Friday, December 21, 2007

Homemade Business Cards

Hot off the presses! I just finished whipping these up to send out with orders from my Etsy site, and I wanted to show them off!I did the design in Photoshop, and then cut the cards apart with my handy cutter. I printed them on a nice off-white textured paper, and I really love the way they look.I'm also trying to get together some of my older craft tutorials that I've posted on craftster posted here as well, so watch out for those. :)

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Old Projects

I've been burning through some stash yarn lately for Christmas gifts, and I've found some projects that I had let go to the wayside. So between gift-knitting, I've been working on finishing some old knitting projects.
First up is my Brea Bag. I'm almost done with this one. I'm crocheting the gusset, and I'm trying to decide on what color to line it with...Secondly, there is the squirrel hat. This is my own lovely design, and I'm contemplating adding earflaps... I'm also considering writing a pattern up for this one. :)This is going to be a half-knit, half-sewn project. The knitting part is done(besides the weaving in of the ends) and I still need to sew the body on to the top. I've also finished a scarf that has been in progress for about a year now, and I want to take pictures that do it justice. Lastly, I'm still chugging along on Emerald, hopefully it will get done over the holidays! :)
Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

New Projects

I started knitting again! Well, actually I have been knitting all along, but it has been for other people and I always forget to take pictures before I send the item away... This is the beginning of Emerald, a free pattern from Knitty. I'm using Lion Brand's Cotton Ease. I love wool, but I cannot stand it against my skin. Even merino makes me red and itchy. Therefore, I'm knitting it in Cotton Ease, which I really love so far!
I've also been having some fun with shrinky dinks. I'm hoping to sell some of these on Etsy, and I'm working out ways that I can string them, if you have any ideas, feel free to shoot them my way! One thing I was thinking of was using some 'suede feel' yarn. I think it would work well because these pendants are so lightweight. I was also thinking of mounting some of them onto painted wood discs to make them heavier and give them a little more dimension. I'll keep playing around though until I find something that works well.

It is snowing like mad outside right now. Earlier this week we had an ice storm, and I went out around where we live and shot some pictures at sunset, this is one of my favorites:

Monday, December 10, 2007

So, I'm a REAL Artist Now!

I just finished slapping together my new website for just my art. Don't worry I'll still be posting it here as well :) I just wanted to share it with all of you who have been so kind to me!
www.cassiechristenson.com

Also, it is still in it's baby stage, so be forgiving!
I'm off to scrounge up some dinner.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

I Might Be the Lovechild of MacGyver and Martha Stewart

So today I went to the craft store to get a lightbox, and walked right back out because of the $40 price tag. Yikes...
I decided to take measures into my own hands. So, after quick trip to the store, a mere $3, and about 5 minutes of work.....DIY Lightbox! It works really well too:
It is probably one of the easiest projects ever. All you have to do is cut a hole in a frosted plastic bin, put a set of mini Christmas lights inside, string the plug through the hole, put the lid on, and flip it over. Done!
Also, make sure you wash your hands after handling the lights because they have lead, we don't want anyone keeling over now do we?
That's it for now :)

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Done!!!!!! (Mostly)

Wow, long time no blogging.....
The good news is that my semester is now over and done with (except for few last little things). I've really put a lot into this semester, so other parts of my life have been put on the back burner- for example: crafting, seeing friends, and generally anything outside of the sphere of my home and school- hah....
Also, our kitties are getting bigger and bigger, and with that they are also 'pushing the limits a little bit more. Yesterday when I came home from work, this is what I saw in my kitchen:Do you see the little bugger! He thought he was just on top of the world. He's usually the "good" one too! I promptly removed our wine bottles from the other side of the cabinets for fear of red wine being spilled over everything. Don't you just love how he is unaffected by my beckoning him to come down:It is such a relief to be done with the semester, I was getting a little frazzled towards the end... Also, Nate is applying for school for next semester as well! I'm really hoping he gets in, and I think he's got a really good chance.
I've got a few more paintings done as well, I'll post some more later this week too as I finish editing them. Thanks to all of those who commented on my last post as well, it really brightens my day!
Watercolor 9"x11"
Watercolor 13"x9"This last one is on watercolor paper that I gessoed. It is about 5"x7", and was a pretty successful experiment I think. I'm going to try using the same paper to try out my new casein paints. I hope you all are having a good holiday season so far!

Saturday, October 27, 2007

New Paintings

What is a better way to spend your Saturday than studying for a test? I'd say almost any other way, so that is why I am taking a nice little break to share some of the paintings I've finished lately.
They are all about the same size, around the 15" x 12" range and done in watercolor.




Thursday, October 25, 2007

Good Student=Terrible Blogger

So yes, I know I've been a little absent, but school has taken over my life (help!). I've been spending a lot of my time painting, working, reading art history, writing papers, etc... so I thought I would share a picture of my studio with you. It is fairly empty because I don't really trust leaving a lot of finished work there, but here it is in all of it's glory.

I have still been able to do some little craft projects here and there, and I've been cooking a lot lately as well. Nate has also been cooking a bit, and he made me this wonderful birthday dinner:


And look, I'm knitting!! This is a custom order from a friend of mine for a hat and mitten set. The hat is almost done, and I'm considering writing a pattern for it to sell in my etsy shop...And last but not least, some yarn for all of the fiber junkies. It is about 200yds of heavy worsted weight merino yarn. I think this one is going to make a really nice neckwarmer- it is so soft and warm!I've also got some finished paintings, but I was too lazy to edit them right now, maybe tomorrow?

