Cupcake Zipper Pouches and More

Hooray for a shop update! Visit the crabappledesign shop to see the growing selection of handmade zipper pouches. Here's a peek:



As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have opened a new shop called Blue Cake and Buttercup. This shop is an extension of Crab Apple Designs. These owl cards are just an example of the ongoing updates of yummy paper goodies in the new shop.

Please take a moment to visit BlueCakeAndButtercup and let me know what you think!

xo melissa

New Stuff in the Shop and a New Shop for Stuff

I want to offer my most sincere thanks to my readers - those of you who post comments (I love comments!) and those of you who stop by for quick visits. Your virtual presence means more to me than I can say with words!

I have exciting news! I have opened a new shop as a little division of Crab Apple Designs. The new shop is called Blue Cake and Buttercup, and is the new home for my vintage-y paper goods. That includes cards, journals, stickers, and whatever else I can dream up. More on Blue Cake and Buttercup later...

My established etsy shop, Crab Apple Designs, now is dedicated to sewn items. Right now, zipper pouches are being added to the shop every day. I'm delighted to have the chance to turn some of my design ideas into actual real-life goodies!

Here are some examples of what is happening behind-the-scenes:


Elsie*Cake's online class inspired me to experiment with embroidery, so the new batch of cupcake pouches have some embroidery elements.


The "lazy daisy" stitch and the "french knot" are easy and fun. Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray has great instructions for embroidery stitches for beginners.



I love the look of a wide satin stitch when applying applique. My machine was being testy, and creating very puny stitches (see stitches in front of the presserfoot). I was not pleased. I decided to try oiling my machine (it's squeaky, too) and you can see the "after" results behind the presserfoot. Amazing difference! Still squeaking though. I've oiled every moving part, so I'm stumped about that.


The final results with improved oiled machine.


Mushroom appliques are a new addition to the shop. The exciting part about these is that they will have a lovely-adorable-super-cute wooden mushroom charm made by Babz of the famous Craftsty!

Her mushrooms are so perfect. Check out her shop! I love em' so much, that now with the purchase of one my mushroom pouches, you'll get one of her miniature mushrooms.



In other news, I have a snazzy new bag for myself now because a custom order came out too small...but it is the perfect size for me!

I'll keep you updated on the evolution of Blue Cake and Buttercup. Along with a new storefront, a new blog may be adopted - devoted to all things paper-goodness.

Meanwhile, future Crab Apple shop updates will include kitchen goodies - aprons, pot holders, bags, stuffies, and more.

xoxo melissa

Actual Cupcakes by Mom and Me

Yum.

Crab Apple on Cuteable!

It was so thrilling to see a mention of Crab Apple notecards on today's Cuteable Clinks! Lynsey was kind enough to mention that my cupcake notecard set is on sale in the shop. Thanks, Cuteable!

Dessert Themed Zipper Pouches and a FREEBIE!

There are 2 new zipper pouches in the shop! One is a cake with a slice "removed" and the other is the classic cupcake.

The first person to buy a dessert zipper pouch will get an awesome freebie... this super-cute measuring tape I got in Portland:
Just mention that you read about the freebie offer on my blog when you check out. xxxooo

An Etsy Experiment: Downloadables

I've been thinking about doing this for a while, and here it goes! Downloadable files for purchase in the shop. A bargain (if the images appeal to you) in that you can print them out as often as you like once you buy the files. Risky for me, of course, because I have no control over duplication. But this is how it is, and I believe that most people in the crafting community are both honorable and want to honor other crafters.

It took hours to put this listing together! First, the image must be created and perfected. Then, images for etsy viewing must be generated along with a user-friendly product for download (aka the pdf file).

This is my first time to do something like this, so hopefully customers will be pleased with their purchase!

Here are some fellow Etsians selling downloadable files that I admire:

vink

wildolive

Sally1

MariekeVDesign

Cupcake Doodles Stationery Set

Cupcake notes cards are here! They will be in the shop tomorrow, once I have good light for photographing.

The set includes 4 hand-drawn-and-colored-then-digitally-enhanced note cards with dimensional embellishment added and 2 sticker sheets: 1 of 4 envelope labels and 1 of 6 cupcake stickers. The sticker sheets are on self-adhesive paper and need to be cut by you to suit your cupcakey needs.

Cupcakes Anyone?

Scenes from my Oregon-time sketchbook...


While on the plane last night, I was doing some doodling...24 hours later, there's a cupcake art print in the shop! What makes this baby so interesting is that it is embellished with Glossy Accents clear gloss medium and some glitter. Yah!

I drew the cupcakes with a black gel ink pen, then colored them in with colored smencils I picked up at Powell's Bookstore in Portland. The original piece is SCENTED, people. The prints aren't, but they do have a satisfying glossy 3-D look to them. You can find one in the shop and be sure that more are on the way.

Coffee + No Sleep = Cupcakes!

It's our last day in Oregon. In fact, our plane leaves in a few hours. We are staying in a luxurious corner sweet of a lovely hotel in downtown Portland. I spent most of the night working on this luscious cupcake fabric. This bed is so delicious, I'm rolling around in it with both glee (because, hey, cupcakes!) and sadness that I didn't spend more time in it.

So, what we have here is the blackline from my sketches, the color tile, and a prototype of what the fabric will look like, although lots of color matching work remains to be done. This is style 1, "rainbow cupcakes on white" and a number of variations are in the works. Spoonflower, here I come! Look for cupcake goodies in the shop in September.

Cupcakes, Damn it.

I've looked all over the place, and I cannot find satisfying cupcake fabric. So, it falls upon me to create this item, and boy-howdy am I trying to do it in a little way I like to call, "the right way." Except I'm not sure what the right way is so away I go.

First, I drew sketches in my Rhodia notebook, comme ca (note: I drew these while riding in the car from Yachats to Portland, so they are a bit rougher than usual due to car turbulence):





Next, I begin to digitize and form some kind of a pattern in Inkscape:

I want the fabric to be "multi-directional" so there's no way for it to be upside-down. This makes it easier to cut. So I fiddle around with rotating the shapes and tiling the original design to get an idea of what it would look like on a larger scale.


Now, I'm working on adding color and patterns before submitting it to Spoonflower for a swatch to see if the colors are true to my vision.

Note polka-dot and stripe-y patterns on these 2 'cakes.

Any suggestions are welcome!!! Nation, we are in need of a kick-ass cupcake fabric. So let your voice be heard. These babies will find their way into vinyl covered zip pouches at some point soon. xxxooo melissa