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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Make Pixel Art for free!


I was looking for some inspiration on the interwebs to cover up another grease stain on one of my favorite purple hoodies. The silly stain is not in the best of spots... just right of the middle, breast pocket height (give or take an inch).

I love how when I search for something, it takes me on a wild ride throughout the web. At one point I was Googling "DIY pixel art t-shirt" and came upon this website http://makepixelart.com/free/#


You can draw for free, any image you want, and then save it. It's pixelated fun! And I think I've decided what I'm going to put on my sweater now....

This: 

Enjoy, and have fun!!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Monster embroidery hoop art


Last night I went out to an art gallery, and when I got home I had a sudden inspiration! The photo above is my first (and last) attempt at making a baby mobile. I realized the time it took, and this kind of project is mostly a hand sewn kind of project which in my books means a complete waste of time. If I can't produce something in less than 2 hours, I try something new. It's just not cost effective if I'm charging an arm and a leg for a project because my time was so long. That's really what makes prices of handmade objects so expensive... the time it took, not the supplies.

Anyway... I'm getting sidetracked here. :)

I got home from the art gallery and was inspired to make use of all the embroidery hoops I had bought for the previous project (baby mobiles). What if I took the plethora of cotton/polyester fabrics, and my monster ideas, and made furry monster wall art?? It's a fab idea! I can use up a ton of my smaller fur scraps, and people can have art with fur on their walls.

Here's some sketches of some ideas I was thinking about:


Below is a bunch of inspiration to give you an idea! The first image is closest to what I'm thinking, except that the monster would be my own styles. :)


http://www.etsy.com/listing/104286609/oh-my-deer-embroidery-hoop


http://www.etsy.com/listing/94219108/monster-embroidery-hoop-art-wall-hanging

http://www.kelilingbogor.com/monster-embroidery-hoop/



Tuesday, January 15, 2013

My Newfound Wooden Bookcase



I was walking home today from picking up my grant check (yay!), and low and behold, what did I see sitting on the sidewalk?? This pretty purple bookcase! I removed the dirty toaster oven sitting atop of the bookcase, and then heaved this bad boy on my shoulder!

Now this isn't some IKEA made bookcase made of particle board... No sir, this is made out of actual wood! Who has wood these days!?

I discovered the bookcase has a backing made out of printed wood slats. The kind of wood boxes you used to find back in the olden days.


Alright, so you're thinking the bookcase is awesome already, right? Well I wanted to do something pretty neat, like the photo here:


I painted the inside of the bookcase white, but after an hour of this, I realized that it was going to take at least 3-4 coats to cover all the purple. All that hard work went down the drain. So I grabbed a plastic scrubbing sponge, and dipped it in water, and then scrubbed the heck of out all the white until I could see purple again! I scrubbed the outside as well even though that wasn't painted. I figured I'd make the whole thing look the same.

The final result is below. A purple bookcase that looks distressed. It's less white in actuality, but you get the idea.



That was my Monday project. :) Now I'm just rearranging my work room to accommodate this new addition.

Here's the bookcase in it's home, and being used!


Those are all my little monster critters, almost every style I have. :)

Have a great Tuesday morning, and happy day!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Coupon Giveaway!

Hello everyone! I'm having a coupon giveaway on my Facebook page this week. It starts today and ends December 20th at 11:59 EST.

The contest is simple!

1. LIKE of the page of Curious Little Bird
2. COMMENT on the picture.
3. LIKE the picture
4. SHARE the picture.


Those who do all 4 steps in this contest will have their names put in the draw, and I will be giving away 10 coupons to the lucky contestants!

To enter, click the photo to be redirected to the contest. :D



Good luck!!


Saturday, January 05, 2013

My 5 goals for the new year...




What a crazy this year was! I can't believe 365 days went by so quickly. On December 31st I contemplated this past year, and I still can't believe that it's been almost 2 years since I started my business (well 2 years in June).

I'd say my very first year as a self-employed person was pretty successful. In one year I quadrupled my income and my clients. I won a grant (which I have not yet cashed... I better get on that soon, or else the money will be null and void!). I even got accepted to this very nice, fancy schmancy designy expo at the Souk, and they chose me over Velvet Moustache. How excited was I when I found that out? Pretty excited! When I asked the organizer about that, she said she likes to bring in new talent, not just the same old stuff. Awesome! 2012 was also a very tough year! I wasn't very organized, and because I hadn't started the year with an established set of designs, I was still learning what was selling and what wasn't. Now that I know now, this coming year will be different.

Now on to more exciting stuff! I'm seeing a small trend of bloggers talking about their new goals for this year, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon! 2013 is a new year which means new goals, right?

1. Organize myself better.

Do my paperwork at least once a month. Input all my expenses in my Freshbooks account instead of waiting until now to do it! :)

2. Build up my inventory

This means no lallygagging around for 3 months not working because there aren't any sales. I must work 8 hours a day from Monday to Friday building up monsters for stores, and any unexpected wholesale orders I may get. I am not spending another 6 months catching up like last year. :)

3. Get more clients

It's always nice to have more clients. More clients is good. Cold calling is how its done, and I'm going to have to spend some time doing some research!

4. Get exposure

It's all good and dandy to have more clients, but what my business needs is to have more exposure! It's not enough to just do fairs and expos. I want my monster photos published in newspapers, magazines, or even on the news! Time to work harder this year.


4. Have a proper holiday

I don't mind spending time at home for a holiday/vacation, but this year I'd like to be able to start saving up for a proper vacation! I want to take a plan to Europe (Brighton, England to be more exact) and visit my bestie Aussie friend Heather! I haven't seen her since she moved away, and I've never been to Europe, so this is my plan. :) If I can't visit her this year, maybe I'll have enough by next year for a ticket.

Have you thought about your 2013 goals? Please share them with me!