Studio Update

Things have been ramping up here at CCreech Studio! The kids are back to school and my time is opening up a bit more.

As you saw from a previous post, I have been working to add more mini journals to the Etsy shop. I had a chance to get some new colors of scrap leather this week, so the process continues! Keep an eye out for more, including these in a landscape orientation:

In addition to journals, I have been getting back to my fabric designs on Spoonflower! A recent contest there on botanical sketchbook designs started the creative wheels rolling. Having just completed an international sketchbook exchange earlier this year, I had plenty of material to inspire new designs. I have created a number of botanical designs as well as some coordinates.

I am currently waiting to proof 15 of these new designs to make sure they print up properly. Once those are ready and approved, they will be available for sale as fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap. Here is a sneak peek of six:

Another collection will include designs and coordinates based on my red poppies drawing. Some of these will be for sale in this round of proofs while others will be proofed at a later date. 

And finally, I have a collection based on my small-mouth salamander drawing in various shades of blues and grays. These have yet to be proofed, but I love how they are coming together!

These designs would be fantastic for various home decorating projects, but also for scarves or other accent pieces. Spoonflower just recently brought back their Poly Crepe de Chine fabric, which works really well for scarves and more. Also, keep these in mind for gift wrapping for the upcoming holiday season! 

If you don't see something for sale or have a question about scale, just ask! I am happy to work with you to refine a design to a different scale and get it proofed and ready to order.

I will continue to work on and refine fabric designs, but will also be starting another round of the international sketchbook exchange so stay tuned for new drawings, new items in the shops and new designs! 

New Nature-Inspired Fabric/Wallpaper/Gift Wrap Designs!

After relocating homes this summer, I am finally getting back to work on my other creative outlets, including my Spoonflower fabric!  Designs are also available as wallpaper and gift wrap.

I am working on a number of new designs based on my sketchbook exchange drawings. These would be fantastic for a number of projects including tea towels, pillows, bags, and more.

Here is a preview of a some of my favorites:

 Poppies

 African Daisies on Olive

 Small-Mouth Salamander

You can keep an eye on new designs by heading to my Spoonflower page, going to the left-hand side menu and choosing Designs not for sale to see the latest. I have to proof designs by ordering a swatch before they are released for sale, so please let me know if you see anything that you like!

Happy New Year!

And here we are to New Year's Eve already! I want to wish each of you a very happy, healthy, creative new year in 2012!

I thought I would round out this year's posts (my 200th, in fact - wow!) with some images of gifts I created over the holidays. I was bracelet-crazy this year and had a wonderful time making these for friends and family:

Double wrap in 1.5mm brown leather with 4mm sodalite beads and a dark blue button closure.

Double wrap in 1.5mm brown leather with 4mm sodalite beads and a pearly button closure.

Double wrap in 1.5mm brown leather with 4mm lapis lazuli beads and an antiqued gold metal button closure.

Single leather wrap with 6mm flower amethyst beads and a cute purple and silver button closure.

Red leather macrame bracelet with a cute candy-cane striped bead for the closure.

Double wrap with 1.5mm dark brown leather 
and gorgeous 6mm Tiger's Eye beads and a swirly brown and tan button for closure.

Double wrap black leather with elegant 4mm cat's eye quartz beads and a black button closure.

 


Another double wrap with black leather and 4mm cat's eye quartz beads, this time with a cloth-covered black button closure.



  



Double wrap in 1.8mm black leather with beautiful, vibrant green malachite beads and a faceted black button closure.

 

Double wrap with dark brown leather and 4mm Charoite beads. The swirls of browns, earthy greens and golds in the beads matched very well with the leather and gold metal closure.

 

Double wrap with 1.5mm black leather with fun snowflake obsidian beads and a silver metal flower button closure.

I also did a couple of additional jotter journals with some of my Spoonflower fabric swatches.

This is small jotter, approximately 3" x 3.5" made with 32 blank pages for notes, lists, doodles, etc. I used waxed linen bookbinding thread to sew in the pages and added a few white beads for embellishment. This is quilting weight cotton fabric in my roses pattern.

