Christmas card wall art

When I moved out on my own, I planned on sending out Christmas cards.  Every year I said, "This is the year!"  I even made a bunch of cards once.  But the season slipped by, year after year, and in 20+ years, I have yet to send out a single card.  I know... I suck.

Fortunately, though, other people do not suck.  We get cards from Steve's coworkers and from some family members and friends.  I feel awful that we don't reciprocate.  Maybe one of these years.  :)

I do save all of the cards with our Christmas decorations so we can look at them again years down the road.  We're amassing quite a stack!

While all the cards are pretty and festive, every once in a great while we get one that I absolutely love.  This year we got one that I didn't want to keep hidden away with the other cards, so I decided to turn it into a piece of art.

This is how the little wall in our entryway usually looks:

For Christmas, I removed two of these pictures and replaced them with seasonal art - a card that I framed ages ago and a framed poinsettia cross-stitch that Steve's mother found at a second-hand shop.

Steve and I went to the dollar store today and got a frame that would go great with our peach-colored wall.  In case I couldn't remember what size the card was (my memory is really flaky lately), I took a quick picture of it with my phone with two rulers measuring two sides:

This picture really doesn't do this card justice.  I don't know if any of them will.

Since it's an odd-sized card (5.5" x 8"), we bought an 8" x 10" frame, and I cut a piece of taupe cardstock to that size.  I adhered the card on it and wrote on the inside some basic information - the full names of who the card is from, who it was given to (our full names), and the year.  That way when it ends up at a second-hand store decades from now and someone decides to take it apart, there will be a little bit of history there.  Call me sentimental.

Here's the finished result:

No, it really doesn't look as good in pictures.  The birds and the ornaments on the trees are metallic and really pop.  You'll just have to come see it in person.

And here's how that wall looks now:

You can see the peach a little better in this picture.  I had to close the dining room curtains and turn on the entryway light because there was quite a glare in all three pictures.

Now that that's all done, I took everything down and put the frames in a bin.  I should have framed the card sooner so I could have enjoyed it longer, but there's always next year.

I have one more picture to replace.  That can wait until next Christmas, I think.

Minion pumpkins

I know I owe you a RAW: Merge recap, but I haven't had the time to dedicate to putting it together.  Soon, I hope!  It was a really fun night, and I met some very nice people.

My husband, Steve, likes to do our pumpkins for Halloween.  He usually carves something, but this year he wanted to do something different.  He had seen posts on Facebook showing pumpkins painted to look like the Minions.  We love the Despicable Me and Minions movies, so I said that was a great idea.

We bought three pumpkins roughly shaped like the three main characters from the latest movie.  Steve cut off the bottoms of pop cans (sorry - here in Wisconsin they're called "soda" cans), inserted them into the pumpkins, and started painting.

Here he is in process:

Before painting, Steve had first sketched what he wanted to do.  He used a ball point pen, which turned out to be a bad idea:

Can you see the lines above and below the black?  Those are pen marks after two coats of acrylic paint.  Oh, well.  Unless you scrutinize the Minions, you won't be able to tell.  Just learn from our mistake and use pencil if you're going to draw on a pumpkin before painting.

Here are the finished Minions:

From left to right: Bob is laughing at the funny costumes the kids will be wearing, Kevin reacts to the scary costumes, and Stuart is waving to everyone walking by.

It's a really crappy day today - cold and rainy.  We wanted the pumpkins to be seen from the sidewalk and road, so I suggested we put our patio table and umbrella out so they will be visible and remain dry.

There have been few trick-or-treaters so far (one hour left!), but they've all loved the pumpkins.  Good job, honey!

Hand-tooled copper cat design

A year ago or so I was looking through some old things and found one of my art projects.  It was a copper picture of a flower that I made in "Per. 7", so that must have been Junior High.  I only vaguely remember it and have no idea how I got the lovely black color for the background:

I really like it, and since it fits the flower theme of my Creative Pursuits brand, it is on display in my studio.

I never thought about doing anything other than this to a copper sheet (jewelry designing has kept me very busy!), but look what my mother and stepfather gave me for my birthday this past weekend:

Yes, that's right - it's copper!  The piece is an original Sandi Obertin hand-tooled copper design that has been hand-colored using a special enameling technique that Sandi developed.  I called her today to talk about the piece and to tell her I was going to blog about it, and she told me that her metalwork pieces also include clocks and other nature theme wall art.

This piece is perfect for our living room that we painted last year in two different peaches.  It also has a touch of purple (always a big hit for me), and the cat looks a bit like our Pixel:

I had a lovely chat with Sandi and found out that her whole family are artists:  her husband Lynn, her daughters Lisa and Jennifer, and her 11.5 year old grandson!  They sell as a family at farmers markets and art/craft shows.

If you're in the Kenosha area, check the Obertins out at the Kenosha Harbor Market on Saturday, August 30, 2014 and on Saturday, September 27, 2014 from 9 am to 2 pm.  They'll also be at the UW Parkside Art and Craft Show on November 22, 2014.  Online you can check out some of their items at the Creative Arts by Obertin Etsy shop.

