Retro and Ruby

Handmade Washi Tape Tutorial

2012-02-25T19:57:00.000-05:00

what you will need:
measured cutting mat
masking tape
permanent markers
crafting knife
scissors

lay out the tape to the length of
the cutting mat.
trim the ends to keep things
neat.

start your pattern at the top. it
doesn't matter if it's a little sloppy
as we will be cutting it lengthwise.
i added paper bumpers to keep
my mat clean.

line your ruler up 1/4" in on the tape.
make sure to keep it nice and straight.

cut the length of the tape.
repeat, moving 1/4" over
each time.

now that you have 4
strips of 1/4" tape
with a pattern all the
way down....

roll it onto empty spools for easy
storage.

i wanted lots of different patterns
so i rolled two to a spool.

some other variations:

strawberries
straight stripe

also try:

using colored masking tape
horizontal stripes
mailing stamps

and anything else you can
think of!!

sweethearts! send me pictures of your handmade washi tape!

My Sketching Process Tutorial

2012-02-23T20:25:00.000-05:00

1. place the head, this will give you the top of the figure and a place to start the body from.

2. sketch out the body and what you want the character to be doing.

3. figure out what you want the hair and clothes to be and draw in a few guidelines. i add in the cast shadow as well.

4. ink in the details and extras. it is okay to change your original idea as you ink in. you can see i fixed her pigtails and added in some text.

5. allow the ink to dry (i skipped this step and ended up with streaky lines.) and erase the pencil really well. now your ready to add color with your choice of materials.

i hope this little tutorial helped or was at least interesting!

sweethearts, how do you decide what to draw?

OOOOOOooooooo....

2012-02-22T15:34:00.001-05:00

so i just got a Pinterest.
and it is probably the coolest thing ever.
i have been on the site for two days straight!
so many cool tutorials and fun crafty ideas.
and all the images are just beautiful!
how fun!
My Pinterest Boards

sweethearts, leave your pinterest in the comments so i can follow you!

An Interesting Realization

2012-02-19T03:21:00.001-05:00

a few days ago i was talking with my husband about our world views.i was questioning him about how he perceives inanimate objects and was shocked to find us at complete polar opposites. i tried to explain that i have a strong attachment to all the objects i own because i overlay a personality or relative position in my life as i get to know the item. he was frustrated and tried to explain that the things i was attaching personas to were tools and quite easily replaceable.
i have never noticed that as an artist, i see the objects around me in a completely different way than most people. i was under the impression that to some degree everyone attaches not only sentimental value, but a deeper connection with the things they own.apparently not.i am also prone to the collecting of seemingly random objects.

on my desk sit:
-a stone owl given to me by my brother, he is small but watchful and optimistic.
-a paper cat painted pink, she is a memory of a sad time in my life and a reminder of how i can make things with my hands to create joy in my own life. she is also a trickster and an adventurer.
-a pair of whale salt and pepper shakers. they are in love. they like to face one another, the blue one is a boy and the orange one is a girl.
-a mysterious blue box. i keep it because it could fit a pencil set. but i don't know what is inside any longer and i do not wish to know. i like not knowing.
-a stone from my favorite beach on my honeymoon. its a girl. she is solemn and when i look at her, i can hear the ocean and feel the salty cool wind of the Oregon coast. she reminds me of where i want to be.
-a ceramic pig. glazed green. she is Lucy, my piggy bank. she has a lazy eye but only a little.
-a box cutter stolen from a job i hated but did for a whole summer. it was the single most important symbol of power in our tiny work station. i will not throw it away because it reminds me of time i traded for something better.
-a pair of pink scissors. they are dull but functional. they are sisters and dear friends. they're very funny and they make me laugh. i adopted them when i was 5.

all of these things seem ridiculous to my husband.
he sees:
a cheap vacation souvenier
a paper toy
an old useless salt and pepper shaker set
a ragged box, too small to pack or ship in.
a rock
a crosseyed piggy bank
a broken box cutter
and a dull pair of scissors

the part i find so interesting is that i would immediately assign ideas to these objects if i were to encounter them, and he is content to let them be lifeless. he has his own world full of diagrams and mechanics and musical theory.but i cannot fathom my world without these imaginary friends.

what do you see around you?
are you like me?
is there something more that i cannot even imagine yet out there?

Some New Things

2012-02-15T22:47:00.002-05:00

this week i have buried my work station (read: coffee table) with drawing boards. each one was covered in small watercolor paper pieces. i drew a unique image on each one and then painted them all myself.
I HAD SO MUCH FUN that i am doing it again this week.
but first, how to clear some space: List them for you to love of course.

i am listing 17 original pieces in my etsy shop.
this is Sarah and her Gameboy. i just love her pink hair.

also retro and ruby's has a facebook page now!
CHECK IT OUT!
i will be posting late night work photos, letting you know about sales before hand. you will also be able to post there and ask questions and things.

what would you like to see posted there, sweethearts?

