The Snarky Beagle

What I did on my Staycation: Custom Colette Ginger Skirt

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 19:56:00 +0000

As you can probably tell from my serious lack of recent blog posts... only 2 last year... I've been a little busy raising a little human who just turned 1! As a celebration of his birthday and my birthday next week, I took a week off of my real life job to recharge and work on personal projects.

One of the biggest goals I had was to sew a skirt with an original pattern designed by me. For the pattern, I refreshed an old motif I doodled a few year's back:

Here's what I ended up with. It's available now on Spoonflower!

I ordered two yards of Spoonflower's new lightweight twill. It came out a little more gray than I expected... not sure what happened but I think maybe it was just how the fabric absorbed the ink? Is that a thing?

Anyways... I had two big challenges/learnings with the skirt (Colette's Ginger Skirt).

1. There's a seam right down the middle front and middle back... so some degree of pattern matching was a must. I give myself a solid A- for matching the front/back seams, but basically ignoring the side seams and waistband.

2. The INVISIBLE ZIPPER UGHGHUGHGHGU. I give myself a 4/10 for this one. I got the sucker in... but it required some hand stitching and cursing, several episodes of seam ripping... and I managed to put a hole in the fabric. Don't look too closely. GRRR. Better luck next time.

Overall, I'm very very very happy with the final piece. I was really nervous about the whole thing because I've attempted a few other things with my custom-printed fabrics... and they've always been kind of disappointing. And I've never made a fitted skirt before... and #mombodproblems.

Anyways, definitely not disappointed about this one. I plan on wearing this one A LOT :o)

The Perfect Bag: A Rifle Paper Co. Super Tote

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 23:51:00 +0000

Over the past month or so I've been working on the world's most beautiful, perfect Super Tote (a pattern by Noodlehead). I say it is the most beautiful because the main fabric is by one of my hands-down favorite designers, Rifle Paper Co.

They are primarily known for their stationary, but they've been branching out the last few years to put their patterns on a variety of things. Most recently, they launched a line of fabric with Cotton + Steel, and I basically lost my mind over it. It's so very very beautiful.

Even the selvedges are beautiful!

I own one other RPC collaboration... a dress from Paper Crown (of Lauren Conrad fame). Here I am wearing it while feeding a newborn calf... as one does.

Farming attire?

So when the fabirc came out, I was all, "AWESOME! Now I can have an entire CLOSET full of floral magicalness without completely busting my wallet!" So I started with a bag. This is my second Super Tote. I made the first with some of my block printed fabric.

Now a diaper bag.

Making the second one was great because I got to make several adjustments to things I didn't love about the first. For example, I ditched the recessed zipper (always gets in my way). I fully lined the exterior pocket plus added a Velcro closure (so that it doesn't gape open and when it does it looks fabulous). I also segmented the interior pocket into two... something I neglected in the first bag for some reason.

Finally, the straps are a bit shorter, but that was my fault because I used linen I already had... and of course didn't actually measure to make sure I had enough. But, whatever, it works.

Out of sequence, in progress short... look at those short handles.

So I can't finish this post without talking about that lining fabric. When I got the Rifle Paper Co. fabric, I thought about using some leftover cotton for the lining... but they just didn't match and I wanted this bag to BE PERFECT. I ran to G Street Fabrics to grab something new, and I was in a hurry... I wanted to take it up a notch, so I grabbed fuchsia linen that looked amazing (of course not really looking at the price tag).

As the lady was cutting it for me, she asked what I was making... a nice blouse or skirt? "Nope, it's for a bag," I said proudly, showing her my swatch of the floral. "A BAG?!" she said incredulously. "And this is going INSIDE the BAG??? THIS is FINE ITALIAN LINEN (dummy)." (I added that subtext). "Um, a really nice bag?" I tried.

Oooooo, luxury.

So yeah, here's my fabulous bag, with the disproportionately expensive lining. I think it totally makes it ;o)

Ahoy! Sewing a Sailor Top and Checking In

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 20:40:00 +0000

Well hello there. It's just me, sitting over here pretending I haven't fallen off the face of the earth (again). Today I'm sharing my experience with CreativeBug's class from Fancy Tiger Crafts on how to make a Sailor Top.

Similar to many of my projects this year, this one took me quite a while to get off the ground thanks to our latest little addition :o) At one point (obviously before he was born) I really thought I would have gobs of time during maternity leave to work on sewing and design projects. I even thought (gasp!) that I might be bored. So I bought some extra fabric and sewing patterns and made big big big plans.

Kaufman Union Dots Chambray

Well... six months later and... now I know better. However, we decided to start our kiddo a few days early at his daycare so that he could get acclimated and I could have a little break before returning to work. So I finally busted out the sewing machine and got to it. (In hindsight, maybe I should have napped?)

I coooould have ironed this before I took a pic... but meh.

I've been wanting to make this top for a while. The pattern is free with your CreativeBug membership, but beware, the instructions are not included so you have to watch the class. Not that that is a bad thing, I just would like to be able to remake it without watching the class again.

Ugh.

The class was very straightforward and I was pretty happy with the top. It looks great with jeans and also works well for work which I was surprised by. My gathering at the neckline is maaaaybe not the most even but I'll forgive my sleep-deprived self for that one. I also had trouble catching the inside of the yoke as I was stitching-in-the-ditch... but again, that's really more about my lazy-a$$ sewing skills vs. the pattern/class.

