Artful Thursdays – A Crafty 2010

Every day is crafty at my house, but back at the start of 2010, Thursdays became special.  Julie at the adventures of bluegirlxo dedicated Thursday's to using the stuff she had on hand to create and invited other crafters to join her.  I was up for the challenge & it was a great year to start and [most importantly] finish so many projects I had materials and plans for.  It was also a lot of fun to see what others have made each week and to follow along with their accomplishments.

All my Artful Thursday posts can be found at my blog, tagged with the Category "Artful Thursday".  Throughout the year there was quilting, embroidery, paper crafting, stamping, crochet, beading, decoupage and organizing.  Some I posted with tutorials, others just photos – I hope you’ve enjoyed the series.

I won’t be officially continuing the Thursday commitment in 2011, but doing it this past year has definitely shown me that I can get things done on a weekly basis if I just put my mind to it.

Thank you again Julie Collings for being a great inspiration!

Hand-Stitched with Love

 

Got one good picture of this snowman and his friend; didn’t have time to iron before rolling it up and wrapping as a gift.  Not sure I should call this “embroidery” as it was just back-stitches and french-knots.  Started a few days ago, finished Christmas day and delivered.  Was glad to get that project done, been thinking about it since I bought the magazine with the pattern in 2003!!! 

Next - a pair of mittens almost done knitting, need to photograph those and another completed last week (burning up the stash yarn!), maybe a quick crochet bag, and an Artful Thursday recap – then it will be 2011!  Can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.

Thank you all for your comments over the past week .. and the whole year – I really appreciate them and the time you take to visit, your feedback and support.  Wishing everyone a safe and warm winter (or cool if you’re on the opposite side of the globe from me!) – and a Happy New Year! - Tammy

Artful Thursday – Easy Drawstring Bag Tutorial

This is a super easy and quick project… it’s taken me longer to photograph and write up a how-to for this blog post than it did to create this bag.  I whipped up a bunch a few nights ago to wrap some presents in and find it’s a great way to use the mounds of fabric that seem to multiply around here (t-shirts are fabric, too!).  These an eco-friendly way to wrap presents – no paper filling up the recycling bin and they can be washed and reused (how about: a travel bag for shoes;  toy pouch; makeup bag; lingerie bag; storage… how many ideas can you come up with?).

 

What you’ll need:

• Knit fabric – it doesn’t unravel or fray at the edges. (t-shirts are great!)
• Needle, thread, scissors – sewing by machine or hand – for machine sewing you will need a ball-point needle – essential to sew through knits smoothly.
• Ribbon, cord, shoelace, heavy yarn, etc… for drawstring.
• Safety pin or bodkin to help thread the drawstring.
• Embellishments optional – ribbon, embroidery floss, appliqués, fabric paint, etc. – whatever you can think of.

I’m not going to tell you how much fabric you’ll need since I don’t know what you’re wrapping.  How to figure it out?  If you were going to wrap it in paper, that’s about how much fabric you’ll need– you will need some of the overlap for your seams and the drawstring part – so it’s an easy estimate to just lay your item on your fabric and cut away,  no rulers necessary.  Same goes for cording and embellishments – they all go according to the size of the bag you’re making.

How To:

Cut out fabric:

Create drawstring casing - fold over one long edge so that your drawstring will fit inside and stitch close to the edge: I went back and did another row next to that line of stitching to make it extra-sturdy.

Turn to the right-side and embellish your bag: Here I used ribbon** from my etsy shop.

Now fold, right-sides together and stitch around three sides – starting just below your casing: I trimmed all edges with pinking sheers when I was done.

If you like, you can fold up the bottom edge and sew across the two corner triangles that are formed.  This will create a cute flat bottom for your bag.  You can make very large triangles, too, if you want to make a wider bottom for your bag (it all depends on what the bag is for.) Bottom inside-out view: Next, you can trim off those pieces on the corner so they’re not lumpy in your bag:

Turn right-side out: Sorry about the smudge mid-picture… I thought I was getting sun-glare.  Turned out I just needed to clean the lens of my camera.  Must have been from yesterday’s snowy pictures – guess I wasn’t as careful as I thought I was protecting it from wetness.

