Simple Star Stemware

If you are looking for a last minute stemware idea for your New Year's party, look no farther than your holiday gift wrap stash or craft aisle.

You can get a small spool of this wire in your desired color (typically this time of year you will be able to find red, silver, or blue) for about a dollar at a dollar store, craft store, or big box store. Anyway, divide it up and cut it into 4 pieces. Wrap them around the stems...several glasses on a table arranged would make for a very pretty display.

I actually used silver wire stars for mine, but man oh man, my photo was really lousy in coloration, so I turned it into a faux pink and purple. It looks more fun this way. If only we could simply do this with more blah things in life!

I had another project up my sleeve that I worked on for 2 hours tonight and it just didn't come together the way I wished...but I was wanting to something swell for New Years. I'm not 100% sure what I will be doing. I like to take it easy and laid back on New Year's with a good group of friends most times.

Anyway, I hope yours turns out great! I can't believe it's Thursday tomorrow already!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Pretty projects via Craftzine!

A few projects I've seen over on Craftzine that I would love to try...


Fabric PomPoms by Dolci Odille. This is usually my color palette, but I love them nonetheless.


New Year's Garland via The Purl Bee (love their blog header and awesome tutorial, btw). Some of the simplest things make for the prettiest things.


And this strung word garland by Katie Did which is so freakin' cool. I want to do it not just for Christmas!

Thanks guys for hanging with me this last part of '09 despite my project drought. I've been getting more inspired with each day and should have some new projects soon! Up until recently, my heart just haven't been into it, but I'm getting back in action.

I hope you have a great Wednesday!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Coolness

Cool things (in no particular order)...


Custom fingerprint ring from Rockmyworldinc's shop on Etsy.


The Bubble Calendar


This illusion trench dress by Rosalind


Button Badge Heart Picture by Brigitte Herrod


FTD Bouquets by Todd Oldham

Just a short and sweet post today filled with goodies. Hope you like them as much as I did!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

New Swell Show & Tell

Here's my 3rd installment in my "Swell Show & Tell". I talk about a great new book, a great new plate I purchased, and a great new accessory I hope to add to my revamped office. Oh, and I even added in a couple sound effects.

Oh and a behind the scenes note...I worked for 2+ hours on my first version and somehow deleted it all when I tried to add a photo into my iMovie. Yikes. Yeah, I was ticked. Oh, well...you live, you learn. I did add in a couple sound effects I recorded on Garageband and I'm really digging the slew of sound effects you can choose from for your video. There are quite a few to choose from...from country to hip hop to crazy/silly sound effects.

Oh and some deets about what I talk about...

– The Crafter's Devotional can be purchased here from Amazon.
– I got the deer half off at Border's. Run quick if you want one too!
– My printer is the Pixma MP490. Here are the details from Canon's web site. It is an all in one also with a copier and scanner.
– The Old Navy plate was by the checkout and I got it for $3.50 on sale. Another one of those, you better run and get it if you want it. They also had cute matching striped bowls.
– No Pixie cats were harmed in the making of this video. Harhar.
– Oh, and thank the Lord that the video capture stopped at one of my more flattering moments. Totally not diggin' the double chin!
– And I think I have Britney Spears' crazy eyes at the start of this! LOL.


Hope you have a great week!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Merry Christmas to Me!

I was a bit annoyed tonight when I saw my door mat pushed up against my door as I neared my apartment. Usually this means some prankster has had a laugh at my expense messing it up for me to fix, but today that wasn't the case. Underneath the mat was delivery from Sterling Publishing/Lark Books. I questioned why for a moment and then realized that maybe it was a book I was asked to submit a photo to via Flickr. Indeed, it was that book.

And I'm super excited about it! It's a cute little coffee table book all about heart imagery. It's filled with photos of hearts in nature, painted heart, heart balloons, and random occurrences of hearts in daily life (architecture, shadows, stuff positioned to make hearts). Anyway, I flipped through the book and as I neared the end, I thought that maybe my image wasn't included after all...but there on the last page was my image called "Heart Attack". I am honored to have been chosen to close out the book!



Here it is straight from my Flickr page! I took this while I was still in Lexington. I blogged that night about my photo outing in one of my Wednesday is Lensday post.



If you are interested in buying this (now as a belated holiday gift), you can purchase it via Amazon. Click here to order or learn more.

