Handmade Home: Dream Catchers After a long day of sitting inside with a overworked air conditioning unit and streaming Orange is the New Black, I finished my dream catchers. I love the idea of dream catchers, that if you hang it above your bed it will catch the bad dreams and hold them in the net, and only the good dreams would filter through and slide down the feathers (in this case braids) and reach the sleeper.
Book Report Inspiration: DIY Embroidered Notebook Reading and writing have always been linked in my mind, so it seems natural to think about books and notebooks together. Growing up, I always had a notebook filled with stories and ideas, possible character names, settings, and quotes I loved from movies and television shows (many of which were from The X-Files and, as you might imagine, totally badass).
Book Report Inspiration: Personalized Leather Key Fobs There's no way around it: tooled leather detailing seems quintessentially Western. And for my final post on True Grit and Western inspiration, I decided it was high time I used the leather key fobs I've had in my craft box since last Christmas (when I tried to dye them using regular fabric dye which, by the way, does not work). Since I utterly lack the skillset and patience required for hand-tooling with awls and hammers and whatnot, I short-cutted using my wood burning tool.
Handmade Home: Pillow Talk Do you ever just sit inside on a Saturday morning and look around the living room for little ways to improve your space; then later look at the clock and realize you've spent your entire day slaving over a new project? Welcome to the weekend! This weekend Ben's Mom came in to town and I wanted to freshen up the living room with some new pillows (and had a dual purpose of shrinking the size of fabric stores that needed to be put away). So here's some Tuesday pillow talk.
Book Report Inspiration: Cowboy Hat Band When I came home to Tacoma, I discovered my old cowboy hat in the closet. I haven't worn it in years, and let's be honest, I don't really intend to wear it out anywhere. At twelve, when I was feeling like I could be a frontier girl, I paired the hat with my Jordache power jeans (which had leather panels from pocket to pocket across the front...so cool). Even though I don't have the pluck to wear a cowboy hat in public, I have put it on to mess around in the garden and, inexplicably, while cleaning.
Handmade Home: Framed Flora Recently, I have undertaken freshening up some spaces around the house. The first undertaking was to utilize some amazing things that I already have, or intentions that I already have. I've been thinking about those flora pressings that I got when I was back in Tacoma last year for Christmas, and was more than ready to get them up on the wall.
DIY: Easter Cards Okay, so if your family is like mine, they have an endless supply of amazing vintage cards, that you are eternally jealous of and pretty impressed that they have found so many. If you are like me, you don't have any of these cute vintage cards (except the ones graciously given to you). But guess what! You can make your own and be the envy of your friends.
DIY: Tiny Felted Earrings I've been thinking for a while that I should needle-felt some earrings--this week I decided to go for it. Turns out, it's a super-simple project, even if you've never needle-felted a day in your life.
DIY: Fern Watercolor As you may remember from my post last week, Monika recently turned 30 (and boys can also be jerks). As part of sister Monika's present, I wanted to paint her a little outdoors that she could bring indoors. Cue the ferns!
Make: Spring Pennants There have been high levels of crafting in our household as of late, which are just going to be amplified now that we have an extra hour of daylight to work with! I don't know about you, but I feel my creative motivation seem to deflate when the sun sets. Like I am a reverse vampire (No. That doesn't make any sense.). Like I am a flower closing up for the night (Ugh. No. Why would I even think that?). How about that as soon as the sun goes down my brain starts craving a blanket and some good ol' fashioned Agatha Christie. That. That sounds like a better depiction of why my motivation shifts in the evening.
DIY: Spring Garland I'm trying to gear up for some massive egg painting, spring pastels, nature coming alive and more time in the day. So I have decided to make a garland to keep spring on my mind. What a perfect use for the hand dyed string Christine gave me for Christmas, so excited. Natural decorations are free and always lovely in a rugged way.
