Archive for the ‘crafting’ Category
Acorns and Projects
We’ve lived in our home for four years this summer and never have we seen or heard so many acorns falling from the red oak that lives just off our patio. I have no idea why it’s happening this summer, maybe because we had it pruned last winter? Maybe it’s the weather? Our daughter’s room is also on that side of the house, and she woke up this morning startled from the knocking sounds. The patio has shards of split acorns, fragments of acorn tops and toppled potted plants from the squirrels. I bet it’s one reason our little woodland friends have left our vegetable garden alone this late in the season, too.
Almost every morning, I’ve gone outside to assess the garden, the lawn and landscaping and after walking around bits of acorn shells get embedded in my flip flops. But, now and again, I find whole acorns and of course, I pocket them. It reminds me of picking and collecting pine cones everywhere I went. (Heck, I do that now with the kids when we’re at the park.) I’m fascinated with the little acorn shapes, and more curious about what I might do with them. Right now, they’re sitting on our dining room buffet. But maybe…
…maybe I’ll turn them into something later this Fall.
Nature Craft – Acorn Fairies at Blissfully Domestic
Harvest Napkin Ties at Martha Stewart
Something similar to this Acorn Necklace at Heather Donohue Crafts
Checking out Upcoming Craft Shows
I’m going through some major writer’s cramp lately. Maybe it’s the start of school, maybe it’s me overextending myself, as usual, or maybe it’s Typical-Me expecting to write earth-shattering, life-changing posts all the time. Could be topic overload too. Could be burn-out or fallout from attending the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show. Everywhere I turned, incredible displays were in my face.
Display for Prima Products
Tell you what, I have a backlog including a couple of craft locations and restaurant visits. I just haven’t felt the initial inspirational spark to start writing. Look at that journal I saw from CHA… I’m pretty sure that was a Donna Downey sample. So beautiful. Talk about inspired writing… sheesh.
Before the school year and activities completely swallow me up, and before I get even further behind, I wanted to share these events to anyone interested out there!
- Coming to Chicago in September Renegade Craft Fair
- Also in September, Craft Social. While not a craft show per se, it’s a blast of an evening with make-and-take projects, light eats and lots of friendly faces. Check out the social from last spring.
- Urban Craft Uprising is out in the Pacific Northwest and is taking applications for their Winter show. I visited the Summer show while I was in Seattle.
- Keep a lookout for Indie Jubilee next year… I missed their inaugural show this past summer while I was away.
Tags: craft and hobby association, craft show, craft social, crafts, fun
T-Shirt Quilt in Progress
I’m happy to report, some significant progress has been made on the quilt over the last week. With the quilt taking shape, I was starting to ask myself, why did I start with this project? Couldn’t I have started with a smaller quilt? I suppose my “starter” projects were the craft aprons I made almost two years ago, or the baby blankets I’ve sewn now and again.
Last week, I got over the “still-cutting-fabric” hump, and am piecing the shirts and borders together now. I’ll have to return to the cutting mat later this week (hopefully) for the sashes between the columns. I picked a “coal grey” Kona cotton as the border – good neutral with the rainbow field of colors.
Now I feel like I’m in the “I’m-almost-there” or “Am-I-going-to-get-through-this” stage? (Do a lot of quilters/DIY-ers go through this?) And it’s not like I’m NOT enjoying myself. I actually love the listening to the sewing machine late at night, or when the kids are playing with each other. There’s this peaceful, rhythmic drone, except for when I busted the sewing needle one time because I didn’t take out the pins as I was sewing (which I normally do). It was an awful THUNK sort of sound, but just a small delay changing out the needle and I was up and running again.
It’s just that this project has been in the making for a long time. I’m learning to be patient with myself especially when I have to get friendly with my seam ripper. Thank goodness, it’s only happened three times so far.
Reporting from Craft & Hobby Association Summer Show 2010
There’s something to be said about freelance writing for Craft Critique. Not only am I able to see what’s up and coming in terms of crafting products, but I’m surrounded by all these creative people and it’s awesome feeding off of each other.
Hanging out with the ladies yesterday was so much fun: met a few fellow Critique-ers in person, laughed a lot, learned a lot. I came home after twelve hours of walking around 260 booths of amazing craft product and inspiration… talking to lots of movers and shakers, taking pictures (150+ pictures!) of incredible projects, booths and watching demonstrations and make-n-take projects. I also came home with much reading and creating to do, not to mention WRITING. If you wander over to Craft Critique, get ready for some eye candy! I’ll be covering a handful of manufacturers and products. My first CHA Summer Show article on Jillibean Soup is already posted.
I really enjoyed seeing Tim Holtz in person, and meeting Donna Downey! Like the geeky crafter that I am, I brought along my book in hopes I might meet her. She was so nice and approachable, like we’ve met before, and I hope we meet again.
Awesome. “Live a life inspired.”
I have every intention, Donna. Thank you.
Tags: craft and hobby association, craft show, crafts, summer
Making Our Own Rotating Barrel Composter
Example barrel composter at class
** NOTE ** In an effort to get this posted quickly, I may not have all the dimensions, products or resources listed as I would like to. I’ll come back and update. I promise!
