Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #25--Last Minute Decorations

For this challenge, we were asked to work on those projects that were floundering on our to-do list. The problem for me during this time of year is that I have so many projects that I do for other people that when it comes time for me to decorate my space(s), I am usually too tired to do something for me to enjoy. So Challenge 25 came at just the right time.

At the end of each holiday season, I try to decorate with the leftovers from other projects. These transform into gift wrapping accessories or table decorations. This year, I decided to decorate my space at the theater since I will be working Christmas night (a first for me since I have been there). 

This is the back stage area where I work and where actors' guests come to visit. Why not decorate it for the holidays?

The first decoration is our bulletin board. I decided to do a eucalyptus and branch swag tied with a silver ribbon.

Eucalyptus and branches

The second decoration was my security station. This is where I sit during the show. I decided to give a nod to the Winter's Solstice and Hanukkah with a blue and white theme. This is more eucalyptus but with white branches and blue lights This is tied with a blue ribbon. Among the branches are crystal embellishments which glitter when the lights hit them.

With lights off

With lights on

The final decoration is the area when I stand to greet guests after the show. I decided to make a red and white wreath as a nod to Christmas. This is a fresh Douglas Fir wreath that I purchased. I wanted to make my own wreath but I just didn't have the energy. I have always loved mixing fresh and artificial elements in wreaths. I am really happy with the way this turned out and the fir fills the area where I stand with an amazing aroma.

When I was first starting holiday decorating, I started with making wreaths for people. I teamed up with a Christmas tree vendor who would sell me the wreaths at cost; I would decorate them and return them to the lot where he would sell them and we would split the profits.

The hallmark of my wreaths has always been the hanging ornament in the center of the wreath. Usually it is hung with fishing line so that it appears hanging in air. I had to use thread for this wreath but the effect is still the same.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #24--Brown Paper Packages

For Challenge #24, we were tasked with decorating for the holidays. I decided to decorate with packages. As many of you know, one of the busiest times of the year for a paper artist is the winter holidays. I have several clients that hire me to decorate their trees, wrap their gifts, or decorate their homes for the holidays.

One client always wants his gifts wrapped with brown craft paper and then he chooses a theme or color for the embellishments. In order for him to choose, I have to make some mock gifts so he can see what  he might want. I then use these empty gift boxes to decorate under the tree. The trick is that the gifts that are to be given will have a gift tag. The un-tagged gifts are the ones for decoration.

SPOILER ALERT:  So for all of those beautiful trees that you see--most of the gifts are empty!

As I have mentioned previously, not all gifts are wrapped equally. Here are four variations of brown paper wrapping (not necessarily tied up with string).

Option One: Paper with a pretty ribbon.

I use wire edged ribbon which allows for a great looking bow. Sometimes, paper and a pretty ribbon really are enough.

Option Two: Paper with pretty ribbon and a bauble.
Here is the same package with a handmade glass ornament. I decided to use a complementary color for the glitter ornament. So here you have a gift with a gift.

Option Three: Paper with ribbon, bauble and nature
This is the same package with a different ribbon. This is a mesh ribbon that does not have wire. This allows for a big floppy bow. I used a hand painted marbled glass ornament. The final touch is a red berry garland. I have always been a fan of a monochromatic wrapping.

Option Four: Paper with ribbon, bauble and fresh nature
This is the same package as option three but with a fresh branch of eucalyptus that is tucked within the berry garland. The added benefit here is the fragrance. Fresh evergreen trimmings work well as well.

I learned my craft of gift wrapping from my years spent in Japan. The Japanese culture believes that a gift should represent three gifts: something on the package (even if it is a visual gift), the wrapping itself and the gift inside the box.

There is something very pleasing about this concept that I have taken to heart.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #23--Paper Holiday Decorations

Playbill Tree Topper

For Challenge #23 we were asked to use materials that we already have--to take something old and make it new. I have a collection of Playbills from most of the shows that come to our theater. The Playbill is the free program that is given out to all of the audience members. Many times, the Playbills get updated and become obsolete so I usually will snag a bundle or two to recycle. I am always looking for ways to repurpose these materials.

So for the current show, I decided to make a tree topper made from the cover of the Playbill. As you can see above, the show is prominently displaced in the center of the star.

Never to be satisfied with only one project, I decided to try and use the Playbills for other purposes. I made two paper bows with can feature any of the small pictures featured in the Playbill. Once uses the cover artwork and the other uses the black and white pages of the book's interior.