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DIY: Sew Some Knitting Bags I'm much more of a knitter than a sewer...but every now and again it helps to sew in order to knit. Like when I decided that I didn't want to spend upwards of $20 on some knitting pouches when I could just sew myself some in about an hour. You can too! It's really easy. Pick out some of your favorite fabric. I used fat quarters that I bought at a fabric store near my mom's house before it closed down. I ended up using the pineapple fabric and the fabric that looks like there are a bunch of little people. read more...
DIY: Crayons + Watercolors = Prints Inspired by the cool crystalline shapes of these rubber stamps by Extase, I decided to make a little geometric art this week. I know, I know. You're probably like, Great. More geometric stuff. Soooooo played out. Just like brushing your teeth.BUT the straight lines and clean graphic quality of geometric shapes lends itself handily to this sort of project. AND geometric shapes are fairly easy to handle, even for straight-line-a-phobes like me...
DIY: Chair Runners I am not sure if these are actually classified as chair runners or not, but that's what I am calling them. Also, the title to this post would be much too long if I were to say DIY: some cute hand embroidered fabric to drape on the back of your chairs to spice things up a bit. So with that, this is how I made my chair runners...
DIY: Happy Valentine's Day, No One! I stumbled upon this recipe for 2 cupcakes on Pinterest a few weeks back, so I thought why not give it a go? In order to Valentine the cupcakes up a bit, I decided to make a quick and easy topper using supplies I already had. I used these bamboo forks--already arrow shaped--took a black and a pink marker and drew on some arrow details, then added a cute little heart. The frosting was made with cream cheese, powdered sugar, and red food coloring.
Make: Spray Painted Cockatoo For whatever reason I have a couple large cockatoo ceramic statues. I love as is, the other I have never really taken a strong liking, and since I never shy away from painting some glazed ceramics I decided to take a shot and go for it once again. (Do you love the bottlebrush trees? They were a second Christmas gift from Christine--she bleached and dyed them herself. I think they're swell.) Here is my adventure in spray painting another ceramic piece...
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DIY: Honeycomb Hearts I've been at the Museum's Library & Archives looking at old Valentine's Day cards again. And I've run across several that feature honeycomb hearts, so that's what I set out to create! For something that looks fairly complex, they're actually quite simple to construct. You'll need cardstock, tissue paper, scissors, glue stick, yarn needle, and string.
DIY: Cocktail Napkins More second Christmas treasures revealed! The Nicolai's love their tea towels, (embroidered, dyed, inked, or printed) so I hoped the same love would be extended to cocktail napkins. These particular cocktail napkins were inspired byAnthropologie's Naraka Napkins, and here's how I made them. Plain cotton blend fabric, that I waited in a crazy Saturday line to purchase. You're welcome, sisters. Also, I used part of a cd case as a pattern to cut the fabric. The case was from an awesome mix tape Christine made me.
DIY: Lovebird Wreath I decided to update my front door wreath for Valentine's Day. I wanted a simple, cute little wreath. I already had a gold wreath up I made for Christmas with two turtle doves. I purchased the wreath and the doves from the Dollar Tree. You might remember I made my own Dollar Tree bug wreath for Halloween because apparently the Dollar Tree and I know how to get DIY door wreaths done like none other. Anyway, for this wreath, you'll need wool roving, a felting needle, and a felting block.
DIY: Confetti-filled Paper Hearts It seems I'm perpetually behind on every holiday, so I decided to get a jumpstart on Valentine's Day with a simple project. This will be my year. I plan to keep telling myself that until I make it so. (Jean-Luc Picard reference!) As usual, I wandered my apartment looking for materials and inspiration, and I happened upon some thrifted confetti and thought:Hmm. This is festive, now if only I had a way to contain it...
Make: Someone Loves You, Valentine. I have long been contemplating completing a stately project, a gift, small token or treasure for someone...or many ones. After making some cloth bookmarks last week, I had it all worked out. Who wouldn't love to receive (or give) a lovely stately measure of their esteem. Luckily for all of us it's pretty dang easy, and pretty dang sweet...
