Personalized Name Signs

I'm very excited about my newest product! It's one I've been wanting to add to my shop for quite some time now and I'm so glad I finally got it listed!

NOW AVAILABLE: CUSTOM NAME SIGNS!!!

Our theme for the Blogging Business Artisans team challenge this month was to use a new medium or try a new technique. Nancy of N. Fallon Design Studio is our host and I love her theme (inspired by Deb of Story Beader)! My new signs use both a new medium and new technique!

The signs are made of MDF board, which is a new material for me. I use red alder wood in most of my work with a little bamboo and maple, but the MDF is completely new to me! And the technique of using two colors is also new! I love how striking the black and white look together! I'm inspired to try signs with more than 2 colors now as well! How cool would a pop of pink look on here!!!

I got these signs listed in my shop last night! I hope they'll do well with the upcoming holiday season! I sold one at my show last weekend, so I'm off to a good start :)

Guest Books Keep Growing

I've slowly been adding more Larger Guest Books to my shop lately. I've gotten quite a few requests for the larger books in different designs. Each time I make a new style, I make sure to photograph it to get it added to my shop.

 My most recent additions are below

Large Peacock Design

Double Heart Design

Engraved Photo Design

I still have a couple more to get added and as always will take requests for new designs :)

Baby Shower Guest Book

I've been making Wedding Guest Books for a while now and love coming up with new cover designs and I love taking requests for special pages on the inside. My mind hadn't even considered to offer other styles of guest books!

Thanks to my customers (again!) I have another new listing in my shop! It's a Woodland Baby Shower Guest Book! I had this design offered as a photo album and got the request to make it into a guest book.

Now my brain is busy thinking of other designs for baby showers as well as other events guest books can be used for!

Have I mentioned how much I love my customers :)

Wordless Wednesday - Cutest Custom Award

Yup, this one gets the award for cutest custom request for an invitation yet!

Extra Special

I love when customers have special requests for their items that will make the finished product extra special :) As most of you already know, I love custom requests and when the request adds something to the item that will make it truly one-of-a-kind, it makes me giddy :)

I recently made 11 custom photo albums for a bride and groom to give their wedding party. They requested that I add Bridesmaid, Maid of Honor, Best Man and Groomsman to the outside of the albums along with the info that I normally add of the couple's names and wedding date.

But that wasn't the most special part about the books. The special part came when the bride asked if I could add her father's handwriting to the inside of her sisters' books. Their father had passed away a few years ago and she had a card that he had signed and wanted it added to the books.

 I was happy to oblige and I love how the books turned out. These books just became ten times more special with the addition of their father's writing added to their books. It is the first thing they will see each time they open the books :)

Cutest Invitations EVER

I got the opportunity to create the cutest invitations EVER last week!

Little Noah will turn one in November and his mommy wanted special invitations for his birthday party. Of course Noah will have a Noah's Ark themed party :) His mommy requested invitations cut in the shape of an ark...how cool!

These turned out SO cute! The funnest invitations I've made to date!

Noah's mommy and daddy are buying him an ark toy chest for his birthday and wanted helping filling it with animals. So they are requesting that each guest bring a specific animal. They were going to include a picture of sticker of the animal, but I suggested engraving a picture of the animal on the invitation and they loved it! Each invitation will have a different animal on it.

This got my mind thinking of other shapes I could cut out instead of just rectangles. Now my mind is thinking of states/countries for destination weddings, a tree for wedding invitations, and how about those Mason Jar Invitations I made...why not cut those out as well! Oh what fun!!!

Wood Wedding Invitations - New Designs

I'm so excited to be expanding my Wood Wedding Invitation line! If you read my blog on Tuesday, you saw I've already added a new Destination Wedding Invitation thanks to the BBArtisans Challenge.

I've also been inspired lately by lots of custom requests! (Have I mentioned how much I love my customers!) I don't mind creating free digital samples when people request them because they always inspire me and give me new ideas I may have never thought of!

Take this Mason Jar Invitation for example. I had seen traditional paper invitations cut into mason jars, but hadn't thought to incorporate these into my wood invitations until I got the request. What a fun idea! And the cute little dragonfly adds just the right extra touch :)

I also got a request for some different heart designs. I have used This Design for guest books and thought it would make a cute invitation as well! I'll have another floating heart design in the future as well when I get all the details worked out with the bride and groom. I figured I'd wait to engrave that one until I create their final sample.

This floral butterfly design is another design I use for guest books. I recently got a request to create an invitation to match the guest book. I love how it turned out! (Will be listed yet this week.)

And more butterflies! This was another custom design request. I'm still working out the details with the bride on this one, but wanted to go ahead and get a sample engraved. I love how the butterflies are floating across the invitation :) (Will be listed yet this week as well.)

 What do you think of the new designs? Have any fun ideas for me to make next?

