Baby, Unwrangled.

Um, taking pictures with babies (particularly mobile babies with minds of their own) is hard.  Hard!  I can see why the professionals hire baby wranglers.  I always think photos with baby products are so much more appealing with actual babies in them.  So, to better depict a new design for my line of organic baby blankets, I decided to give it a shot.  I was envisioning my babe beautifully swaddled and looking serenely adorable; the photo would of course show both the print on the body of the blanket and the one on the hood.  I made sure Aya was clean as a whistle and well-fed, and that we had a neutral background and good light.  All perfectly planned, right?   Well, you can see for yourself how things developed.

First this:

Then this:

This:

And finally.... this:

Lesson learned. 

Felt like Friday

It's been a while since I had the pleasure of browsing my fellow Felters -- and a true pleasure it is!  As always, I am amazed by the array of talent harbored by the New Zealand craft world.  My theme for this showcase: just a little peek into my fantasy shopping habit.  Do you ever do this?  Sometimes I check out big online shops and load every little thing I fancy into my cart.  Of course, I never actually click "purchase" -- hence all of the fun, none of the guilt (or debt.)  When I fantasy shop on Felt, I simply put everything into my "Favorites" or my "Wishlist" baskets (I don't actually load up my cart because I fear it might interfere with some other lucky shopper's purchase.) For this showcase I transferred a few of my most favorite-favorite things over to share with all of you.  My showcase this week features fabulous items from PBS Homemades, Honey Design, Mum of Twins, Plan-B, Jacolily, Bean Bags, Cool Crib, Honey n Spice, Moki Designs, The Busy Finch, Leaf, and Nezumi.  Enjoy!

Eclectic Elephant

nezumi

$25.00

Hop! Children's Dinn...

thebusyfinch

$48.00

Beanbags Sigri Cushi...

beanbags

$40.00

Merino Hoodie  Top

leaf

$35.00

Moki Tote Bag In Nat...

mokidesignz

$12.00

Set Of 4 Coasters

honeynspice

$19.00

Retro Floral Pinafore

coolcrib

$36.00

Fabric Covered Magnets

jacolily

$12.00

Feather Brass Necklace

plan-b

$21.00

Daisy Swing Cardigan...

mumoftwins

$25.00

Handknit Balaclava

pbshomemades

$35.00

Trust Notebook

honeydesign

$9.00

My Creative Space: Back to Basics

This week has been all about getting our lives back in order.  Back to regular bedtimes.  Back to eating our (mostly) vegetarian/local/seasonal/unprocessed diet.  Back to routines, clear expectations and the peace that goes with those.  And last but not least, back to the studio!

I'm really excited to be working with a new product -- an organic hooded baby blanket, wonderfully soft and perfect for swaddling or floor play.  I'm using three different hand-printing methods and putting some new design ideas into action.  Below is one print still very much unfinished.  Hopefully I'll have some time to work on these in the next few days and will be able to put some things in my shop over the weekend!

Check out more creative spaces here -- always happy to be joining in with Kootoyoo.

Home

Boy, it is GOOD to be home!  Our trip was wonderful (wonderful) but there is nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed or cooking in your own kitchen after a long stint away.  We came home to a tree full of lemons and an abundance of daffodils.  Even though the weather has been a bit gray today, life feels awfully sunny.

I have an order of organic sleep gowns and blankets on their way from My Baby and Me, fantastic new labels, heaps of art supplies to unpack, a box of super high-quality textile inks arriving later this week and motivation and inspiration to spare.  I'm raring to go!  But since I think it will be a few days before everything is in order, I figure I'd better find a few other projects to channel some of that energy.  A new recipe for lemon cheesecake or lemon muffins perhaps?  Hmmm.  Will keep you posted.

The Label Solution

Well....hopefully.  Since starting Seedling Clothing in January, I've struggled a bit with how to do labels for my hand-printed baby clothing; I want something professional and polished, yet not overly time-consuming.  Because I don't sew the clothing itself, it seemed silly to cut out the existing tags and sew in my own.  There had to be a better way, right?  I've been searching for something like a textile stamp for a while -- to no avail.  I finally found this listing on etsy for retail-grade iron-on labels.  The description sounds just perfect, so fingers crossed that they are equally good in person.  Since the specs for the labels seemed so specific, I thought it best to hire a graphic designer (about $15.00 US for the design with unlimited edits from Color Fiesta Graphics, also on Etsy) to help with the layout.  I feel happy with the results, though I will say it can be hard to convey specific ideas about spacing, etc. over email without feeling really really fussy. 

I like the simplicity, and I love the fantail.  I wonder though, if something more seedling-ish (ie the graphic from my grass design) would work better?  Ah, well.  I'm happy to have found a "for now" solution to the tag dilemma.  And just in time, too.  We'll be home in a week!  Can't wait to get back into the studio.

My Creative Space: Texting

During this trip, I've become well acquainted with "text" mode on my camera.  It produces photos with deep contrasts and rich colors -- to be honest I've been using it for more than text (see all of the photos from my previous post, for instance.)  But it's also inspired me to pay attention to far more everyday fonts than I normally would.  Here are a collection of just a few from the past several weeks.

Coincidentally, I've been working on the design of a new label for Seedling Clothing and have been checking out the wealth of inspiration available (and free to download) at www.dafont.com.  Overwhelming and amazing, both.  I'll share the new label design with you when it's all completed.

Ps, don't you love "Welcome to Freshness?"  I should have that one hanging over my desk.  And my favorite of these, by far is the first -- the 1930's era furnace still going strong in the basement here.   Beautiful....

Pps, check out many more amazing creatives and their spaces over on Kootoyoo.  I'm happy to be joining in this week - - it's been a while....!

How Our Days Have Been Spent

:: picking tri-color raspberries behind the house ::

 

:: lake swimming ::

:: eating cherries from the orchard ::

:: bowling ::

:: throwing rocks (lots and lots of throwing rocks) ::

 :: hammock time ::

:: evening fishing off the dock (my brother-in-law and nephew shown here) ::

Thank you, Montana - - you've been good to us this summer.  We'll miss you!