A few Artist Trading Cards

I caught on to this ATC movement really late, I'll admit it. I know it had been popular a couple years back and that some people are still actively collecting them (you can read all about them here). Anyway, I bought a pack of Strathmore cards a couple weeks back for a buck at Joann's and along with some colored penciled and my brand new Prismacolor markers, I went to town. I love creating quick and fun little illustrations and lettering for people (goes way back to my bubble lettering bookmark days in 3rd grade that I sold for 10¢ a piece). Anyway, I just thought I would share a few of my mini little illustrations!







I had a lot of fun with these. I think I'm going to go back and buy some more of these mini packs. They are linen canvas texture which is nice. I realize I can cut my own down to size, but I like the texture of the ones in the packs.

Thanks for visiting! Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Meet Ava

Just wanted to share a super cute photo of the newest member of my family...my niece Ava! Isn't she a total doll? She's a really good baby, super smiley, and she is so, so sweet. She's sitting up already and even trying to balance and walk (she's about 7 months), but she is not too keen on crawling just yet. In time, I guess. Here she is with the super cute sock monkey my mom made her :) She loves attacking and chewing on the arms & legs. She is ferocious!




I know I didn't tell you guys, but I was at home last week, so that's the reason for my lack of posts. I plan to get back on track soon, but you know how crazy the holidays can be. Sometimes they zap the life out of you (well, I don't know if it is the holidays as much as it is the 7+ hour flights).

Anyway, hope you have a great week! Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Taylor's Top 5 Holiday Kid's Crafts!

Taylor's "Awesome Angel". See below for instructions.

So, my niece Taylor wanted to do a blog post with me. I thought it would be cool if she helped me come up with a list of 5 easy and fun crafts to do for kids. Taylor and Brock (her brother) make a special craft each year for family and friends, so they have a lot of crafty expertise. Each year they do something new and different, so Taylor is going to pick her top 5 ideas below. So, she's going to type them below. Take it away Taylor!

1. "The Bomb" bookmarks.
It's so simple. You'll need paper (of any color).Then,cut them into strips and cut out a couple of pic.'s from a magazine (or draw) about special people in your life or family. Use the pic.'s and glue them on the striporoos. Use a hole punch for a hole at the top and string ribbon or yarn for a perfect holiday gift!

2." Marvolous' Ornaments.
First, take clear glass ornaments and a specail persons favorite color paint. Open the ornament and pour a medium amount of paint inside. shake the ornament up so that the paint goes all around the sides of the ornament, and wahla! There you go perfect christmas ornaments!let dry for at least an hour or more.

3. So Cool cookies
so First, you have to pick your favorite cookie mix and seporate the ingredients into layers in a jar. decorate your jar. heres a perfect gift for the holidays.put persons name on a tag give away!

4. Suddsy soap
To make these suddsy soaps you hve to find a holiday mold. put soap mixture into mold and let dry. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

5. Awesome Angels
Use styrofoam balls (Big,medium,small)and put them together with a toothpick.for hair use string and hot glue to the top of the head. for wings use white faethers to stick in the back.use toothpicks for arms and a pipe cleaner for the haylo. Oh, and add googly eyes for personality. you are done!

Thanks Tay Tay for sharing your super swell ideas! Here's a pic of Taylor blogging her cool, crafty ideas.



Hope you have a great holiday season! Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Cirque Du Noel prep

I just had a long night. I'm prepping for Fresno Etsy Especial's Cirque Du Noel as a helper and for iLoveToCreate, so it's been kinda crazy tonight in the house of swell. If you know anyone (real friends or online friends) who live in the Fresno area, tell them about our event please! It's our first one so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it goes well. Wish us luck!

Well, that's all for now. Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

A few holiday inspirations

Check out these fun holiday ideas I rounded up tonight! Admittedly, I haven't put up any decorations. I do love my holidays, but I've been busy and I'm leaving this Saturday to go home. I may come home from visiting and want to put up my tree, but then again I may not. It's weird when you live by yourself....anything I put up is really for my enjoyment (and Pixie's as well). Oh, well. Enough about that. Onto the fun, pretty ideas!!!

Love these pretty dyed bottle brush trees!! So pretty. Found on the Pleasures of Home blog.



Love the use of multiple cheap ribbon bows on these solid color packages. Found on Good Housekeeping's site.



I'm a sucker for multiples. Love this candy cane candle idea from Better Homes and Gardens!




These DIY bows from maps and magazines are so cool! Seen on Apartment Therapy.



These fun pennant corsages are so nostalgic and full of whimsy.



