Pretty desktop wallpapers

Stumbled upon artist Yoshihiro Moritake's online sketchbook, where you can download a desktop wallpaper version of each painting. Lovely! Click "Gallery", and then the arrow in the lower left to flip through the illustrations.

And with that, I say goodbye to you for a week. Mr. Jones and I are taking a road trip vacation.

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Printable calling cards

Download and print these free calling cards at Creature Comforts, designed by the talented Susan Connor of SuzyJack paper goods. Use them for place cards or gift tags, too. Very pretty.

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Orange watermelons and how to carve them

Some inspiring watermelon carving went on at the Craft Social. And then I find out that my mum is growing New Queen watermelons, which have orange flesh. Get out! Where can I buy one of these orange guys in Chicago? And then, what can I do to him? Here's a list of carving ideas with instructions for anybody who wants to do some surgery.

(Images from Veseys.com and Watermelon.org)

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New in the shop: business card cases

I just listed a bunch of new items in the shop, including a pile of cute business card holders like the one my mum made me. Isn't she amazing? Go snatch one up!

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Free handwritten fonts

Tripwire Magazine has collected 45 free handwritten fonts you can download. You never know when one might be useful.

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The second Chicago Craft Social

A random sampling of photos from the August 14 Craft Social:

We oohed and ahed over Edwin Monfero's fruit sculpture demo.

A shot of the room. With a couple guys there in the foreground making advanced paper airplanes. Way to represent, gentlemen.

Selecting paper requires extreme concentration.

Looks like this lovely woman is stitching something funny onto a dinner napkin.

Meet two of the four organizers, Megan Heep, center, and Megan Hall, right. Megan Heep just posted the instructions for this Green Clean Sample Kit project on her blog if you want to try it out. It was determined you must add the ingredients in the correct order, or you'll make cement. Oops.)

And last but not least, I give you: Mr. Jones! Yes, the engineer came to craft night because he loves me. He made a bunch of spiral bound notebooks with exquisite craftsmanship. What a guy.

A huge thank you goes to Jessie Stevens of Simply Jessie Photography who donated her time and talent. Jessie is hosting an afternoon Open House and evening Launch Party on Sept. 19. To see her new studio and network with other cool Chicagoland people over cocktails, don't miss it! Click here for details.

See more of Jessie's Craft Social photos in the growing Facebook album, and I'll add the whole works to the Craft Social Flickr group soon.

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Chicago crafters, show your stuff

Hey, creative artists and craftspeople in the Chicago area, would you like to share your work with others? Add your projects to the Chicago Craft Community Flickr pool so we can all admire your handiwork and say nice things about you.

Stay tuned for a post with photos from Friday's Craft Social, coming soon.

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Necklace made of washers

Meet my new necklace made from two washers and colored epoxy. Turns out I like wearing toolbox contents around my neck— a little bit of DIY goodness to carry with me. I bought it right out of my own "Good Stuff at Etsy" widget in the sidebar over there, because even I am not immune to its irresistible widget magnetism. The necklace is from Etsy seller AdditionStyle.

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Handmade projects to try

How to screen print on fabric by Krissy at Kelly + Olive, left
How to carve a mushroom from a radish by Anna the Red, right
How to make recycled juice carton wallets at Family Fun
How to fold Japanese paper kusudama balls at Metacafe
How to cut a forest silhouette (scherenschnitte) by Cindy Ferguson
How to make beads from recycled newspaper at A Storybook Life

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Printable art

Feed Your Soul is a little site offering free illustrations you can download, print, and frame. Contributing artists include Amy Ruppel (designer of Target's 2008 Christmas decorations), Marcy Davy, Gemma Correll, Tara Hogan, Jessica Gonacha, and Samantha Hahn.

For a cheap way to display your pictures, try printing them on cardstock and hanging them on a clothesline like this from Olive at Etsy.

