More wrapping

I had to post some pictures of Justine's gifts, because she wrapped them so cute! She made the little red pompoms out of yarn.

(If you order things online, they sometimes come with brown paper to stuff the box with; it's kinda fun to recycle that paper and use it to wrap the actual gift in! Justine & I used a lot of that paper.)

Look at this cute tag she made with twigs!

She also spelled out names in yarn. I love it!

On another note-
I guess this is the time of year where everyone reflects. I was just going back, looking at old entries, and I can see how much I've changed over the life span of this blog.
I'm glad I've documented lots of things I've made, since most of them are gifts for people. It was also kinda fun listening to old demos I'd posted of songs that are now developed, recorded, and finally about to be released in January!

It feels good to sort of remind myself what I'm capable of. When you think about it, it's a great thing that we are granted the imagination to see things in our head and materialize them. It's amazing! We can start with nothing and make something. I hate to hear people say that they're not creative. Everyone is capable of creating, and everyone does it in their own way. Take a minute to think about things that you made happen this year (big or small) and be proud of yourself! Also, be excited for all things you can make happen next year. Dream big. All you need is an idea in your head and belief in yourself.

DIY wrapping paper

I've never been too good at fancy wrapping around the holidays, but this year I felt like putting in a little effort. I made my own wrapping paper using stamps, acrylic paint, and a roll of paper.

I topped them off with colorful embroidery thread and cardboard tags.

The extra paper worked out well for other gift tags too.

This was fun, but I'd only recommend it for small boxes, as it takes a lot of time! It would've been easier if I had bigger stamps, so I think I'll make my own stamps next year!

mother's day mexico

My family recently went to Ensenada, Mexico for my mom's birthday and mother's day (which was the very next day!).
My family shares a little trailer beach house there, and it's the perfect place to relax.
We all ended up bringing a bunch of craft supplies and made a whole bunch of stuff. It was SO nice.

I made my mom's card the night we got there. I seriously brought everything I could think of, though I forgot my typewriter! I did bring watercolors though, which came in handy for experimenting, and made this doily look nice in different shades of blue.

I got this crazy idea for her card since it was her birthday and mother's day. I wanted it to be reversible! So one side folds into a birthday card..

And the other side folds into a mother's day card! I used my handy decorative tape to piece together 4 thin cardboard pieces, so they could easily fold and flex.


(before I wrote inside of it)..

Here's the cute little card Justine made for my mom. I love the little felt flowers!

I brought this really adorable Japanese Home magazine with me and ended up cutting out images to make some nice stationery for a letter to Hanie.

We just kept making stuff! My mom & I made this mother's day card for my aunt's mother's day present.
My mom thought it would be fun to make bookmarks, so I set up a little workshop for us.

My mom made these:
I made these 2 as gifts:
And I made this one for myself (front & back):

My aunt and my mom crafting! I hardly ever have crafting buddies, so this was so fun & relaxing!
Meanwhile, Justine was making all kinds of cute stuff out of felt:

I also brought some pictures with me from the last time we went to Mexico. I bought this really beautiful album at a little shop and filled it up to leave at the beach house.

I kept it pretty simple..

Mexico was so lovely. There's nothing more relaxing to me than sitting near the ocean and making stuff! The bookmark workshop worked out so well, that I think I might have to do it again with friends!

put it in a book

For my dad's birthday this year, he told me that we wanted lyrics to all of our songs.
This was great because
1. I never know what to get my dad, so I like when he gives me ideas.
2. I love making things, so it was almost like a gift to me.
3. That's just cute that that was all he asked for.

I knew that it needed to be really special, so I put a lot of thought into how I wanted to present each song. I came up with this little book:


(I've been using a lot of tissue paper lately, and discovered that by placing one or two layers over this crisp type-writing, it softens it up and gives it a sort of foggy, dreamy touch)





My dad loved it! It made me so happy.
And when our new album comes out, he will get book #2!
Hopefully it will be a series of books...

