You Can Call Me Gwen

Be Careful

 

Be careful not to underestimate the imagination of an eight-year-old boy.

Be especially careful if you give him a gift certificate for Christmas for "One Awesome Paint Job" for his new (big!) bedroom.

You'll be tempted to think he is just going to want the four walls painted with some bright color and, perhaps, a graphic design somewhere on one of them.

You'll be remembering how he hated leaving the little doggie you painted on the wall of his first bedroom and you'll think to yourself that he is just going to choose, oh, maybe a baseball and bat for his new one.

You'll be wrong.

You'll go out to 'consult' with him when he's ready to redeem his coupon and you won't be able to catch his vision of what he wants from his description.

You'll ask him to draw a picture for you, but you won't 'get it' from that, either, because "It's kinda hard to draw."

So, maybe you'll Google "graphic wall paint" and start scrolling through pictures with him, hoping to find 'something like'.

He'll probably yell, 'That's it!', when you least expect it.

And that's when you'll know.

You have underestimated the imagination of an eight-year-old boy.

It will be good for you to have plenty of time on your hands, then.

And plenty of Frog tape and patience, too.

You'll need them all

On Day One, you'll need to do a little caulking and paint the ceiling.

You'll need to paint the "It Wall" with a base coat, too.

 

 

On Day Two, you'll spend  two or three hours putting Frog tape on the "It Wall" in a random please-use-straight-lines-and-make-mostly-triangles pattern.

It won't feel random by the time you are finished.

 

 

And then, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to run that base color over the wall again so it seals (hopefully) the edge of that tape and prevents bleed-through.

 

 

While it is drying, you will start painting the first coat on the other three walls, but once the "It Wall" is dry, you'll use some of the paint from the other walls to fill in some of those triangles.

You're just going to choose four random triangles to fill in, but you'll spend so much time striving for 'balance' that it won't feel that way by the time you are done.

 

 

As soon as you're done with that color, you will start filling in a few of the triangles with your other accent color. 

You might feel a little heart-skippy trying to decide where those should be, but you'll have to press on; there is still so much to do.

Once you get that color out of your little roller, it will be time to shake up the 'real' color and get to work on all the rest of those triangles!

 

 

Now your "It Wall" looks pretty ugly, so you'll leave it for awhile and go finish the first coat on those other walls.

By the time you are finished making your way around that very big room, your wild colors will be dry enough for their second coat and, by golly, you'll give it to 'em.

Then you'll spend just a little time cleaning rollers and brushes and trays and yourself and your work area and...and...and...

Then, and only then, you'll have arrived at the Magic Moment.

You'll start pulling off those 12,752 feet of Frog tape (gosh, that's what it felt like).

 

 

And then you'll see just what was in the imagination of that eight-year-old boy.

 

 

You're going to have to come back for Day Three and put a second coat on those other walls and do a lot of this...

 

 

...because, doggone it, it bled through anyway.

But, when you're really finally finished with the whole thing...

 

 

...you're going to think it was worth all the work, because your little eight-year-old grandshoot is going to say he doesn't like it...he loves it.

And when his dad asks him how much he likes it and what he would give it on a one-to-ten scale, he is going to put his hands up and give you a solid...

 

 

...nine?!?

 

Monster Mash

 

 

 

Little Mr. Fox is celebrating his second birthday here on Saturday and I am using it as an excuse to make some games for the grandshoots to play when they visit.

I'm always hoping to use things up and spend no money, so I started with a little 'research' on the web, and decided the first game would be a "Feed the Monster" bean-bag game.

I had some help from Little Man putting the primer on a scrap piece of particle board from the garage, and then used a giant Sharpie to draw the outline of the monster Miss Helping Hands wanted me to use (which she found at Candyland Studio).

The grandshoots helped color the monster using some of the craft paint which has been lingering in my studio for years.

 

 

This afternoon, I drilled holes at the corners of the monster's mouth for inserting the jig saw blade and then used the saw to cut out the entire mouth.

A very quick sanding of the cut edges, followed by coloring with the giant Sharpie, came next.

Fabric glue and cheapo craft felt came into play next.

Teeth were cut and attached like this...

 

 

...and a large rectangle of black felt was glued to the back of the board just above the mouth.

Because I wanted to be able to set up this game anywhere (instead of having to prop it against a fence or wall) but it also needed to be flat for storage, I used a 3" hinge to attach another piece of scrap wood to the top of the back to support it sandwich-sign style.

It was sturdy enough that it didn't budge when we tossed bean-bags at it, but I was still concerned it might fall on a small person who leaned on it while retrieving bean-bags, so I was happy to find the locking hinges, which hadn't worked for the fold-down art desk I built, were the perfect solution.

 

 

We spent no money and we used up some stuff.

The monster is now ready to be fed.

 

 

 

 

Alas, we have no dried beans in the house with which to fill the bean-bags.

 

 

When life gives you lemons...

Pincushion Ring(ssssss)

 

I like bowls.

I like bowls full of good things.

Zero-calorie bowlfuls of good things?

Just lovely.

Sometimes I make a lot of something(s) just so I can have a bowlful.

Like this:

 

It's my bowlful of pincushion rings.

I only have ten fingers, but I've got nearly thirty rings now.

A bowlful.

Perfect.

I love using mine at the sewing machine when I'm pulling pins from a seam I'm stitching.

There are probably lots of tutorials out there, but here is the way I made mine.

Gather up your supplies.

 

 

    - Fabric glue

    - 3" diameter circle of fabric

    - 3" piece of 1/4" elastic

    - water bottle cap

    - 4" piece of 1/4" or 3/8" ribbon

    - circle of felt same size as bottle cap

    - small amount of fiberfill

    - strong thread

    - needle and scissors

Of course, you would actually start by cutting out your 3" fabric circles, so I'll tell you how I did mine.

I found a spool of ribbon that was 3" across...

 

 

...layered several scraps of fabric on top of each other and traced around the spool with my 'iron-away'  marking pen.

 

A brief word about this neon color pen: it shows up on dark fabric, which is just so nice.

Here is photo proof (as well as a little visual tip on placing patterns over printed designs):

 

 

Use cardstock to make a pattern for your felt circles;  just trace around the bottom edge of the bottle cap (it's usually just a bit wider than the top, which is good) .

Then, just hold the pattern on a small square of felt with one hand and cut around it with a small scissors.

Ready for assembly?

Here we go.

Poke the two holes for the elastic directly across from one another using whatever tool you feel safest using.

 

 

Glue your felt circle to the bottom.

 

 

Poke through the felt at the holes you made in the cap.

 

 

Push one end of your elastic through one hole and tie a secure knot close to the end and then repeat with the other end (if you secure one end first, you'll be able to pull the length through which you'll need to tie the knot in the other;  then just pull the 'ring' back out).

 

 

It will look like this:

 

 

Now, use your heavy-duty thread to make a running stitch around the entire edge of your fabric circle.

 

 

Pull the threads to gather it just a bit and then fill it with fiberfill.

 

 

Now press it down with your finger, put in more fiberfill than you think you can, and pull the thread taut.

 

 

Keeping it taut while you knot off the thread is probably the toughest part of the whole project, but when you're done you'll have a ball like this:

 

 

Now put some glue in your ring base...

 

 

...and shove that ball in there and hang onto it for a minute while you put a little glue around the side of the bottle cap.

 

 

Lay your ribbon over the glue, put a dab of glue at the end of the ribbon and press it under, then put a bit more glue under the end and lay it over the raw end of the ribbon.

 

 

Here is where some tutorials would call it a day, but I'm not big on leaving fabric solely in the hands of glue so I use regular thread (or leftover pieces of embroidery thread) to stitch the felt to the ribbon...

 

 

...and the ribbon to the fabric ball (which means I'll never see a speck of that plastic cap).

 

 

And voila! You're all finished.

 

 

Now slip it on and use it.

 

 

 

Or.....

Make more.

Make lots more.

Load up a work tray so you can make one every single time you sit still to listen to something or set a spell on the front porch.

If your fabulous trip to Europe broke your back and the doctor says not to do much while he's trying to get it healed, well, make sure you really load up a work tray.

 

 

Shall we dissect this work tray?

We have our little 'kits' which haven't been worked yet:

 

 

And we have our elastic pieces:

 

 

We have our assembled rings which need to be stitched:

 

 

 

And we have our partially-made-but-waiting-for-someone-to-drink-a-bottle-of-water rings:

 

 

We  have our ready-for-the-bowl rings:

 

 

And we have a little pile of teensy felt pieces leftover from cutting the circles; I use them for stuffing.

 

 

And last, but not least, we have what The Prince calls "The Nightmare".

 

 

I call it Perfection.

It's all the leftover bits of embroidery thread from other projects. 

I got tired of trying to keep  track of lengths of thread which had been separated into one, two, three (etc) strands.

