Index card : first trial

You have seen many people are doing Index Card a Day project.
Index cards are not great paper to hold mixed media art work.
Index cards are small and budget friendly. So, i need to give a try.
My index cards are ruled ones. But, the opposite side is blank. Aha! I can do with that..So, my briglhty bright Crayola pip Squeaks washable markers get to work. ( FYI: I am not paid by them)

My lovely niece gave me a beaded necklace to upcycle. I used the beads to stitch around the card.

The drawing was inspired by the Rosebank Park, in the beginning of the spring. (Which was not mowed and full of wild blooms and green grass).
The card can withstand the stitching. The markers are great on it. Guess, I will try few more without being scared of ruining anything expensive.
Do work similar small scale projects?

Bindu Designs

Heart on a card: A simple mixed media project

 When I wake up in the morning, I felt pain on my shoulders. There is pain on my neck. It is hard to turn, it is hard to do stuff with hands. Today is a working out day too. Did I ever mentioned that I am a dental assistant? I want to work today and hope and hope to work whole day. ( Because, I need that money to buy my paper, paint, threads and ... you know the stuff?)

So, todays creative work is small. Actually I started it yesterday.
The heart is cut from denim. To keep the threads from fraying out, I used clear nail polish on the edges.
A white line of beads were stitched on the heart. 

I had this patterned paper book as a Christmas gift from last year. Cut a circle with scissors. (How I wish to have circle punches...)

The white blank card is from Michaels. (The store is far from where I live and I need my hubby  to  take me there. So going to Michaels is kind of a big treat)

I draw around the circle with crayola marker. I forgot to mention that I used some pink nail polish (Sally Hansen) on the heart to give that pinkish shade on the edges.  I loved making it. 
Guess, it needs a little more bling to give that finished look. 
May be I will play with it later tonight.

A quick greeting card

Just got an idea and had to test it out:

Thanks Card: How it is made 

The blank card is from Michaels I believe. 
Cut a circle from styrofoam tray. Punched holes with a steel crochet hook.
Went around the disc with embroidery floss. 
Draw with Sharpie marker
Glued on the card.
What went wrong


The drawing is more to the left of the disc. 
Could have used more color. The floss must be more thicker. 
I could have used yarn.

Bindu Designs

Another mixed media Work in Progress

When I started I was thinking of following my heart.
So, that is what I start with
I stitched on a piece of cloth. 
Added some acrylic paint on it.

Now, it is not going to be fast because, the paint need to dry. Then I need to add more pint and some other things. 
Embroidery kind of disappeared with paint. So added the dimensional fabric paint along the stitched letters. It is my handdrawn words. It is not the way I was thinking it going to be. So, the "following" needs more tweeking. After two hours gone by, I need to stop and get back to chores now.

I am in need of more colour... Flowers? leaved? Geometric shapes???? Or just leave it like that?????
What you think? I can't figure out now.

Bindu Designs

New page on Mixedmedia Art Journal

 My art journal is really an ordinary book. It has ruled pages too. 
That is the one I started experimenting with. It still has pages. 
My birthday was last week. I don't have great party or celebration for that. 
But, my daughter usually give gifts on my birthday. 
This year, I decided to make a page to remember about her gifts to me.

She gave me an origami swan. Inside it she wrote how I support her more than her friends. Wow! It was lovely!! 
She made a beaded necklace for the swan too. Along with it, she gave me chocolate with I love Mom on it. 
She know, I am a chocolate lover. 

I added little paint to the swan. The background with yellow, pink and orange is a piece of kitchen towel, I used to wipe my brush.
I made few multimedia background using facial tissue paper after viewing a video on youtube. It was shared on the G+. I will try to find the link again to put it here.

 The chocolate wrappers were beautiful. She bought it from GoDiva. Don't you love the polka dots?
My sweet girl knows mummy's likes. 
I used glue stick to glue them down. 
Now let us see the completed look:It is still drying only. You can see the cardboard I put beneath the page to protect my next page.

