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    Lemonade out of lemons or Hand made ain't perfect, y'all!

    When it comes to hand made, nobody's perfect, right? That's part of the beauty, that each piece is a little different than the last. I mean, we aren't robots or machines; we make things with love and intention.  And with that comes mistakes! In my 6+ years of printing, I have made so so so many mistakes during the process from dropping a brick on my light table (WHAT?!) to smudgy fingers ruining a perfect print.  

    But lemonade out of lemons, right?  I've printed less than perfect pieces of fabric that won't work for pillows but are too lovely to throw away that there must be SOME use for them. Enter bunting. The charming and whimsical party decor that doesn't need a party to make the day bright. This was a custom request from a lovely California customer and I think she might be on to something. So stay tuned for some of these fellas popping up in the shop; it will be the summer of bunting! 

     

     

     

    Earth Cadets DIY : Black and white striped roll down shades

    My new studio is full of windows, which is so amazing!  My previous basement studio had one tiny ground level glass block that faced another apartment and a window that looked into our enclosed stairwell. 2014 coming up vitamin D!

    The new studio windows face a courtyard and are covered with privacy decals allowing light in. But I have two giant widows that face the alley, and they are not covered so I was majorly lacking privacy at night. (The only back alley neighbor I met is a older man who reminds me of the next door neighbor in Home Alone - scraping shovel and all. While I am convinced we will some day be great friends, he will creep me out until then) 

    I went to pick up some of the Ikea Tupplur shades (which are $5 off until April 2). I chose the white 47" and knew I wanted to embellish them but didn't have a plan in mind. I am trying to keep the accents in the main part of the studio black and white because 1) it's classic and bold and 2) it goes with everything, so they will work great with all the crazy colors that will soon be splattering the floors and printing tables. 

    I highly recommend these shades as a blank canvas. They take latex paint and a roller well but also sharpies, so you could just write a love letter on these puppies and it would look amazing. 

    Here's how I did it myself: 

    Surface: It was really helpful to have my large printing tables to roll these out horizontally, but I think a dining room table would work. Also the shades I used were 47" and these come in a variety of sizes.

    Supplies:
    2 47" Tupplur shades, white
    Black rustoleum latex paint
    Painters tape 1.5" wide
    3" mini roller
    mini paint tray
    4 chisel tip black sharpies
    clear 6"w acrylic ruler  

    Project time: 6 hours for both shades 

     

    Step 1: 

    - Roll out shade on large surface. (make sure you place scrap paper or a tarp/sheet under shades if you don't want to get paint on your table)

    - With painters tape, measure 5" down from the top of the shade. This sets a guide to measure off the stripes. 

    - Based on how thick you want the stripes, mark off with a sharpie where you want the next stripe to be. I used a 6"w x 26" clear acrylic ruler and marked every 3" all the way down.  

     

     

    Step 2: 

    -  Place painters tape along the bottom of the sharpie line and make sure the tape is adhered to the shade. I rolled it flat using the tape roll to "iron" it down. 

       

     

    Step 3:  

    - Once all taped and ready to go, roll the paint, covering the shade. I applied two coats.  Pull tape off following second coat.
    - Let dry
    - When I pulled up the tape I noticed it was the edges were bumpy and a little smudged. It looks more organic and painterly with the raw edged stripes, but I am a bit of a freak for clean edges. So I followed up each stripe using a fat chisel tip black sharpie and the acrylic ruler and that cleaned up the edges perfectly! But you could go either way and it would take much less time if you are ok with the raw edge look. 

     

      

     

    Step 4: 

    Hang and admire :) 

     

    Number nine and feelin' fine!

    Woah! I just remembered that this weekend marks my NINTH (9!?!) year here in Chicago.  

    Thank you Chicago for your beautiful skyline, your Pequod's and Spaca Napoli pizza, your Lillstreet Art Center which taught me screen printing and the Damen bus that got me there (all the way from Division), your temp jobs including the day gig offer to play Captain Morgan (thanks LP), your theatre scene, the corporate job that lasted 6 years and taught me so much, The Needle Shop that taught me how to sew, your Renegade Craft Fair which inspired me to move forward, and all the lovely people I've met and the friends who live here despite the winter, but most importantly, thank you for your community who supports small hand made businesses. You are a city that inspired me to do what I love and provided me with the resources I needed. Thank you!



    Launching on Earth Day 2013

    Happy Earth Day, Cadets! I am so happy to finally launch the official earthcadets.com. Having worked in the e-commerce world prior to leaving my day job to pursue Earth Cadets full time, lack of web presence has been a huge weight on my shoulders. I felt like, this is what I used to do, I should be able to launch my own site, right?! Well, fast forward a year and half later and here we are! Yes, taking this on instead of hiring out sure delayed this effort, but how appropriate that were are able to launch on Earth Day! 

    I must give a shout out to my bf, DJ for his hard work in creating most of what you see here. Please take a look around the site and stay tuned for even more updates, enhancements and exclusive Earth Cadets' products.  I'd love to get your feedback.