Engraved Gun Stock

The title of this post should actually read: How to fit a 31" gun stock in a 12"x18" laser...LOL :)

I had a man contact me on Etsy recently wanting a gun stock engraved. This is something I'd wanted to try for a while, but hadn't had a chance yet, so I was excited to give it a try. When he told me it was 31" long, I wasn't quite sure how that was going to work in my laser! But I told him to go ahead and send it and I'd work my magic :)

There is a front door the opens for cleaning. I found out how to bypass the latches so the machine would run with the door open. I made a stand with pieces of scrap wood to level out the stock. I manually focused the laser and viola!

The laser has a little red light pointer that you can turn off and on. I ran the machine with just the red light and the laser beam turned off to get an idea of my alignment. I wish the image would have been bigger, but I was worried about it being too big and not fitting inside the carved out area. So I'll take small over big :)

 

Not too bad for my first attempt! And the owner of this gun stock is part of a gun club! There might just be more gun stocks in my laser's future :)

May The Force Be With You

I think I may have made my most unique wedding photo album yet :)

My aunt is going to a wedding this weekend and the couple is very into Star Wars. Their wedding invitation had an unusual font and star wars graphics. My aunt thought it would be fun to have me create a wooden photo album to match.

And fun it was! I was able to find the exact font they had used on their invitation and the Star Wars graphic as well!

I can't wait for the couple to receive their photo album! It will be the most unique gift they receive :)

Scouts Honor

As many of my readers know, custom work is my absolute favorite! I love working closely with my customers to come up with an idea that is unique and special.

I had the pleasure of making two special albums recently for two very special Boy Scouts!

The Eagle Scout honor is the top honor for Boy Scouts and these two brothers both received this great honor!

Their aunt wanted to get them something special to remember their honor with. She loved the wood albums and together we came up with two different designs for the boys' books.

The wood and kraft cardstock worked perfectly for these outdoorsy, rustic books...perfect for Boy Scouts!

New Wooden Wedding Invitations

I am having so much fun adding new wedding items to my Etsy Shop! I still have so many ideas that I haven't even touched! My most recent addition is my Wooden Wedding Invitations.

I made the first ones to match some of my most popular guest books. This carved tree design is my most popular, so I listed it first in hopes that it will be as successful as the guest books have been.

I also made this peacock design and will get it listed this week as well.

Any of my guest book designs can be converted into an invitation design! And custom requests are always welcome :) If these do as well as my guest books have, I'll be adding several more wooden invitations to my shop!!!

New Ideas...They Just Keep Coming

I just can't keep my brain from working over time! I've had a pretty nasty cold this week, but my brain refused to stop working...a good problem to have I guess :)

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I've come up with two more new ideas for my Etsy Shop that I just love! As I talked about on Monday, looking at our own shops can be the best place to find inspiration! Expand on existing lines and come up with new ideas :)

This Recipe Book uses the same concept as my guest books, but it has cute little kraft-colored recipe cards inside :) And of course, it can be personalized upon request!

I've also been working on a line of engraved baby photo albums as well. This Woodland Baby Album is next in the series! I love the woodland theme on the wood cover...how perfect!

I'm sure I'll be back soon with more ideas for you to see :) This brain of mine just keeps on tickin'!

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Have you been expanding on any current lines in your shop or creating any new projects? Tell me about them in the comments :)

GO BIG!

I'm so exited to now offer a BIG Carved Tree Guest Book in my Etsy Shop!

And even better...I've already sold two of these larger style albums!

I got this idea from my Custom Name Albums. I used to only offer these in a 4"x12" size. I then got a request to make a custom album to fit 4x6 photos. Along came my 6.5"x12" albums. And later my 11.5"x12" albums as well. Offering a variety of sizes gives your customers options to fit their needs.

This also reminds us that we don't have to reinvent the wheel. If you're wanting to add new items to your shop and you're stuck on what to add next, look to your current products for inspiration. Do you have an item that sells well...expand on that idea by offering different sizes, colors or other options.

I'll be adding larger style guest books of my other designs down the road as well!

Bottle Stoppers are IN

Listed HERE

I'm so excited to get my new Wine Bottle Stoppers listed in my Etsy Shop! My Optic Crystal Bottle Stoppers have done very well and I think these wood stoppers will make a nice addition to the shop.

Listed HERE

The best part...the price! These are a nice alternative to the optic crystal stoppers since they are about 1/2 the price! They're fun to have around and make the perfect gift...or a whole gift set!

And what I really like...they would make aweso me Wedding Favors! As most of you know, I've been adding more and more items to my shop for weddings. I think these would make the perfect personalized favors :)

I've added a couple already and look for the others to be listed in the next couple of days. If you see one that you'd like that's not listed, just let me know :)

Bringing Artwork to Life

I was recently asked by one of my mom's coworkers to see if I could turn her son's artwork into an engraving. He is a very talented artist and my mom had told her about my work. They both thought it would be fun to show the boy that he can make his artwork come to life :)

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My mom emailed me three pieces of his artwork with instructions as to how he would like it engraved.

The first piece he wanted etched on glass.

The next he wanted engraved on wood.

And the last one he wanted made into a pendant with parts engraved and parts cut away.

It was fun seeing his drawings come to life with each piece! I hope this shows him that his artwork is special and keep his creativity flowing :)