DIY: Cloth Bookmarks I remember when we were younger and would frequent Waldenbooks (RIP), and after we found our reading delight would stand at the swivel rack of bookmarks and admire them so. I seem to remember a special unicorn bookmark, that belonged to Christine (maybe...?) that I would covet. Makes me sad to think what that bookmark-enthused little girl would say to present-day me knowing I use thing such as receipts, torn off pieces of paper, bobby pins, and dog eared pages to mark my place. I don't think she'd be happy, and that's unacceptable.
DIY: Glitter Pinecone Garland Confession...I don't LOOOOVVVEEEE Christmas. I mean, sure I like it ok, but I don't like that after December 25th, all the Christmas stuff has to come down. I'm much more inclined to lump my decorating together into more of an appreciation for winter. Which is why this DIY pine cone garland is the perfect home decoration before, during, and after Christmas! Gather up your supplies. I collected some pine cones from the Evergreen forest when I went mushroom hunting with Nicholas.
DIY: Rorschach Prints I've been thinking a lot lately about the clean graphic quality of Rorschach prints. That's not weird, right? I know the inkblot test has largely fallen out of fashion in the psychiatric community, which is probably for the best since they do seem a tad pseudoscientific. But Rorschach's original prints are really quite beautiful nonetheless. And our tendency to assign meaning to patterns in an attempt to make sense of random shapes (an example of Pareidolia) is really pretty cool. Window to the brain!
DIY: House Silhouette Wrapping Paper Last month Buzzfeed approached us and asked if we'd like to participate in their holiday wrapping edition of Craft Wars. We were all like: OF COURSE! And we got straight to work on an idea for seasonal, easy, cheap, and fetching wrapping paper. Sisters, activate!
Make: A Dog Bed for Under $5 So I have two big dogs, hard wood floors, and a deficit in my checking account because of all the USDs I have spent on dog beds that were hideous to look at, couldn't fit in the washing machine, and ultimately got left outside in the rain until they were tossed (I am being brutally honest right now). Naturally I have thought about making a bed for my precious pooches before, but until recently it didn't dawn on me how easy and affordable it could be.
DIY: Fern Stencil Pillow So I had this really great step-by-step tutorial on how to make a pillow using a fern. HAD. Then my computer broke and the folks at Apple are having the trickiest time fixing it. Because of all of this, I lost every one of my pictures. Luckily, I instagram enough and texted Christine some updates. I gathered some sword ferns from the Evergreen Forest when Nick and I went mushroom hunting. I picked up some Martha Stewart acrylic paints I used Wild Salmon in the satin finish.
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DIY: Unconventional Advent Calendar Well, Thanksgiving is over, so it must be Christmastime, right? I mean, I've been hearing holiday music at the grocery store for about three weeks now. (Slight eye roll.) Still, it's hard to deny that once we near the end of November, the Christmas spirit starts creeping up, and that spirit is aggressive. Well, this year I'm ready because I made an advent calendar. Maybe you're thinking: Advent calendar, huh? Why's that better than a regular calendar? Umm, only because it involves little presents or candy.
DIY: Tassel Necklace Do you ever have a hankering to make a necklace and aren't sure what to do? Problem solved. Make a tassel necklace, it's easy and you can make it any color you want to adorn any outfit... Meet your supplies; glue gun, yarn, scissors, jewelry pliers, and jewelry devices. To make your tassel wrap the yarn around a flat object, then pull off the yarn loop and cut one of the sides. Tie your tassel off in the center and fluff it. I understand this isn't the best DIY tassel instructions, but if my vague explanation doesn't cut it for you, check this out.
DIY: Thanksgiving Inspired Cat Toys! In the spirit of giving thanks, I decided I would give thanks to Peanut (even though she's bad all the time) and make her some Thanksgiving inspired handmade cat toys! These are pretty easy to make, and they don't require much in the way of supplies or skills. You will need some felt, catnip, embroidery thread, needle, scissors, crinkly trash, and something to stuff the toys with--I used some acrylic yarn I had around. I purchased these sheets of felt at JoAnn's for $0.35 a sheet.
