The online portfolio of Page Redford
Alas it comes but once a year, Happiest of Halloween’s to all you boos and ghouls! Here is a selection of small (about 1x2foot each) chalkboards featuring some of our favorite scariest treats.
These small boards generally take between 30 and 60 minutes from start to finish. They are a fun way to try new color markers and paints as well as new styles of lettering.
It’s that time of year at TJs: Ranunculus season! We are lucky to get these beautiful flowers in store for a limited time each year. As we have recently updated our floral department signage with my new illustrated signs for each variety of bloom, I just had to make these signs for the ranunculus.
These signs will be laminated and then have the price written over the laminate. Then they will be clipped to the individual buckets. Ranunculus come in a variety of colors, and these signs reflect some of the variation in the blooms.
I wanted to share a new personal favorite display sign. We recently got these new crunchy snacks a lot like flaming hot corn snacks of another brand. I love the look of the packaging and really wanted to try making a display that had a true 3-D look.
We did not have a lot of time to make a wild and crazy display with papier-mâché or other materials, but I was able to pull off a 3-D style that really popped using paper, foam core, and sharpie and paint markers.
My biggest illustrative skill is using bold lines for a classic illustration look that blends well with the TJ’s style. I’m very pleased with how this display turned out. As a bonus, customers really seem to enjoy the look which really is the most important part. I have heard people say that the sign was the big reason that they decided to try these chips out!
I was recently asked to make a Chalkboard A-Frame for our Kosher for Passover meat products. The butcher shop has undergone a big re-branding lately, and we wanted to bring attention to these special holiday products.
I was inspired by old-fashioned butcher shop signage.
The A-Frames we use measure 2 x 3 feet. They are sturdy, durable, and reusable. I generally use mostly white chalk and white chalk pens to do the lettering and, depending on the board, add additional colors to highlight aspects of the design.
I had fun making this sign! This back side is simple foam core!
For this sign, I made a back that was inspired by the price flags and old-timey window signs from neighborhood markets. This highlights the prices (literally) making it easy for customers to compare the price-per-pound for the different cuts of meats.
Happy SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY!
I hope you didn’t go too crazy on Black Friday and you still have a little shopping to do between now and Cyber Monday!
I wanted to showcase some of my favorite things for gift giving. You can find every item shown here in my Etsy Shop! Drop by any time this weekend and use the code “CYBERMONDAY” for a discount on your purchase.
These are a few of my favorite things! (gift wrapping is available until the 2nd week of December!)
The items shown here are all handmade by yours truly! While many other items are available in my etsy shop, these are the ones shown here:
Salmon and Floral Hoop Organizer
Laser Engraved (funny sayings) Pencils
Monochromatic Pink Pin-Back Buttons
Thanks for stopping by! Remember to support your local and small businesses this holiday season!
Looking for a fun and functional way to make sure your lunch doesn’t get gobbled up by coworkers in the office fridge? Look no further than the Pink Toe Press reusable lunch bags made from oilcloth fabric.
These adorable totes are made from 100% polyester oilcloth. They are durable and easy to clean. Easy to store flat when empty, and secured with velcro (and a clothespin is included too) so that your lunch is safe in the fridge.
“Retro Rose” is the most popular design!
All the other designs are quite cute too!
Each bag is handmade by yours truly. Bags are each a little different due to the pattern variations. They are super cute and have a contrasting fabric on the sides.
There’s several designs available in my Etsy Shop. Each bag is sturdy and colorful. They come with a little eyelet in the corner to hang a nametag. They come with a paper tag, but you can get a more durable (matching!) oilcloth tag to really complete the classic look. You can use the name tag as a luggage tag as well!
And here are the tags: They are great for identifying luggage, lunch bags, even gym bags! Put one on your yoga bag too! They are currently 1/2 price when you purchase them with your lunch bag. What a deal!
Allow me to introduce a new card from Pink Toe Press that is available for all the Moms out there!
Each card is handmade and cut from craft or white card stock, each card is then carefully glued with beautiful floral papers.
Each card measures approximately 5 x 7 inches and is blank inside for your personal message. You could even place these in a small picture frame for a 5 x 7 photograph to gift to Mom!
More colors available soon. :-)
Until then, Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there!
In a previous post, I talked about updating product photographs for my Etsy Shop Pink Toe Press. This has been a process. I’ve been attempting to recreate a cohesive look for my brand both online and offline. While I offer a number of items made from a variety of mediums, I want everything to look like it belongs together.
My most recent update is my Pink Toe Press Puzzle Cube. The Pink Toe Press Puzzle Cube is a color matching cube that works much like other puzzle cubes where you can twist and turn the columns and rows of blocks to create new patterns. The fun twist of this cube is that each square is a unique color with a unique name created by yours truly. It is inspired by two of my favorite things: the Pantone paint chip system and the Rubik’s Cube.
My last photographs were lovely, but this simple and clean look blends well with my other new photography. I really like the look of the Puzzle Cube in motion, and I think that these new photographs convey the usability of the item.
