All Things Paper, a new book!

I was so excited over the weekend to hear from my friend Ann from All Things Paper that the book she's been hard at work on, All Things Paper: 20 Unique Projects from Leading Paper Crafters, Artists, and Designers is currently being printed and will be out on bookstands on May 28th! I'm especially excited because one of my own projects, Citrus Slice Coasters is included as well!

The book is available for pre-order here on Amazon, so make sure to checkout with a copy next time you're doing some online shopping. I can't wait to try out the projects myself. Happy Wednesday!

Ahh, friday.

I've had such a busy week! Deadlines at my day job, my living room painting project, and car problems (poor MINI!) have been keeping me on my toes over the past few days. But I'm happy to report that my walls are all painted and living room is generally put back together so I'll have some time to work on DIY projects this weekend! Yay! Have a good one!

I love this image of San Francisco, from here.

Painting is painful.

I try to keep things on the positive side here on the blog, but seriously, painting hurts. Muscles I never knew I had have not only made themselves known, but they're also demanding Advil. I spent most of this last weekend painting my living room. I shared photos of my chips and samples here, but ended up choosing something a little lighter than my first choice, Behr Gold Coast White, which started looking really yellow after I painted a sample in the corner. So I went with Cancun Sand instead and I'm really happy with it so far. I have one wall left to paint, but the room is already so much lighter and brigher. I feel like I don't even have to turn as many lamps on at night as before.



I just need to power through the pain(t) for another night or so until it's done. Then I'll enjoy the product of all my hard work and make a note to myself to only take on a painting project when I need to punish myself for something. :) Thankfully, I did get a chance to get outdoors on Sunday to enjoy the sunshine and commune with nature before I got back to work. Here are a couple of photos from my walk around town. Can you tell I'm having fun playing with the Afterglow app?



And, if you've noticed, I've got a shiny new url for the blog. It's just vitaminihandmade.com now! Links should automatically update from my previous address, but if you find they aren't working, make sure to update your bookmark with the new address.

Happy President's Day!

Happy Love Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!

Alexander Girard's 1967 "International Heart" says love in 16 languages. :)

Barney the whale.

I'm slowly getting more adventurous with my sewing projects, and I'm really having fun with it! Months ago I saw this pin of a fabric whale on Pinterest and thought it was the sweetest. The original pin source is in Finnish, but there were some helpful photographs of the steps. So, last December, armed with some fabric and a little time, I decided to dive in and get started making one for my niece for Christmas!



I used a oatmeal fabric for the underside and a vintage deep blue cotton for the rest of the body, fins, and tail. I sketched out some rough pattern shapes on tracing paper, knowing I'd probably make a few adjustments here and there while I was sewing. Once I had all of the pieces assembled I tweaked the seams here and there to get the proportions too look right.





I didn't have any big black beads for the eyes, so I embroidered the oatmeal fabric using blue thread and added a small black bead to the center. I wanted to give this guy a little extra character, so I sewed on silver, gold, and pink sequins for barnacles! Too cute! After that, all that was left to do was to stuff it up and sew it closed. Once the first whale was done, I knew my heart would break giving him away, so I made another one for myself to keep.



Here he is! I named him Barney after all of his bling-bling barnacles. :)