Illustrated Wine Charms

I don't know why I didn't think to make shrink plastic wine charms before, the very fact that they are illustrated means that they are perfectly suited for making matching sets. These are the first four sets that I've made but I plan on making loads more of them. The only thing I've yet to figure out is how to display them. I tried using a card for the button ones that I made but they don't do them any justice. I think I might get bracelet boxes to match the other ones that I got, it would make them more substantial.

I've listed them here in my etsy shop at €15 per set, I was in two minds about the price. Looking at other handmade charms on Etsy they are much more expensive, but I know I won't sell that many if I price them any higher. I'll have to see how they go and adjust accordingly.

Update: My bracelet boxes arrived sooner than I expected and they work perfectly. I'm much happier with them displayed like this and they would make a really nice gift for someone in this cute presentation box.

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My News; The Story of the Vintage Suitcase

Do you remember 'My News' from school, this is mine for today.

Imagine the scene; dressed in a multitude of layers to guard against the igloo that is the Milk Market I step out in the beaming sunshine after finishing a long day at work. Instead of being and smart and heading home after the market I do 'a little browsing' in the charity shops. I got a couple of books, but I was good and reminded myself to only buy what I could carry. Then I saw this beautiful vintage suitcase, '€5' you say 'bargain!' I say, 'I'll have that' I say. So I did. It should have ended there, but no there are two more charity shops on the way home. When I purchased more books the lovely lady behind the counter asks if I want a bag, and with glee I answered 'no, it's ok, I just bought a suitcase I'll pop them in there'. As they say rinse and repeat for the next shop. In my head I think I'm only around the corner so I'll be fine, but it's a very long street before I get to that corner.

Under that beaming sun my black coat feels like ski wear in the Sahara, all I can manage is to shuffle ten meters, stop, swap hands, and continue shuffling, stop, swap.... I look like a snail carrying it's shell beside itself, or rather an upwardly mobile slug who hasn't quite figures out the logistics of it all yet. At this stage it's not an option to peel off some layers, because A) I would have to carry them too and B)I'm sweating like a pig at this stage so the less people can see of me the better. After what feels like a Chariots of Fire like effort I make it to my door, I imagined that there should have been some sort of applause, but there wasn't. As soon as the door closes behind me I start to strip until I'm standing in my front-room in my underwear savouring the cold tiles under my tired feet. If I was the kind of person who had cold beers in the fridge* I would have drank it then and there in my bra and knickers, but I don't, so I didn't. 

Really the case will be worth what I feel was a heroic effort. Ideally I would like one of these footrests(I know this is a cat bed, but essentially it's the same thing right?) to be made from it, but it will probably live in my studio doing nothing in particular for a while until I muster motivation.

That was my day, how was yours?

*It's not that I object to beer, it's just that I have one of those miniscule fridges that are in every rented property in Ireland; much to the horror of any Americans I know.  

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Free Political Printable

I've been seeing loads of nice free printables recently on Pinterest and decided to try my hand at making one. I've done my fair bit of design before in the past but it was still quite a challenge to wrap my brain around making this text based image. It's about balancing colours, fonts, and information in a pleasant way that is still legible. So don't be too harsh on me I'm only a newbie! I would like to make this a weekly feature though as I enjoyed the process and learned a lot.

When looking for a good quote I stumbled upon this George Bernard Shaw quote that seems all too fitting for our currently political situation in Ireland, it seems like not much has changed on these shores.

This print is free for you to download for personal use(just click the image to make it larger, right click and save), but is not for resale. Feel free to share on your website, facebook and twitter, but please refer back to this post as a courtesy. Hope you like it.

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Respect The Beard

Just in case you've been living in a cave for the past year and didn't realise, beards are very in. We've all seen the whole hipster 'tache thing that's been going on for ages, but lets face it mustaches are not particularly sexy, unless you want to look like you are in a 70's porno movie. But I've always been rather attracted to men with beards, and now that they are in fashion they are everywhere, woohoo more eye candy for me. Above is a picture of John with a bushier version of his normal beard, apparently he has been getting lots of compliments from the ladies about the size of his facial hair. Whereas a few years ago most of his friends slagged him for looking like a caveman/homeless.