This small jotter is also approximately 3" x 3.5" made with 32 blank pages for notes, lists, doodles, etc. I used dark green s-lon beading thread to sew in the pages and added some flower amethyst beads on the spine for embellishment. This is quilting weight cotton fabric in my cyclamen pattern.









I am looking forward to a new year of creativity, drawing, beading, and perhaps more bookbinding. I am also interested in opening an Etsy shop, and I have some of my own ideas of what I'd like to include...what things would you like to see there?

Well, stay tuned for more creative adventures. I'd love to hear about the new things you are hoping to try in the new year, too, so let me know!

Happy New Year!

More Jotters! Wrapped Edges and End Papers.

These are for you, Anita! :)

My friend Anita made a comment on yesterday's jotter journal post about my edge-fraying problem. We both agreed that wrapping the edges of the fabric around the card stock would be a good solution. I wasn't sure if it was worth the time to do that and include end papers since this is such a quick project. However, I decided to try it today and it worked beautifully! It really did not take much longer to do and I think it gives a much more finished look to the journals.

So, in today's experiment, I created two new little jotters. Both were done using my Tree Stripes fabric in cotton silk. It has a lovely sheen and gives a slightly fancier look to the finished product. 

The first is about 3" x 3.5" and in addition to wrapping the fabric around the edges, I also sewed the pages in a bit differently, adding a large, decorative bead at the bottom for a little embellishment.

 

After gluing the card stock to the fabric, I trimmed the edges an prepared to glue them down. I also cut end papers to fit. What isn't shown here is that I had to trim diagonally across the corners leaving about 1/8" fabric so that when the edges were folded there wasn't too much bulk.

 

 I glued the fabric edges down using my glue stick and after they dried a bit (under some waxed paper and a heavy book), I trimmed up the little bit of extra sticking out in each corner.

 Finally, I glued down the end papers, again using my glue stick and pressing it under some waxed paper and a heavy book to dry.

 The finished product! The quarter is in the photo for scale.

The second was inspired by the work of Louise Thompson, an artist from New Zealand, who makes incredibly beautiful and often miniature leather-bound journals. Check out her sites - she has a blog as well as an Etsy shop. Her shop is under the name Bibliographica. If you enjoy bookbinding at all or miniature things, you will really love it.

Anyway, my mini jotter is just 1 1/4 " square. It was made using the same cotton silk fabric in the Tree Stripes print. 

Both journals have 32 pages of blank paper inside for little lists, notes, doodles, or thoughts. Also, the mini is very handy for my 4-year-old daughter who is using it as a book for her stuffed animals. :)

NOTE: I did both of these earlier today off and on with interruptions from the kids, drying time, etc. It really was a quick project. I can see me doing lots more of these.

My first Jotter Journal Attempt!

What do you do with your extra fabric swatches and scrap pieces?

I discovered one great way to use them - create a jotter journal! What are jotter journals, you ask? They are little notebooks, quickly made, that you can drop into your purse or work bag to jot down notes, grocery lists, to-do items, etc.

Being a list-maker myself and accumulating quite a stack of Spoonflower swatches from recent proofs, I decided this was the perfect way to use some of them up to create fun, unique little jotters.

I first came across this idea at The Creative Place, an art and craft blog by Ashley Connelly. She recently posted a wonderful tutorial on creating these so I finally gave it a try. Here is the final result!

 

 

Ashley's tutorial gives all of the step-by-step details, but I modified my project a bit according to what supplies I had on hand as well as the fact that my machine sewing skills leave a bit to be desired. My supplies included:

• Kraft cardstock - cut to approximately 6" long by 3.5" wide
• Plain white computer paper - 8 sheets cut to approximately 6" long by 3" wide
• Fabric swatch - I used a swatch of quilting weight cotton in my Orange Star blossom print. Because of the small journal, I have just enough of the swatch leftover for another jotter of this size.
• Glue stick - craft size...it's a little wider than your average glue stick. Ashley used spray adhesive.
• Waxed bookbinder's thread - about a 5-6 inches. This is for sewing the pages to the cardstock. It is what I have on hand, though you could use embroidery thread, yarn, or other decorative cord. Ashley sewed her pages in on her sewing machine.
• Heavy needle with a big eye - mine is a bookbinder's needle that I had from a kit I bought one time.
• Two bulldog clips, or other binder clips
• Scissors
• Credit card for smoothing the fabric.

