First Order

As promised, I’m going to share my first wood burn order that I finished today! It’s for a friend from college to give as a wedding present to her best friend. The motif on the top is the same as what is found on their invitation–it was Erin’s idea to use it to make the piece more personal. It was a great idea and I’m so happy with how it turned out! 

 

I’m pretty positive this will be the only wood burn they receive and they’ll be able to hang it on their wall as a reminder of their special day for years to come! They’re lightweight and super unique, so if you or anyone you know is in the market for a personalized gift, check them out here: http://etsy.me/1KfmPYg

x B

Hakuna Matata

This past weekend was busy with old friends, beer, and way too much food. Some of our college friends we hadn’t seen in over a year made a trip out to visit for the Great Beer Expo in Philadelphia! It was my first beer fest and did not disappoint. There was an abundance of sun, food, people, and of course, beer. 

  
 

I tried a bunch of great beers and ciders, and it was so great catching up with everyone. 

On a different note, last night I went to my first Broadway show! We saw the Lion King, which is very fitting considering it’s my favorite Disney movie. Although we had terrible seats, (no really, basically the worst you could get. Third balcony, on the side, couldn’t even see the whole stage…) I had a great time. The singing was phenomenal and the costumes were amazing! 

  

I also received my first commissioned wood burn that I’ve been working on today! Once it’s finished I’ll be sure to show you all. 

x B 

Now on Etsy

I’ve finally had the time and created enough wood burns to list them on my Etsy! These make really fantastic gifts as they are completely customizable. Perfect for weddings, birthdays, birth announcements, nurseries, offices, basically whatever and wherever! I would be thrilled if you all checked it out: https://www.etsy.com/listing/233114113/custom-wood-burn

 
What to do:

1. Order

2. Include what you want written in “note to seller”

3. Wait 24-48 hours for a proof

4. Get your unique burn in the mail a few days later!

   
     

Thanks for following and hope you enjoy my newest wood burn! There will certainly be more to come. 

x B

Bead There Strung That

I’ve been working on creating some new jewelry pieces for my Etsy and decided to whip out the polymer clay. I love the amount of options I have when making clay beads–any shape, size, and color I can think up can be created. I’m sure I’ll make more in the coming weeks, but here are a few of the beads I’ve made so far!

      

Once I get my butt into gear I’ll post them to my shop!

x B

Attempt #2

For my second wood burn, I tried out my other pen which has a much larger tip. I quickly realized that it burns much smoother and is easier to handle, but it pretty impossible to use on small details. 

  
Luckily, I was able to use this pen for about 90% of the burn and use the detailing pen for the rest. I decided to make a gift for my cousin’s wife’s baby shower in a few months. They’re having a little boy!

  
Just transferring the image onto the wood is a process and definitely my least favorite part thus far when it comes to wood burning. But once it’s on, I can picture the end result and get excited to start burning. 

  
It didn’t take long for me to notice the difference between pens. This one creates much smoother lines and requires a lot less pressure…my hand thanked me!

  
It’s a little tricky to fill in with this pen, but I made it work. 

  
I got a bit further than this before I had to switch pens, but here’s the final result…

  
It’s not perfect, but I’m happy with how it turned out! Next time I’ll make the words bigger so it’s easier to burn, but I think it will be perfect in his nursery! What do you all think?

X B

The Liebster Award

This morning I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Kirsten!  Since I’m a new blogger, I had no idea what this “award” was for.  So, after a few minutes of Googling, I learned that the Liebster Award is a fabulous way for new bloggers to gain exposure.  It is given out by bloggers to bloggers.  Liebster is a German word with several definitions, some of which are: dearest, sweetest, beloved, and valued.  The Liebster Award is all about spreading the word + love to beginner/small bloggers and really, how great is that?

Kirsten is a twenty-something year old Hollywood, lifestyle, and travel blogger from Florida.  She’s got a serious eye for style and a woman after my own heart, has a serious love of all things weddings.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll be checking out her Wedding Wednesdays posts each week!  Be sure to check out her blog and show a little love by following.

The rules of the Liebster Award are as follows:

•    Each nominee must have under 300 followers

•    Thank and link the nominating blog

•    Answer their 10 questions and propose 10 new ones for your nominees

•    Nominate 10 blogs and tell them they have been nominated (spread the love!)

The 10 Questions I was asked by Kirsten:

1. Who are your top 3 favorite celebrities (can be an actress, athlete, designer, etc.) Taylor Swift (no explanation needed), Lea Michele (is there anything she can’t do?), and Ellen (her generosity and humor are both immense).
2. Dogs or Cats? Dogs! (and buns).
3. What’s the best thing you ever ate? As a lover of anything sweet, (and the fact that I’m craving chocolate as I type) I’d have to say the chocolate chip crêpes I ate in Québec a number of years ago.
4. Why did you start your blog? I wanted to have a place to keep track of all my crafts and hopefully inspire/learn from others.
5. If you could meet any one person, dead or alive, who would it be? Edgar Allan Poe.
6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life (without worry of weight gain) what would it be? Any type of chocolate or chocolate peanut butter ice cream.
7. What’s your favorite tv show, past or present? Too many…Revenge, Gossip Girl, New Girl, Parks and Rec, Breaking Bad, Sherlock, Dexter, How I Met Your Mother, The Office.  Basically I should stop watching tv.
8. What’s your favorite thing to do in your spare time? Any type of craft, go for a walk, read.
9. If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be? New Zealand.
10. Is the dress black/blue or white/gold? Okay, at first I thought my husband was CRAZY for seeing black/blue.  I could only see white/gold for the longest time.  Then, once I saw black/blue, I couldn’t un-see it.  I plead the fifth on this one.