Doing More Better: Which of These Things is the Most Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 00:28:00 +0000

A few months back, I posted about how I have major commitment issues when it comes to settling on one particular style. It's why my craft box is always overflowing, I'm constantly taking new classes, and none of my patterns and designs look like they came from the same person.

But this is a pretty big issue if you are ever trying to sell or market products, or if you're just trying to DO MORE BETTER. It's great to be an experimenter, creator, dabbler and learner... but how do I find the happy medium between creating stuff I love (and enjoying the process) and creating a recognizable "identity" that people want to invest in?

So today I'm taking a ~~first~~ step and identifying the list of all the styles and techniques I've been dabbling in and assessing each based on how uniquely "me" it is, how comfortable I am with the technique and how sell-able/marketable it is.

Ready??? Let's GO!

Abstract Doodles/Shapes/Patterns

Me-ness: 10
Comfort Level: 10
Sell-able?: 2

Pros: As I mentioned last time, this is the most "me" style. It's something I developed over many years and seems to just magically come from my hands without a lot of effort. It's what initially got me inspired to learn how to make digital, repeat patterns (so that I wasn't spending HOURS filling an entire page, though sometimes that is therapeutic).

Cons: I've had a lot of trouble translating these doodles into digital form or marketable products. They just lose something and feel too simple.

Abstract Q-Tip/Bubble Wrap Acrylic Painting

Me-ness: 10
Comfort Level: 10
Sell-able?: 3

Pros: I started making these funny abstract paintings with Q-Tips a few years ago. I love the colors and the process.

Cons: Again, not 100% sure how to translate these into digital form or products. I'm just not sure what exactly what marketable kind of things they would look good on.

Cartoon Animals and Anthropomorphic Ice Cream Cone Drawings

Me-ness: 6
Comfort Level: 5
Sell-able?: 8

Pros: After trying for a while to make my abstract drawings work, I gave up and started practicing drawing things that look like things. These drawings are super easy to translate into digital patterns and projects.

Cons: While I definitely think these reflect a part of my personality, I tend to feel like I'm faking it and trying too hard to emulate what I see out in the marketplace. I love these patterns, but they come from a very different place than my abstract stuff.

Block printing and screen printing

Me-ness: 4
Comfort Level: 3
Sell-able?: 6

Pros: Printmaking is one area where I can let some of my abstract-self loose and it can be somewhat easily translated into other things.

Cons: I need a lot more practice, refining and again, the translation isn't always perfect. One exception is this veggie print, but I can't really count that because my brilliant, creative husband did the carving and printing.

Hand Lettering

Me-ness: 6
Comfort Level: 5
Sell-able?: 8

Pros: I've been obsessed with handwriting for a long time and have definitely gotten caught up in the hand lettering trend. I've made several gifts and commissions for friends.

Cons: There's a whole 'nother conversation to be had (don't worry, not today) about a specific style of hand lettering that I'm good at. Similar to this list, I could/should be narrowing down what style of lettering is the most "me." Also, I could do with a lot more practice and training to be better at this. Good grief.

Watercolor/Gouache Painting

Me-ness: 3
Comfort Level: 2
Sell-able?: Who knows???

Pro/Cons: I debated even adding this to the list because this is something I basically just stuck my toe in the water with lately. I really enjoy painting, but it is by far the technique I would need to work on a lot. I haven't even really attempted "productizing" this stuff.

What Did We Learn?

Ok! That is a super long list. And as I was writing this, I think I definitely had a few insights:

1) The styles/techniques I feel are the most "me" (and least influenced by outside forces) are sometimes the hardest to translate into something sell-able (because they came from my weird brain, not from something I saw on Pinterest).

And vice versa, the things that I consider sell-able, are things heavily influenced by what I see in the marketplace and are things I feel less comfortable with when it comes to the technique.

2) I think there could be a lot of options to combine styles between what I consider "me" and what I consider sell-able/marketable. Though, it's hard to find the exact right balance...

So I guess that should be my next step: more experimentation! I read this great blog post by a professor at RISD about discovering your style. The bottom line? Trying a million different things and not narrowing yourself down before you're ready. So maybe I'm not as far off the path as I sometimes feel like.

I'll just wrap up by saying as always, I'm sharing all this info because I most certainly am not the only part-time dabbler out there going through this. I hope other people find my process interesting and helpful and stick with me as I take it (slowly) step-by-step.

Eat Your Vegetables: A Pattern Project Nine-ish Months in the Making

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 22 Nov 2015 23:15:00 +0000

Today I wanted to talk about the creation of this veggie pattern I made because, as a creative dabbler, this is how things usually work for me... slowly but surely over a long, long time.

Sometimes I find this really discouraging--the fact that sometimes I just don't have the time and attention span to create whole collections or see things through in a reasonable amount of time (what's "reasonable" anyways?). But sticking to something... even if it takes nine months is still a completely worthwhile and rewarding process. So here we go:

Waaaay back in the early Spring, when we were block printing up a storm, my favorite collaborator, husband and lover of all things gardening and vegetable-ly carved these sweet block prints. I immediately felt like they would make an awesome garden-inspired pattern.

(If you know Kevin, you know that he is obsessed with his garden and is known to be found on any given day out in our back yard collecting a horde of tomatoes as well as eating greens plucked straight from various plants... carrots, peas, lettuce, beets, basically anything.)

