Category: Handmade Art with Heart

Home made art.

2010 Gifting: Modern Portraits

Published on by Our Humble Abode6 Comments

Are you still looking for that perfect, custom gift?  Maybe you have a really picky person or someone who has everything.  I’m pretty sure even the pickiest person would love to have a custom art piece.  Am I right?  Well, we’re just introduced our modern black and white portrait line, custom-made from your photos. 

To get one for yourself or to gift, simply send a few of your favorite photos to ourhumbleabowed@gmail.com.  Please send photos in the highest quality possible. 

Your photo will go from this:

Runny nose optional.  With a little artistic editing, your plain photo will magically be transformed to this:

Want to see that again?  Okay, here’s the original, straight from the camera shot:

And here’s a custom, one of a kind art print.

If you would like to place an order, please head over to our Etsy shop.  For a limited time only, we’re having a buy one modern portrait print, get the same for only $15.00.  Your modern portrait doesn’t have to be a print, how about stationery instead?  Become a fan of Our Humble A{Bowe}d on Facebook (and tell us before checkout) to receive 10% off your order, too!

Here are a few other gift ideas we love: DIY Silhouette Art, Holiday Gift Sets, and a 2011 Calendar.

2010 Gifting: Silhouette Art

Published on by Our Humble Abode6 Comments

Raise your hands if you love silhouettes as much as I do.  No, I’m not talking about the Silhouette cutting machine; I don’t have one, but would love to.  Personalized art and silhouettes are great, heartfelt gifts for parents,  grandparents, friends and family members. 

If you like the idea and look, but don’t know how to make one, read carefully, I’m giving you a step by step tutorial.

First, prevent your small child from moving all over.  Use food as a distraction to get a clear, complete profile picture, such as this:

Then, open said photo in Photoshop or another editing program.  Closely crop the photo around your subject and resize the photo to fit your frame. 

In Photoshop, add a new layer and name it Silhouette.  Select the pencil or paintbrush and set the size to 5 pixels.  Carefully outline the profile. 

Here’s a tip:  To get a nice, clean outline, hold the Shift button down and click closely in rounded areas.  This will prevent your cursor from going crazy, following your very unsteady hand.  If you don’t have an option to outline the profile, simply print the photo to the right size and skip to the cutting.

Once you’ve outlined your subject, click on the background photo again.  Add a new layer and fill with white, or simply hide the photo and print on normal printer paper.

Carefully cut the silhouette out, keeping as close to the lines as possible. 

Then, place the cut silhouette on your final cardstock, facing the opposite direction you want the final design to be.  With a pencil, trace on the back of the black (or whatever color cardstock you want).  Carefully cut out again, rounding the bottom. 

You now have a custom silhouette, ready to adhere to a background cardstock and pop in a frame.  Or, you could skip the second round of cutting and trace the silhouette on a painted 8 inch by 10 inch canvas and carefully fill in the silhouette with paint.  For Mother’s Day, my two sisters and I make 6 8 inch by 10 inch canvas silhouettes with one profile each of us girls, Ben, Vincent and Everett.  My mom loved them.

If you don’t have the time or tools to make your own silhouettes, send us your profile pictures and for only $5.00 we’ll make a digital cut out design for you.  For more personalized gift ideas, visit our Etsy shop or e-mail us at ourhumbleabowed@gmail.com to discuss your options.

Holiday Gift Sets Now Avaliable

Published on by Our Humble Abode2 Comments

Happy holidays!  We’ve made gift giving simple over at Our Humble A{Bowe}d by adding a print and stationery set to our shop.  Now, you can purchase your favorite print and coordinating set of stationery for a friend, family member or yourself. 

Choose your favorite print from our shop selection and we’ll customize it, which is always free of charge, and we’ll alter the print to a stationery card size. 

If a custom art piece doesn’t fit your need, (I don’t know how it couldn’t) here are a few items I think would make great gifts.  Recently, I discovered Uncommon Goods.  It’s a great online shop with unique gift ideas such as a Grandfather Clock Slice.  I love the modern take on such a classic. 

Or this cute Eye Clock for a child’s room.  So adorable! 

I really love this Chalkboard Vase, too, though I think a DIY version could be equally great.

Uncommon Goods also has a series of beautiful hand embroidered state pillows.

Seeing anything that tickled your fancy?  What is the best or worst gift you’ve received and why?  I love giving and receiving hand made or personalized items rather than big box store things.  It’s much more meaningful and shows you’ve put some thought into the gift.

A Flock of Cranes

Published on by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

You all know I’m crazy, right?  Well, I am.  I spend a lot of time on little projects because I’m too detail oriented.  I see the trees and Ben sees the forest, so we’re a great team.  Sometimes, I care way too much about the trees, though.  So, I take on little, time-consuming projects like this origami crane shadow box that is currently on the recently refinished bookshelf.

A side note:  If you like the alphabet painting, you can buy print versions for $15.00 in my Etsy shop. 

Back to the topic.  To create a flock of seagulls paper cranes, first cut thin paper into 1 inch squares.  I used light weight scrapbook paper, but you can use anything that will fold well.  Use an origami crane tutorial like this one, to learn how to fold the cranes.  If you don’t know how to make an origami crane, you may want to practice by making several larger cranes before you go onto small cranes. 

Create 25 small paper cranes in the colors of your choice.

Cut a piece of cardstock to fit in your shadow box.  My frame is from IKEA, but I can’t find it on their website.  It measures about 6 inches square.  Using another sheet of paper, draw the spacing of your grid.  Then, use a thumb tack to poke small holes at the intersection of your lines.  Place this template on top of your cardstock and draw a dot inside each poked hole. 

To keep the cranes flat against the paper, I cut off the back wing.  Use small pieces of foam adhesive to attach each crane to the cardstock, centering over the dot.  I think it would look really cool to create a grouping of cranes as if they were flying, too.  Attach all cranes and place in your frame.

See what  I mean about being crazy?  To add to the crazy, I even made a 1/2 inch paper crane.  Notice the little blue one?  Yep, I might be committed soon. 

If you like the look, but don’t want to make the cranes, you can buy some from this lovely Etsy seller.  Speaking of Etsy sellers, Thrifty Little Blog is hosting a handmade gift giveaway, including one of my prints, so check it out. 

What is the craziest, most time-consuming project you’ve tackled?  Am I alone in this?  I can’t be.  Please make me feel a little normal.

Guest Judge and New Prints!

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

Guess who’s gonna guest judge on American Idol? Not me, but I am the guest judge and sponsor this week at the CSI Project! I’m so excited, too! I’m ready to pick out my favorite bathrooms. If you haven’t already, head on over and enter your beautiful bathrooms and you’re entered for a chance to win a 2011 Our Humble A{Bowe}d calendar and 8 inch by 10 inch print of your choice.

Speaking of prints, I’ve added two holiday and winter inspired prints to my Etsy shop.

Merry Christmas Tree:

Weather Outside:

As always, both prints are customizable with your favorite colors.  We’re now offering 5 by 7 inch prints for just $10.00!  So, please take a minute to stop by the CSI Project to enter your bathroom and check out our newest prints!