This Puzzle Cube would make a great gift for an artist or designer in your life. They are great for people who love color at their desk…and even better for people who need a little help with color matching! While they do not have ALL the colors, they do make a lovely set of swatches when you twist and turn the cube.
Each cube is hand-adorned with the color swatch stickers by yours truly. Puzzle cubes are prefabricated. While they are durable and my personal puzzle cube has lasted for about a year now, they are not intended to be toy for young children. These and other fun home and office items are available at Pink Toe Press, my Etsy Shop!
Here is a sneak peek of EXCITING NEW cards coming your way from Pink Toe Press! Stay tuned for TONS and TONS of new photographs and more information.
I can hardly wait to share!
New cards made from cut paper it’s a secret!
I’ve already talked about my love for Zelda. Now its time to geek out over my love of making things!
I love working with new or challenging materials. Initially I had wanted to make my shield out of wood, but without a proper workspace, shared walls, and older neighbors, I thought that may prove to be too messy and noisy. I have worked with wood before, but always in a proper workspace. After successfully creating a tiny version of the Hylian Shield, I decided it was time to get started on my FULL SCALE version of the shield!
Step 1: Gather your materials:
YOU WILL NEED:
Foamcore (in large unbent pieces): I sourced mine from my local art-supply store. Michaels may have them large enough. Be sure they are at least 20 inches (50 cm) square.
Newsprint: (or other scrap paper) to make your template drawings. Or print them out from images you find online. Be sure to make drawings for the front of the shield AND for the back of the shield.
Pencils and Bold Markers to make your drawings on the newsprint and on the cardboard.
Brads: buy a lot of them, I went through close to 75 of them between both shields..
Glue: I used Aleene’s Tacky Glue and it worked quite well.
Masking Tape: .5 inches to 1 inch wide
Rust-oleum “Hammered” silver spray paint
Rust-oleum Primer (White)
X-Acto #11 Blade and Knife
Scraps of Leather or other durable brown fabric or felt.
Paint and Paintbrushes: I used Martha Stewart’s High Gloss Acrylic Paints and an assortment of brushes
Measuring tools: Ruler, compass, protractor, measuring tape, etc.
Handle: Purchase a drawer/cupboard handle and its hardware from your local hardware store. Be sure to use one that fits your hand nicely. This will be the handle on the back of the shield.
Wooden Buttons: approximately 1.25 inches in diameter. Embellishments on front and back of the shield.
Chipboard or (non corrugated) Cardboard for some of the detailing on the front of the shield.
Embroidery Thread: or yarn in several shades of brown.
Step 2: Draw out the templates for the front AND back of the shield. Be sure to make them the exact size that you want them to be. For me, that was 20″ tall and 18.5″ (approx. 50 cm by 45 cm). The shield may need to be larger or smaller to suit your needs.
Make sure you include all details too!
Once you’ve drawn out your templates from newsprint, cut along the outside like in the above photo. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble by cutting the templates out this way. This would be a difficult project to freehand. Next, trace around the templates onto the sheets of foam core using your pencil. Carefully cut along your pencil line to cut out your first part of the shield.
While you’ve got your ruler handy, make some guide lines on the shield to help you orient the template onto the center of the shield. Make one line down the center and another 1/2 way down the shield. Cut out and mark 3 shield parts in the SAME way.
Step 3: Cut out the interior of the FRONT Template. This will assist in keeping the shield pieces symmetrical Using an X-Acto blade will be much easier than trying to use scissors. You will be using the inner pieces as a guide in our next step. Keep all shield pattern pieces.
Cut inside this boarder with an X-Acto knife.
Once you have cut out the boarder, place it atop one of your shield pieces. This piece will become the top layer on the front of the shield. Use a tiny bit of masking tape to secure the stencil to the foam-core. Trace the inner boarder with a pencil. Use an X-Acto bade to cut out the design. Save the pieces from the center and set aside.
Make sure you secure the stencil/template or it may shift during tracing/cutting.
Here you can see the stencil/template and the pencil lines. Ready to cut!
Step 4: Do the same thing for the back of the shield.
But here is where things may get a little tricky… or at least different. Depending on the size of your handle and your personal preference, you may give the supporting cross on the back different dimensions. I made the horizontal arm on the cross slightly smaller than the size of the handle. This way, the handle goes around the cross instead of on top of it.
This was cut after careful measurement.
Measure twice, cut once.
Carefully cut out the cross pattern and outer boarder. Make sure that you give the outer boarder a uniform thickness. For my shield, I gave it a 4cm thickness (see photo). This will make it look more finished and will also provide more stability.
I found it helpful to use a ruler to cut straight lines.
Here are the front AND the back of the shield.
Above are the two pieces we just cut atop the two shield pieces we cut from before. We now have two “front” pieces and two “back” pieces. That’s all the major cutting we have to do for today. Next we will add some of the hardware that gives this shield its character and believability. Gather your hardware and tools and meet me back here ASAP!
Page Redford 