Thanks, Sandi, for letting me blog about your beautiful piece, and thanks to Mom and John for buying it for me so I could blog about it (and to hang in the living room, of course)!  :) 

Ott lights

I'm still developing all of those ideas I told you about yesterday.  I showed the designs to a few friends, and it caused a huge upheaval in my plans.  It seems that my rope is not completely unique.  It looks a lot like what two other designers have done, but on closer inspection of one of them, my technique is a little different.  It might be the case with the other designer's rope, too.  I'll do a bit more research and get back to you with the results.

The other design I was working on has also possibly been done.  A friend said she saw it on Etsy, but I can't find it there or anywhere else online.  I'm going to keep designing and hope that it's different enough that no one gets upset.

So while I've been working away like a busy little bee, I don't have anything new I want to show you at this time.  Fortunately, my friend Karen from Virginia (hi, Karen!) asked me a question about Ott lights in an e-mail yesterday, so I'm going to talk about that.

Before I do that, I have an addition to Sunday's blog post on good online sites for bead shopping.  Marilee Rockley, a friend and a world-renowned (I assume) tatting authority, recommends Bello Modo.  She said, "I like their selection of Vintaj and their steampunk buttons! They also have many kinds of beads and crystals."  I've added all that to the list.  Check out this steampunk tatted belt she just made with items from Bello Modo!  If you have any sites to add, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

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Now, finally, here's Karen's question:

I hope that you are getting rested from your bead retreat. I really enjoyed the pictures. I see a lot of the attendees have Ott lights. I've heard about them but I don't really know a great deal of information. Are they wonderful?

She's referring to the picture I had on my Spring retreat day 1 post:

Outside the mound of snacks is a ring of Ott lights.  Cords and extension cords are everywhere, and it's a lovely mess.

Here's what I replied back to Karen with a little more tossed in now that I've had some more time to think about it and to do some editing.  I'm including some pictures of my own lights.  Be warned - even though I've done a lot of cleaning, my desk is still a "lovely mess".  From what I understand, it's good for creativity to have a messy desk, so I'm not fretting about it, especially since now I have lots of space to work.

See?  Pixel in all his enormity is lounging comfortably on my desk, and I still have lots of space to work.  Wow.  That picture really does look like he's huge with a tiny, tiny head.  That can't be right.

Back to the topic!  Yes, Ott lights are really wonderful, especially in a room where there isn't a lot of light, like an open beading room or a living room.  It reduces eyestrain, and the colors are true to life.  Other lights cast yellowish tints, and it's harder to pick colors if you can't see how they'll really look out in the world.  You can read more about Ott lights and the difference between the different types of lighting here.  You can see the biggest difference in the "white" backgrounds.

The lights in the retreat pictures are the best ones for taking places because they fold up.  Here's mine folded and in use:

It's compact with a great light, and this model has a handle that folds down if it bugs you sticking up like that.  If you're going to bring a light like this to a group outing, you might want to put your name on it.  The same goes for your tools and your beading triangles (which tend to get tossed around from person to person in beading frenzies).  You want to make sure you're going home with what you came with!

There are battery operated LED Ott lights, but those tend to be too dim for many people.  They're great in a pinch - dim light is better than no light - but I wouldn't rely on them for heavy use.

There is quite a range of Ott light styles from desktop versions to ones that sit on the floor.  A few have a bit of storage (like this one), and a few have magnifiers (like this one).  JoAnn Fabrics has a really good selection of Ott lights on their website.  This one is what I have on my desk, but I had to tape a piece of paper around the dome because I have problems with unshaded lights shining in my eyes.  It works well, but it's not really portable.

Even that much light is too hard on my eyes.  Fortunately, the dome swivels, so when I work I swivel it down so my eyes are happy.  The base is good for stashing various items that I don't want to lose in the maelstrom my desk usually is: loose beads, finished pieces, things that need to be fixed, tags I need to put back on jewelry for sale, and other miscellaneous things.

If you're going to get a new light, I'd wait until you have a 50% off coupon or when there's a sale.  They're high quality, so they're pricey.  It's not something you'd buy without a little bit of planning.  Make sure that the light you buy is an Ott light, because the JoAnn site's desk and table lamp page lumps all the lights together.  There are some non-Ott lights that say they're good for crafting, but I can't vouch for them.  JoAnn Fabrics frequently has Ott light sales, so you wouldn't have to wait long.  Ooh - it looks like right now they're having a 50% off sale!  Double ooh - look at this purple portable one!!  I wouldn't have to put my name on that one, would I?  Hmm... my birthday is only 5 months away.  (hint hint)

Another option is to get a daylight bulb at the hardware store and put in a lamp you already have.  I bought a few $10 desk lamps at Target and light bulbs to go in them so I can (hopefully, eventually) take good pictures.  I'm still struggling with that, but it's not the light's fault.  The one thing to keep in mind with desk lamps is to not get bulbs that would go over the recommended wattage.  You can, but monitor your lamp closely (so it doesn't get too hot) and only use it for short periods of time.

Here's my Target $10 desk lamp with a daylight bulb in it:

Lately I've been using both desk lamps for taking quick pictures:

It's not ideal, but I think the extra lighting has helped.

