, when I have way more time and a lot more energy to plan for a show) I started to think about other options that would be less time consuming, use less materials to create and would be self contained. Add in the Peanut's recent obsession with origami and I decided to look up folded envelopes as an option for creating packaging. I came across a tutorial for a simple origami envelope that was self contained, required less than half a minute to do for each envelope and was self closing.

I played around with different paper sizes to get the best package size and decided to use the holiday themed scrapbooking paper I had got on sale last year and that full 12"x12" sheets that were the best bet. They were a little bigger than the ornaments but if I was factoring in tissue to cushion the glass and business cards the larger envelope was the way to go. Also using a full sheet meant I wasn't spending my time measuring and trimming paper before getting down to the business of folding.

Detail of the branding we attached to each envelope

The packages we wrapped our ornaments in looked elegant and charming which fit with our branding and were eye catching to boot. I wrapped each ornament in it's own envelope so that they could be given away as gifts without further need for wrapping. They will look beautiful placed on a tree branch filled with our ornaments or another charming little gift. I used the clear ink jet sticker sheets to print off our shop name and web address and attached them to each envelope as well so the person who bought the ornaments has another reminder to check out our online shop and the person receiving the ornaments can check us out too. One of my customers even asked if I was selling the envelopes which may not have been a bad idea...

To keep the ornaments safe once we sent them off with new owners (to be hung on trees, attached to floral arrangements or gifted to someone special) we used gift wrapping tissue paper from the dollar store. Also from the dollar store we picked up a booklet of receipts to give to customers as well as a decorative book to collect names and email addresses to use in future marketing.

 Next post will talk a little about money and payment options. 

Another Craft Show How To (or this is how I did it)

I was going to make this one post but then it just kept getting longer and longer so I thought why not split it up.

Over the last few years as I've played around with the idea of doing art/ craft shows I've visited lots of blogs and flickr pages (and more recently pintrest pins) to figure out how to do a successful show. This is my addition to that list. Hopefully someone finds it helpful.

Table Set up the Peanut's School Art Show and Sale

So the invitation to be a part of the Peanut's school art sale was a little last minute; and my procrastination/ planning for the one day not to far away that I would take that step and sell at a handmade show/sale paid off in that I was able to put together a beautiful table with little stress. Not to mention that there was no stress on the making sure that I had enough inventory front. The husband and I have a nice stack of finished ornaments that are ready to go.

So this is the first of three posts about what did I do to get ready for a show. This post focuses on display and set up. In all my research and reading having an inviting and interesting display was number one on the must do list for a successful show.  In our case we weren't just competing with the other vendors at the show but also the student's art. All of the people who attended the show were family or friends of the students in the school and they were all there to buy their kids art. Any other purchases made were bonus buys. Having a beautiful table that beckoned buyers made sure that we had a steady flow of people talking to us, picking up the ornaments, taking business cards and coming back for a second look. In some cases we saw people scanning the room from the refreshment table; see our display and walk over to get a better look.

As is my MO I used a lot of what I have/had on hand to create the display (as well as our packaging and signage which I'll talk more about in future posts). The rest we broke down and purchased.

Display:

I had a decorative brass tree that I picked up a few years ago after the holidays. We've used this tree on our kitchen table during December with battery powered LED lights and some of the hand made ornaments we like to display.

After the show we put it on the table and filled with with candy canes and some of the hand made ornaments the Peanut has made this year.

I've also used this tree in merchandising photographs over the last few years and have it featured on my business cards. When I bought the tree it was for future use in shows like this one. Getting to use it for holiday decoration and for product photo shoots has been a bonus but putting it to use for the reason I initially purchased it for was pretty darn exciting. I wrapped some lights around the tree and hung ornaments from the branches.

A few years ago the husband and I got a little organizational and picked up some drawer units to stash my art supplies, his electronics components and also the girls paints, crayons and play dough. The drawers (pictured above filled with everything we took to the show for sale and display) are also metal mesh so that we can see what is inside without having to open all the drawers. I emptied out three of the drawers from these units to use as display racks on the table with the tree.