And these two wreaths are absolutely amazing. The blue one is found on Mid Century Utah's blog and the natural one that I found on the Happy Mundane blog.





Hope this inspires you this Tuesday. I know it inspired me!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Hat Attack

I love to wear hats. When I was growing up, I didn't wear them much, because school didn't allow it...also I haven't been the savviest of dressers over the years, so I was totally clueless how to wear them really. The hat above was made by my friend Pattie! She cut out all of her tags and glued them with Fabric Fusion to a blank cap. How cute is that?

Back to my hat attack...I did buy them and occasionally wear them. In 8th grade, my mom made a bet with me that if I didn't bite my nails for a week, she would buy me a hat of my choice. I ended up winning the bet and the hat I picked out was only $5 at Afterthoughts. It was a black Fedora-like hat. I think I wore it only a handful of times, then in college I steamed and reshaped it to look like a hat Boy George would proudly wear. I still have it. It's pretty cool and sequinny.



Then in high school, while I was on golf team, I totally rocked a California Rockies hat. I only rocked the Rockies hat cause the boy I liked at the time also golfed and liked that team. Totally lame-o. So obvious. Here's a silly drawing of me that I did in that hat (I think I did this my senior year of college).

When I was in college, I rocked the baseball cap along with my Murray State jacket, Adidas sweatpants, and Adidas shoes. I thought I totally rocked that look...it was a really easy and lazy look to pull off. My friend Carl says that when he thinks back on college, he totally remembers me just in that look.



And now, I like this type of hat...the Oliver/spinster hat. It is so nice to put it on and just go out...esp. on a bad hair day.



I still would like to go to the Kentucky Derby one day and rock the big hat derby look. That's one look I totally haven't mastered. One of these days...ones of these days (you would have thought I would have done that look when I actually lived in Kentucky, but I digress).

Hope you had a great weekend! Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

All I want for Christmas

Hmm, it's almost Christmas time again, and I'm ALWAYS at wits end as to what to tell people I want when they ask...so, I thought I would sit down and think about it and really figure it out. Here's my list (Mom & Sophia, this post is for you in particular)...


I would like to get back into non-digital photography. There's something about film that is just so raw, real, and true. I want a Holga. It creates amazing images with faded edges. Very cool stuff. I found a cool kit on Amazon for it!


I'd love a few issues or a subscription to Uppercase magazine. It's looks a little pricey, but it looks sooo cool.



I've really been loving the necklace scarves I've been seeing lately. I am getting more into layering and pairing scarves with my plain shirts and I'd like to add more unique pieces to my wardrobe. The scarves above are from etnyk's etsy shop. Ha. Notice anything with that mannequin?


I have always wanted a classic initial necklace. I love the look of this one by John Wind found on .


And last on my list for today...you just can't go wrong with a cute PJ set. I love me some soft flannel to get cozy in! These are from Old Navy.

Of course, I'm sure theres a lot more things out there I would like to have, but it's usually when I'm on my own and not thinking about buying anything that I find it!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Channeling my inner Not so Swell for good

Today I had the case of the Mondays, but it was a Wednesday. Eh, I guess it is one part hormones plus one part personal conflict and stress. It's not that any one certain thing has gotten me down...it's more that sometimes it hits all at a time...stress, insecurities, the monthly gift...you know the drill.

So, I could have just curled up in the fetal position, gotten out a pint of Ben & Jerry's and had a poor lil' me pity party, but instead I turned it into a creative exercise! I'm sure you've always heard that musicians make their best music during a break up and that fine artists turn their emotions onto canvas. I did the same tonight with my camera! I took photos for like an hour tonight...just me, the mirror, and the emotion. I think being introspective and just being true to yourself is when you get to the good stuff. So, you may not be a photographer, but you may write poetry, craft shrines, or do journaling or scrapbooking. Don't let the tough times get you so down that it immobilizes you. Channel it instead. I really think art has a powerful way of turning frowns upside down (ok, I know that is cheesy, but it's true) and you can get at your best stuff or into a creative thinking process that you may have missed out on if you had decided to just be another bump on the log!

Using iPhoto (I still haven't gotten around to loading Photoshop on my new machine)...I played around with my images and made them even moodier. I really like how they turned out and I think they do portray my emotion quite well.











Honestly, I am a "Swell Designer" 95% of the time. It's that other 5% that I wanted to share with you that I don't usually share here on my blog. It's just how I'm feeling tonight and like I said, for not any one particular reason. I don't want you guys to worry about me. If you are anything like me, having a case of the blues is just another facet to being an creative person!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

My office handiwork!