Haunting and Interesting

2012-02-08T03:02:00.003-05:00

i have recently discovered Lana Del Rey.
she just came out with an album called Born to Die.
some of it is weirdly pop and just average.
but the songs Born to Die, Blue Jeans and Video Games have a really haunting way of sticking in my head.
not to mention her style is really pretty cool too.
the music videos are average, so i would just listen to the song.

Late Night Work

2012-02-04T13:29:00.002-05:00

late night packing valentine orders and working on some new banners for facebook and etsy. so much fun. have a fantastic weekend sweethearts!

Not new, but New to me

2012-02-03T01:15:00.002-05:00

this is my cute little house, built for Marine families in the 1950's. suits me just fine as you can imagine, well, with the more recent addition of central air.

and this is an amazing mustard market bag i found at a local store called Yesterday's Thrift. the scarf was there as well, i tied it on to carry it out and just left it because it looks so summery and cute.

you will get to see my cute dishes when they are clean.
also, my cute husband bought me a 7 qt. RED crockpot tonight!!!
i am so making him pork chops this weekend.

Feels like spring....

2012-02-02T01:26:00.002-05:00

but is not.
i am crazy craving fruit today.
look forward to photos of my newly thrifted mustard purse and some beautiful dishes tomorrow.

Uh Oh...

2012-01-31T02:37:00.003-05:00

Question:

how do you get dressed on days when you don't feel pretty?

im not gonna lie, i ended up in jeggings, a stretchy tank top and a headband today.
when i took off the headband, my bangs where sticking up Meet the Robinsons style... not awesome.

WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE INSTEAD:
1. ignore the mirror and clock.
just because you have bed face and raccoon eyes and its 2pm doesn't mean you can be lazy. (unless you will see no one but your cat or you are genuinely sick)

2. shower and wash your hair.
when you have bedhead, change it, don't let it control you!

3. check your nails.
if you are an artist, you spend a lot of time with your eyes pointed, if not looking at, your nails. if they look like junk, polish those babies up.

4. put on a funky but comfortable and slouchy sundress.
if i had done this instead of making a B-line for my sports bra, i would have been happier. (and maybe those project runway reruns wouldn't have made me feel so bad.)

5. at LEAST go for foundation.
hit the mascara up, maybe chapstick.

thats maybe 1 hour worth of work.
and then when your husband brings a friend home for dinner... you won't look scary.

Since i seem to only have stripes...

2012-01-27T02:59:00.003-05:00

i have been a bit frumpy lately, laying around the house and generally allowing things to collectively collect. i have been feeling like a blend in a little too well here, one more military wife. so, i have decided a bit of new years reinvention is in order.
im going Rockabilly.
and before you start sending panicked comments:
no tattoos, no piercings and absolutely no cherry red hair.

i am just doing the basics:
red lips
cat eyes
sailor stripes
beehive hair with bandanas
cool vintage glasses

AND THE BEST PART! I AM NOT BUYING ANYTHING.

here's what i found fun and inspiring:

a bit of cake

2012-01-22T23:50:00.002-05:00

i dearly wish this was a real cake.
ahhhh meeee....
i drew this because i didnt really like the colors of my sculpted cake and felt i could impove them on paper.
then it seems i got too lazy to go find the proper copic markers or crack my watercolor box, so i used what was on the coffee table.

i have been thinking of some kind of tutorials for my blog.
what would you like to see?

The Two Sisters

2012-01-22T00:22:00.002-05:00

i totally love my pilot g tec pens and my copic markers. so easy and fun.

A bit of clay on the weekend

2012-01-21T18:56:00.001-05:00

Cute little clay cake for some weekend fun.

Valentines TOMORROW!

2012-01-20T22:14:00.001-05:00

a bit of fun with some pink and mint after finishing my valentines today.

Working Working Working

2012-01-18T17:02:00.001-05:00

Trying to work out the faces of little red and the wolf.

Rainy day kitten

2012-01-18T08:26:00.001-05:00

Its cold and were still sleepy.

Coffee table day 2

2012-01-18T00:02:00.001-05:00

Now I'm working on the actual Valentines cards. I really do have an office. Its just currently off limits to my kitty. And I want to hang out with her.

Coffee table

2012-01-16T20:10:00.001-05:00

Watching Netflix with my husband on his day off. Working on handmade envelopes for this years Valentines.

The mermaid fart

2012-01-15T20:28:00.001-05:00

Bunny shopping

2012-01-14T22:04:00.001-05:00

We bought our first Sam's club membership today and then got lost in Isles of fancy cheeses.

This is a test of the mobile posting apparatus.

2012-01-14T03:30:00.001-05:00

What a wonder these new phones are.

WOW! So LONG!!!

2012-01-13T21:59:00.007-05:00

Hey...
so if there are any readers left out there,

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE SUPER LONG HIATUS!

hi, im back.
my husband is back.

we got a kitten! her name is Blaire.

we moved to North Carolina. very very close to the ocean.

in a little house just the right size for our little family.
and i am back to my tricky tricks.

Today I need some help.

