Tag Archives: crafting

Crafting Last Week

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It was a great turnout at the Craft Social last Friday night! Special thanks to the Craft Social team! Lots of great women came by and doodled with me: Katie, Lindy, Jen, Susan, Karen, Sarah, Susie, Simone, Krissy… wish I had a sign-in sheet so I could remember everyone’s name. Well, there were at least 26 people at the table because I came home with only four handouts. These crafty colleagues were so fun to talk and brainstorm with. My head was spinning when I got home. Good thing I had yoga on Saturday morning. It helped calm me down. I think the future might hold some special projects – I’m checking into the possibilities and will report on them.

On another front, from my sewing table:

Baby Blanket with ribbon tabs

This baby blanket was shipped to my long time friend, Jen, and her husband. They had a new addition to the family, and I was finally able to sit down and sew this. It was my first time working with the cuddly, soft, “bumpy” fabric. Not too bad, but I did have a little trouble with it bunching every so often. The ribbon tabs are a fun add-on for babies, and not that difficult to do. I think choosing the ribbons was harder. At the time of this picture, I hadn’t finished the topstitching around the border, but you get the idea. Abby felt like trying it out for a minute before I washed it the final time.

Testing the baby blanket

My little guy kept himself preoccupied with this puzzle while I finished up. I’m so proud of him.

Boy Genius

I Want to Make All This

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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!”

Felt Holly Corsage from marthastewart.com

** picture from marthastewart.com**

Glitter projects

Felt Holly Corsage

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…

Crafting again at the Chicago Craft Social

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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?

Ribbon and bead book thongs or bookmarks

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…

A magenta design

… I started documenting the different patterns I use. Sort of backwards, but that’s okay. Work in progress.

Doodling notes

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.

Doodle dictionary

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.

Christmas card idea

Hope to see you at my table!

Hanging Frames Somewhere

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Pressed Leaves in Frames

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.

Recycled Paper Coasters

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Recycled Coasters

This is what I do when my kid doesn’t want to go outside, wants to snuggle and watch The Wiggles, Sesame Street and Little Bill. I have a hard time sitting still. So, I took apart a catalog that just came in the mail and made these coasters. Can  you see Martha Stewart’s noggin? Heh. Wish I could take credit for these little paper projects, but I found this tutorial a while ago on Jess Jones’s blog, How About Orange. After following her blog a little while, I actually met her in person this past Spring at the first Craft Social. My coasters need a little work because I didn’t exactly follow her directions, nor did I have the computer by my side, but they work!

While this is a departure from my seemingly endless conversation about food, it’s made me think about how this journal is evolving. I’m contemplating extracting all the food (and some entertaining) entries and starting a separate blog. I really thought I’d be talking about crafting more often, and no doubt, it has a special place in my heart, but somehow I take more pictures of food and have this want to share it online. Not only that, I’m finding it difficult to make time for crafting, but hey, everyone has to eat, right?

I have no name ideas, I don’t even know how to do the task. WordPress for Dummies seems to be a good purchase right about now. But, I haven’t yet made the executive decision to lop off the food conversations. There are pros and cons to having everything in one place.

Nibs, Ink and Pizza

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My ink, pens and nibs are out again. It’s been a while since I’ve played with them. But if they’re out, I’m usually addressing envelopes. This one is for my sister-in-law’s bridal shower that we’re hosting here at our home.

I love calligraphy; I find beautiful handwriting fascinating. I’m self-taught, lots of books, no classes, but I’m starting to think it might be fun to take one. I bought my first pen set in high school at a local drugstore. That was late 1980’s. It’s the Sheaffer fountain pen kind with three nibs and little ink cartridges – it still works. Then my cousins gave me a Murano glass pen and writing ink around college or soon after I graduated. I was so hooked. Just recently I ventured out with dip pens, which is lots of fun. There was one summer I helped out a couple of friends and addressed wedding invitations for two weddings. The following year I did two more. There are 6 or seven weddings that I’ve been a part of now, I think?

Calligraphy by Julie

The ink I was using was liquid acrylic with metallic particles (gorgeous!) but I kept getting the nib gunked up. The scrap of paper and napkin I was using to wipe down the pen looked really interesting by the time I was done. While I was finishing the envelopes, the kids and husband were making pizza for dinner. Mmmm… it turned out well, considering we don’t make our own pizza often.

Semi-homemade pizza

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