Friday, September 29, 2006

The Yellow/Blue/Red Tote

Here is the finished product. The first one I twisted the strap so ended up keeping for myself. I am glad I did that. The lady in the op-shop said it was "bright". They are a limited edition of 5.


aaaahh Vampy!

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Making The Most Of Yellow

I got some yellow cotton drill from Spotlight and when I got it home I thought, ugh, who would want a yellow bag? So I thought about it all day, how could I make it okay?
I was thinking about making a two toned bag, and yellow could be part of it, then I remembered my favourite colour combination in high school, primary colours.

This is stage one, it is lacking the blue which I need to cut out of the paper, but the red needs to dry, so I have some time.





Okay, I ended up finishing the blue before I finished this blog.
These are going to make sweet totes.



Badge Cards

I only just realised the settings my camara has. I feel like a bit of an idiot. I don't know if it will take any better pictures. If anyone knows of some camaras which are good and make things look good, please tell me.


Here are my bagde cards that I made last night.



I like this little lady a lot, which is why she was chosen as my model.

Soon to be available at:

Kids In Berlin
472 Victoria St
North Melbourne

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Art Nouveau

I had a busy weekend so wasn’t able to make a thing, but today I returned to back to my studio and have plenty to show.

Number one is this bag I made. I will list it on
Etsy tomorrow when I have more sunlight to take photos.
I made three and they’re all the same. My plan is to list one on
my Etsy store and two will be at Kids In Berlin. Although I just realised I need stuff for our promo boxes.




Give Me the Car Key



Second thing I did was pack up all my felt badges ready to send to Kids In Berlin. They look sweet and have little “personals” inside them.

I started another batch of badges, this time making a large batch and turning the process a little production line.

I have registered my
domain name, which is exciting, but I want the page done by the weekend, so these next few days are going to be hectic. When I say done, I mean something there, not nothing. There is nothing there yet.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Quilt-Bag

Quilting is the new black

I went to the op shop yesterday and found a small bit of batting and some lovely retro styled brown fabric. At the next op shop the woman asked me if I wanted a quilting book and I said no. Although I like the idea of quilting I don't know if I have the patience. All that seems funny to me now because this bag I made looks like quilting to me. I used the batting to line the bag, instead of interfacing. The dream idea in my head was a pillow soft bag perfect for laying your head on in the park. I even thought when I was making it that it might end up to be my favourite bag ever. I think the jury is still out, it is still growing on me, but the softness of the bag and the browns in the fabric really are lovely. Another thing I like about it is the red stitching on the white fabric for the strap; they look so pretty together. Have a look at my fantastic model, with not one but THREE images of him. Swell.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

More Birdy Applique Goodness

A bird in the hand is worth three on the bag



I was out of ideas after I had some issues with some applique/screenprinting I did. I thought, stick to what you know, so went back to the leather applique. Leather is lovely to applique with and I found a good bit with not too much fuzzyness on the other side. Check out the etsy shop, I have a new model. He likes Seinfeld, talking to his accountant and eating ham rolls.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

The Man On His Horse In Spain

I think it is a ghost town



I did this print for another of the brown tote bags I started yesterday. I decided enough with the appliqué; it is time to get back on the screen-printing horse. This print was inspired by a painting my Grandma has in her house. She got it in Spain in the 60's or 70's and there are three of them. I cut my finger while I was knifing that part of the road, I tried to do it rough, but I got a little too rough with the scalpel.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Leather, Applique and Birthdays

Available at http://annalaura.etsy.com



I found a bag of leather at my local "Treasure Shop" a few months ago. The lady told me it was a dollar and I almost ran out of the store after paying expecting someone to come after me to tell me I was charged incorrectly. I have not done much with the leather, due to not knowing what to do, not wanting to waste it and finding my machine a little too soft to break the skin.

I currently have a new machine on loan. Despite it shaking the whole house, it sews the leather no problems. I made two totes today using leather appliqué. One was for my friend Peter because it is his birthday today. Have a look at his poetry blog, the conversation poems are my favourite. The other tote is available in my shop. This tote is a simple design, but I like simple designs. This bag is different from my normal two strap totes. It has one long strap because I know that’s how Peter likes his bags (and two strap totes don't really seem manly to me). Now I have holidays I will go back to the Treasure Shop to find more goodies.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Skyline







I started taking photos in the car on Saturday night because the sun was MASSIVE in the sky, bigger than a pizza pie. Makes me want a decent camera. I'm using my video camera, which is okay, but not okay enough. Takes nice film though.

Check out this music. I think they are fab.

Friday, September 15, 2006

birds birds birds

Holidayze. Thank-freaking-god. Now I don't know what to do with myself.



I have two new friends from the outstanding etsy seller
birdnerd. They are lovely little buttons, which I am very sweet on.


Polly wants a cracker




I am not a human being




Speaking of birds, I did some scan and shop/illustrate and ended up with this:



I don't know what it will become, although I like the idea of doing some multicoloured screenprints, and this would be a simple print as there is not need to worry about colour registration.

Some detail:



Monday, September 11, 2006

Gold Doll

Ever wondered what a $1.49 doll, half a goon cask, a hot glue gun and silver spray paint will get you? Other than sticky fingers and a headache, this beautiful trophy:






I think it could be one of the more scary things I have created.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Origami Bag

Origami



I made this origami appliqué bag today. I made a bag using the same fabrics yesterday and thought it could work. The hardest thing was making the origami crane. I think the instructions I had were not so good, but I sat for about 1/2 an hour trying to figure it all out.

I currently have the schools sewing machine. Mine needs a service and this one is brand new, but it shakes a lot more than mine and hurts my eyes as everything appears blurry.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

reusable cards




I have been making cards since way back when, however I have just started making fabric cards. This one here is the second one I made. I made the other one about a month ago and I cannot remember what it specifically looked like, although it was made from felt.

I sewed a little pocket inside so you can slip a paper card in with your message on it making it reusable. Once you give the card to someone, they could reuse it by taking out the paper card and putting in their own.