For the Birds - Spotlight on Brian Carlisle

The latest issue of Artizen Magazine is out and my interview with the brilliant Brian Carlisle starts on page 50.

I became a fan of Brian's work the instant I first saw his creations over at JunkMarket Style where he's a regular contributor. Make sure to check out his interview, and I'll let the beautiful images of his work below speak for themselves.

If you want to catch Brian to snatch one of his fabulously funky recycled creations, you'll find him hanging out here:

www.gadgetsponge.com

www.papersponge.com

www.etsy.com/shop/GadgetSponge 

www.briancarlisle.com

https://www.facebook.com/GadgetSponge 

https://www.facebook.com/PaperSponge 

And don't miss that article where you'll find more great photos of Brian's creations.

Until next time...

Mike

Random Acts of Kindness

It's the random acts of kindness in blogland that really draw me in. For instance, this weekend I received help from not one, but two other bloggers. Neither of them know me. In fact, it's most likely that neither of them even know I exist. Yet both of them passed on random acts of kindness.

I was selling some of my kid's outgrown clothes and toys at a children's market this weekend (no surprise there, since you know me in the recycle/repurpose spirit of Blue Velvet Chair) and decided to take a few examples of children's gifts I'd made just to see if I could drum up interest before the holidays. I took two baby gifts I recently made, and a few examples of mosaic kid photos I'd also gifted recently. I needed some kind of business card just in case anyone 'bit', but don't have any since I don't sell my pieces (I'm game if anyone else is, though).

Here's what the original pics look like. The mosaics above are made with 1000 photo tiles of the kids (a minimum of 50 different photos give the best results). 

Okay, after that brief interlude, the spotlight goes on Mindy at Lil Mama Stuart. She recently posted a tutorial for making your own business cards. Nothing special about that as I've seen many toots on the subject before. But hers had a flair...hard to miss that she was representing something creative. So...I began to follow her instructions. Which led me to...spotlight 2...Aimee at Sprik Space. Mindy referred to Aimee in her post because of her lovely backgrounds (that come in so many colors). I found one that I thought would be perfect for my aesthetic and style. So I followed the instructions from both of them, made a few tweeks of my own to decrease the opacity of Aimee's backgrounds (I wanted mine to be a more transparent pattern in the background as it was a pretty strong design), and printed myself a small stack of business cards. 

They did just the trick. I only had one person express interest, but guess what - I had a nice looking business card to hand her and say "Call me". My "almost 10"-year old son liked them so much he asked if I would make a set for him. Absolutely!

If you don't have business cards and you are thinking about networking some of your own projects, hop over to Lil Mama Stuart's site and she'll get you started. It's pretty easy and possible to get done in an evening. Or, check out Aimee's backgrounds for your other crafting projects. I think you'll be pleased!

Until next time...
Michael


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Lucy's Divine DIY Butterfly

(för svensk versionen, se nedan)

Lucy may not be in the sky with diamonds, but she is certainly giving flight to some fabulous DIY flying insects! It makes it impossible for me to resist showcasing her creativity...twice in one week!

Go check out how she does it at Lucy Designs.

What are you still doing here? Go Now! (and then you can come back)

Until next time...
Michael

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Kanske finns inte Lucy i himlen med diamanter, men hon verkligen ge flyget till några fantastiska DIY flygande insekter! Det gör det omöjligt för mig att motstå att visa upp hennes kreativitet ... två gånger på en vecka! Kolla hur hon gör det på Lucy Designs. Är du fortfarande här? Hoppa nu! (och sedan kan du komma tillbaka )

Tills nästa gång...
Michael

Dreaming of Lucy's DIY Dragonflies

(för svensk versionen, se nedan)

I am BLUSTing over Lucy's repurposed dragonflies. Seriously. Have you seen her gorgeous DIY creatures?

  OH -  how I wish I could sit and create with her.

These little guys are beach-bound!

And Lucy's dragonflies have the sweetest eyes...I think I could stare at them all day!

Lucy's generosity doesn't stop with simply giving us this inspiration - she also gives us a tutorial for how to do them ourselves! Thanks, Lucy!

 

And even though we don't have an official group here in Sweden, you can be sure that I'll venture out to one of my favorite thrift stores tomorrow - with my one-woman show of support for Mr. Goodwill Hunting's "I <3 Thrifting" event. And guess what will be on my scavenger list??? Wooden table legs and fan blades. Wish me luck!

Until next time...
Michael




Jag är BLUSTing över Lucys repurposed trollsländor. Allvarligt. Har du sett hennes underbara DIY varelser? OH - jag önskar att jag kunde sitta och skapa med henne.
Dessa små killar åker till stranden
Och Lucys trollsländor har sötaste ögonen ... Jag kunde stirra på dem hela dagen!