Almost done!

One more thing is to thread the cording.  In the past I’ve used a safety pin or a pair of hemostats, but I picked up this “Elastic Pull-Thru” by Dyno at an antique store and it’s been super-handy.  I found something similar on Amazon, here*. What I used:

Threaded, knotted, gift added, cinched and now it’s ready to go:

Let me know if you make any of these, and add a link in the comments to share.

Happy Artful Thursday!

*Affiliate Link.

**I’m kind of tired of selling ribbons in my shop – if anyone wants all the yardage that I have left (it’s not all listed)– make me an offer, please!

Let it Snow! (So I can stay inside and stitch.)

Seems like the first calm day that I’ve had in a long while.  Sat down to get some things done this afternoon and all of a sudden, noticed that it had started snowing!  Took a picture, can you see the flakes?  Took about 10 tries to figure what setting on the camera to shoot at:

Then got back to sorting out my embroidery flosses – what a disaster.  While I’m in the midst of projects I usually just throw things into a bag or basket until I need them again – not the best organizational system….

Got a little bit of a project completed… and, yes, it’s supposed to look like that: Maybe I should try using an embroidery hoop. 

Then it was outside, shoveling the driveway, when I noticed the leaves of the trees looked frosted (maybe I’ve been baking too many cookies lately):

I hope you’re getting some nice, peaceful moments these days.

Featured EtsyBlogger – Pruitt Handcrafts

Congratulations to EtsyBlogger Linda of Pruitt Handcrafts!

This lovely teammate has 3 shops!

Pruitt Handcrafts
Pruitt Design (closing January 15th, 2011)
Pruitt Supply

And of course , her blog: Pruitt Handcrafts.

Linda always seems to be on the Etsy Forums, and is a very active member.  I don’t know how she keeps up with things!  Not only is she an active crafter, she’s a breast cancer survivor and has 25 grandchildren!!! (Just stop by her blog to see pictures and to read her business tips, see her quilts, pictures of shows & more.)

Check out this pillow:

and now, not sure if it’s weird that I like this – but I’m always enamored with altered art that uses sheet music:

The EtsyBloggers is a big group that I’m always finding something interesting in, have a visit and check out Linda’s creations!

EtsyBloggers Carnival – Recipe for a Sweet Treat

 

Today’s Blog Carnival is being hosted by: Spotted Cow Soaps.

“Share your favorite Holiday recipe and tell us why it has become your favorite Holiday recipe.”

My favorite recipes are ones I can share or gift!  The recipe I make every year and that I’m most frequently asked the recipe for is one I often gift to teachers and friends – Frosted Walnuts; followed closely by requests for Rolo Pretzel Treats.   Here it is:

It’s nice packing these in a tin and giving the whole bunch to someone special, too.  Why is it my favorite?  Because it’s easy, so good and makes people smile.

Enjoy!

Blogging, Knitting

According to [some people on the internet that make up all sorts of rules] good bloggers have consistent posting to keep their readers engaged and coming back for more.  I read so many blogs in my feedreader that if someone isn’t posting regularly, I hardly notice – there’s always 100 or more posts to keep up with.  I usually email subscribe to the most inspiring and check my reader a few times a week.

Personally, I keep ideas in LiveWriter, plan ahead and pre-write some posts – have tons of pictures not yet uploaded here or at flickr… and still I can’t always get my act together.  Hopefully, you’ve subscribed to my updates and are getting these automatically so you know when I’m back online (see upper left-hand column for a subscription box). 

Hmm.. So, what have I been doing?  Keeping up with two teenage daughters.   Baking lots of bread because I can’t justify shelling out $4+/loaf when half of them have additives I’m either allergic to or simply can’t pronounce.  Knitting.  Sewing.  Thinking about baking some holiday treats to give as gifts – check out these two - Saucisson au Chocolat et aux Figues and Ale & Pretzel Soft Caramels.  Last year's caramels were a huge success so I’m ready to try it again.

Been knitting up some fingerless mittens in my spare time – when I’m in waiting rooms, helping with homework, etc…  They’re really mindless to do.