I started just putting them in a heap and using them like thread on projects like this.

It keeps me from having to get out a bunch of spools of sewing thread.

And it uses up leftovers (you know how I feel about that)!

I have never had a problem extricating the color I need from this pile; it only hurts my eyes to look at it.

Soooo.

Back to the bowl.

 

 

Trash to Treasure

 

 

Sadly, my house guests left yesterday.

Happily, we finished a project together while they were here, so I'll remember the visit often.

I went for a bike ride one morning during their visit and saw this perfectly good drying rack old crib at the curb waiting for big-junk pick-up (I love big-junk pick-up week).

 

 

My Seester-in-Love and I went back later with her van and picked up the piece we needed.

I had a long hinge in the garage, salvaged from a previous re-purpose.

We purchased some security wire and crimps and we got down to business.

Our new lay-flat-or-hang-to-dry drying rack is now installed on the previously big blank   laundry room wall.

 

 

It latches to the wall with a simple cabinet door catch.

 

 

When it is open, it hangs from security wire attached at the wall and the bottom of the top rail.

 

 

Yes, I painted the wires to make them 'disappear' when the rack is closed (I have a mild-to-moderate case of OCD, which I prefer to call "Visual Sensitivity").

 

 

When we finished hanging this, I immediately had a tremendous urge to do a load of hand-wash or delicate laundry.

Thankfully, it passed, so I just staged this for you, Dear Readers.

 

 

But, hey, I'm prepared for next time.

And, speaking of next time, I'll be back to show you the reason I was tuned in to see this old crib at the curb in the first place.

See, I have one of my own, so wrapped up in sweet memories that I couldn't bear to part with it.

It is currently being repurposed, as well.

Every single piece of it.

Here's a sneak preview:

 

 

I have a mild-to-moderate case of excitement about this.

Actually, that's not entirely true.

If you know me, you know I'm rarely mild-to-moderate about anything in my whole, entire, complete life on earth in the whole wide world.

Go big or go home.

Making Lingerie

  Can you guess what this is?

 

 

It is about the third step in the process of making lingerie (I forgot about my camera until we were settled into the rhythm of repetiton).

If you'll forgive my poor photos (the natural light was gone and I dropped out of my photography class), I'll show what the rest of the steps were.

First, "we" did some design work and drafted patterns, and then we choose "fabrics" and trim.

We did some tracing and cutting and then used a glue stick to adhere our pieces to the strip of black "fabric".

Next, we cut the strip down the middle...

 

 

...and then cut each piece loose at its sides.

 

We used one of my favorite decorative shears to trim the "lace"; the postal edge scissors were perfect for this.

 

 

Of course, the top needed a little trimming, too, so we repeated the whole process with the pieces upside down.

 

 

Next, I did a little work with a fine-tip black Sharpie, and started making tiny bows from eighth inch black satin ribbon.

 

 

I have to cut the ribbon longer than I need for a bow, because my fingers are just too big to manipulate a short length.

I had a bunch of little bits leftover.

 

 

They were perfect for making straps.

 

 

Now, while was at one workdesk making these little nighties, Miss Helping Hands was at the other making some that are a little, um, spicier.

 

 

I don't know if you can tell yet, but soon you'll see.

She put lace at the tops and hems of hers as well, but she used the small scallop shears.

 

 

And now we skip all the steps that took place while the Grandshoots were here and we were working downstairs, sporadically, and not quite as serenely (which made me forget the camera again).

Those steps included a little more work with the Sharpie marker, and the addition of another "garment".

We printed off our invitations, drew a little clothesline at the top, "pinned" our lingerie on the line, and then backed the whole thing with some red cardstock.

Voila! Miss Helping Hands has completed another task as the maid-of-honor for an upcoming Christmas season wedding.

 

 

And I can add "maker of fine lingerie" to my resume.

Can't I?

Closet to Playspace: Before, During, After

 

(My apologies for the strange contrast in photo sizes contained in this post; I'm still having technical issues.  User error, I'm sure.)

The closet-to-playspace project is finally finished.

Finally.

Finished.

Except that it's the kind of space that I could keep working on for a long, long time; adding little details here, little surprises there, until the grandshoots are all grown up.

For blogging purposes, though, I really am going to call it finished.

(For today.)

Remember these 'before' photos?

It was a storage area for rarely used things, and it had lost its carpeting in a plumbing leak nightmare.

I

It had neutral colored walls, and we had ripped out most of the floor trim.

The first thing I did (with a little help from Miss Helping Hands Hannah), after clearing out the space, was to paint the walls with Eucalyptus Leaf paint color from Behr.

I love the color;  it's so bright and cheerful.

The Prince and I put in the new flooring, which was given to me by my Leetle Brudder.

 

It's a wonderfully easy product to install (unless, of course, you are working in a space with a 37" ceiling height that slants to nothing at one end); there is no glue required, it has an easy score-and-snap fitting process, and we were especially glad that the preferred sub-flooring is bare concrete.

(Insert BIG thank you to Leetle Brudder here.)

After the flooring was in, I painted the new trim and used my hand-saw and miter box to cut the corners and joins.

That was some work, but I got to use my new air compressor/nail guns to install it, and that was some fun!

 

Raise your hand if you got new power tools for Christmas!

Love me some power tools!

When we decided to make an art/reading space at the front of the closet, we knew we'd have to have additional lighting: the only light in the space was a bare bulb mounted at one edge of the 37" ceiling at the back (which the Prince removed and replaced with recessed lighting nearby).

The Prince installed the new light fixture just over the desk space at the front.

It was Plan B, but it was the only place where we could tap into existing power (located on the hallway side of the wall).

It is just an inexpensive vanity light fixture, but it is amazing how much more like a room it makes the space feel.

I love Prince Charming.

 After the interior was finished, it was on to building the forward-facing bookshelf and the fold-down art desk, from the plans which Ana White so kindly posts (for free!) on her website.

I think I went to Home Depot at least once a day during this portion of the project.

Actually, I think I went to Home Depot at least once a day during the entire project; I was very inefficient!

After I had the desk built, and had the pieces for the bookshelf all cut, I spent an afternoon with my friend, Jeni, and she and I had problem after problem putting the shelf together and trying to install hinges on the desk.

We had power tool problems, jig problems, design problems, and just plain problem problems.

But Jeni was a sport and we got some things finished, she taught me a lot, and she put some great trim at the bottom of the bookshelf.

Here she is carefully measuring...

...and marking.

She's a pro.

See the pencil in her teeth?

That's the sign.

Or is that impressive saw the sign?

Well, just take my word for it (and get a friend like Jeni, if you're going to do some building).

After all the building, came a lot of sanding and painting, and let me just tell you right here: I'm so glad I did the priming and first coats of paint before I assembled all these projects, because it was a lot more difficult to apply the second coat of paint afterward.

After finishing the desk and bookshelf, I built a toy shelf with some 1x12's which were left over from one of the Prince's home-maintenance projects.

Then my power sander decided to go to heaven.

So, there sat my naked toy shelf; propped on one end, with my arm-powered back-up sander resting on top, just waiting to give me a good work out.

 

More bonus bicep work; I hope my trainer reads my blog.

I had drawn up my own simple plans for this shelf, because it needed to hold specific containers and fit in a specific space.

Thing is, the sides reminded me an awful lot of tombstones.

I decided to paint some stripes on them

My friend, Miss B (of Zentangle fame), gave me a great tip for painting clean stripes.

After your tape is in place, using the paint color of the stripes which are underneath the tape, apply just a little paint to all edges of the tape to seal it; once it has dried, you can paint your contrasting color without fear of it bleeding under the tape.

It works!

After my stripes were in place, I knew I needed to add a little graphic goodness to the rounded space at the top of the sides.

I found an elephant silhouette that I liked (on the web somewhere) and printed it out.

I laid some graphite transfer paper on top of the shelf...

...and laid my elephant silhouette over it and traced the design with a pencil.

I've read that you can use newspaper to transfer designs in this way, as the ink will transfer to your project, but I didn't try it; I already had the graphite paper.

The transfer came out like this:

I used some left-over, bright green, wall paint and a small craft brush to color in the design.

It took two coats, and it isn't decal-smooth, but it serves my purpose.

I used the same technique to transfer the grandshoot's names, but I colored them with some of the brown chalkboard paint (I was very much into no-more-spending at this point).

Please notice, if you are reading this, any Shoot-of-Mine, that there is room for several more names on this side, and six more on the other (though there is infinite room in my heart for any additional grandshoots you might give me).

Some time during this planning/building/painting process, Miss Mary Mack brought me these chairs, which she'd picked off her neighbor's big-junk-pick-up heap:

 
 

She thought maybe I could use them for the playspace project.

She was correct.

Aside from the missing seat, they were in perfectly good condition, had safety latches to keep little ones from pinching their fingers while trying to fold them up, and they were FREE!

