Homemade Holidays

After working my fair share of time in retail, more specifically a toy store, I am becoming increasingly more aware of the over-priced garbage that is pushed upon us as soon as October hits us. Everything from the "hottest kid's do-dad gadget" to seasonal decorations, even seasonal groceries, get a huge mark-up. This country has moved from holidays being centered around family, and warmth and well being. Now, our kids "need" toys and video games to stimulate them enough to even sit in a family room with their older siblings, parents and other relatives. Where am I going with this? As many of you know, we are heading to NYC the weekend before Christmas. This is will be a huge budget suck for us. As a result we looked for ways to made a homemade holiday season.

First project: Handmade Greeting Cards! It was a long road but we finally got them done. Our design was based on a something I saw a while back in a crafters' community using paint chips. I didn't like the original idea for us. So we did some experimenting. The trees themselves and the backgrounds were made completely from paint chips! We found a few templates and I cut the pieces out from different chips.

We arrange them all playing with different shapes, colors and textures. Each tree was attached to the paint chips of different colors. BK stamped the stops of them with "Happy Holidays". I stamped snowflakes on plain ivory cardstock. Some got glitter ribbon and others didn't. That is the short and sweet of it. Feel free to ask questions about them.

She is here!

Emmeline Cambria Johnson
11/3/2010 5:34pm
4 lbs 7oz 17"

I hope everyone joins me in welcoming Ms. Elly Johnson into the world. She is a small little peanut, but she beautiful. I am rushing to finish a couple items I have for her. I will soon be sharing those items here too. Congrats Heather and Brent! We can all breathe a sigh of relief. I cannot wait to meet this beautiful little girl!

Albert Camus Autumn Plaque

This is the first item for the Nine14 Design shops that I have made that are not based on something that was created for a friend or family member. This project was born from a mixture of inspirations from the season and the supplies I have in the office right now.

For those that do not know, Albert Camus was a key philosopher in the 20th century and extraordinary writer. Often his works and ideas are linked to existentialism. This is partially incorrect, considering Camus' ideas and personal philosophies were deeply rooted in absurdism. I went with the existentialism, and left a lot of the edges rough and did not try to worry about perfection.

This piece is 3X5 inches with a decoratively cut border. Unlike the other plaques I have been working on, I did not start by sanding the edges. There were some naturally rough edges because of the wood grain, and I left that way. It adds new texture and personality.

The whole thing was started by painting the border dark "chocolately" brown. As you can see in the picture, I taped off the front and then added several layers of the brown. After waiting a few hours and making a few mistakes, I painted the face plum purple.

Originally, I had been planning on keeping the face natural wood, and painting the quote on. My handwriting can be iffy at times. Although the trace of the quote came out fine, when it came time to paint the words, it just looked jumbled. This is when I switched to decoupage.

The letters and quote were attached using craft glue and then decoupage medium was used on top. There are a total of five layers of decoupage medium over the top. This gave the face of the plaque quite the sheen. The fluidity of the medium lifted some of the plum paint and showed off the raw wood underneath. I loved that look so much, I didn't correct it.

The plain brown border seemed somewhat bland compared to the face of the plaque. I took a sealing medium, added it to the same dark brown I had used at first, and added a metallic gold acrylic paint. The mixture produced a "melted milk chocolate" look.

The whole thing was finished with lavender suede lacing, and four silk flowers. The "workings" were covered with a green cotton fabric.

This item is ready to be shipped! No personalization or customization needed for this one. To purchase this plaque, please visit my artfire.com listing or etsy listing.

Literature Line

I am in the process of starting a line of quotes from great authors and great novels. First up is an Autumn plaque with an Albert Camus quote on it. I might do some love ones, and some other season specific ones from all different writers. These will all be ready to ship items!

The Elly Collection: An ExcELLYnt Adventure

The first items of The Elly Collection have been finished and sent off to be used in setting up Elly's "nursery". Since they have been received, I can finally talk about them and share them with everyone else.

These are 4 3/4 inch wooden block letters that had a white base paint. I lightly sanded the surfaces to be painted to allow something for the paint to adhere to. Using some random circular stickers I had used for another project, I marked off the dots for the pattern. A few layers of bright magenta went over each of the letters, including the stickers.

The letters sat for a few days to allow them to completely dry. When they were ready, I carefully removed the stickers to reveal the plain white circles. I used a "mocha" brown, and a minty green to make most of the dots. I also left some of the dots empty and used white paint to touch up.

