by Amy | Jul 10, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Art, The Art of Design, The Art of Projects
That’s right. When I’m not able to draw out a chalkboard full of awesome stuff by hand {like this, or this, or this…} I turn to the digital stuff. Tonight I’m sharing all my favorites with you. AND they are all FREE!! So get ready to pin, because you are going to want to hang on to these sources–or immediately download them. I use them all the time and L-O-V-E them. Dearly.
I love these Rustic Graphics from We Lived Happily Ever After. She is a genius. She also shared a free chalk background. You can get that here. While I usually try to download things that are okay to use commercially, these are for personal use only. So I reserve them for unpaid project for family and friends.
Next are these adorable laurels and frames from Sunflower Studio. They are under the creative commons license. So they are good to use for commercial or personal purposes.
If you know me weirdly well, you know I have a weakness for fonts. Here are my favorites to use against a chalk background.
Adine Kimberg
Ever After
Little Lord Fontleroy
Rialto
Porcelain
Covington
Champagne
Little Days
Silverfake
Villa Didot
And…here are two more fonts that you should have. They are awesome dingbats for chalk projects.
Remember to check licenses before you use them commercially, but most of this stuff is good to go. Happy chalking!
Amy
by Amy | Jun 28, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Art, The Art of Design, The Art of Projects
Hey all! Well, let me tell you. Lots of things have transpired since I last posted. In case you missed the last post, it was the BIG, Fat Reading List. Much anticipated…lots of great recommendations from my most trusted readers. If you are looking for something to read this summer {or ever} you should check it out.
So, I had surgery. On the back. But I’ll tell you about that another time.
Tonight, I want to do a little show and tell and plug. Tomorrow is Minot’s Integrity Jazz Festival and I’ll be there. Yes, I know I just had back surgery. But I committed before I knew I was having surgery. And I’ll just be sitting there. Very similar to sitting at home, just with better music. And Derek will be with me. So no worries.
For the last few weeks I’ve been in what I like to refer to as Sweat Shop Mode. That’s where I work all day and all night on products. It happens a lot at Christmas time. Since this is my first ever vendor experience I kicked it into high gear to be sure everything was ready and I wouldn’t have anything left to do to prep post-surgery.
That’s what I’m showing off tonight. Some of the things that will be for sale tomorrow. I’m nervous. I just don’t know how this is going to go. Or if anything will sell. Which would be a giant bummer since printing all these pieces wasn’t exactly cheap. So–if it doesn’t go so hot tomorrow…you’ll soon be seeing these items for sale here at amyallender.com. And then I’ll probably drop the prices and beg you to buy–if only to salvage my self esteem.
But enough chat. I’m nervous even showing you this. What if you hate it? Okay. Here goes.
Stationary sets some are hand drawn. The Practically Canada stuff was digitally designed. And I hope the people I meet tomorrow have a good sense of humor like you guys.
These I designed and drew and colored by hand. Then I digitized them to make them printable. They might be my most favorite of everything I’ve got for sale.
You may have seen book clutches floating around online. They are precious. I love vintage books and had a great time designing these. What I think sets mine apart from the loads of others in the world is that I sought out some really cool vintage books. The covers are lovely…and I left their original charm intact. Some are outfitted to be wallet-ish. Others are made to hold e-readers. But they make great carry-alls for toting items to the pool {sunglasses, phone, card, cash sunscreen}, holding make up, stashing stationary, etc.
You know I love canning things. Usually I make labels for myself…so I thought others might like them too.
I came across these vintage flour sacks at an antique store. They were too adorable NOT to make into market bags.
These might look familiar from another post…but I’m really proud of how these summer themed pieces turned out.
And lastly…I’ll have these adorable journals for sale. I made these from salvaged pages of vintage children’s books. I developed a technique for removing the page text and added my own graphic. Then I bound them into journals and notebooks. On a side note, I’ll also have individual pages with printing on them for sale. They’ll look super cute in a frame or decoupaged onto something else!
Now the plug. If you are in Practically Canada–you should totally come by the Jazz Festival. It’s at MSU in Anne Nicole Nelson Hall. If nothing else, you should just come say “Hi” and remind me that I am a fool for committing to do this just two days after surgery. Wish me luck!
Amy
by Amy | May 21, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Art, The Art of Design, The Art of Gathering, The Art of Projects
About a week ago I found myself in Bismarck. Naturally, while there I was faced with a difficult decision: TJ Maxx or boutique shopping? I went the boutique route and found myself at a darling place called Junk Yard Chic. Their wares boast gifts of the salvaged, shabby-chic, rustic variety.
When I checked out, my goods were carefully wrapped in the cutest Popsicle tissue paper I’ve ever seen. Which got me thinking all about summer’s best treat, and how I could incorporate those fun, sweet, melty colors and flavors into my life this summer. Here are seven great things I came across.