Also, unlike so many things of this type, the seats and backs were screwed in, rather than riveted; which meant I could actually take them apart and put them back together.

I "just happened" to have everything I needed to re-finish them, except a scrap of plywood (which my Bro-in-Love gifted me from his scrap pile), and a piece of foam (a trip to Joann's solved that) to make a new seat for the yellow chair.

I disassembled them...

...and cut patterns for new seat and back covers (from the paper which had been stuffed inside a purse I'd recently purchased - I save everything) .

I laid out the two orange fabric fat-quarters (which I'd purchased at a sale in October just because I liked them)...

...and discovered that they were just big enough to do the job!

Yipee!

The piece of clear vinyl I had left over from another recently completed project (ah, so many projects that haven't yet had their day in the sun) was also just big enough to cover these chair parts.

I had two large sheets of orange paper in my studio which sufficed for the bottoms of the chairs.

Et voila!

Seating for the fold-down art desk!

Thank you, Miss Mary Mack!

Sam-I-Am came up with some really wonderful ideas for the playspace, too.

Some of them I haven't yet implemented (see what I mean about adding and adding and adding?), but the one that I did use is so wonderful, that I wish I could say I'd thought of it myself.

He suggested that I build a very narrow shelf and install it just a few inches down from that low ceiling at the back, all around the perimeter of that area, to hold little things like Lego men, army men, etc.

I built it using 1x2's and quarter-round.

I had to hand saw those mitered corners, too (biceps, biceps).

 After I'd gotten it all installed, I had the wonderful thought that the wall above the shelf, which was, of course, turquoise...

...really needed to be orange. 

It only took four coats of paint to fix that.

 

It was worth the extra work (and the perma-cramp in my hiney). I think.

I owe a big thanks to Sam-I-Am for putting great creative thought into this project.

Thanks, Sam-I-Am!

 

So, now that I've taken vast amounts of blog space to give you all the process details, and show you bits and pieces, would you like to see how it all came together?

Oh, wait!

One more thing...

The very last thing I did while building/assembling the projects for this playspace, was to install the Plan B fold-down desk supports.

I decided to use the metal "chain" supports Ana White used on her own project, rather than the hinges she recommended  (which could not be installed per specs).

Thang is, you run that there metal 'chain' through these here little ferrules...

...and then yew gotta crimp these here little ferrules shut with a good slam of the hammer, if'n yew ain't got a special twenty-five dollar ferrule-crimping tool (which I ain't got).

Well, lemme tell ya what happens if'n yew lay that there ferrule, with the chain running through it, down on that cee-ment floor, and then bring yer hammer waaaay back so youse can give it a good whack to close it, but yew miss that there ferrule and give that good whack to yer very own finger.

Well, what happens is this: besides yew starting to talk like a hillbilly, yer little old finger gets kinder upset about all that there pressure bein' applied to it all a-sudden like that, and it just blows it's little top and starts to spewing a bunch a yer good ole all-American red blood all over the place, while yer little ole all-American heart starts to throbbing right there in the end of yer little ole finger.

And then yew cain't hardly talk, cuz yer jes so danged sur-prised, so yew wash yer little ole finger up and bandage yer little ole finger up, and then yew crawl inter yer little ole bed, and ya grab yer pillers and jes hang on while yer little ole body draws itself up into that there fetal po-sition, and yew let them big ole tears jes run down yer face while you gasp and choke.

And then yew start to thinkin' 'bout how doggone curful yew were with them power tewls yew been a usin' recent, and now yew done been brung low by a measly ole hammer, fer everlastin' goodness sake! 

Okay, I'm done.

Had to get that out of my system.

Here is the finished closet-to-playspace conversion.

Looking directly through the open door, you can see how the ceiling slants down to 37".

 

  
 

Because I know kids love hiding places, I made a curtain to separate the back play space from the front art/reading space.

To make it easy for the little ones to slide them open and closed, I mounted the curtain panels on a tension rod with cafe-type rings.

Something painful happened just after I got the curtains installed: The first time I opened the door and saw all that orange and turquoise through a doorway set in a red wall, my eyes nearly started bleeding.

I had to stop everything (immediately) and repaint the little red accent wall in a more neutral color (found on another wall nearby).

To the right, immediately inside the door, is the forward-facing bookshelf (I altered Ana's plans to fit my shorter space).

To the left, just inside the doorway, is the new light and the fold-down art desk/chalkboard.

I keep playing with what gets set on top of the desk; I want to hang a picture above it, but I'm waiting for a child's drawing/masterpiece to frame. 

 

I used screw-in cup hooks at the bottom of the desk to hold the little buckets of chalk, etc(purchased from the Target $1 bin for OSU reasons a couple of years ago, but never used).

 

I used a hook and eye latch at the side to keep the desk from falling open and bopping little ones on the head.

The beginnings of their art supplies are inside. 

(Since this photo was taken, I have added a piece of square dowel across the front of the coloring book space, to keep the books from falling outward.)

The desk has a dowel in the space at the bottom to hold a roll of paper. 

I rolled my own (freebie!) paper on a piece of PVC and slipped it over the dowel.

I want to sit down and draw something whenever I open this desk or look at this picture.

When the curtains are open, you can see the left portion of the back playspace.

The toyshelf, and the beginning of the little figurine shelf, are on the left-hand side. 

I found the orange baskets on clearance at Hobby Lobby; they're great for the vintage wooden building blocks and like-new-with-tags Beanie Babies I found at the thrift store for cheap.

We put a lot of little things on "Sam's Shelf"; I love it, and may 'need' one in my studio).

On the right side of the back wall, we hung the wood 'semi-shelf' for Matchbox cars.

I found it at the local thrift store (yipee!) and spray painted it orange.

I added that Velcro strip to the bottom shelf so the kids could attach the 'racing ramp' I made from a leftover strip of flooring (with self-stick weather stripping attached to make the lanes).

It really works wonderfully; the cars go crashing into the corner where the slanted ceiling meets the floor.

I'm waiting anxiously for foam pool 'noodles' to appear in stores; I plan to buy and cut an orange one to fit into that junction as a bumper for the cars.

One of our shoots moved on and left behind a big orange bean bag chair, which found the perfect home in this space, too; though I imagine it will be tossed out the door occasionally, when the train track gets set up.

(Still lovin' Sam's Shelf.  Holds so many wonderful little things.)

And last, but hardly least, we added to this space my most favoritest things of all...

How I wish I had made a video recording of these moments.

I had been telling Nik I was working on a surprise for them, and he was excited to learn that he could "open it" on Sunday afternoon.

He took the big things in pretty quickly and eagerly, but when he discovered Sam's Shelf, and the little knights and horses, he just stood there, gently touching one thing and then another and whispering over and over, "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh."

It was priceless.

Baby Girl finally decided to come all the way in and see what was going on.

I think she'll be the one reading the books, and drawing and coloring at the desk.

(Isn't she beautiful?)

I think they tried everything out.

Nik raced the cars...

...and played with the clay.

 

Guess who was in that other chair, tee hee hee.

One of the things Nik seemed to like best was closing the curtain when I left and making me "knock" when I wanted to come back in.

He liked being king.

Won't it be grand when this little monkey can challenge his right to the throne?

 

Do you like the way I worked in this picture of my adorable, widdle biddy Boss? I'll bet he is missing me right now. Yep.

I wonder if he will have brothers and sisters whose names will fill in these spaces.

I'm ready for them.

Rubberband Books

 

 

I have a little book-making tutorial for you, courtesy of the lovely Miss B (of Zentangle fame).

When our D'Art group got together to play on the 8th of July, we got to make paper beads with Able Baker Dana and rubberband books with Miss B.

Definitely an inchie moment (hour? day?).

 

 

 

It was so easy-peasy to make these books, and they make such lovely little gifts, that I thought I'd just share the how-to with all of you Dear Readers.

Here are the supplies you will need:

 - One sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper for the cover (you can use cardstock, scrapbook paper, even something from your recycling bin...the possibilities are endless)

 - One or two sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" copy-weight paper

 - One #19 rubberband

 - A bone folder (you can use  a tongue depressor)

 - A scissors or a paper cutter

 - A bit of glue (or some glue dots or double stick tape)

Ready?

It's nice if you can start with a piece of paper for the cover that you think is...

  

 

 

Since my paper was 12" x 12", I had to do a little trimming to make it the correct size.

Of course, I didn't just make a straight cut to trim that extra inch off one edge...

 

 
 

...because I'm still in a manic paper-bead-making phase, with no end in sight.

Once the paper was the correct size, I just followed these instructions:

Step 1. Fold your cover paper in a 'hot dog' fold (long edges together) with the front side facing out and make a nice crease with your bone folder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, you might notice that my paper is upside down here, and that's important.

I made these next important creases all wrong (several times) when I was using paper which had text (or a design needing a particular orientation).