The 10 bloggers I nominate for the Liebster Award are:

1.  A Turquoise Lining

2.  johannaiswriting

3.  When You’re Far From Home

4.  Danni and Charlie do craft

5.  The Single Yet Married Mom

6.  lilkatscrafting

7.  thirtyshadesofpink

8.  Cooking, Crafts and Cushing’s Disease

9.  Crafty Owl’s Corner

10.  Gabbing Geek

My 10 questions for you are:

1.  What is your favorite vacation spot?

2.  What is your most prized possession?

3.  Who is your favorite author and why?

4.  You can only take one thing with you to a deserted island…what is it?

5.  Salty or sweet?

6.  What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?

7.  If you could take a free plane ride to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

8.  What is your favorite season?

9.  If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

10.  If you could learn to do anything, what would you do?

Write a post including all of the above, as well as the rules of the post. Happy blogging!

x B

Attempt #1

Great news! For anyone who may have been concerned, I did not burn my apartment down and completed my first wood burn! As promised, I want to let you guys know how everything turned out. 

I excitedly tore open the package when it arrived and found six perfect little basswood rounds. They’re soft and light weight, so they’ll be easy to hang which is great. I printed my first design and figured out how to use graphite transfer paper for the first time.

 
I traced over my design (which will be a wedding gift for friends) and started heating up the wood burning pen. I ordered two–one larger tipped one and the other is a detailer. I decided to use the detailer because all my lines were very thin. 

 
The first few minutes were pretty rough, I won’t lie. Although the wood is soft, it’s extremely difficult to burn in an even, smooth line. Basically I was making little holes all over and desperately trying to connect them. As you can see, you have to hold very high up on the pen to avoid the silver part that heats up. It’s uncomfortable and I found it hard to steady my hand. After some time though I slowly got the hang of it and powered through. After about an hour and a half, I was done! My hand hurt from the pressure of pushing down, but I was proud of what I created. 

   

As you can see, I had to add an extra N to Jenn…whoops! Good thing it was an easy fix. Although it’s not perfect, it wasn’t a total disaster either. I have some more designs I will be trying out soon, so I’ll update with those later. Hopefully each time it do it it will get better and better!

Any pyrographers out there? I’ll take any and all tips!

x B

I’m Yelling Timber

Today, it’s going down. About a week or so ago I decided I wanted to try my hands at pyrography. If you’re wondering what the heck pyrography is, it’s wood burning. I got my first wood burning kit when I was about 15 as a Christmas gift, but never kept up with it and haven’t done it in the 10 years since. For those of you in the area, you might have heard of Belovely. They’re an amazing floral and wedding design company out of Ambler, PA who do fabulous crafts on the regular. One of those crafts are their beautiful wood burned signs for any and all occasions.

This is just one of their many custom signs…incredible, right?

I was inspired.  I thought, I can do that!  So, I ordered new burning pens that came in 4 days ago and have been teasing me on my kitchen table since.  You can’t just use any wood for wood burning–pine or basswood work best.  I had to order some rounds since I have no way of getting cut wood and they’re currently out for delivery!  Which means that either later on today or tomorrow I will have my first attempt at a custom wood burned sign.  I have 3 designs I’ve already created and am so excited to see how it all turns out.

If I don’t burn my apartment down, I’ll be posting the results within the next few days, so stay posted!

x B

Hello World!

I have been seriously thinking about creating a blog for a long time now. In all honesty, what stopped me was that I doubted anyone would read it. Today I decided that I shouldn’t care about exposure, and instead, I should care about having a place where I can post my current art endeavors, baking adventures, writing blurbs, and whatever else I feel like. So here’s a little bit about me:

-I was born and raised in southern Maine

-I’m a newborn photographer and invitation consultant

-I have a mild obsession with chocolate, anything furry with four legs, and game shows

-In my free time I love to create new things for my Etsy (Go visit! http://www.etsy.com/shop/brittttttanyyy)

-I have two super cute but super feisty Netherland Dwarf buns named Remy + Ollie

The biggest thing you should know about me is that I’m actively trying to turn my hobby of crafting into a career.  I’ve already discovered that my “dream job” doesn’t exist because I have too many creative interests.  I’m hoping putting everything in one place will lead me to my “ah ha!” moment of what to do with the rest of my life.  Here’s to new creations, discoveries, talents, and as always, crafts!

x B