Guest Post: Amanda of the Kibnit Creative

Today we'd like to welcome a long-time friend and long overdue guest blogger on of Dwelling and Dress: Amanda of the Kibnit Creative!  Amanda grew up with both Rox and Jess and is an amazing artist and dear friend.  We are so grateful she agreed to share her gifts and beautiful artwork with us today!  Welcome Amanda!

Thank you so much to Rox, Jessie, and Aly for bringing me in as a guest blogger and vendor at this year’s Handmade Holiday Shopping Open House!  I am such a fan of Of Dwelling and Dress and so honored to collaborate with these awesome, talented ladies.   

A little background on The Kibnit Creative-

The Kibnit Creative was born from my passion for art and people.  I academically pursued art in college then taught primary and secondary school visual arts before staying at home with my daughter full time.  After completing my undergraduate thesis, I felt like my artistic endeavors were missing something- the work felt forced and unfulfilling.  Then I had a little girl who became my muse and grabbed me by the heart.  The creative juices started flowing again, and I picked up my camera and paintbrush.  I decided to be a little selfish.  For the first time in years, I was going to make a painting just for myself, a painting of my little girl.  I was a bit rusty at first but encouraged when S didn’t come out looking like an Ewok.  In fact, she looked a lot like herself- maybe a little stiff, but definitely my little girl.  After a lot of prayer, practice practice practice, and encouragement from close friends and my hubby, The Kibnit Creative was born.

I often get asked, “What’s a Kibnit?”  Well, long story short, my hubby and I began dating our sophomore year in high school, and BOY did we have our share of cheesy, embarrassing pet names for one another!  At some point, I became Kibnit, and it stuck in the very best way.

“Now, what exactly do you make/sell?”

I am an artist and habitual crafter!  If the mood strikes, I’ll hand craft clay beads and make a necklace or spray paint wood blocks and plastic figurines to make bookends.  These days, my passion for watercolor has really weighted heavily on my art and craft production.  I specialize in custom, original watercolor portraits of people, pets, and homes.  When I first began portrait work, I found that working closely with my clients to capture exactly what they love about their children, pets, and homes was so rewarding.  One client, the mom of a little boy I was painting, said, “Oh no!  Let’s not crop out his legs. I want to see the soft little rolls!”  She wanted to remember those little baby legs in all of their chunky glory.  My experiences just felt so personal.  I was connecting with complete strangers and bringing their loved ones to life in paint.  It just felt great, and I LOVED the challenge. 

(custom portrait in progress, pictured below)

(custom portraits, ready to ship, pictured below)

I also enjoy making Ready to Sell (RTS) artworks.  My RTS pieces are sort of on the opposite end of the visual spectrum from portraits.  They allow me to be inventive and to paint and create according to my mood or current interests, which is a lot fun and a great stress reliever for this mommy brain!  I make them ready to frame or display, so they are great gifts, especially if you’re short on time. ;)  With Christmas quickly approaching, I couldn’t help but get a little bit festive when drawing up my plans for the Handmade Holiday Shopping Open House, so there will definitely be some Christmas flair!

(detail of RTS artworks, pictured below)

(handmade ceramic ornaments in progress, below)

Thanks so much for letting me share my passion with you! I am so very humbled and blessed by all of the support The Kibnit Creative has received in its two short months of existence and am looking forward to seeing what else the Lord has in store for this venture.  Thank you again, Rox, Jessie, and Aly for having me.  I hope to see you all at the Open House!  Happy [insert day of week] everyone!

Blessings!

Amanda

The Kibnit Creative

www.facebook.com/TheKibnitCreative

www.TheKibnitCreative.Etsy.com

About the Author:

Amanda Littlejohn is a 2006 graduate of Mississippi State University’s college of Architecture, Art, and Design and MS licensed secondary school art educator. She is a stay at home mom of a pretty awesome little girl, wife to the love of her life, and the owner/artist behind The Kibnit Creative.

Guest Post: Paint-Dipped Plant Stand with Cyntia!

Y'all are in for a treat today!  We have the lovely Cyntia here to share a fun project she recently did.  I love, love her fun style and am always looking forward to her new posts on her blog!!  So, without further adieu...

Hi there! I'm Cyntia and every once in a blue moon I blog over at Cyntiae.blogspot.com. I'm currently in the middle of planning my wedding & getting our newlywed home ready so when I was asked to share something, the only thing that came to mind was my new "nesting" hobbies. 

I have been lucky to find great deals while trying to fill the new space. Read "great deals=free". I am forever grateful for anyone who offers any of their treasures! My parents were getting rid of a stool they had in storage and of course, I snatched it! At first I thought I would recover but after my new plant obsession I decided to make better use of it.

