Posts tagged ‘how-to’

When a crafter sets forth on a mission, there is not much that can stop them as long as there are scissors around. The mission I have set upon is to run a “barefoot” half marathon in May. To run “barefoot” I am running in Vibram Five Fingers shoes to protect my soles on the roads from debris and other things. But this is Northeast Ohio, and it’s still essentially winter, so I need socks. This creates a problem when there are toe pockets. Even toe socks get bunched up in there. So I hacked a pair of wool athletic socks to be toeless, but still stay on my foot. I used a small stitch between my big toe and second toe to keep the sock from slipping. It works amazingly well, and once I’m running I have no idea they are there. My feet are warm, which is important. Sorry that my socks are a little dirty in the picture, I just came back from a run, I wanted to make sure that it worked before I posted it!

The other problem I have is wanting to use the Nike + iPod gizmo to track and share my runs. But since I am not using the Nike + shoes, how I needed a hack to keep my sensor on my shoe. I took some commercial vinyl fabric I got from Zero Landfill that matches my shoes and made a pouch for the sensor. There is an overlap for the in the opening flap so I don’t lose the sensor on a run, and there is a strap to loop over the velcro shoe closure on my shoe.  This sensor pouch could also slide over shoelaces if you plan to run with the Nike + thing but have a pair of trainers you really love, so it’s not just for us crazy Barefooters.

In this class, I’ll help you fix your broken jewelry & get it wearable again.  I’m teaching Thursday at Craft Akron.  Here are the details:

Fix your Broken Jewelry Class

$15 plus supplies fee of $5

Bring your broken jewelry stash to class & learn how to restring or resize beaded necklaces and bracelets, reattach missing clasps, or even reconfigure earrings that have lost pieces. Basic supplies included (such as beading wire, thread, ear wires, eye & head pins), but if you have a special clasp you want to use or must have sterling silver ear wires, bring them with you.

Also, if you have a jewelry project you’re stumped on, you’re welcome to bring it to class as well.

Please preregister by at least 24 hours before class at 330-865-1100 or info@craftakron.com.

I made some soup for the Church potluck this Wednesday. It wasn’t until I was almost finished making the soup, and had announced on Facebook that  I planned to bring the soup, that I realized I had no way to transport hot soup without spilling it or letting it cool off.

Hense, the crockpot cozy. I had seen a casserole cozy on the interwebs somewhere (if anyone can remember, or was the maker of this please let me know because I didn’t bookmark it) and it came to mind as the perfect solution to the conundrum I was in.  It was also the perfect excuse to use my new serger because I needed to make it fast.

Essentially this is just a 22″ by 22″ un-quilted quilt, no binding, with over-locked edges. To make it all transportable I made some straps from upholstery weight fabric (over-locked again) and stitched them to the middle of the bottom of the cozy in an X. Then I folded up the corners of the cozy over my crockpot stoneware insert and tied the straps.

It’s machine washable, quick to make, very gift-able, and it kept my soup warm and unspilled all the way to the potluck!

I’m still playing around with Peacock feathers. I really enjoy the froofy aspect of a feather. They even dress up jeans when you wear a feather. But unless you are going for the Thanksgiving Pegent look it is important to shape the feather to the curve of your head.

You need a feather and a pair of sharp scissors that you don’t use for fabric.

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I’ve got a date to teach my Journal Class coming up in the next couple of weeks. I’ve had a quite a few people interested in taking it so I want to make sure you all get the memo.

We’ll be at Craft Akron working on our handbinding skills on Thursday, February 18th, from 2pm to 4pm.

You can even sign up for the class online here. Isn’t that convenient? I’m really looking forward to the class, hope to see you there. Oh, and bring a friend!

I know this update is a little last minute, but I wanted to post about my class at Craft Akron tomorrow. I have been finding time to put the kits together, but not to write my post!

Tomorrow in class, using silk, ribbon, lace, wool and jewelry scraps we will make attractive and versatile head pieces called “fascinators” in time for your Valentine’s Day date. Kit will include everything you need for your project. If there is something you’d like to use for your piece, please bring it to class.

Date: Saturday, January 23
Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Cost: $20 plus $5 kit fee.

This tutorial might be a little simple for many people, but three times in the past month I talked to people who had lost coat buttons. This reminded me of my mom who always says, “You girls (my sister and I) are just so good at sewing… I can’t even sew on a button!” And for a while neither could I, at least not properly. If you sew on a button properly your fabric will hang well, and your button is less likely to pop off again.

This projects requires a needle, sturdy thread (I am using nylon) and the button to be replaced. Thread the needle so that there are two untied thread ends on one side of the eye, and a u-shape to the thread on the other side of the needle. You’ll also need a spacer, such as a toothpick, another needle, or in my case I used a match stick.

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Here’s the jewelry display I put together for the Craft Akron Open House this past Saturday.  I used this metal tree candle holder and put business cards in the candle spots.  Then I made the earring tags from cereal boxes and cut a hole in the top of each so it slides over the metal leaves.

This morning I had a crafty get together with my Sister-in-Law Emily and we worked on some wool owls together. Emily came up to Crafty Mart and bought this owl from one of the vendors. If someone knows who it was, please let me know, I don’t have his contact information and I want to link to his shop if possible. (Juniper informed me that this is from threebearsdesign.com)

We loved this little inspiration owl so much we needed to make some friends for him. Using brown, white and orange wool roving we felted up three more owls.

There were two different techniques we used to make them. The first was to felt four ounces of brown roving with soapy hot water until it was a nice firm ball. There is a tutorial on that here, on theartofmegan’s Flickr. Once we had our round owl bodies we needle felted their facial featured and bellies on. You can see the needle felting tool we used in the picture of Emily.

I love these little guys so much. I would love to make a bunch of other animals to go along with our owl. I was thinking mice and bunnies would be good. But it might make more sense to make reindeer for Christmas. I wonder how I could pull that off?

For my grandpa’s birthday I whipped up a quickie card made mostly from recycled paper in this old song book.

I stamped “happy birthday” and used a circle punch to cut it out and a smaller circle punch with the treble clefs.  I glued these to a gray paper background to make a border.  The hat is folded from scrapbook paper…it’s just a mini version of the hats typically made from newspaper.  The background is a page from the song book.