Thursday, November 22, 2012

Black Friday Sale + Giveaway!

Get a headstart on your holiday shopping by checking out our Website or Etsy shop for spectacular deals starting on Wednesday 11/21/12 and continuing through Cyber Monday 11/26/12.

Save 30% off your entire purchase with coupon code "BLACKFRIDAY".

Website: www.diaperbagwrangler.com

Etsy Shop: www.diaperbagwrangler.etsy.com

We always offer free standard shipping for US Addresses. 30% off "BLACKFRIDAY" coupon is valid at both diaperbagwrangler.com and the Diaper Bag Wrangler Etsy Shop.




One lucky winner can scratch some gifts off their holiday shopping list when they win ONE OF EVERYTHING in their choice of fabric! We're giving away 1 each of our Snap To It! Apron, Little Kids Apron, Link Loop Diaper Bag, Zippered Wet Bag, Mini Wet Bag and Tie-back Headband. Enter between Wednesday 11/21/12 through Monday 11/26/12.

Or enter HERE:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

New Fabrics! Women's Snap to It! Aprons

We have added 6 new fabrics to our apron collections!  To view them at our website, just click on the images below, or visit www.diaperbagwrangler.com!

Our Women's Snap To It! Aprons, can be worn 4 ways- with or without the towel as a full apron or fold over the top part and wear as a half apron. We also matching Little Kids Aprons for ages 2-6, which makes a great "mommy and me" apron set.

   
 






Friday, November 2, 2012

Mumford & Sons "I Will Wait"

This is my absolute most favorite song right now. Mumfords performance on SNL a few weeks ago was simply amazing. It's rare that a live performance comes off so good, but this is just pristine.


Thursday, November 1, 2012

Refrigerator Vinyl Makeover {using my Silhouette Cameo}

  


My fridge was in need of a vinyl re-do. I had a huge vinyl flower scroll on the left side for the past few years and decided it was time for something new.

Inspiration: the "Moroccan Print" background that came with my Silhouette Cameo.

I also wanted to add some "function" since the doors on our stainless steel fridge are not magnetic. Pick Your Plum had a daily deal for dry erase vinyl, so I purchased some of that to incorporate with my Morocccan design.

First: a little math needed to be done to calculate how many shapes across and down I could fit on each of the french doors. I also figured in the width of my vinyl material to have the least amount of waste. I enlarged the .svg file in Silhouette Studio to be the right size and manipulated the spacing a tiny bit so I could then weld the shapes together. Once I had my basic design, the Cameo cutting began. I decided to weed the larger solid shapes of the cut vinyl so I could  use them for another project.  Then I just eyeballed the placement for the first section and puzzle pieced everything from there.  I did try to reuse my transfer paper as much as possible to reduce waste.


Once the left side was done I took a little break...for like 3 months. Then Hurricane Sandy came, and we were all stuck in the house so I decided to finish my refrigerator project. Since the left side was complete I use that to figure out where my vinyl dry erase sheets would be placed on the right side. The dry erase sheets were about the size of 3 across and 2 high of the Moroccan design. Here's how I made the larger dry erase shapes (and I'm sure there's a few different ways of doing this):

Step 1: Release paths

Step 2: Separate outer line from interior design, delete interior 



Step 3: Use the "edit points" icon and delete all points between the apex(es?) on each side.

Step 4: You will have this shape which retains the corner design


Then all I had to do was cut out the dry erase vinyl and continue applying all the vinyl shapes for the right side. After I was done I added our names in to each dry erase sheet.






Friday, October 19, 2012

A Love Affair with Letterpress and Screenprint

I think I'm in love.

But let me start at the beginning. 

In college, I was all about letterpress. We had an amazing letterpress studio at The University of Kansas. I even did my Independent Study courses in Letterpress. It's so romantic, and rustic and tangible. There's just something about creating a lino cut block from scratch, or setting your own type with the heavy lead. I wasn't really cut out for the slick computer graphic design coursework, using Photoshop and Illustrator. I felt much more at home creating things with texture and imperfections.

Here is a letterpress video filmed on site at the University of Kansas featuring my wonderful professor.



But when I graduated, I knew that I'd be leaving my love of letterpress behind in Kansas. It's not like a Heidelberg Press fits easily in an apartment. So time went by, and occasionally I'd make lino cut blocks, or do little printmaking projects, but nothing really extensive.

I have been waxing and waning for a few years about learning screenprinting. I had never tried it before, and was slightly intimidated by the whole emulsion process, equipment, mess, and space required. A little while ago I felt like it was time to try some new techniques. I started out making vinyl stencils with my Silhouette Cameo and doing a "paint on screenprint" technique. I was fairly happy with the results. Then I moved onto using vinyl stencils and bleach to create a batik/tye dye effect. My confidence was growing. I felt that my Silhouette Cameo could ease the process of learning to screen print. I knew that I could make a vinyl stencil and adhere it to a silk screen frame. So I started gathering supplies, and somehow decided it was going to be "a good idea" to make my own silk screen frames using Speedball fabric and unfinished wood frames. (It actually ended up working very well.) Once my stencil designs were finalized, I cut them out using my Cameo, adhered them to the bottom of my frames, taped them up and waited a few days. Then I had another grand idea- to mix my own "custom paint colors". Yep - I'm an artist - always taking the long road.

So this week my kitchen became a full blown screenprint studio. Squeegees everywhere, spatulas on the countertops, newspaper covering the tables...the whole deal. My "plan A" was to screenprint on my patterned fabric. Bad idea. The fabric was too dark and the ink not quite opaque enough. So I moved to "plan B" (aka Mike's Idea) which was to screen print on knit jersey and make an applique. FAIL! Finally "plan C" was to modify my typical bag design to use a solid color fabric on the front, with the pattern fabric incorporated. SUCCESS!



I had the same magical feeling while screenprinting in my kitchen as I did in my college letterpress class. The one where I'd ink the platen, roll the cylinder over the set type and my design would appear crisp and glossy. All those years later, and it still felt the same. The tiny imperfections, the mistakes of not inking enough, the trial and error. Those are things you don't get to experience if you rely on a computer for all your design work.

And the finished product : Amazing. I could not be more thrilled. It's true- I am in love.


Robot Argyle Zippered Wet Bag ($18) available HERE.

Robot Argyle Link Loop Diaper Bag ($16) available HERE.