My inspiration came from pinterest/instagram of course and all of the paint dipping trends. My resources came from a trip to Lowe's where I found a glaze that can dry to look like different metal textures. They have different kinds, but I chose the stainless steel one. I applied many coats because after all it is a "glaze" and had to wait 24 hours for the coats to dry. I wanted the black to be really matte so I used some leftover chalkboard paint that I've had for way too long(so thrifty). After I finally got it to look the silver I wanted, this is what it ended up looking like!

I love my new plant stand! I made a goal to add more green to my next home when I moved in April simply because it's pretty and because instagram seems to think it's the new hip thing to do... Let's be real here. So far I have had a mint plant that didn't make it through the move...or me not watering it. So then I went with succulents. I'm still new at the succulents and my mom gave me the vine plant that is hugging the stool leg over Memorial Day weekend so...it's still early. Here's a pic of my succulents on an ottoman that I recently found at Target. Just for fun. Hop on over to my blog and check it out sometime. I can't promise there will be anything new but I will definitely try. 

PS, I have known the Of Dwelling and Dress sisters since we were eight years old! Love these girls and love this blog :) Thanks for having me. 

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Thanks, Cyntia!! We love you, too!! I LOVE the plant stand!! I pretty sure I need one now..

Thanks for reading, y'all!!  Remember to leave Cyntia a little love by visiting her blog or leaving a comment below!

Guest Post: Book Binding with Helen!

Y'all, we're so pumped to feature our second guest blogger!  We LOVE this gal and are so excited she agreed to share her talents with us!  Y'all meet Helen!

Helen and her hubs

Hi readers! My name is Helen Simpkins and I’m so excited to be a guest writer for Of Dwelling and Dress! I am a graphic designer in Nashville, TN and recent graduate of Mississippi State University (Hail State!). My work typically involves computery things, but I love to do some crafty hands-on things when I can. Today, I’ll show you how to do some bookbinding.

There are about a trillion ways to bind a book. I’ll be making a blank journal with a simple, 3-hole, saddle stitch.  Here are some things you’ll need:  

Some text weight paper for the interior pages (I used basic copy paper), cover weight paper for the cover, embroidery thread, a bone folder, an awl (or basically any large needle-like object), an X-acto knife, a cork backed ruler, and assorted hand sewing needles.

Amazon.com is your friend people! They have everything you could ever want to buy at a really low price. You can get any of this stuff on there.

I printed this pattern on my cover weight paper so my journal would be cute on the outside. Notice I did NOT trim the white edges off. (This will be important later)

First, turn your cover with the wrong side facing up, placing your ruler in the very center of the page, and score it with the pointy end of the bone folder. If you don’t have a bone folder you can also use the dull side of a butter knife. Note: The thicker the paper, the more firmly you need to press down when you score. Make sure you score the paper in the EXACT spot that you want it to fold because it will not fold in any other spot.

After you score your cover, it should easily crease along the line where you scored it.

Now, grab the text weight paper. It should be the same size as the entire cover (front + back). If it’s not the exact same size don’t worry about trimming it because you can take care of this after the journal is bound. Gently fold all of your text weight paper in half and crease it down the middle with your hands. (No need to use the bone folder this time) 

Then place all of your internal pages inside your folded cover where the creases line up. The edges won’t line up perfectly, but that’s ok since you are going to trim it later. Once you have the pages and the cover lined up, take your awl and poke three holes along the crease.

Be careful to keep the holes aligned as you go. Make sure the holes are not too close to the edge of the paper or it will cause your book to tear.

Next, thread your needle with plenty of embroidery thread (about 2 feet long). Then stick your needle through the holes in the following order:

Make sure you have excess thread sticking out of the last hole when you get through threading your holes then cut the thread. Leave about 4 inches of thread so that you have plenty to tie it off with.

Tie the end you started with and the end you finished with into a knot. Make sure you tie the knot big enough so that it won’t slip through the hole, then cut off the excess.

When you’re done it should look like this:

Now it’s time to trim off the edges so they will line up. Line up your ruler on each edge and slice along it with your x-acto knife. It will take several passes to cut through all those layers so make sure you keep the ruler still the whole time. Be VERY careful! I know countless people who have cut themselves while doing this. Keep your fingers out of the way.

Once you have finished cutting off those three sides, you have yourself a beautiful new journal! Tada!

Thanks so much Helen!!!

This is SO cute!!  I'm pretty sure this would make a sweet Mother's Day gift for those that need some last minute ideas!  I'm positive I will be making one for myself soon!