Because the drawers are metal mesh I was able to set up a light source inside and to create a semi permanent hook system for hanging our ornaments. Using some metal ornament hooks I'd picked up at the dollar store a few years ago; I threaded them through the mesh on the bottom of the drawers pinched the top portion of the hook closed and used the bottom to hang our ornaments. The drawers also would have doubled as a handy place to carry everything from our home to the show venue and back again if we weren't in the middle of a torrential downpour; instead we put most of the display stuff into a plastic bin with a lid. Once the sale was over, the hooks were removed.  Once I've got some free time, the drawers will be replaced and all our displaced art supplies put away.

Our fish, Dragon swimming in front of the
As Is vases we picked up at Ikea for the show

For promoting our shop name I used watercolour paper that was in in my paper stash, watercolour paints and some ink jet sticker paper with our shop name and address printed on it in the font we use for our Etsy shop.  These were placed in a shadowbox frame that I've had in storage for years. I used some blackboard vinyl on a photograph frame clip board that we got for a wedding gift to write down our prices with chalk pastel. One of the other vendors at the show commented on what a good idea the large signage was, which was a pretty awesome compliment.

Inside the drawers and behind the ornaments we used some glass jars; baby food jars, kitchen storage containers and one of the pretty glass vases that was a gift filled with pretty flowers after the Bean came home. We filled them with some battery powered floral lights that we used to decorate for our wedding over ten years ago and that we've had on hand and used yearly since in our decor. the lights inside reflected off the glass and made a pretty glow from behind the mesh similar to tree lights.

In addition to all the things we already had and were able to transform and use for our display we also picked up a few things inexpensively at dollar stores and Ikea to fill out the display.

From the dollar store we picked up some adjustable book lights to help showcase the iridescent quality of our ornaments and also to light up the signage on the display so that people could see what our prices are and who we are.


At Ikea we got more battery powered lights both plain LED as well as a snowflake string and a fiber optic disco ball to place behind the mesh display inside the jars we had on hand. These lights are now decorating our house for the holidays.

To drape over the back of our boxes we picked out an inexpensive set of sheer curtains in black. We'll likely keep these solely for use in craft sales unless we decide that the privacy of being able to keep our bedroom windows open in the summer is too tempting to forgo and now that I've put that thought into my head you know that that is what's going to happen.

Lastly in the display department we hit the "As Is" section in Ikea. I love love this section and never go to Ikea without visiting that area. I found two pretty glass vases with frosted stars decorating the outside which were also filled with lights and placed in the boxes. These will be put to use all year round and right now I've got blue and silver glass balls filling them with a couple of the light strings. they're lighting up our kitchen window and entertaining the family pet.

Absolutely everything we had on hand and picked up to use in display will also be used again for different purposes. Even the book lights are being used at bedtime and I can see them inside a carved pumpkin next year.

Practice set up for the show.

Before the show I practiced setting up the display in our kitchen a few times. Once when I got the initial idea to use the drawers. This let me see how the display might look and also let me figure out what items I had on hand and what I'd need to pick up to finish off the display. I did another practice once we'd visited the dollar store and Ikea so I could see how everything looked together as well as making note of what was missing, what needed to be added or subtracted from the set up and what I might need to help make the display as seamless looking as possible. I did a final practice two days before the show to figure out the most efficient way to set up and also to make sure that the loose items (mostly the sheer fabric but also the book lights) on the table would stay where I wanted them. This way I was able to include twist ties, paperclips, scotch tape and alligator clips to my supply list so that I could keep the lighting wires organized, attach the light for the price sign and not least make sure the fabric was secure.

Finished table

When I got to the venue to set up my table I adjusted my layout to suit the location of my table. Because the tables we were given to use included table coverings both white and the black place mats I decided to use both the sheer curtains on each display box instead of draping one over the table and spreading the second over both boxes.  I reversed the placement of the boxes and tree, as well as the pricing sign and our business sign. Before I set up I also adjusted the table placement to allow more room for people to look at our display without crowding the table behind us or in front of us. Next year we may  move the tables even more.