Och även om vi inte har en officiell grupp här i Sverige kan du vara säker på att jag ska våga sig ut till en av mina favorit secondhand butiker i morgon - med min 'en-kvinna show' att visa stöd för Mr. Goodwill Huntings "I <3 Thrifting" händelse. Och gissa vad som kommer att på min lista?? Träben och fläktblad. Önska mig lycka till!

Tills nästa gång...
Michael

Giveaways!

I've bumped into several exciting giveaways today and want to make sure that I share the love!

7th House on the Left is hosting a 31 Bits necklace giveaway - not only does their fab jewelry sport a chic design, it also provides independence and power to the women in Uganda who make them. I've got my fingers crossed (my American side) and my thumbs held (Swedish side) to win their necklace.

I'm also coveting one of these super black and white signs from Red Letter Words. Hop on over to the Nesting Place for your chance to win one as well.

And last but not least, not one...but two! giveaways over at T Party Designs Springtime Giveaways - you get up to 8 tries to win either a killer sign from BOP, or the clever talk bubble photo props.

Good luck to us all!

Until next time...
M

Crazy about mosaics

I'm crazy about mosaics. Have been for as long as I remember. Not a clean mosaic, either. I like them 'dirty' - using broken tiles, found objects, discarded junk. In my opinion, there is no limit to the materials that can make a mosaic - it's more about the coming together of 'broken pieces' to make something uniquely whole and beautiful again.

Jag är galen i mosaik. Har så länge jag minns. Inte en 'ren' mosaik heller. Jag gillar dem 'smutsiga' - med brutet kakel, funna objekt och kastat skräp. Engligt min åsikt finns det ingen gräns för de material som kan göra en mosaik - det handlar met om att med 'trasiga bitar' göra något helt unikt, hela och vackra igen.

Above: The button mirror is one of my favorite pieces! It took me hours sorting through buttons at a thrift store to find the most colorful and interesting pieces - but all in all this probably cost me only $5, even the mirror was second hand. Add a hot glue gun and you are ready to go! It's all about the layers.

Ovan: Knapp-spegeln är en av mina favoriter! Det tog mig timmar att sortera knappar på en secondhandbutik för att hitta de mest färgstarka och intressanta pjäser - men allt som allt kan detta förmodligen kostade mig bara 40kr. Även spegeln var second hand.

Above: One of  my more traditional-style mosaic pieces with broken tiles (quite therapeutic) and an old planter pot. There is a  new color theme from every angle.
Below:  I love this new take on mosaic from Diane at In My Own Style, which uses shopping bags. It even comes with a great tutorial so that you can make your own version. Thanks, Diane, for sharing your creative mind!

Ovan: En av mina mer traditionella mosaikhantverk
Nedan: Jag älskar den här nya synen på mosaik från Diane på In My Own Style som använder shoppingkassar. Den kommer dessutom med en bra beskrivning så att du kan göra din egen version. Tack, Diane, för att du delar med dig av din kreativitet!

Let me know if you would be interested in more mosaic tutorials. I also think it would be fun to see your own version of a mosaic. Think outside the box - and remember - mosaics aren't just for tiles! Just click on the InLinkz button below and upload your photo and link, and a big thanks in advance for adding a link to this post in your blog.

Låt mig veta om du skulle vara intresserad av mer mosaikbeskrivningar. Jag tycker också det vore kul om du skulle lägga upp din egen version av en mosaik. Tänk utanför boxen - och kom ihåg - mosaik är inte bara för kakel! Klicka på InLinkz knappen nedan och ladda upp din bild och länk och ett stort tack på förhand om du lägger till länken till detta inlägg i din blogg.

Until next time...
Tills nästa gång...
M

p.s.  If you enjoyed this post, I hope you'll become a follower of my blog and a fan on FB.





Also linked here at these fabulous link parties!

I see spots

I bow down to people who can sew...I mean REALLY sew. My mom can sew. My sister can sew. I have friends that sew. I, however, cannot sew. But I still have hope to learn one day. There are so many sewing projects that swirl in my head on any given day...alas, only to be pushed by the wayside. One person who really knows how to sew is Marie at Reebert. I love her new crayon travel books. Nice durable material and great colors. One thing I'm missing is that great Reebert tag. Or how about personalizing them?

Jag bugar mig för människor som kan sy...jag menar dem som är riktigt bra på att sy. Min mor kan sy. Min syster kan sy. Jag har vänner som syr. Men jag kan inte sy själv. Jag hoppas att jag en dag kan lära mig detta. Det finns så många projekt som snurrar i huvudet vissa dagar...tyvärr, bara för att hamna på hyllan. En person som verkligen vet hur man syr är Marie på Reebert. Jag älskar hennes nya kritväska. Tuffa och tåliga väskor med härliga färger. Det enda som saknas är den supersöta Reeberttaggen. Eller vad sägs om att göra den mer unik med barnets namn?

Until next time...

Tills nästa gång...

M