Archive for the ‘sponsored’ Category

Sponsored: Business Cards & Laser Cutting

February 20th, 2013
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ponoko

Ponoko is your personal factory, an online laser cutting and 3D printing service. Upload your design file to make your own jewelry, home accessories, and more. Check out Ponoko on facebook.

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Last year I put in about 30+ man hours into my business card. Between all the laser cutting and assembling, it was a TON of work. This year, I wanted to go simpler, but still fun and impactful. Out of pure chance and some diligent searching for DIY laser cutting I found Ponoko. And I’ve been so excited to work with them. My head was (and still is) spinning with ideas.

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Since it came down to trying to keep things simple, I landed on this key chain idea. I used cell phone straps instead of split rings (I knew the split rings would make me want to cry, trying to assemble those). I also didn’t remove the protective backing (not pictured) because doing 200 of those would have also made me cry. These cards took about 11 man hours to assemble. So much better.

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I had some issues with the actual card, the first stamp I ordered was not very legible. It sort of sent me into a panic, but the stamp guys I send my stuff to were more than accommodating. Phew!! Most of the cards were on the white stock, since the ink on black stock wasn’t as readable. I really wish there was a white/silver stamp ink that was more brilliant. If you know of any brands, let me know. The American Crafts stamp pad is the best of the ones I’ve tried, but I’ve had that pad for a couple years now, and it’s not as brilliant as it once was. I can’t seem to find it anywhere, either.

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I used Strathmore art board for my stock, it’s super thick. The black is really lovely and much easier to cut than the white. I actually just took the art boards to Alphagraphics and they cut the paper for me. It saved me a ton of time and the potential flesh wound. I sort of regret not going with the I Still Love You motto, but I really love these little diamond pieces. They’re reminiscent of the new background design and gender neutral.

melissaesplin-ponoko-business-cards-4 I had a few extra pieces from assembly, I made earrings out of them. I dig. Wouldn’t these be fun in wood or metal?

What would you make out of these little acrylic shapes? Leave a comment below. I’ll pick a winner next monday and ship them out to you! 

Refashioned: Bright Green Outerwear

February 7th, 2013
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glassescom-logo-1This post has been brought to you by Glasses.com – your online retailer for outdoor eyewear. Shop our selection of designer eyeglasses, sunglasses, and rx sunglasses and receive free shipping on your order.
For more information, check us out on Facebook!

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I’ve had this jacket for ages. It’s part of a skirt suit hand-me-down from my mom. Totally 80s, right? It’s amazing, but it was (until now) much too big. Well, sort of. I’m about the same size my mom was when I was her age, minus the chest and hips. And considering that the style of jacket in the 80s was boxy around the shoulders and roomy around the arms, this did not flatter my frame as much as it did my mom’s. I remember seeing my mom wear this on Sundays and thinking, I have the prettiest mom in the chapel. Every child is biased, but I was still right.

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I actually used to wear this jacket out in high school and college on a semi-regular basis and always on St. Patty’s day. Little known fact – I really wish I had had a fashion blog through my college days, particularly my freshman year. My goal was to never go a day wearing just a tee-shirt and jeans. And I never did. I often work skirts and suits to school and work, and rarely did I ever not wear heels. I was always dressed to the nines with layers and accessories. Often times I wish I could remember all those crazy outfits. So despite me wearing this on a regular basis, I have no photos of me wearing this before my alteration. And I have no idea what happened to the before pictures that I took, either. It’s a real shame.

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Taking in this jacket was about as complicated as taking in this rain coat. When I took in that coat, I just removed the lining and never reattached. This time I wanted to keep the lining intact and proper. I separated the lining where it counted, turned it inside out (it looked like an undescipherable mess) and zipped up the sides. It was easy enough, but I quickly realized that I couldn’t take in any at the armpit because it would either look wonky or I would have to completely deconstruct the coat to take anything in at that point. So I tapered off at the pits. It’s a good thing, too, because it seems to fit perfectly that way anyway.