Did I leave anything out? Is there anything you would do differently? Anything you 'd like to know more about? Tell me int he comments. Next time I'll post about our packaging; click here to read it!.

How To make a signature for a hand bound book

Last time I showed you how to find the direction your paper grain runs in your paper to optimize for the best fold for a hand bound book. now that you have a stack of precut pages all ready for folding, with the grain of the paper parallel to where you are going to fold I'll show you how to fold your sheets and get them ready for sewing.















What you'll need:

Precut sheets (cut to the height of your book and double the width)
Ruler
Pencil
Bone Folder
paper clips or alligator clips
Awl or a Long needle or pin
Rubber Mallet


Measure for your score
The best way to fold a sheet of paper is to score along where your fold is going to be using a bone folder. A bone folder is generally made of pig bone and has a pointed end and a rounded end, the bone is smooth for burnishing down your paper once it's scored.

To start take your ruler and measure out where your fold is going to be. My book is going to be 5.5" x 7" so my precut sheets are 11"x 7". Measuring in from the edge along the 11" length of the page I will make small pencil marks at the 5.5" length on my ruler. Remember to measure down the sheet in at least three places so that you are in effect measuring twice (or more) and scoring only once. Because the edges of my paper are deckle edges measuring in more than one place is even more important since the edge of my paper isn't even.

Scoring for your fold
just as you would if you were cutting along your measure, take your straight edge and line it up along your pencil marks. Run your bone folder along the edge remembering to keep your other hand pressing down on the ruler and moving it so that your bone folder hand and your ruler hand are at approximately the same place. It helps to have some extra scrap papers under where you are scoring to act as a cushion. This will give you a deeper score in your page making folding even easier.

Making the fold
Now that you have a scored line in each sheet you can create your fold. Using your scored line as guide, fold your sheet along the scored line and press down using the flat of your bone folder to finish the fold.

Make your signature
A signature is a collection of folded sheets that make a booklet. one or more signatures can be sewn together to create the pages of a hand bound book. A signature should ideally be made up of no less than three folded sheets of paper or leaves and no more than ten. The paper I have used is fairly heavy; 200lb so I am opting to create two signatures of four leaves.

Collect your leaves together and make sure that they all line up. At this point you can make sure your leaves stay aligned by clipping them together with paper clips or alligator clips.

Since this a small book I plan on measuring for two bindings (the straps that will hold the signatures together when the book is being bound). I'll measure out and make a pencil mark on each signature starting 3/4" from the bottom of the signature and 1/2" from the top of the signature.

The next step involves some math. I apologize but sometimes a little arithmetic is necessary. take your ruler and measure the space between the top measurement and the bottom. Divide this by the number of bindings for your book. In my case four. Measure down from your 1/2" mark with the number you have just calculated and with your pencil make another mark and repeat for each number of bindings.

A second mark should be made under each of these measurements to match the width of your binding tape or ribbon. My binding tape is 1/2" wide, under each of my measurements I will make a second mark that is a distance of 1/2". These marks are where I will punch a hole using my awl.

Getting the signatures ready to sew
making sure the leaves in your signature are aligned, take your awl and place the point on each of your markings where your bindings will be placed. Gently hammer the awl into your signature on each point. It is helpful to have something underneath where you are hammering so that you don't damage your awl tip. I've used an old magazine but an old phonebook would work too.

Next time Sewing your bindings onto your signature

How To: getting paper ready to make signatures for a handbound book

I may have mentioned that I'm getting ready to make a bedtime book for the Peanut last week. I've decided that while I'm doing that, I may as well create a tutorial (or more) during the process; mainly because It's been a while since I last made a hand bound book and talking through it is a fantastic way to learn yourself; or in my case refresh my knowledge.

With the Bean's debut just around the corner I'm not up to major projects at the moment so I may get a few tutorials done before she comes along and I may just get this one done and follow up once we're all sorted as a family of four instead of a family of three. We'll see how things go and I'll just ask for your patience now and get it out of the way.

The first step in making a hand bound book (outside of getting text together and breaking it up into page sized bits) is getting your signatures (or in my case; a signature) ready. A signature is a group of folded pages that make up a booklet which is then sewn together and attached to the hard cover of your book.

