The DIY Holiday Card

I heard a piece on the radio last week about the decline of the annual holiday card.  And you know what?  It made me sad.  I love social media, I love how connected we can be, I love seeing my friend-from-elementary-school's kids growing up on Facebook.  But I also love mail.  Oh, how I love mail!  And I love seeing those cute family photos, I love hanging them up across the mantle, and I actually keep them.  I do.  I have a special album.  I'm not a keeper of many things, but yes, I keep those holiday cards.  

The thing I don't love is how expensive it can be to have a nice card printed.  So - you knew where this was going, didn't you? - I made my own!

First, I bought some kraft paper card stock and envelopes, some cute Christmas washi tape, 

and pulled out my glue and paper trimmer.

Next, I went to an online infographics design house (like Piktochart) and played with one of 

their free pictograph designs, changing a font here, switching up the layout there, 

to make our year-in-review blurb.  

Then, I printed it out, two on a page, and took it to my local copy center 

to have it copied onto my card stock.

Trimmed it all up to make 5"x7" cards.

Then, I took my stack of family photos - which we took ourselves using a tripod and my husband's mad photo editing skills, then had printed at Costco - and using a dot of glue in the middle, and washi tape at the edges, attached them to the back of the card.  

Done!  Here's the front and back.  And each card cost about 70 cents, including the envelope.

Happy Holidays!

Sketchbook Tuesday

Maybe you've seen books like this, and maybe you've even bought them for your kids.  But they're fun for grown-ups, too!  Especially if you only have a minute or two - keeping a book like this around is a great way to keep sketching even if you're busy.

Happy sketching!

Sketchbook Tuesday: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night (A Tutorial!)

Today's sketch is a little bit of a cheat, since I didn't make it in the last week.  But it's also a good reminder to pick up and start again!  

One of the reasons I was too busy to sketch: I was making shepherd costumes, without a pattern, from sheets!  And in case you ever need to make easy-peasy "you'll only wear it this once so it doesn't really matter if it's perfect" shepherd costumes, I took photos of some of the process for you!

You'll need old sheets, a t-shirt in roughly the size you're making the costume.

First, cut the top edge off the sheet - you can use it later for a sash/tie/whatever.

Next, fold your fabric into two layers, then lay the t-shirt on top to get a rough idea of size.  Cut the two layers bigger than the t-shirt, to allow for seams and because sheets don't stretch like t-shirts do.  You'll have two really long rectangles.  Keep them together for the next bit.

Now line up the top of the shirt with the top (short end) of your rectangles.  Stretch the neck opening of the t-shirt out both ways to get a rough idea of the neck opening you'll need for the tunic.  Use pins to mark the opening, then stitch it together like so:

Now, let's make sleeves.  Take the extra sheet material, that you cut off from the main part of the tunic, above.  Fold it into two layers, using the sleeve of the t-shirt as a guide for how wide the sleeve needs to be.  Make it wider than the t-shirt sleeve, again for seam allowance and because this fabric really doesn't stretch.

Cut the sleeve out to the width and length you want it, leaving it folded in the layers (don't cut on the fold).

Next, open the main part of the costume, and line the center of the sleeve up with the seam you made when you created the neck opening.  Stitch the sleeves to the tunic.  When you're finished, if you open up the whole thing and lay it out, it should look like this:

Okay, final step!  Fold the tunic in half, with right sides together, and the top of the tunic making the fold.  Stitch from the wrist of the sleeve, all the way to the underarm, then make a 90 degree angle and stitch all the way down the length of the tunic.  Repeat on the other side.

Now flip it right side out, and you're done!

If the neck opening is too small, just cut a small notch in the middle front of the opening, and rip the fabric until it's big enough - we're going for rustic, right?  And if the tunic is too long, just cut/rip the bottom edge to make it the right length.

Use your extra pieces of fabric to make sashes, ties, cowls, headpieces, whatever!  I ended up making costumes for 4 adults and 2 kids out of 4 big sheets from the thrift store.  Super cheap and easy.

Romance at the Book Festival.

On our first date, my husband took me to Northwest Bookfest.  Really, he was a keeper from day one.  Most of the day is a heady blur, but I do remember some of the amazing book art on display.  And I was most impressed with the books that had been altered in some way.  Growing up in a family that reverenced books to the degree we did, it had never occurred to me to take a sharp blade and some glue to one - the horror!  So my world opened up to new ideas, I said "yes" 3 months later, and we are living happily ever after.  

I thought about that day recently, when I saw an idea for a journal made from an old book.  It looked fairly simple to do, and more than that it looked like fun.  And it was.  Here's a peek at the results:

What do you think?  Seriously, they were so much fun, I think everyone should make them.  

Of course, if you'd rather, you can find them in my shop.

Sketchbook Tuesday: Even if it Sucks!

I must confess, with the wonderful busyness of the Thanksgiving holiday last week, I didn't take the time to sketch until late, late last night.  And it's not even all that original.  Sometimes, just to keep drawing, I will find an inspiring image and do my best to copy it - whether it be the whole thing or just some element.  I even keep a board on Pinterest just exactly for that purpose - if you're interested, you can find my Inspiration board here.