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You can see my small frame much better with this jacket now than before. Oh did I mention I took out the 3 inch thick shoulder pads? Those pads were beastly! Thank you, 80s.

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It’s a little more kelly green than the pantone of the year, but I’d say it still counts as being on trend for 2013. I’m very happy with my “new” jacket. I’ll be getting even more use out of it now.

Have you ever altered anything with a lining? What kinds of tips can you offer if you have?

Outfit details:

  • scarf: Soel Boutique
  • earrings: H&M
  • top: Kohl’s
  • jacket: hand-me-down
  • jeans: PacSun, refashioned
  • shoes: thrifted

Sewing: Pieced Leather Pillow

January 9th, 2013
6 Comments

This post is brought to you by Baby Lock. Baby Lock is dedicated to the love of sewing by creating a full line of sewing machines all with ease-of-use, high quality and a touch of elegance.

Connect with Baby Lock on Facebook and TotallyStitchin.net.

I made a pillow today. I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head since I made leather bows out of this horribly tacky leather. It looked SO INCREDIBLY TACKY in store, but it was 99¢ a square foot (ridiculously cheap for leather) and I couldn’t help but think something cool could come from it. Something.

Then Celeste was telling me about her plans for her master bedroom ideas to incorporate purple. It’s really a lovely color that gets the boot all too often for it’s bad rep of being a tween girl color. It can be so much more than that.

So I made her a pillow. I couldn’t resist, and I think it turned out lovely. The pictures show the leather being more blue than it actually looks like. I’m hoping it’ll work for her decor.

I used a pre-quilted broadcloth (similar) I found in my mom’s stash of sewing goodies she gave me a few years ago. It has a natural feel to it with little flecks of fibers here and there. I’m not sure what my mom had originally planned for the fabric, but it works perfectly for this purpose. I cut out the quilted broadcloth and leather, then made a straight cut around the 3/4 mark on the front piece and that’s where I added the two strips. I made the gold strip smaller than the purple one to balance out the glam and natural details. I used a leather needle here, but since I was sewing the leather to fabric, I didn’t use my walking foot. I just made sure to sew leather-side-down when attaching pieces together.

I topstitched the fabric side of the piecing to give it a crisp look, but felt no need to do that on the leather sides. I did press the leather, which makes it look really sharp. When pressing leather, you’ll want to cover with a pressing cloth (cotton sheet works fine) with the iron on med-high with low steam.

This kind of project is perfect for small leather scraps. Instead of piecing, you could applique! Leather edges don’t need to be finished. Have you ever pieced with leather before?

Here are some great envelope pillow tutorials: Envelope Pillow • Hidden Zipper Pillow

Sponsored Tutorial: Art and Travelling

December 12th, 2012
5 Comments

This post is sponsored by Art.com. Find your art and love your space with art.com’s prints and museum-grade framing.

Decorate with photos you love with Art.com’s Photos to Art (they have a sweet app for that, too).

Art.com provided me with the ability to take one of my photos and turn it into wall art. They print on canvas, paper, acrylic and can finish your new art with stretcher bars, wood panel or matte and frame. All this in a couple of clicks. They print art from 8×10 to 18×24, and you can print your photos straight from your phone using their new photos to art app (hello instagram pics!).

I took advantage of their canvas option, and it came out lovely. I was encouraged to choose something that had to do with travel. We’ve not really travelled much beyond visiting parents so I stole this image from my dad – my parents live in Charlotte and have so many fun adventures without us. Last time he came to visit, he told me about this serendipitous moment he had when the sun was setting and the geese were swimming across the lake at Cane Creek. Luckily he had his camera to capture this moment.