Flying & Postcards

We're working on a music video for 'Crying in My Sleep.'
If you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember listening to this song, right after I wrote it! It's so exciting to see how far its come along.

It inspired lots of ideas for the the video and now that the video is almost finished, it's thrilling to see what was once just ideas, in concrete. It took so much work and detail!
Because of the line "flying in my dreams" in the song, I knew we had to have wings somewhere in the video.

(Here's a behind the scenes photo taken by Joy Newell)

I really wanted them to look handmade, so I made them!

I used wire as a frame, a glue gun, and just started ripping and tearing old fabric to see where it would take me.
I added some feathers and glitter as well.
Some of this fabric was actually from the curtains that were hanging when we first moved into this house. When we took them down, I saved them to make something out of them. I never knew what to use them for, so they sat in my closet for years. I'm happy to give them a new life, even if it means shredding them to pieces.

This video gave me an opportunity (and reason) to make something that I normally wouldn't. And I really really enjoyed it! It reminded me that it's good to try something different now and then; try playing with something you've never worked with before.

I thought I'd share them with you guys because you won't really be able to get a close look at them in the video.

Now that we're done with them, I think I'm going to hang them from my ceiling.

So last night, I got the urge to just make something. It had been a while since I pulled out all my scraps and paper.

I was thinking of my friends and decided to make some postcards using pieces of cardboard, old encyclopedias, photos, cards, my typewriters, paint, and some varnish.

I also used a little thread on this one..


This is my favorite sort of project. Starting out with a blank piece, picking out images or colors, then just playing with them- ripping, arranging, adding, painting. The whole process just feels really organic and stimulating. You never know how it will turn out!

When applying varnish to this one (below), I didn't wait long enough for the paint to dry, so it smudged onto the photo. But I actually really like how it looks! The project takes shape as you go.


Here's the catch-
they're mini postcards!
I think I'm going to send them in envelopes anyway though, because they might be too small to send alone and I'm scared they'll fall apart.

Nonetheless, I wanted them to look like postcards anyway so I added these old stamps...

...which I took from this old paper I found found at a flea market in Italy.

They're really fun to make! It'd be a fun to project to sit and down and do with friends.
The whole idea came from missing my friends- Brad, Josh, and Hanie, who live in San Francisco and Idaho. I just wanted to send a little hello.
I have an extra though, so I'm trying to figure out where to send that one!

Press Kits

So I've had this vision for our press kits for a while now. I wanted to use old manila folders and have everything laid out nicely.

It actually took a while to get it all sorted out, due to my being picky. I couldn't find a font that I liked, so I ended up typing everything out on my typewriter, scanning it, fixing it in photoshop, trying to arrange it right, and printing it.

Since the folders are recycled, I used ribbon with double-sided tape to cover up the old labels.

It's got some reviews, contact info, info about shows, our bio, photo, and music!

Used a sewing machine to stitch on the paper. Glue would be so much faster, but the thread really makes it special.
The reviews here are 3 pages, and sewed at the top, so the viewer can flip the pages up.

I love how they turned out, but I just spent about 2 and 1/2 hours just making 11 of them! Too much detail. I'll probably make some more of them, but I'm definitely going to make them easier to assemble next time.

Something Stupid

I haven't been making anything too exciting lately. I've been busy with band business, but I still try to keep that fun.

Here are our new business cards! I'm excited to hand them out.




Oh, and our newest music video is finally complete!

The More I Think of You from Summer Twins on Vimeo.

I've been writing a lot lately and I'm really excited to work these 2 new songs into our set.
You can listen to the rough versions I recorded on garageband:

I always have several songs in the works, but this one is one of the newest. It kind of came out of nowhere..
Worryhead by citybirdd

This one is a duet and I'm going to make Marcio sing it with me. It's inspired by a mixture between "Something Stupid" sang by Frank and Nancy Sinatra ( listen!)and "Bros" by Panda Bear.

I know that by citybirdd

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think.