Last week also left no time to blog, but I have some fun things to show you soon, so don't give up on me just yet!

Sketchbook Tuesday and A Very Exciting Happening

As promised, here is this week's offering from my sketchbook!

And, I am pleased as punch to announce another offering I've been working on for weeks and weeks and weeks: The Paper Loom is now an open shop on Esty!  

Here's a little bit of what you'll find there, with more to come soon!

At the Table

One of my favorite blogs for a long time (about 8 years) has been SouleMama.  And one of my favorite things she posts often about is the goings on at her family's kitchen table.  It makes me think about kitchen tables I have known and loved, and all the Important Things that happen in such a common-yet-intimate space.  With that in mind, and with a very table-centric holiday right around the corner, here is the first of what I hope will become a regular feature here.  It's not a kitchen table (our kitchen is too small, so we just have a dining room.  Which suits us just fine) but it's well loved and well used, and I hope it will sometimes be an inspiration to you.

(Note: these are photos from the last two Thanksgivings ... I still don't know how it's all going to come together this year.)

Thanksgiving Tables

A couple of years ago, we hosted my husband's family for Thanksgiving dinner.  And while I own and sometimes use nice china dishes (they were my mom's and I grew up using them at every major holiday) this time I wanted to keep it simple and casual.  I used our everyday dishes and place mats, dressed up with gratitude journals as place cards.  A simple centerpiece (because we were just going to move it anyway to make room for all that food!) and I was done.  For the kids, I covered the table with butcher paper, outlined "place mats" set out some crayons and let them go to town.  Again, super simple, easy, and fun.

Thanksgiving Traditions

And while we're on the subject of Thanksgiving, here are two of my very favorite traditions.  I love them because they're fun, and because they're unique to our little family in that neither my husband nor I grew up with either of them - we started them ourselves.  And there's just something really nice about that.  

The first is a gratitude chain, where each piece of paper has written on it something one of us is grateful for.  We start writing them just after Halloween and go all the way until Thanksgiving day.  Anyone who visits our house is welcome to participate, and we keep the chain and add to it every year.  I love that when we look at it we can see how our kids have grown and matured, and sometimes we'll spot something written by an extended family member or friend.  

The second began just last year, and I wasn't sure it was going to stick until my 6-year-old son asked if we could do it again this year.  The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving is the last night any of us really wants to make dinner - after planning and prepping and cooking like mad for the holiday feast, nobody feels like cooking much at all.  And so, while the kids had their annual screening of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving", we replicated Snoopy's Thanksgiving dinner.  At first we thought it would just be funny - and it was - but it also prompted some good conversation about gratitude, Charlie Brown style.  I'm so excited to do it again this year!

How about you?  What's happening at your table?  What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?

Sketchbook Tuesday

Well, hello there.  Let's just get out the most terrifying aspect of this blog and stare it right in the face, shall we?

A recent page from my sketchbook.

Years ago, I read a magazine interview with children's book author/illustrator Mo Willems, wherein he mentioned how unfortunate it is that most adults don't draw.  He pointed out that people don't stop playing basketball when they realize they're not going to be professionals, but that's exactly what we do with drawing - somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we decide we're no good at it and then we quit.  And we shouldn't.  (He says basically the same thing in this NPR story.)  While it struck me, and I wholeheartedly agreed, I didn't do anything about it myself.

And then, one day recently, I saw this:

You can buy it here, at Wit & Whistle.

It was all the permission I needed to get out my sketchbook and draw something every day.  Even if it sucked.  So I did ... for a while.  But then life, as it happens, happened.  And I got too busy.  Which is a lame excuse, even if it's my only one.  Which brings us here.  I have this theory that if I decide - and promise - I'm going to, say, post something from my sketchbook every Tuesday, that I will find the time to actually put something in my sketchbook to post.  Because you'll be expecting it.  And I certainly don't want to let you down.

So that's what I'm going to do.  Post something from my sketchbook every Tuesday.  

Even if it sucks.  

Because it's good for me.  

And maybe - just maybe - it will inspire you to pick up your own sketchbook and start drawing.  

Even if it sucks.  

Because it's good for you, too.

Welcome.

The last of the dahlias.

The potato beds.

This has been the kids' garden space.
But as they become more involved in the family garden as a whole,
I have hopes to reclaim it and make it a "witch's garden" with herbs both healing and delicious.

Autumn is in full swing around here, and last week I finally put our garden beds to rest for the season.  Except for the ones with carrots in them: unless it snows, we'll keep pulling them fresh out of the ground as we need them all winter.

We're not the greatest gardeners ever, but every year we learn new things.  And every autumn when we cover the beds with leaves raked from the yard, I can't help but imagine what we'll fill them with in the springtime.  

It's one of those times when an ending feels just like a clean beginning.

Which is a little like this blog.  

Welcome to The Paper Loom, friends.