I made this collage for my sweetie, and then reproduced it so you can all share the love. Because nothing says “I love you” like a ransom note.
It is available in my Etsy shop as a greeting card and as a 5x7 print. Get ‘em while they’re hot!
Happy Valentine’s Day!! ♥
Anyone else out there in love with Pinterest? If you haven’t discovered it yet, let me shout praises of its awesomeness. I won’t go into specifics here, but it is essentially an online bulletin board. You can “pin” anything from anywhere on the web to save for later, and it totally rocks. Love, love, love it. Have I mentioned that I love it?
Since I’m so in love, I tried(!) to put pin-it buttons on my blog posts so that others could share my photos on their own boards. After the most frustrating morning ever, I have decided to write my very first tutorial. I spent HOURS trying to add a (seemingly) simple button to my blog posts. I tried, it didn’t work. I tried again, still nothing. Got the button to appear, but the link wouldn’t work. Got the link to work, but it wouldn’t post an image.
Pain. In. The. Tush.
Turns out that the process is quite straightforward – if you do it the right way (which I obviously didn’t). In an effort to save you the torture that I went through, here’s a step by step guide to what I figured out. **Disclaimer: I am NONtechnical. While this worked for me, it might not work for you (although I hope it does). I post on blogger, so I cannot comment on any other platform.**
Don’t you just hate it when you go to a party and lose your wine glass? Is this one mine? No. Wait, I think I left it over there… Nope. Darn.
It is apparently rude to use a Sharpie to label your name on your host's good glasses (I've been reprimanded more than once), so the next best thing is a set of wine glass charms. Just remember your color and you're good to go!
This set of six charms features bits of newspaper crafted into sturdy beads, accented with colored glass bling. Fantastic as a hostess gift or for use at your own party (assuming you aren't serving wine in Red Solo Cups). Cheers!
My sister gave me the most awesome Hanukkah gift this year: A cross-stitch pattern featuring the characters from Ferris Bueller’s Day off, complete with canvas and threads to complete the project! As you may know, I have a love for all things ‘80s… so this was absolutely perfect.
It came from weelittlestitches on Etsy and they have tons of adorable pop culture patterns. Right now I’m eyeing up some super-heroes for my son’s bedroom.
Here’s the finished product – I can’t wait to frame and hang it!
Happy (almost) New Year!! ‘Tis the season of making plans and promises. Eat better, exercise more, have endless patience with the children, yadda, yadda, yadda.
My professional goal is to be more free and flowing with my shop. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I tend to get bored easily. I’ll spend a couple of days furiously making tons of upcycled stationery, only to find that I’m bored by it. Then I’ll move on to wrapping pencils with my scrap stationery paper. Fun for a while, then – Whammo! Bored. Newspaper coasters? Cute, but tedious. Custom painted picture frames? Lovely, but they take an enormous amount of time to do for the amount of money that I charge. For some strange reason, I feel like I need to stick to painting and upcycling because it says “An eclectic mix of handpainted designs, custom pieces and upcycled eco-art” on my facebook page. Um, HELLO!? Why don’t I just rewrite the tag line on my facebook page? Or, even better, I could go with it and embrace the phrases “eclectic mix” and “custom pieces.”
I hereby vow to make 2012 the year of my creativity. I’ll make what feels fun at the time, and see what happens. Maybe if I write it down here in cyber-space for all to see I’ll actually do it.
If you have kids like mine, you hear this all day. “It wasn’t me!” or “He did it!”
My appliqués are embroidered by hand on hand-cut felt and hand-sewn onto shirts. I designed these for twins, but this set would be cute for any siblings…
My latest obsession: cross-stitching. I know, when you think of cross-stitch you think of intricate Thomas Kinkade-ish scenes embroidered on pillows. Or fancy samplers hanging on your Grandma’s wall. Are these things that I would EVER make? No. (Apologies to your Grandma – No offense intended).
Instead, I have taken the traditional sampler and turned it on its head with snarky sayings and song lyrics. These have been a lot of fun. Let me know if you have a clever one you’d like to see!
In this digital age of GPS and Google Maps, who needs to keep an entire U.S. atlas in the car?? Mine was wrinkled and bent and about 10 years old. So I salvaged the clean pages to make stationery sets! Now, you may be asking… “In this digital age of GPS and Google Maps and EMAIL, who needs a stationery set??”
Touché.
This frame was a custom order for a wedding gift. The couple had a tropical-themed destination wedding, with a color scheme including greens and corals. What a great way to display a favorite photo from such a special day!
It was a successful May Day for Liz Ohsiek Designs! The weather was gorgeous, and I sold enough to cover the cost of my booth plus a small profit. The vendors around me were so nice, and were happy to give me advice about the ins and outs of the craft fair scene. What more could I ask for??
I had several friends and family come to my rescue in the past few days…. THANK YOU to everyone who helped me set up & clean up, as well as everyone who donated equipment to make my day go smoothly.
I. Love. These.
Similar to my original newspaper coasters, this version is square and oh-so-hip. Huey Lewis would be very proud.
These newspaper coasters have been popular for Treasuries! Last week, Helen from the Etsy shop Sixoclock created a gorgeous Treasury featuring my coasters (and other fantastic newspaper-ish items). Thanks, Helen!
Click on the image below to view the full Treasury.
I just registered this week to secure a booth at West Chester’s May Day Festival in Everhart Park. This is my first craft fair, so I’m very interested (and a bit nervous!) to see how it turns out.
Description from West Chester Parks & Recreation: May Day Festival of the Arts is a daylong celebration of the arts held at Everhart Park. Approximately 40 to 60 artists set up booths throughout the park to sell their high quality arts and crafts. Entertainment for the day consists of strolling magicians, mimes, jugglers, a variety of other local dance academy performances and children’s crafts. All day long there is fresh food from local vendors available. Festival attendance ranges from 2,500 to 3,000.
Sounds like fun, and admission is FREE – So please stop by to say hello! xox
February was my busiest month since starting liz ohsiek designs, and with several orders already in March – I’m hoping for a great year. To celebrate, I’ve decided to have a special giveaway: Enter here to win a Harry Potter Stationery Set!
In order to be eligible for the giveaway, simply enter your name and email address (required).
For TWO BONUS CHANCES to win.....
I will use random.org to determine the winner – contest will close at 5pm Monday, March 7. I will contact the winner by email (and will post on this blog & my fb fan page)…. If you win, email your mailing address to me so I can ship your free stationery set! GOOD LUCK ♥
**Please only enter once – duplicate entries will be deleted.
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CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Congrats to Jessica C!! You WIN!
It’s always so fun to read your email and find a message that your product was featured in an Etsy treasury… It completely makes my day. Thank-you SunshineSisters for including my newspaper coasters!
Click on the image below to view the full treasury.
Painted completely by hand (no stencils!), here is another example of my Name Meaning Plaques for a pair of brothers.
What great meainings! Strong & Enduring + Vigilant & Courageous. These brothers will be a force to be reckoned with. Maybe I should make some for my own kids….
Hmmm, doesn’t quite have the same effect, does it?
My striped newborn frame with birth stats has been my most popular hand-painted item. But for some reason, I have only had requests for boys! Finally, I had the opportunity to make a girly one in pinks.