Some unspecified amount of time later (May maybe?) I finally got around to printing and scanning them. Here's what the prints looked like when cleaned them up using my computer:

The radish was definitely my favorite. Again, possibly weeks/months later (and after hassling Kevin to carve me a carrot), I finally started playing around with them in Illustrator, added some appropriate colors, and here's the half-drop, repeat pattern I ended up with:

Now we're somewhere into the Fall... maybe late September... I used Spoonflower to print out two yards of it on their basic combed cotton with two particular projects in mind... a blanket and a pillow cover for a specific, farm-y room we're working on (I know, the suspense is killing you right???).

Here's what the fabric looked like along with other fabrics I picked out for the room.

And TADA! After months in the making, and a lot of sitting around and doing other things like going to work and taking well-earned naps, the pillow cover and blanket were finally done. (The blanket is back at the top of the post). For the pillow cover, I used the envelope-back method because I like to be able to wash things, but zippers are hard...

For both projects, I chose to use a gold minky fabric for the backs and let me tell you... I'll be happy if I never delve in to using minky EVER AGAIN.

A Brief Aside About Sewing w/ Minky:

One, use safety pins, many many straight pins and a walking foot. Two, use a long stitch length. And three, give yourself an extra hour or two to calm down after you stop tearing your hair out. THEN PUT IN MORE PINS!

End of Aside.

Anyways, as I continue (in obvious fits and starts) to do more better, I felt like this was an important process to share, because I have to remind myself... it's ok if it takes me nine months to go from concept to finishing a final project. I can't get discouraged because I'm a little ADD when it comes to stuff and the past nine months have been particularly crazy.

Sometimes out there in the cyber-insta-world it feels like other people are just cranking out amazing stuff left and right... and that is totally cool if they are. But I'm a person with a crazy, full-time job and a lot going on, and I feel like it's so important not to compare my output to full-time professional sewers/bloggers/artists.

So, I'm celebrating the completion of these small, very personal projects, taking a breather... and then jumping in to the next project!

Ink, Print, Moo, Repeat: CreativeBug's Screen Printing for Beginners

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 02:34:00 +0000

Four or five years ago Kevin and I bought a Speedball screen printing kit to experiment with. Kevin made a few shirts, including these shirts for Team Battery Brewing, but I pretty much just helped because I found the whole process kind of intimidating... a lot of setup and A LOT of clean up.

But as I was browsing CreativeBug's classes I saw this class for beginners, taught by Hilary Williams, that used tracing paper stencils as opposed to blocking fluid. So I figured that it was more my speed. I have to admit though, it still felt like a lot of work. Man, this makes me sound super lazy...

Boo tracing paper!

Basically, you cut out a stencil in tracing paper, tape it to the back of the screen and pull your prints. But, I learned pretty quickly that the tracing paper was a no go. It wouldn't lay flat and the edges bled a lot (see left). So I upgraded to Contact paper, which was a significant improvement, but I still had to practice quite a bit to get the right amount of ink and the right technique.

My biggest struggle was positioning the paper... Our screen is kind of stained from previous projects so it was basically impossible to see the CLEAR Contact paper stencil in order to "register" the paper... which ultimately led to some guesswork/slightly off-centered noses. I didn't take any pictures of the actual printing process because I can't multi-task. The other thing that made this difficult for me was just the waiting around for my screen to dry in between attempts. I think people who do this a lot probably have multiple screens and a lot more patience than me.

Yay Contact paper!

Overall though, I think Hilary gave some awesome tips about screen printing in general. She did a great job of balancing simple instructions without making it too basic/boring if that makes sense. It was easy, but still engaging. I watched the videos ahead of time and then basically remembered the steps as I went so there was no pausing, backing up, pausing, replaying, to figure out what I was supposed to do. This is HUGE in my book.

And even though my noses were kind of crooked, I was pretty pleased with the results. I think this cow will look very cute in a certain cow/farm themed room we're working on ;o) And even though I had a couple of times (grrr tracing paper) where I was ready to throw in the towel, I'm glad I stuck it out. TBD on how soon I'll dive into it again, but definitely a fun first try. Christmas cards maybe?

Definitely another great CreativeBug class! What next? Embroidery perhaps?

Fall Inspiration For People Who Just Aren't That in to Fall

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 02:41:00 +0000

Oh hey there. I know I just dropped off the face of the blog/earth for a few months and BLAMMO it's Fall now. Even though I'm grateful this year in particular for the break in 90+ degree days... Fall is probably my least favorite season on average. BUT, I'm trying to be more positive, so here's a list of things I actually DO like about Fall:

1. Plaid

It's possibly because I was forced to wear nothing but navy blue plaid to school for many years, but I have a strange affinity for all things tartan.

Have you ever seen this website, Plaid Maker, that lets you generate/download your own custom plaids? It's so much fun! Maybe this year I will upload a swatch to Spoonflower and print my very own plaid fabric for EVERYTHING. Brilliant!

2. Halloween (Candy and Pumpkin Carving)

Ever since we bought a house, Halloween has become a personal favorite holiday. Like a nerd, I like to decorate our stoop with fake spider webs and tombstones and purchase too much candy to ~~hand out~~ eat.

This year I felt like our decorations were insufficient so I sewed up this little front door pumpkin banner with some burlap and canvas I had on hand. I feel like one of those huge craft nerds when I say that I had all the materials for this ON HAND.

3. Baking

While baking is not necessarily limited to the Fall months (scoff)... I've recently been watching a lot of episodes of The Great British Baking Show. It is the best. Also, because of the reduction of 90+ degree days it is now bearable to turn our oven on.