1. I have been itching to host a summer ice cream social. But I might just do a Popsicle social instead. These invitations from Free Pretty Printables are sooo cute I could eat them up. Oh, yeah. And they are FREE!
2. There are a ton of amazing popsicle recipes floating around on Pinterest these days. I fell in love with the wholesome ingredients and easy prep for these made with blueberries, strawberries and honey. Get the recipe here. The blog, In Sock Monkey Slippers recommends this mold.
3. Dreamcicles anyone? Those are soap! Yes, soap. The perfect summer gift for a summer hostess. Get them from Sun Kid Gifts on Etsy.
4. If technology is more your style, sport this adorable phone cover this summer. Get this one and other cute Popsicle prints at Peanutoak Case’s Etsy shop.
5. These aren’t edible at all! They are crayons. How amazing is that? I found this image on Pinterest. Which led me to Etsy…only to discover that the listing is no longer active. I’m guessing you can melt down crayons and cool them in a Popsicle mold. You’re creative. I know you’ll figure it out.
6. I dig these nails from Lacq Lustre. She did them herself and shares all the colors she used. So even if you don’t make the mini Popsicles, you can still have some poppy color.
7. And lastly…I searched high and low for the tissue paper that started this whole thing. I couldn’t find it. What I did find was this adorable wrapping paper from Clementine Store. Now who do I know with a summer birthday…?
Amy
by Amy | May 10, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Art, The Art of Living
I’ll be honest with you. {As usual…I like telling you how it is.} I haven’t had the best week. I started to write about it. But then I stopped. Because writing is a happy thing that I do. And I wasn’t being positive or happy or uplifting or having an artful day.
And, although I strongly dislike the movie Bambie {remember this is a judgement free zone}, I agree with the sentiment that if you don’t have anything nice to say…you shouldn’t say anything at all.
Thanks Thumper.
Now I have lots of nice things to say. Today was lovely. It was the kind of day that reminds me that there is art in everyday existence. In the pretty things all around us and in the way we spend our moments.
The amount of work stacked up on my computer to get done has gone down a bit, so I was able to devote a good chunk of the day to things outside the screen. Instead of telling you about this lovely day…let me show you.
I sketched and painted up some drafts for a paint-along party I’ll be hosting here at my house on the 19th. I haven’t painted in probably a full year. Once I started I had a really hard time stopping. I missed it. And I think I’ll do more. Lately, I’ve been drooling over Rifle Paper’s designs…so you can see that her work had a heavy influence on me.
Tonight Derek is having the group of high school guys he works with on Wednesday nights over for a night of food and fun. So when I was done painting…I started working on the preparations for my first cookout of the season. {Will the presentation be lost on teenage boys? Probably. But I don’t care.}
The guys are even planning to watch a movie on the screen outside. My fingers are crossed that this nice weather hangs on from here on out.
Have a lovely Friday night. Have you sent your mom something yet?
xo
Amy
by Amy | Apr 16, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Art
I feel like you can put just about anything on your walls and call it art. Growing up we had a couple paintings in our home. I don’t remember all of them, but I do recall that one was a kind of creepy sea captain. I don’t even know what became of him.
One day I asked my mom where that stuff had come from. She told me that when she and my dad were first married they went to some kind of art show to buy some things for their walls.
My how things have changed. Now you can take a stroll through Hobby Lobby, troll around on Pinterest for something to DIY, or grab something from a junk market–nail it up and call it art. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I actually like it. I mean, you are speaking to a girl who currently has a couple vintage pennants, a moss covered “S,” and a pair of ice skates {yes, I know it’s spring now…} hanging on her walls.
I like easy. I like cheap. I like non-permanent. I would even go far enough to say that I like whimsical. So the other night while Derek was busy working late and the image of a wall full of spring-toned windmills floated to my brain…I went ahead and made them. It’s springy. It makes me think of warmer days and a warm breeze.
These cost me zero dollars, since I already had hot glue and scrapbook paper on hand.
I used this tutorial for making them…but I didn’t waste time with spray adhesive. Mostly since I’m not accurate enough to line the pages up right. Instead, I just folded them together and used a dot of hot glue on the tips that would be folded into the center.
For each big windmill I used two full 12″x 12″ sheets of paper. The medium sized windmills were made four to a sheet and the smallest were made by clipping a couple inches off of a 6″x 6″ {medium} square.
To hide the central point, I used a scrap of paper rolled up and glued over the overlapping points.
To be sure that when I want these off of my walls they don’t take the paint with them, I hung them all up with 3m adhesive strips that are supposed to go with wall hooks. I had extras, so I used those. Honestly, I haven’t seen the hooks that they go with in years, so it’s about time they got put to use.
The whole thing took about two reruns of the Office. {Not watched during the day, of course. My lenten fast is progressing quite nicely.} So this is quick, easy, and I know you can do it.
I’ve also thought a whole wall would make a great photo back drop. Thoughts??
Well, let me know if you like my whimsical, windmill wall {or my alliteration} in the comments or over on Facebook.