I won't go into each step here, but I followed Ashley's tutorial, substituting my supplies as needed. 

  

RESULTS and TIPS: 

I found that the glue stick seemed to work just fine for adhering the fabric to the cardstock. Definitely make sure you get glue all the way to the edge of the cardstock and make it an even layer (no clumps of glue or it will bleed through the fabric.) One problem I seem to still have is a bit of thread here and there peeling away from the very edge. I'm not sure what the best fix is for that aside from folding the fabric over and gluing the edge to the inside of the jotter. But then you need to create end papers to cover the exposed fabric edge and it becomes a more involved project. Perhaps it is not a huge deal for an informal jotter like this?

The other big difference in my project was that instead of using a sewing machine to sew the pages to the cardstock, I simply cut a length of my waxed bookbinding thread, poked 6 holes, evenly spaced, in the pages and cardstock, and hand-sewed the pages in. 

I put two small knots on the outer threads to hold it in place. You could get fancy and leave a longer tail on the bottom and add a decorative bead to it if you wanted. Or, you could also sew in a little closure that wraps around the journal horizontally. The bookbinding possibilities are endless! :) But for this simple on-the-go jotter, I thought a few well-placed stitches in the center would do just fine.

I am looking forward to creating more of these little gems with other fabric that I have. I might even get crazy and put some of my good drawing paper and create an on-the-go sketch journal! Lots of great ideas brewing. Let me know if you give this project a try - I'd love to see your results!

Holiday Fabrics! Poinsettia now available.

And here are a couple more for you! I took advantage of the recent fat quarter sale at Spoonflower and ordered a length of my poinsettia fabric in organic cotton sateen. It turned out beautifully! It's an elegant, simple design in black and white, based on my original pen and ink illustration of a poinsettia flower. 

 

I also ordered a length of linen cotton canvas in my holly print.

Either of these would be great for holiday decor (placemats, table cloths, etc.) or even as reusable wrapping for gifts! 

Hope you are enjoying the season so far!

SALE - Two for One! Fat Quarters at Spoonflower.

All this week, Spoonflower is running a 2-for-1 fat quarter sale. Get two fat quarters for the price of one. It's a great time to stock up on different designs or order a tea towel calendar!

Looking for a unique gift for the sewing or crafty person on your list this holiday season? I have 92 designs ready-to-order. 

Or maybe you want to stock up for your own projects? Here are two of my designs, but you can find much more at my shop - have a look!  

Red and yellow tulip squares                                                           Maple Tree Buds on Green

                                                 

FREE Standard Shipping for 24 Hours! Spoonflower Custom Fabric.

Check it out! Spoonflower is offering FREE standard shipping on all orders for 24 hours!

My shop offers custom fabric designs featuring my original illustrations available in 9 different types of fabric including a wonderful organic cotton sateen, new cotton silk and a limited quantity of cotton poplin. 

Take a browse through my shop to see if my designs fit any of your project needs! 

Here are just 3 of my 51 currently available designs. If you see something and would like it in a different scale (smaller print or larger), just let me know.

Happy shopping!

Fabric Fun! More on Spoonflower...

I have been having some fun on Spoonflower again :)

I am practicing creating better repeats in my patterns and have two new ones to show you:

This one features my new autumn leaf drawing. See the other leaf designs, which are in my Trees collection!

Also, I have been playing around with my graphite drawing of Orange Star blossoms and created a 'ditsy' or scattered print:

Check out the rest of the Orange Star designs!

 

More Spoonflower Proofs! Organic cotton sateen is so smooth...

Here is the latest batch of proofs from my Spoonflower fabrics. All of these are now available for purchase.  