{ If you are interested in being a guest blogger on 'of Dwelling and Dress', please email us at ofDwellingandDress@gmail.com with a brief description of your post and example pictures.  We'd love to showcase your creativity and give you a chance to spread the word about your own blog or Etsy shop! }

Guest Post: Anna of Anna Peterson Photography

Our first guest post comes from someone we considered a sister growing up and who we've known for almost 18 years now.  She has such a kind, calming presence and literally exudes creativity (and check out her stunning picture below!).  Needless to say, we are so excited to welcome her to our blog and share her passion and gift with all of you!

So, without further adieu......

Hello! I’m Anna Peterson. I’m so honored to be a guest blogger here on Of Dwelling and Dress! I run a small on-again, off-again blog of my own that I wish was more on than off, but you know how wishing goes. More importantly, I run my own boutique photography business, Anna Peterson Photography. I specialize in portraiture photography, mostly high school seniors. I’ve been rebranding this year and am finally super excited to say that in the next two weeks my rebranding with be finalized with a new website and reimaged Facebook page!

When Roxanne first approached me to be a guest blogger, I wasn’t too sure what I should blog about. Ask anyone and you’ll soon learn that photography is my passion. (Ask my brother and he’ll talk your ear off about how I don’t respect his personal privacy on any family vacation.) My personal favorite camera for any family vacation or any other time is my iPhone—I usually have to be reminded that other people want “real” photos from my “nice” camera. And so I thought I’d share a few tips and tricks I’ve learned to create the best photographs with the camera everyone has on them on a daily basis—their iPhone. Of course, these tips don’t just apply to phone cameras, but also to photography in general.

Check the background. 

This is one tip I wish would stick in my mind when I’m taking pictures. Little details in the background can clutter a picture and distract from the main subject. You’d be amazed at the difference made taking a few minutes to compose your photograph making sure to get rid of those distracting objects in the background whether it’s the edge of something, trash or other objects lying on the ground, or even a random cord plugged into the wall.

Try different angles. 

With children, pets, and detailed objects photographs become more interesting when you bring your camera down to eye level. This helps show the subject’s true size in proportion to the background. While you can hold your phone or camera down lower to get the “shot” sometimes it helps when you lower your body so you get the feel for how the photograph is going to turn out. You might even be inspired from this change of perspective.

If bringing your camera down for the photograph doesn’t seem to work, another level to try is shooting from above. These shoots are great for meals, workspaces, the big picture, and almost anything in between. However, if you are shooting children and pets from this angle they will become dwarfed (but that could be the look you’re going for). One thing to watch for when shooting from above is your light source. If it’s right above you, you’ll get a shadow from your camera or phone. This angle really works best when the light is natural and coming from the side. 

Crop your image in camera.

When capturing our everyday life, it’s human nature to want to center everything and make sure that every little detail is in the frame. Why not allow your subject or subjects to spill out of the image? There is an interest created when the mind is forced to fill in the rest of the photograph. And it begs the question, what else is happening just outside the frame?


Use natural light. 

Turn off your flash on your camera or phone. No flash is harsher than the one on your phone (and most flashes on your cameras are not far behind them). Without a flash you’ll start to see greater depth in your photos. I’ve personally found that a flash will sooner ruin my photo than be any help, as without the flash light that I didn’t even realize was there will shine through. The more you leave your flash off the more you’ll start looking for different light sources and finding you can create a whole different world with just a few well placed candles, lamps, or even in the twilight hours.


Help your camera help you.

Your iPhone camera is smart, but it’s no human. It can’t read your mind and it usually doesn’t know what you want to take a picture of. However, you can help it along by touching your screen where your subject is located. Your camera will then focus where you have just touched and expose for it. Which means when you’re outside on a sunny day and you want to take a picture of someone whose face is in the shade you can and you’ll be able to see that person’s face! (For the most part.) IPhones are not infallible, but with this trick up your sleeve nine times out of ten you’ll get your photograph.

Know your camera applications. 

I love camera apps on my iPhone. They can completely change a photo from a so-so into a wow photograph. Most of these applications are just editing apps where you can take your photograph with the standard camera app and then import the image. My favorite editing applications are Vsco Cam and Afterlight. If I’m uploading to Instagram, but the cropped image just isn’t as great I will use Squaready. You can also create a mini-collage in Diptic.


Experiment and have fun! 

{ If you are interested in being a guest blogger on 'of Dwelling and Dress', please email us at ofDwellingandDress@gmail.com with a brief description of your post and example pictures.  We'd love to showcase your creativity and give you a chance to spread the word about your own blog or Etsy shop! }