If you stick with me, you'll see that you need to be careful at this point if you are using paper like this for your cover.

Step 2.  Open your paper and fold the bottom two corners in to meet the middle crease (I don't know why I had to confuse you by turning my paper upside down so that I had to fold the top two corners)....

 

 

 

...and press with your bone folder.

Step 3. Now fold the paper in a 'hamburger' fold, bringing the point to the center of the top edge like this...

 

 

 

...and press that bottom crease with your bone folder. 

Step 4.  Place glue dots or a small piece of double-stick tape (or a bit of glue) to hold the inner pockets closed...

 

 

 

 

...and fold your book closed along the original hot dog fold.

Your cover is almost finished!

Step 5.  To make inner pages, hamburger fold a piece of copy weight paper, and crease along the fold.

 

 

 

Step 6. Now cut 1/4" off the folded edge like this...

 



 

...and a generous 1/4" off one short edge like this:







Step 6. Fold your pages (short edge to short edge) and crease.



 



You can make pages from any copy weight paper, and the beauty of this little notebook is that the pages can be replaced any time.

If you happen to have a friend who loves graph paper every bit as much as you do, and you happen to be planning to give her a little notebook next time you see her, you might want to add some pages made from graph paper.







Step 7.  You're going to snip a little bit off the cover at the folded corners, so the rubberband can meet and hold the inside pages in place.

I center my inner pages along the outside of the cover and hold them in place while I snip off the corners...

 







...like this:



 

 

 




Step 8.  Now just line the center creases of your inner pages up with the center crease of your inside book cover and slip a #19 rubberband into place like this:







Et voila!







You have a nice little refillable notebook!

You can tuck a few index cards inside the pockets, too.







Do you love it?







Now, when we made these in 'class', we also made one which was not refillable.

We used a needle and thread to sew the 'signature' of inner pages into the notebook.

I loved the fact that we could dress up the book by adding paper beads to the tails of the thread on the outside of the book.

In fact, I loved it so much that I decided I couldn't do without it, even though I wanted this book to be refillable. 

So, I just removed the pages, sewed the book cover together so I could add the beads, and then put the pages and rubberband back in place.

Now I really love it!

 







( If you notice that I clipped the outer edges of my book cover, even though it wasn't necessary from a functional standpoint, well...it's just because I've got this problem with symmetry.)

Another wonderful thing about these little notebooks is that they fit perfectly into a standard A2 envelope so you can mail them (minus the beads, of course).

I made several for Me Darlin' Mither to mail to her friends (in a lot less time than it took me to write this post).

Think of the potential uses for a nifty little book design like this (Thank you, Miss B!).

What a kewl thing to make with kids the first day of a vacation or a week at camp so they could use it as a journal or an autograph book.

I'm really wanting to make some of these using old phone book or atlas covers for cover paper.

I think there is a lot of paper floating in and out of our lives which could be recycled with this project.

I'm going to send one of these to you if you give me a suggestion for a recycled book cover for which I actually have the material on hand.   offer expired 8/1/2011

Okay?

Okay.

Roll Your Own

Let's not discuss how long it's been since I posted here.

Let's not discuss how many inchies have not made it to this blog.

And, whatever we do, let's not discuss the weather.

The 'too-many-days-over-100-degrees' weather.

Let's talk about paper beads, instead.

Because (though I've been busy with a variety of things), last Friday when my D'Art group got together to play (it's summah!), the lovely Able Baker Dana joined us and headed up a little paper bead workshop.

I haven't been able to stop making them since then.

Perhaps it's because I can never tell just how a bead will turn out before I start making it.

Perhaps it's because they don't require any supplies that I don't already have (plenty of).

 

 

 

Got this stuff on hand?

 - white glue

 - clear nail polish (the glittery kind is nice, too)

 - a 'winding wire' (this one is the kind used by utility companies to plant flags)

 - decorative papers or colorful magazine pages

 - a nice wet cloth

Here is one way to make paper beads.

 First, cut a bunch of paper strips...

 

 

 

...in triangles at least 10" long...

 

 

 

...(you can even use the 'selvedge' from your decorative papers).

 

 

 

Then, start at the wide end of one strip and wind it (nice and tightly) around the rod.

When you get about 3" from the skinny end, ...

 

 

 

...run a little glue along the remaining paper before you finish winding it up.

Then grab your bottle of white glue,...

 

 

 

...glop some on the bead...

 

 

 

...and just smooth it all over the bead with your fingers (now you know why you need the wet cloth).

(Don't worry about getting glue on the wire; the beads will still move along the wire easily.)

Now, just move the bead down to one end of your wire to dry while you wrap the next one.

When you have your wire almost full, use your clear nail polish to give all the beads a nice protective coating.

 

 

 

Able Baker Dana recommends three coats of polish, but I'm here to tell ya I stopped at two and am hoping there won't be any severe repercussions.

It doesn't take long to make a nice little pile of beads.

 

 

 

And it really is interesting to see how the different papers look once they are rolled.

This bead was made from a leopard print paper:

 

 

 

And you can see that if you vary the width of your triangles, you get some nice variance in bead size.

 

 

 

Sometimes I worry about my obsessive/compulsive tendancies with these sorts of things.

I worry about why I am compelled to make so many of some things before I can feel settled.

But, you know what I've noticed?

There always seems to be a blessing in them for someone eventually.

In this case, it didn't take long to see who would that someone would be.

Little Man was here last night, and he sat for a long while, with real concentration...

 

 

 

...and made a nice long string of paper beads.

 

 

 

So.

I got the blessing on this one.

Roll Your Own

Let's not discuss how long it's been since I posted here.

Let's not discuss how many inchies have not made it to this blog.

And, whatever we do, let's not discuss the weather.

The 'too-many-days-over-100-degrees' weather.

Let's talk about paper beads, instead.

Because (though I've been busy with a variety of things), last Friday when my D'Art group got together to play (it's summah!), the lovely Able Baker Dana joined us and headed up a little paper bead workshop.

I haven't been able to stop making them since then.

Perhaps it's because I can never tell just how a bead will turn out before I start making it.

Perhaps it's because they don't require any supplies that I don't already have (plenty of).

 

 

 

Got this stuff on hand?

 - white glue

 - clear nail polish (the glittery kind is nice, too)

 - a 'winding wire' (this one is the kind used by utility companies to plant flags)

 - decorative papers or colorful magazine pages

 - a nice wet cloth

Here is one way to make paper beads.

 First, cut a bunch of paper strips...

 

 

 

...in triangles at least 10" long...

 

 

 

...(you can even use the 'selvedge' from your decorative papers).

 

 

 

Then, start at the wide end of one strip and wind it (nice and tightly) around the rod.

When you get about 3" from the skinny end, ...

 

 

 

...run a little glue along the remaining paper before you finish winding it up.

Then grab your bottle of white glue,...

 

 

 

...glop some on the bead...

 

 

 

...and just smooth it all over the bead with your fingers (now you know why you need the wet cloth).

(Don't worry about getting glue on the wire; the beads will still move along the wire easily.)

Now, just move the bead down to one end of your wire to dry while you wrap the next one.

When you have your wire almost full, use your clear nail polish to give all the beads a nice protective coating.

 

 

 

Able Baker Dana recommends three coats of polish, but I'm here to tell ya I stopped at two and am hoping there won't be any severe repercussions.

It doesn't take long to make a nice little pile of beads.

 

 

 

And it really is interesting to see how the different papers look once they are rolled.

This bead was made from a leopard print paper:

 

 

 

And you can see that if you vary the width of your triangles, you get some nice variance in bead size.

 

 

 

Sometimes I worry about my obsessive/compulsive tendancies with these sorts of things.

I worry about why I am compelled to make so many of some things before I can feel settled.

But, you know what I've noticed?

There always seems to be a blessing in them for someone eventually.

In this case, it didn't take long to see who would that someone would be.

Little Man was here last night, and he sat for a long while, with real concentration...

 

 

 

...and made a nice long string of paper beads.

 

 

 

So.

I got the blessing on this one.

This one's for you, Lindsay.

 

 

Maybe it's because you left such a lovely thank you note on my studio guest book after you spent the weekend playing in there.

Or maybe it's because you were so excited to make a paper dogwood branch the evening you were here with Miss Mary Mack.

 

 

 

But, whatever the reason, when I discovered these paper roses, I immediately thought of you.

So read on and tell me if this makes you run for the scissors and glue.

You can cut these from any paper you like; other people use decorative paper, but I like to recycle my old magazines (as you Dear Readers know).

(I'm also thinking this would be a good way to make something beautiful from the summer electric bill.)

I pulled a few colorful pages from some of the magazines that are stacked up around this place.

 

 

 

I chose a variety of things because this was my first run with this project and I wanted to see how different colors and patterns would work.

I folded my pages in half...