Playbill Bow (Cover)

Playbill Bow (Pages)

Finally, since I had so much material left over, I decided to try and miniaturize the tree topper star and make an ornament. The ornament below is made from two 2 inch squares of paper.

Playbill Star Ornament

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #22--Fall Flowers

Inspiration

This is going to be a bit of a strange post. For this challenge, we were tasked to create something dedicated to Fall colors. Orange has always been one of my favorite colors so I knew which direction I was headed. I love color and color theory and people are always asking me what inspires me and affects my color sense. After reading the posted challenge, I was walking by one of the Manhattan bodegas. In Manhattan, we always have flowers and foliage available for last minute gifts. As I was walking past, I noticed the above flower arrangement and decided to immediately do a floral arrangement for this challenge.

What many of you might not know is that I have always loved flowers. One of my only regrets about living in NYC is not being able to garden. I would love to have a plot of land to grow flowers for arrangements. If I had the chance to redo my life, I would have been a gardener and/or florist.

There were so many beautiful blooms available. I found these yellow and yellow/brown Calla Lilies.

Yellow Calla Lilies

There were also Dahlias in yellows, golds and oranges.

Dahlia

I fell in love with these Pumpkin Trees which I had never seen before. I found out that they were actually ornamental eggplants. Unfortunately, they were out-of-stock when I went back to the store.

Pumpkin Tree/Pumpkin on a stick

These Lantern Flowers have always intrigued me. They apparently intrigued everyone else because they were gone when I went back to buy them.

Chinese Lantern Flowers

And you can't have a Fall arrangement without berries and buds. I don't know this specific variety but they definitely fit the theme.

Berries & Buds

As I was deciding what to use for my arrangement, I decided on the Dahlias and Calla Lilies as my main flowers. For height, I added curly willow and cattails. I used lemon leaves, berries and some buds to fill out the arrangement.

Raw Materials

Below is the result. I am very happy with the result and gave it to a friend who needed some cheering up.

The Final Arrangement

I am always amazed at the overhead in flower arrangements. I really don't think that a simple arrangement like this is very difficult to do. If I had purchased this arrangement from a florist it would have been between $80 to $100. I already had the vase and the flowers totaled $25.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #21--Butterfly Mask

For Challenge Number 21 were tasked with another color challenge--The Color black. I struggled with this challenge because I always work with the color black due of my cutouts. I also wanted to do something for Halloween. So, I decided to do a Masquerade Mask with cutouts.

For Halloween at the theater, we arecasked to dress up as a Shakespearean character (our current show features a Shakespeare references) so I decided to go as Oberon, King of the Fairies, from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I started off with a white masquerade mask that can be purchased at any craft store during this time of year. I chose the mask that simply covers your nose and eyes (as opposed to the full face mask) and is affixed with an elastic band.

The first step was to pain the mask black with gesso. I applied two coats and then treated it with a blue mica powder to give it a sheen.

The second step was to apply the butterflies. I had these store bought butterflies that I was planning on using but the scale was too small. So I decided to make three butterfly cutouts. I would crease the butterfly down the center of the cutout to give dimension and then mount the store bought butterfly to the cutout. For the center of the mask, I took the third cutout and mounted rhinestones to give it some sparkle.

One side of the butterfly mask.

I will probably make another one of the these and put red and yellow rhinestones on the center butterfly. I will also cut the bottom part of the butterfly abdomen so that the wings have more motion and lie flat against the bridge of the nose.

The second side of the butterfly mask.

I am very happy with the way that it turned out (although the picture below doesn't seem like it).

Me modeling the mask*

* this is my "it's 2 AM and the Mets lost and I need to take a picture and go to bed" face.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #20--Scary Lampshade

For this challenge, we were asked to create something for Halloween. One of the actors at the theater is a big fan of Halloween so I decided to make something for his dressing room. Since another actor received the moose lampshade, I decided to decorate another lampshade.

This lampshade has two faces--an evil skill and a Keith Ledger Joker face. The faces are facing opposite directions so that both of the actors sharing the dressing room can each be facing an image. Or, the lampshade can be turned forward towards the door as people enter.

Evil Skull

Joker Face

The project turned out really well and everyone at the theater seems to enjoy it.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #19--Wee Pandas

For this challenge, we were allowed a do-over or a Mulligan. I had several projects in mind but I decided to combine several projects into one. Last challenge, I did Pandas. So I did Pandas again. Since these are cutouts, this also qualifies for the Paper Challenge. To add some interest and challenge to the challenge, I decided to re-visit the "Wee Challenge" or miniatures.