Bindu Designs

Emotion: a mixedimedia WIP

I started it yesterday. The image is not fully out from my mind yet. 
I have to work more on this one. 

 I have more plans for this one.
I will write about the materials used in another post. I am really working with recycled materials and on a low budget. Wish to get nice paints and few better brushes,,,, I dream about having mixed media paper too. 

Bindu Designs

Another step in exploring mixedmedia art

I started off today's multimedia art  project with watercolor paper. There is no particular reason to think of watercolor today.

 I wanted to sit and and complete one piece. That was all in the mind. As usual, started with watered down glue as the first layer. Then some water color paints, which my hubby gave me. Then all of a sudden, i have the urge to incorporate some fabric in the work.

I cut a piece of the above fabric. Actually, I torned it out. Then, I really wanted to add few embroidery strands on it. Nothing fancy, just straight stitches with a long needle...
Then glued the piece down to the paper. Added some patterned paper, paint, stamped flowers.. it is not visible that much though.
The pattern on the fabric is lovely. So, added some acrylic paint to highlight the yummy prints.

 I am kind of getting the satisfaction...

I want to leave it for now. It is going to hang on the wall, Ithink. A little more added to it...May be, but that is for the next week. 
I can't decide what to call it. "Feathers" or "My Dream".

What you like to call it?

Bindu Designs

Exploring Abstract

Since I am exploring the mixed media and painting to learn myself, I wanted to make something in my altered journal to practice it. 
Few days ago, I came across this site, Art Is Fun. The site is created by Thaneeya Mcardle.
If you are trying to learn by yourself, like me, then this is a good site. Many articles explain the method of doing art work. I decided to learn about Abstract.
Thaneeya provided her artwork and how she created it in one article. So, this one is inspired by Thaneeya.

 I began the project with Kelly Donovan's suggestions. So, used white glue diluted with water to prep the page. Then used acrylic paints on top of it. I dried each layer before adding the next layer.

 Once the page is prepped, I started playing with paint and brush.Kind of made some shapes, added few details. It is not great like the colorful work Thaneeya showed. Can I actually say this is inspired by her?
The left side page I used to dry the brush. I followed Kelly's advice and didn't want to waste paint. 

 The below one is the finished page in another angle. I am taking the courage to put it on the web.

What you think? Good, bad or ugly?

Bindu Designs

A simple Bangle Bracelet

I can't be sure of the next project. But, i really have 15 minutes to spare and itching to make something. So, this copper wire and beads bangle bracelet.

 How is it on my hand??? 
He he, I still can make jewelry.

Bindu Designs

A 3D wall Art DIY with a recycled box

I always look things which I can make myself. My talents are limited. I can crochet, I can make my own jewelry, and I can play with paints ( but, I cannot make a great painting or anything like that...)

The bog Once Upon a dream aka Craft a doodle doo has ton of ideas, which I can try with my limited budget.
On Nash's blog, I stumbled on this awesome 3D wall art idea.

She is very creative and crafty. I decided to copy her idea and to work on my project.
I was given an Elizabeth Arden gift box for Mother's Day. The box itself is very pretty. So, I kept the box to do something with it. But, didn't have an idea...
I do have a lot of crochet flowers from my Etsy days. Decided to use few of them. 
The markers and the patterned paper..few beads... some glue... (My Glue Gun needs more Glue sticks and I have to wait to purchase anything..Ya, too bad.. Oh, cmon.. I have some tacky glue which can stick the beads...So, I used that  liquid glue for this project)

 The project on my working table aka the foldable Ikea dining table.

I wrote the words using sharpies. (No, I am not paid by the Sharpie company). I used a red color pencil on top of the mesh onion bag to get the texture. The craft scissors gave the wavy cuts.  The words are separated by sticker bindi's I bought from India. 

The plants are hand drawn using markers. Some sticky 3d acrylic embellishments are prettying my plants. 

The butterfly is crocheted using a pattern from Crochet Today Mag, I believe. (FYI, they are not paying to put their name too).