 

 

 

...so I would get two-fers when I cut my circles.

At first, I carefully traced a circle onto the top magazine page...

 

 

 

...but, since it doesn't matter how perfect the circles are for this project, I quickly traded that in for just cutting the circles freehand.

 

  

 

Then I drew a spiral on the top circle only; magazine pages are light and I knew I could cut them all at once, as long as I held them firmly.

 

 

 

Once they were cut, I carefully separated them.

 

 

 

The spirals tend to tangle at the center.

Then I simply started rolling the spiral in on itself, starting at the outside edge and keeping the colored side of the paper to the inside.

 

 
 

 

After the whole spiral had been rolled in on itself, I simply set it down on the table and let it uncurl itself a bit.

It was so amazing to see how these came out!

The center of the spiral acts like a little base for the rest of the rose to stand on.

Here is the first one I finished:

 

 

 

So totally kewl!

I haven't glued any of mine to the 'base' yet, but the tutorial here suggests using a glue dot (though I will probably just spread a little white glue on mine - cheap cheap).

Each of the papers had it's own appeal.

 

 

 

It's going to be fun to experiment, because there weren't any that I did not like.

 

 

 

So, Lindsay, and you other creative Dear Readers (unless you've already done this and I'm just behind in school) go cut and roll.

I've got to cut and run.

There is a baby hedgehog out there waiting to be chosen, and Miss Helping Hands wants me to go through the adoption process with her.

Life is always interesting.

An Interview With Annski - Tote Bag Tutorial

Hello, Dear Readers, and welcome to Gwen's first-ever interview with a guest blogger.

After Dear Reader Annski gave every member of our book club one of these awesome totes...

 

 

 

...made from recycled pet food bags in March, I've been thinking it might be nice to get the back-story on these little beauties and their maker.

Annski generously agreed to visit Gwen's studio for a Q and A session in mid-April (um...nearly a month ago!) and I finally get to share our conversation with you.

So, without further ado, here we go!

Gwen: I've been really impressed by both the artistry and skill of your sewing, Annski. (I'm not sure whether I really said that, but I meant to). Just how long have you been sewing? (I did really say that.)

Annski: Hmmmm. For about 50 years. My mom started teaching me when I was about four or five years old. We made Barbie clothes on her Singer featherweight.

Gwen: Zowie! That is amazing! Barbie clothes at age five?! Did you continue to sew all through your life?

Annski: No, not continually. I got my first machine when I was thirteen or fourteen; mostly just to show my teachers I could sew better than they were teaching. I started sewing some of my own clothes then.  Remember the skirts with multiple tiers we used to wear? I made some of those.

Gwen: I remember! And the peasant blouses...they've all made a comeback or two since then (though I don't know how this is possible since we're still so young). So, you made your own clothes?

Annski: I made some of my clothes at that time, but I didn't sew during my college years. I began doing a little sewing again when my son was young. I did some hand-smocking back in...83? Then my mother-in-law, who was a crafter, started giving me things to make and sell in gift shops. That put me in touch with Homespun Memories(etc)and I sewed collars and jumpers for them.

GwenGwen: I did that too! All those jumpers were sold at craft fairs...I wonder how many I made. My "jumper money" paid for my Bernina sewing machine. I've always been glad I did that.

Annski: Remember the watermelon collars?

Gwen: Yikes! I do remember! Although I can happily report that I never wore one, lol.

Annski: After the jumper/collar phase, I began making a line of coordinated accessories for a gift shop in Nichols Hills. There were all kinds of zipper bags and covers for things; including fabric phonebook covers! Guess there wouldn't be much call for those anymore.

Gwen: Aha! That's why the little zippered wallets you make look so professional. I was pretty well amazed at the one you gave to me. I'm still waiting for my matching phonebook cover..

Annski: Well, I pretty much gave up sewing when I discovered the computer.

Gwen: What do you mean?

Annski: I started making lists.

Gwen: Lists?

Annski: I'm an inventory freak. The first electronic list I made was an inventory of all our VHS tapes.

Gwen: Oh, I know a little bit about your inventory compulsion. Tell my Dear Readers about the fabric inventory you started keeping when you began sewing again recently.

Annski: I use a program for my iPad for that. I take a picture of each piece of fabric I buy and I make notes about the color, manufacturer, and where they were purchased, etc. That actually does keep me from repeating a purchase when I am collecting pieces for a quilt.

 Gwen: Let me interrupt. You don't just take a picture. You set up a "jig" so that all the photos are taken from the same distance and include the same amount of fabric! You texted me a picture of it and said, "I set up this jig to take photos of my fabric. I imagine it's along the same lines as the way you photograph your inchies." I laughed for a long time on that one! I don't even know what a jig is! My poor inchies each get set on the same piece of paper for photographing, but that's where any consistency ends! Annski, do the letters OCD mean anything to you?

Annski: Well, yes. But in a fun way. My inventory lists are important because my general thinking is: "If I don't have it in a catalog, it doesn't exist."

 Gwen: Lol! Okay, finish telling the Dear Readers about your fabric inventory.

Annski: Hmmm. When I first starting buying fat quarters (when I got hooked on quilting), I would enter the color by name...say, "light green" or "brown". But I quickly realized that there are so many shades and values to every color, that these words weren't going to be sufficient for my purposes. So I got out a color fan-deck, like the kind used in paint stores - and I began to assign each piece of fabric a color number, instead of a name. This way I know about the color value of the piece, rather than just that it's "brown" or "orange".

Gwen: Omigersh! You're kidding! Annski, do you have as much fun sewing as you do buying and keeping inventory of your supplies? It's hard to imagine...

Annski: Yes, I do now. Because I like completion now. I used to have all kinds of stuff, but not many truly finished projects. I had all 329 colors of floss when I did cross stitch; even baby-barf yellow, lol. Then I bought a lot of the colors Fimo clay came in, and a lot of beads for jewelry-making. The first time around with quilting (in 1995), I bought all the fabric to make these big quilts and wound up only doing enough to make throw pillows. I did the same thing with yarn and afghans. I just wasn't much of a finisher.

Gwen: So, now you're back into sewing and guilting and you are quite the finisher! What changed?

Annski: Well, I started reading your blog. Then we became friends. And the first time we went to the quilt store together you said, "Now hurry up and get that project done, because we can't go to the quilt store again until it's finished". Your blog just inspired me to complete things.

Gwen: I sure talk big! But, apparently, you missed the blog post about my eight or ten unfinished quilts...

Annski: Lol!

Gwen: From quilts to totes made with pet food bags, is quite a stretch. Can you tell my Dear Readers what inspired these bags?

Annski: At Ikea they have bags in the store to use while shopping, and they're made from the same "fabric" as the pet food bags. So I started looking at all my pet food bags...

Gwen: And?

Annski: I saved thirty empty bags before I actually made any totes. I do love an inventory. After I had about thirty empty bags stockpiled though, I caught my husband sneaking the bags off to the trash. I figured I'd better get busy.

Gwen: You made thirty tote bags? Do you have any left?

Annski: I gave them all away. I had to save another bag to make one for myself!

Gwen: I'm sure glad you gave one to me, but I know exactly how that goes! Are you saving pet food bags again, or is it "been there, done that" for you?

Annski: I got used to mass production. I'll probably be compelled to save them while I'm waiting for a new idea.

Gwen: What's up next for you?

Annski: Quilting is gonna get big. I want to make an OKC Thunder spread for my son. I keep thinking about concentrating on one medium. I have an intense paper inventory. I plan to thin the herd, pick the best of the rest, and then learn to sew paper. I'd also like to get back to Zentangle. And I did knit and crochet a bit...

Gwen: It's nice to know I'm not the only one who wants to do everything, lol.  Back to the bags... You've been kind enough to post on your blog a step-by-step tutorial for making totes from recycled pet food bags. What level of sewing expertise is necessary to complete this project, and is there anything special we should know before starting?

 Annski: I would say beginner to intermediate. I used nylon filament thread to sew mine, for durablity and because I didn't have to be concerned about color that way. I had to adjust the tension settings on my machine for the thread, so that's something to be aware of. Otherwise, I think the tutorial will see you through.

Gwen: Well, I think this wraps up our interview. Thank you so very much for sharing a bit of your life and this great tutorial with us. And if you ever run out of things to inventory, I've got this closet in my studio...

 

 
  

...and I no longer know what's in there.

Start the new year in your jammies.

 

It's New Year's Day.

It's 3:30.

I am still in my pj's.

And loving it.

It's been a nice quiet day at home with Prince Charming.

While we watched the Rose Parade, and I reminisced about the years Daddy took us kids down to see it (how I miss him!), I worked on a little project for the upcoming wedding.

I love it when helping someone with the details of a special day means I get to buy a new toy.

 

 

I purchased this craft punch just for this project, but that's only because it's nice to have immediate justification for my expenditures; I'm sure I'll use it for many other things.

