For your gift-giving pleasure: A HALF OFF CLEARANCE SALE!

 Hi there. How are you?

The Tuesday News: Baltimore Oriole Print

Hi there. How are you?

This blog has been long neglected, but I'm to try to step my game. My plan is write a new post every Tuesday. Can you help me stick to it? You have my permission to publicly flog me if I don't post! 

I have to admit, I play favorites. My Baltimore Oriole is so my fave of my bird series. My husband thinks he looks mean. I think he's full of personality! I was thrilled to sell the original Baltimore Oriole piece a couple of weeks ago at holiday craft fair. Now, I can offer the little guy as a print!

The 5" x 7" image is printed with archival pigment based inks on artist quality heavy matte paper. There is a small white border around the print for your matting/framing convenience. It will be signed and titled on the front. At just $12, he'd make a nice holiday gift for any bird nerd. Get your very own Baltimore Oriole print HERE.

One more bit of news....I've got a shop set up over on Papernstitch.com for the holidays. There's a COUPON CODE over there just waiting for you to use in my shop!

See you next Tuesday. Ta-ta!

Thrifty Gift Wrap

Greetings Friends! It's all Christmas at the Johansson house right now.  I leave to go up to Rockford for the holidays on Tuesday, so I'm getting all of my gift buying,  making and wrapping completed this week.

I have always enjoyed wrapping presents and aspire to make each one a little work of art. I also try to be somewhat "green" about my wrapping, reusing and re-purposing papers and ribbons from year to year. All my relatives know to hand the salvageable ribbons/bows over to me when we are opening presents.

This year a spent a whopping $4.25 on wrapping supplies. $4.00 went to a roll of brown craft paper.  This is my go-to wrapping paper and I really don't use anything else. I like its earthy, neutral tone and by changing out the ribbon, I can make it work for any occasion. The remaining $0.25 went to a bag of vintage sewing notions that I picked up at a thrift store a while back. There was lace, rick-rack, and seam binding in a variety of colors and all in its original packaging. Score!

I'm not all that big into bows, so I tend to wrap the ribbons around the packages to create stripes.  I then tie or tape the ribbons on the underside of the packages. It's not all that pretty on the back side, but it's the front that matters anyways right?

This is my mom's birthday gift.  (Her birthday is December 19th.) I just taped on the fake flower that I found in my trusty wrapping materials box, added some criss-crossed ribbon in complementary colors (also from my box) and voila!

I used a Crown Royal bag to wrap up this gift. I've got a small arsenal of these and have re-used them several times in a variety of manners. They are great for a rolled up t-shirt, jewelry, lotions, candles, etc.

How did/are you going to wrap up your holiday gifts this year? I'd love to see what you did.  Feel free to leave me a link in the comments so I can check it out!

Happy Holidays folks! Ta-ta for now.

The Wright Inspiration

It's a little known fact that there is a Frank Lloyd Wright Home in Rockford.  I myself just found out of its existence in the last year. 

Built in 1949 for Mr & Mrs. Kenneth H. Laurent, and it is the only Wright house still occupied by its original owners. This one story Usonian style home was designed to be totally handicapped accessible, as Mr Laurent is wheelchair bound. 

The Laurents have been trying to sell their home for some time now and there is a growing interest in turning this piece of history into a house museum. Doc Slafkosky and Jerry Kortman, my pals at JR Kortman Center for Design have organized a group exhibition of FLW inspired work to bring attention to this treasure in our midst. 15 killer local artists, including moi will be exhibiting work for this show.  I have created 2 pieces.

Both of my pieces feature chairs that Wright designed for the Laurent House. These chairs were part of a lot of furniture auctioned off in June of 2011.  I used my usual paper and Bic pen approach.

“The Wright Inspiration: Art, Design, and the Laurent House” exhibition opens Friday, November 25th with a reception from 5 to 10pm in the Kortman Gallery. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend this. (Boo! Gallery openings at Kortman's are always a blast!) 


The show will run through the end of the year (I'm not sure exactly when it will come down) and can be viewed any time the store is open.  Store hours are Monday to Saturday, 10am – 6pm, and Sundays (in December) 1 – 5pm.

All of the work in the show is for sale. Art makes a great gift! Hope you can come out and support local artists and a local treasure.


Ta-Ta for now!

Rockford Handmade Market Preview - Part 2

Happy Monday Friends. After 5 days off from work, it's been tough for me to get back into the swing of things today. 

Rockford Handmade Market is just 4 days away, and I've got some more goodies to share.  All of these works are handmade right here in Rockford, Illinois by one of our Rockford Handmade Market vendors.

1. Flowers, bowls and more fashioned from found objects by Recycled Rarities.
2. Original still life paintings by Art Friedl. 
3. Handcrafted silver fingerprint jewelry by Precious Prints co.  
4. One of a kind art dolls made from new and recycled socks and trinkets by Socks that Rock.   
5. Contemporary felted toys and accessories by Lulu’s Stabbies Creatures.
6. Hand stamped custom jewelry by Jewelry by Katie M.
   

 Hope to see you there!