Haircut and Donated Journals

I hope everyone had a good Holiday weekend!! This weekend has had it's ups and downs.

The good news is, I was approached by a client a little bit back wondering if they could buy two journals from me to donate them to the area Women's Shelter for Domestic Abuse. All the stock I made has been hanging around my shop though so I created two completely new ones for her to donate.

Here is the first one:





The second one:



Detailed shot of a new die-cut method I am experimenting with:


On the inside of both I created a bookplate:



Remember if you are interested in buying similar journals they are available in my Etsy shop:
violetink.etsy.com

The bad news is, I got a really bad haircut. Recently I have been quite stressed and over 3 people have complained about the sorry shape of my bangs (fringe). I agreed to let a random woman cut them, then had another woman try to FIX what the first woman "cut."

Regard:

Logo, Video, and Pictures!

Hey everyone just wanted to update you guys with what's been going on here at home base.

I got to hang out with my friends from college, who are my closest and most favorite buddies on the planet. We had a fun time out and then played with make up like we were 8 again!

Second, the logo I made for EveryoneLovesRobots has finally be unveiled:

Pretty spiffy huh??

THIRD James also posted a new video. I strongly urge you to check out his channel and subscribe! Not only because he is one of my most favorite peeps in the UK because he will make it in the big leagues soon and then you can say, oh yeah, James, I subscribed to his channel when he just had 2 videos! Or something... yeah!



Right now I'm working on his Youtube layout which became a HUGE pain, when I realized you need to be a Youtube Partner to access the full capabilities of customization on Youtube layouts.

So make sure you subscribe so I can use the REAL layout super soon! Have a great weekend everyone!

EveryoneLovesRobots Youtube Launch!!

EveryoneLovesRobots, an awesome music project by James just launched it's youtube channel!! James is a pretty rad person if you do not know him (most of you probably do though), so I strongly urge everyone to check out his channel, comment and subscribe.

I'm posting the first vlog here:



If you played the whole thing, did you notice I got mentioned?? Wicked awesome! I am currently working on helping James promote his music and I'll post his new logo I created on my blog sometime this week.

More great things are on the way so stay tuned!!

If you want to know more about EveryoneLovesRobots be sure to check out these links:


Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/RobotsGoBzzt

Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/RobotsGoBzzt

Soundcloud:
http://www.soundcloud.com/Everyonelovesrobots

Tumblr:
http://www.everyonelovesrobots.tumblr.com

Art Trade and Team Tracy Tee

I'm working TWO really great projects lately. One of them is a Jerseylicious T-shirt design I decided to take on.



I came up with a "Team Tracy" for now to represent Tracy DiMarco from Jerseylicioius design. I sent it to her and she loved it!



So I went to the store and bought three different colored girl's t-shirts in my size, bright pink, white and black. I am printing the vector version of the design on some of the iron on sheet leftovers I have. I've honestly never used these, so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully it turns out sweet!!

The other project I cannot talk about on here because it's a secret surprise for someone else! That's right, I'm participating in an art trade and I've been told my piece I was swapping for is on it's way in the mail.

Eep! That means I really need to motor on the piece I made for my friend!

Portrait for Lauren

Hey everyone! A client approached me about doing a portrait of herself, much in the same style I used to do Tracy DiMarco's portraits. She sent me some great photos but my favorite was this one:



I just loved the bright pink it reminded me of Barbie! Here is the result I came up with:



She was really pleased with it!! I was really glad. I love drawing for people. I just sent some glossy printed copies for her to keep in the post today with some other little surprises. I hope she gets them soon!

Remember if you like my work feel free to contact me via e-mail, facebook, or twitter. I can make something just like this, just for you! :D

Little Mermaid Cake

Hey everyone today was the first day of the "Friends and Family" event discount atMichael's Arts and Crafts. One of the perks of being an associate is you receive a coupon for 40% off your entire purchase including sale items.

Everytime I've been around the Wilton aisle, which is BRAND new, I've been sneaking peaks and plotting of something to bake. Today I decided to put that plan in action. And with the help of my friend Ashley I created a Little Mermaid Cake for under 20 dollars!

I used two Wilton Heart shaped cake pans (the six inch and nine inch) to create the cakes. The cake mix I bought at the grocery store on sale for a dollar and bought some teal food coloring at Michael's to dye the batter. I then stacked the two cooled cakes on top of each other and frosted it with a whipped vanilla frosting (also dyed with the teal) on sale for a dollar at the grocery store.

I decorated the cakes with Little Mermaid sugar decorations, Pink Sparkly Gel icing, a Little Mermaid candle, and a Disney Princess candy ring- all from Michael's!!

Then was the best part, decorating! Now I have NO FUTURE in cake decorating and my friend Ashley asked me why I bake so much. I feel like it just translate across the board. I like to be artistic and express myself as much as much as possible so why not on a cake??

