Craftside

Two fun patterns for crafting from Pattern and Palette Sourcebook 4

Are you making a card or project for Mother's Day? If you are and need a fun printed pattern to include in it, try one of these fun patterns from Pattern and Palette Sourcebook 4. Don't have a project in mind yet? No fear. Come on back tomorrow for an origami lily tutorial that you can make out of these prints or anything you want to create a pretty bouquet for Mom!

Want 2 more patterns? Click on over to this Craftside post that features two very different and fun free patterns.

More about:

Pattern and Palette Sourcebook 4:

A Comprehensive Guide to Choosing the Perfect Color and Pattern in Design

By

Kathie Alexander

and

Harvey Rayner

This book and CD combination provides seamless geometric patterns in a variety of color palettes to address the specific needs of students and professional designers. The enclosed CD contains interactive vector files to allow readers to resize motifs and patterns and change colorways to suit their own design purposes.

Kathie Alexander is a freelance designer based in Peoria, Il. Prior to her freelance career, Alexander was employed by Dynamic Graphics/JupiterMedia for nine years, were she worked in the Marketing and Publishing departments. Her latest role was art director of Dynamic Graphics magazine, which she designed for six years.

 

Harvey Rayner is a graphic and web designer in Suffolk, England, and creator of the website root2art and patterncooler.com, a library database of more than 11,000 seamless patterns.

 

CRAFTED in the port of Los Angeles: Call for Vendors

Happy Monday! Did you all enjoy playing "Irish" this past weekend and get your "green" on? I sure did.

In addition to some fab crafty links, I want to share with you info about this cool opportunity. (Plus, scroll down to see my spin on a classic saying!)

CRAFTED IN THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES CALL FOR VENDORS!

Are you artistic? Crafty? Entrepreneurial? Then they want you!

"CRAFTED AT THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES is an exciting new concept launching this summer in San Pedro, California.  Imagine all of the fun and excitement of an arts and crafts festival. Now imagine it as a PERMANENT showcase of vendors providing happy customers with 52 weekends a year of handmade happiness!  That's right... housed in two charming World War II-era wooden warehouses you will find the best artist, designers, and artisanal food makers that the US of A has to offer!

Right now we’re on the hunt for more craft-artists to get in on the ground floor of this amazing and unique opportunity.  If you make high quality handmade goods right here in America, then we want you!

Sounds like something you’d be into? HURRY! First five applicants to mention the Craftside blog will get a free pack of goodies from some of our amazing CRAFTED vendors who have already gotten on board.

Here are some links to help you answer burning questions:
http://www.craftedportla.com
http://craftedportla.com/FAQ.php
http://craftedportla.com/BRANDS_ON_BOARD.php 

Or you can contact [email protected] for more details."

Now onto crafty goodness:

Mixed Media Artist
Have you ever thought about joining in with the "Take A Stitch Tuesday" challenge?

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Learn how to sew a scrap fabric and recycled tank top dress.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Looking for spring and Easter craft projects? The Artful Crafter has something for everyone!

Aileen's Musings
It's citrus season here in California and Aileen has turned into the Bubba Gump of Lemons! Check out the easy recipe she found for making lemon marmalade and download her free printable label.

And at RockPaperInk there is the video of the story of the famous phrase "Keep Calm and Carry On."

My personal favorite augmentation is the phrase "Keep Calm and Cut On." So I thought I'd make it:

Hey if you like to cut too and haven't gotten yourself in the running for the two big prize packages of Westcott cutting tools and books, pop on back to last Tuesday's post and enter!

    

Cute crab image and colorful collage from Marine Animals Book and CD

Is this not the cutest crab ever? If you like him too feel free to download this copyright-free crab image from Marine Animals Book and CD and use it in your art. Wouldn't he be too fun for a 4th of July decoration?!

This little crab was used in this wonderful nautical-themed collage also from Marine Animals Book and CD. (Can you find him?)