Each of the above images is 2" by 3". Although, you really can't tell, each one is attached to the back of my business card. I purposely didn't crop the image because all eight of the cutouts are attached to a single sheet of 8.5" by 11" piece of paper.

All of the images are from a Chinese Cutout Book by Dover. Some of them are more successful than others but I am very pleased with the results. I will say--working within these parameters was more difficult than I anticipated. This took me the full two weeks and there were many discarded attempts.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #18--Pandas

For Challenge #18, we were asked to be inspired by animals. With things getting busy with the upcoming holiday season, I needed to (1) either do a quick and easy project or (2) do something that I could combine with one of my other commitments. I chose the latter.

My dentist has been asking me for some artwork for this office. He just finished repainting and re-designing his work space and wanted some artwork. The walls are an tan/beige color and he needed something that was visually approachable to all of his clients.

When this challenge came along, I decided to do something to meet both needs. I had done a postcard based on pandas (the middle image) so I decided to revisit this artwork. The images are traditional Chinese Cutout Designs. I decided to do a triptych of pandas that will be mounted and framed in a single frame. I haven't quite decided how to mount them on paper and the matting color. I was thinking about putting the cutouts on green bamboo paper and then mounting them with fern green mat. The other thought would be to mount them on white paper and wrap the mat in the green bamboo paper. The frame will be a thin metallic dark green.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #17--Felt Tip Markers

For this challenge, we where given the letter "F" as a guideline. I thought about a felting project. The catalyst for my project was my newly acquired Copic Markers sets. So I decided to play with them and decided that my F would be "felt tip markers."

I have been busily designing some new gift wrap options for my upcoming store on Spoonflower. I hope to release the designs within the next week. These are hand designed papers that you will be able to order directly from them. We hit a snag in that the matte paper they were using is being discontinued. There are some designs that I will be able to release in the interim but others will have to be placed on hold until the replacement paper is chosen.

Here is the basic Happy Birthday Wrapping Paper. The basic paper comes with the letters "pre-doodled" so all that you have to do is color in the letters and/or the background if you choose. This was done with Sharpie Markers.

Basic Happy Birthday Paper

Here is the paper colored in with Copic Markers. These markers are alcohol based markers so they blend easily together. I have chosen to leave the background blank on this sample.

Happy Birthday Reds

The second sample is a Thank You wrapping paper that has designed with a background and then reproduced. The background was done with Sharpie Markers. This is definitely fine on its own OR

Basic Thank You Paper

you can color in the words yourself. I used the Copic Markers for the words on this sample.

Thank you in Blues

I am still tweeking the designs and they will be available in my Spoonflower shop under nystarcards.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #16--Cabin Lampshade

Moose Scene

For Challenge #16, we were asked to contribute to the Minnesota State Fair. After much internal debate (not), I knew that I wanted to enter the Decorative Crafts Division--Paper Cutting competition. Somehow, my eyes immediately locked to that entry in the official rules and divisions.

The only difficulty was deciding exactly what to enter. I knew that I wanted to do something from the area but didn't quite know what to do. I was planning on doing a cut out of a grizzly bear face. My motivation came from the theater once again. One of the actors was redecorating his dressing room and he wanted a Maine Cabin decor.

I decided to contribute a lampshade to his room. This actor is in love with moose (I didn't know the plural of moose was moose--why not mooses or meese?). I started with craft paper lampshade with black trim. I knew that I wanted to do a moose silhouette that would only appear when the light was turned on. I glued the silhouette to the interior of the shade. The shade has 8" slanted sides. The top opening is 5 inches in diameter. The bottom opening is about 9" in diameter.

I then had several options--to repeat the pattern or to create different silhouettes to fill the space. I made each silhouette 6" in height so that the images wouldn't be too close to the bulb. I  treated each of the silhouettes with a heat retardant spray so there wouldn't be any problems with the heat.

I decided to do three different scenes. The shade is an Empire shape with a slip UNO fitting. This means that the light bulb holds the lampshade in place. More importantly, it allows the shade to rotate easily. I chose the three different scenes so the actor could rotate the shade as his preferences changed.

Bear Scene

Elk Scene

 I am very happy with the way this turned out. Everyone that has seen it seems to be pleased as well.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #15--Paper Suncatcher

Paper Suncatcher

The challenge for Challenge #15 was wee (as in tiny). I took a little liberty with the challenge and designed something that was small-ER than normal. The tiny/wee part comes with some of the tiny/thin cuts that were required to create this project. The overall size of the project is 5.5 inches square.

