Last Weekend Before School Starts: Crocheted Stash Basket

My school started this week. Last week was the only week of holiday i had this summer and i was so lazy, i couldn't do anything. On saturday i realized that school starts in two days and i haven't done so many things i wanted to do during summer. So i got out my hook and my yarns and started crocheting.

I got so into it that i've finished this stash basket in one day. To make it i followed a tutorial from the Purl Bee blog. I really like the blog, it is full of knitting, crocheting and other craft ideas and there are lots of tutorials that are really nice and clear. Now i have this pretty basket that is holding my yarns nicely.

More "Last Weekend Before School" projects are coming up later!

New lens

I finally got myself a new lens. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8! I used a kit lens before and i was quite unhappy with it, but i could not afford anything more than that. I am still happy i bought the camera anyway and didn't wait to have enough money for both camera and a lens. I've learnt a lot even with a kit lens. Now i finally got some money for quite cheap but a really nice and sweet 50mm. The day i got it i couldn't stop taking pictures and being happy for the nice bokeh and colors.

Mitya's mom had her birthday party the same day my lens arrived. I've spent the whole party taking pictures of the things around the house.

I'm really happy with the lens, it is exactly what i expected it to be: small, light and giving good results.

And guess what? I am getting another one soon!

Another soft case

I bought myself a wireless mouse to use with my laptop. But i couldn't let it float around in my bag unprotected. So i knitted this stripy pouch for my mouse to feel soft and safe.

Stamps

Several days ago i've received a parcel with some new stamps. I finally decided to try and order something from Etsy. I really like rubber stamping, but stamps are quite expensive in local craft shops and i don't even like most of the designs. So when i found Blossom Stamps shop on Etsy, i ordered some stamps straight away.

First, i just wanted to review my new stamps, but then i thought why don't i share my whole little stamp collection.

This is my first rubber stamp. I just wanted to try rubber stamping, so i wanted to buy a small and cheap stamp. This ladybug was really cute so i got it. You've probably seen it used on my notebooks.

These are handmade Indian wooden stamps i found in a local craft shop. I really liked the designs and it took me a long time to pick these two. They are really pretty but it's not so easy to get a nice looking image with them, because the material is hard, unlike rubber or polymer.

I've been looking for alphabet stamps for a really long time. I was really happy to finally find them in a local craft shop. I have used them for some gift packaging, but initially i wanted to get these to use them on tape covers for our Jozik releases. Hopefully i can try that soon. But they are definitely good for many other purposes.

And finally, the stamps i received from the Blossom Stamps Etsy shop. When i first found the shop i just wanted to get almost all of their stamps, i really liked the designs. But then i decided to choose the ones i like the most, try them out and if i like them get more later. Their stamps are handmade using photopolymer, so i wasn't sure if they are as good as rubber. But when i tried them out i definitely wasn't disappointed.

I really like the amount of detail these stamps have. I've been wanting a bicycle stamp and some birds so i'm really happy they had those in the shop. I am definitely going to order more from them. They do custom stamps as well, so i'm thinking of a Jozik stamp maybe.

This post was not sponsored by anyone. I did not get any money to review the items featured in this post.

Wind in Willows / St. Atom HRT605 split packaging

Here is the last release that came out on Jozik this summer. For this one, the paintings were done by another artist, Helder Coelho Dias, a friend of one of the musicians. We were not acquainted with Helder's work before, so we didn't really know what to expect. But once we saw the paintings, we loved them.

There is a separate painting for each side of the box (one painting per musician), and there are matching paintings for each side of the tape itself.

All i had to do was to cut out the boxes, print out the stickers and attach them to the boxes and tapes. Well, i also had to design the inner sticker with the info, but there's nothing to design there really :)

You can check the description and sounds at Jozik records.

Banana Pill / Timothy C Holehouse split packaging

We met Tim in Lithuania when we were on our Europe tour with Banana Pill. We played two shows together.

We really liked what he does and he liked what we do so we decided to do a split tape together. And now it's finally out! We released it together with Tim's label. He took care of the tapes and we did the packaging.

I really like the "reel-to-reel" tapes Tim chose. We wanted to use this kind of tapes for a while now, but we never ended up ordering them. Now we finally have them.

I did the same carton covers for this release as for the previous one. I didn't know what kind of carton to use, so i just went to the stationary store to see what they have. Once i saw this black carton, i was sure i want to use it. It was perfect thickness, and i liked how black and shiny it was.

I came up with this painting some time ago. When it came to deciding what kind of artwork to do for this split, i thought why not use this idea. I did the painting again in "portrait" shape and added the names of our projects to it.

You can check the description and sounds at Jozik records.

Punktieren/Ous Mal / Coaxil split packaging

For all the other three releases i've decided to make carton boxes. I kept the same shape and dimensions as i had for my previous boxes, but this time instead of gluing the boxes together i've decided to keep them closed by securing them with rubber bands (i got the idea from the other tape packaging done by our friend artist).

For this release i've decided to use Mitya's sister's old painting sketches that have been lying around in our house for months. When Mitya's parents were moving, they wanted to throw them away because his sister didn't need them, they were just some paint experiments. But we liked them and thought we could use them for something. And finally they were just perfect for this tape.

I just love how every box is unique while they all are done in the same style.

We used white tapes and plain stickers with just the artist names on them. All the info was printed on the label paper, plain text on a white background. I like how the paintings on the boxes go all crazy and colorful, while all the rest of the design is really minimalistic.

You can check the description and sounds at Jozik records.

Sashash Ulz / кот кот split packaging

Four new tapes are out on Jozik records and it's time for me to share the packaging i've made for them.

For this tape i've been sewing fabric envelopes again. We found this beautiful fabric (it was actually a large skirt) at a second hand shop. The skirt was enough for exactly 49 copies, we were lucky with the size (we planned an edition of 50 copies first).

For an insert i got a new idea this time. I used textured craft paper, which i was lucky to get 50% off from Sinelli, it's really good to buy these things in summer when the sales are huge. I used label paper to print the info for the insert.

I am especially happy for the tape labels. I scanned the back side of the fabric and printed it on the labels. I think the color goes really good with white tapes. And i love how colored stickers look on matte opaque tapes.

You can check the description and sounds at Jozik records.

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