When the opportunity to take photos to art, my mind jumped directly to this as a Christmas gift for my Dad (the man who has everything and wants nothing). It’s perfect. See, he’s the one who taught me how to use a camera. Way back when, I was around 9 or 10, my parents would trade off Saturdays going out with us kids on “kid dates”. We could choose what we wanted to do. One weekend we went to the local Aviary and my dad taught me all about his SLR, an old Nikon 2020. There have been several quiet moments like that since then where my dad has supported and encouraged my love and interest of art. And I feel like in some very small way this print signifies my gratitude for his support.

The encouragement to choose a travel-related photo to turn to art sparked another idea: make miniature art pieces with luggage tags. So I decided to make a luggage tag with a miniature version of his photo. Perfect for a tree ornament! I’ll be using this as the gift tag for my dad’s gift.

These are really quite easy. You can make them with quality paper, felt, pleather or leather. Hang these with your travel photos with the names of places or hang them as part of a miniature art gallery. Sew these pieces together or use glue for a no-sew project!

  • leather
  • scissors
  • pattern (download below)
  • tape
  • sewing machine
  • artwork

Tape pattern onto one piece of leather. Don’t cut out the pattern perfectly and don’t tape inside of your pattern line. Punch holes for corners.

Cut out your window.

Attach second piece of leather suede sides together and sew. Bulldog clips work great. Be sure to use sturdy thread and a leather needle. Use a long stitch length (4.5 +) and sew about 1/4-1/8 inch away from the pattern’s edge.

Once you’re done sewing, cut away excess.

Punch out your top hole and remove top paper. It’s best if you use newsprint or a really flimsy paper to print out your pattern.

Measure from seam to seam and cut your artwork to size.

 

This tutorial or freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without the express consent of Melissa Esplin. I love getting shout outs from around the web, but please, link with love. You may publish 1 photo along with credit back to the original post, do not copy instructions. Never link directly to the download. If you would like to use this tutorial or freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

Sponsored: Crafting with Penelope

November 14th, 2012
7 Comments

This post is sponsored by KiwiCrate.com. Fun and engaging art and science projects in a box for kids aged 3-7, delivered monthly!

Connect with Kiwi Crate via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for new products, great ideas and exclusive deals.

We moved this summer, and we got to our new place too late to register Penelope for most of the local preschools.  There were a few options; one of them being a preschool that was 30 minutes away and charged $250 a month. Around Utah, that’s a LOT of money for preschool—when we lived in the SF area, $250 was unheard of everything started at $300+—and it would have been 2 hours of commuting for the kids and me.  I decided that it was better to spend that tuition money on a babysitter so I can keep up with the house/blog/craftwork a few days a week and focus on schooling and being present for Penelope and Felix on off-days.

Kate from The Red Kitchen gave me a few resources and we’ve been loosely following her preschool plan. It’s been great; however, I often don’t have the motivation to get creative with Penelope’s activities. Anything creative that I would do with Nelly is usually too much of a mess or would take more time to set up than I can spare. Penelope and I recently received a nice surprise from Kiwi Crate that lets customers sign up for monthly kids craft deliveries.  They sent me one of their seasonal crates, and it has been, as Finn the Human would say, Mathematical! The crate came packed with monotype supplies for decorating the included gifts and notecards.

Moments like these make me wonder why I don’t bust out more creative projects with Penelope. We need to take more advantage of her unbridled creativity.

Penelope made this present for Chris, and she’s super excited to give it to him for Christmas.  In keeping with our family’s recent Adventure Time fixation, she says that her print is a depiction of Jake the Dog. I think it’s amazing.

We had plenty of left over supplies, so we made a print transfer onto fabric and I embellished one of her shirts with it. Another very simple project, but she won’t take this shirt off. She knows how to make this mama proud.

Sponsorship aside, I’ve been incredibly impressed with Kiwi Crates. The quality of the materials are fantastic – they include real art supplies. They encourage real creativity without a dependency on licensed characters (Disney, Sesame Street, Etc). And no preparation is required: Penelope and I were projecting within seconds of the crate arriving on our doorstep. With pre-schooling Penelope and the inevitable long winter ahead, we’ll be using Kiwi Crate in the future.

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