• Maple Buds on Light Green
• Raspberry Plant on Green
• Crema Stripe
• African Daisies - Blue Stripe
• Small Bird Feathers on Blue

I chose to order all of these in the organic cotton sateen, which has a lovely glossy finish and smoothness. It would make for terrific pillows, place mats, or clothing items. Of course, all of the other fabric styles are available for these, including quilting weight, organic cotton knit, upholstery weight twill, linen cotton canvas, silk crepe de chine, cotton voile, cotton silk. NOTE: They included a small swatch of the new cotton silk and it looks dreamy! I can't wait to order some.

 

All of these are swatch size except for the maple tree buds in green (far left) which is a fat quarter. I think they all turned out rather well, and I was particularly impressed with the 'Crema' stripe (center) which was an entirely digital design. It printed up beautifully! Oooo - what a luxurious book cloth it would make!

Stay tuned next week for a few more swatches that I ordered, including a sample of my Spring Rain Daffodils and more Maple Tree Bud variations.

Need Your Vote For My Mossy Frogs! 'Ditsy' Print Contest at Spoonflower.

Spoonflower's contest this week is for small-scale, scattered prints, called 'ditsy' prints. I entered a variation of my Mossy Tree Frogs (see below). 

I would love to get a vote from you! Just go to the contest page and click on the fabrics you like. You can vote for as many as you want, so browse around and remember to click on my mossy frogs! Voting goes through next Wednesday and the winner (as well as top 10) are announced next Thursday, October 6.

Thanks!

Need Your Vote in the Bird Fabric Contest!

Spoonflower hosts a number of design contests and this week's is for a palette-limited bird design. Three colors were set by Spoonflower and a fourth color was chosen by the artist.

I altered the colors and arrangement of my Japanese Crane drawing to meet the design requirements and entered it!

Here is what it looks like:

I would love to have a vote for my design if you are so-inclined! See the 'Vote for Bird Fabrics' link at the end of this post. 

You can vote for as many fabrics as you want, so feel free to browse through all of the entries and click away at the ones you like. You can vote through next Wednesday evening and the results will appear on Thursday, September 15th. Thanks and happy bird-browsing!

Vote For Bird Fabrics

FREE Swatch Day today at Spoonflower!

Today is FREE SWATCH DAY at Spoonflower!

You can pick from any design in the Spoonflower marketplace today and order one, free swatch. Not only are there many, amazing designs to choose from, there are a number of wonderful fabrics, too, so go out, browse and order!

NOTE: I just saw that the free swatch day is between 12 noon today and 12 noon tomorrow, Aug. 19. So wait until this afternoon to order!

Enjoy!

FREE Swatch Day at Spoonflower! This Thursday, Aug. 18th

Guess what? This Thursday, Aug. 18 is Spoonflower's 3rd annual free swatch day!

Having just joined Spoonflower earlier this year, it is the first time that I have had a chance to participate in, as well as order, a free swatch.

You can find my designs at my profile here: CCreech Studio - Fabric Designs or just click the Fabric Designs on Spoonflower link in the navigation bar at the top of this page.

Even if you are not interested in one of my designs, this is a great opportunity to stop by, have a look around and see what piques your interest.

If you have any home decor or other sewing projects coming up or just want to see what it's all about, mark your calendar and get your free swatch!

P.S. I'd like to send out a big THANK YOU to the individual who purchased a fat quarter of my Japanese Crane design this past weekend. You are my first official customer! :) I hope you enjoy the fabric!

Fabric variations! Trees and Feathers.

Isn't it fun to play on the computer? I've been working on creating some variations for my fabric designs in Spoonflower.

I have created several different backgrounds for my Maple Tree Buds. I love how the buds line up in the repeat and think it would make a terrific home decor fabric for pillows, placemats or table runner, or chair cushion cover.

 

I have also been playing around with the feather illustration and created a few new variations (see different background colors in my Feathers collection):

 

 

All of these designs are not yet available for sale until proofed by me. I would love to know what you think and which you like best!

If you are interested in any of them in particular, or think another background/colorway would work better let me know!