Well hello there, stranger

Yes. Yes I know. It’s been awhile. It’s kind of depressing, really, how long it has been. So I won’t even go into it. Suffice it to say 5-month old baby, attention whore, can’t wipe my own ass without being watched by wee little eyes (in a “my child needs me” way, not a “pervert” way), sewing machine getting dusty, etc etc.

One thing I made recently I DID want to share though, because I impressed even myself. I was going to a bridal shower for a friend of mine and Pete’s, and I wanted to bring something a little more than the standard “off-the-registry” hand mixer or something. I know what you’re thinking: “You asshole. Registries exist for a reason. Get her the Le Creuset and shut the fuck up”. And I agree to an extent. But I also want to make people I like something a little special. Don’t worry, I also got a gift card.

Since I didn’t have time to really plan anything out, I needed to work with what I had. Luckily, I hoard craft supplies (a trait Mr. Jennysold isn’t all that fond of, but it’s served me well, so he can suck it). What I ended up with was a beautiful little wall hanging for their new home together. Here’s how I made it:

1: Start with a 5 inch mini canvas, a stapler, and a swatch of fabric big enough to wrap the canvas in.
2-4: Fold the edges over so it’s nice and clean, staple down on the back and sides (where the second set of folds will cover).
5-7: Cut some of the bulk off of the fabric; staple on the back only.
8-10: Tie a knot in the middle of a ribbon approximately a foot long, staple the ends on the top two back corners. Since it is a square, I don’t think the “top” designation really matters, but whatever. You know what I mean.
11: Prepare the chosen graphic for cutting on Silhouette Stencil Vinyl; I designed a type graphic with their names and wedding date on it in Illustrator and converted it to a Silhouette file. From scratch – that’s how I roll.
12-14 After the graphic is cut into the vinyl, remove the parts that are to be stenciled, adhere to the fabric and paint in with the Silhouette fabric paint. I chose to be a little less than careful so it had more of a handmade look (a little less crisp around the edges etc). You can do anything really: hand paint, iron-on transfer, etc. It will all look good :)

The bride did say that it was one of the best gifts she had ever received. Ever.

BOOM.

JennySold Designs at Haverford Township Day This Weekend!

This Saturday, JennySold Designs is going to be at Haverford Township Day, my town’s giant block party on steroids of sorts, at which there will be a parade and about 260 booths worth of craft vendors, flea marketers, and community organizations, along with multiple food vendors, live music and (free!) kid’s activities. I’ll be selling my self-fold pocket totes, scarves, burp cloths, pacifier clips, lap blankets, children’s posters, and some headbands if baby Annie lets me squeeze a few more in. :). A good deal of what I will have that day isn’t going up for sale online until after the event, so if you want to have first crack at some of the goods seen below, come on over in person!

I will be sharing a space with my spiky-haired, comic-strippin’ alien-lovin’ friend Dawn Griffin, creator of Zorphbert & Fred and illustrator for the Abby’s Adventures children’s book series, so come check us out.

Event Information:
Haverford Township Day
October 6, 2012
10:00AM – 4:00PM
Darby Road, between Manoa and Mill Roads
Parade on Eagle and Darby Roads

Costa Week

So… Costa Week.

How can I accurately explain it? Probably not nearly as well as my husband, who was born into it and has been doing it since he was a wee one. Me, I just married into it, so I may miss something in the translation here and there. To be brief, it’s a week long family-plus vacation in Sea Isle City, NJ. And family alone, minus the plus, this thing is huge. Three rented houses, one owned house, and one condo full of people. Not counting, I roughly would estimate the family-plus is about 40-plus, more or less depending on how far out you extend that “plus”. There is alot of drinking, pizza, noise and sand. I mean, there’s way more to it than that, yes, but neither of us has all day here, do we?

So let’s get to the important part: the t-shirts.

Now, I don’t know when it started or why, but “hey! matching t-shirts for everyone!” became a thing in recent years, a hot commodity of sorts among the pluses as well as the family. And the designs have been increasingly cool and thought out. But I have to say, I am not sure how someone is going to top this year’s set. Because, of course, I did them :).

When I said before that there is alot of drinking, I mean there is alot of drinking. If Costa Week had a sponsor, it would certainly be Coors Light. Not sure why; I personally would be happy with a bucket of margaritas or swimming in an Olympic-pool sized box of wine. But, majority rule, to each his own, so on and so forth. So, naturally, I thought it was a crime that there hasn’t been a Coors Light-style Costa Week tee. Also naturally, as soon as such genius occurred to me, Mr. Jennysold and I staked out the rights to this year’s t-shirt and made these:

 

Don’t worry – as you can see I made Coca-Cola style shirts with the young’ns in mind. I wasn’t going to plaster them in beer logos. Though my 36-week pregnant self DID go to the bar in one of the gray shirts. Soda, seltzer and socializing only – I promise. Though I won’t claim that the spiked lemonade wasn’t a real tease.

The family (minus the kids) got both shirts, the pluses and the kids got the Coke only. The design was fun to work on but definitely a bit of a challenge. I hand-drew the Coors Light one completely from scratch in Illustrator (starting with a bootleg EPS logo – blame the weird Russian copyright-infringing logo sites, not me), and altered a Coke font by hand for that one.

Pretty awesome, no? Why yes. Yes I am.