After a few hours (days) of carefully calculating which dot should be which color, each dot was completely filled in and a second layer was added. The final touch was the ribbon hangers. I had done ribbon hangers before but with a different style and size letters. These were much more weight for the standard one ribbon strand, especially the sheer I had originally picked. So I finished it with both the sheer white and a matching satin in pink. These letters also fit in a tabletop holder that the bottoms just slide into.

This set is listed on Artfire.com as a set of three or four. Because of the time requirement, the polka dot sets cost a little bit more than everything else. Circles are nasty little buggers and required a lot of retouching, and meticulous brush strokes.

The Elly Collection

The moment I have been waiting for. My biggest venture yet is The Elly Collection. I first introduced this collection in a posting on my other blog Your Girl For All Season(ings). A very close friend of mine and a supporter of my creative ventures is expecting her daughter Elly in November 2010. This collection is dedicated to them.

The main color scheme and accessories will be based on the baby's nursery. The main colors are brown, pink, and green. Polka dots will be the main pattern reflected throughout the collection. Based on all her crazy movements in the womb, her parents said that Elly reminded them of a monkey. So monkeys will be another key factor in the collection as well.

My friend has really gone through a lot during her pregnancy and throughout it all she has been a huge support for me. I feel honored to be able to use her and her daughter as an inspiration for my creative ideas. This has lead to a collection filled with things outside of the wooden realm. So stay tuned for much more to come!

Some of the items to be included in this collection include:

• An ExcELLYnt Adventure
• Monkey See, Monkey Do
• Swinging on a Vine
  

K is for Karolyn

Karolyn Marie is a niece of someone special in my life. He did not quite know what to get her, so I took the reigns and created this K for her. This is a 9inch wooden block with two keyholes in the back for hanging. I started with a white base and gave the edges and face a light sanding. There are 2 coats of light orange paint. Then I sponged on a light layer of bright magenta.

The letter was finished with a few embellishments. The edges were painted with a bright orange-yellow paint. Karolyn's uncle picked out a flower and it was fastened on with a strong, and child friendly glue.

This, as with all of my items, are made with love and care in a smoke free and pet free home.

The possibilities for these 9 inch letters are endless. Almost anything can be added to them. They are sturdy and can hold lots of embellishments and detail. They are also perfect for a large design or print. Got an idea? Let me know and we can arrange something!

Kameron Giraffe Plaque

This is a plaque that is part of the Kameron Collection. I started with a blank 3x5 inch wooden base. I lightly sanded the edges and front. First I free handed a light outline of a few giraffe spots around the border. This was followed by 2-3 coats of a dark yellow paint. Once dried, I used a smaller brush and a "mocha" brown to paint the pre-outlined spots. Once those were done, I went through to fill in empty spaces with more spots. Usually, I put a second coat on the spots to make a darker and more uniformly textured pattern. I do leave a small amount of texture to make it more like giraffe pelt. The face of the block is then given a light coating of either a cream or light tan paint.

This particular base was used to create birth plaque for the family in which this collection was based off of. I added a coat of the light tan to the face to get a darker color. I used a fine tip paint pen in black to write his name on the top and bottom of the plaque. Between his name, I filled in his birth date, weight and length at birth with extra fine tipped brown ink. I finished the plaque with a giraffe mask embellishment and a ribbon. I used two different widths and two colors. As with the entire Kameron Collection, I used a black ribbon as the main hanger. Because Kam is a boy, I used a thinner teal/turquoise ribbon as an accent and to add additional strength.

This item is currently listed on Artfire.com and will added to the Etsy.com shop. As more orders are made, I will update this page and other pages with pictures and feedback from gifted items. Thank you for your continued support.

Gearing up!

It is officially Fall, my favorite season of the year. That means it is time to start preparing for the holiday rush. This includes getting a plan and early start on my Greeting Cards. In efforts to get the etsy shop out there, I am taking part of the Holiday Boot Camp!

I, Ashley Armstrong and Nine14 Design, pledge to participate in the Etsy Success Holiday Boot Camp to the best of my abilities. I vow to check in every week, do my homework and support my fellow Holiday Boot Campers. I will read the weekly newsletters and blog posts, check in on the weekly forum thread, read the weekly blog post, check off the checklists and salute the mascot. I promise to share what I've learned with those who need it, support my fellow Etsy indiepreneurs and, most of all, have a positive and persistent attitude. I understand that together we can spread the word about our handmade and vintage goods, making this holiday season a more unique and meaningful one to gift givers and give-ees everywhere!

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