I heart Mondays and...

I have a lot to heart today -- makes up for the last few Monday's I've missed!

First of all, if you know me, you know I heart snowmen. I have a great collection that comes out just after Thanksgiving and stays around until February.

Second, I heart the ArtGirlz. I've posted about them in the past, and I recently purchased a snow person kit from them. Kits are a great way to dip into a craft. You don't have to run around collecting supplies, and someone's already thought through the directions for you. ArtGirlz give you enough guidance to get the job done, but they respect your crafting instincts and let you make most of the little decisions on your own. Here are a few of my new friends:

Third, I heart needle felting.

I've been looking for an easy needle felting project and this was it. I took some wool roving (a very tiny bit) and worked it into the felt ball with a felting needle. It was very easy to do a free-form heart. My snowmen are full of love! I also had fun felting the "coal" eyes and mouths.

But it gets better! ArtGirlz also sell a kit for culturally diverse snow people. How cool is that? I couldn't pass it up. Don't they make you happy?

And just because I think they're so cute, here's one more picture of the group as they were drying:

Due to technical difficulties, this is posting a day late, but I hope it made you smile. What are you crafting?

I heart Mondays and Halloween

OK, I know this is the third time I've posted this picture of my girl here, but I just realized she's got a big green heart and she is my favorite Halloween decoration...

Have a great Monday!

Take My Poll

So, now that I'm finishing up my third book, I'm just curious. What do you do when you want to learn something new? Do you buy a book and teach yourself? Or are you more likely to sign up for a class, craving the interaction and the social element? Do you surf the web for ideas, or would you rather consult with your favorite magazine's editorial staff? Or are you like me--yes to all of the above? Please take my survey and let me know how you like to learn...

Funny!

I had a laugh-out-loud moment when I saw this post from Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica. At least her "craftermath" is confined to her studio -- I feel like mine has consumed the entire house!

Searching for your muse?

Creative Road block

Ten Tips for getting past your creative dead end

1. Pick a project from a magazine, or buy a kit, and make the project according to the directions as they are written – no short cuts. This will force you to think like another designer, and a slightly different approach to a project can teach you a few things.

2. Take a walk, ride your exercise bike, or even do a sink-load of dishes by hand. The repetitive motion of the mindless task will let your mind wander, and you may just stumble onto your path out of your road block.

3. Try a small project in a new hobby – if you bead, sew something. If you paint, try polymer clay. Working in a similar, but new-to-you medium may help you look at the same-old-same-old (color blending, for example) in a new way.

4. Make a gift: choose colors for your friend, not for you. Think of your friend as you work. Consider her colors, her size, her preferences. Your gift will come from the heart, and you may find that thinking away from your own style will re-open your creativity.

5. Accept a commission. Kind of like #4, making something to someone else’s specifications will make you consider new materials, new combinations, new approaches.

6. Look through pictures of your old work (you do take pictures of your masterpieces before you release them, don’t you??). When I’m on a jewelry-making roll, something kind of takes over, and I make things I really had no prior plans for. Call it my muse. When I look back at old work, sometimes I think, “Wow. That was really good, and I hardly remember making it.”

7. Get thee to a city. For me, it’s Milwaukee’s Third Ward, or preferably, Chicago. I love my country life, but more than a few times a year I need to see the crowds, check out what people are really wearing, see what’s in the stores. I’m instantly refreshed, and ready to get going.

8. If you’re a city-dweller, come on out to the country. The rolling landscape, even in winter, can be quite inspiring. I see more than seven shades of brown (an a whole lotta white) outside my window right now.

9. If you can’t get to the city or the country, go ahead and watch some TV. Now, I’m not a big fan of TV, and I went several years without seeing an episode of everyone’s favorite Sunday-night drama. However, when I finally turned it on, I smacked my forehead. What a great source for fashion and jewelry inspiration! The same can be said for lots of sitcoms and even the nightly news.

