DIY stitched Mother's Day Card

Need a last-minute Mother's Day card idea? Stitch one! Chronicle Books has offered us this tutorial from Jessica Marquez, author of Stitched Gifts. The book offers 25 simple embroidery projects for weddings, holidays, baby showers, anniversaries, or just because. Here's one for mums.

Stitching this card should take 30-45 minutes according to the directions, so you don't even need to start until about 10:30 PM on Saturday night, right?

Download the how-to PDF (4 MB, so give it a minute)
Download the stitching pattern

Only a couple types of stitches are needed. These steps are also included in the PDF, but if you need quick refresher...

How to backstitch:


How to make a French knot:

Happy stitching! For more projects, get the book Stitched Gifts right here.

Etsy pop-up shop at West Elm Chicago

Announcing a fun event for Chicagoans and visitors! West Elm asked for my input as they host a pop-up shop of local Etsy sellers inside their Lincoln Park store. The event will be Saturday, June 22 from 1pm – 6pm at the North Avenue location. Come hang out with me and browse through lovely handmade jewelry, art, home decor, stationery, and more. There will be delicious refreshments, plus I've heard rumors of a DJ and a photo booth...

For a complete list of the participating Etsy sellers, visit West Elm's blog. Find the event on Facebook here to RSVP or share with a friend. Grab somebody and come on out!

Here's sampling of the wares below. Better start planning right now where you're gonna hang that chipmunk.

A plant I can't kill

Check out my new house plant. It's healthy and thriving because I'm giving it the perfect amount of water and sunlight.


I made it from the cardboard kit, Port-a-Plant, sent over from Chronicle Books. It contains punch-out parts for three different paper succulents. The leaves can be a bit challenging to slip into their slots, so I think a child might have trouble with this. But a grown-up will conquer the cacti. Fun, right?

Lots of free, printable notecards

Caravan is a shop full of digital downloads created by Alma and Mike Loveland and Melanie Burk. And they've just made all of their printable stationery free! Find notecards for teachers, grads, birthdays, and more right here, including a bunch of chalkboard-style designs which are super trendy right now. Save yourself a trip to the store!

Framed origami animals

I amused myself the other day by making some little origami foxes using this diagram by Mark Leonard, and a whale using these traditional instructions. (The website where I found the fox is apparently no longer active or I'd link to it.)


I thought maybe these animals need a place to live, so I made them each a habitat.


You can download and print these backgrounds, then glue your own origami animals onto them if you like. Framed, they'd be cute in a kid's room.

Download the woods.
Download the sea.

Print out the sheets and leave them 8 1/2" x 11" or trim them a bit to 8" x 10", a more common frame size. The animals were made from 6" standard-size origami paper. A full square for the whale and a half sheet for each fox. You could also shrink everything to mini size and make some little cards if you have nimble fingers.

Make large-format wall art from engineering prints

Engineering prints (also known as draft prints, blueprint copies or architect prints) are currently all the rage with home owners looking for cheap DIY wall art. The grainy, photocopy-quality prints have a sort of vintage-looking charm, and you can't beat the price! It appears that most folks are outputting their large-format photos, quotes, and chalkboard-inspired art at Staples for a cost of $3-$7. To make your own posters, check out these projects for tips:
Above, giant photobooth wall art at Luxe Chandelier
Below, blown-up photos of photos by Jabaay Ave
Also see how to send images to Staples for printing and make a big frame by Dear Lillie
And don't forget my favorite: Designs Editor's free camera images.

DIY geometric art with simple stamps

The minimal, geometric designs that Fellow Fellow is sharing lately make me happy. Reducing objects to their most basic shapes is very satisfying, and these are great examples of what you can do with rectangles and triangles. Head to Fellow Fellow to see how to make your own stamps and create a village print.


Or grab the kids and stamp some animals together. Abstract patterns are pretty, too, when they've got that nice, stampy texture. Lovely work, Claire!