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To all the crafty ladies in the place, Happy Galentine’s Day! If you aren’t a fan of the tv show Parks and Recreation you might be wondering what Galentine’s Day is. It’s a holiday, created by fictional character Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler), that is celebrated on February 13 to celebrate your lady friends. Or as Leslie says . . .  It’s basically like Valentine’s Day, but for those ladies in your life that you couldn’t do without! Like with most holidays, I like to celebrate by giving my gal pals a card and a little gift. Below is some Galetine’s Day gift inspiration. Host a craft night for all of your gal pals. Better yet, rent out the Palette & Paper Studio so you can have plenty of table space for crafting. Need an idea of what to create? The P&P creative team has lots of ideas, so just drop Mare an email!  Or invite them to join you at one of the upcoming Palette & Paper workshops. We have a Pocket Letter Page mini workshop coming up next Wednesday and a “SweetheART” decorative trivet workshop on Sunday, 2/12. Details and registration here.
Wrap up a little treat in a decorated mason jar. You could fill the mason jar with candies or chocolate covered pretzels, bath salts (make your own, try this “pink” recipe), “mani-in-a-jar” and more.  Drop by their work or home and give them a pretty bouquet of flowers. Pick up a Tim Holtz’s mini clipboard (available in the shoppe) land print off a couple of printables that your gal-friend can decorate her workspace with.
Mail them a cute card! A handmade one is even better! We have some super adorable Valentine's Day paper in the Shoppe that would be perfect to use. However you choose to celebrate Galentine’s Day we hope you have a great one and thanks for being our gal pals!
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Earlier this week was Handwriting Day (Monday, January 23). It seems like a bit of an odd holiday to celebrate, but in this day and age of computers and texting handwriting is becoming a bit of a lost art form. I think this is why we are seeing such a resurgence of “hand lettering” in the craft world. The number of pens and markers with various tips is expanding, and an emphasis on adding words to mixed media projects and journaling to scrapbooks can definitely been seen.  Here’s a little round up on some of our favorite projects, products, and resources for adding more handwriting to your arts and crafts projects. I love seeing what Amy Tangerine can do with some watercolor paper, a set of watercolor paints and a waterbrush. Her fun “word paintings” provide so much inspiration.
A favorite mixed media artist of mine, Dina Wakley, incorporates hand writing into (almost) every piece of art she creates. She has an easy-going, free-flowing way with her handwriting as you can see below.
Tombow makes great dual-tipped pens that makes it easier to incorporate “fancy” handwriting into your projects. Check out our blog post here for more details.  Speaking of “fancy” handwriting, check this out. It shows how you can add emphasis/width to your downstrokes to give your writing a different look. This can be done with all sorts of pens and markers (like the awesome Kaisercraft gel pens that we have in stock).   Want to practice your handwriting?
Tombox has great (free) practice sheets that you can print off. Ready to really practice? Check out this 30 Days to Better Brush Calligraphy Online Tutorial.  If you follow Palette & Paper on Instagram and/or Facebook, you may have seen yesterday that Mare is in Phoenix, AZ. Mare headed to Phoenix for Creativation (formerly known as Craft & Hobby Association or CHA).  Creativation is an annual trade show hosted by the Craft & Hobby Association that brings buyers, suppliers, designers and more together for events and a trade show celebrating a variety of "crafts" and "hobbies". The event is a great way to discover new products, inspiration, ideas and innovations. Exciting manufacturers including My Mind's Eye, Kaisercraft, Faber-Castell, American Crafts, Heidi Swapp, Ken Oliver, Pebbles, Ranger Industries, Jillibean Soup and SO MANY MORE will be there demonstrating and exhibiting their new products and lines at the trade show portion of Creativation that kicks off on Saturday. Prior to that there are many classes and workshops being hosted by manufacturers. Mare is out there getting her craft on and checking out all of the upcoming products to "shop" for the Shoppe. Be sure to follow Palette & Paper on social media for the insider scoop of what Mare is up to and the #creativation and #creativation2017 hashtags to see all sorts of fun pictures from the five day event. Oh and even though Mare is in Phoenix, the Shoppe is still open 11 am - 5 pm Thursday - Saturday. Stop in and say hi to Charlie who is running things back here in Indy! A couple of the sights from Creativation so far!  Ranger is hauling in products and their booth display by the crates. Can't wait to see what they have up their sleeve, including the new Distress Oxide products and Scribble Sticks.  Eileen Hull has taken her Paper Trail right to the trade show floor and parked Scotty (her vintage trailer) there for the week. We have been fortunate to have Eileen teach at Palette & Paper a couple of times this past year. Eileen, a designer for Sizzix and Clearsnap, shares great live videos on her Facebook and fun snaps on her Instagram. Be sure to follow along.