I like the way the vellum, in particular, really shows off the embossing aspect of this punch.

Once all the flowers had been punched (from two different types of paper), I used a 1/8" circle punch to put a hole in their centers.

 

 

 

And a bone folder to gently curl their petals.

 

 

 

One up, two down.

But don't ask me why.

I don't know.

I took one silk floral stem and cut off all the buds.

 

 

 

I thought I would use them like this, but I wound up cutting even the two buds apart so I could push just one down into the center of each flower.

 

 
 

 

The ribbons we used to tie the napkin rolls also serve to secure the flowers.

 

 

A little more color for the tables, and one detail closer to a very special day.

For two very special people.

How to Make a Child's Chef's Hat

I love Facebook for helping me to keep connected to some of my dearly loved, but far away, family members.

A few months ago my niece posted pictures of her young children in the kitchen helping her make pizza (or was it bread?).

According to the story told by the photo captions, the children decided they needed chef's hats at some point during the operations.

Alas, those poor, deprived little things had no chef's hats, and they appeared in the next frames wearing a ball cap and a tiara.

Their Great Aunt Noni kept that sweet little picture tucked away in her heart, and hoped some day the time would come to make those little helpers some real chef's hats of their very own.

The time came today.

I started by doing a Google search to find out what the circumference of an average 4 1/2 year old's head is (20").

Then I pulled out a hunk of white cotton fabric which I'd salvaged from a bed skirt purchased at the thrift store last year, and I cut out a 22 inch square.

I folded the square in half, and half again, and lightly finger-pressed it.

Then I used a very fancy tool to mark a cutting line that would produce a circle.

 

 

Oh.

You're right.

It's just a pencil and a piece of string.

But, hey...

 

...it worked.

I also cut a 7" x  22" piece of fabric for the band.

When I start sewing, I forget to take pictures, so things may be a little out of sync from here on in.

I folded the band in half along the 22" length and pressed.

I interfaced one half of the band.

I pressed down 5/8" along the other long edge, and clipped 1/4" slits at the half and quarter marks along the side.

I made 1/4" slits at three of the four fold marks on the circle.

 

 
 

On the fourth fold mark I cut a three inch slit straight up the fold.

 

 

 

I cut a 1" x 6" piece of fabric to finish the edge (you could just use seam binding).

I folded down 1/8" along one long edge and pressed.

I stitched the other edge in a 1/4" seam to the opened slit in the circle.

 

 

 

Then I pressed it toward the seam, folded it over, and stitched the other (folded) edge down over the seam.

 

 

I stitched diagonally across the fold at the top of the slit.

 

 

I attached two 4" lengths of Velcro to the band to make it adjustable.

I know it looks strange in the photo, but remember that the band folds in half.

 

I ran two lines of gathering stitches around the edge of the circle, starting and ending 5/8" from the slit.

Then I pulled up the gathers, placed the edges of the slits 5/8" from the ends of the band, matched the slits at the quarter and half marks on the band to the slits at the corresponding marks on the crown, pinned, and stitched.

One of the best tips I learned when I sewed jumpers for Two Friends years ago, was to make my first gathering stitch just outside the 5/8" seamline, and the next gathering stitch just inside the seamline.

When you stitch the seam, you sew right down the middle of those two lines...right on the 5/8" seam line...and it makes an incredibly neat and tidy gather.

 

 

 

Once you're done securing the seam you just pull out that outside gathering thread and you have a lovely finished product.

After I stitched the crown to the band, I folded the band right sides together, stitched the ends in a 5/8" seam, clipped the seam allowance, and turned the band right side out.

I placed the folded edge along the gathering seam (on the inside) and pinned it (on the outside).

Then I top stitched around the outside of the band.

Et voila!

 

 

The first little chef's hat is complete.

Tomorrow I'll make the second one.

And...

...I'm considering putting the names of those dear children on the bands of these hats with a little bit of freezer-paper and fabric paint magic.

I'm wondering if their momma will read this blog and tell me whether or not she likes the idea.

Hmmm. I wonder.

I've Been Married to Two World War II Veterans

I'm still so sore from the back-breaking job of fighting flood water yesterday that I can't quite find what it takes to post about it yet.

I haven't done much of anything today except to file away some magazine clippings I had piled up downstairs.

They were good for another laugh, though, so I thought maybe I'd share them with you.

This is what my workdesk looked like briefly this morning:

Some of the clippings are just to keep my outgoing mail envelopes from being boring.

Who wouldn't want an envelope with twenty or so ice cream drumsticks on it? 

I already told you about these...

 I glue them on right next to the addressee's name (or my own), so it looks like a statement of fact.

"Naomi is crazy."

"The world needs Helen Weels."

I don't think I've told you about my collection of "I" statements, though.

They are the most fun of all.

I use these to make note cards.

I just line up a bunch of "I" statements, glue them to the front of the card, and add a catchy title.

Maybe something like this:

Then I add a (more or less) corresponding line to the inside of the card.

Maybe like this:

 
  
 
Sometimes I just glue the list of statements on the card front without adding a title.

Then I write something like this inside: "Enough about me. Let's talk about you."

The more random the statements are, the more fun I have making the card.

"I made a new steering arm."

"I chose salmon and talked to my doctor."

"I bought a credenza that smells of stale tobacco."

It's like making up a whole life for myself.

Without having to actually smell the stale tobacco.

Flip-Flop Flim-Flam

(A little apology for my poor photos. It's not the camera's fault.)

I spent yesterday afternoon in the studio with Able Baker Dana, showing her how to make a flip-flop vacation journal for a little girl.

I made one a couple of years ago, but I don't think I was blogging at the time and I thought you might like to see it.

And if you don't like to see it, you can just pretend you do, okay?

 

I didn't take photographs when we first started because we weren't really sure what we were going to do when we wandered up to the studio.

But I can tell you that the first thing I did was trace around the shoe to make a pattern, which I subsequently cut down by about 3/8" all the way around.

I used the pattern to trace and cut some pages from cardstock.

I cut the straps off one of the flip-flops and glued the ends in the holes on the front of the shoe with E6000.

Doing so gave the inner part of the book-back a smooth surface...to which I glued a piece of heavy cardstock covered with lighter weight colored cardstock.

Then I decorated all the pages.

This is the title page.

 

When I started putting the journal pages together I noticed my package of little index cards sitting there on my workdesk...

 

... and realized they would be the perfect way to add some lined pages to the book.

 

Putting them in as separate pages leaves more room for photographs or momentos on the foot-shaped pages.

 

It was hard not to be sucked into a long paper-doll making session when I got out the little cabinet to add some people to the pages.

 

 

Banners are everywhere in the arts and crafts world lately, but I hadn't made any yet so these were my favorite pages.

  

I tried to think of summer-y things for each page.

 

But I fell back on paper dollies when I started getting tired.

 

 

I didn't have to drill or punch the flip-flops to make holes for the ribbon binding.

The rubber on these cheapies was soft enough to run a bamboo skewer through.

 

 

I punched the rest of the pages with a standard hole punch.

I added a couple of flowers and a button to the front of the book and voila!

 

 

All that remained was to draw this Inchie.

 

 

And to write this post.

An Indoor Home for the Wildflowers

I was out in the blustery wind with my grandshoot today looking at our sweet little wildflowers.

None of the flowers which are blooming just now are more than an inch in size.

I am so glad God made these tiny beauties.

Looking at their small perfection reminded me of something very cool my Wildflower Friend had shown me when we were helping her renew her studio.

I realized I had everything I needed to make one of my own, so while Little Man napped, this is what I did.

I got out this surgical wire that came home with me from my job at the medical clinic.

 

 

 

And this C-clamp which I have fond feelings for.

 

 

 

 

And I emptied a few of my inexpensive individual-size salt shakers.

I decided I could replace them later, since I purchased them at the restaurant supply store for about thirty-five cents each.

(Or maybe I should save the money and get a manicure.)

 

 

 

I twisted a couple strands of wire together for a few inches and then wrapped them around the top of one of the shakers and continued to twist.

 

 

 

 

I did this until I had three bottles sitting side by side.

Then I twisted the same length of wire on the other side.
 

 

 

 

 

I used my needle nose pliers to roll the ends up.

 

 

 

 

Then I went out to the wildflower garden and cut a few of the tiny beauties.

 

 

 

I haven't shown you the delicate pink ones.

 

 

 

I'm really pleased with the result, because it means I can enjoy this color and sweetness on my workdesk, which is generally too crowded and messy for a vase of any real size.
 

 

 

God is in the details. 

05/01 Update on this craft here.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

Friday is Arbor Day, and I hate to short-change it, but I can't stop thinking about Saturday.

Saturday is May Day.

And I have such fond childhood memories of making May Baskets.

I'm sure we probably filled our little woven paper baskets with the "flowers" which grew in the big field behind our house.

