This year's holiday craft

Every year I like to make a little something around this holidays. This year I was inspired by these lovely little bird ornaments, so I gave a shot at making something similar with my illustrations.

First, I printed out some images on to iron-on sheets, then ironed them on to a large piece of linen:

Next, I cut them out, and matched each with a piece of bright, patterned fabric for the back:

Then, I added a small piece of ribbon (at last something to do with my re-used ribbon collection!), sewed, and stuffed them. My assistant inspected each very carefully.

Once they were approved, we hung them on the tree or gave them away. Perhaps next year they will find their way to my Etsy Shop.

Etsy at last

As a long time fan of all the goodness that is Etsy, I have at last opened my very own shop. Hurrah! I've been selling prints of my illustrations (from books and other projects) at craft sales such as the RISD holiday sale for some time, but now they are available to everyone year round easy as pie. I just hope it doesn't tempt me to shop there more than I already do!

I'll be adding more prints from recent books and the occasional original painting now and then when I can. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Here is a sampling of what I put up... some inkjet prints from What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe?, and some little framed bird giclées:

Tin can debate

So I am still working on edits to my new craft book (What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe?), this week I am debating which kind of tin can makes the best tin can lantern. The book is meant to be used by kids, but with adult assistance at times for things like punching holes in tin cans with a hammer and nail. Even though this part of the activity will be done by grown-ups, I still want it to be as easy and painless as possible. So I am testing out different kinds of cans to see which ones are the easiest to punch holes in. These were my contenders (yes I actually bought SpaghettiO's, and yes my boyfriend was totally psyched and took them for lunch today)...



Any guesses as to which one was the thinnest, and thus easiest to nail through?