The Bold Banana-Beards are Sexy T-Shirt  $12

Eggagogo- Beardy Card  $3.50

Linocutboy-Beards of The World Linocut and Silkscreen £150

Graphixoutpost-Irish Man Hand Painted Clay Cabochon $8.25

Crankbunny-Victorian Bearded Man Paper Puppet $20

Some handsome men eye candy for you....

Alexander Skarsgard

Ray Lamontagne

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Handmade Rubber Stamps

 Last week I mentioned that I was going to do a stamp making post inspired that this blog that I found on Pinterest. I actually did Printmaking in college for my degree, so I'm pretty used to doing this kind of thing. I'm far more familiar with using lino for block printing, but lately I've started hearing about this carving rubber which is lots easier to use. I ordered some online, but funnily enough a few days after it arrived they got some in my local craft shop Silkes.

I cut my 6"x4" piece into 4 sections easily with a scissors.

 I then did some quick sketches in pen. If you are not used to doing block printing it might be helpful to use a marker to block out the bits you won't be carving, these are the areas that will be black. Also don't forget that your image will be reversed, so write it backwards if you are doing any text.

 The area you will be carving is the white part of your picture. Go slowly and carefully, as my tutor said it's not a race, once it's carved you can't fix it. The rubber is much easier to carve than lino, and it also doesn't crumble at the edges which is good. I did have a box of beautiful carving tools but over the years I must have lost them when I moved house, I used these very basic tools which you can pick up in any craft shop.

Use a scissors to cut off any excess rubber at the edge, but leave an outline of your image.

 I used the ink I use for card making, it leaves a mottled texture (rather than using printing ink) but it's faster a cleaner and I quite like the texture anyhow.

 Press firmly onto your paper, the nice thing about the rubber it that if you hold it really still you can lift it up at the corner to peek and see if it's printed properly.

 My end result! I think I'll be using these to make lots of Christmas stamps, they are fun, quick, and most importantly they make your cards totally individual.

NOTE: Be careful to keep your fingers behind the tool when carving, this is lesson number one in Printmaking, I can't believe I made such a rookie mistake! Morto!

Shopping at the Barbootsale

Last Saturday I went to the  Barbootsale (which I blogged about here), and I picked up a selection of treats for myself and bargaintastic prices. I've been meaning to buy some art from Dish Pig for ages, I missed his last exhibition so when I heard he would be selling at this I put some money aside. Although I hadn't intended on buying 4 pieces!! At €10 a pop though I couldn't really resist though. I have a thing for sets of 3, and also for robots, so it was quite logical that I would buy this triptych, I love the detail of the black and white one contrasting with the bold shapes of the two colour pieces sitting either side of it. My friend Emmet Kierans was also selling his work too, and I paired his tv man with another one from Dish Pig to make this set. We already have one of Emmets pieces, I like his two distinctive styles, his painterly fine art work, and also his grubby seedy cartoonish pieces.

Aside from splurging on art I also picked up this very Mad Men looking dress for only €5. When I got home and tried it on it actually is a little tight across the chest. I would get away with it, but at the moment(due to the ongoing detox) I'm loosing weight on a continuous basis, so I'd say in another month or so it will be that little bit more comfortable. On top of being adorable, a lovely shade of green, in thick warm material, it also has pockets which in my book makes it a total winner! I also picked up this lovely dresy scarf. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I know it was really reasonable. I also got a really fun button necklace from fellow blogger Claire-Ann for only €1!

Impressive Birthday Card

It was my birthday at the weekend, and I treated myself to a few days off work. As I mentioned before it was John's brother's wedding. So after much Irish wedding shenanigans most of my birthday was spent in bed recovering.
I was mightily impressed by the card that John for me. He has agreed to give me money towards a new exercise bike so that means I had no present on the day to open. So instead he got me this fab pop-up bunch of flowers card. Since I've started making cards people always make a big effort to send me nice cards...which amuses me. like I'm some kind of good card police. Having said that if John ever got me a bad card I'd be pretty grumpy, he has to listen to me rant about bad cards enough to know better.

Ps: Do you like my new polaroid app on my phone, it has the nice ad on that I can put marker type text on it. I'm having a hipster moment....speaking of hipsters, check out this pretty funny video...my favourite quote is....

'Basically I'm a part-time blogger, and I design my own jewellery line,which is like, a mix of religious iconography kind of with a 'Saved By The Bell' vibe'.