getting crafty again

 

the return of the masks

Elastic was sold out everywhere and I found it irritated the ears more often than not. I cut up t-shirts to make t-shirt yarn but I cut the strips too thin. Finally gave in and bought some yarn and I am so happy with how it feels. If ya gotta wear a mask to help keep others protected, comfort is key. I have also found that the basic pleated masks work best for me as a wearer of eyeglasses. While the wired masks seal better, they also knock my glasses off-center, and sometimes off my face. The pleated masks can be pulled up just under yer ol' eyeballs and still cover your chin. If I have to, I can also wear a paper mask underneath for added protection. 

It also helps that my fabric choices are fun. 

masks r us

 

i may have gone a little overboard with the arm knitting

if you have followed my blog for any amount of time you may remember that i am a bit inept in the yarn arts unless it involves wrapping it around something...i've taken crochet classes, knitting classes and had one-on-one sessions with utter and absolute failure.

i am a crafter that cannot knit. hipster i will never be.  until now.

 

a friend serendipitously spied a free arm knitting class at one of our local libraries and signed us up (we dragged mr. a-go-go along). we arrived to an after-hours library with a table full of pre-wrapped yarn balls, a dozen or so gals over 60 and us. mr. a-go-go was the only fella in sight.

 

it took me longer than the rest of the group to figure out what was going on but the mister was really good at helping me out in a way i could learn. i think all my talk of multiple intelligences got through to him. anyhow, the first scarf i made was a bit of a disaster but i caught the bug and have since gone a little bit yarn crazy (even converting a person or two).

 

i made a couple scarves as gifts but am a little full up of extras for myself so in the spirit of the new year i would like to offer up one happily woven-up arm knitted scarf to the first reader who actually read through all this blog blather to know i'm giving away something and that they would actually want it (it will be a surprise color and not one pictured here). leave a comment and email me your address and i'll send one your way. for reals! happy new year!

**for those who ask, my lipstick is Burt's Bees Lip Crayon in Redwood Forest.

july 4th diy: paint resist american flag

This is my third year of flag making for the july bed! I really like how this one turned out. The picture in my head before I began was exactly this! Yay for total crafty success (give or take a few oops moments)!

 

materials:

*painters tape (wide would be best)

*foam core or canvas

*acrylic paint

*star shaped paper punch

*white card stock

*expired gift card or other plastic card or scraper

*rag for wiping paint off card as you go

I used foam core purchased form the dollar store for this practice because I thought the size was good, it was sturdy, and well...cheap. That said, when removing the tape from the board there was some lifting and tearing of both the top paper of the board and the paint. So maybe canvas would be better. Use your painter's tape to map out your flag. My tape was also purchased from the dollar store. and was more narrow than I would have liked so I used two rows of tape per stripe. I figured the low tack of the cheaper tape would work better but I thought wrong.

 

Squirt, splatter, and dribble your paint colors all over your board. It is okay for the paint to sit a moment before scraping. It allows the colors to set where they are creating more happy layers as you scrape.

 

Use your plastic card for scraping the paint much like we did for our father's day candy bar wrappers. I used a very old and expired calling card for my scraper. Make sure to have a cloth or rag nearby to wipe paint off of your card. A little paint goes a long way. If doing this with kiddos, make sure to have a lot of rags handy as kiddos love to squirt paint! When you scrape away, make sure to mix up the direction you are scraping in. Curve it up, swirl it around and have fun with it.

this is after I fixed the star box

Once you get all the super blobby bits of paint off your board and you have finished scraping the paint all over the place. Very carefully peel the tape off. My tape managed to pull up quite a bit of the foam core and even the top layer of paint on one of my stripes. To fix it, I let the paint dry then added another line of tape and repainted and scrape it a little bit. for the parts that were curling up and peeling like crazy, I smoothed them down with some matte mod podge and while when the light hits it a certain way you can see it, it is otherwise unnoticeable.

When the paint is peeled you may notice your box where the stars are going to go is much smaller than you anticipated. Pull out the tape and expand the box by adding tape along the stripe lines...kinda like extending the box to the lines to blend it all in a better. I did not take photos of this.

 

While your paint is drying, punch out your stars from sturdy card stock. I repurposed a picture one of my preschoolers gifted me and decided to use the arted up side of the stars on my flag.

you can see the repaired surface here

Once the flag is dry, the paint removed, and the torn parts prettied up, add your stars using a drop of glue. My flag has 33 stars on it.

 

 

So, there ya go! An easy, kid-friendly flag you can paint up in a day. Check out my denim flag here and my necktie flag here. Happy 4th, friends!

diy seaside magnets

This lickety-split diy was meant to be for Mother's Day as a follow-up to last year's Mother's Day Make on scrumdilly-do!

 

If you are lucky enough to have access to a beach with happy shells, gather a small variety (leave some for the sea!) and bring them home for a rinse. While I do live near the sea I picked my shells up from a nifty shell shop that I simultaneously adore and abhor (it's complicated, isn't it?) These set me back a smidge shy of $3.

Use strong button magnets which can be found at your local craft store or online, and super strong glue such as E-6000 (also from your local craft store and/or online). Dollop away and allow to cure.

 

Gift in a happy tin or small fabric bag or keep for yourself and enjoy!

a wee proposal {second title}

I am certain there were things I wanted to write about. Things that may have involved cooking or shopping or sad racooning. And now, since I waited sooooo long I cannot think of anything to share. At least anything remotely interesting to anyone other than those involved. Oh wait! I remember....I need to re-title this hold on a second...

A few weeks ago a was working on the february bed and fretting over the artwork when I found a thrifted granny square in pink, white mad grey! I found two more but they were of the grey variety and I thought...

"Drats! If only I had more to choose from..."

Okay, now I have an idea. My birthday is in six days and I was thinking about how much I love a granny square and how inept I am at needle arts. I've already got a partner for a granny square/garland swap but I was wondering if anyone else out there would be up for sending me a square or two or three. Anyone?

 

I would love to have a basket full of gloriously artful grannies to hang over the bed or place about the craft room for splashes of pretty. Some may even make an appearance in a photo shoot. What I can offer you up in exchange is a set of six dillydelicious pom-poms made by me or perhaps a painted newspaper garland/papel picado?

 

I do love making pom-poms even if they aggravate my allergies (while wearing a filter mask even) but there is only so much room in the-room-that-shall-one-day-be-cleaned to store them. So what do ya think? Is it time for a swap?

scrumdilly diy: make an upcycled necktie flag

I was and am really proud of the denim flag I made last year for the july bed. Last year's flag was originally going to be a necktie flag but I couldn't source enough red, white, and/or blue neckties in time. Fast forward to this year when the mister and I began buying up neckties whenever we found them. The mister uses them for his tinkers damn ukuleles and I use them for various craft projects. As I collected them I would put aside the red, white and blue ties.

 

June came and I pulled out all my ties and found all sorts of red, white, and blue prints. I also felt completely uninspired...I was over the red, over the blue, and over the white. I wanted more color, more fun, and I really wanted to use this amazing green floral tie that was most probably a gift from this happy spiffy lady (thank you, Nikki!)

And that was that. I pulled out all the happy ties and began stitch-stitching them together...here are some details....

I used a medium zig-zag stitch in various contrasting colors to stitch the ties together. I originally pinned the ties together but quickly grew tired of having the pins poke me and ended up holding the ties next to each other as I zipped them through the machine.

Alternate the direction of each tie as you go to create as rectangular a flag as possible. I snipped the excess tie pieces at various lengths and stitched them down to keep them from fraying. My flag might actually look a little more flag-like had that bottom tie been less wonky and weavy and wavy and full of its biased self. It curled and I had no idea why or how and it might have been tension issues but being that I am a lazy sewer I rarely touch that dial and so I attempted to add another tie to the bottom but had to rip it out (which took me half of an hour) when it proved to be even more wavy wavy than the one above. I added it to the top instead and found to my dismay it too was full of its biased self. So now my flag looked a little less flag-like but it did look a little wavy so I went with it. Besides, after that point my seam ripper and I were not on speaking terms.

 

After you assemble the base of your flag pick out a bit of happy fabric for the base of your stars. I was super thrilled to find a blazing purple velvet top at the thrift to use. The only problem was that the velvet was of the stretchy kind and no matter how many pins I pinned it still slipped about all over the place. Stitch the second base onto your flag base and go rifle through your junk drawers for beads and old costume jewelry.

Yes, I actually managed to scrape up fifty odds and ends of the bejeweled kind for my stars. You really do not need to go that far but I had been holding onto these bits and pieces for a decade and decided to use them up.

The best way to attach the shiny baubles to the velvet is to use a hot hot HOT glue gun. No cute mini bedazzled gun will do, you need some super bond. Plug in the glue gun and while it heats up, arrange your baubles how you like.

Secure in place with a hefty dose of glue. Don't worry about the webby bits. Once the glue dries you can pull them off. Just get all glue happy and be careful of your fingers.

Once dry, tack it to your wall and salute!

All in all I think I made this flag for around $5 or maybe even less as many of the ties came from Nikki and/or a $5 bag sale from a local thrift. The velvet top was $1.50 and the baubles were from granny. In retrospect, I am wondering if the flag would be more stable and less wavy if I stitched my ties to the pillow case I had originally intended to use as a backing. So, think about it, gather up some ties and go for it! And if you do make one, please, please, oh pretty please send me a link and/or a photo!