Make: Black Beauty-ful Bookends I love ceramics. I love to find them, and repaint them; it makes me so happy. So you can imagine the joy I felt when I happened upon these wonderful ceramic horse head bookends at a local thrift store. But they weren't always the Black Beauty(s) that you see here... Meet the original ceramic book ends. These might have fit quite nicely into the room Catherine and I shared, with the unicorn wall paper, but even then the pale blue mane might have clashed with the shade of pink dressing our walls.
DIY: Arrow Rack I found a bunch of old arrows while messing around in Dad's shop a couple months back and have been going back and forth about what to do with them. I finally committed to turning them into a rack for necklaces. If you've visited us before, you may remember my tree branch necklace holder. Apparently, I'm big on necklace display. Not surprisingly, this project requires a few arrows, and unlike me, you might not just stumble across arrows as part of your everyday activities. So, here are several ideas on where to procure arrows of your very own...
Make: Halloween Banner Like my sisters I enjoy going to the dollar store to find goodies, this trip not only did I pick up some little cardboard letters, but I also grabbed some creepy crawlies (as seen on a spooky wreath or scary garland), and I rushed home to make a Halloween banner. I was surprised to find that all the required letters were present to spell h-a-p-p-y h-a-l-l-o-w-e-en, but the colors just wouldn't do.
DIY: Skeleton Garland This fancy pants skeleton garland was very easy to make; it cost next to nothing, and is really quite creepy. You can make one too--check out how... I bought the skeletons in a grab bag from the Dollar Tree. You might remember my gilded bug wreath I posted a couple of days ago. This skeleton garland compliments the wreath nicely, and was created using the same supplies. First things first, go to the Dollar Tree and buy a grab bag of bugs and skeletons. You can pick from purple, green, and orange.
Halloween Gilded Bug Wreath Halloween is only 2 weeks away! You know what that means? You better get to getting on your golden bug door wreath... You may remember that I've been busy knitting on a secret project. Well, I've still been working hard on the project, but it's taking forever and a day. I also had a little accident...Consider the image below a reenactment of what went wrong. Now, don't fret, my thumb is healing nicely and I think in no time I will be flying through the purls and knits on my secret project. In the meantime, I crafted a wreath. And you should too!
DIY: Skeletor Skin!! So yes, if you can't tell already, we are excited about Halloween. When Christine and Catherine visited Burbank a couple weeks ago, the task we were charged with was a tutorial on creating a skeleton face. We soon realized this was easier than we made it. Since it was Christine's idea, she was the guinea pig, and boy, am I glad of that. She received the full effect of our inexperience, including the joy I'm sure she felt when we took her outside and put flour all over her face.
Make: Jon Snow And Ghost Costumes Halloween is quickly approaching and year after year I ask Ben if we can do a couples costume, and year after year we throw something together at the last minute. Usually it turns out really amazing, but never has it been a good couples costume. So this year I find myself, yet again, in the same dilemma...but I thought of a way to get some mileage out of him yet: force him to dress up with me for a blog post! And even though it's not Halloween, this weekend, for a little while at least, he was the Jon Snow to my Ghost.
DIY: Animal Spirit Masks While visiting Monika in Burbank, we decided that some serious sister crafting was in order. And since it's Halloween time, what better project than spirit animal masks constructed from paper? So, dear intrepid crafters, collect your supplies: cardstock, glue sticks, scissors, and writing implements. Pssst! Don't forget your creativity... Make a template. We used grocery bags because we didn't want to waste our precious paper.
Make: Merit Badges Do you long for the days when after you completed a fun feat you got to sew on a badge of honor to display your accomplishment? I wanted to revisit those days in my adult life and award some badges to others for their merits. I think it's always important to recognize milestones and achievements of your near and dear. So when my two best lady friends both experienced large life milestones in the same month, I had to get to sewing.
