Things I Adore Thursday: Kate Sutton Illustrations

All images by Kate Sutton.

For seven years I was formally trained in fine art, and I've been drawing since I was four. I can capture the likeness of practically anything or anyone. Nevertheless, I wish I had an inkling of the creativity of Kate Sutton, the illustrator who has created many (if not all?) of the posters for the Renegade Craft Fair and makes the cutest whatnot's from plushies and stationery to band aids and buttons.

by Kate Sutton

I am deeply enamored with illustration. It stems from childhood, I know. I would stare for what seemed like hours at the drawings in my favorite childhood books.

by Kate Sutton

If you like Sutton's work, too, check out her Pirate Bird plushie tutorial. These little guys, as seen in her work above, are so cute I'm planning on making some for myself and for my dogs. And I think they'd make great gifts, especially for a baby or small child.

A Day in the Life of a Cottage Industry

These are all of the promo materials I designed this weekend.

Yeesh! I've taken the A-Z small business crash course this week, and it's only Tuesday night. Between merchant accounts, banking, inventory and brand imaging, it's all about tying the loose ends into pretty little bows now. The Louisiana Peach Festival craft show begins this Saturday, and while I'm nearly as prepared as I can be, at this point I wish I could crank out more jewelry ... just for added measure.

Remnants of a paper banner.

The shop banner, which I'm hand making, is almost complete. In retrospect, I wish I would have spent the 50 odd dollars to have a small one made, but -eh- craft and learn. In the process of making the banner, I've been stabbed rather violently by angry fabric pins, have had a grommet setting debacle that stretched into a three-day event and experienced a snafu at my local printer's shop. And now that I've painted the "Petite Minx" on the banner, with two handfuls of letters left to paint, my fingers are going on strike and are refusing to work.

Check back soon for the craft show banner tutorial.

Craft Room DIY

Image from Sunset.

Hello friends. Lately I've been an uninspired blogger, hence my brief absence, but I'm back with fresh muses on my shoulder and plenty of fun, helpful links to share.

Image found on Flickr.

As I'm still dreaming up ways to make my studio the creative center of my personal universe, the chevron striped table, above, caught my eye. I'm thinking of giving the DIY project from Sunset a go, though it looks like quite an undertaking.

Images from the Makool Loves You shop. In the words of Rachel Zoe, "I die."

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite links of the moment. Enjoy. xo

♥ Super handy! Make a rolling coat rack.
♥ How to Rock a Craft Fair
♥ Crochet a wire beaded bracelet.
♥ Frayed roses tutorial by Sis Boom
♥ I heart the Makool Loves You blog big time, and their shop makes me weak in the knees.

How to Make a Stamp

Yesterday, in preparation for the Peach Festival, I spent some time carving a stamp to print onto paper bags. The effect of the image is rather handmade, which is precisely what I wanted.

I bought a rubber stamp making kit at Michael's that included:
(1) one rubber pad
(2) a carving kit that included two blades, shown in the photo.
(3) Separately, I bought a brayer (shown in photo), which is a tool that is used to spread paint evenly onto a surface.

You may also want to purchase:
(4) graphite paper for tracing an image onto the rubber pad
(5) various inks for stamps (useful if you're cutting a smaller stamp)

I started by freehand drawing onto the rubber pad with a color pencil, though a regular pencil will work too. The parts of the rubber pad that are not drawn on (referred to as negative space) should be cut away. What's left will be a relief of your image.

*Note: If you are including wording on your stamp, be sure to draw it backwards. If it reads correctly in the mirror, you've drawn it right.

After I carved away all of the negative space, I used the brayer to spread acrylic paint across newsprint. Then, I rolled the paint evenly onto the stamp and applied it with even pressure to my page.

As you can see in the top print, there were still parts of the stamp that needed to be cut down further. And in the bottom image, I had pressed the stamp onto the inked paper rather than applying the paint with the brayer, resulting in uneven coverage and not enough paint.

This is the result of the finished product. It's a pretty simple process. I suggest, if you have a choice between the white or pink rubber pads, to go for the white. They are more pliable and easier to work with.

Branching Out for Craft Show

Prepping for the Ruston Farmers Market craft show has been so much fun. Today I started working on my booth display. I spent about $7 total for two terra cotta pots, moss and foam filler. The branches were free, courtesy of nature, and their soft white-washed effect is due to lying in the driveway for two days in the rain after they'd gotten a coat of spray paint-- a happy mistake.


Wanna know a secret? The round wooden lift that the pot is on is actually a chip and dip platter that I rarely use. Using around-the-house items in a display is a great way to keep exhibit-related costs in check.


Quite off the subject, here is my first ever finished crochet project. I'm self-taught, and it's pretty evident because the scarf is kind of wonky. It's also skinnier than Rachel Zoe is after lunch -- that is to say it's the twiggiest thing you've ever seen. But damn it's fashionable! In my mind anyway. Ah, well. Yarn over and learn I guess.