Yupo Paper is tree-free synthetic paper that offers a super smooth surface that is durable, water-proof and bright white in color. The Tim Holtz Yupo Paper is 86 lb. weight that resists buckling. It is perfect for experimenting with alcohol inks on and other mixed media techniques on. Alcohol Inks can be used on a multitude of surfaces including metal, plastic, glass, glossy paper and more. They are fast drying and blend together to make gorgeous and unique backgrounds.  Now, when Yupo Paper and Alcohol Inks come together magic happens! After last week’s blog post talking about “one little words”, I knew I wanted to make a small wall hanging with my word for the year to hang in my craft area. I decided to make the background using yupo paper and alcohol inks. I dropped a few colors of alcohol inks on my yupo paper (be sure protect your work surface as alcohol inks are permanent. As you add more and more drops they will “dance” together to create a one-of-a-kind background. Go slow adding your drops as they will continue to mix for a few minutes. Click through this slideshow to see how the drops mix together.  Next I cut my word from black and white cardstock with a Silhouette machine. I used a Spellbinders Tool ‘n One to loosen the cut-out word from the sticky mat. This tool makes it so easy with its spatula end to loosen cut items from the mat without tearing them.  I wanted to mount the yupo paper on a small canvas to give it stability for hanging. I knew a small amount of the canvas around the edges would be visible, so I added some Inka-Gold around the edges to add a gorgeous colorful, metallic shine.  Next I glued the black cut-out word on top of the white cut-out slightly skewed to give it a nice shadow effect that makes the word pop. I love the way it turned out and can’t wait to hang it!  For another idea on what to do with this amazing craft pairing, check out the awesome card that our friends at CardMaker magazine shared using yupo paper and alcohol inks here and in their last Spring issue. Have you used yupo paper and/or alcohol inks before? What did you make? With the start of a new year many of us make a list of resolutions, and unfortunately, almost just as many of us (92%, source) don’t have success with our resolutions. With statistics like that it can be daunting to even try to implement resolutions into your life. What if you could simplify and just choose one word? One word that would help you focus on what is important to you for the year ahead. One word to meditate on and implement into your daily life. Have you heard of the “one little word” concept?  Ali Edwards is credited with the idea of one little word or OLW, and started choosing one for herself in 2006. In her words, “A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything”. If you are on social media you may have seen friends and family talking about their OLW for the year ahead. The words chosen are just as unique as the people choosing them. Some I’ve seen include: focus, together, balance, joy, calm, move, grow, open, lively, grace, enjoy and so many more! Like with any resolution it is important that you keep your OLW at the forefront of your mind. With that, it is a good idea to incorporate your OLW into your artwork - bible journaling, art journal, traveler's notebook, hand lettering, watercolor painting, card making and more. Below are some examples of craft projects that others have created to celebrate and live their OLW on a daily basis. We hope you find inspiration in their words and creations,
Have you selected a word for 2017?
Care to share in the comments or the next time you are in the Shoppe? |
Palette & Paper's blog is written by various creative team members.
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