2011-03-12T17:25:00.003-05:00

today i realized that i have three weeks and two days until my husband, the love of my life and my constant companion, leaves for three months.
we will have no contact except letters.
i will be alone for the first time in my life.
and i am terrified.

i am listening to these albums, im sure it isnt helping.
the imogen one is older...
buy it here

and the new solo album from the singer of The Killers.
its really quite good.

buy it here

St. Patrick probably loved beer

2011-02-23T22:36:00.005-05:00

I am SURE Saint Patrick loved beer,
we are TOTALLY celebrating it accurately!
buy your own leprechaun play set here!

Broken Hearts post-Valentine SALE!

2011-02-14T23:50:00.001-05:00

i regularly set insurmountable goals to be completed by tomorrow

2011-01-03T16:51:00.004-05:00

its not just new years resolutions, promise.
today i am working on my new valentines. they should be online by tomorrow afternoon.
their lovely, i am SO excited.
i have shipping label sets and sticker sets that will be up today too.
its a new year, i have the time.
i am going to make something of this blog.

The Cure to the Chills

2010-12-09T18:55:00.002-05:00

i have been feeling under the weather, and will admit, full of self pity.
So today, i began to clean my house and ended up inadvertently boiling potatoes for homemade gnocchi.
my mom made gnocchi when i was younger and it is my favorite italian dish.
it is a fluffy, soft, dissolve in your mouth potato based pasta.
i have been guiltily, greedily consuming videos and recipes for gnocchi for over a week and finally caved even though my kitchen is still a disaster.
thanks to my new favorite blog: delicious days
(did not photograph my gnocchi, was too busy eating them. so i borrowed her photo, hope she doesnt mind.)
and the trusty food network website: Gnocchi Recipe

i now have about a pound of gnocchi warm in a big bowl to eat and share and refrigerate for later.
and another 3 pounds of dough in my fridge for when i get sick of eating out.
(worse newly weds ever.)

my favorite part was mashing the warm potatoes through a strainer to fluff them and having a giant pile of little potato shavings grow bigger and bigger.

When winter blows in

2010-12-01T16:46:00.003-05:00

I have been busy with my day job and the flu lately.
But thought I would pop back in on a day off to leave some winter fun.

Done and Done.

2010-09-09T02:08:00.002-04:00

Honeymoon in Oregon this time of year is perfect. It was lovely.
So lovely, the whole state decided we were not allowed to leave. We ran out of gas driving home at 5 am 10 miles out of town. Then crossing Idaho, we blew our rear right tire clean out the sidewall.
Two days later we are home and happy and well again.

The cake is gone, the wedding is cleaned up.
Things are being returned.

I finally got my studio unpacked yesterday.
It is lovely.

The Beautiful Day

2010-08-27T11:03:00.003-04:00

todays the day.
i could barely sleep.
with any luck it will not rain.

happy day to me.

Things that you forget to blog because you're busy living them.

2010-08-13T15:18:00.003-04:00

Weddings are such a pain to put together.
On the 1st of August, I ran out of excuses and reasons to postpone getting married to the Love of my Life.

So, we decided together that we should get married before he enlists in the USMC, and after his semester is done. This date happened to be the 27th of this month. So here we are 13 days later and we, by some miracle, have a house (AHH!), a dress, a tux, a cake, a veil, a shiny diamond ring, a couch, a table and 3 chairs, 4 bridesmaids, 2 groomsmen, a resident clergy, a beautiful garden to have it in, tables and chairs for the ceremony and 100 invitations to mail today. But first I have to address them all, with a recently dislocated wrist.

You think I'm crazy. I know you do.

I know, because I think I'm crazy.
But there are 14 days left and I am having SO much fun.
And we are irridesently happy.

What I Have Been Working On

2010-06-30T19:04:00.003-04:00

i have been a busy little bee.
i have these four lovely ladies in wardrobe and florence is all ready to travel.

My two favorite influences:

2010-06-19T16:51:00.002-04:00

Marie Antoinette

and sailors

if only there was a way to combine them.
i will settle for two separate paper dolls.

available in my etsy store.

The foggy day kitten

2010-05-26T23:56:00.002-04:00

the foggy day cat is a hand pulled print that i tinted with watercolor.

edition of 24 sold on my etsy store.

Spring Wallpaper

2010-03-25T17:07:00.000-04:00

needed something besides the cupcakes today.

Introducing...

2010-03-25T01:55:00.004-04:00

The new additions to my paperdoll family:

Alice and the Red Queen
i loved the movie and instantly wanted more clothes for the red queen and alice, it was so much fun looking through the costumes for the movie to find inspiration.

purchase your own copy here

Luck o' the Irish

2010-03-07T19:53:00.001-05:00

new st. patrick's day wallpaper.
click on the image and save as.

Solution to Flickr's Issues

2010-03-06T22:21:00.004-05:00

i am posting the large wallpaper images here because people are having problems downloading them. just click on them and save as.

Artful Thursday!

2010-03-05T03:45:00.008-05:00

pssst.....click on the image for download.

How Artists Study

2010-03-04T22:26:00.004-05:00

Wishing to Spring

2010-01-28T22:27:00.007-05:00

Tutorial

Inspiration

Queen Things

2010-01-24T02:19:00.002-05:00

We're Trying Something New

2010-01-19T23:20:00.000-05:00