We went apple picking a few weekends ago and picked about 20.5 lbs... so that's a lot to work with. I've made biscuits, apple cake, apple muffins and (ambitiously) Tarte Tatin.

So anywho, that's what I've been up to. Hopefully have some new sewing and artwork projects on the horizon, and have been skimming Creative Bug for my next class. Feel free to chime in with suggestions!

Advice I Have Not Taken: My Thoughts on Picking a Style

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 01:09:00 +0000

A few weeks ago as I was ruminating over my place in the world, I mentioned that my latest, biggest fear was that everything I’m doing is NOT GOOD ENOUGH (crazy talk, right?... right?) and I’m progressively trying to improve and DO MORE BETTER.

One area that’s pretty clear to me where I could be doing better is in having a defined style. I think if you read basically any design blog or book, the #1 piece of advice from artists/business owners/everyone is to have a clear, distinct, unique voice and style.

And as a habitually distracted creative-type… this poses a pretty big challenge for me. Challenge #1: I love experimenting. Experimenting and learning new things is basically all I’ve been doing lately.

Challenge #2: When you are learning new techniques, or when you are researching, or when you are just following other designers on social media… it’s tough not to be influenced. In my mind it works this way, “oh look, I love this style and it is super popular right now, I should do something like that.”

Neither of these are necessarily BAD in my mind, and let me be clear, I’m not talking about COPYING someone else’s style (because, let’s be honest, I don’t have the attention span or talent to even go there).

But when you are reading day-in-and-day-out that you need a refined style… that you need to pick one thing to be good at... it makes you think a lot (and possibly worry some more about being not good enough).

And to me, there’s at least one style that I think is clearly “me.” And if you have known me for any period of time… this will not surprise you in any way whatsoever. And those are the doodles.

I started this blog to share my cover-the-page-with-weird-shapes doodles, like the ones throughout this post. It’s probably the only kind of drawing that comes naturally to me and that isn’t really influenced by other things I see.

I just get obsessed with a shape, develop that shape, and then go nuts with that shape. I have done this since I could hold a pen in my hand. I just love, hand-drawn, tiny, repetitive patterns. Like this:

Now the challenge is: how do I embrace that? How do I develop that in to something? How do I take what else I’ve learned to do and incorporate those things?

The answer: I don’t know. And as I’ve said before… I’m trying to share and embrace the process and worry less about not being there yet. So stay tuned and we’ll find out what happens together. Needless to say, there will definitely still be experimenting.

Washing With Color: CreativeBug's Watercolor Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 01:15:00 +0000

Happy summer people! I just wrapped up CreativeBug's Beginner and Intermediate Watercolor classes taught by artist Yao Cheng. I loved her rapid-fire, just-go-with-it and move on style. The pieces came together quickly, so that even if something didn't turn out great... it was easy to move on to the next thing. Here's a quick run down and a few samples of some of the work I did during the class.

In the beginning class, Yao starts with color theory, basic brush strokes and a few abstracts. In the second half she turns her focus to leaves, trees and wreaths. The abstracts were fun, but I was really impressed how she conveyed the ease of the natural subjects. I had no idea I could paint things like this! Room for improvement but I love them!

I took many art classes as a kid from an amazing artist in Jacksonville, Jennie Szaltis. She taught me to love a number of mediums including batik, but I have to say I really hated watercolor (which is so sad because really, she is a wonderful teacher/artist). I just felt like I sucked at it. It wasn't my thing. This class really challenged that assumption.

The intermediate class moved into florals, layering and landscapes. One thing that is cool about watercolor is that sometimes things look really different when they dry. The peony on the left looked miserable when I finished, but I actually kind of love how it dried. Magic!

Here's a bouquet. Again, I liked it much more once it dried. I was using some older brushes and paints so sometimes things got a little fuzzy.

This was my attempt at the all-over floral pattern. Need to work on my spacing and layout but I felt like there was a lot of potential.

Here was a layering piece. My colors got a little weird (again, old paints maybe?) but it was a cool technique.

Ok, last of all, my landscape... which brings me to the one criticism of the class. To no fault of Yao's, sometimes they've edited the video so that it sort of fast forwards through more detailed sections. I know they don't want the videos to be too long, but with Yao's quick style I found myself having to pause and back up A LOT in order to keep up as I was painting along. Food for thought.

Overall, highly recommend these two classes. I really gained a new appreciation for watercolor and I'm looking forward to playing more and practicing. (See more class reviews here and here).

Inspiration: Photos From Our Cross Country Vacation by Train

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:49:00 +0000

What could possibly compel a person to take a train from Washington D.C. to San Diego, California? The #RomanceoftheRails of course! (It's a thing). I really wanted to share a quick rundown of our recent vacation and (more importantly) some of my favorite photos of the beautiful scenery, flora and fauna we saw along the way...

We started from D.C. to Chicago on the Capitol Limited train which winds it's way through the Appalachians following the Potomac River through Maryland. This is not a picture of the mountains but a bunch of new railroad ties stacked up. I just loved how it looked.

We spent our first night on the train, and then woke up rolling along the shores of Lake Eerie somewhere in Ohio before arriving in Chicago.

Unfortunately Chicago was very cloudy so we didn't take too many pictures there. Later in the day we caught our next train, the Southwest Chief, and crossed the mighty Mississippi River.

