Working It Wednesday: Garden Markers

This week my new project has been making Garden Markers! Now, I am not, have never been and likely will never be a gardener. Nope. This girl has black thumbs. I can't keep a plant alive to save my life. But, other people like to garden and two of those people actually sent me pictures of garden markers over the past week and suggested I make some. I've even had a couple people tag me on pictures of garden markers on Pinterest too. So, I figure, why not? Let's make some!

Normally the stones I use are relatively small in size since I use them for story stones but lucky for me, I had a few larger stones in my stockpile. If I end up keeping these in regular stock in my Etsy shop, I'll have to find a local place where I can buy larger stones. The first thing I had to do was paint them solid, bright colors. This step ended up being slightly annoying to me because I'm so used to painting story stones which typically only have one side needing to be painted whereas these stones needed paint on both sides. That meant I had to be patient and wait for the first side to dry before I could flip it over and paint the back side. But patience is a virtue, right? So I waited for paint to dry, flipped them to paint the back and then did it all over again when I decided they needed multiple coats of paint to make the colors more vibrant. 

Once all that was finally finished, I got to start working on the fun part-The details and decorating! With these being my first pass at garden markers I kept them fairly simple in design. If they end up being a popular item I may make them more elaborate. We will see how it goes. Once I had them all decked out, I applied a clear sealant to protect against fading from the sun. Overall these were easy enough to make (if you take out my annoyance at waiting for paint to dry) and I could easily make more. 

Just starting the decorative part of the project!

Want to see the finished product? They'll be up in my Etsy shop later this week and you can check them out here: www.wishesandwonderment.etsy.com

Working It Wednesday: Vendor Events

This week instead of actually making some sort of art, I'm spending some time researching local festivals and events for 2016. I've done a few events in the past and have been successful at all of them but now that I'm living in a new area, I have to research new events to see which ones might be right for me.

Personally, I love an indoor event. It's cleaner, temperature controlled, no worry about rain, etc. So far, I've only found one upcoming indoor event and I immediately sent in my application. It's an annual event held by the Junior class at Hutchison School called Beeline Bazaar. It's being held on Saturday, March 19th from 10-4 and is free to the public. At this particular event, I will only be selling my story stones. All of my regular sets of themes will be available as well as single stones for creating your own mix and match variety set. You can read more about this annual event here:
www.hutchisonschool.org/beeline_bazaar

Outdoor events can be fun too so long as the weather isn't terrible. Some events offer rain dates while others have a rain or shine (read: no refunds) policy. Last year I lost money on an even that was "rain or shine" because it was raining cats and dogs complete with thunder and lightening so I opted not to attend even though I'd paid all my booth fees already. I have zero desire to stand in the rain and mud trying to keep my art dry while hoping someone will be crazy enough to come out and shop in the rain. No thank you. So, that said, I hold favor for events that offer rain dates. Through Facebook I found a local neighborhood event called the V and E Artwalk. It is outdoors but they have a rain date just in case so I feel like I have a safety net if needed. The event is being held Saturday, April 23rd from 11-6 and is free to the public. For this event I haven't fully decided what products I want to sell. I know I will have canvas paintings for sure and most likely I will also sell mix and match individual story stones. You can read more about this annual event here:
www.vandegreenline.org

My goal would be to find an average of 1 event per month that I could participate in. As I apply and get approval to participate, I'll be sure and post them to my Facebook page so anyone who is interested can stay in the loop. If you haven't yet "liked" my Wishes and Wonderment Facebook page, you can check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/wishesandwonderment

Working It Wednesday: Polymer Gift Tags

As I continue to try my hand at different crafts and projects, I thought it would be fun to start a recurring post that features what I'm working on. It'll post on Wednesdays and will give accounts of my current projects, be it a new craft or just my work refining an old one. So you may end up seeing some fabulous work or some fabulous Pinterest Fails, you never really know. And it will be your first sneak peek at potential new items for my shop!

This week I played around with rubber stamps and polymer clay. Until this year, I'd never used polymer clay but it's actually very fun to work with and as an added bonus, it is inexpensive. Only about $.99 for a small block of it at WalMart. It's a little reminiscent of play-dough but with a grown up feel to it. Earlier this year, I'd saved a pin on Pinterest of small, polymer clay gift tags. Such a simple project with such pretty end results. Side note: Don't you just love Pinterest? I mean seriously, what did we do before it existed? If you're on Pinterest and don't already follow me, hop on over and check out my pins! (Link in sidebar above Bio)

I used the handful of rubber stamps I had on hand to create tags for a variety of occasions. To make these, I rolled the clay flat and then firmly pressed the stamper into it. I trimmed off the excess outer edges with a toothpick and then very carefully peeled the clay away from the stamp. From there, I placed them on a baking sheet and used my toothpick again to create small holes in each tag. Popped them in the oven for a few minutes, let them cool and then broke out my paintbrushes! Once the paint dried, I sealed them with an acrylic varnish. Then, I threaded hemp cord through the holes and wha-la!

Stamping and cutting the polymer clay.

         

The Painting Process.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. They look like they're ceramic but are lightweight and not fragile at all. I'm considering making some to use in my own packaging for customer orders. Personally, I've never been much of a present wrapper (I'm incredibly terrible at it) but my mother can wrap a present like nobody's business and I can absolutely see her using something like this on her gifts. And I'm sure other people would use them too. It just gives it that little something extra, you know?

The finished gift tags!

If you like these but aren't into doing DIY and crafty things, you can buy these in my Etsy shop.
www.wishesandwonderment.etsy.com