Merry Christmas Lovely Blog Readers: free printable gift tags

Tip: If you make a present pretty enough, it negates the fact that you just wrapped up a package of socks and tried to pass it off as a real present.  Muah, Ha Ha!

 So, I've been on somewhat of a Christmas gift tag making binge this year (who knows why.. maybe because I have never made nice printable ones before).
 

And maybe I was a little inspired by my good friend Julie, who made these ADORABLE tags that I snatched up at the school craft fair.  

 Because when I have lots of projects hanging over me, I think of more, and less urgent ones to do to procrastinate the ones that are harder.  I'm brilliantly stupid and efficient like that.  (oh yeah, and I can't work on secret things when my kids are awake anyway)  First I started with (shhhh) some darling ikea wrapping paper owl designs that I totally just scanned in and digitally filched Ikea's artwork.  For non-commercial purposes... but still my conscience was miffed at me.  Because its not like I don't have artwork I can use... so I made up some Ted ones and printed four of them on label paper (4x6), so I could turn them into sticky tags. 

Freaking cute owls Ikea.  Well played.

Then for some stupid reason, I thought I needed a whole NEW design to print on cardstock for hanging tags.  Why, I do not know.  My brain gets broken when it has too many things to do.  Plus when I do make nice tags, I have always drawn a quick holly and berry sprig on each tag.  So... the thought was to do a really nice prismacolor version that I'd scan in and use forever.  You know, being lazy and all.  So I did. 

But after I printed them all out, I realized that, silly me, I could have used the Ted ones on different paper (and different layout, which I had to do anyway).  (But I guess nice to have one that was holiday themed anyway.)  Yeah, lets just call it Christmas brain, instead of temporary idiocy.  But since it is an image that only works for Christmas, and took me a scant afternoon to do, and I already did all the effort for me, and I'm in the giving spirit... why not give it away?  So I am.  You can have it.  I mean, for personal use.  If you sell it, or re-use my image or change it or take off my copyright, that stealing.  And, rude!  But you won't because you are a nice person.  So, Merry Christmas!!! 

layout/format is for a standard size (8.5x11) piece of paper/labels/cardstock

Homemade Christmas Present Roundup Vol. 1

These are a smattering of presents I have made in years past.  Not to brag, but to share ideas.  Some were made from others tutorials, some I just improvised and some are both: tutorials that I have improvised on.  (Note: the captions are links to the tutorials..)  Happy present making!

DVD travelling art kit

No tutorial for the capes.  Just a hemmed rectangle of fabric, with an elastic casing at the top, and a craft foam applique.  Really easy.

Lunch Money Cuff tutorial: Lemon Squeezy Home

bowtie: Lemon Squeezy Home.  Hat: Sew Liberated

Wall-E instructable, EVE instructable.  Both modified

I know I have more... but I figured I would publish this now, and find more later. Instead of saving this as a draft yet again, because I don't need any more unfinished posts.  Thus the vol 1.  Maybe I'll get around to vol 2 this year, maybe not.   If you ask nicely I probably will though!

 (You can also check out my other tutorials..)

Classic Book Review: Tell Me a Trudy

Funniest book ever.   The pairing of the quirkiness of the story of Lore Segal and the awesome hilarity of Rosemary Wells illustrations is a killer combo.  There are three stories in the book, all told about a girl named Gertrude but who goes by Trudy and a mother and a father and a baby brother Jacob.

 They have adventures with Superman and aliens in their bathroom, and with Aunt Shirley and Cousin Leonard and sharing, and with their copycatting Grandmother.  All of whom are extremely funny characters.  The three stories (or Trudys) are all wonderful, but I think the Superman one is my favorite.

The essence of children is truly captured in the full spectrum: annoying, intelligent, gullible, fair, innocent and hilarious.  Both in Lore Segal's dialog, and in Rosmary Well's evocative illustrations.  I grew up with this book, and it weaved itself in and around our inside jokes and random references to become the stuff of familial legend.  Buy it for yourself or your kids for Christmas, or check it out from the library.  You won't regret it.

Tutorial: Upcycling cereal boxes into carboard mailers

This is so easy I can't believe I haven't thought of this before.   It is brilliant if I do say so myself.  I wish I had thought of this when I was bothering with all of the promotions and whatnot to get a tiny bit of sales with my etsy shop.  Though they will be useful for the new printing run I'm doing of my Ted book.  Just in time for the season of gifting and shipping everything.  Either way I am super happy that I found such a great use for the waste from the grotesque amounts of cereal my children consume.   I will certainly never need to buy another small mailer again! 

 

See, totally easy!  I know I'm going to be using them from now on.  Are you?