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Speaking of business cards

This little fabric envelope arrived in the mail one day, sewed by my mom and sized to fit my Etsy shop business cards. Awww!

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What I was doing at midnight

Let's pretend you're planning an event and you need a way for guests with business cards to display them. Oh yeah, and you have no budget. I present to you: DIY business card trays. (Cardstock that's accordian folded and glued to foam board. Fancy.)

These are the Craft Social business cards I whipped up. We can write in the date and time for future events and give to friends or leave them with businesses. It must have worked, because we've hit the limit for sign-ups. Looks like we'll have 150+. I put a couple cards in the rack to test it, and in my sleepy delirium, just kept going because it was fun.

Photographer needed on Friday night UPDATE: Got one, thanks!
I know all this Craft Social talk must be excruciatingly boring for all the non-Chicagoans, but bear with me for one last thing: Is anyone planning to attend the Social who's good with a camera? Our photographer from last time can't make it, and we'd love to have some halfway decent pix from the night. If you're up for taking some shots, email me. And, uh, we can't pay you, but we might throw your name around some.

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Glass etching

I haven't done any glass etching since high school, but decided to monkey around with it a bit and make it a Craft Social project. Easy and fun. I hope to have a few more sample pieces done before Friday, if I get some spare time.

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What child labor laws?

In case you're curious about how the bags in my Etsy shop get made, take a look behind the scenes. It turns out my niece makes them. Watch the video right here.

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Orange cupcake flags

I'm pretty sure your next batch of cupcakes needs small orange flags, compliments of Michelle at Little Paper Dog. She designed them to celebrate the first anniversary of her Etsy shop. Download and print the cupcake toppers right here. (Or if you don't feel like printing, I think the insides of security envelopes would make cute patterns on flags, too.)

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Free summer desktop wallpaper

Download some lovely weed-themed, uh, I mean wildflower-themed computer wallpaper to make your desktop summery. It's available in standard and widescreen, designed by the talented Eleanor Grosch. Raid her whole collection of freebie wallpapers right here. Thanks, Eleanor!

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Printable favor boxes

Style Me Pretty has added to their downloadable gift box selection. Designed by Kathleen of Twig & Thistle, these little pink and yellow guys are available here. Or check out the wedding thank you box and the Love is Sweet box, too. Fans of DIY party favors, rejoice!

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Budget-friendly art prints under $50

I thought it would be fun to pick out some affordable prints to coordinate with my fabric colorways, for anybody who wants to sew something or get slipcovers and pillows from JCaroline Home. I've included some ideas for both grown-ups and kids' rooms. Be sure to poke around the sites where these come from; there are tons more options.

Spa colorway
Clockwise from upper left: Nancy Ortenstone, The Poster List, LuAnn Ostergaard, Corrine Ellsworth, Rand McNally, Stefania Ferri.


Earth colorway
Clockwise from upper left: Rob Dunlavey, Kristen Stein, Matte Stephens, Brent Nelson, Laura George.


Candy colorway
Clockwise from upper left: Matasaburo Kazeno, Ron Jones, The Poster List, Bryan Collins, Lauren Hamilton, Jen Oaks.

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New shop: JCaroline Home

The folks behind JCaroline Creative have just launched a new online shop: JCaroline Home. And I think it's pretty smart. Nobody I know can afford to spend big bucks on home decorating, but we all want our homes decorated. JCaroline Home offers cushions, ottomans, and chair covers—affordable items that spruce up what you already own so you don't have to start over.

You know that beige Ikea chair you already have? You can slipcover it with with something fun. And these covers aren't the sloppy sort that suggest your furniture was rescued from a dumpster. They fit snugly and make your chair look like new.

You pick the fabric and trim you want, and your item will be custom made and arrive on your doorstep. There are currently 24 fabrics to choose from, including most of my designs plus other Braemore and P/Kaufman prints. Curtains, duvet covers, shower curtains, crib sets, and more will follow soon.

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