Inspiration: Chocolate Packaging

I love chocolate, but almost as much as the chocolate itself, I love the packaging. Packaging for organic and natural chocolate always seems so thoughtful. We just got a new health food store in the area, and to my delight there are TWO big end-caps filled with organic and natural chocolate.

I selected a few brands that I though had some really nice packaging. Some have strong typography based designs, some incorporate drawing and painting for a real 'packaging as art' feel, and others use pale background texture making the packaging match the delicate quality of its contents.

Have fun looking at these photos—there were many more varieties there, so I'm sure I'll post new ones at some point. And take notice of the flavors, some are pretty crazy. Among the favorites between my friends and I were Dark Chocolate Quinoa and Lavender Blueberry. The least favorite... Coconut Curry.

Tuesday Tutorial: Eco-friendly Autumn Wreath

I’ll admit, I’m a little early with my autumn excitement, but the moment it gets even a little cool I automatically shift into gear wearing sweaters and drinking hot apple cider!

If you can’t wait to start getting your place looking festive for autumn, what better way to start than a welcoming wreath at the door (and an eco-friendly one at that)!

These flowers can take a long time if you decide to make a lot of them, so it’s the perfect project to slowly chip away at while winding down at night or something. With any luck you’ll be done before autumn ends!

Materials:

Wreath form (not pictured), or branches to make your own

Old magazines

Scissors

Needle & thread

Buttons

Glue gun with glue sticks

Ribbon (optional)

Instructions:

1. Choose a color theme and pull those pages from your magazines. I chose pretty traditional warm and neutral autumn colors, but you have endless possibilities! You can choose to be inspired by fashion trends for fall, warm cream colors that can transition from autumn to winter, etc.

2. Cut circles in varying sizes out of the pages you pulled. My circles ranged 1”–4” in diameter. Experiment with different edges on your circles; try things like points and flower petal shapes. Each circle will make one flower, the number you need depends on how much of your wreath you want covered. I used over 50 to really cover most of the wreath, but you can choose to use them more sparingly.

3. Pinch and fold the center of each circle to form a flower—there is no right or wrong way to do this, just trial and error until you get the shapes you want.

4. Sew a button to the center of each flower. This is where you can fiddle with the shape to be sure the flower stays how you want it. Remember this is paper not fabric, so it will start to get fragile if you poke too many holes, you really only need to sew the button 2–4 times.

5. Glue your flowers to the wreath form. Use a small amount of glue on the back of each flower. You can cover the entire wreath, spread the flowers sparingly throughout, or do a more asymmetric layout like I did.

6. Tie a ribbon to the top of your wreath for hanging. This is optional; you can always just hang the wreath itself right on a nail or hook.

So have fun and start crafting! As always, post any questions in the comments, along with links to photos if you do the project yourself!

Etsy Treasury: Eclectic Autumn

I curated this treasury in honor of my favorite season, autumn!

The heat waves are finally past and its about time to start drinking hot apple cider... celebrate by searching through Etsy's never-ending collections of warm and comforting handcrafted items for autumn!

Inspiration: Lights in the Night

A huge part of what attracts me to NYC, and cities in general, is the late night landscape. Its surreal to be in a place where it feels as light out at 3am as it does at 3pm.

I'm calling this week's inspiration "Lights in the Night". Something about the illuminated out-of-focus quality creates magical moments & colors that don't exist in the real world.

These abstract shots are also the easiest style to achieve for an amateur photographer. Just go wave your camera around in the city, bar, or full moon light to get some inspiration of your own!

campfires, AZ & MA:

neon signage, UT:

hookah bar, RI:

Carter & Steven's Farm grill night, MA:

misc lighting:

stage lighting, NY & CT:

Tuesday Tutorial: Small Pouch

I'm excited about where my blog is going, I have a variety of steady post categories cropping up—Crafter Profiles, Thursday Inspiration, and now Tuesday Tutorials!

Sometimes I like to make a quick nonsense project for myself or just as an experiment. Now on Tuesdays, I'll share tutorials on those projects here.

Below are the steps to make the small pouch bag pictured above. This pouch took me a couple hours one evening, so its a great quick project when you have a little free time or want to update your accessories wardrobe for the coming season.

You should know this is my first time even attempting to provide a tutorial for one of my projects... usually I just make the project from scratch and don't concentrate on creating clear and understandable instructions. So if this first tutorial seems a bit rough, be patient and they will get better as the weeks go on!

Materials:

Scrap Paper (for patterns)

Fabric - one type for the outside and another for the lining

Scissors

Marker or Pencil

Pins

Thread

Sewing Machine (or a needle for hand sewing)

Instructions:

1. Measure & cut your patterns.

2. Fold your fabric in half, pin your patterns with the straight side along the fold and cut your fabric. Repeat this step for the lining. In this tutorial the outside fabric is striped and the lining is yellow.

3. Stack your outside and lining fabric inside out (front sides facing each other). Pin the top parts as I've shown below, about .25" from the edge. Sew where you have pinned (the bottom part will get sewn later.

4. Turn the sewn pieces right side out.

5. Stack both pieces inside out (with the outside fabrics facing each other). Pin the bottom which hasn't been sewn yet, about .25" from the edge. Sew where you have pinned.

6. Turn right side out and you have your basic pouch! Now its time to embellish however you choose—add a strap with extra fabric or ribbon, add a closure such as a snap, button or velcro, and add extras like tassels or patches.

In the comments section below please post links to photos of your bag once you try the project for yourself, along with any questions or tips!

Inspiration: Flower Garden

The end of the week is upon us and you may be running out of creative steam. In that case, here is some colorful inspiration to keep you going!

Coffee Sleeve Experiment

So a week or so ago I wanted to start a quick project that was just for me, something small that I could overwork and just have fun with. The result: this coffee sleeve. I got very little done at first, until last night when I couldn't sleep so I stayed up to finish it! Old buttons and flea market fabric helped to achieve the purposeful messy and eclectic look.