Valentine Finds for Him.... from Etsy.

I have been perusing Etsy in search for a Valentine present for my ever-lovin-hubby, and have found quite a few goodies that I think would be great for many the manly man. Thought I'd share a few on my list....

                                       

                                       

                                          Leather MacBook Case

(A handmade laptop case that is both rugged and artsy, I wouldn't be able to help but eye the beholder of such a handsome carrier at the coffee house)

                                                       

                                                     Personalized Etched Pint Glass

(Because we never have enough pint glasses to cheers our good health with; Because personalized glasses show that you put a true effort into embracing his pastimes; Because they are kitschy way to advertise your love without actually inking it onto your body permanently)

                     

                        Printed Canvas Notebook

(Housing an XL Moleskine, this sturdy canvas notebook with pencil holder, is an attractive way to encourage him to actually write down the ideas he has, and remember all that stuff he seems to forget, )

               

                                               

                                                 Take it Off Coat Rack                 

(He may imbue more meaning in it, and yes being Valentines Day I think indulging him appropriate, but secretly it's really just meant to be a place for him to hang the sweatpants he throws by the side of the bed each night when he gets into bed in his skivvies.)

                 

             I Love You More Than Edward Cullen Card

(Because what hubby/boyfriend/partner isn't sick of his better half swooning over the Twillight men, well at least I know mine is)

Moving Correspondence...

Recently I did a fun little job for a friend who moved to the south from New York City. They bought a house on a palm tree lined street, and wanted a way to let friends know where they were living while keeping the imagery simple and sentimental.
 

(I had to remove the personal information from the images, so forgive the choppy appearance of the text!)

A (self-inking) return address stamp featuring a drawing I did of the palm tree in front of there house:

A calling card featuring a teeny-tiny flock of birds, small enough to be slipped in with the outgoing Christmas and New Years cards:

Silhouette's made easy...

I had to pass on this tutorial for making silhouette's in five simple steps. The original tutorial can be viewed here http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/2010/01/make-your-own-silhouette-picture.html
on The Anderson Family Crew blog.
I love silhouette's, and have tried to make my own for Clara Belle many times, and can't wait to try this easy method!

New Year, New Blog, Cool Contest!

At last, a blog-post!
I have been procrastinating on starting the blog for Pretty.Simple.Things, because, honestly, I hadn't had any "aha" moments on how to start it! Enter inspiration in the form of a contest!

Hosted by Cool Mom Picks, in conjunction with Etsy, the contest is open to all artists, designers, and anyone with a love of Valentines! The challenge was to design a color-your-own valentine for children to embellish themselves, and give to their parents. Cool Mom Picks is choosing 9 designs, to promote and sell, and all the proceeds of the sales will be donated to the Childrens Heart Foundation. Such a fun idea, and for a great cause, so I figure I'll try my luck at it! Here's the link for the contest rules for all of you artists out there who would like to enter as well:
http://www.coolmompicks.com/valentines-design-contest/

I thought I'd kick off the Pretty.Simple.Blog by sharing my entries.

The first design is more modern and pop-arty. Everything in the card was designed so that it could be colored by the hand of the child: the images are made with outlines with space between them, rather than solid lines, so that the kiddies can color-in the lines themselves and make them there own. When colored in, the card will look very lovely, however, I wanted this one to be pretty enough that even my two-year-old (who has no concept of coloring in the lines) could scribble all over it, and the pretty background would still show through and be complemented by the loose blobs of color she tends to make (which I consider art in and of itself).


The second design is a bit of a throw back to the seventies, and my own spin on the giving tree. After all, I see the love shared between a child and their parents as continually growing and filling life with joy, even after the child is an adult and no longer sprouting up like a tree. The font is a fun hand-scripted outline that can be colored in as part of the design as well.