C R A F T I N ' L O G O S

Here are a couple of logos that Cassidy and I made for Joseph Wesley Black Tea awhile ago… we crafted the logos out of black tea and photographed them:

And here's an another version:

R E C E N T C O V E R

My last cover of dbusiness was for the Top Lawyers issue. I had some law books photographed, and then after I designed the cover lines, I had the illustrators take the type and make it look like it was embossed on the spines. This one is also featured as an SPD cover of the day!

Photo Illustration by Seventh Street Studios / Prop Styling by Stephanie Potts

R E C E N T W O R K

One of the craftier pieces I did for dbusiness was this cover for a restaurant listing pullout. I had a napkin embroidered and then photographed for the cover. My coworker Jim modeled for us, and Megan styled the lemons, while I tried not to make eye contact with the lobster.

Photograph by Martin Vecchio / Styling by Rebecca Voigt / Lettering by Neil Tasker 

L A T E R , D E T R O I T

It's been awhile since I posted because I packed up and moved from Detroit to Brooklyn. I got a new job back in October, and had 2 1/2 weeks to finish up a magazine, sell my car, get rid of a TON of stuff, find a place to live, and help my boyfriend move from Cleveland to Detroit, so we could then move to Brooklyn together. I'm still adjusting to the big city and exploring my neighborhood, so I haven't had much time for making things. So far I'm loving it here, but Detroit will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Poster by Archie's Press

O H D E E R !

I just finished this giant deer cross-stitch last night... it's getting delivered to my friend Janel today! I'm going to add a couple to my shop in the next week or two:

V I N T A G E F A S H I O N

Here's another fashion story that I did for the summer issue of Bride. A lot of my work ends up being a modern take on vintage inspired design - for this one we got to go all out and showcase bridal looks from the 20's, all the way up to a modern look. So much fun! The 60's is by far my favorite look. Oh, and the 90's - I was a little nervous about what kind of gowns/accessories could be pulled for that, and Rebecca nailed that 90's Calvin Klein look!

Photographs by Joe Vaughn / Styling by Rebecca Voigt / Prop styling by Stephanie Potts

F L O W E R T Y P O G R A P H Y

The summer issue of Bride just came out, and I'm excited to show what I've been working on for the last couple of months. I planned my cover shoot with the idea that I wanted to make the masthead out of flowers... so we decided to do a floral-inspired fashion spread, which included more than just gowns, but clothing you could wear as a bridesmaid, flower girl, or even for a wedding shower.

Photographs by Jenny Risher / Floral Styling by Cindy Hicks / Styling by Stephanie Potts

A close up of one of the flower letters:

Cindy (the amazing floral stylist) hot glued fresh flowers to foam core that I had laser cut:

Check out the finished spread, as well as more behind the scenes shots:

M A K I N G T E A

Here's a preview of some animated gifs that Cassidy and I made for Joseph Wesley Tea. This was part of a series meant to show how to use the tea vessels, which are available for purchase here (click "how to use me" to see the gifs pop up on the site). We styled, shot, and animated each of these gifs... and has so much fun working on this project!:

L O B S T E R - S T I T C H

My good friend Cassidy LOVES lobsters. She loves to eat lobster, and loves anything with lobster print on it. For years I've been sending her "lobster grams"- which just means I send her ridiculous lobster emails. Photos, videos, clothing, babies wearing lobster costumes, etc. For Cassidy's 30th birthday I made her this:

T E A T I M E

Cassidy and I recently teamed up to start a freelance design/art direction/styling business, called After Six Design. Our first project was to style and photograph some tea recipes for Joseph Wesley Black Tea. We created 7 recipe photos (along with detail shots showcasing the ingredients) as well as 5 animated gifs showing how to use tea products that will be available on the site. The site is set to launch in about a week, but in the meantime here is a sneak peek of what Cassidy and I have been working on:

F L O W E R S E R R Y W H E R E

I'm usually pretty into flowers, but this last couple of weeks, I've been slightly obsessing over them. I just did a floral shoot for Bride, and have been scouting locations, researching and looking for inspiration, and worrying about flowers not being in bloom in time for the shoot. Here are a couple of photos I've found or taken while planning my shoot.