Oh - if you're going to buy an Ott light floor lamp, I recommend reading the reviews.  I've been beading at night while we watch TV, but it's far too dim in there.  I went searching online and really liked this one - it would have gone really well with the new colors in our living room, but after reading the reviews I decided to not get it.  A number of people loved it, but a number of people said it was too top-heavy and kept falling over.  Oops!  I was saved by further searching by my mother.  They had an extra floor lamp in the attic, and the color of it was perfect!  Steve bought a new lampshade at the Fleet Farm of all places, and it's gorgeous.  I need a three-way daylight bulb for it still, but even without that it's been a big improvement.

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If you've been reading this and wondering if Steve and I get checks from the Ott light folks, I'm sad to tell you that we do not.  Our name is Otte (pronounced Ottee), not Ott.

Oh, geez.  I've been blogging so long that there's been a "changing of the cats":

This is why my floor is so messy.

Domino gluing (not exciting but necessary)

I've mentioned before that this weekend is the Loose Bead Society spring retreat and that I'm teaching my stamped domino class.  Part of that preparation is gluing the bails on the dominoes so once the sealer is dry (about 24 hours after spraying), the piece can be worn with no further delay.

I had some problems with the last batch I glued, so last night I got settled on the couch to sand the dominoes, bails, and a few pin backs.  Sanding the surfaces gives them some "teeth" instead of being super smooth, and the glue will hopefully work better.  The Voice premiere was on, so I didn't mind doing it.  I glued more than enough for ten students, guessing on how many dominoes should be portrait and how many should be landscape.  I also did 5 pins.  In my experience, pins have not been as popular as pendants.

Have you ever wondered - in the middle of the night when you can't sleep - what 45 drying dominoes look like?  Here - I'll help you out:

That's so exciting I'm sure it'll put you to sleep in no time.  I know I was lulled into a near-drowsy state while sanding.  Perhaps that's what I should do the next time I have insomnia.

While I was going through the dominoes I saw a number of them with the same number of dots on each half.  I'm sure there's a name for that, but I've never played dominoes.  I thought they were cute, so I picked one with purple dots, sanded and glued the bail on the blank side, and applied some "Slate" (gray) alcohol ink to give it a bit of a marble look.  When I dabbed it with alcohol after inking, some brown elements came out.  That was odd, but I think it's subtle and adds depth:

It's really hard to see in the picture.  The color of the dots is a bit redder in real life, but you get the idea.

In non-domino related news, Steve has caught my cold.  He's absolutely miserable and is currently under the influence of Nyquil.  I hope he feels better soon so he can frolic while I'm in Racine frolicking.

Craft magazine review: Piecework Magazine

Today is the last day to enter the contest for the free Owl and The Pussy Cat Hat pattern.  E-mail traci@creative-pursuits.biz to enter!

I'm still working on my grown-up looking scarf to go with my grown-up looking hat.  I am much happier with how it's turning out now, and hopefully I'll be able to show it to you soon.  I bought a pair of 99 cent black "stretchy" gloves (the only kind that work for me) to replace the lavender ones I've been wearing with my new coat.  Steve said, "You're becoming a fashion plate."  That makes me laugh.

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In the last 10 years or so I've found myself fascinated by the origins and backgrounds of things like words, phrases, and foods.  I used to be a frequent listener of the "A Way With Words" podcast.  In their own words:

A Way with Words is an upbeat and lively hour-long public radio show about language examined through history, culture, and family. Co-hosts Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett talk with callers from around the world about slang, grammar, old sayings, word origins, regional dialects, family expressions, and speaking and writing well. They settle disputes, play word quizzes, and discuss language news and controversies. The show is heard by more than a quarter-million listeners each week over the air and by podcast.

I don't know why I stopped listening.  I need to start again, because I do find it fascinating.

When I started knitting I found myself wondering how people figured out how to do all of these stitches with just two pointed sticks.  When I started circular knitting I wondered how people invented double pointed needles, and when I made my first cable I wondered who invented that and how they thought it up.  I've also wondered how things have changed over the years.

I subscribe to a number of the Interweave e-mails including Jewelry Making Daily and Crochet Me.  Of course I get advertising e-mails, too.  One day I got an ad for Piecework Magazine.  It said they had "a perspective on historical needlework you won't find anywhere else!"  I was intrigued and read on:

Do you love history and needlework? Are you interested in vintage techniques and patterns, stories of needleworkers past and present, and heirloom-quality projects you can make? Then you need to take a look at PieceWork.

PieceWork is the only magazine for those who adore historical embroidery, knitting, crochet, embellished clothing, and exquisite lacework—all made by hand. With beautiful photography and well-researched accounts, every issue explores the life and work of traditional needleworkers, takes an in-depth look at needlework techniques, and gives you instructions for making heirloom-quality projects of your own.

I said, "Oh?  I am interested in all of that!"  I looked up how much it was in print ($24 for 6 issues) and digitally ($21.95 for 6 issues), and I chose the digital option for my Zinio app on the iPad.  The free gift that was offered for print subscriptions didn't seem to apply for digital subscriptions, but I'm okay with that.  I prefer to not have more clutter in the house and to save a few dollars.

My first issue (November/December 2013) arrived in my Zinio library very quickly after subscribing, and the current issue (January/February 2014) came about a week later.

I was enthralled from the first story I read: "The Roosters in the Gore: A Connecticut Mitten Mystery in Two Museums".  It was about the mittens shown on the cover:

The article describes how extraordinary this child's mittens are for around 1875.  For example, there were no stranded color work mittens in the era's periodicals, so these were likely designed by the knitter.  It also shows a matching pair of mittens knitted for a boy that they found in a museum in another state!  The author does some digging and found that the recipients (Clara B. Barrows and Robert Mason) were related.  How neat is that?  The pattern for the mittens follows the article with a few modifications to smooth out the decreases at the top of the fingers.

The next article is "Big Lessons from Little Stitches: Needlework Magazines and the Education of Young Girls in the Early Twentieth Century".  That gives some historical perspective on needlework in the 1920's and 1930's and even has snippets from the actual magazines.  I loved reading the actual words written to little girls about how to make the outline stitch, which is "quick and easy to do, once you have learned just how to do it, and practiced a little - which is true of other things besides stitches, you know."

The rest of the magazine was just as interesting and was a trip around the world and through time.  The articles include: Flappers' beaded dresses, a fox traveling bag inspired by an afghan pattern from 1862, a Chinese silk baby carrier to knit, and First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley's 4000 pairs of crocheted slippers.  Many of the articles had companion projects, and the instructions seem very easy to follow.

Here's the cover of the most current issue:

Aren't those gloves gorgeous?  The pattern, along with information on where they're from, is included!

As this issue says, it's all about knitting.  A number of the articles talk about how little we know of a workman's attire.  When pieces of clothing are found, either in an archeologist's dig or in a shipwreck, it's a monumental task to not only figure out how it was made but with what kind of fiber.  In the first article, a grave was found in a bog in Shetland, and they found a hat in perfect condition.  The research team "plied, spun, knitted, and fulled several different wools until they began to understand their behavior, trying to duplicate the original inner fabric of the man's hat to determine if his belongings were made with Shetland wool."  There is a picture of 9 different swatches tagged with yarn information and knitting needle sizes.

There's also an article about excavations in Magdalena de Cao Viejo in South America and the stockings found there.  They might be the oldest knit garments in the New World.  There's a companion project of socks inspired by the two knit stockings they found.

Other projects are two men's hats recreated from those worn on ships, those gorgeous Sanquar gloves from the cover, Lithuanian wrist warmers, a Spencer jacket (think Jane Austen), and a baby sweater that is a tribute to children imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Remember when I talked about Paracord?  One crafty woman in Crete took apart the cords from parachutes abandoned by Germans in 1941 and made a wedding dress!


I can't recommend this magazine highly enough.  In just the two issues I've read so far, I've learned so much and appreciate even more how vast and important handicrafts have been throughout the centuries.  The articles draw you in with pictures of original objects, illustrations or photos from the time period being discussed, how the excavation sites look now, and more.  The projects are all very pretty and updated for currently available materials and with any irregularities like pattern repeats worked out.

Each issue is no more than $4 when you subscribe for a year, which is an unbelievable price considering all of the research and history included, not to mention the number of projects.

If you're at all interested in the hows and whys and whens of handicrafts, please consider subscribing to Piecework Magazine.  If you don't like it, I'll knit the General Carleton Cap and eat it.  No, I won't really do that, but I do hope you find the magazine as intriguing and fascinating as I do.  Click here for more information and to subscribe.

(In case you're wondering, I'm not affiliated with Piecework Magazine at all.  I just really, really, really like it!)

Book review: Paracords - Knots from Beginner to Advanced

A number of months ago I started seeing a new trend of jewelry in the craft stores - bracelets made from paracord, which is short for parachute cord.  According to the Wikipedia article, it was first used for parachutes in WWII, and it's now used for other military and survival uses.  Its main appeal is that it's strong and light.  If you make a bracelet or necklace with it, it can be unraveled if needed, like I guess if someone is stuck down a hole or something.  The most common paracord has a "minimum breaking strength of 550 pounds", so I can imagine it would be very handy in a jam.  My survival skills include never going near deep holes.  :)

At some point the crafters got a hold of it and bright, non-military colors started appearing.  And shortly after that, people started writing books on how you can make jewelry with it.

I found a few eBooks that were offered for free about paracords, and I downloaded them both because I was curious what all the hype was about.  Also, I'm always looking for inspiration for my own designs, and I thought learning some new knots might help.  That was in July, and now only one of the books I got for free is still offered on Amazon.  I was going to review both of them, but since the other one has disappeared, I'm not going to bother reviewing it.  It was only slightly better than this one, and I have a feeling it was yanked for not providing any references for where the source material came from.

