handmade holiday | wood mushroom ornaments

Here we go - the first project for Handmade Holiday 2012: Wood Mushroom Ornaments. I should confess that I do not have my Christmas tree up yet, and considering that I'll be vending at art markets for the first three weekends in December, I'm not sure exactly when we will have a chance to chop down, set up, and decorate a tree this year, but that hasn't stopped me from making ornaments. In fact, I made these mushrooms back in...September...

My plan for this year was to create an entirely new set of ornaments for a new tree. (Did I mention that I'm insane?) Ever since I took down last year's tree, I've had visions of a modern Scandinavian-inspired Christmas for 2012: lots of birch and white, with accents of red and pale blue. Teeny tiny house ornaments. Modern patterns. Natural wood. Kraft paper. Stripes and triangles. Woodland critters. Snowflakes...

However! Christmas is less than a month away and it's the busy season for my shop, so I don't think I'll have time to create an entire new set of ornaments this year. Don't get me wrong, I'll still be making lots of handmade things for Christmas, but I think I'll add them to my collection from last year instead of starting from scratch.

Anyway, at the end of the summer, I had some free time to get creative. With the vision of a Scandinavian/Woodland-themed tree dancing in my head along with wanting to create more mushroom ornaments that didn't involve sewing, I made these little wood mushrooms:




Ever notice that drawer pulls look exactly like mushrooms? Yup, that's what these are - wood knobs. Paint 'em, seal 'em, add a screw-eye and some hemp twine and you're done. I happened to have white paint in a squeeze bottle which made it easier to paint the spots, but a small brush would work, too. Easy.

Also, I'm sure doggie photobombs will be a common appearance in my Handmade Holiday photos:

"These for eatin', Ma?"

handmade holiday 2012

Today is the official kick-off for Handmade Holiday 2012! Throughout the next month, I'll be making and posting handmade ornaments and decorations and other DIY holiday projects on the blog. (I'll also post some of last year's ornaments that I never got the chance to share last December.) I realize it's still November, and I'm typically a strict No-Christmas-stuff-until-December-1st kind of person, but I'm trying to get things done a little earlier this year to avoid the inevitable last minute holiday stress and to allow myself to enjoy December a little more this year. So here we go - get excited! It's time to make stuff!

A little background to Handmade Holiday: Last year, as part of our commitment to have a handmade Christmas, we gave only handmade gifts and I took it upon myself to make every single ornament for our Christmas tree. There were several reasons for this. One - I'm insane. Two - cheap made-in-China crap from big box stores does not belong on a Christmas tree. And three - Christmas brings out the crafty in me - my tastes run modern, so during the rest of the year, I steer clear of tchotchkes and cluttered decor. But at Christmas, all bets are off - I break out the glitter, the glue gun, and the felt and yarn and random pipe cleaners (and maybe a power drill or a soldering iron - just to keep things a little dangerous!) that have accumulated in my studio throughout the year and give myself carte blanche to get crafty for Christmas. The challenge is to use these supplies and still stay true to my modern and somewhat non-traditional aesthetic, so you still won't find anything cutesy here.

A Handmade Tree - 2011

So starting tomorrow, there will be a new handmade project on the blog and I'll keep posting DIY projects throughout the month of December (with some other random posts sprinkled in) whenever I get a chance between art markets. To get you in the crafty Christmas spirit, here are last year's Handmade Holiday Projects:

+ Felt Food Ornaments | Tomato, Asparagus, Avocado, Mushroom
+ Felt Fish Ornaments
+ Star Ornaments | Wood, Glass, Felt, Cinnamon
+ A Handmade Tree

I made these as ornaments for my Christmas tree, but none of them are particularly Christmas-y, so if you don't celebrate Christmas, these ideas could still be used for other holidays or just general winter or house decorations. Hang them in your window. Put them on your mantle. Decorate your bathroom or bedroom or dining room. Alter them for other holidays: Make the star ornaments have six sides for Hanukkah. Get creative!

Psst! Spread the word and make sure you don't miss any Handmade Holiday posts: 

+ Subscribe to/follow this blog and click on the Handmade Holiday category to see all the posts.
+ Follow @FunnelcloudRach on Twitter. I'll be using hashtag #handmadeholiday2012.
+ Follow @funnelcloud on Instagram. Same hashtag #handmadeholiday2012.
+ Follow Funnelcloud on Pinterest. I'll be posting these projects to my Things I Made board with yup, hashtag #handmadeholiday2012.

(Also, to avoid any confusion, Handmade Holiday is also the name of a fabulous art market held by the Richmond Craft Mafia. My shop will be there on December 8th, however, there is no affiliation between the Richmond Handmade Holiday market and the Handmade Holiday series on my blog.)

thanksgiving pics

Thanksgiving doesn't require a whole lot of explanation. Ours can be summed up as follows:

We gathered, we stuffed our faces, we drank Absinthe.

The pics:













The guest of honor:





Post-absinthe photography:

funnelcloud studio | cyber monday sale

One more sale of the season - use coupon code CYBER12 to get 10% off your entire order in my shop. Today only!

Happy Cyber Monday!

funnelcloud studio | black friday sale

Happy day-after-Thanksgiving! I hope you are all at home enjoying time with family (and maybe sneaking a few peeks at the internet and doing some online shopping from the comfort of your couch)!

To celebrate Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, I'm having a little sale in my shop! I'm extending the sale through Sunday, too - just because! Sale prices will be valid through Sunday, November 25th. (The sale actually ends at 3 am EST on Monday, November 26 to allow shoppers on the west coast to shop the sale until midnight on Sunday. Make sense?)

There's no coupon code necessary - the following items are already marked down in my shop:

THINGS THAT ARE AWESOME
This illustration is my favorite piece of 2012 and has been a popular seller this year. Makes an awesome gift - for friends, family, or for yourself (I won't tell!). Originally $75. Sale price $65.

BLUE FLOWERS
I have limited quantities of this illustration and once they're gone, I won't be printing any more. Originally $46, marked down to $40. Sale price $36.

RAINDROPS - SET OF THREE
These prints look great framed as a set of three. Originally $38 each (or $114 for all three). Now priced as a set - three for $104. (They're still available individually, too.)

Have a lovely long weekend and thanks for buying handmade!

holiday cards | christmas octopus

One of the most frequent comments I get at art markets is "You should sell greeting cards!" And I always smile and nod, but the thing is, I've never planned on selling greeting cards in my shop. The reason why? To be brutally honest: profit. Or lack of profit. To me, it just isn't worth it to sell something that I only make a buck on (or less!), considering it takes me the same amount of time to design a card as it does to design a small print. People may expect to spend $25 on an art print, but no one wants to pay more than $5 for a greeting card. Profitability is obviously a major consideration when you produce your own products and own a business, and I just couldn't figure out how to successfully add greeting cards to Funnelcloud Studio's current product line.

However! I do like designing cards (I freelanced as a greeting card designer last year), and I do like offering seasonal designs for the holidays. So I've been doing some research and calculations and am currently testing out professional printers to find the best quality cards for my designs at the most competitive prices.

I got the first shipment of cards last week and I'm excited to finally introduce Funnelcloud Studio's first holiday cards! I'm a non-traditionalist when it comes to the holidays, so the first design is a Christmas Octopus!


You may recognize the octopus design from a print in my shop. I actually had the idea for an octopus holding eight candy canes last winter. I didn't have the time to design cards for my shop last year, so I revised the idea to include forks, knives, and spoons for a plate design competition this spring. When I didn't win, the design became the Let's Eat - Octopus print in my shop. Anyway, I'm happy to finally have my original candy cane idea come to life, and I think the recipients on your Christmas card list will get a good chuckle when they find this guy in their mailboxes.

The cards are currently available in sets of six cards (with six white envelopes) in my Etsy shop. I'll also be selling them at my upcoming holiday markets in December. And I hope to come up with a few more designs (and test out a few more printers) before the end of November, so stay tuned...

weekend adventures: linden vineyards

A couple weekends ago, I spent a beautiful Saturday in Virginia wine country with one of my favorite partners in crime:

She's trying to conceal her identity here, but I think we all know it's Jane from The Borrowed Abode!

I love visiting Virginia wineries (see my 33rd birthday and Virginia Grapehounds), but had never been to Jane's favorite winery: Linden Vineyards. As soon as we got there, I understood why this place is Jane's favorite. The scenery is fantastic. The winery itself is the perfect combination of rustic architecture and modern art. And most importantly, the wine is delicious!


We spent the day enjoying a glass of wine on the porch while overlooking the mountains and fall foliage, chatting with the owner, and tasting wines in both their tasting room and the cellar:







Since we didn't have the boys with us, we ventured out into the vineyards and spent the remainder of the afternoon taking ourselves on a self-guided photo tour (and tasting grapes straight from the vines!). It turns out that neither Larry nor Ryan tolerate waiting around while Jane and I take pictures! (Are all boys like this???)






Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Jane photographed the vineyard, while I photographed Jane photographing the vineyard! Seriously, I think Jane missed her calling as National Geographic photographer. Perhaps she could specialize in photographing grape vines:

Or worms:

(If I were a worm, I would want to live in a vineyard!)

While Jane seems to have mastered holding a wine glass and camera simultaneously, I only managed to spill my wine on the ground. (Sad trombone!) Which I suppose was only marginally better than spilling it on my pants. (At least it was white wine!)

Just when I thought the fun was over and we got in the car to head home, Jane reached in the backseat and pulled out a smorgasbord of bread, cheese, and chutney. She then whipped out a knife and demonstrated how to cut a baguette on her steering wheel:

Seriously, everyone needs a friend like Jane in their lives!

It was a perfect fall afternoon of wine, beautiful scenery, and good company - thanks so much for inviting me to tag along, Jane!