Crafting Inspiration from the New Etude House Catalogue

 I received the new Etude House catalogue in the mail!  It’s so lovely that I had to take a few pictures to share.  Earlier this year a snail mail pal in Korea sent me a copy of their last catalogue.  I completely fell in love with the design and she was kind enough to send me a copy of the newest one when it came out.  Their catalogues are themed around a doll house and are designed like a scrapbook.  They’re so fun to look through and if you do any kind of collage work there is a lot to be inspired by.

All of their products have adorably designed packaging.  I don’t wear make up, but I’m a sucker for pinks and pastels.  They provide great pallet inspiration.

This style cartoon would make a fun scrapbooking technique, don’t you think? 

 

  

In the back of this issue there was a little project idea for a kind of clothes line version of a mood board.  They stretched a few feet of bakers twine across a wall, and then used mini clothes pins to hang up little bits of decorative ephemera.  Try it out!

Vintage Goodies from Little Maison and Antiquaria

I was very excited to learn that I was winner of the Antiquaria giveaway hosted by Little Maison.  Insert “I never win anything” speech here.  The set of four vintage napkins arrived in the mail last week and were more lovely than expected.  The colors are so bright and perfect for Fall.  I’m already trying to think of an excuse to plan a little dinner around them.  Also, they were accompanied by the most adorable card from Peter Pauper Press.  I’m a stationery junkie so of course that went right up on my wall.

Thanks a bunch!

 

Murakami Artist Trading Card

Anyone else make artist trading cards?  I started creating and collecting them about four years ago.  They’re really great for when you have an idea you want to work out for a larger piece or for when you feel like doing a little collage work, and they make terrific snail mail.  Here’s a Haruki Murakami inspired one I made and mailed out the other day – with matching envelope!

Neon Cloud Stickers

It’s been a busy Friday.  This week we got behind on a lot of cleaning around the house and I’ve been trying to make up for it all day.  Usually, I don’t enjoy cleaning, but today I was in one of those moods where all the little things were jumping out at me like the drapes that needed washing and the spring coasters that are out of season.  I did manage to squeeze in a little creative time this afternoon to try making some stickers.

This is a project I’ve been thinking about for a while, but I never have the time to dedicate to it.  While I was cleaning up some paper scraps I started playing around with layering different colors and patterns and decided today I would give the stickers a try.

I cut out some little cloud shapes from neon paper scraps and tore apart a few used envelopes.  I affixed the security paper from the envelopes to some self-adhesive laminating sheets using spray adhesive.  After those dried I applied the neon clouds the same way.

I’m still not sure how I want to cut them out yet, but I’m happy with the results so far.  The security paper patterns really make the neon colors pop.  It gives the clouds a kind of levitating effect that is pretty cool.  On the down side, I now have spray adhesive all over the front steps of the house and will have to try to scrub it off the cement.  The price of crafting!

Have a lovely and productive weekend everyone!

Monday Picks: Goodbye Summer

Summer is coming to a close.  I spent the last few weekends enjoying the warm weather outdoors at a lovely butterfly garden, a nature hike, and of course the county fair.  Here are my picks for this Monday, inspired by the bright colors and flowers I will miss, though I have a feeling we won’t need to put the sunglasses away any time soon.

  

Recycled summer paper bunting from Peony and Thistle

 Vintage pink and gold sunglasses from Holdenism

 Neon wooden bowls from Wind & Willow Home

 Floral stud earrings from Starlight Woods 

Have a beautiful week!