Even though my cake is far from perfect, or even professional I had a lot of fun making it!! I hope you guys get inspired to bake something of your own!!

NEW Facebook Page

Hello everyone!



I just wanted to let you all know that I just started working on setting up my Facebook fanpage. I hope to get in touch with my clients, friends, and fans much quicker this way. I mean, Twitter is great and all but who doesn't have Facebook??

So please, if you will, add my new facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Violet-Ink-Design/115320861822900

Lady Gaga Cupcake

Hey all! I was approached by one of my followers on Twitter to tackle a t-shirt project for him when I found myself free. He is an avid Lady Gaga fan (such as myself) and requested that the design involve Lady Gaga. The rest was up to me.

This what I came up with:

My intial concept was Lady Gaga popping OUT of the cupcake but it was too fun to make Lady Gaga BE a cupcake. With disco ball sprinkles :]

I decided to add a shadow on anther copy just because the picture is so light...

Well I hope he likes it :]

Mother's Day Crafts!

Hey everyone! Well it's Mother's Day soon... two days!! I actually bought all of my mother's day gifts AHEAD of time and they were all fun crafty things I bought at Michaels Arts and Crafts so I figured I would share some cheap projects I made!!

I put together a small gift bag for my mom. The bag itself was usually 1 dollar and on sale for 25 cents!! Talk about a deal.

Next I picked up two cute stationary items in their Fun Finds aisle! I bought Mom a magnetic list pad and a journal. Both were 2 dollars a piece!!

Now for the crafty items! I could not pass up these cute plaster bobble head dolls for 1.99 a piece. . .

The paints I used were a 3.29 strip of Apple Barrel paint pots. Apple Barrel is my favorite craft acrylic! (I actually already had these stored away so $0 dollars spent there...)

Mine turned out great, although painting a bobble head doll is JUST as difficult as it sounds.

I am also not the best painter in the world :\ so excuse my mess ups! Mom will still love it, it's the thought that counts!

For my next project, I'm going to cheat a little and tell you I already had the frame, glue, paint pens, and bottle of acrylic paint on hand, so it was relatively even CHEAPER for myself.

The frames though, are only a dollar and my Michael's always has a TON. They're in the wood crafts aisle, as well as on an end and on a Mom's Day project grid.

The brand of acrylic I used was $1.19 Apple Barrel Gloss. . .I took a foam brush and did about three coats of acrylic paint on the frame.

They also had great, pre-made wooden accents that were mom and dad themed only for 1.00.

The one I picked out was sparkly and pink and read: "I [heart] Mom"

With the paint pens I carefully outlined the outside and inside of the frame. I used quick short lines to create a stitch-like pattern with alternating colors. The paint pens are 3.29 each, but just used as as accent colors. You can just as easily use a fine brush and paint the accents on with colors from your paint pots!!

And VOILA! The finished product came out nice. I wrapped everything in some pink tissue paper I had lying around and they're ready for Sunday.

There you go, perfect mother's day gifts. All and all I added it up, piece by piece and you'll only pay about 18 some dollars depending on your tax. I myself only paid 7.24 BECAUSE, as I mentioned, I had a lot of the supplies on hand.

Don't forget Mother's Day is this Sunday so happy shopping!!

Leopard print, Elton John, and Robots

Hey everyone it was raining today so I had some free time to take some photos and stock up my Etsy shop!!

Here are the new items for sale:

Leopard Print Mini Journal
Front cover has soft velveteen spots. On the inside is sparkling red cardstock and blank white pages. Hand stitched binding with scarlet cotton fabric!!

Click here to buy!


Orange Robot Mini Journal
Front cover has a repeating pattern of robots, rocket ships, and planets!! On the inside is texture metallic blue cardstock and blank white pages. Hand stitched binding with sky blue cotton fabric!!

Click here to buy!

To shop for more great handmade items like this, made by me, Laura, be sure to check out my Etsy store @ violetink.etsy.com

ALSO I went to see Elton John Friday in Concert so I figured I would post some quick pics from the show:

We were the only ones dressed like this!!! Jeez people it's ELTON JOHN, not church! I'm on the left!

The man himself! We had great seats!

The only thing I purchased from the show. Awesome red flashing LED glasses. You press a button on the side and it offers about 6 different settings for the lights. Batterys are replaceable and they say Elton John down the side, and Rocket Man 2010 on the piece that wraps around your ear. Win!!

That's it for now. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

Pancake Recipe - Featured!!

Hey guys have some great news I wanted to share.
I made a recipe for this awesome site, theydrawandcook.com
It's a site where illustrators and artists can submit graphic renderings of their own secret recipes.
I made one about pancakes. It's the featured recipe of May 1, 2010

http://www.theydrawandcook.com/2010/05/super-fluffy-pancakes-by-laura.html



Be sure to check it out and comment!