Kid Project: Upcycling old broken crayons into swirly coloring sculptures

I did this last year with my kids for their friends, and since it was for gifts, I didn't blog about it then.  That and I'm pretty awful about blogging.  But in honor of the upcoming gifting/making/shopping madness, I wanted to get more homemade gift ideas out there and in my tutorials.  So, this random post which was half written (and of course not finished) was dug gingerly out of the pile of my squandered molding ideas, and with a little spit polish here and there, I present it to you for your crafting pleasure.

These were from candy pretzel molds, so I had to tape up the end so the wax wouldn't run out, but overall it made a great shape for coloring with.

Upcycled Fancy Crayons

Step 1: Peel old crayons.  (kid step)  Perfect job for kid helpers.  You (the adult) can make it easier by taking an exacto knife and cutting through the length of the crayon paper wrapper.


Step 2: Sort out the colors into like piles.  (kid step)  I used a ton of leftover crayons, all different brands.  Some of which had different wax and sparkles and whatnot other components, so it wasn't all totally homogeneous.  Not the best thing, so I would suggest maybe sticking to the same brand.  It still worked though, but next time I think I'll go with all the same sort of crayons.

Step 3: Melt them double boiler style.  (adult job)  You can use a variety of things for this purpose.  But just know it will probably ruin whatever container you use.  So think recycled.  You can start collecting rinsed out tin cans, or I used glass baby food jars.. anything that isn't going to melt with the crayons.  (don't use anything plastic)  And put them in a shallow pot of boiling water.  Make sure the water doesn't go into the crayon containers.

Step 4: Pour the molten wax into molds.  (adult job)  Use tongs or oven mitts or something, because I guarantee whatever you used to house the molten wax will be super hot.  Be careful when you pour!  You can use all sorts of different molds to shape the wax.  I used candy molds this time.  But you can use old ice cube trays, or muffin tins, old prescription bottles or even hollowed out egg shells.  The possibilities are really endless.  (you could get real fancy and make plaster casts of objects and fill it in with wax..)  I also like to swirl and mix two or more colors together.  I try to stick with colors next to or close to each other on the color spectrum (or mix with neutrals, white, brown, greys and black) to avoid really ugly combinations, like what happens when you mix complimentary colors that cancel each other out.  Because they will mix up a bit.  The mixing colors is my favorite part.  Go crazy and have fun with it though!

Step 5: Cool them off completely.  Cool off in freezer (where the wax will contract, making it easy to pop right out of the mold!)



Step 5:  Remove from the mold and color.  (kid step)  Make sure it is totally cooled off and cold, and not even slightly warm at all.  If so it should come right out and be ready to color with!

re-purposed glass baby food jars work great for gifting and/or storage (as well as for melting) can you tell I did this when Liam was still eating baby food?

 There you go!  Enjoy!  It is really fun, and they make fantastic gifts.  If you want more gift making tutorials let me know!

"The Next Big Thing" (theoretically of course, and not at all presumptiously)

I was blog tagged by my lovely friend and supporting authoress Amber June, and it gives me the chance to ramble about my book, and give out probably not previously aforementioned glimpses of my process and background story.  So, here goes: 

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

What is the working title of your book? 

 

Penelope's Perfect Pet

Where did the idea come from for the book? 

Huh, it stems from a few things.  It started with a couple of watercolor illustrations that I was trying my hand at.  To see if I should delve into the illustration thing or not.  Because I am not spread thin enough on my current repertoire of creative/artistic endeavors.  hah!  There is a reason my friends, that this blog is entitled "Rampant Eclecticism".  If you are being polite you can call me a Renaissance Woman.  But honestly and put simply I had previously refused (and still hesitate to do so) to be pegged into one specific genre of artist.  I have a very eclectic skill set.  Which unfortunately means I am master of none of it.... so far.  It is mostly a fear based sort of thing.  (and there are too many awesome things that I wanna do!)  Which I am trying to overcome by focusing on illustration.  Anyway..  I really liked the idea of juxtaposing wild animals into normal everyday life domestic scenes.  I like animals, so the book (and my subsequent actual focus on illustration) sort of evolved from those two pictures. 

The bear is no longer in the book, and I also never finished his setting (he was meant to have trampled a rose bush by a mailbox.)  The elephant is going to be in the book, but not this exact illustration anymore.

What genre does your book fall under?

Children's Picture Book

 

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 

Ummm..  honestly no clue.  Incredibly rarely do they ever make children's books into movies.  And pretty much then, it has got to be a Caldecott winner book at the very least.  You have to be legendary, like Dr. Seuss or Maurice Sendak.  I feel presumptuous enough for one day.  Mostly though, I'm too lazy to really think about it.  Visually when I picture the characters, I picture my daughter Sohvi, who is the model (and partial inspiration for the main character), and my niece and nephews who did all the reference poses as her older siblings.  I don't have any interest in changing that visual image, so I don't want to pick out actors that look like my relatives. 