Trash Into Treasure I finished my little ombré trash necklace this week. Wait. What? Yes, I said trash. Here's the scoop: I'm calling it a trash necklace because the ombré bits are actually made from trash. OK, that might not require the extensive explanation I had planned. Still, when I say trash, I'm not talking about trash I dug out of the dump pile exactly (though that'd be pretty excellent, too)...this is actually something I'd previously tossed without a thought. And then one fateful day, I started wondering if maybe I could find a use for this particular bit of refuse. Turns out, I could. Without further ado, I give you the secret of the ombré trash necklace...
You're In My Favor I don't know if you remember my lovely friend Dawn and her plans to wed in the summertime in Washington, but if you do you may recall that she had some aspiring plans for a wedding of whimsy and sweet sentiment. She wanted small cloth tea napkins with hand embroidered images befitting a backyard wedding, all on the night of a nautical full moon. I gladly volunteered to hand embroider napkins to dress her wedding tables, and here's how it went...
Golden Corgi Nicholas' birthday was towards the end of July and because he loves corgis so much, I decided to make a special topper for his birthday key lime pie. I didn't just stop at a corgi topper. I went ahead and made toppers out of the whole wild kingdom. Take a look and maybe you'll be inspired to make your own gilded toppers. If you are so inspired, I included an easy-to-follow tutorial.
What Are The Deathly Hallows? I originally bought a wood burning tool to complete my heirloom recipe box project, but I realized that since I didn't know how the varnished wood (cedar maybe?) would react to the process, I might be safer going the paint route. Plus, I didn't want to burn the heck out of my nice vintage recipe box. So, there's the genesis of my wood burning odyssey. So, I started thinking about making a wood-burned Deathly Hallows plaque for the sisters. I think it was because I saw this awesome DH tattoo on pinterest (the original source seems to have disapperated. Yes, I did just write that.).
Etch-Your-Sketch-Cocktail Glasses! Nicholas loves to make cocktails, so for his birthday I decided to create some customized glasses for all of the delicious cocktails he makes. Step 1--Ready the supplies. I bought all the glasses at Cost Plus World Market. I think everything was $3.99 a piece. The Armour Etch was leftover from a project Christine did years ago, but I did confirm that you can buy it at Michael's (with a coupon, it would run you about $6). You'll need contact paper (Target $5), a sponge brush, scissors, and gloves.
Summer Mists All of my complaints about the unseasonably cool summer disappeared over the last couple of weeks when Spokane has made the sudden transition to hot weather. How quickly we forget, or at least I forget, once the temp jumps to 96 degrees. Ughhhhhhh. But while flipping through an old Martha Stewart magazine, as I am wont to do while eating my cereal in the mornings, I came across a simple summer pick-me-up: the all-natural mist. Part of my routine for keeping cool is to put water on every bit of exposed skin and just let it evaporate as nature intended.
DIY Stamps Last week, I decided that some stamps were in order. What do I plan on stamping? Who the heck knows? Wait, scratch that. Let's go with: What don't I plan on stamping? Currently, everything is getting the stamp treatment around here, including correspondence, junk mail, and my arms. I just can't resist. I'm a stamping maniac. It's a good thing Matilda isn't one of those hairless Sphynx kitties or she'd be stamped the hell up right now.
Branching Out Do you remember my cemetery branch from like four months ago? Well, today I finally decided its destiny. Here's my branch. That knob on the end looks like a fetal giraffe head. Or is it just me? For my base, I picked up a pine clock face from Michael's. I think it was $4.00-5.00. A bit more than I would usually spend, but I was pretty set on having a pre-drilled hole, mostly because I don't own a drill. But I do own lots of pocket knives of varying sizes and blades, so my plan was to enlarge the hole via knife. My dad, who was an incredible woodworker, would be mortified, I'm sure.
$1 Wreath I've been meaning to get some kind of festive spring/summer wreath on the front door since the day I took down my Christmas wreath (mind you that wasn't in December, I took it down February-ish--stop judging). I had an extra wreath form leftover from Christmas. I bought mine at the Dollar Tree. They're wrapped straw, and they worked well for covering in tree branches at Christmas and covering in yarn for summer! Step one: acquire a wreath.