Crochet flowers are my made with my ideas in the past.I glued the patterned paper with all my embellishments on the inside of the box.

 I am loving it. Thanks to Nash and Craft a Doodle Doo.
I put on the dressing table near to my jewelry.

I am still looking on my finished project and enjoying it. 
Do you like my Box art?

Bindu Designs

The Altered Book Art Journal

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The book is still getting more embellishments.
Remember this post? I covered it with cloth on the front cover.
Now I added a patterned paper on the back. Then Modpodged a handmade doily on it. 

I am going to keep this journal to explore and find myself. 
Since the front cover has a butterfly, I added a flower also. May be I will add some more to colour to it since the fabric is dark brown...
A little more color is not going to hurt... I think. I need to think about it. 
So for now, 

 I started the journaling with these...

Anyway, it is the beginning.... Now, one page at a time... I promise to keep recording everything in this blog too.

Bindu Designs

End of February

 Today is February 28. Two months in the new year...
Now it is easy to remember it is 2013.
The winter is almost over. February saw nice winter storms...Yesterday was supposed to be a stormy day. But, we got a lot of wet snow. Travelling by bus and walking was not easy yesterday.
today morning, I took few pictures

Now, the snow started melting a bit. 

February was not bad for me. Now I have 220 "likes" on Facebook page. 

My pictures are getting better, becasue, I am reading about product photography. February also made me think about goals and helped to set measurable goals. 

Now the shop has active 95 listings, which I am trying to improve.

So, what March is going to teach me? 

Bindu Designs

I was busily working on the shop and was experimenting with stitches and colors. It was also fun to connect with other sellers through online.
Made a few friends, and got few sales...
The new product added is keyboard dusters and dust mitts.

Then there is one more:

In the shop, they are listed as sets of one duster and one mitt. 

Bindu Designs

Trying to make both ends meet...

I am still adding more to the shop.
There are 160 items now.
The month is just slow still...
I said in the title, I am trying to make both ends meet. That is right. It is sad, the work is not paying off...
Just feel that I am a bit off balanced....
Hubby called from work place to tell me about the lay offs happening at their company. Then he told me bad news that  the remaining staff has to take a pay cut for next 3 months.
That is making me scared. Here I am trying to make my Etsy shop a success, depending on his income.
Now that is also going to be reduced.
Thinking of it, I am not sure where to cut the expenses, because, it is already been so tight and we are keeping the scare to ourselves.
So, if there is no more sales, I am not buying anymore raw materials for crafting.
Whatever comes to the store is going back to the store itself.
May be I will do more marketing and less making, may be..
I added this today though. That is making me glad.

The flowers are added with a button. Then I stitched the flowers to the cap to secure them enough. The white flowers of the green cap make it very adorable. 

That bracelet will sure go with the cap. Right now, there is one scarf also, in the shop, to make it a complete set.

Now, that is a great set. When i put all of them together, my mood is getting better.

So, to keep up with the things, I really need to have the positive thinking. When you look on nice things, the mental self depreciating talk will getting slower. 

Bindu Designs

Path to success on Etsy.

I got a custom order from Bethany lee of Projectwhitespace.com.
She is a great motivator for me.
Just finished that one. I still needed to list it.
There was a little draw back. I sent one item to Hawai. Even after one month, it didn't reach there. So, I had to send it again.
Now the packaging ideas are getting better. It is important that I sold one cap offline too. That is great achievement.

Yesterday I got a message asking about ordering 10 gift card holders like the ones below.

I send the details. But the buyer backed off today morning. It made me feel bad. That made me determined to create more of those similar bags. I am going to stock up the cotton thread I used for these. So, when some one comes up with a big order, I don't have to think twice. 

The problem is storing the inventory.

I needed to get more space. Is that going to happen? 