On a previous challenge, I created a Paper Stained Glass. The difference with that project that it wasn't translucent because each of the pieces where filled in with card stock. For this project, I wanted light to pass through the cutouts so that it would appear like stained glass.

The first step was to cut the piece out of black card stock to simulate the lead lines. As you can see, I always work with wide borders. Not only does this give you someplace to put your hands but it actually reduces the tension when you work on the inner-most or tiny areas. Of course, you have to work from the middle to the sides. For this project, I worked on all of the tiny little (wee) rounded triangles (you see what I did there?).

I forgot to take a photo of the pre-painted image. I then mounted the black card stock to plain white tissue. I then mounted it to another piece of tissue. So there are two layers of tissue.

Painted, untrimmed project

I realized that I really needed two layers of tissue and that I would have to work with a relatively dry brush. I used a very small liner brush dipped in undiluted liquid water colors. The only problems that I had were two areas that bled through because I didn't wipe my brush dry after changing colors. The brush was too wet.

Here is the underside (backside)
of the project. The second layer of
tissue really helped.

I then trimmed the image with a half inch border on each side. Right now, I am calling these paper suncatchers because I have placed them in an acrylic sign holder and have placed it in my office window. The below image is the project in its holder with a light behind it. I might want to turn these into lampshades.

Backlit project.

I don't know why the image seems so stretched out--maybe it is just the angle that I took the picture but the image really is 5.5 inches square.

Waiting for the sun

I am really pleased with the way that this turned out. Once I figured out the bleeding issue, I really didn't have any other problems. I worked on a light box so I could see how the colors would change once dried. I see a lot more of these in my future.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #14--More Quilt Squares (Study in Blues)

Logs (but small narrow ones)

Blue. I'm so BLUE. Not really but this challenge really challenged me. It wasn't that I had a dearth of ideas but I had so many that I couldn't decide and ended up wasting a couple of days trying to decide. The challenge became even more difficult in that I decided to continue on working on blocks for a future quilt.

These blocks were dedicated to logs (rectangles) and points (triangles). The points almost made me jump off the George Washington Bridge.

The design that I have been most enamored have been the log designs. I tried them in a larger (thicker) format but decided to try to do narrower rectangles to work on my seam allowances. With the larger rectangles, you have a lot of room for error. On narrow rectangles, much less so. The reason that I like the pattern so much is because there is less pre-measuring. You simply sew two sides to the length of the current side and then cut the opposing sides to the added length.

Although there is less blue here, I did feature the color in the design.

The second pattern featured rectangles, squares and triangles. In this example, I tried to work on the triangles meeting the points of the squares. I loved the blue against the red. As you can see, I ran out of the grey striped material and had to piece one side and it made it wonky in the process--LOL. You live and learn.

The third and fourth patterns really featured blue and POINTS. The classic star pattern proved to be most difficult and that I had to start and restart several times. As you can see, some of the points matched up better than others. I do love the two shades of blue and the pattern on pattern.

The final pattern made me dizzy in the process. I don't know the name of the pattern but I got so confused and at times couldn't remember where I was in the pattern. I think that this would be equivalent to a knitter losing count during a stitch pattern. On a larger scale, I think it would be too busy. Once again, sometimes the points met and sometimes they didn't.

One of my biggest regrets is that I don't have a washing machine. Therefore, I have to wash all of the material by hand, let it drip dry, and then sew it. The I have to repeat the process with the finished square and iron it.

So, hopefully I met the Blue Challenge even though it turned me blue in the face. When I worked with Isaac Mizrahi, he told me that he learned more about sewing from taking things apart than sewing them together. I never understood what he meant until I started these quilt blocks.

Iron Craft 2015 Challenge #13--Halloween in July

For this challenge, we were asked to work with text. Kat said that she was letting off easy and I really needed an easy challenge for #13 because I was on vacation for most of the crafting period. When I returned, I developed an inner ear infection so it seems that I am constantly in a cave.

I was watching QVC and was noticing their Christmas in July broadcasts and I thought--why can't I have a Halloween in July crafting period. This is a two-for-one special because I felt a little guilty after cutting my first card.

Two years ago, I had a 31 Days of Halloween series and I used the ghost image for a bag topper (seen here). So, for the first card, I decided to make a card using the same image and adding the text "Boo."

Thinking that I was done, my good old Catholic guilt kicked in and I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning thinking that I had cheated. I decided to use the same text with a different image. I did a quick "bats and moon" card and then went back to sleep.

With a clear conscience, I was able to go to work--LOL.