Intergalactic Planetary Here's where yesterday's space musing led me... Why, if it isn't a bleach-dyed black clutch! The beginnings were in two black bags found at JoAnn's. They were on clearance for $3.00 or $4.00. I just purchased them like three days ago. So, it's probably something you can still find in their store. I found a "spray bottle" (recently emptied, rinsed, and waiting patiently in my recycle bin) and mixed equal parts water with bleach. Remember: bleach is bleach. Consider that you might get misted. Wear old clothes.
Berry Lovely Necklace A while ago, I was at the craft store looking for nothing and everything, and I happened upon some pastel beads that resembled berries... and so I decided to make a berry lovely necklace. As I mentioned, the beads were pastel, which doesn't scream juicy ripe berries, so, I painted them. I decided to use some nail polish so that they would be nice and glossy. I rigged a bead holder out of some wire so that I wouldn't get paint on my fingers--it was still a messy process. Make sure you have nail polish remover on hand.
Noble Neon I realize neon is a big thing again. Whatever. I'm thrilled because now I can find neon stuff, like wallets and whatnot, everywhere. And maybe in two months, I won't be so thrilled. But for now, I'm soaking it up. Well, not literally. Actually, strike that. Reverse it. Since neon is a noble gas (and on the periodic table of elements!!!), it is present in the air in trace amounts, which means that all of us are sort of soaking up neon. OH, SCIENCE SLAM! But in truth, neon's allure has nothing to do with the fact that it's an element. For me, neon is all about these fannypacks Monika and I had as kids.
One Was Pink and the Other Gold I decided I was done with these gold "hecho in mexico" frames I'd purchased at estate sales over the years. They needed something new and fresh done to them, so I thought....spray paint. I have 2 different frames like this, but one is a little bit more ornate. They both worked out well. I also printed new pictures from last fall's vacation to Iceland/Copenhagen/Stockholm.
Friendship Necklace Remember when you were 10 and you and your sisters would wrap embroidery floss around a little chunk of hair at the base of your neck? Yeah, me too!!!! This necklace reminded me of that. In full disclosure, I was with Christine and our mom at Target a few weeks back when we came across this necklace. Christine and I immediately decided it was ridiculous to pay for this when we could easily make it (Hello, we're Girl Scouts!).
Brace Yourself It's so dismal here in Spokane. Rain and snow, gloominess for days, and barely any green in sight. Blargh. So, I decided it was time to paint one of the wooden bracelets I found on clearance. And the color: GREEN.
Neon Dream Upon seeing Monika's terracotta pots, I became obsessed with the idea of getting my own terracotta pots and painting the rims gray with neon stripes. SO OBSESSED. Yes, an obsession worthy of all caps. What obsession isn't? Anyway, after finding several serviceable pots at an estate sale, I knew it was time to make the dream a reality.
St. Valentine's Diorama I wanted to make sisters Monika and Christine Valentines dioramas for February the 14th. I wasn't exactly sure what scene to display, but after I found some cute little polar bears (picked up last time I was visiting Monika in Burbank), I knew that a lovely little arctic scene-in-a-box would be just the ticket.
Up Through the Atmosphere, Up Where the Air is Clear... Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and I love hot air balloons! Even though in Mary Poppins no one sings about hot air ballons, they do sing about kites, and hot air balloons go to higher heights than kites--so I think it's fitting to invoke those movies. Also, does anyone else remember in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when Grandpa Potts sets to the skies in his little house?
Merry Potter I recently discovered this amazing $0.98 store down the street from my house. It's great! I have already purchased a gold sequin headband, miniature dinosaur skeletons, tape, glue sticks, and now these great terracotta pots! The most amazing thing about this store is its legitimacy, these pots were actually $0.98 each.