To get through the Rocky Mountains, the train climbed through the Raton Pass in New Mexico, an original part of the Sante Fe trail. Super historic if you're in to stuff like that (like ME).

The prairie and the desert were both so surprisingly beautiful. At one point a herd of deer/antelope were running full speed next to the train. We sang Home on the Range, it was amazing.

We stayed for three days in Flagstaff, Arizona and took a day trip up to the Grand Canyon. This was absolutely a highlight of the trip. No picture can do it justice because it's really an amazing feeling to be standing on the edge looking out.

We also drove down to Sedona and hiked Boynton Canyon. It was about 6 mi. round trip. The rocks were unreal. No wonder people think they have magic vortex powers.

There were tons of these agaves all around. I loved the light green color against the bright red/orange rocks.

We hopped our last overnight train to San Diego where we spent another couple of days. We took the Surfliner train from L.A. to San Diego which glides right along the Pacific Ocean. While in San Diego we went out to Coronado Beach to soak it all in (California that is).

I also realized my childhood dream of visiting the San Diego Zoo. I took a ton of pics there so I will probably at some point do a whole post about that, but I loved this big sloth who was feeling surprisingly spunky when we passed by.

All in all, it seems cliche' but this was an awesome way to see the country. Even the factories and farms through the Midwest were beautiful and fascinating to see. Riding along, staring out the window for hours, getting a real sense of the size of the U.S., and watching the landscape melt from hills to mountains to GREAT lakes to the rust belt and the bread basket and the prairies and the desert and the mountains and the canyons and the ocean and 12 total states (and D.C.)... there is just no other way to describe the experience except INSPIRING!

A Declaration On Doing More Better

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 26 May 2015 22:18:00 +0000

Several years ago I decided to take a class called The Declaration of You with artist Jessica Swift and career coach Michelle Ward to help me figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. Sadly, and to absolutely no fault of theirs (because they are amazing), I really didn't get anything out of it. Here's why... for a really long time I haven't really understood what or whom I wanted to be (or as a microcosm of this issue... what this blog is about).

On the one hand, I'm incredibly lucky/blessed to have a relatively stable 8+ year career in corporate public relations which has moved me around the country and afforded me a comfortable lifestyle for a practical chick.

On the other hand, I've always dabbled in the creative arts, and I absolutely love having many creative outlets. I started this blog during my first year in the corporate world when I really just wanted to share the doodles I was creating during long teleconferences with my family and friends.

My struggle has always been that these two things have often felt at odds. I have "work me" and "artsy/doodling/sewing/whatever me." I don't really aspire to quit my day job, but I also always feel like I should be doing MORE with my so-called hobbies. And my definition of "more" is very murky...

"Work me" = Peggy Olson... at least in my head

This has been causing me particular stress lately because, for probably the first time, I feel like I've actually been getting a tiny tiny bit of traction in various forums as a result of some of the classes I've taken (1 contest win, 1 Spoonflower sale and 130 new Instagram followers to be exact). Suddenly, I feel this urgent and possibly ridiculous need to capitalize on this tiny tiny bit of momentum or god forbid I miss my chance to do "more."

However, because of my real-life job, I've always had a somewhat time-constrained approach to my creative output. I try things, some turn out ok, some are weird hot messes, some could be better if I actually practiced... and I've always posted all of it, you know, just because. If you look back through this blog you can see what I mean. It's a bit all over the place. And all of this new overthinking has made me feel like none of it is good enough.

I honestly don't know where I'm going with all of this except to say that after some long, hard thinking I've realized: 1. that I really want to do better. I want to practice and take more classes, I want to take less crappy photos, and I want to make things that people really like, and 2. I also want to embrace (and hope others are interested in following) this process I've been going through.

I think there are a lot of people out there like me, trying to do "more" with their hobbies while balancing a full time career (or family, or whatever). I just want to be open and honest about how that's going for me (even when I don't have the time/energy to take perfectly styled photos).

"Doing more better" could be making money, attracting more followers/readers, or just feeling fulfilled.... I haven't figured it out what the actual goal is yet, and it honestly doesn't matter, but I just hope some people will find this mishmash inspiring and join me in my sometimes sloppy/misdirected/messy efforts to doing more... better.

What Have You Learned Lately: Online Creative Class Round Up

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 May 2015 00:59:00 +0000

Over the past two-ish years, I have become obsessed with taking online classes to learn new design and craft skills. As you may know, I never attended any kind of design school (apart from a few basic classes in my Journalism undergrad). Through the years, I was always on the hunt for various art classes, but I could never find the time or motivation to actually go to an in-person class.

But lately I've been noticing a huge crop of new design and craft classes, led by some of my very very favorite artists, cropping up all over! I've dipped my toe in the water here and there, but I wanted to briefly share my experience with the classes I've taken in case anyone else out there has any interest. So here goes!

I Still Love Calligraphy with Melissa Esplin

This was one of the first classes I took back in 2012. At the time I paid $99 plus materials (paper, ink, pen, nibs). Currently the class is $130 and includes materials, and I believe she has been updating her videos and content since then. My favorite part about this class was getting feedback directly from Melissa and the structured practice exercises. I have to admit that I haven't kept up with my pointed-pen practice, but this class really improved my understanding and appreciation of hand lettering. See more...

Pattern Camp with Jessica Swift

This class probably had the MOST impact on me in terms of learning technical skills that I now use all the time to create repeating patterns. I have admired Jess for a long time (and also took her Declaration of You class). I met her at a craft fair once in DC and was completely, ridiculously, embarressingly star struck.

