New Easter dress

Thank you, Grandma Kathy, for the beautiful and lovingly made dress for Natalie! She loves it, it fits her perfectly, and I can't wait to debut this handmade treasure at church (and probably everywhere we go for the next several weeks -- Natalie tends to practically live in her most loved dresses).




And here's a recent photo of Natalie and Naomi hanging out. I have been playing with my brother's hand-me-down digital Canon Rebel camera. I love its heft and the richness it brings to each shot.

Welcome my mom to the blog realm!

My mom's life is in process of taking a turn for the creative, and she's invited me to join her artful journey. She's decided to learn the ropes of the online community, including blogging and running an Etsy shop. I've gladly offered to help in any way possible ... and yesterday we launched her blog!

Give my mom a warm welcome at Color, Cut, and Paste! I'm very proud of her and excited to help share and sell her amazing craft creations.

She hopes to launch her Etsy shop in the next couple months, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I've dusted off my brother's hand-me-down digital Canon Rebel camera and have been practicing with backdrops, props, and lighting. I have hopes of sprucing up my own product photography and taking photos of items for my mom's shop.

Here's a peek behind the scenes:

My mom's cigar box purse was one of the first things I photographed with the new (to me) digital camera. I placed the box upon a vintage suitcase in front of a goldenrod-colored blanket suspended from hooks in the ceiling. Everything is situated in front of the window in my craft room for delicious afternoon light.



I played around with using the branches to support the jewelry my mom makes and plans to sell on Etsy. We were both happy with the initial results...

Clothespin fairies

In February, Natalie, Naomi, and I painted some clothespin fairies for an afternoon craft time together. I die-cut the butterfly wings out of embossed Grungeboard and attached them with hot-melt glue. I also used the hot glue to attach the pipe-cleaner arms. We then painted and glittered the fairies to our hearts' content.








These two fairies were Valentine's gifts for our friends.


Natalie, age 4, painted this one for herself. She is named Leaf-Leaf and has fun flying around the house and making guest appearances in Natalie's dollhouse.


Naomi, age 18 months, painted this one all by herself. Natalie named this fairy Paint-Paint.

Christmas cards custom order

Finally we're streamlining a few things around the house in hopes of making computer access easier for me during the day. We bought a new laptop several months ago, but I kept using the old one (which worked out well when the new one had to be sent away for repairs). Anyway, it quickly became ridiculous for me to wait for an opportunity to upload photos to one computer but edit them on another all while Naomi ransacked the house ... you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, here are some photos of my newest Christmas cards. My lovely sister-in-law ordered some cards of varying fanciness. Here are some for her to choose from. I'm also feeling impulsive, so they just might show up in my shop (if Naomi keeps napping at the moment!).

Fancy Wreath

Merry Little Girl

Christmas Cardinal and Wreath

Simple Wreath
(I've got a thing for wreaths this year)

(I can stamp "Holiday Wishes" on this card instead of "Make Merry")

Dasher

New variations on the simple wreath

Back on the blog

There is a tremendous backlog of photos that just yesterday made it from my camera onto the computer. Who knows when I'll be able to sort through photos from the past two-plus months, but I just might have some spare time in the next few weeks.

By way of a short update, all my creative energy for the past three months has been poured into coordinating a wedding for a very dear friend. Oct. 9 was the big day, and I'm happy to say it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience -- from the behind-the-scenes coordination and crafts to the moment when the bride walked down the aisle to her groom, and even the tear-down and cleanup went smoothly (in an exhausting way).

Many, many loving helping hands from my church helped bring the plans to fruition, and we all came away from the experience feeling that this is the way it should be. It was truly a community effort, and I was blessed by so many friends' talents and their willingness to make the wedding celebration happen...

I hope to share more along the way through photos of the decorations and craft projects I snuck in during the coordination process. Sometimes I felt like I had to literally sneak into my craft room because it was about three months ago that Naomi started walking. And climbing. Everything. And if she wasn't climbing onto one of the craft tables, she was emptying drawers I wasn't prepared for her to reach. Or knocking something onto herself.

So we've spent a lot of time outside and at parks. This little climber is amazing to watch, especially because she has such sweet expressions on her face as she's determinedly taking every Post-it off the tablet or upending a jar of pencils...

Etsy front page for the first time

One of my mobiles was featured on the front page of Etsy earlier today!



I wasn't able to get to the computer in time to see it on the front page for myself but I found out about it because my Facebook page is linked to my Etsy shop, and there was an automatic post on my FB page. I don't think I would have found out otherwise, so I'm glad for Facebook...

This is the last mobile currently in my shop, and I think I'll have to continue listing the silver and ivory combination. The funny thing is that this color combination came out of a failed custom order. Someone contacted me through Etsy about a silver and ivory mobile. I made five different combinations, but she never bought one! I listed them anyway, and those are the mobiles that caught the eye of the gallery owner in Massachusetts. There are three of my mobiles still hanging/for sale in her custom-framing shop/art gallery...

Whitewashed paper

A recent discovery at the craft store led to a whole new level of fun for me in creating mobiles and other paper crafts. This paper from Core'dinations is coated with a white, chalky layer that can be sanded off to reveal the core color beneath. I've embossed it using my Cuttlebug, and then I gently sanded off the top layer.

The darker the core color, the more striking the results, naturally. But all the colors I've tried so far are lovely. I'm thinking this could lend a shabby chic and/or beachy element to the mobiles. In fact, I stumbled upon this paper when looking for something to coordinate with a sea-foam color. I hope this does the trick!

Happy birthday to my littlest crafter

Happy first birthday, Naomi!

(I was inspired to make her crown after seeing several fun felt crowns on Etsy. She did not wear it for very long after I took this photo :) )

Fun with photos

Thank you, goshery, for reminding me that taking photos for my Etsy shop can be fun! I revisited one of my favorite spots for good light in the house at this time of the year (the shelf in my dining room) and had some fun with props...

Custom mobile in blues

Here are some color choices for one of my latest custom mobile orders (click on the image for a larger view):