Let's Go Fly a Kite! Yes, a kite garland. The perfect combination of paper and string, geometric shapes, and primary colors. It's just suddenly so spring-like, I was compelled to create something cheery. Bear in mind, all the cutting and gluing is time intensive and can become, after a while, rather disheartening. But that's all forgotten once your garland begins to take shape.
Throw Your Diamonds in the Sky! I've been extra excited about glitter and sparkles lately. Those recent shiny cravings inspired this cheap, but satisfying craft project. I made some glitter diamond garlands that are good for decorating on special occasions or (in my case) every single day of the week. First off you buy some glitter paper at the local craft store.
A Little Gift I made this little gift for Audra, a lovely lady who just celebrated her 30th birthday.
It's pleasing on the eyes, and a fun gift to give and hopefully get. You can really have a lot of fun with it, use any small ceramic (or glass) bowl, cup or what have you. I just used a white ceramic cup, but you could really step it up with some crazy colors or make it sweet with some pretty pastels.
It's pleasing on the eyes, and a fun gift to give and hopefully get. You can really have a lot of fun with it, use any small ceramic (or glass) bowl, cup or what have you. I just used a white ceramic cup, but you could really step it up with some crazy colors or make it sweet with some pretty pastels.
Cotton Clothesline Baskets! This is a tutorial for an easy-to-make and extremely useful basket. Nicholas' mom first taught me how to make these a few years ago, and I've been making them ever since. You need to have a sewing machine for this project, but it doesn't have to be anything fancy. In addition to the machine, you'll need to grab some clothesline.
Plate Tectonics: The Cards So if you are anything like us sisters, you love all things paper--especially if they have to do with some old school correspondence (letter writing and such). But if you are specifically like me, you find that you just don't follow through, for instance my Christmas/New Years cards just went in the mail today. So when I send out something I try to actually put a little love, blood, and time into it...
Pom-Pom Mania! I had a craving for some pom-poms today, so I went ahead and fixed myself a whole heap load of poms. This is the container I used to collect all the scraps, but it kind of looks like a delicious yarn drink. Peanut was helping me take inventory. If you don't know how to make pom-poms, don't fret, I'll show you! First you get out your yarn, scissors, and some thread.
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Little Boxes, Little Boxes, Little Boxes Made of Ticky-Tacky... So every now and then we are all guilty of gleaning ideas and inspiration. Well, here is my confession of such a replication. The picture below is a shop in East LA; I was walking by it one afternoon and noticed their window decorations. It was clear to me as soon as I saw them what must be done. Consider them the victim of gleaning.
Sparkle & Fade The silver and gold pipe cleaners will not be denied. Let's make some sparkly table decorations! Supplies: small glass jar or candleholder, tealights, matches, pipe cleaners* Graft the pipe cleaners together. Make sure they're tight, like best friends.
You Don't Have to be 14 to be into Nail Art! That's a fact. I did however learn how to stamp my nails by watching a 14-year-old girl give a tutorial on youtube. She was most helpful. About a month ago I purchased some nail plate kits on amazon. Don't ask. It just kind of happened. Anyway, when they arrived in the mail I realized I didn't know how to use them. I went to youtube and found out I had forgotten to order the stamper that goes along with the nail kit. Big mistake.
Simple Silhouettes Last year, I sent a Christmas ornament care package to the sisters. It contained, in part, a set of Nature-themed paper silhouette ornaments. I decided to make some for myself this year, and it only seemed natural to document the process. It's really simple and the result, in white paper, is quite elegant.
Monika vs. the Volcano I was a Mountain for Halloween. I did a lot of ranting about pyroclastic flows and Plinian eruptions (while constructing my costume I was watching documentaries on Mt. Vesuvius...and the X-Files...and Doctor Who). I will take you through how I created the look.
Garlands, Garlands, Garlands! I feel like I've completely hijacked this idea, but I'm being honest about it, so it's totally fine. Christine originally blogged about these 3D paper garlands, and when I visited Monika in Burbank, I saw all of the leaves that Christine and Monika had made during Christine's visit. (Are you keeping up with me? I know I'm referencing a lot of sisters here.) I was inspired by Christine's idea and Monika's crafty execution of it, so I decided to pretty much copy it exactly.