Sohvi, and my niece and nephews, one of whom is just an interested observer, as they pose for an imagined scene in which they play tug-o-war with a tiger.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Penelope endeavors to dream up and then find the ideal pet for herself, which must also be better in every way to the pets of her siblings.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I would like it to be represented by an agency, though I have yet to even try to find one.  I tried the self publishing thing with my and my sister's Ted the Hamster book, and re-realized not only do I hate self marketing, but I'm also terrible at it.  Either that or I need to face reality and realize it isn't as good as I think.  I was printing them myself (because I could do quality control, and every other financially available alternative looked horrific).  Which is a really, really dumb idea.  Mostly though, the Ted book was a very nice practice in finishing things, so I could convince myself to be able to take on finishing this book, MY baby. 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

First draft?  Not very long.  It isn't really word heavy.  It is very much image heavy.  It was probably written out in one sitting.  Honestly though, I really don't remember.  I started it when my oldest, who is nearly 9, was about a year old.  That was a long time, and many brain cells ago.  And I haven't focused on the writing part of my book for a really long time. 

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Jumanji for its usage of juxtaposed animals.  Where the Wild Things Are in terms of visual storytelling.  I try to have it show you what is happening, rather than tell you.  There are a few pages of only pictures and no (or one or two) words on the page. 

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

As clichéd as it may be, my kids and my husband, who has been my biggest support and listened to my whining crap and encouraged me when I felt like giving up.   It all started when I found myself at home, a new mom adjusting to my new life, in a new city (Portland) and desperately needing to submerge myself deeply into a Real Grown-Up Defined Creative Endeavor.  I had graduated with a bachelor's degree in Visual Art (with no emphasis, I wussed out of the BFA degree) less than a year before and had done virtually nothing with it, besides a couple of boring landscape oil paintings just for fun.  As I had been focused instead on starting a family.  Which was glorious and terrible, and is the hardest and the best thing I will ever do.  But my creative beastie was antsy to say the least.  It refused to be sequestered in the dank corners of my psyche.  And my oldest daughter even as a baby loved picture books.  And I thought, my art could fit in, in a kid's book.  And then, hey, I could do this.   I should do this.  I love words AND art, it is the perfect marriage of my skills.  I will do this.  And so I did.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It has an alligator in a tub, with it's tail in the toilet. What little kid (and me) doesn't think that is the funniest thing ever.

And I'm not going to play by the "rules" and tag anyone. I will link to others in my support group who have done this and throw out the hope that Willow will join in the madness, but no-one is under any obligation to do so.

Amber June (aka A.J. Snodgrass? right?) 
and the lovely J. Larkin

(both of whom are incredibly talented, brilliant, funny and also helpful in bolstering my authorial confidence)

I will also list other illustrators whom I admire and follow, but do not know on a personal level, so the invitation and links to their blog probably may likely not result in a playing of this game. But I would be tickled and flattered if they did. But in the spirit of fellow support for what I would hope to be my peers I will throw out blogs I know of, of these illustrators of whom I admire. Though they are all actually successful in publishing books and I am not. (yet) (cross your fingers)

Sarah Jane
Julie Olson 
Will Terry

Can't we all just get along?

Politics....  (shudder)  Why has this become such a nasty and negative thing?  It has for me at least.  I don't even care which side you are on.  Lately you can tell which side someone is on not based on what candidate they support, but by their hatred of the opposing candidate.  What happened to "United we stand, Divided we fall"?  You think that might be why even after the elections are over we still can't seem to rally together and get anything done?  The rift between the two opposing parties has grown into such a gaping chasm that seems if you attempt to bridge it you risk a grisly death.  Death by vicious villainous rhetoric at least.  Why does it have to be so mean and vile and negative?  Seriously.  I'm all for supporting and endorsing a candidate, but why can't it stop there, instead of feeling compelled then to eschew hatred and all things evil towards the other party?  Seriously, one of these guys is going to win, and we need to be able to work together to fix this mess of a country.  Instead of pointing fingers at who's fault it is.  How can we fix it if we are so divided from the elections we have no time to heal in between.  What happened to compromise?  When did the idea that a politician who compromises is seen as weak?  What happened to the ideals that we learned in Kindergarten, huh?  If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all.  Working together to find a solution that everyone can be happy with.  Everyone learning to share, be nice, and follow the golden rule.  I believe that people generally are trying their best to be good and do what is right according to them.  I like to hope that includes politicians (from both sides).  So, even if we disagree on some issues we can still learn to work together for the greater good.  BUT NOT IF WE KEEP POLARIZING ISSUES!!!  AND CALLING NAMES AND MUDSLINGING AND IN GENERAL JUST BEING MEAN!!  We need to as a country just freaking grow up and learn to work together and play nicely.  Quit throwing sand in the sandbox already.  It just makes everyone uncomfortable and irritated and in reality just ends up exposing all of the hidden cat poop.