Bindu Designs

Path to Success on Etsy

I was having a BIG headache yesterday. It still continues today too. But, I am working on a new infinity scarf It is a very soft grey. One of the Crochet teams on Etsy mentioned Grey being the favorite crochet color.
The yarn is very soft to touch. That is why I bought it. To give the scarf some personality, I think, I needed to add a bit of color.
Getting back links to the store is very critical for the success of online shop. So, I got this advice to add links to the shop on my blog.
In a way to help my fellow Etsy sellers, i will be adding some interviews on Bindu Blogs too. the fist is with the shop, A Word Fitly spoken.
I made a new treasury yesterday though. The clicking team gave it a lot of clicking. I tweeted and Facebooked it. So the Brown treasury got a lot of views.

Bindu Designs

Path to success on Etsy

The weekend was dedicated for family and not for Etsy. So, the not so busy evening was dedicated to create this beautiful treasy named as  "A Sea Of Blue Scarves" . Send messages for the list owners to let them know about this great treasury. I am so glad I made this very inspirational blue scarves. The blue Infinity scarf by Bindu Designs is also added to the collection.

That is the main thing done for making the shop success today.

Bindu Designs

Path to Success On Etsy

Bindu Designs on Etsy got a lot of views yesterday. The number of crocheted infinity scarves are increasing.
The teams are giving a few views. But they did not turn into sales. Since October is slow any way, I am  more concentrating on the holiday season.
Now I have 132 items on the shop.   Still I am thinking of working on the Etsy tags. They changed the browse page. so, there are many categories to consider now.
Many are talking about SEO. But, no one really know how to tackle that. I guess, the browse pages are letting me get some views now. Anyway, I wasn't selling that much before. Then why complain now.

The only thing that bothers me is I am not showing up in any of the local searches. May be Etsy think that I am not living in Toronto. They said about a map on the profile. But I haven't seen any map to mark my location on the Etsy profile.

For today, I made few crocheted caps which are to be added on BinduDesigns. The day is not bright. so taking a nice photo is not an option now.
The infinity scarf added yesterday is below.

It is made in Grey acrylic yarn. 

Bindu Designs

Path to success on Etsy

I was looking on the Etsy website. In the forums they suggest to shop local. I tried to find my crocheted items on local search. I tried crocheted skinny infinity scarf. But, Any scarf from Bindu Designs came up on Etsy local.
Since they changed the browse categories, many are complaining about not getting enough views. But, they were getting a lot of views before.
What I can't figure out is they found a way to get those views before. Now, Etsy changed tactics and some others are coming up.
I guess, my crocheted scrunchie is getting more views now, even though it is not getting sold.
Things are better than before for Bindu Designs, because I think, I am got 3 sales on October itself. Also, I am showing up more on the teams. People actually stated to respond to my questions and suggestions there. Also, the discussions in other forums are also getting noticed.
Today, I shopped for more inventory. Many online discussions are pinting out the importance of having business cards. I haven't yet made them. Still kind of thinking how and where to make them. I can save on shipping by doing it local. Making few cards by hand is also an idea. It is very cost effective too. My time and efforts are better than spending money in this initial stage. The cards are needed only when a sale occurs. The handmade thank you cards are really fine now.
131 items are there in the shop. Sales are the important things. Once I start making some money there, I can start investing in business cards and things like that. Right now, just keep adding more and keep the inventory growing. It is a lot of work.

Bindu Designs

Path to success on Etsy

I created a new banner for the shop. When I say weekend, you may think a regular weekend. My weekend is usually only Sunday. The Sunday should usually be devoted for the chores of the home. Then some running around for shopping... It will finish soon and I will be like, ya, it is ove... where the time gone?

But, this weekend, somehow, I got about an hour to play with things and was able to make a banner.
I didn't made any interesting things other than that.
The day was cloudy. So taking pictures of the finished scarves for the shop was not an option.

When I checked today, I won the treasury challenge by EtsyBitsy team. That sounds good.
Then, My hair tie was featured on another treasury.
But, I haven't got a sale yet. Hopefully, I will get one soon... since several items got expired on the shop, I needed to renew few items to keep the numbers higher. If I will be listing the last two infinity scarves as well, then I should have 119 items for sure.
Still a lot more to make to reach 200.

Bindu Designs