Flabbergasted!!

I received an email tonight from Annamai letting me know she had crafted my handmade buttons into a necklace.. I'm blown away by her craftsmanship and skill!

Are you as impressed as me?

Dream Cats

It's not the world's great pic.. but this is my husband up close and person with some Cheetahs! He was in South Africa for work a few weeks ago and had this awesome opportunity!!

An Annual Report...

So the brief in class was to spruce up a bi-annual report by GE... here's what I came up with..

My aim was to pull out words such as "strength" and make that a contrasting factor.. also "strength" brings in lots of positive vibes as well!!!

Me = Very Slack... I should blog more...

Just in case, you're behind the story, I'm in Australia! Here for another 3 months. I left my lovely husband to do a short graphic design course.

I'm 9 days into the course, and wow, I can't believe how much I have learned! Seriously! Heaps!

So I thought I would recap a little to help all of you out.. cause no matter what we do, at some point we design something.. well.. generally speaking, it seems as though my followers are a bit creative though.

So.. first lesson.. "Design Principles".

1. Alignment - Don't underestimate the power of alignment. Even some designs that look haphazard, but still remain pleasing to the eye, are probably lined up to some sort of invisible grid! And If you're going to offset something, make sure it's obvious, otherwise, people will either get a strange feeling looking at it, or think you've made a mistake.
2. Hierarchy - it's no accident when you're eye instantly goes somewhere on an advertisement. It was strategically done. Think about what things you want people to see and in what order. Then you go about making emphasis on those things using a variety of colour, size, font weight, and surrounding space... and I'm sure there are many other things - but I'm still a student, so I can be excused for not being an expert!
   
3. Repetition - I don' t think much needs to be said here. But a good design will always have repetition. It could be repeating fonts, or graphic elements. Something that shows your design was well-planned, and easy for the mind to grasp.
   
4. Balance - Now there are two types; balance using tension, and balance using symmetry. The first is a balance where there are for example two items on a page, and one is bigger then the other. There is a tension between the two elements, yet it is that tension which pulls the design together. For instance, if you have a big image and lots of white space, you should balance that out perhaps with a small logo on the other extreme of the page.
   (I think a tiny spider just ran into my laptop - not cool!!) Anyways... balance using tension is simpler to explain. Pretty much when your design is a mirror image. You'll see this used for more high end products - just check out perfume boxes for examples.
   
5. and finally Contrast! (I couldn't remember it! Had to look it up :-\ ) - So, contrast is all about using contrast to your advantage. This block of text has contrast. Imaging reading white text on white paper.. ok that's an extreme, but you get what I mean? You need contrast. This also makes your design more interesting. And it's not necessarily contrast in colour that you can play around with. Think about contrasting the size of things, or the contrast between two type fonts. Without contrast, your design is .. hmm ... not well designed.

So there's some very good information there! I may not have articulated the principles very well.. but hopefully you get the point!

I'll take some time out soon to share the designs that we done so far. And another tip, if you're going to design a poster or whatever from scratch... start it in black and white.. because adding colour into the works is a whole other ball game. One you're happy with the design, then go and add colour!

Hope this helps!!!

Kimanh

p.s I went our for dinner tonight to a vegan restuarant. LOVED it!!! So yummy.. and vegan.. woo hoo!
p.p.s I know my blog isn't "designer" (YET!)... or using all the designer principles... I'll get there one day!

The last few days...

(pics: Bushwalk at Springbrook)

So... I said I would keep you all updated, so that is precisely what I intend to do!

I left Manchester (UK) airport last Wednesday heading for my home country - Australia. My husband was also leaving that day, but for South Africa. (we're going to be apart for 14 weeks, but we'll try not to dwell on that!). There were no major dramas except for walking away from my carry on luggage, only to realise we did have it when we were on another floor. We ran to where we had left it, to find it being guarded by cleaners, and untouchable to us until the security guards came to have a look.

Moving on.. I had two flights.. One from Manchester to Dubai, and then the second leg to Brisbane. The first flight was 7 hours long.. hmm.. any flight I find is long (the novelty of flying has sadly worn off on me)... BUT.. something truly fantastic occurred... For my second flight (which was 14 hours long) I was upgraded to business class!!! It was so wonderful! The service was amazing, the food was great, the leg room was endless - I just loved it.. time seemed to fly by - please excuse the pun..

I had heard from a friend that drinking lots of water will prevent jet lag as you loose body hydration 4 times faster when flying - and to be honest, you're not drinking as much. So I drank water like a camel... and you know what?? I don't have jetlag.. I really don't! About 4 months ago I did the exact same flight, and I couldn't shake my jetlag for my entire stay here.. so I think that's saying something (or maybe it was being able to sleep in business class?? Hmmm... )But drinking loads of water madebe feel really good on the plane.. and yes, I did request an aisle seat each way!

Since being back.. I have fallen back in love with the amazing sunny and warm winters that we have here.. I have caught up with friends.. I'm staying with family.. I been for a hike through a gorgeous forest with waterfalls around every corner.. and ate a kebab.. Could this trip get any better??

Oh.. I forgot to mention the stawberry and chocolate pizza that I had tonight for dessert.. sounds weird.. but it is a dessert, and it was incredible!!! Once I crack the recipe (aka: make up my own version) I'll be sure to share.

Okay. I'm very tired. Sorry to be abrupt, but, bye.

DIY Designer Pin Heads - Shrink Plastic

Hi everyone! So it's finally here. Last time I made a video for a DIY I didn't like the sound of my voice - and this time I have two videos.. so it's double the sillyness!!! Anyways.. I think most of you will be amused to hear my Australian accent muse about shrink plastic, so here we go!