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Is the Weekend Here Yet?

I've been having a pretty hectic week so far, and I'll be glad for this weekend to arrive. Nate and I are going to see Verona Grove tomorrow night, they have been friends of ours for a while now, and they are moving up in the world, and will hopefully be on MTV one of these days. Also, Johnny and Tabitha are coming up for a visit on Saturday, which we are excited about. Lastly, on Sunday the Packers play the Bears, which should be fun because all of the neighbors in our apartment are Bears fans, and we may have some of them over to watch the game in all of it's big screen HD glory.
Crafting is going pretty slowly this week, but I do have a skein of yarn to show you. This is some of my newly dyed merino yarn , and I've got two skeins of it. I think I will be keeping this one for myself seeing as it is so soft and squishy. I've also been starting a new(ish) series of paintings of the interiors of empty houses. I think I may transfer this series to oils though in effort to get more done. This is the first of the series, but it is only halfway done. I think this will be a good series for oils, I'm looking forward to working in the studio this weekend, hopefully I'll have some more finished paintings to show you soon.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Sparse Posting...

Sorry about the recent hiatus, I've been up to my neck in schoolwork, and pretty busy with my GA's as well... Nevertheless I've been able to squeeze in a little crafting between my paintings, mostly while watching episodes of Carnivale and Packer games. Last week I "baked" about 1.5lbs of roving. Half of it was merino and half of it was falklands wool.
I'm also working on a few paintings, this is one of them, it's a continuance of my house series, and it's coming along fairly well.I spun some of the merino roving this week, and it is sooooo soft. The colors totally remind me of My Little Ponies, so that is what I am calling it. It is about 250-300 yards ( I'm guessing) of sport weight yarn. I can't wait to use it!This weekend Nate and I are trekking up to Rockford to catch Amy's soccer game, so that should be exciting. Other than that, I've got a studio critique Monday night so I've got to get cracking on that as well. I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Start of School

I'm sorry if this blog becomes more art oriented these next few months, school has started again for me, and that's about all I'm finding I have time for. I'm sure I squeeze in a little crafting here and there though! :)
I've been working on a self portrait this last week, and this is the "progression":

I'm not completely finished with it , I still need to add some cool tones in the flesh, and finish a lot of the really detailed areas. I'm fairly happy with it so far though.
My grandparents visited our new apartment (see the messiness in the backround still...) yesterday, and it was a nice time. Hi grandma!! (she's my most avid blog reader)
They brought a desk over for me which is really perfect for our apartment. We have a fairly large living room, so I wanted to split it up into the couch/tv area, and a study area, now I've just got to find a place for my beloved green chair... I'll post pics of my lovely new desk when I get the study area organized. I've also been working on painting and decorating my studio this next week. Last but not least, my dad also started a blog, which can be found here.
I'm off to watch the Packers!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Kitties!

Prepare yourselves for extreme cuteness:



These are our new kittens, Bo Bo and Rascal. We adopted them last week from Tails, the humane society in Dekalb, and we couldn't be happier. They love to play and to cuddle, and yes, they are undeniably cute as well.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Waterlogged

This my friends is what the NIU campus looked like last Saturday when the river going through town flooded due to the immense amounts of rain we were having last week here in the midwest. There were a lot of homes flooded and only one bridge (which was already closed to one lane due to construction) that was still usable on Saturday.
I've also started some of my classes this week, and it is going pretty well considering that orientation was canceled due to the flooding. Also new this week are two new members to our family, Bo and Rascal, two little kittens that we fell in love with from the humane society. They are brother and sister, and they are adorable! I'm going to post some pics later this week, so prepare to be in awe of their cuteness. They have been extremely well behaved and super affectionate, so we really couldn't have asked for anything more.
Last but not least, I spun up some yarn last week from some beautiful merino/mohair roving that I had gotten when I had picked up my spinning wheel.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Married!

Here are some pics from our wedding this last week. It was a beautiful day and everything went wonderfully! We had the wedding in a little church in the countryside, and the weather was perfect. I even finished my dress with ample time before the wedding!
We had such a blast, and it was so nice to catch up with family and friends. We had music played by our friends Paul and Johnny, and our photographs (which are so wonderful!) were done by some family friends, the Roberts'. We couldn't have asked for a better time!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Greetings from Sycamore!

I took a quick picture of these two drawings before I packed them up for the move to show that I do still do some amount of drawing. I've been terrible this summer, but for the last few weeks I've been doing one drawing every two days just to start getting back into the groove for school.
I also scored my first treasury on Etsy this last week! It was fun to look through everyone's wonderful items to find the perfect ones for the blue and brown colored theme I chose.
Nate and I are spending our first night in Sycamore tonight after an exhausting two day move in humid, sunny, 90 degree weather. Luckily we had the help of Nate's family for the Oshkosh leg, and his family and my mom, sister and her boyfriend, for the Sycamore leg. It is nice to have one of our "big things" for the summer out of the way. Only 10 more days until the wedding! Yikes!
Wish us luck with our unpacking!