These were a gift and I wasn’t sure the recipient would know what they were without the thumb, so I cut out the back of the box of crackers to make holders for these.  Added “Fingerless Mittens” to the cardboard later on, too.

Pretty simple pattern, just k2,p2 in the round, on dpns for as long as I wanted them to be.  Then for the thumb hole, I stopped at one needle, turned to the wrong side and k2,p2 for 7 or 8 rows until I had it as large as necessary.  Once that was done, I just continued round, joining again, until the top (about another 6 rows). 

How are you handling this holiday season?  Have any “to-do” plans left for the next two weeks?

What We Learned About Craft Fairs

This past Sunday was the culmination of weeks of crafting at my house… my daughter and I each had our respective projects and we’d been creating, labeling, pricing and packing things at every spare moment.  It was a big success for her, not so much for me – so here’s a picture of her display:

It’s been a while since I’ve participated in one of these, but I’m not surprised that I didn’t have lots of sales – I have a pretty eclectic mix of items and you never know what’s going to catch a customer’s eye.  I was really happy my daughter’s work paid off – new fabric yo-yo necklaces of hers will now be appearing in a local boutique and she should be updating the bracelets in her etsy shop, Bubblywater, soon.

I learned a couple of things -- one was to pick up display ideas all year round.  If I had to think of this last minute (like I did at my table), it would have been a disaster (yeah, it kind of was – that’s why there’s no picture.)  The antique crate was something we picked up last summer – inserting lights through cracks in the back showcased each bracelet individually.  The necklace display was something my husband and other daughter constructed after I had been scouring the internet for ideas and came up with this one.  I read over and over again that black wasn’t a good choice for displays since they collect dust – but this one turned out well.  We wanted a neutral background for the bright colors to stand up against. 

During the event, and after staring at the necklaces for a while, I realized that the tags I gave her were too big.  So, we’ve updated those to be smaller so they don’t detract from the ornament and chains.

And most importantly, we learned to “not judge a book by it’s cover”.  I thought her items would appeal to mostly teens (it did), but there were a number of non-teen customers (with such good taste and an eye for trends!), as well as one gentleman.  This one threw us as he scrutinized her necklaces, asked all sorts of questions about how they were constructed and how they were worn, holding them up to his neck to see.  Not just a bored husband wasting time while his wife was at the event, he bought one, too!

Nobody used the mirror we brought and had standing to the side.  We’ll still bring one for future events – you never know.  Customers liked a little gift wrapping – we had  cellophane bags and ribbons for that.  Being friendly and smiling was key – always nice to see customers face-to-face and get some feedback.

Do you like shopping at craft fairs?  Had success as a seller at any this year?

Packaging Edible Gifts

Been having fun coming up with cute and tasty gifts. 

There’s so many good chocolate bars in the stores lately, so I decided to make another batch of these cards, (how-to found here).  I knew they wouldn’t be standard sized, so bought the chocolates first and then tweaked the size of the card template to fit snugly.  Last time, I printed templates directly onto my patterned paper, skipping the overlay step for the inside piece.  This time, all I had was heavy-weight white, so did the basic shape on that and then used patterned paper for the overlay piece.  This worked out well since I have an entire package of white cardstock and can be frugal with the scrapbook paper.

Filled with Chocolove Premium Chocolate Bars*:

I couldn’t resist, knowing the “love” would appear in the cut-out of this card, and it tastes sooo good.  Yes, I buy food because of the packaging sometimes – it just makes it special! (Anyone else out there do that?  I’m definitely a sucker for an eye-catching wine label, too.)

If my girls will help out, then I’ll make another bunch for public school teachers next week.  I’m liking this treat a lot because it’s good for male and female teachers.  I think this year I’ll focus on the crafting side of the gifts instead of the baking.  (Check back here in a few weeks… I do have some caramel recipes I wanted to try out, so who knows if I’ll have time and change my mind!)  Readers, are you making or baking holiday gifts this year? 

(*An Amazon Affiliate link where I get a referral fee if you purchase anything after clicking.)

Baking in the Midnight Kitchen

I had a request for potato rolls, so baked up a batch late at night.  Couldn’t resist ripping into one … just to check to make sure they came out right…

Recipe from Yankee magazine, here.