Anyways, Pattern Camp is a great overview on how to make repeating patterns in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I paid $130 for the class and it was worth EVERY PENNY (I believe prices have rightfully gone up but Jess is regularly running specials so check her blog! Worth it!). I already had a copy of Illustrator/Photoshop so I didn't have to pay additional for that.

The videos walk you through each step from concept to creation, and it was great even if you've never used the software in the past. This class offered the option to go through it "live" during a specific weekend which I highly recommend. Jess and my classmates' real time feedback through the Facebook group and webcasts was extremely helpful and generally made me feel like a rockstar. See more...

Design, Carve, Print with Jen Hewett

Jen is another artist that I've been ~~stalking~~ admiring for many years, so when she opened up a new online block printing class I waited less than five minutes to sign up for $99. Like Pattern Camp, this class offered and "live" option, which again, was so much fun which some great teacher/class interaction.

I had tried block printing before but Jen's class really helped me improve my efforts and understand the right materials to use, particularly on fabric. I tried my hand at printing a full yard of fabric to make a tote bag, and also combined several of my block prints with my digital skills to turn out some pretty fun digital patterns. See more...

Creative Bug Fabric Design with Heather Ross, Lizzy House & Denise Schmidt

Creative Bug is a subscription site that I signed up for in March in order to watch their fabric design class co-sponsored by Spoonflower. It's only $4.95/month which seems like a ridiculous steal for the amount of classes and content.

The Fabric Design class was really good in learning more about the artistic process that these three amazing designers use in developing their fabric collections. I really loved their personal stories and seeing how there really was no "right" way to do things. I think it was less helpful in the technical department (where Pattern Camp really excelled), but for $4.95, I enjoyed it immensely. See more...

Creative Bug Drawing & Illustration Basics with Heather Ross

Following the Fabric Design class, I also started watching the Drawing & Illustration Basics class taught by Heather Ross who seems like another person I want to be best friends with (sorry if that is creepy). This class touched on sketching and painting everyday objects and creating conversational artwork. Heather's style isn't exactly the same as mine, but I loved trying something different. Her mantra that everyone can draw was really empowering because I have often felt that I couldn't draw "things that look like things." See more...

Lynda.com Adobe Illustrator Essential Training

Finally, the last class I'll talk about was on Lynda.com. This was another subscription, about $40/month. The site, which was recently purchased by LinkedIn, is geared more towards career development vs. hobbyists, but this class was really helpful and in depth. It definitely gave me a great foundation and more confidence in working with Illustrator which I had never used before.

All in all, I hope to keep jumping in to these classes and would love more recommendations if you know of any. I love learning new skills and techniques and really hope that more artists will be sharing their passions through this type of setting in the future!

Drawing & Illustration for Dummies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 May 2015 01:38:00 +0000

Continuing with my spate of recent online classes, I recently finished watching Heather Ross' Drawing & Illustration Basics on Creative Bug. In the next week or so I'm going to be posting a REALLY BIG round-up of all the online classes I've taken, but I wanted to share some of my attempts from Heather's class in particular.

Heather really focuses on drawing everyday objects so we started out with some little things little clothespins and push pins.

Next we moved on to some more complex sketches of things like flowers.

Up to this point in the class, I basically was just drawing whatever she drew, but then I diverted and started sketching some things from our backyard (I mean, it IS spring and EVERYTHING is blooming!)

In the second part of the class she focused on filling in the sketches with gouache, which is a type of opaque watercolor paint that is hard to spell. I was immediately very intimidated, because the bulk of my forays in to painting are decidedly abstract, but I soldiered on at her encouragement that "everyone can draw/paint."

SO I gave it my best effort and was mildly impressed/happy with the result! Lots of room or improvement though.

Finally, she talked a lot about making conversational artwork... again, not something I do naturally... but I loved the little painting she taught us to do of a ladybug hiding under a mushroom. Check out #cbugsketchbook on Instagram to see like 15 of my classmates versions of this... pretty freaking adorable in my opinion.

I think this class was really interesting and pushed me to attempt drawing more things that I usually immediately am like... "nope... can't draw flowers, sorry."

Unrelated to what was taught in the class, I also decided to try my hand at some brush lettering which I really loved and hope to do more of in the future. Sort of an easier (for me) way to get a calligraphic style without the frustration of bending metal nibs (curse my heavy hands!).

Stay tuned for another post coming up in which I will share my deep thoughts and general fangirl-ness from a bunch of the online classes I've taken. If you've been thinking about learning some new stuff... this post will be for you!

Ready, Set, Sew: Race Day Tank Top

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:43:00 +0000

I have to admit that I'm not always the most enthusiastic runner. My motivation has a lot more to do with the clothes than the many other benefits of running. So I decided, after my first tank top turned out pretty well, I needed to try out Spoonflower's Performance Pique fabric to make a running tank for the Pikes Peek 10K race this past weekend.

I again used an existing tank top (with a racer back) as the pattern, which worked out pretty well, but I tried another method for the binding and ended up with straps that were slightly different sizes (oops!). I also wish I had made it a little bit longer, but overall it fit pretty well.

I really loved the fabric. It was light and surprisingly great quality. I think it will hold up really well over time. I picked my Block Print Blossom pattern in Hydrangea for the task.

Here's a pic at the finish line! I'm always the happiest when its all over. Photobombed by the Geico Gecko of course.