So, on to Paracords - Knots from Beginner to Advanced.  Here's a picture of the book you want to avoid:

Yes, I realize (now that my husband mentions it) that the book cover says "Paracord Knots From Beginner to Advanced" and not "Paracords - Knots from Beginner to Advanced".  The Amazon page and the title at the tops of the pages has the "Paracords" title, so I'm thinking the author didn't even bother proofing his own cover.  ::groan::

It's no longer offered for free.  Even if it was, I'd say to save your money and just do some searches online, because that's what it looks like this author did.  He does list sources for the pictures he has copied off of the web, so he has that going for him.

I really hate to completely slam a book, but if you're going to take the time to write a book (or to gather a bunch of information from websites and throw it together), you really need to put in an effort.  With very few exceptions, the only pictures are of the finished knots.  The aspect ratio of the many pictures is off, so the images look distorted like in a fun house mirror.  That's bad enough when you're looking at a finished knot, but if there's a chart showing the steps, there's no way you can follow it.

You can click on some of the source links, but I don't recommend it.  The chart for the Cobra Knot is too small and squished to be useful, so I clicked on it.  The link behind the chart goes to some webpage that has 45 errors.  Yes, 45.  I counted when I clicked on the link that's listed under the chart, which goes to the same place.  The really irritating thing is that when you look at the link and wade through all 8 lines of it, it's supposed to go to a completely different knot.

The book does have instructions on how to do the knots, but there are no pictures to go along with them.  Remember last week I wanted to add a loop and a knot made out of duct tape for my purse, and I mentioned that I wanted to make the Celtic Button knot?  Well, the instructions in this book were awful:  "Make the first over-loop.  Then make a second over-loop."  What?  What the heck is an over-loop?  It just got more confusing after that.  I ended up finding something online that worked much better for me.

All of the instructions are like that, including using the term "bight", which was never explained.  "Take the right end of the strand, form a bight..."  I thought it was a typo.  Fortunately Kindles and Kindle apps have dictionaries.  A bight is "a curve or recess in a coastline, river, or other geographical feature."  That's no help.  Oh!  There's a special usage: "a loop of rope, as distinct from the rope's ends."  Really?  A loop?  That's it?  Why didn't he just say to form a loop.  Everyone knows what a loop is.

I could go on and on about how crappy the formatting is and how there are many grammatical errors and typos, but it's really just enough that the directions are impossible to follow.  The only good thing about the book (in my opinion) is that you can see (sometimes distorted) pictures of the knots.  From there, you know what to search for online.  That is not really worth the current $2.99 price or the space on your Kindle or other device.

I haven't tried to make any of the "standard" paracord bracelets I've seen in the craft stores or online.  I will, though, because I purchased a "Paracord bracelet kit" from Walmart for less than $5.  Unfortunately, I can't find it online to show you.  It has 6 different colors of paracord along with the buckles to make 6 bracelets.  There are also instructions.  I haven't looked at them yet, but they're bound to be better than those in Paracords - Knots from Beginner to Advanced.

Making a duct tape bag

Since I've done a lot of shows lately and have made a lot of jewelry, I thought I'd try something new and hopefully fun.  I've been eying the pretty duct tapes they have out now and have been wanting to experiment. I recently got a free ebook, Duct Tape Bags, and I thought that was the perfect opportunity to do my experimenting while I have a little down time between shows.  I'll review the book itself on Friday.

I'm going to write while I'm making the bag.  I don't think I've done that before, and I hope it'll be interesting for you.  I'll try not to make it too long.  :)

Here's the tape I bought:

No big surprise that it's purple.  Each roll was made by Scotch and was $3.99.  The purple is called "Violet Purple", and the cupcake one is called "Sweet Treat".  They're both 1.88" (48mm) wide, but the solid colors are 20 yards while the patterned rolls are 10 yards.  That means that I'll want to use the cupcakes sparingly.  The other reason I'll want to use them sparingly is that the cupcakes are at an angle.  I think they'd match up if I was very careful, but with sticky things I think that's hard to do.  Also, from what I've read in the book, when you make a duct tape sheet (also called "fabric"), you overlap the tape.  That wouldn't work well with the cupcakes.

The next step was deciding what kind of bag I wanted to make.  I have bunches of bags, and I really don't need another one.  I love bags, though, so I'll sacrifice and find room for one more.  I looked through the book (because if I'm reviewing it, I really should try one of the projects in the book), and two of them stood out - a simple purse with a flap, and a round purse with weaving at the base.  I like the shape of the purse with a flap, and I like the weaving, so I'm going to merge them.

Next, I needed to measure my current "casual" purse.  I like it, but I sometimes wish it was just a touch bigger.  So I got out everything needed to measure, and...

 Well, that's not helpful.  

Fortunately, Frisco didn't stay too long.  As much as I love him, I hope he doesn't come back when I'm actually making the purse.  I don't really want to try to cut duct tape off of him.  I should probably shut the doors.

I was able to get the measurements I needed for the purse, so I'm all set to go.  That grid-looking thing in the above picture is a glass cutting mat I've used with circle cutters.  I'm hoping that all sticky stuff will be confined to the mat and not my desk, and I should be able to cut on that pretty well.

And now it's time for... :::looks at clock::: ...lunch.  Crap.  Be right back!

Okay.  Lunch has been eaten, and the doors have been closed.  Back to work!  Oh, no... Pixel wants in.  Not going to happen.

I taped little flags to the bottom of the glass mat to the dimensions I want the front and back parts of the purse to be.  I'm hoping that will help the process go faster and to waste less tape.

Now to make the first piece of "fabric".  The instructions for the purse I'm making say to take strips of tape and put them sticky side to sticky side.  That double-sided strip is built on by sticking tape on either side with most of it hanging off.  I'm not going to take pictures of that whole process - it's in the book.

I can't believe this.  I've hurt myself ripping the first piece of tape off.  That stuff is harder to rip than I remember!  The tip of my forefinger hurts, and I think I bent back my thumbnail a little.  Ow.  I'm going to use scissors to cut the rest of the pieces.  That seems to be working well.  The scissors I'm using are EK Success's Cutter Bee Titanium scissors.  They have a non-stick coating, which is very helpful for a project like this one.  Even so, I do have to clean off some gunk from time to time.

Here's my first piece of "fabric":

There's only one wrinkle!  Considering how impossible it is to separate two pieces of duct tape (sticky side to sticky side, that is), I'm very happy with this.  That wrinkle will go on the inside.  It does need to be trimmed on the left and right sides, but it's just fine length-wise.  Having those little flags helped a bunch.

I next did the bottom and sides.  I reinforced the bottom with a few extra strips of tape.  Some of the bags in the book say to wrap pieces of cardboard for extra stability, but I didn't want that for this one.

Here's what I have so far - the front, the bottom, and both sides:

The hardest part so far has been the sticky factor.  When I'm positioning a piece of tape on the mat, I'm having a hard time getting my fingers unstuck while leaving the tape in place.  I've taken to nudging the side of the tape with my fingernails.  That's working fairly well.

I'm going to switch projects now and weave the flap.  I want about 5 inches so my stuff won't fall out.  Add 2.75" for the top, and I'll have to weave a piece 9" x 7.75".  The instructions say to make double-sided strips then weave them together.

That should be easy enough, except there will be a little math to determine how many strips of each I'll need.  The tape is 1.88" wide.  For the horizontal strips I need enough to be at least 7.75" high.  That works out to 4.12 strips.  Let's just make that 4 strips, so the vertical strips will need to be 7.52".  My handy dandy calculator says that works out to 4.78 strips.  Hmm.  I can't mess with the width now that I've already made all the other pieces.  Oops.  I should have started with the flap and adjusted the size of the bag accordingly.  No big deal.  I'll weave with 4 strips and wrap the edges with tape.  So I need 4 strips of 9" and 4 strips of 7.52".

I made strips, talked to my Dad, wove, adjusted the weaving to make the cupcakes a bit more centered, lined the back and wrapped tape around the edges to tack loose bits down and to give it a more finished look.  Here's my finished flap/top:

All these pictures make it look a lot more blue than it actually is.

Now for the back.  I made another piece of "fabric" with the same width as the first one but a little longer and taped the flap/top to it:

I added a stripe of cupcakes to each side strip then laid everything out for assembly:

Wow.  I should have started with a coin purse.  What I'd like to do is tape everything up on the inside and the outside, but I don't think that's going to work.  I don't think I should try turning it inside out (or outside in), and I wonder if I'll be able to tape on the inside once it's put together.  That might be a bit tricky.

Better stop procrastinating and get going.  What's that sound?  Steve's home already?  Where did the afternoon go?  Oh, that's right - I got distracted a few times during the afternoon with e-mail, Facebook, and listing an item on Etsy before it gets too late in the holiday season.  It's really a wonder I get anything done.

I got the bottom parts all taped up on the inside and outside.  At some point I realized I had the flap with the cupcakes facing the wrong way, but I was able to take the tape off and turn it around.  I hope that doesn't mean that the purse will fall apart with the first stiff breeze.

Here's what I have after taping all the bottom bits together:

We left one of the doors open as I was taping the sides up and...

Well, that didn't take long.  Steve shooed Pixel out, and I was able to keep working.  Not for long, though, because dinner was ready.

After dinner, I finished taping the purse up.  That was really hard.  While the pieces are fairly rigid, they do sag somewhat.  Steve helped me hold the pieces together on a few of the joins, and that helped.  If I do this again, I will make it around a hardcover book.  That should help with this part of the process.

Here it is fully assembled, sans strap:

I was able to tape the insides.  As I figured, it wasn't easy, but I really needed to make sure that everything was reinforced.  I could see light in a few of the corners, so I took little squares of tape and kinda smooshed them in the corners.  Not the most elegant solution, but hopefully it'll work.

The strap was quite a doozy.  I like my purses to go across my body to keep my hands free, so that meant a VERY long strip of duct tape.  No, that meant TWO very long strips of duct tape stuck together with one of the strips on the outsides of the purse body and the other on the insides.  Steve and I had a devil of a time getting them to align correctly, and there are some wrinkles.  I'm not happy with that, but it couldn't be helped.  Since there were many areas of sticky on the edges, I wrapped tape around on both sides, trying to align the cupcakes.  It worked most of the time.

So here's the completed purse, close up and with me wearing it:

It turned out big enough that I can carry my iPad in it plus a number of other things.  I used an entire roll of the purple tape and quite a bit of the cupcakes.  I might have enough to make that coin purse I mentioned before.

I think it's cute, but it will probably be a while before I make anything of this magnitude again.  It gets a little frustrating to have the tape sticking everywhere but where you want it to go, and it was difficult to cut a straight line.  I'd also like some way to keep the flap down.  I have a few ideas.

Have you made anything with duct tape?  If so, e-mail me a picture (and what you thought of the process) at traci@creative-pursuits.biz, and I'll post it here!

Purple Weekend and stamped curtains

Hi, all!  Those of you who have gotten my newsletter and/or are my local friends on Facebook have heard plenty about my Purple Weekend open house (first blogged about here).  If you've missed it and are in the Milwaukee area, feel free to take a look at my newsletter for information on this show and the other two I'll be at this holiday season.

Steve and I are cleaning like mad people, and I'm even getting to that shelf above my desk that has been a mess for a very long time.

Frisco has been helping create more of a mess ever since he started going up in my window sill.  He likes to sit up here:

And flick things off of that little ledge when he isn't kicking them off trying to get up and down.  All the things on the left side came down, then he stretched over to the right side and started flicking things off there.  Then he decided to use my curtain as a hammock and take a nap:

There were little things all along this ledge.  Flick, flick!

Look at this adorable little face:

He's lucky he's cute.

Wait.  This is a craft blog, isn't it?  Not a craft (cat) blog?  Okay, then I'll tell you about the curtains Frisco is shown napping in.

They're regular off-white/natural curtains, and for some reason "cafe-style" sticks out in my head.  I bought them when I lived in Waukegan for my craft room/office there.  I took foam stamps and acrylic paint and stamped them.  Yup, I stamp everything I can get away with.

Here's a better picture of one of the curtains when it was in my last house:

I stamped two curtains, and they both look about the same.  You see the little splotches all over the place?  If I remember correctly, I accidentally made a splotch and decided to "dot up" the rest of the curtain.

The words are "Inspire", "Laugh", "Create", "Love" (behind the bin in the above picture), and "Dream".  The shapes are corners, moons, stars, flowers, swirls, cats (of course), and other miscellaneous things.

I had a really good time making them and am glad that I could hang them in my new home.  Even though I can't see everything, they fit in with the style I want for my studio.

Now that I think about it, I can draw the curtains when the sun shines through in the late afternoon.  Huh.  I never considered that.  I usually squint or leave the room.

Ahem.  Anyway.  I think this would be a good project you can do with your kids if you need to change their curtains.  Don't need new curtains?  How about a tote bag?  Don't have kids?  Well, that didn't stop me.  I had a grand ol' time stamping away.  It doesn't take too long, and if you're thrifty you can find the foam stamps at a good price.  The paints aren't expensive, either.  Just make sure you get washable paints if you're using them on fabric. 

I gotta run.  That shelf isn't going to clean itself (or it would have done so by now)!  Happy Thanksgiving, and I'll see you local folks on Friday and/or Saturday!

Book Review: Recycled Crafts: Crafts Made Using Recycled Materials

Happy Friday!  Today is going to be short because I have a big sale tomorrow I still am getting ready for (the Donna Lexa Memorial Art Fair in Wales, Wisconsin) and because the kitten is trying to eat my words and my computer as well as trying to drink my water.

I'm not going to do this very much, but I'm going to post a review I wrote on Amazon for a Kindle book, Recycled Crafts: Crafts Made Using Recycled Materials by Kara Kelso and her 10 year old daughter, Jillian.  Kara has a blog, Idea Queen, where she discusses recycled crafts as well as other crafts, food & recipes, home & garden, and shopping & saving.  While a number of her posts and crafts are geared towards parents and what can be done with their children, I think I'm going to have keep an eye on this blog.  She has some great ideas!

This is from the Amazon website so I'd have an image to pin on Pinterest.  :)

Onto the book.  Like with her blog, many of the crafts would be fun for children, but I do see some that I'm going to try, and some have planted other ideas in my head.

Here's the review I wrote for Amazon:

I like that this book has a range of ideas and techniques. There is sewing, painting, decoupaging, and more. Each technique is described in good detail so even a novice should get great results.

There are a number of materials used (water bottles, CDs, T-shirts, jeans, boxes...) with cute, imaginative ways to dress them up for functional items. The full-color pictures are wonderful, and I like that multiple examples of some projects are shown.

I also like that the author's cat, Stella, is in a few pictures. The poor cat thought she was going to get a dolled-up box that was destined for another purpose. I hope the author and her daughter dressed up a box for Stella, too.

Unfortunately I did find some formatting problems:

The table of contents is not functional. If I want to go back to a specific project, I either need to scroll through the book to find it or set bookmarks for each of the projects ahead of time.

In some places, the picture and the description are on different pages. Once I thought the description was for the picture right above it (on the same page), but it was really for the one on the next page. I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done to fix that, though. Maybe a page break?

In the T-shirt pillow section, there are a number of white squares that appear with the black or sepia background. I have sepia turned on because I do a lot of reading when I can't sleep (like tonight), and it's less jarring in the dark. I checked them with the white background, and they aren't visible. I don't know if those are missing pictures or something else.