Equipment...

• Permanent Ink Pens (fine tip), or colour pencils
• Circle hole punch, or scissors
• Pins
• Sponge
  
• Shrink Paper (available from my Etsy Store)
• Oven, or Embossing Heat Gun

1. Punch Circles...

The size circle that my punch makes is .47inches (0r 12mm). You can make this a bit bigger, but if you make the circles too big, they won't be practical to use for sewing.

The first time I did this I just cut our round shapes from some scrap pieces and that worked fine as well. (click here to see what I mean...)

2. Draw your Designs...

If you want detail in your pin heads, it's important to make sure that you use a fine tipped permanent ink pen. I just drew these images free-hand (no template), as when the pin heads have shrunk all the little imperfections magically vanish!

3. Piecing your Pin Head...

Make sure you piece the circle at the best 90 degree angle you can manage. This will help to ensure you won't split or crack the shrink plastic.

4. Shrinking Time!!!

You can use a heat gun like I've done in the video... or...

Steps for shrinking in the oven:
* Adults must do this part if you are doing this craft with children!

1. Place the pins into something like a carrot or potato

2. Make sure the oven is already at 350F or 175C.

3. Place the pins into the oven, close the door and watch them shrink right before your eyes!!

The finished masterpiece...

perhaps some heart shapes..?


There you have it! I hope you can see how easy it is to do such a fun simple craft. If you know someone that loves to sew, I can almost gurantee that they would love to receive a personalised gift like this!

If you want some shrink paper to test of this craft or the button craft, you can grab some shrink paper from my store.

Sorry that it took me so long to post! Things have been really hectic around here! I'm off to prepare the house for our Swedish guests that are arriving this arvo (Australian for afternoon).

Do tell me what you think??? Does it look easy to do??? Cause I promise it is!

Kimanh

Finished an Order....

Yep, this is me (with some toadstool pencils)... who would have thought I would have looked so chirpy on this overcast Monday morning....

On my to do list for today is the DIY pin head tutorial I've been promising.. among other things such as vacuum, go to post office, pack my bags, make something sentimental for my husband to remember me everyday that we're going to be apart for the next 3.5 months (do you sympathize with me? - thanks), and hmmm... many other things that will make Monday fly by so fast!

xo

thoughts???

I'm making a new banner for a online shop concept.. what do you think?

New Tutorial Coming Soon

WOW!!! I'm so blown away by the response that I've received from the DIY Buttons Tutorial!

So, I've decided to share the other crafty things I've done with Shrink Plastic.

Here's what's coming up next!

How to Make Your own Personlised Clothing Buttons from Shrink Plastic - A Nifty DIY Tutorial!

Don't you dare not do this craft! It is million billion times cooler than this blog :p Okay, let's get into it!

Materials...

• Pre-Cut Shrink Buttons
• Template
• Permanent Ink Pen*
• (Oven or Heat Gun for Shrinking)
  

* Now, when I say, if you're going to do this right.. use ZIG Millennium Pens, I really mean it! I spent a lot of money buying different permanent ink pens to experiment with. And ZIG was far superior. Using this brand means you can wash your clothes and the ink won't run or fade, whereas all of the other brands I used did (most of the time, the ink didn't run completely off, but faded a lot!). If you're going to try and use what you have at home make sure you test it before sewing it to your favorite white cardie!

1. Trace Your Design


(This design "liberty birds" comes on the template sheet if you buy this DIY kit from my Etsy Store.)

• Make sure that you are drawing on the rough side of the Shrink Plastic!
• Keep your fingers clean! Any smudges you make, will become very obvious once the button has shrunk.
  
• Be careful not to smear the inks if you are using two colours.
  
• If you are writing words, you will need to write them back to front! This is because it is the smooth side which will become the face of the button.

2. Shrink the Buttons...

(Arrrg.. I hate the sounds of my voice when I hear it on a recording!!!)

The video shows myself shrinking the button using a heat gun. This is just to show how the button will shrink in the oven (seeing as most people will have an oven over a heat gun that's what the instructions are for).

Steps for shrinking in the oven:
* Adults must do this part if you are doing this craft with children!

1. Place the Button smooth side up on your non-stick paper.

2. Make sure the oven is already at 350F or 175C.

3. Place the paper with the button on it on the tray and close the door. (Make sure that you don't place the button too deep, otherwise you miss the fun part of seeing it shrink!!!!)

4. Once it has shrunk (it will lay flat), take it out of the oven. It can help to use a spatula to get it out of the oven.

**(Sometimes the button shrinks slightly oval and not perfectly round. If you want, you can gently squeeze the button to become more round. BUT.. it's going to be hot! So make sure it's cooled down enough for you to touch it, but hasn't cooled down so much that it's not pliable anymore!)

3. Admire your work...



There really are only two steps, but it just feels right that things are done in three! So step 3 is: sit back and look at the little buttons, and love them dearly :-P

Before and After...

Have Fun with Your Designs...

This was just a some quick funny sketches (in house jokes for one of my friends). As you can see I struggled to write "s" the right way around (please refer to point 4 in step 1)! These buttons are really simple, and will probably not be sewn on to anything, but I know my friend loves to receive these little nuggets of personlised cuteness!

So there we have it! You may have some questions that will help others, so please ask away! Or let me know what you think!

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Buy a Kit for $3.50USD to make 15 of your own personalised buttons!

Click Here...

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p.s. I like comments.. lets me know people are tuning in!