If you like working with all sorts of different styles of marine-themed clip art, you will love all the images in the book and CD:

Marine Animals Book and CD:

Make Thousands of Customized Graphics from 100 Image Templates

By

ricorico

A collection of usable artwork for designers and artists featuring 100 thematic illustrations in popular categories to use freely and to manipulate or enhance and supplement their own work. The original artwork and the popular themes are perfect for non-designers and amateur artists who want professional looking artwork but cannot create the artwork themselves. This book offers modern and unique illustrations in themes that are current for today’s artists. It is the perfect book for artists, crafters, designers, and laypeople wanting imagery for cards, t-shirts, journals arts, posters, advertisements, party decorations, and more.

ricorico is a Tokyo-based book packaging company established in 2009. They have been actively producing books in the area of graphic design, photography, craft, pop culture, and manga, including two titles that they also authored.

 

Sunglasses box template with face matching effect pattern from The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2

Do you love making boxes as much as I do? Well then my fellow box lovers, I have a fun box template download from the book The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 and a fun idea on how to decorate it with photos of your favorite peeps. The template below is for eyeglasses (or sunglasses) and as you can see in the original packaging idea you can mix and match the faces on it so that you can display them with two different people. How fun is that?

I think this would make a fun way to give little party gifts or a toy for a child.

 

 

Like this packaging template and want more? Then grab yourself a copy of the book and CD:

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2

See inside peeks and some of the free templates are available here.

More about the fabulous follow up:

 

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2

By

Luke Herriott

This is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook. With 100% new content, The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 is guaranteed to repeat the runaway success of the original volume. This indispensable sourcebook features 100 new, innovative, and classic packaging and paper engineering ideas across a variety of end uses, with detailed templates showing how to copy, fold, construct, and complete them from widely available materials. The accompanying CD features all of the templates as copyright-free, editable EPS files making The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 an invaluable resource for designer, design students, and crafters.

Luke Herriott has been art directing, designing, and managing book projects for over 15 years, and is the director of book design and packaging company, Studio Ink. He is the author and designer of a number of books, including Instant Graphics, Art Directing Projects for Print, and The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook, published by RotoVision, as well as 1000 Restaurant, Bar, and Cafe Graphics published by Rockport Publishers. He lives in Hastings, UK.

There are 99 more patterns!!!!!!!! (They are all included on the accompanying CD.)

Star and anchor embroidery stitch pattern clip art from the book Crazy Quilts by Cindy Brick

If you are into embroidery and looking for a couple of fun motifs to stitch up, here's a classic star and anchor set from the book Crazy Quilts: History - Techniques - Embroidery Motifs. The star is one of my all time fave designs, and I like how there is a bit of dimensionality by stitching on the diagonal with both the points of the star and the long center part of the anchor.

 

More about the book:

Crazy Quilts:

History - Techniques - Embroidery Motifs

by

Cindy Brick

Forward by Nancy Kirk

"Here's your chance to get up close and personal with an amazing collection of crazies!" - Quilter's Newsletter Magazine

 

Made from the finest silks, satins, and velvets and stitched together with elaborate embroidery, the crazy quilt is a testament to quilters’ rich imagination and artistry. This beautiful book traces the bewitching history of “Crazies” from their earliest origins to the present day. Distinguished quilting teacher and appraiser Cindy Brick follows the crazy quilt from colonial times, the Civil War, the Victorian era, and through today, decoding the mystery and meaning of these curious quilts. Also included is a detailed how-to section on constructing crazy quilts, as well as methods for planning, piecing, and embroidering or embellishing your quilt with expert tips and advice.

Cindy Brick travels the world teaching quilting and quilt history. A former editor for Quilter’s Newsletter, she is also an American Quilter’s Society certified textiles appraiser and professional quilt restorer. She has written hundreds of magazine articles and books, including The Stitcher’s Language of Flowers. She is the “Old Things Considered” columnist for McCall’s Vintage Quilts and has appeared in TV and online specials, including Simply Quilts and The Quilt Show. Cindy lives and works in Castle Rock, Colorado.

 

www.cindybrick.com

www.classygirlquilts.com

Sound good so far? Want to see more of the fab eye candy inside? Pop over to this Qbookshop link and click on the Google Preview button.