10. Just do it. Jump in, get going, bite off more than you can chew. You’ll never get anywhere if you don’t get started. Even if you have to un-do everything you’ve done, doing something is much better than doing nothing.

Big A** Book Review

I've been crafting for as long as I can remeber, and I edit craft books for a living, so I can be a harsh judge of projects sometimes. Imagine my surprise when The Big-Ass Book of Crafts, by Mark Montano, landed on my desk, on loan from a co-worker. Within 45 minutes I had ordered my own copy, and it just arrrived today. Why do I like this book so much? The ideas are fresh and diverse. They are well executed. The ideas are edgy enough to please my teenagers, but based on sound design and construction ideas that I can easily modify to my own taste. I'm not going to keep rambling on and on, just go ahead and buy yourself a copy.

While you're online, check out the Sweet Potato Queen's Big-Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner. It's been a few years since I read this one, but you might as well go ahead and make a batch of Pig Candy as a pre-holiday treat. I had no idea that people atually made this stuff, let alone ate it, but it's amazing. In fact, it's so adicting that I've never made it again just to save myself and my family.

Weekend Face-lift

Ours is a 100+ year old farmhouse, but the previous owners had painted the porch ceiling bright pink. The paint was peeling, the boards were buckling, etc. etc. DH has worked very hard this spring renovating the ceiling (beautiful bead board), painting the posts and the floor, and repairing the doors. I love the new gray floor, the gray and black screen door with black hardware, and the antique lights we found. Now it was time for me to spruce the rest up.

Of course, I had the HGTV narration going in my head the whole time, I just couldn't figure out what show I was "on"-- Design on a Dime? Decorating Cents? Curb Appeal? Anyway, I bought two cans of red spray paint, went to town on my weather-worn wicker chairs, quickly realized I didn't have enough spray paint, sent DH out for more, and here's the result:
I am so happy. Then, I hit the garden store and everything was 75% reduced. I scored some great plants and didn't feel bad for being so late in the game. Here's the view from the chairs, toward the front of the house:


My crafty friends are finally where they belong. Now, hopefully we'll get a few mosquito-free evenings to enjoy all this before the snow begins to fly!

Altered You!

Today is the official "on sale" date for Altered You! Don't forget about my virtual book signing -- purchase a copy of either book, let me know via e-mail or this blog, and I'll send you a signed book plate.

August is Craft-With-What-You-Have month

Nothing I hate more than having to buy things to make things. When I was working on the books last summer, I felt that I was constantly hitting the store, looking for the perfect clasp or trim. Needless to say, my stash overfloweth my workspace, so it’s time to use things up! For the next month (and into the foreseeable future) I am going to hit the reserves for my materials, making things from what I have, and not falling for the siren song of the 40% off coupon.

I decided to make some earrings for my friend Nickie’s birthday. In the spirit of craft-with-what-you-have, I got out the jewelry supplies. The first thing I noticed was that my findings and accent beads are quite depleted, thanks to all that went into Mostly Metals. I settled on some lacquer-red shell pearls and decided to play with some wire wrapping. I always have trouble making symmetrical earrings, but hey – it’s the organic look that’s charming, isn’t it? I really wanted to use lever-back findings, but did I have any silver in my stash? No. I ended up making a pair of hooks, because I wanted the ear wire gauge to be the same as the earrings. At the last minute I added a 4mm black onyx bead to each wire. I love the results. And, I never would have ended up with this if I started my journey at the store. Here's a picture that's a little out of focus, but you'll get the idea.

