Valentine's Day is around the corner!

It's here again....   that oh so tough holiday where you must be more romantic, more in love, more, more, MORE!    Well... I try to help out a little with my cards.   If you haven't visited my shop and peaked into the "Love Cards" section, here's what you are missing!

 

Two Hearts Beat as One 

Heart 2 Heart

Fill this Heart

The story behind Light Up My Tree card

Did you ever have Christmas tree lights duty?   You know... where you are the one who wraps that lovely pine in strands of winking electricity?   Where the needle scratches on your hands are forgotten as soon as you see the lovely lines twinkling through the branches?

In my family it's usually me and my dad who have light duty.   It's one of those few traditions that have built up, unspoken, unplanned.   Somehow, as an adult, it's almost always the two of us dragging the tree inside, him setting it up in the base, me holding it straight as he clamps it in, and mom coming in to tell us how it's leaning to the left...

And then it's on to the lights.  First plugging them in to check that they still work, and then I squeeze behind the tree and dad stands in front of it.   We wrap it in strand upon strand of lights, passing them to each other when we can't reach any further around the tree.   Nowadays they're mostly white solids, but I remember as a kid having different sizes and colors and blinkers...   Wow.  It would look like a carnival ride.

But no matter what lights go on, I always treasure that moment when its just bark, needles, and lights.   That moment before we toss on all our wonderful, gaudy ornaments.  It's like seeing the star of a play in their dressing room, in lingerie, face makeup on, but the costume still hanging on the door.

My newest holiday card celebrates that pause in decorating.  That moment right when we Light Up My Tree.

Tea light covers to sparkle day or night!

Introducing warpeDesign punctured paper tea light covers!   Using the same hand punching technique as in my cards and lamps, I've now created these lovely tea light covers.   I've only got two posted so far, but I will be adding more over the next few weeks. 

One of  my favoring aspects (other than how cool they look) is that they are just so simple.   I've designed them as basic strips with a tab and slot. 

Assembly is as simple as curve, tuck, and straighten!

And when you're done, just reverse the steps, slide it back into the cellophane envelope, and store it anywhere without worrying about dust or damage.   It'll be fresh as new when you take it out the next time! 

Just one caveat - these are paper, so using them directly with an open flame is not safe.   All you need is one of those glass tealight containers, something tall enough to block the fire from the cover. I've used glass tumblers I found at flea markets for a few pennies.   Or....   an electronic, LED tea light is completely safe on its own and they're available at most hardware stores.

I will be debuting them tomorrow at the Market, so if you are going to be out for the marathon in Brooklyn, come over and check them out.  I'll have a bunch of different designs offered in three colors: gold, silver, and bronzed chocolate!   Hope I see you there!

warpeDesign on PapernStitch

For the next month, warpeDesign will be one of the visiting artists on Papernstitch, a wonderful online exhibition space celebrating handmade arts and artists.   It's lovely to be in such fabulous company.   There are amazing things to see and it's a fun site to hop around.   It's also a great way for me to display 20+ pieces at a time.   Check in a couple times over the month because I'll be tossing in new images (maybe some new product).   Everything here is for sale on etsy...   this is just a fun new way to get an overview of my work.   Enjoy!

The Alphabet Cards continue!

Gimme a D!   Gimme an e!   Gimme an F!   Gimme a g!   What does that spell?  Well, nothing really... but it's the next 4 letter cards that I promised I'd keep posting.   Enjoy!

The Delicious Letter D

 

e is excellent

F is Fun Fun Fun!

 

Grand Old G

 

Crafts in Chelsea

Has autumn got your shopping juices flowing yet?   Thinking about needing some cold weather clothes?   Or new lamps for your living room?   Or presents for the kids at the holidays?  (It's never too early to talk about holiday shopping!)

The fabulous {NewNew} artists will be selling our handmade labors of love at the Crafts in Chelsea  on October 17th from 10am-5pm on West 21st Street (bet. 8th & 9th Aves) in Manhattan.   We've got a great Flickr page to tempt you with an idea of all the great stuff that will be available!

"There will be something for everyone with free food for kids, games, bouncy castles and a petting zoo inside the school - all to occupy the children, leaving the parents free to shop the best handmade goods in the Metro New York area!" - yelp.com

New recycled colored envelopes for my handmade cards!

For the last year I've sold my white, handpunched cards only with matching white envelopes.  They looked great together, but the cards on display didn't always read well from a distance at shows.   I've been wanting to try a darker layer under the cards to help the detail show through the punched holes.   It's hard to tell from the pictures... but believe me, it makes a difference!

In addition, as some of you may have noticed over the last year, I've focused my collection into 4 distinct categories:  romantic, abstract or any-day, letters & numbers, and holiday.   I've picked envelope colors to match those themes.   Red for romantic.   Classic Kraft bag brown for any-day.   Denim blue for letters & numbers.  And soft green for the holidays.  They've always been sorted by category at shows, but now you'll be able to see it much easier!

Best of all - these envelopes are 100% recycled!  The red, green and blue envelopes include 30% PCW (post consumer waste), while the kraft brown is 100% PCW!  

If you are interested in seeing the new envelopes in person, I will be debuting them at the Crafts in Chelsea fair on October 17th.   And don't worry - if you still want the classic white envelope, just ask me!

Fontspiration!

Ever been overwhelmed by your font choices? Serif or sans sarif? Modern or caligraphy? Italics or not? Outline or Underline? Oh man... the options... the designs... I do love them. And while I wish that they all translated well to my punctured paper technique, I've had a few fumbles... and several hurrahs. I hope over time to post most of the alphabet here. While not everything is currently available on my etsy shop, I can remake almost everything I post here. Just ask me! Starting with "A is for..."

And then, of course, there's "B is Beautiful"


and "C is for Cookie"!

On Friday, September 18th from 5-9pm, the very cool people at Craftland at 235 Westminster Street, Providence, RI are hosting a shindigity-party to celebrate the opening of their store. They've got amazing handmade arts and crafts for sale (including my cards and lamps!)

So go check them out, enjoy the food and booze, say "hi", and shop!