I found these in my backyard:

I LOVE peonies. They might be my favorite flower. At one point, a floral stylist I was working with said "are you sick of peonies yet?" Nope. Not ever! Love this print by Agent 18:

This photo, by Lina Scheynius, for Orla Kiely, makes me wish I could dance around while wearing a flowery dress all day long:

C A S S C O R R I D O R U N I T E D S C R I P T

I've been working on this type for our new soccer shirts. After all these years of chanting "NO ONE LIKES US" at every game, we're finally declaring it on our jerseys. Can't wait to see these shirts printed in all of their black + gold glory. Cass Corridor United!

H A P P Y E A R T H D A Y

Here's my latest OnStar project, which I styled for earth day. I found a fantastic light up vintage globe and took it apart and painted it. I was inspired by Wendy Gold, who paints lovely typography (and images!) onto globes. This is my favorite piece of hers (I'm a sucker for elegant scripts).

Photograph by Joe Vaughn / Prop styling by me

I printed out the logo, and used chalk to transfer the logo onto the globe (which was a bit tricky, being that the globe is obviously not flat):

You can see the rest of the steps here:

G I A N T T O U R E M B R O I D E R I E S

My new Cleveland friends the NOMADS commissioned me to make a couple of giant embroideries to showcase on their upcoming tour. They asked for the two pieces to be in muted colors that matched each other. Check out some of their lovely music here! I had so much fun working on this project:

You can find the second one here:

N E W W O R K

This was a present for Katie (and Mark), who just got married - a smaller version of my giant cross-stitch heart. This one ended up being 24" x 24":

And I finally got a cross-stitch tattoo:

R E A D Y F O R S P R I N G

Not that it feels like it in Detroit, but it's officially spring now! I styled this photo for OnStar, which will hopefully bring some warmer weather here:

Photograph by Joe Vaughn // Styling by me // Flowers by Scarlet Poppy

I cut most of the logo out of flat pieces of moss, here's a detail shot:

W O R L D O F C R O S S S T I T C H I N G

My Giant Heart cross-stitch was featured in a recent issue of The World of Cross Stitching magazine - thanks to Cathy Lewis who did the write up. You can have your own custom heart cross stitch made, right here... or you can make your own mini version!

P L A Y I N G W I T H T Y P E

I was asked to contribute a project to Playing with Type, a book about experimenting with typography... I made this "high five" cross-stitch for the book, and also sent along a couple of other examples of my giant cross-stitch pieces. So excited to see it in print!

My girl Mooshoo is published, in all of her high-fiving glory:

S H O P U P D A T E

New giant embroidery added to my shop!

N E W C R A F T S

Coming soon: leather necklaces will be in my shop!

O H, D E E R

I might have a bag buying problem... I own way too many purses, totebags, and reusable shopping bags. My favorite brand is baggu - they have so many different colors and patterns!

I used one of their canvas duck bags for a cross-stitch project - and used these water soluble canvases to stitch on top of the bag. Basically you attach the canvas to any type of fabric, start cross-stitching right on top of it, and once you're done you soak the project in hot water and the canvas grid melts away - like magic! I also used this DMC tapestry wool, which is very similar to the yarn I usually work with, and comes in a variety of gorgeous colors.

For this deer cross-stitch I quadrupled stitch size, so they're bigger than your average cross-stitch, but not as large as my normal cross-stitch pieces:

G I A N T E M B R O I D E R Y

Here's a new piece I just finished - it's a giant Detroit Embroidery, and they're available in my shop. I can also make custom pieces, with different cities or states and colors:

N E W W O R K

My fashion idea for this issue of Bride was to use graphic gowns and dresses, along with bold black + white paper backdrops. I originally saw this Oscar de la Renta striped dress and wanted to use it for cover, but we were unable to borrow the dress for the shoot. It ended working out for the best in the end, because I worked with Patty Weir (through Haberman fabrics in Royal Oak) to have this custom striped bridal gown made for the shoot. Patty's dress came out better than I could have imagined, and ended up looking more bridal than the inspiration dress:

My favorite part of the shoot was hanging out with Darla, the Great Dane:

You can see the rest of the layout here

Photographs by Roy Ritchie // Styling by Stephanie Potts // Paper backdrops by Belles Reveries

P A P E R C R A F T C A K E S

I did a story on cakes inspired by different types of paper crafts for the Winter issue of Bride. You can see the entire story here.

Photographs by Joe Vaughn // Styling by me

P A P E R A R T + J E W E L R Y

I’ve been doing a lot of crafting lately, between working on props/backdrops for photo shoots and making gifts for Christmas. Here are a few of things that I’ve made in the last couple of weeks.

Large scale quilling I made for a Bride shoot:

Leather necklaces: