Sweet and Spicy Calendar Card

I almost didn’t make any holiday-related design for this year. Thanksgiving rolled around and I hadn’t done anything (and was feeling rather uninspired and lazy). So I was on the fence on creating anything…but then I decided to just do it. Make something. I wanted to make something simple and useful—so I made a calendar recipe card.

I chose four recipes from blogs that I thought would be fairly easy for anyone to make (and would hopefully appeal to most palates). Admittedly, I haven’t made all of the recipes myself, but I trust that they’re delicious. I realized that they were all either sweet or spicy recipes and decided that that would be the theme for the card.

I wanted the card to be fun and have a slight retro vibe with the type and color. The only art I really did was the cover—I had to draw that by hand. It didn’t come together quite as quickly as I would have liked (it practically never does), but overall it didn’t take too long. A couple of hours here and there (and there) and it was done.

I also created a bellyband as my “tag” so I could put the recipient’s name on it. It also has a correlating message on it that ties in with the card itself.

Pattern Fabric and Sewing Patterns

I went to a thrift shop a while back and got some elastic, fabric and sewing patterns. While I sort of needed the elastic, the rest were all unnecessary purchases that came to a grand total of $16.50.

I got 1½ yards of the blue with white triangle fabric for $3. It feels like polyester (and not a particularly nice polyester). However, I like the pattern quite a bit.

This Japanese red fabric was the expensive purchase (and maybe I shouldn’t have got it…although it’s too late now). It was $10 and it’s a very narrow fabric that feels like polyester. Taking a closer look at the paper tag attached to it, it reads: raincoat. Truthfully, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this fabric.

Then my patterns. I know I don’t need more and I probably could have left without any, but for 25 cents each it’s hard for me to resist. I couldn’t find years on a couple of them, but I’ve ordered them by price (since the newer the pattern, the more it generally costs).

First up is a Simplicity jacket, skirt, blouse and pants pattern from 1967. None of the pieces seem particularly special; they’re all very basic pieces. But I do like the drawings of them.

Next up is a Vogue blouse pattern by Calvin Klein. They’re very simple blouses that look a bit looser than I would like in the photos. It’s a “very easy” pattern that may be worth trying out.

This is a Vogue skirt pattern by Perry Ellis. This pattern popped out at me and was the one pattern that I really wanted. Looking at the sketch of skirt B, it reminds me of a skirt from the early 1900s and has a high almost corset-looking waistband. I really like the photos of the skirt (although admittedly, the skirt’s so dark very little detail can be seen in it).

This Vogue dress pattern looked interesting me because of its use of directional lines.

Finally this La Fred pattern from 2005 I was on the fence on getting. I just like the angled pocket detail of the skirt.

Sample Sale Cards: City Letterpress

Out of all the cards I got at the Egg Press sample sale, I have a particular attachment to the city cards. I think they’re all adorable and just love it for the art.

Sample Sale Cards: Love and Various Letterpress

These cards I got at the Egg Press sample sale have a variety of drawing styles. I especially love the simple silhouettes of the first two cards. I also love the graphic lines of the last card.

Sample Sale Cards: Holiday Letterpress

The next set of Egg Press’ sample sale cards are fun holiday cards. I love the metallic ink that helps to make everything feel so festive.