Today I'll show you how to find the grain in your sheet of paper so that you can cut your paper to make a signature for a hand bound book.

What you will need:
Paper
Ruler
Pencil
X-acto Knife
Soft Bristle Brush
Water

Paper Grain
When working with artist grade paper especially when you are going to be using artist grade paper for book making you should be aware of which way the paper grain is before you measure and cut your paper for signatures and for accordion folds. Paper grain refers to the direction that most of the fibers that make up the paper lie. During paper making the fibers that make up the paper tend to align themselves in one direction. Most artist grade papers are made using cotton fibers.

The best way to figure out which way the papers grain runs is to bend your sheet of paper. One side will roll easier than the other; the smaller the sheet of paper you are working with the more dramatic the difference will be. The side that bends the easiest is where the grain runs. You will be folding your signature parallel to the grain.

Measuring and Cutting
Now that you know which edge is parallel to your paper grain measure your paper for cutting. For my book I am making a 5.5"x7" book. I will be cutting sheets for my signature that are 11" x 7" with a fold made 5.5" in on the 11" length that runs running parallel to the grain of my paper.

I will be using two methods of cutting my paper for this book. the tops and bottoms of my pages will be cut using a blade for a straight edge and for the outside edges of my signatures I'll be making a deckle edge using water and a brush.

Straight Cut:
Using your ruler and a sharp pencil measure out where your cuts are going to be made. I measured down the length of my paper in 7" increments in three separate places along the page. This way I can line up my ruler along each mark and double check that my measurements are exact before I cut.

Laying your straight edged ruler along your measure line you can then take your x-acto blade and run it along the straight edge. It is best to use light even cuts and go over the cut more than once than to put a lot of pressure on a single cut. Keep your hand on the ruler to hold it down along where you are making your cut. This means that you will be moving your ruler hand along with your cutting hand as you make your cut. This gives your ruler edge support during the cut and also ensures that you are paying attention to what your blade is doing.














Deckle Edge:
Now that I've cut the straight edges on my sheets I have a tidy stack of four 7" x 22.5" sheets.

I want to make these into smaller 7" x 11" sheets with a deckle edge along the 7" edge of the sheet. I'm using Opus European Watercolour paper which has deckle edges already so I will be creating a deckle edge to match when I make the sheet smaller.

To illustrate paper grain a little more I've included two more images with these smaller sized sheets, you'll notice that the paper bends much more easily along the longer edge of the sheet. The paper grain then runs parallel to the 7" length of my sheet. This is the length that I will eventually score along for folding

To do this you need to measure where your tear is going to be made just as if you were going to cut the edge as before. Lay your ruler along the marks for your edge and run a wet paintbrush along the edge. I use a soft bristle brush so that I don't scuff my paper surface. Let the water soak into the paper. The paper I am using is 200lb paper which means that it is quite a heavy paper and needs a few moments for the water to soak in before I can start to tear. As with cutting with a blade keep your hand on the ruler along where you are tearing. Lift the edge of the paper where you want your tear to start and pull. Move your hand farther down the straight edge and tear further along your edge until you have reached the edge of your sheet.

Next time: scoring and folding to make your signature

27 days

As I'm writing this I'm starting my 27th day with a cold that will not quit. Well, it's starting to slow down (This next part will be full of TMI but I'm a sharing kinda gal. I won't share my germs but I'll tell you all about them) I still sound like Bea Arthur when I talk, I'm still feeling the pain in the ol' sinuses and I'm still coughing the big phlegmy coughs but it's not the non stop can't get that stuff out kind of cough any more. I think I see the end of the tunnel.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with a new project for the holidays. Last year we did all our shopping handmade online, with a few exceptions. This year we're doing it all over again except that most of our gifts will be handmade by us, either in the form of a family portrait that I will be setting up in the next week or so (thank all Gods for the timed shutter release) or tree ornaments/ sun catchers that we are putting together. Doing the handmade online thing leaves so much more room to celebrate the season without the stress. We'll be spending more time together as a family baking, decorating and visiting the Bright Lights train and adding some new activities to the list of family time, which leads me to the project that is turning out to be more work that I thought when I decided to do it.