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Warm Glow I'm working an event at the Museum tonight, which means I have an entire morning and afternoon left to my own devices. What to do with all the time? Why, make a quick little craft, of course. Paper covered candles: probably one of the easiest crafts ever and lovely on the table or fireplace mantel.
Yo-Yo, Best Check It Out. Okay so I was strolling around a craft store last month and found some lovely little wooden yo-yos. I was naturally drawn to them on account of the wood and the possibilities. So I purchased three (for three sisters) and knew right away what I wanted to do. I wanted to use primary colors, I have really been attracted to them lately, maybe because of their simplicity.
Jungle Green You might have seen this craft project floating around the DIY blogs lately--I know I did. I suggest you give it a go. I think this project would be the perfect art piece for a kid's room or nursery. I put mine in the bathroom (same thing really). This project is cheap, quick, and lots of fun. My cat loved it too!
Fortune Favors the Crafty! As promised, here's a tutorial for the paper fortune teller. 1. You'll need to start with a square. I used an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Start in one corner and fold the bottom edge up so it meets the side.
Dale Chihuly, Eat Your Heart Out! I saw this ingenious diy light fixture on design sponge a while back. It's been on my to-do-list for quite some time. Last month I ventured up to Ikea with Nicholas and mother and purchased 2 standard-sized paper lanterns to modify. After gathering the rest of supplies from the craft store (tacky glue), I started cutting and gluing like mad. You want to make a paper lantern?
Bring the Ocean Home...to Your Bathroom Summer has finally arrived in Washington. It's certainly been a slow start for the Pacific Northwest. This last week, I celebrated feeling better and the nice weather with a trip to Westport to relax on the beach for a while. It was my first real outing in 9+ days. The only downside to the day was that there wasn't a single dead thing washed up on shore. That's really the best part of the ocean.
Strike a Match My boss, Lori, clued me into this project. It's so incredibly easy. All you need are matchboxes, paper, and glue. Check out the matchbox Lori gave me. Cool, right? I don't have Lori's patience for making things pretty, but mine are still cute. I started with wrapping paper, but really any paper that strikes your fancy will work.
It's Only a Paper Ring While I was in Tacoma, I found my copy of The Buck Book. It's a book of origami patterns for dollar bills. I bought it when I was 13 or so, and it came with a dollar bill. Instant rebate! The Buck Book is something I've been thinking about for a while...one of those weird recollections that pops up out of nowhere while I'm reading work emails. Hey, what ever happened to that book about folding dollar bills?
I Spent the Whole Weekend Making a Scratching Post... This weekend I started a project that was a bit out of my real of expertise. I finished the project, and while I am extremely pleased with the results, I will never attempt something like this ever again. I give you the epic journey that was...THE CAT TOWER!
Hearts on a String Now is as good a time as any to confess that in the past couple of weeks, whenever I've been on the phone with someone, I've had the overwhelming certainty that I'm going to end the conversation by saying: I love you. This, to me, is totally bizarre. I'm talking about work conversations here, telemarketer conversations, discussions with my landlord about mold. But still, as I reach the end of the chat, a little voice in my head says: I love you?
Ribbon Necklace While doing a bit of cleaning in preparation for Catherine's visit on Thursday, and I came across my pile of supplies for ribbon necklaces. This discovery reminded me that I've been meaning to post something about the ribbon necklace forever. And since I'm always looking for an excuse to abandon cleaning, I decided to declare time-out for a project. No real skill necessary, but the end result is quite nice.
Wow I never thought I would learn how to make the fortune favors !!! I remember when I was a kid I
ReplyDeletethought these things were the best !!! Nobody every showed me how to make them. I have made 2 right now
and making them for Halloween party that I am going as a fortune teller.
Thank you soooooooooooo much for making me feel like a kid again, I will amaze all my friends.
Linda.