Can I be a balloon artist when I grow up?

Geronimo Balloon Troopers from hak lonh on Vimeo.

Clearly I don't mean the creepy clown kind of balloon artist ;)

crafty for kate

paper leaves and flowers artfully shot by Johnny Miller Photography for Kate Spade.

a sneak peek

...into my crafting chaos lately.

ps. the bridy decal is actually a dark woodgrain pattern, but it looks black in my photo!

paper sculptures

Amazing! if only i had a huge open space in my home for one of these...wait, if only i had a home...haha. See more beautiful creations by Yuko Takada here.

gone buggy!

Inspirational images from {1} design Shrine {2} the crazy rabbit
{3} design fruit

After many late nights watching the "crafters corner" on the shopping channel and searching for endless youtube demonstrations, I gave in and bought myself the cricut expression! It's a machine that can cut simple or complex shapes out of cardstock, paper, contact paper, vinyl, fabric, etc. Since I am a graphic designer, I didn't want to be limited to only the shapes that are included in cricut's cartridges. Luckily, there is a program called SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot) that allows you to cut from .svg files - meaning, anything I can design in illustrator can be cut on my machine!

Stay tuned for some crafty creations!

craft corner with maris

Last night I had the pleasure of an evening of crafting and delicious takeout with my friend, maris. She was on a mission to create a very special homemade card for her little sister's 11th birthday. After much analyzing and walking in circles at Michael's, we purchased the supplies for a vintage floral, whimsical, magestic, fairy-like pop up card with a mini version of her little sister running through a wondrous paper forest carrying a shimmering balloon. We headed back to maris' new apartment in Kitsilano armed with our crafting supplies as well as papaya salad, nasi goreng and other Malaysian delights. We both felt like we were back in school (she took interior design) as we rummaged through her collection of fancy obscenely priced markers and smelled the sweet scent of spray glue in the air. Not so sweet was maris' finger coated in a thick layer of glue (and lint, paper scraps and other residue) that needed a good dose of nail polish remover to clean off at the end of the night! She sketched out the image of her little sister skipping while holding a balloon, but after seeing maris' first sketch attempt, we decided I should skip around the living room so that she could more accurately capture the motion. After her second attempt, we decided that I should just draw it for her and she could adapt my drawing...haha. We worked out the logistics of folding and glueing strips of paper to create the pop ups and maris cringed (high school math trauma) as I noted the importance of parallel lines and 90 degree angles. At nearly the strike of midnight, the card was complete. I think her little sister is going to love it!

i could make these...

Lovely crafty necklaces that I really should try to make for myself. If I have any success, I'll post the photos! {1} marigold & grey - handwoven cotton and brass necklace by For Me, For You by kate miss. {2} spring double braid necklace by Thief and Bandit. {3} rosette bib fabulous statement necklace by Brydferth.

getting crafty

An old flower broach, some seed beads, a bit of chain and I have a new necklace!

sew lovely

i want this sewing basket by cath kidston! (even though the only sewing i do is mending loose buttons due to my sewing trauma that began during my first year of fashion school...)