I'm making a handmade advent calendar to help us count down through holidays. Growing up my parents used to bring us the calendars with the cardboard pop out doors filled with cheap chocolate molded into sometimes unrecognizable holiday shapes with the one big door for the 24th. I always wanted to be able to reuse them (I'm a bit of a pack rat). Last year we bought one of them for the Peanut and I got the idea that I should buy a wooden one to reuse every year but with money being so tight I never got around to it. Then a few weeks back I came across a do it yourself version that I thought looked pretty simple...

Well I'm in the midst of making one and I'll be documenting all the bits for another DIY tutorial coming up this week.

Tutorial: How to Embelish a Collage using Handstitiching Techniques

A round the time that we were heading into our first season of baby showers, I started to make mixed media cards that could double as nursery and bedroom art for my Mom friends. Because the Peanut was still under 1 and not too interested in making cards for her friends yet, I also made cards for her friends too. Most of these cards were stuffed animal inspired and I began including simple stitching as part of the work which led to opening up a shop on Etsy.

The stitch that I use most often when I make hand made cards is the simple back stitch, to learn how to do the embroidery back stitch you can learn how from this youtube tutorial by Lolita charm, her tutorial is simple to follow and I happen to love her manicure.

Friday before last, I featured a very talented digital collage sheet artist; MagpieMine. In the feature I mentioned that I'd come across Maggie of MagpieMine through the Totally Tutorials Exchange program.

For the most part, I use original paintings for my mixed media projects, embellishing with hand stitching and beads to make my simple subjects pop. When I saw Maggie's entry for the tutorial exchange I was immediately excited by the possibilities. So much so, that after I entered my tutorial idea for her exchange, I went back and purchased some other sheets from her shop. As luck would have it, Maggie picked my entry for the exchange and I now have an abundance of fantastic digital clip art to work with.

For this tutorial, I will show you how to use a simple back stitch and beading to add more dimension to a 2 D collage. The final artwork can be matted and framed to fit into any fairy lover's decor. Mine will be a baby blessing gift to my new niece.

For this project you will need:

Your choice of digital Collage Sheet from MagpieMine, I used the Elves and Fairies in the Woodland sheet.
Heavy watercolour paper or card stock
x-acto knife
Glue Stick
Beading Needle
Embroidery Floss
Seed beads
Scissors

Lets get started

Cut it out

To start, print out your collage sheet. It is best to print onto artist quality paper. Once printed use the x-acto knife to cut the image. I use an x-acto blade to cut out the image because the blade allows me to get into the more detailed areas for a crisper edge.

use glue stick to apply glue to the back of the image

Once cut out, apply glue to the back using a glue stick. Because I'm gluing a smaller, organic shape, I use a scrap page to apply the glue onto with a small stick to help hold my fairy down without getting my fingers all sticky. The scrap paper gets any of the extra adhesive, keeps the front of my image glue free and keeps my workspace clean and easier to work on.

place cutout onto collage background

After gluing the back of the fairy, put her onto the background paper. I've used a piece of watercolour paper because it's sturdy and can withstand having holes punched in as well as having wet media used on it (in case you wanted to paint onto your project before adding your fairy.)

get the collage ready for stitching

Once she's been placed on the background paper, make needle holes for stitching. When using embroidery stitches on paper it is easier to have pre-existing holes for placing your stitches along, it saves time and you can put a little more thought into where you want your stitches to go.

work in progress lit from behind to show where stitching will be placed

I wanted to add interest to her wings on this fairy, so I chose to follow along existing lines in her wings. Using a needle, I poked holes along where my stitching was going to go. I use a thimble to help with this part of the project to save the tips of my fingers and thumb.

lay out threads to see which colours work best with your subject

Once the holes are poked into the image, it's time to choose which floss will work best with the fairy. This stage can also be done during the earlier stages, but I prefer to do it after I've got my layout put together.

