Friday, January 31, 2014

The (Mis)Adventures of Phoebe & Paige

The latest custom mobile I finished up is called: The (Mis)Adventures of Phoebe & Paige. This client wanted a mobile that captured the fun and silly personalities of her dogs Phoebe and Paige for her son's nursery and she presented me with some great ideas and information to start off with. Both of these lovely lady dogs seem to have very strong and yet lighthearted personalities. One of the greatests parts of working with this client was to read how playfully and lovingly she described her dogs personalities. It might sound silly, but it's these kinds of details that let me get a sense of perspective on the dogs themselves, but I also learn about the personalities of the client, their owner. 

First we have Paige, a dainty little Min Pin. My client described Paige as "shy and girly. She sits with her front paws crossed like a lady." Paige also sounds like she can get excitable as she spins around in circles a lot, but she also gets a bit nervous and skittish at times. So, I sort of envisioned her as an excitable yet proper Southern Belle who maybe gets the vapors from time to time. 


Here is a baby photo of Phoebe the Boston Terrier. Phoebe was described as, "is basically exactly like Elmyra Duff from Tiny Toons." She adores her owners and anyone who comes to visit. She also loves to take time to smell the roses (except she's too enthusiastic and she ends up sticking her face in the flowers and then sneezing her face off.) 



Just look at these ladies. How cute are they?!!


Here is Lady Paige as the uber-Southern Belle, complete with pearl necklace and lace gloves. 

Here, Paige is showing off her sort of spastic and constant movement in rollerskates. Paige is also partially blind so her sort of clumsy sort of excitable manner is only heightened because of this so I added a blind fold to play up the loving inside joke for her owners.
  
This piece features both ladies in a hot air balloon - but with all balloons. It's a play on a piece of art called Mr. Penguin Balloons Print by Showler & Showler that my client said served as an inspiration for decorating his room.  


Here Phoebe is taking time to smell the roses (and also sneeze because she does it 100%).  I made really small flowers and added some white cotton fabric to her other paw to give her a hanky. 

These flower details are in the early stages of drying. My long tweezers and sharp scissors definitely came in handy for these.  

Phoebe is apparently quite the adventurer. She apparently is so adventurous in fact that she's permanently injured her leg from being so carefree and jumping off of things more often than she should. 

As always, I like to add a few subtle extras to add layers and depth to the mobile.

The finished product is one I'm really proud of, and one I hope their baby boy loves looking at! This client was also a dream to work with. She had some great ideas to get me started in the right direction and she gave me so much fun backstory that I felt like I really got to know not only her, but her personality, and that helps me translate what she's looking for in the perfect mobile for her baby boy. 

xoxoxo

If you have an idea for a custom mobile, I'd love to hear it!! You can contact me through my Etsy shop Lavender Paper Hearts


Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Christmas Gifts & Celebrating 2014

Oh, hi, remember me? Sorry it's been so long, but the holidays called for a much needed break. My shop is back and at 'em in 2014 and I've got 3 mobiles in my order queue that I can't wait to share here. I'll be featuring one next week that I just finished up today, and I am so excited to show off! 

Huzzah - it's only almost a month after Christmas, but better late than never, I say. I wanted to share some handmade Christmas gifts I made for my friend's little ones. I didn't get a chance to give them to them until the first week of the year so I had to wait to share them here.  Pinterest is such a great place to search for tutorials for baby things. There are SO many things on Pinterest, and sometimes it requires some weeding, but I've found some great things from other bloggers to make for friends and family. 

These goodies were for a newborn: 
The red turban-retro headband was loosely based on the tutorial I found at The Patriotic Peacock
The ADORABLE little shoes were made from a tutorial I found at The Fleeting Thing


These goodies were for the newborn's 6 month old cousin: 
The turban-headbands are from the same site as above, and for the shoes, I modified the pattern by half an inch all around and changed up the toe a bit to make them different (they're for cousins). 


Since I never actually got around to posting the handmade gifts I made LAST Christmas, here are some of the links to tutorials of items I made. Most are cold weather items: 

Earwarmers by Deliacreatures: I made a few of these for friends with more simple patters, but made the one with GIMONGO bows for myself. I pretty much love love love it and it keeps me ever so warm! 

Bow scarves by Ruffles and Stuff: I'm keeping this one in my pocket for future little ladies. I also made some for grown up ladies, because they're so darn cute! 

Lace Infinity Scarves by Wildflowers and Whimsy: I also made several of these lovely scarves, but unlike the tutorial, I used jersey fabric with lace. 

In other exciting news, I heard back from the mama who bought my last Jersey Quilt, and she reported that her son was so excited about his new keepsake that he brought it practically everywhere to show it off!! How's that for a compliment! :)  

I also got to escape a snowstorm and soak up some much needed California sunshine, and endless baby snuggles. It was so lovely to get to see my friends and to hang with my family.  My sister, who is my number one Lavender Paper Hearts supporter, also got me a sweet pro-camera and photo lighting kit for Christmas.  So hopefully you'll see that my shop photos will up their game going forward!! My sweet husband bought me my shop domain name, so be on the lookout for an official Lavender Paper Hearts website coming soon!! 


*No filter here, just pure San Clemente magic.

- K