But we thought they were beautiful.

On May Day we would hang our little baskets on the front door knobs of elderly neighbors and then ring the doorbell and run.

I don't know if I can ring a doorbell and still run fast enough to be out of sight when someone answers, but I do know I can still cut paper.

And pick wildflowers, if need be.

This afternoon my friend, Able Baker Dana, came over to play with her new watercolors.

I just couldn't settle down to watercolor today.

I kept thinking about May Day and these:

 

 

These are the "placemats" I made for last Saturday's tea party.

I brought them home 'unsullied'.

I decided to see if I could make them into May 'baskets'.

Here's what happened.

I folded them in half.

 

 

I cut along the fold.

 

 

 

I did a 'roll test'.

(Dana, meanwhile, was watercoloring per original plan.)

 

 

 

 

See how that top part was sticking up?

I didn't like that.

I decided to trim a little off one side.

 

 

 

 

And, because I wanted that scalloped edge to look like eyelet, I punched a hole in each of the scallops.

 

 

 

I'm holding the scrap paper underneath to keep the punch from eating my lightweight paper.

It still wrinkled a bit, but so did I and no one threw me out.

After I got the shape right, I gently folded the scalloped edge toward the outside.

(Dana was still quietly watercoloring, with an occasional glance up to see that I was making more noise and mess than actual progress.)

 

 

 

 

Then I put a little glue-tape at the inside bottom corner and rolled up my cone.

 

 

 

 

This is where I decided I needed more time this week to mess with all this... but I pressed on to finish the prototype.

I stamped a little image on watercolor paper, and (finally!) joined Able Baker Dana in a little watercoloring.

 

 

 

 

I cut out the finished piece, glued it to a bright background, and then cut around that, too.

 

 

 

 

Then I got to messing around with ribbons and forgot to take any photos.

This is where I stopped for the day.

 

 

 

 

I know May Day is all about the flowers which bloom in May, but I am seriously considering making paper flowers for some of my cones, too.

They wouldn't cost me anything, they wouldn't wilt, and there is something about messing with floral tape that I find slightly addictive.

Like I said, I'll just have to hope I get time to play around with this again before Saturday.

You know what I want right now, though?

A banana split for dinner.  

Cutting Corners

I'm still messing around with table decorations for that afternoon tea on Saturday, and, for me, it's all about what I can do with what I (or my friends and family!) already have on hand.

One of my Seesters let me cut a few blooms from her azalea bush to use in my floral centerpiece.

And I cut some scalloped round placemats out of paper for additional color.

I tried two different papers before I decided to go with the green, and I got to looking at the scraps which were left after cutting off the corners.

They made me think of those azalea blossoms.

And I wondered if I could make some paper azalea blossoms for a spot in the tablescape which was needing  color.

I got out a few supplies...

...and did a little free-form cutting.

I used the large scallop edge scissors for the petals, but I cut them with the negative side of the scallop toward the inside.

I crinkled up the bottom part of the petals, but did not wire them individually.

I did wire the leaves individually.

And, pretty quickly, I had a pile of possizaleas.

I made a loop in one end of a 5" piece of wire and...

 
 

...wrapped it in floral tape.

I'll just stop here to say I really appreciate floral tape.

I made a few loops with my heavy-duty black thread...

...and started assembling flowers.

Loops first, a couple of petals, the top leaf, the rest of the petals, and then the bottom leaf.

In much less time than it took the OKC Thunder to beat the LA Lakers, I had eight complete flowers.

Whether or not they look like azalea blossoms may be debatable.

  
 

But, with the addition of a few pins, I now have eight paper corsages and...

...the color I needed for that plain space.

 

Don't let anyone tell you that cutting corners is a negative thing.

A Tutu for Lulu

When I got up this morning, I did not know this would be part of my day.

 

 

 

But my Seester called to see if I could help her make a tutu for her grandshoot's third birthday.

She came over with her grandshoot and this colorful stack of sparkly tulle.

We made a circlet of elastic a few inches smaller than her grandshoot's waist, and we cut the tulle in 6" x 24" pieces.

Then we folded each piece of tulle in half and attached it to the elastic with a slip knot.

I prefer to think it says something about the size of her grandshoot's waist, rather than the size of my lower thigh, that we used said lower thigh for a hitching post while we worked.

 

 

 

 

My Seester got hold of my camera when I got up to let the cat out (or was it back in?) during this operation.

 

 

 

 

Everything looks good with All Stars.

Even twisted elastic.

Or twisted sisters.

The birthday girl, however, was patiently waiting for her new tutu, so I had to give it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I kept the Inchie.  

Mail is for the birds.

I'm off to the post office in a moment to mail a package for Me Darlin' Mither.

It's a box full of happy things (one of my girls, some tiny baby birdies, paper bunnies, and paper dolls).

One musn't slap a plain label on such a box.

I gussied mine up with an old favorite paper-cutting craft.

I love this one because it's more free-form than most of the others I do.

No patterns to trace.

No exacting work with the scissors.

 

Here are the materials I used today:

 

Yes, that's the inside of a security envelope.

And, yes, that cell phone user's guide plays an important role.

 

Here's a step-by-step:

Using the Sharpie marker, draw some birdie bodies (say that three times really fast) on the papers of your choice, and leave a little paper showing outside the marker lines when you cut them out.

Draw and cut a few beaks and feathers in the same way.

 

 

Rethink your junk mail, catalogs and magazines.

You can use all kinds of paper.

 

 

I didn't take any photographs of this step, but you should draw and cut some eyes, too.

No blind birds, please.

Now you play around until you've designed some birdies.

We have here a Robin Recycle bird and a Red-feathered Gwen Wren (endangered species).

 

 

Now it's time for the (defunct) cell phone user's guide to play it's part.

We've got to apply a little glue to all these birdie parts to hold our feathered friends together.

And we certainly don't want our workdesk all gummed up and sticky, now do we?

So we open our cell phone user's guide (or any other pamphlet or catalog we don't need anymore) and we use it for our gluing surface.

 

 

 

After we've messed up a page with glue, we simply use the glue stick to turn to a fresh page, ...

 

 

 

 

...park our glue stick upside down to keep it from drying out, and we have a nice clean page waiting for our next piece.

 

 

 

Ain't it wunnerful?

It made Robin happy.

 

 

Pretty soon you'll have a pile of little birdies (or flowers, or butterflies, or...)  right there in front of you.

 

 

 

You can keep them in an envelope or a file, and the next time you have some snail mail going out, you can just glue them on the box or envelope, and use your Sharpie to draw on some legs (or antennae, or...).

And off you go to the post office.

 

 

 

Where you pay someone a very small sum of money to carry your package or letter all the way across the country for you.

It's still a pretty good deal.
 

The Making of an Inchie

See these Inchies (for April 7th and 8th)?

 

Want to know how they are made?

I sit down every evening, think over the day for minute, grab an inch of watercolor paper, draw and color an image, date the back, take a photograph, and voila!

Not.

But I was very surprised to find out, during a conversation with one of my readers last week, that I've given you the impression that I do.

Want the truth?

It starts with notes.

Until very recently, I've been jotting down notes about Inchie-worthy things that happen in my life right on the paper that covers my workdesk...just so I won't forget before I have time to draw the Inchie to represent them.

Now I keep the list in a 3x5 notebook so I can carry it with me.

Some days there are so many good things to think about, write about, or draw, that I just have to wait a little while for the Spirit to bring the Inchie into focus.

How to proceed depends on what it is I'm trying to represent.

If it is something tangible, like this homemade card I received from one of my sweet neecees last Thursday...

...then I just prop it up on my workdesk and use it as a model.

If it is an image from my day which I've captured with a photo, like this:

...or this...

...or this...

...I will upload the photo and sit in front of the computer monitor to make a large sketch (that's a penny in the photo for perspective ).

I take the large sketches to my workdesk and sketch a few inch-sized boxes to see whether I will be able to scale down my chosen images without losing clarity.

Once I know exactly which image I am going to use, I sketch it on the inch of watercolor paper with a pencil...

...go over it with "The Pen"...

 
 
 ...and then erase the pencil lines.

Now, if I had carefully planned this Inchie project, instead of just jumping in and starting it on a whim one evening, I would have purchased a super fine-point, permanent ink pen that would not bleed when wet.

But, I didn't...

...plan the project...

...or purchase a super fine-point permanent pen.

So I used what I had.

And I still do.

This is what I use:

 

This pen makes a line so fine that you can write on a grain of rice.

If you have anything to say to a grain of rice.

I don't.

After I've got my design outlined in ink, I start adding the color.

I don't own a set of watercolors.

Now, if I had carefully planned this Inchie project, blah blah blah, I would have purchased a set of watercolors.

But you know now that I did not.

So I used what I had.

And still do.

These are watercolor markers (two different types), a (leftover) ceramic tile, and a fine paint brush.