It was really cold at the start so I wore my jacket through the first few miles, but was delighted when the sun came out! Good thing I remembered my sunscreen ;o)

Anyways, after all my crazy fabric design projects of late, I decided to try something a little different. Here's a sneak peek... more to come!

Feeling Just Fine & Dandelion

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 02:01:00 +0000

Hooray! Today I finally got the swatches from my Fine & Dandelion patterns from Spoonflower! You can see the whole collection here. I was so excited I made this little movie on Instagram:

A video posted by Liz Weaver (@snarkybeagle) on Apr 16, 2015 at 6:28pm PDT

This was definitely a labor of love as I put in a lot of post-full-day-of-real-work hours in to it. Here's what the primary pattern (that I shared first on Instagram two weeks ago) looks like close up...

I really like the natural/linen-looking background color and the detail in the flowers. If you are so inclined, I entered it in to the final Creative Bug Fabric Design Challenge and I would greatly appreciate your vote (no login is necessary)! Here's the other main pattern I made...

As you can tell by the grass in our backyard, the collection was inspired by all the weeds that are coming back in full force now that it is finally Spring! Pretty soon there will be clover and bumblebees all over the place (and I'm totally ok with that!)

Here are all the swatches together. I just want to say thank you again for everyone's encouragement during this process. I know it may not seem like a huge deal but this has been a fun/exhausting creative outlet, and I want to hug every single person who has shown even the tiniest bit of enthusiasm or interest. You guys are the BEST!

Tank Top Sewing and a Fine & Dandelion Sneak Peak!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 18:00:00 +0000

Well, it's been a really exciting week! I made my first sale on Spoonflower (woohoo, $1.35! lol) and I was picked for Creative Bug's Instagram Challenge for their Fabric Design class. More on that in a minute, but first, I recently embarked on learning to sew with knit fabrics.

It actually wasn't as hard as I expected. I don't have a serger, so the seams weren't as pretty as they could be. I also made the mistake of not paying attention to the length vs. width (which really matters with knits). Luckily Spoonflower's Modern Jersey is VERY stretchy in both directions so it still fits well. Lesson learned!

I made the pattern myself (also a first!) from a Banana Republic tank top. I used this tutorial from Anna at Noodlehead as a guide as well as Creative Bug's Sewing a T-Shirt class.

Here's the design/fabric before I cut it. The design was featured this week on Spoonflower's "Hot Trends" this week and can be purchased here in fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap!

As I mentioned earlier, I've added Creative Bug's Fabric Design class to my ever growing list of online class credentials. And I was thrilled to win their Instagram challenge this past week! The feedback from folks was an AMAZING confidence booster. I seriously want to hug every person who liked or commented on the post. Here was my submission:

I've spent the last few days furiously finishing the pattern I posted and creating a whole collection around it to share on Spoonflower. I just got everything uploaded today and ordered the swatches. Here's a sneak peak of a few of the other designs and coordinates. I hope you are as excited as I am!

Block Print Blossoms now on Spoonflower!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 13:57:00 +0000

Guess what! My Block Print Blossom patterns are now on my Spoonflower shop. And, oh yeah, I have a Spoonflower shop! You can order any of the patterns, in three color ways, on a variety of their fabrics, wallpapers and wrapping papers. I got the fabric swatches in the mail this week!

I mentioned a few weeks ago when I posted my block print patterns that I feel like I've come a really long way when it comes to designing patterns. I started this blog almost seven years ago and I started thinking about designing patterns almost five years ago. I fumbled through sort of figuring things out myself and toodled around with that for a long time.

I've always thought about posting my designs on Spoonflower or another print-to-order site like Society 6, Zazzle, etc., but I never really felt like my designs were good enough (whatever that means). In the past year I've taken a lot of design classes (and purchased a new laptop) and I finally feel really proud of what I'm making.

I don't necessarily have big expectations in terms of actually selling stuff, but it was an exciting milestone that I felt like I could. I greatly appreciated the support from many friends and classmates that were a huge confidence booster. Anyways there's always a long ways to go, but I'm excited to share these patterns and I hope you will visit my Spoonflower shop to take a look :)

**UPDATED 4/18** I just got a whole yard of the main fabric (in hydrangea) to make in to a running top! So excited! Check it out:

Let's Ride! Block Print Bicycle Artwork

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 01:27:00 +0000

Last year we finished our basement and moved our TV downstairs. Since then, there's been this really big blank space on the wall in our living room and I'm happy to announce... we filled it! (Oh homeownership... the little things we get psyched for... and also take an ENTIRE YEAR to do...)

Also note, Kevin made an awesome cabinet out of an old pinball cabinet... but that's another story. We used CVS to print a 36x24" canvas with a block print Kevin designed a few years back. They were having a 50 percent off sale so it ended up being about $50. I was relieved that the overall quality was great! It turned out a little darker than expected (it's navy in person, see original below).

Above is the original linoleum carving and the print that I scanned. I used Photoshop to enlarge, tidy and change the color to blue. Here's the image I uploaded:

Another successful block printing project complete!

It's Almost Here! Spring Block Print Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 17:35:00 +0000

Despite getting about seven inches of snow this past week, today's 50+ degree temperatures are making me feel like I can finally be hopeful that winter is almost over! Woohoo! In light of this general elation, I'm excited to share these new patterns:

I really enjoyed the tactile experience of block printing the past few weeks (and sewing some sweet projects)... but I was ready for some instant gratification. So I scanned my favorite flower block prints and created some new repeating patterns in my favorite Spring, flower-inspired colors!