In trying to be more “green” at home, I finally finished putting our compost barrel together. Of all the recycling-earth friendly things we’ve started to do here, I’m most excited about this, but it probably shouldn’t have taken as long as it did. I started it in March at our local park district. (Embarrassed, yes.) Since I wasn’t able to stay for the whole class (1-1/2 hours), I jsut made sure I had all the pieces that were needed to finish and brought everything home. Of course, there was every intention to get it done on the first nice weekend, but that weekend went by, as did several others… and here we are today.
There have been a few inquiries about how to put it together. I was able to take a few pictures at class, which will hopefully be helpful with the instructions.
Materials needed
Legs
- (2) Plastic sawhorse brackets (hardware included)
- 4 pieces of 2×4 at 31″ to 32″ lengths each for legs
- 2 pieces of 2×4 at 12″ each for pipe surface
Composter
- (1) Food grade plastic barrel
- (2) hinges
- (2) barrel bolts
- (2) pull handles
- (1) 1-1/2″ diameter PVC pipe – 60″ length
- (4) 1-1/4″ EMT/pipe brackets
- several wire nuts to cap off screws
Equipment
- Jigsaw
- Hammer
- Tape measure/ruler
- Hole drill bit
- Power drill (cordless is easier, but not necessary)
- Drill bits
- Permanent marker
Making the stands
This was essentially like making legs for a sawhorse except I didn’t place a long 2×4 across the legs. Instead I used two small pieces of 2×4. (See the pictures above and below of the finished barrel.)
Find the center of the 12″-2×4 and drill a hole to fit the bracket bolt. Center the sawhorse bracket on hole and hammer it down in place. Take the piece and place it on the sawhorse bracket. Take your assembly and put it on the ground upside down (ready to receive the legs). Insert leg pieces into the bracket/holders, hammer to secure, then place center support piece in the middle and tighten bolt. It may help to have someone steady the legs.
Preparing the barrel
On barrel ends, mark the centers. Drill a hole on both ends large enough for the 60″ PVC pipe.
Cutting the door
The door will be approximately 11″ x 11″. Your barrel may have seams (ribs or lines) that will be helpful for marking. From rib to rib on my barrel, I have 11 inches. I marked a square accordingly.
Before cutting the door, install the hinges and barrel bolts so that the door piece wouldn’t fall in after you cut it. To have the door open up like a trash chute, the barrel bolts are on top and the hinges are on the bottom. Place the pieces in position (no real measurements here) and traces locations and holes. Predrill all your holes with a small bit (5/16″ worked well) – it makes life so much easier!
At this point, take the jigsaw and cut ONLY at the hinge and bolt locations (4 cuts). Make sure your cuts go slightly past the hardware so you have somewhere for the jigsaw to start easily when you cut the rest of the square. Then install the hinges and bolts by hand making sure not to strip the screws (that’s actually me in the picture).
Cut out the rest of the square. After it’s finished, open the door to check if everything is cut correctly.
Install the two pull handles the same way, marking its location and predrilling holes. Basically, the pulls go on opposite sides of the barrel, above and below the door.
Using wire nuts, I cover all the screws on the inside.
Lastly, drill a number of random holes all around the barrel… but not through the door (plenty of air space around there).
Mounting the composter on the stands
Place your PVC pipe through the barrel. That’s the easy part.
It helps to have friends around for placing the barrel, but I was able to have my two kids hold the legs/stands upright and in place, while I maneuvered the barrel holding on to the pull handle. Once you get the PVC pipe on the legs, take a couple of pipe brackets and secure to the 2×4. I had to angle the screws in a bit. They were slightly long, and would have gone through the 2×4 had I drilled straight down. As it is, you want to angle the screws in, to make sure the brackets are tight against the pipe when you secure it to the wood.
What to Compost
- Coffee grounds
- Tea leaves/bags
- Eggshells
- Fruit and vegetable scraps (I’ve been told that banana peels, orange peels and peaches have high levels of pesticides, so don’t compost them if you’re going to use your “black gold” to grow food.)
- Shredded newspaper (for carbon)
- Leaves, straw, hay, grass clippings
Do Not Compost
- Deadly weeds
- Diseased plants
- Human or pet waste
- Meat/fish scraps or bones
- Oily/fatty food products
- Dairy products
- Chemically treated wood products
Tags: backyard, compost, composting barrel, garden, home, recycled, tutorial
Paper Folding on the Airplane
On the return flight home, I was feeling a little fidgety. No crafting for about two weeks… but since I went to Urban Craft Uprising and saw lots of handmade goods around Granville Island, Canada, I was antsy. So, to pass the time, I started thumbing through the airline magazine. The semi-finished sudoku and crossword puzzles didn’t capture my attention that much, and I had read through the steakhouse directory too many times. Onward to the Sky Mall magazine! I enjoy virtual shopping as much as anyone else especially when one magazine has business books-on-tape, concrete garden fountains and pet gear under the same cover.
But that didn’t last too long either… without scissors, glue, knitting needles, or even a crochet hook, what was a girl to do? (Incidentally, these are all probably unsafe or inappropriate things to bring on a plane now.)
I made a paper tree! Actually I made two: one on the way to Phoenix and the one in the picture was on the way home. I both cases I left them on the plane. Someone (cleaning crew, probably) might have found it interesting, or at the very least, amusing? My husband called me the “(paper) tree bandit”. I thought of it as free art. Want to make some on your next plane ride? It’s really easy, and the instructions are here.
Tags: airplane, paper, plane ride activity, recycled paper, tea, vacation