I just put a little color on the tile with the marker...

...and add a little water with my brush.

I mix all my color right on the tile...and if I run out of room, I just wipe it off with a cloth.

If I let this color dry on the tile, I could come back a year from now, add water, and paint with it again.

Cool, huh?

This is how I start adding color to the Inchie:

 

When I am done with the color, I lay the Inchie next to some scrap paper to see how my text will fit.

Then I write in the text, date the back, and take a photograph like this:

The little Inchie then takes it's place in the line up; which is temporarily affixed to a piece of cardstock.

This is how my little Inchies are made.

And this is how I force myself to practice drawing.

Because it is still hard work for me to do the things I most want to do.

Girl Power!

Miss Helping Hands was home from college overnight.

She's already gone back because she's on duty tonight.

She's R.A. to 40 girls in her dorm.

That stands for Resident Advisor in the real world.

But I don't live in the real world, now do I?

That's Naomi's world.

In Gwen's world we have more fun.

In Gwen's world we might say:

Ridiculously Annoying?

Radically Antisocial?

Really Attractive?

She actually is really attractive.

Judge for yourself.

 

We took this photo this afternoon.

Strange pose, you say?

Well, here's how we dealt with that.

We uploaded the photo to the computer and added some text in Paint Shop Pro.

We went here to chose a border and order some one-hour prints that looked like this:

 

Then we all went our separate ways for a couple of hours.

When we met up at home again, we added a little something to all those photos and then sliced them up!

 

Well, okay, maybe I am exaggerating.

We only made a couple of little slits.

Just big enough to accomodate this:

 

And now Miss Really-Attractive-and-Radically-Antisocial has a Valentine for her residents.

Forty of them, to be exact.

 

And all I have are memories.

Oh, yeah...and this sucker. 
 

Mr. V.H. Caterpillar

Okay youse guys.

Here's how this project went.

I cut out some 3" strips of fabric and sewed them together...mostly in straight lines...some at an angle, to give the guy a little curve.

I ironed the seams flat and laid it, right side down, over some solid green fabric, and cut around it to make the back side of Mr. V. H.

He's a one-sided 'pillar, but that's better than being two-faced.

 

 

 

I pinned the back to the front, right sides together, and penciled in my stitching line.

 

 

 

Then I pinned them together so I could cut them without any shifting.

 

I set him aside for a minute and free-stitched some antennae and feet on a double layer of felt.

I cut them out close to the stitching.

Then I unpinned Mr. V.H. and opened him up to give him a face and stitch his feelers and feetsies in place.

Then I got the shakes.

From going without breakfast.

Because I planned to work out first.

First thing this morning.

Which I didn't do because I started sewing Mr. V. H. and couldn't stop.

Until I got the shakes.

So I stopped here and ate through a bowl of Special K and half a banana.

Which made me think, "Mr. V. H. needs something to eat through, too."

I stitched a couple of pieces of covered wire to some green felt.

I folded the felt over, stitched and then trimmed close to both sides.

Then I cut  up some scraps of fabric (and one of green felt for a little extra padding) to make a leaf.

I forgot to take pictures.

I stitched the wire stem all the way up the back side of one leaf part.

Then I sewed the two leaves together and turned them right side out,

I made the brown stem the same as the green, only longer, and I just tucked the green stem in one side before stitching the two pieces of brown felt together.

I forgot to take photos of that, too.

And I forgot to take photos of the plum, but you probably know how it was assembled because you're smart.

And that brought me here.

Where I guess my blood sugar level returned to functional and I suddenly remembered the camera.

I grabbed Mr. V. H. and tried to find something to use as a pattern for the "ate through" hole.

I centered it on the plum and traced around it.

Yet another use for the fabulous Mod Podge!

A nice tight applique stitch around the circle and a little close cutting, and here is the proof of Mr. V H.'s voracious appetite.

Now I just stuffed that plum plum-full of poly-fill and slip-stitched all those little openings shut.

I pushed the plum stem down into the plum a bit and pulled the two sides of the plum in with hand stitching to make it stay nice and upright.

Et voila!

Mr V. H. Caterpillar.

And his dinner.

All ready to go to the library.

But I have to go work out.

Ugh.

Saying good-bye to Bummy Wabbit.

UPDATE ON BUMMY:  Bummy is now listed on The Toy Society's blog (http://thetoysociety.blogspot.com/). He is drop #911. If his finder sends any notification, it will be posted with his picture. They will send me an email, so I will let you know if I hear from him again. I hope he is snuggled in the arms of a loving new owner.

Bummy Wabbit ventured out today.

He is excited about being Gwen's first drop for The Toy Society.

Of course, Bummy doesn't drive, so Prince Charming took the two of us here:

 

 

 

Bummy is sitting patiently in the oncology floor waiting room.

 

 

 

He feels a little, well, humiliated about having his ears flattened like this.

 

 

But we explained that we had to follow rules, and Bummy will do just about anything for kids.

The Toy Society suggested we "gussy up" the tag and the envelope for the letter, so this is what I did:

 

 

I took a copy of the book on the right.

I read this book when I was in a California elementary school back in the dark ages.

And, lo and behold, if it wasn't gifted to me by a friend 35 years later in Oklahoma.

My friend who is married to a Blackheart. (Gasp!)

Getting on with it...

 

 

I just folded it into a little envelope, placed the letter inside, and...

 

 

...ran some glue-tape down the sides and flaps.

 

 

 

Then I closed it up and sealed it with a little heart.

I also copied this page from another story book:

 

 

 

...to make the back side of the tag.

 

 

 

I thought it was appropriate, considering the front of the tag says:

 

 

 

Prince Charming and I prayed that Bummy would be a blessing as from God to his new owner.

And then I said to Prince Charming,

"Take me home. I'm yours." 

 

 

.

Love. Keep it simple.

I may be rushing Valentine's day.

But I had a neighbor on my mind all day.

I wanted to make a little something and leave it in her mailbox to let her know she is loved.

I was pretty busy enjoying Little Man, Miss Mary Mack, and Helping Hands Hannah, though.

Then nap time came.

For the college girls.

Not the baby.

He went home.

And I remembered these.

So I sewed a string of them together on the machine like this:

 

I got out these things...

 

...and did this:

 

 

...to make this (how pleasant that the punch was exactly the right size):

 

Then I locked the thread at the end of the message under the bottom spool cap (love these new-fangled spools) and started wrapping the garland around the spool like this...

 

...until I'd wrapped all of the garland and most of the thread.  Then I locked the thread from the beginning of the message under the top spool cap...

 

...and it was all done and ready for...

 

...packaging.  And here's how I made the simple package from a standard letter-size envelope:

 

 

I sealed the envelope and scored the top, bottom, and one side, 3/4" from the edge.

 

 

 

I cut a bit off of one side to make an opening...

 

 

...and folded it back and forth a few times along the score lines.

 

I pushed up the uncut side to make the box bottom and glued the little tabs down.

 

 

All done.

 

 

Helloooooo in there.

 

 

Add the 'gift tag' and stitch her shut.

 

 
  
Made.

Packaged.

Delivered.

Before nap time was over.

Love. Keep it simple. Get it done.

Oh, my stars!

I started making puffy paper stars about a year ago.

 

I'd decided to make something every day and paper stars are fast and easy.

And addictive. 

So they'll answer if I get to the end of a day and realize I haven't created anything.

That's how the galaxy grew.

And now I keep them on the cofee table.

 

I scoop them up and set them aside when I'm cleaning, and scatter them back out when I'm finished.

It's like making a new piece of art when I dust every week.

Or every two weeks.

Or once in a blue moon.

And sometimes I'll write a little prayer on the strip of paper before it becomes a star.

 

Now, stop thinking about the dust on my coffee table, and make some puffy stars of your very own.

Here's how:

You'll need some thin strips of lightweight paper, about 12" long.

Most of mine are cut less than 1" wide.

Start by tying one end of the paper...

 

...into a tight little "knot" that makes a perfect pentagon once you...

...tuck that little end around the back.

 

Now you start wrapping the long end around the back...

 

...and then wrap it around the front.

 

Make nice tight folds and be sure to keep the shape of that pentagon.

 

You're going to tuck the end into it.

Sometimes you'll have to make a little fold so the end will fit inside.

 

Then just tuck it right in.

 

Nice and snug.

 

I'm so sorry that I only have two hands, and no way to show you this important step very well. 

Can I talk you through it?

Just hold the pentagon by it's sides between your thumb and index finger.

And pinch the opposite sides of the pentagon in to make a star point.

Keep going until you have created all five points and have your own little galaxy starter kit.

 

Just like this.

 

It will need friends.

And you will want to make them.

So, it's all good.

Now stop thinking about my crunchy cuticles, jagged nails, and dry skin.

It's use and abuse, folks. Use and abuse.