This isn't the first time I've digitized block prints, but I think we all can agree... I've come a long way baby! I love progress :)

Anyways, fingers crossed I won't be back here next week posting more snow pics on Instagram... that is unless they are like this amazing beagle snow video... We'll see!

ZZZzzzippp! Block printed sewing projects

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 02:09:00 +0000

One side effect of doing all this block printing is creating a bunch of fabric... and that fabric has been screaming to be used. I have an over abundance of fabric already so I needed some quick projects.

I started with a little zipper pouch because there's no such thing as having too many zipper pouches. Ammirite?! I used another scrap for the inside.

Next I took on something just a liiiiiitle more (or a lot more) ambitious... Noodlehead's Super Tote.

I printed this fabric specifically for this project and it took about two hours-ish to do. So much rolling. You can also see the lovely necklace holding frame Kevin made me for my birthday :o) Another pic of the bag:

The bag has an exterior pocket, recessed zipper and a nice elastic pocket (not picture cause I just couldn't get a good angle). It's such a great pattern and I took the bag to Charlottesville this weekend... this bag is huge! It fit a ton of stuff for the weekend.

Anyways, more fabric and projects to come!

So Long Parks & Rec!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 03:17:00 +0000

I will miss you Leslie Knope, you beautiful land mermaid. So smart, so wise, so waffle-ful :)

Where's the snow?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 03:13:00 +0000

It seems like this year we haven't gotten as much snow as last year (knock on wood). In fact I think it's supposed to get up in the 50s this weekend! The one thing I love about snow are the shapes. Having grown up in Florida, I still love to look at snowflakes really close up.

Anyways, snow was clearly the inspiration for these patterns. I kept meaning to create more patterns for the set, but instead I just focused on two patterns and practiced putting them in to different color ways. Last year, I did this doodle with chalk so I just adapted the shapes a little.

Not to turn all 3-year-old girl on you, but I also have a deep love for the movie Frozen. I KNOW! The Frozen craze has been going on way to long, but I really love the colors and interiors... so I picked out the colors from some of the screenshots :) I will not apologize for my nerdiness!

Anyways, probably back to block printing this weekend, but I wanted to share these since I was working on them this month! One more...

Design, Carve, Print: Block Printing Class Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 02:45:00 +0000

On Sunday, I finished up Jen Hewett's Design, Carve, Print class by taking some of my stamps and creating repeat patterns. I was surprised how similar it was to doing it digitally... just with a ruler. Maybe a little less precise if you're impatient like me.

Above were the circles. It's hard to tell but the ink was a dark navy. I'm hoping to using this pattern to print fabric for a throw pillow soon-ish.

On Saturday night (after day 1) I ended up staying up pretty late designing and carving another set of blocks. This wasn't a perfectly measured out pattern, but I liked the randomness and the BEES!

Speaking of the BEES! I tried a little half drop repeat. I think I liked the bees among the flowers better.

You can probably tell but I took these last couple photos at night... not as pretty but I think you get the point. I like the shape of these flowers that sort of interlock.

Last one! Another flower, half drop.

Glamour shot! Anyways, I absolutely loved the class. Jen was great and, as always, I appreciated the cheerleading and support of my Facebook groupies/classmates. I have so many ideas for this, its actually a little paralyzing. Would like to take the next step and actually use the fabric for something (or actually print on non-scrap cotton), but we'll see how it goes :)

Design, Carve, Print: Block Printing Class Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 01:17:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, I signed up for Jen Hewett's Design, Carve, Print class. I've been admiring Jen's handiwork for several years. I was psyched to sign up for another weekend, online design class after how much I loved Pattern Camp.

This class is decidedly more hands on vs. techy, which was refreshing. I love digital design but some times it's great to get your hands messy (in my case EXTREMELY messy). First let's admire my craft/laundry/sewing room when it was still clean-ish:

We started out with some sketching (Kevin also hopped in on some of the action; Bailey decided it was a good time/place to nap).

I took a bunch of old sketches that I thought would be good and was inspired by this pic I found on Pinterest of envelope security lines (I know, weird).

After sketching it was time to transfer and carve. Here's what my block looked like when I transferred the sketches over:

And here was my first round of printing after I had everything carved. The little trees and stars were blocks I carved a while back for other projects but it was good to put them to use.

I think there's a pretty clear distinction between Kevin and my designs. Whereas my designs are generally abstract, Kevin created some awesome peas and running shoe prints (in line with two of his most favorite hobbies). Looking forward to tomorrow's class!

Here comes the snow and block printing (unrelated thoughts)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 22:31:00 +0000

We're expecting some snow in D.C. which kind of stinks because 1. I dislike snow and 2. I was supposed to go to NYC on Wednesday... so we'll see how that goes. But, I've been waiting for an appropriate weather system to come through to finally share this:

Another technique from Pattern Camp applied to a painting I did back in 2010 during D.C.'s famed Snowpocalypse.

In addition, next weekend I'm taking Jen Hewett's Design, Carve, Print online class to learn more about hand printing fabrics. I've been going through all our previous forays in to block printing and found this fun bike Kevin had made. So I whipped that up into a repeat digitally:

For as much as I dislike snow, I'm actually working on another series of snow related patterns (go figure) so come back for that and for the results of our block printing efforts! Happy snow shoveling!