The other day my Facebook status was this:
“I get WAY too excited when my Martha Stewart Living magazine comes in the mail! Eeeeeeeee – what crafting and cooking pleasures await me!”
** picture from marthastewart.com**
Decorative Decal Pillar Candles
The real question is, when will I set aside time to do this? I promise to update on the progress of my handmade holiday 2009…
This past summer, I attended the second Chicago Craft Social and led a table with this craft, Beaded Book Marks (a.k.a. Book Thongs or Book Wedgies). I had no idea how busy I would be at the table, but it was a great showing. I took no other pictures that evening. I wish I did; it was tons of fun. I really ought to post a tutorial on these, eh?
So, I’m leading a table at this Friday’s Craft Social (Holiday version)! I’m going to tailor my latest obsession, scribble art (or doodling), into something people can learn and take home. From this…
… I started documenting the different patterns I use. Sort of backwards, but that’s okay. Work in progress.
Tonight I took my notes, made a one page dictionary that I can hand out, and I’m planning on demonstrating the more complicated or complex designs on my daughter’s white board. None of them are really that difficult, but they might look incredibly intricate. Makes me feel like I’m brilliant.
From twenty different patterns, you can mix and match (I’m bringing multi-sided dice, more than six sides), do little variations on them, and voila, you too can doodle crazy little things and maybe make a holiday card, gift tags, an iron-on t-shirt applique… the possibilities are endless. I’m working on our family Christmas card in black and white. This picture was a first attempt.
Hope to see you at my table!
Hard to get motivated when I’ve been a little under the weather, but life goes on. Ollie took a few pictures of me yesterday as I was trying to rest on the couch. Two-year olds don’t understand the concept of resting, and I’m not sure how to more clearly explain that “Mommy is not feeling well. Mommy is a little sick.”
He said, “I ts-icky, too, Mom! Chin mine chin, Mom. ” He doesn’t say “my”. Chinning: that’s just one of his ways of snuggling. He totally gets that way when he’s super tired or just wants to say he loves you, and I’m so glad I had a moment to capture it. I love when he smushes his little cheek onto my cheek, or his forehead against my face. It hurts a little now that he’s older, though. Thanks, Little Man, for sympathizing. I sat on the floor afterwards and played a little Candyland with him.
The upside to sitting on the couch, while the fever shivers are subdued by Tylenol, is having a little time to sketch another piece.
I think I’m getting the hang of this. It’s pretty easy to do when you want to avoid washing dishes, folding laundry and the like. I’ve done a couple more since in magenta and green Sharpie. My cousin suggested I put them on t-shirts. Anyone out there use Cafepress.com?
I’ve always loved doodling. I used to cover my textbooks with brown paper bags (way before the cool pre-printed book covers) and by the end of the school year, they’d be covered in swirls and all sorts of patterns. So here’s my re-entry into the doodling world… I’m armed with my Sharpies and sketch book that I’ve had since college. It’s the perfect technique for me too. I can draw for a few minutes and leave it, come back to it after a little bit, or the next day or whenever. Maybe I can turn some of this into a coloring book for the kids. Abby and I made one together and she thought it was cool.
Please, feel free to look at the whole drawing by clicking on it. The full page doodle had a funny blob in the middle of the paper, so I tried to just color it in. Not so sure I like it, but it’s okay. More doodling later.
This may be one of my more visibly Martha Stewart-esque home decor crafts. I collected a few leaves around our neighborhood and pressed them in between the pages of a heavy phone book (Yeah, that’s what they’ve been reduced to. Never mind actually looking up phone numbers in them.) You’ve got to love autumn leaves. The colors are outstanding. Ginkgo leaves might be my favorite next to maple leaves. I forgot about my ginkgo leaves drying- for a year! But I re-found them, and added them to the maple leaves and red oak leaves from the backyard. The question is, where do I hang these up?
I was originally going to hang them in our guest bathroom in the basement. But they’re so pretty, they could go in our dining room or maybe our bedroom? You see the struggle I have with hanging pictures and frames? I probably would have more things up on the wall if it wasn’t for my complete lack of faith that I’m placing them in “just the right spot”. This is also just one reason why I’m not an interior designer or decorator.
