I’ve sewn together a very easy table runner for a friend of mine. I still adore the table runner we’ve got on our living room table right now, the polka dot one I made this spring. It really makes me happy, with all those bright colors together. I can’t wait to make another one for us, when I find the time, in more “iHanna colors”.
If I couldn’t create there would be nothing for me to live for. It’s selfish, I know, but geniuses are selfish.
Miles Davis
I’m making Index Card Collages this summer. What are you making?
Today it’s time for a index-card-a-day (ICAD) Update. We’ve already passed the middle of June 2017, and summer if flying by. Time to catch up.
For each day this summer I’m filling a pink index card with a little colorful collage. This year I’m taking a very laid-back approach to this art challenge (called ICAD with the official hashtag for instagram being #dyicad2017). I am making index card collages. Little vignettes of papers, using a lot of typography.
Typography was the official theme of the first week in June, and I like it a lot. It kind of stuck with me, the idea of using words on my index cards. Since then I haven’t checked the daily prompts or the weekly themes that Tammy of DaisyYellow shares freely on her blog…
I’m just doing my own thing and using some pretty papers, cut out magazine words, stickers, washi tape, pens and ephemera of the day.
I made my first Etsy Haul Video (scroll down to watch it). In it I am sharing some kawaii stuff that we Journalers and Stationary Addicts like. Pens, cute washi tape and a pack of stickers. It is not a big haul by any means, just a little something that I bought for myself but didn’t want to keep to myself.
I want to share these items because they make me happy. I don’t really want to promote this particular seller, even though I liked her stuff, and I don’t want to promote buying in excess, especially things you don’t need. But since I myself enjoy watching “etsy hauls” and “sticker hauls” and “notebook hauls” (although most of those video hauls are massive and makes me wonder when are they ever going to use up all that stuff?) I thought I’d give the video genre a chance… I enjoy sharing as you might know, and these days I’m getting more comfortable talking too…
I’m joining ICAD again this year, are you? I hope so, because I’d love to see what you make. Last year I filled 61 index cards with abstract art and learned a lot about what I like to paint.
ICAD stands for index-card-a-day, and I’m talking a bit about what it entails and showing my index cards from last year in the video below.
ICAD is a free and easy-going art challenge where you can do anything you want on an index card. You will fill one index card each day for two months, or however many you want to fill for however long you want to keep going. The only real rule, as I understand it, is that you must create on index cards – that’s the whole point.
If you feel like joining us ICADians, just get a stack of index cards. We start June 1st and the challenge continues on til the last day of July. ICAD for me is sunshine, iced coffee, and easy-breezy fun creating. Summer time, come forward!
Are you in need of a few Creative Ideas? Because I have an abundance of ideas that I do not mind sharing with you! I love creative list writing, so this is a fun blog post to make: a list of one hundred (100!) creative ideas that will spark you into a creative mood, a place where you can take action and play with any creative materials you’ve got!
So how about One Hundred Awesome Ideas to Spark you into Creative Action, all with a link to a previous blog post of mine where I myself have explored these ideas? I hope you’ll all like this list of ideas (the first 100 Ideas here).
Let’s get going, it’s a long list…
Quilting – the act of cutting perfectly good fabric into little pieces and then sewing them back together again.
iHanna
Quilters are people who enjoy cutting new fabric apart to sew it together again. It sounds counter-intuitive and a bit crazy, but it is actually fun to do. I’m lucky to have a mom who is a Quilting Queen, so I never have to learn from a book or even take a class. I just go sit in her sewing room when I want to learn something new or get help with a project I’m thinking about.
More Polka Dots and another table cloth? Indeed. You can never have too many polka dotted things in your life. Also a iHanna quote…
This time I wanted to tackle making a table runner for the living room table. I have a few ones I really like already that I alternate between, but not one that I have made myself. And I wanted this one to scream iHanna style out loud.
I picked mostly polka dot fabrics (and some of the new ones I recently bought plus just a hint of stolen fabric from mom’s stash) in my current color crush combination: magenta pink and bright orange. Isn’t that the most stunning combination of all times? I’m in love with it.
I like a lot of different styles when it comes to interior decorating, and I always admire those that has all-white rooms in their houses. But as an artist, I could never pull that style of, no matter how much I try. At least I don’t think so…
Maybe if I had a living room that was rarely used? But then again, each time I would enter with my polka dot socks and striped sweater it would be ruined (or complement?) and the pristine witness of the room gone… Then I would sit down on the couch and spread out my journal, my watercolor set and my embroidery… So why bother with trying something I can never be? I will have to keep admiring (and pinning) the white, clean home images and be who I am, which is colorful and messy.
Wanna take hack the color wheel and take an awesome art journal workshop this year? Then this is your chance, right now. I am one of the guest teachers in Kiala Givehand’s upcoming workshop called Hacking the Color Wheel – Art Journaling for Creative Rebels. Love this title so much, don’t you? It’s about book binding, art journaling, color play and experimentation. Yum!
Paint your own Personal Color Wheel, and exercise from Kiala I did last year. Love my pink color wheel…
There will be two sessions of Hacking the Color Wheel in 2017. The first session, where I’m one of the guest teachers is starting in June already (yay!) and the second one is in November 2017.
They are sold separately or as a bundle, so you can decide what fits you best. You will have access to each one a lot longer than the two weeks we’re in “session”, but when they’re on there will be more of a community feel and some live stuff happening that is quite exiting. Right now they’re on pre-sale for a great price.
I am a big fan of art journaling as many of you know. But with the swap taking up my time in April, it’s been way too long since I wrote about my biggest obsession… So today I am sharing my latest hand bound book with you guys. It’s an Art Journal with a free form mixed media embroidered cover that I think turned out so yummy.
At the end of this post there’s a quick flip through video of this shiny new journal too. I hope you like it.
With this blank book I have actually managed to combine a couple of my passions into one project; abstract painting and embroidery on the cover of a journal I bound myself (love journaling, love book binding). The binding method is one I’ve done a couple of times before. I’m not sure what the proper name for it is, but I call the binding “diamond stitch”, since it creates a decorative and rad diamond pattern on the spine.
Do you love to get Happy Mail too? I think most people would be happier if they got more happy mail. Around here it’s soon time to send out our DIY Postcards and let them become Happy Mail. But until then, let’s have a dance party. Since yesterday was my birthday I’m inviting you to join me in this wee dance party before we head out to the post office at the end of this week…
After I made the Crazy Hat Party video I decided to give stop motion another try. I’m hooked, it is SO fun to see your images move around on the screen. This one turned out a little better in terms of light and movement, although it’s very short and kind of silly. Well, very silly. It’s about getting the right hat, but also about loving yourself and having a dance party on your own if you need it…
Plus, I'm the master of handmade postcards as you already know, just look how it dances on my table… Continue reading
New Workshop: Hacking the Color Wheel!
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DIY Postcard Swap closed for now. Sign up for my Newsletter to be notified when the next one starts.
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