Layout...

Working on sizing and layout for the next Celtic knot work stamp sheet. All Loden's work.

Style Library

User hndmadevintage on Etsy put out a call on the forums for people to submit ads for her site, http://www.stylelibrary.net/.

From the site:

Style Library is your handmade and vintage shopping source. When you visit our website you will find hand-picked handmade and vintage items for sale. So if you love surfing through etsy, silkfair, mintd, trunkt, or wherever else, but are just too overwhelmed by the amount of items for sale (or just too busy so search them all), swing by Style Library. We pick out the best items we can find and try to feature new ones each week.

I wanted to take her up on the offer, but have been holding back on much promoting because I've not yet completed the new site. But I realized today that I should just bit the bullet and call the new site "open", even if I still have work to do on the online shopping portion of it. After all, it has pretty much the same amount of content right now that the Maggie Bags site has.

So, I put together an ad and got a quick reply, telling me it was up in the Jewelry section:



Bam - that was fast!

Fairy and elf stamps

As I mention in the last post, I have been working on designs for a rubber stamp sheet that may not be that appropriate for clay and velvet. I learned about a submission deadline for a magazine and I decided I would try to create a set within their stated theme.

I feel a bit out of practice - used to trying to create bolder more solid images - and I do sometimes wonder how "cute" I want to go with things. Ha. Shall see.

I've loaded images of the different fairies and sprites in progress onto my Flickr account. I go into some detail about the images in the description. Suppose I should have saved that text for the blog. Oops.

I've started pasting patterned layers under the images, as well as putting "watermarks" above the images. I've just been advised by so many people to take these kinds of precautions when putting things online. I know that it makes it less pleasant to look at... may try to figure something else out in the future.

I did mean to mean to work on more images today, but have spent so much time getting this blog back in order and loading things on Flickr!

Ah well...

Berry and Leaf Rubber Stamp Set... Almost There

I think I am almost ready to send in the file for the next stamp sheet set, which is based on the images I've been working on (and posting about).

On my Flickr account I've posted other images that I have been working on that will probably feed into the 4th rubber stamp sheet that will be appropriate for use with velvet and clay. Probably more of the nature/leaf theme.

I may have a sheet ready before that, though, which will be smaller, more delicate images of fairies and elves. I am trying to get things ready for a submission deadline and that has made me rethink my priorities. Initially, I was assuming that I would focus on stamps that can be used for more than paper, but this project came up and I decided I would give it a try.

I will post about that next.

Flickr...

OK - "broke down" and created a Flickr account.

See the little slideshow, to the upper right of the page, or follow the link above. I will add more images and details later, but I did include some background information in the descriptions for some of the images - such as the when/how they came about.

I'm getting a lot done tonight... just no actual art!

Art Geekery

(Originally posted Tuesday, February 12, 2008)

I COULD be faster/more efficient at producing art, but like pretty much all people who enjoy arts & crafts, I get caught up in the tactile experience. (My Mom says that I would seem mesmerized when we'd go to fabric stores when I was a kid.)

I am still not a total convert to doing art digitally - I "need" to hold an actual ink-producing pen or marker in my hand for a lot of things - but one thing that does sometimes give me a kick is how the different versions of an image look in thumbnail view in my computer files. Especially when the images are boldly black and white.

Maybe it is just me...