DIY Classes Coming Up Soon!

Hey there-I have a couple of fun DIY classes coming up soon that you may be interested in. The first one is going to be held at West Elm on the Country Club Plaza in KCMO on Sat May 30. I'll be teaching you how to stitch a KC pillow with my kit and then after the class, I'll put a pillow back on for you and ship it back to you. Pretty sweet huh? You don't even have to mess with sewing anything but the fun part--the front of the pillow. Cost of the class is $38.00 ($24 for the pillow kit and $14 for class/pillow back/shipping)

Questions? Just email me for more info or call 816-960-3765 to sign up.

I'll also be teaching a 45 minute DIY wire ornament class at the June Just For Her Event  on Sun June 14 from 2:30-3:00 at the Overland Park Convention Center. Cost of the class is $20.00. The show runs from Fri June 12-Sun June 14. Click on link above for more info or to sign up for this or several other classes.

West Elm Pop Up Shop

If you're in or near the KC area tomorrow, I hope you'll stop by West Elm on the Plaza and say hi! I'll be doing a pop up shop from 11:00-5:00 and a wire and stitch class from 10:00-11:00. Hope to see you all there!

Scoutmob!

I've admired the makers on the Scoutmob website for awhile now so am really thrilled to announce that I'm now one of those makers! My Brooklyn Bridge pillow kit was even featured on their "New In Shoppe" email today. They're a great resource for really different and unique merchandise. Here's a link to my Scoutmob Shoppe: http://bit.ly/1yx6CK7

The Famous Bridge Series

Last week I posted the work from many Brooklyn artists celebrating the 130th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge so today I thought it would be fitting to show my take on that famous bridge, along with 4 other very famous bridges that I have always loved. This collection started with a wire sculpture (as many of my collections do) and then it kept growing and GROWING to include DIY embroidery poster kits (which I'm proud to say will soon be on the Uncommon Goods website!), pillow kits, notepads, embossed postcards, posters, and tea towels. Click on the links here to go to my Etsy shop or here for my website to purchase any of these products below.

       Brooklyn Bridge wire plate sculpture

Famous Bridges-DIY Embroidered Poster kits sold individually

Included in the DIY embroidery poster kit are 2 skeins thread, needle and 

simple instructions

Detail of fully stitched poster cut out like a paper plate

                                           

Famous Bridges Pillow Kits

Each pillow kit comes with 2 skeins thread, needle, and easy instructions

4" x 6" notepads

Famous Bridges embossed postcard set of 10

Brooklyn Bridge embossed poster

Famous Bridges tea towel

Reinventing The State Plate

I've always loved state plates and have collected them over the years. When I was into doing ceramics and mosaics I would incorporate some state memorabilia into my pieces alongside my homemade tiles.  When I decided to launch my own line of products last year, I knew that I wanted some DIY component in some of my products, both because I love to see something textural or hand made and also because I wanted to create something that was a collaboration with my customer--something that they could interact with and add their own creativity to. So when I was asked to do a piece of artwork that had to do with the Missouri River last year for KC non-profit Bridging The Gap, I decided the state plate was the perfect place to start. I purchased plates from all the states that the Missouri River runs through and filled in the gaps (or "bridged" the gaps...hahaha) with shards from my handmade tiles.
When I was working on this project, I got the inspiration to reinterpret the traditional state plate in my own illustration style for a new customer, someone who may love the ceramic versions but also want a more graphic approach with a crafty angle for those who (like me) like to embroider and hand stitch. And that's how and why the Stitchable State Plate kit was born. I have started with the 6 most populous states-California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania-but am working my way through all 50 so if you don't see your state, please email me to see when it will be done or leave a message on my FB page too. These kits are $20.00 in my shop online here and they come with 2 skeins of thread, a needle, an 11"x14" poster with stitch lines to follow and simple instructions. If you're not into embroidery, I also offer fine art prints of each of these state plate posters here. In addition, I've made embossed postcard sets for each of the 6 states that are also for sale in my shop here. The dark areas in the design are covered with a cool emboss technique that adds that little something extra to the trad postcard. They are $11.50 for a boxed set of 10 postcards.

Graphique de France Calendar and Pillow

I was shopping the other day at Office Max when I spotted the calendar that I did for Graphique de France in their lineup! So exciting to see the calendar finally in print! And it was perfect timing too because I just finished sewing a pillow that I made with one of my DIY chalkboard art panels from that calendar. Here's how it turned out. Next up I'm going to be putting DIY fabric panels for my faux taxidermy pieces in my Etsy shop so stay tuned. Just click on the photo of the pillow to learn more or purchase this fabric panel.

Stitched-Wire, Thread and Fabric Illustrations

I've had these pieces for awhile now--in fact, they were in my booth at Surtex this past May but I am only now getting them up in my shop for sale...better late than never! I so love creating art that is digital but then becomes something tactile and real, something you can hold in your hand or run your fingers across. That's why I had these illustrations of both my Big Wig women and dogs made into fabric by Spoonflower and then stitched into them with embroidery floss to add that little something extra. I made the wire frames that surround the women's portraits as well to add another layer of texture.
Since I feel that this group is a bit different stylistically from my other wire n stitch pieces, I've created another Etsy shop just for this work.  Just click on either of my shop names below to get to the respective shops. The names of my two shops are: wirenstitch and shoptammysmith.

                                                      "She Built Things Up In Her Mind"

   "Ideas Were Flying Through Her Head" 

    "She Played Her Cards Right"