Kitchen Sink Chemistry

We’ve been talking about altering metals to achieve patinas around the office lately. It got me thinking about some of the things I learned growing up … for example, my mom said to never set the table for Sunday brunch with the good silver. Why? I always thought it was just one of those rules, but now I know the sulfur in the egg yolks will tarnish the silver. It’s a great effect on, say, a byzantine chain maille bracelet, but it’s a pain on the tines of your silver forks. My friend Susan said her mom always wiped the bottom of the spaghetti pot with a little leftover sauce before she washed it. Could it be that the tomato has an effect on copper? Of course, and ketchup works just as well. I’ve also noticed that if I put my copper-bottom pots in the dishwasher, they come out as shiny as a new penny. I think it might be because we have soft water (higher sodium content?? I really have no idea). Right now I’m experimenting with ammonia on copper (it is supposed to turn the copper blue). I’m not following any of the “proper” formulas – I just put a piece of scrap copper half submerged in ammonia, and then covered it. For two days the ammonia turned a remarkable color of blue – as blue as Windex. Then, the copper began to turn. I keep rotating the copper a half turn a day, and so far I’m getting an interesting pattern. I’ll post a picture when it’s further along.

A reason to stop weeding

Our weather has been quite erratic this year, leaving me with a tremendous amount of weeds and mosquitoes, frogs living in the vegetable garden, and none of the "real stuff" doing very well. I'm trying to do about an hour a day, but I feel like for every weed I pull, three grow in its place. Whine, whine.

As I was weeding, though, I found some treasure.

Can you guess what these are? They are the seed pods from my ornamental poppy plant, which bloomed about six weeks ago. I really should have cut it back, but I didn't and this is what was left behind. (And yes, about a million tiny poppy seeds came out all over my kitchen counter, just like the kind on your bagel.) I had to stop gardening right away and see what I could do with them. First I tried stamping, but they were too concave. Then I broke out the polymer clay. First I tried earth tones. Some will be pendants, but I am kind of just enjoying them in a little bowl on my table for now. Then, since I had the bright colors out as well, I made a fun version.

You can't really see it, but there's some micro glitter embedded in there. I think it's so interesting how different the two styles look. Well, that's my craft, and I must say, I was much happier once I gave up weeding for the day!

My friend calls

What my friend says: Can you guys come over and help us install a basketball hoop, move a bunch of furniture and stay for dinner?

What I hear: I don’t have to make dinner tonight! My husband has to install a basketball hoop and move a bunch of furniture! I don’t have to make dinner tonight! I can sew today! I get to have a glass of wine with my friends! Boy, will my husband be sore from installing a basketball hoop and moving a bunch of furniture!

So I got out that skirt that needed altering. It's a long denim skirt with a front slit, but the skirt had ripped at the top of the slit. An initial repair attempt was not successful, so the skirt's been in my closet unwearable for about 4 years. Here's how the alteration went:

First I cut along the existing seams to open the skirt a little more, and to compensate for the ripped area.










Then I sewed a gathering stitch along the top of a vintage hand towel.








Here's the detail from the towel.










Then, I simply pieced the towel to the skirt, matching the bottom hem and side seams, filling the opening with the gathered towel. For a last bit of detail, I sewed the trim that I cut off in step one along the front.

Do you have a studio?

If you do, I'm jealous. If you don't, well, you're like most of us. My "studio" consists of a series of plastic boxes filled with craft or sewing supplies and trays with jewelry-making stuff. When I'm not working, they are stashed away. When it's time to make something, out they come and spill all over the dining room table or kitchen counter. Yesterday was a crafty day. Haley and I were working on a project for a certain blog reader. I really enjoy the quiet companionship that comes with working along with someone else. Here's a picture of our studio:

Happy July 4th

We're off to spend the weekend with friends. We're all looking forward to some rest and relaxation. I did fill a big craft bag with an eclectic assortment of stuff, so we'll see if the muse visits and we make anything new. I'm bringing my friend Beth's book, Seed Bead Stitching, with me in hopes that I can learn a few things. And, I'm hoping to be crafting with the kids, which always teaches me something new! So say the pledge, watch some fireworks, eat some great food (see the quote from a few posts ago), hang with your family, and enjoy this very American holiday.