Hey, y'all! Look at my holiday handiwork in the iLoveToCreate offices. Every few months, I draw the birthday board and it was my turn this month. It turned out busy, but cute.

For the record, dots on the ends of letters always make things look cooler! I never understood why people paid lots of moolah for a local gift store to do it for personalize gifts. You just write simply and add dots at the ends!

Just wanted to share.

Alexa

Fun Mosaic Photo ornaments

Here's a little mosaic ornament project I made a couple years back. I made two Flickr mosaic ornaments in two different themes. The first theme is of the city I used to the live in, Lexington (admittedly, I had a lot of landmark shots and this was a convenient topic to pick interesting photos from). The second theme is my friend Molly. I wanted to fill it with various images of her and people and pets that she loved.

Just a word to the wise, I used the BIG HUGE LABS mosaic maker to create these images. This site works with the web site Flickr, to create unique photo creations. If you are unfamiliar with Flickr, I suggest you check it out right now! It's a great way to get ideas and information and you can log in and get a free account. With a basic free account, you will be able to upload photos (FYI - there's a megabyte size limit per month for free account users, so size down your photos before uploading). Now onto how I made my creation...

Fun Mosaic Photo ornaments

Surface:
– 2.5" x 3.5" flat wooden ornament (available at Hobby Lobby)

Supplies:
– Computer with Internet, Photoshop, and color inkjet printer
– black paint or ink pad
– small flat brush
– Spray sealer
– Thin ribbon (I used ribbon with a stitch design)
– Glue gun and glue sticks
– Aleene's Tacky Glue
– white cardstock

Instructions:

1. Log into BIG HUGE LABS and select the Mosaic Maker Icon
2. For my designs, I chose the square tiles layout with a 3 column width and a 4 column height. I chose for the background color to be white and for the border color to be black. I selected 1 pixel for the space between the images.
3. Either go to your flickr photos and type in each individual URL (there will be 12 in all) or select from a photoset, favorites, or tags to get a random selection of photos. Note: I chose individual URLS, so I could place photos in an exact arrangement. As you play more with the mosaic maker, you will see what I mean.
4. Once finished, click the Create button to see your mosaic design. Save the mosaic design to your computer.
6. Open the image in Photoshop. Now create a new page and make use your guidelines to create a 2.5" x 3.5" rectangle. Copy your mosaic image into this blank document and use the Free transform tool to fit it exactly into the guideline box you have made. Note: If you need to stretch it just a bit - it's not a big deal - that's what I had to to create mine.
7. Print your image on white cardstock on your color inkjet printer.
8. Cut around the image. Use tacky glue to adhere it to ornament surface.
9. Use an black ink pad to go around your image, leaving no natural wood areas. (You can skip this step if you want, but I didn't want the ribbon to somehow not lie smooth to reveal the wood areas).
10. Once dry, go around image with glue gun and thin ribbon. Create a loop with the ribbon and glue gun it onto the back for hanging.

Hope you enjoyed this fun little ornament project!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa P.S. Linked up at TaterTots and Jello

My visit to Chinatown

As I said, I went to Chinatown a few days ago while in San Francisco. I still find it very weird that I am a West Coaster now. I still get stumped when I have to fill in the blank CA instead of KY. So, being in San Francisco (and the fact that it is only about 3 hours away) is still kind of a bizarre concept to me. If you had told me 2 years ago that I would have been living a life just a drive away from San Francisco and L.A., I prob. wouldn't have believed you.

So, visiting Chinatown was a bit surreal for me. For me, my only point of reference for such a place was something I saw in a movie (I'm thinking Gremlins and I'm thinking that was New York's Chinatown) or on TV. I had no clue what it would really be like. It is a mixture of things as I experienced it...I saw a lot of fruits and vegetables that I never knew existed as well as congregations of people just doing their daily thing (it was fascinating seeing the groups of men and women congregating in the park playing cards and chess). It was neat to see the little slices of other peoples lives that I had no clue about. I also saw a lot of commercialism and stuff just to make a few bucks emblazoned with American logos and popular cartoon charaters. I'm sure this is the less than authentic part, but I guess that's a part of that culture just like the traditional stuff is now.

Anyway, here's a few pics I took. If you want to learn more about San Francisco's Chinatown, click here. Enjoy :)













Until next time Swellions!

Alexa