Check out this fantastic site www.papertoys.com. It’s a free site where you can download and print great paper patterns to cut out and color that turn into 3D toys for kids as well as adults who grew up loving building dioramas for school projects like I did.
The Thanksgiving selection is good for a full day of occupying the kids while the Turkey is in the oven and the result will be a great table centerpiece that they made themselves.
This is a site that really makes me love the internet for its ability to share creativity and good will which is in such short supply in this world.
Many of the patterns can be downloaded in black and white so each piece can be customized in color by the builder. I personally would have spent endless hours as a kid coloring and building these great models.
Check out the completed Castle.
The US Capital
Shakespeare Old Globe Theatre.
And of course lady liberty.
Let the kids go wild. It’s free to download and only cost you the price of a sheet of paper and a box of colored pencils.
I think this would make the perfect gift for your kids friends - print out a selection of these, throw in a box of pencils, a bottle of glue and you have a present that will give them hours of joy and entertainment. Enjoy!
You may have noticed my absence from the online world these past few months. I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff, much of it I am legally prohibited from talking about right now.
It seems that in this highly competitive world once you have earned some measure of success others may want what they perceive to be their portion of it. Over the last few months I’ve gotten a look into the not so pretty side of corporate litigation. The realization of what can happen to you in this world almost made me hang up my colored pencils and call it a day but my husband told me to not let what I am going through kill my creative spirit and I am taking his good advice to heart.
It will be many hard months of work and waiting ahead for what I am going through but I am in a better place now to deal with it now. In the meantime I am back and I will be forging ahead doing what I love – writing and illustrating my books that hopefully will help those in my industry do their jobs a little easier. I never got into writing to create some kind of empire or make a ton of money. Publishing; unless you are a celebrity or fiction guru, is certainly not a money maker. My goal was and still is to create a comprehensive set of reference books for the trade that will stand the test of time and provide a go to source for design inspiration. A staggering amount of work goes into creating my books and every drawing is a labor of love for me. I do this work out of a passion for design and my desire to share this passion with others like myself.
To those of you who have known about my situation and have supported me and given me such great and reassuring advice I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m sure I will need more of that before this is over. For now I am hard at work on my next two books. The Design Directory of Soft Furnishings Volumes I & II. I’ve been drawing slipcovers for a few months now and loving it. They are still in the black and white stage but soon they will get a pretty new coat of color.
I am going to try to get back into blogging regularly now. For some reason I was afraid to blog for awhile. I guess I really was in shock and didn’t know what to say. I was afraid of saying anything that could inflame my already tenuous situation and I was also spending 24 hour days researching my case. I have missed my blogging friends so much and the great interaction that we have and I hope that I haven’t let it go too long so that no one will read me anymore.
I hope we can reconnect and I’m looking forward to getting back into the blogging swing.
I am so pleased to be participating in this years event! It should be a day of fun, great information, new sources, fabulous vendors, and prizes!! Don’t miss it.
If you love modern art – particularly the street art variety – of which my husband is a huge fan, you must go see the new documentary (or perhaps a mockumentary) of Britain's most famous and elusive street artist Banksy.
The film chronicles the history of street arts emergence and eventual acceptance as “the real thing” through the video camera of an eccentric Frenchman who may or may not be a real person.
Exit Through The Gift Shop was a huge unexpected hit at the Sundance Film Festival and it is building a cult following in limited release across the US.
It gives a great insight into the artistic process while at the same time showing how commercial the world of art can be. It is a “do not miss” even if modern art isn’t your thing.
I’ve been missing in action here in blogland but I have a good excuse. I was working day and night to get ready for the official launch of The Jackie Von Tobel Collection, my new line of fabrics and pillows, at the Las Vegas World Market.
My collection will be available year round in the Postcards Home Showroom in building A suite 119. Craig and Donna the co-owners of the beautiful showroom have been absolutely wonderful and helped me get everything ready for the debut. Thanks guys!
We had a great launch party and I was thrilled to have some great friends, blogging buddies and fellow designers from all over the country attend.
We introduced some new patterns and colorways including the zebra stripe in coffee and the new Gypsy Flower in coffee.
Here are a few patterns in our cotton candy colorway.
I was floored to see Suzanne Kasler stroll into the showroom and had a nice chat with her. She is definitely one of my favorite designers and such a gracious lady.
Ronda Carmen and her husband made it to my launch party along with Brad Ford and the great gals from Editor at Large, Julia Noran and Sophie Donalson.
My friend and fellow blogger Tobi Fairley came by with her lovely mother.
I also had the pleasure of speaking on a panel discussion on New Media at market with Tobi, Brad, and Ronda. It was moderated by Julia Noran and Sophie Donalson of Editor at Large.
It was a fun panel with loads of tips on how to make social media work to promote and grow your business.
We had a great group in attendance and I had the opportunity to meet a reader of my blog and her sister, in town all the way from the Virgin Islands!
If you are in Las Vegas I hope you will stop by the fabulous World Market Center and visit my showroom. We’d love to see you!
I really have no good excuse. You can call it bloggers block – a summer slump – or real life takes over – whatever it was I just couldn’t get up the energy to blog. It’s been a crazy couple of months here and I am hoping to get back on track now before my poor blog evaporates into the universe.
I hope you are all having a fantastically fun summer. I have so many great things coming up and lots of info to share with you so I hope you’ll forgive my playing hooky for the past couple of months.
I’m so happy to be able to share that I have just signed a new contract with my fabulous publisher Gibbs Smith for two new books which will be part of my Design Directory series.
Can you guess what the first one will be about?
More to follow soon……………………………………………………………………………………….
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