If I were using a background that incorporated other designs, an image or colours, choosing my thread at this stage is very useful as all the picture elements are together. For this fairy I've chosen a combination of gold and silver floss.

begin stitching from the back of the work

Following Lolita charm's back stitch instructions, start stitching on the backside of your work. I start my stitches in the second to first hole and stitch backwards from there.

hold the end of the floss for the first few stitches so that
you don't pull it all the way through

continue stitching until the area you want embellished is done. You can finish off by sewing a knot in the backside of the work or by using the techniques in Lolita Charm's back stitching tutorial.

To add beads to the fairy, punch a single needle hole where each bead will go. Choose a needle that will fit your beads. Sometimes beads will have varying sized holes; it's a good idea to try more than one to see if most will fit over the needle.

sew beads onto front of image

Again, you will begin your stitch on the back side of the work.
Pull the thread through while holding the tail end of the thread in place. Add your bead to the thread and then put your needle back into the same hole you came up in. Move on to the next hole and repeat until all your beads have been applied.

All finished and ready for framing

Once finished, trim any extra threads and if you prefer, you can apply decorative paper onto the back of the work to hide the stitches in the back. Because I'll be matting and framing this fairy as a nursery decoration, I'm going to leave the back unfinished.

here is another example of this technique using another of MagpieMine's faries on a coloured background:




I'd like to thank Magpiemine for her super collage sheets and of course you can also visit her on Etsy to get started on your own projects.

A card a week for a year: Week 1

Before we begin a little housekeeping:

My Borealis Set Of 4 has been included in a Treasury on Etsy. It's a beautiful one and I'm so pleased to be a part of it. Go and check it out and make sure to click on any of the items that really catch your eye. there are some really striking images included there.

PeanutButterPie now has two new cards with more to come over the next few weeks Go check them out.

Now for what you came for:

One card a week for 52 weeks. Each card depicting a single word or phrase to be used in an affirmation deck at the end of the year.

This is the first posting in this series. I'll be posting the cards here each week with a list of the materials and the process I have used for each one and a short statement about the card. Please feel free to offer word and phrase suggestions if you have any. I'm a little worried that my well might run dry...

Here's the process:

Materials:

• ATC card (in this case Strathmore Acrylic)
• Nicholson's Peerless Transparent Watercolour
• Watercolour Tubes
• Pearl Ex interference pigment
• Brush pens
• Paint Brushes



The Process:
The process was a simple one, a wash of light green Peerless watercolour with further layers of Daniel Smith Under Sea Green and M Graham & Co. Quinacridone Rust with a tiny hit of pearlescent Pearl Ex pigment. Once the base was finished I went in with a Staedtler Mars Graphic 3000 duo marker and sketched in the tree and limbs, using a darker accent colour to add detail and texture.

An atmospheric landscape was brushed in, with the more distant hills painted in fainter than the foreground.

Finally, using the brush pens I added the word Ground.

I chose Ground as my first card to remind me that creativity has a firm foundation in nature. Becoming grounded allows me to refresh my mind in order to approach creative problems and refill my creative energy. Walking in the woods or along the beach is a good way to do this. Gardening is also a good exercise in grounding. Being in contact with nature is a grounding experience.

Grounding is also a technique that is used for ritual ceremonies to draw strength and support before a spiritual working. Often the image of a tree is used to reach this state, with your spiritual roots spreading out and down into the "earth" and trunk and branches growing tall and strong up into the sky.

When I am firmly grounded I feel more confident and creative. Hence the earthy tones and the growing tree.

How to shop handmade this holiday season

OK, I know I've mentioned it and then mentioned it again, but I think it bears repeating. I'm buying all my holiday gifts from artists and artisans this year. that means I'll be trolling the talent on Etsy for everything from stocking stuffers to that major, blow them away with my thoughtfulness, gift.

In anticipation for this, I've started my shopping way earlier than previous years. Mainly because I find shopping this way to involve a lot more forethought. You aren't just browsing in the mall for something that catches your eye in order to get the best gift, you have to know a little about the person you're buying for. In fact the more you know the better your gift choices.

Here are some items that I'm eyeing up so far in my online shopping travels. Take a look at what's here and if you see something you like why not buy it out from under me? I promise, no hard feelings.