Later in the book, starting in the "Computer Art" section (specifically the line above "Window Art" and down until a few lines after "Step 1"), it appears that lines are highlighted. It occurs in "Keyboard Necklaces", too (the whole section), and just the heading for "Word Magnets". Again, I wouldn't have noticed it if I was using the white background (I checked). It doesn't distract from the instructions, but I found it a bit odd.

All in all, I recommend this book. Hopefully the author can get the table of contents working to make the book easier to flip around in, but don't let that detract you from getting this book and trying out these projects! The next time my husband is ready to toss a pair of jeans, I'm going to make catnip mice for our cats, and I'll keep in mind the other projects as we have the available items!

Yes, I did go on a bit about formatting things, but I would want to know about it if it was my book.  Fortunately, Kara agreed and wrote a reply to my review:

Thank you so much for the feedback! Your suggestions for formatting and table of contents will be fixed in the second edition. So glad you found a lot of useful crafts for you and your family.

Oh, and Stella does have her own decorated box (two, actually) that Jillian made for her :)

Steve can tell you, I was very tickled at this reply.  I've written 11 reviews on Amazon so far (most of them in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, so I hope they're coherent), and Kara has been the only one to respond.  I was also genuinely happy that Stella the cat has her own decorated boxes.  I may have to do that for our cats.  I think Steve thought I was nuts, going on and on about Kara replying to my review and about Stella having her own fancy boxes.  I guess I'm still in that "authors are out THERE" mentality that I mentioned in my Sweater Quest book review a few weeks ago.  (Oh! Adrienne Martini linked to that review on her her blog.  I was so excited!)

Like I mentioned in the review, I recommend Recycled Crafts: Crafts Made Using Recycled Materials, especially if you have kids and are looking for ways to recycle materials meant for the trash.  I look forward to reading more about what the "Idea Queen" comes up with!

Coupon binder strap solution

Okay, this one isn't going to be about beading or scrapping or knitting or crocheting.  I had a problem, I fixed it by doing something I think is cool, and now I'm forcing you to read about it.  :)  Perhaps you have a similar problem that needs a similar solution.

Since I'm trying to be all extreme with my couponing (yes, I watch Extreme Couponing and read lots of stuff online), I bought a zip-up binder and trading card pages where I can keep all coupons organized, secure, and professional-looking.  Here's what it looked like before I attacked it this morning:

I know.  Very exciting.  Wow - you can't even see the background, at least as I'm writing this.  It almost looks like one of those high-falutin' professional shots!  Anyway.  There's a nice pocket on the front for... I haven't figured that out yet.  On the inside there are some pockets which are perfect for store flyers, a large area for the trading card pages and pricing sheets, another pocket for a calculator and a pair of scissors, places for pens...  It's a great binder.

Except.  There's no strap.  When you're carrying it into the store, you have to carry it in your arms.  While this is not a great hardship, it's a little unwieldly.  I want to just throw it over my shoulder and go.

So I grabbed my handy dandy Crop-A-Dile made by We R Memory Keepers (this link is the exact one I have, except I didn't pay near this much - watch for sales) to see if it would punch a hole in one of the ends.  The cover is a little larger than the zipper part, so there was space to punch a hole:

 
The uncertain part was if the Crop-A-Dile would do it.  It's supposed to be made for things like this - holes in chipboard, thick materials, and even CDs.  It's supposed to, but would it?  Yes!  It did!  I then set an eyelet, and that worked, too.

By this time I thought it'd make a good blog, so I grabbed my camera for the other side.  Here's a pic of the Crop-A-Dile getting ready to punch a hole.  I used the larger of the two hole puncher-outers and inserted the tool all the way into the binder, eyeing where the center would be.

I squeezed, and it worked!  I must admit I was a little surprised.  How often do things work when you're documenting them?

I then placed an eyelet in the hole and used the other part of the Crop-A-Dile to set it:

Here's the inside:

I then looked at my ribbon stash for something that would be sturdy but also cool so Steve wouldn't be embarrassed to carry it around.  I found the perfect ribbon and threaded it through the hole and tied a few knots in it:

Yes, you read that right.  It's a Guitar Hero ribbon that came with pajamas I bought for Steve a while back. I bought them on clearance, I hasten to add, although we do have two Guitar Hero guitars.  You can see what I did to mine in this blog post.  I saved the ribbon for scrapping purposes, of course.  It's perfect for this, though!  I then did an approximate measurement to where it'd be comfortable for over my shoulder and made sure the ribbon wasn't twisted as I threaded it into the other hole (that I punched and eyeleted off screen).  I added some more and cut.  Still have some leftover for scrapping - woo hoo!

I tied two knots in the other end, and here's how it looks "on":

(Yes, I took the picture in the bathroom mirror - I didn't want to wait until Steve got home!)

I then headed out to the grocery store, and it works like a charm!  I'm planning on checking the knots every once in a while and, of course, making sure that the binder is zipped before I sling it over my shoulder.

Now.... what else can I poke holes in?