No Crafts But I Wasn't Idle

Today I decided it was high time I tidy up my shelf, fondly dubbed Chaos. You've seen the, well, chaos. The middle shelves are the worst. Most of my stuff (or some of it anyway) is packed into the long pastic bins. The dread middle (haha, writing allusion without even trying) is where all the junk just gets tossed. Well no more! I went and bought a few plastic baskets (I prefer plastic to wicker--easier to clean) and a small bin . . . and a bunch of new craft supplies. Dang it.



Just starting to take things off the shelf and put them on the bed. Oh look! An empty space!

 

Had a bunch of books up there but that's what we have bookshelves for so off they come. Anyone read "A Nail Through the Heart" by Timothy Hallinan? Good book. Gritty. Emotional. Fast-paced.



Now "Dies the Fire" I'm having trouble getting through. I'm not even halfway through and it just feels to me that there really isn't anywhere else to go now. I don't particularly like any of the POV characters and even though the action in the beginning was good, I have no interest in reading about all these people I don't care for piddling along trying to grow corn. And then the sudden hostile takeover by the professor of whatever? So what, the lights go out and ten minutes later you've got weapons, food, candles, and prostitutes stockpiled? Riiiiiiight. . .

(You know, it is sad that I had so much more to say about a book I dislike rather than one I like.)



And then there was a hat. I felt the need to take a fabulous picture.



Oh, and a feather duster.



I don't actually dust with it. I snip off feathers whenever they suit a project. Not everything calls for gray, but have you seen the prices for feathers these days? $4 for ONE FEATHER. I think not.

Sewing essentials in here:



Wasn't using this giant white basket. It's a tight fit but better than having all my fabric spilling all over the place or, as before, stacked about in the bags I bought them in.



Now, I am a rather short person and this--



--is not working for me. I pulled it down--very careful not to drop it on my head--and put it on a lower, more accessible shelf. Woo-hoo! Gotta clean it out a bit though. There were bells and googly eyes strewn about in the drawers. Dang it, my narrow elastic's all tangled. Luckily I never throw away my empty spools.



Getting a bit better now.



The shelf second up from the bottom was filled with stuff I rarely use so I went ahead and consolidated that and moved it all to the bottom. The one cardboard box there had supplies in it, so I took all of those things and put them inside the large white-lidded bin, putting some of the bric-a-bric that was formerly in the bin into the box. Lots of switching going on. Ugh, it looked like the shelf had just barfed all over the room.



I was beginning to get that "bit off more than I can chew" feeling right about then. But, after a glass of water and some orange, and returned and kicked it in the butt. Also, I found my block of inspiration. (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium, anyone?)



It feels good to have a bit more organization. Now I'll know where everything is when I need it. The thing that prompted this binge was not being able to find my jar of buttons . . . and I still haven't found them. Hm. They must be packed away in some box. Maybe in the storage unit. Which is why I bought some assorted buttons while I was out this morning, just to tide me over until I can unearth that silly jar.

The finished product:



Still looks rather wild. But it's now a wild I'm well aquainted with.

UPDATE: Dad just read this post over my shoulder and said, "I should comment 'I think I know where your buttons are.'"

3D Wall Art: Passion (Part 2)

Today, with the foil-covered canvas dry and ready for decoration . . . I decorated it. (Well, the sentence started out like an epic might but kind of fizzled near the end.) There really isn't much to say about this stage because it all hinges on personal preference. I arranged my roses in an asthetically pleasing way, fiddled around with some silver puffy stickers, tore up some sheet music . . .



Glued it all down . . .



And there you have it! Now to stage it by placing some objects around randomly.



Look at how artsy those sticks look. Oh, the juxtapostion! *three snaps in Z formation*

Another dreary day so the lighting in these pictures isn't something I'm totally pleased with, but c'est la vie.

A note about the back: I made sure to seal those loose foil edges down with a layer of Mod Podge.



Overall I am very pleased with the finished product. For the next 3D Wall Art project I'll do a green color scheme and will incorporate some watercolors into it! And feathers. Gotta like fluffy feathers!

If you'd like to own this piece, head over to my Etsy shop.

Tips? Comments?

See you soon with a mahogany tray in hand.

3D Wall Art: Passion (Part 1)

It's rather gloomy outside today. It has been raining on and off for the past few days and while I like a good storm, I don't like having to put a project on hold for days because it's pouring. Thankfully, the clouds parted just long enough for me to do a raking job and to do two clear coats on this box I decorated. (I bought it at one of my favorite antique/thrift/one-man's-junk-is-another-man's-treasure stores for about $10. It was plain wood and I wanted to try my hand at revamping with mixed media.) I quite like the finished product!



(Sorry if my pictures are less than stellar . . . sunlight literally does not come into the picture.) Next time I repaint/decorate something wooden I'll post my process and whatnot. (I also bought this awesome mahogany tray--you could beat someone to death with that thing, it's so heavy--at that store and it too was $10. *victory dance* I don't want to do crazy stuff to that one, just paint it. That'll most likely be my next project.)

Okay, for today: 3D Wall Art

Again, mixed media. I saw this awesome thing in a book (wow, that was so vague) where they used foil and it looked great. I'd like to start with that. Let's see . . .

I have my 10x10 canvas. I'm putting little self-stick pearls all over randomly, then I'm going to paint a layer of Mod Podge over the whole thing, edges included. (Usually I'd not be so picky about getting my hands dirty but I'm on a diet right now. It's important not to absorb any superfluous chemicals.) The podging:



Now I'll take a piece of foil and lay it over the canvas, being careful not to be too careful. I want the crinkles. Pressing it down gently so there is total contact.



Oops. Pressed too hard here. Oh well, the paint should cover that.



I put globs of Mod Podge (to give an opaque effect at random) and both red and burgundy paint over the canvas, then spread it all out with a wide paintbrush. I want to use black paint (or something very dark) to age it. Gotta wait 'til this red coat is dry though, which might take a while because I put it on so thick.



In the meantime, I did the first coat of paint on the paverpol flower and sewed a few ribbon roses.



All right, the red paint seems to be dry so I'll do black over it now. I watered down the black paint but it was still thicker than I'd intended, so the overall tone is much, much darker. I like it though.



END of PART 1

Be back tomorrow with the finishing touches.

30 Minute Free-Write #1

I have a timer set to 30 minutes. No spell-checking, no backtracking. Whatever word vomit comes out STAYS. Be forewarned.

Prompt/concept: Apple Martin (a character from a writing exercise I'm doing) gets dragged to the circus by someone she doesn't want to be friends with.

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 -- GO!

Apple stood with her arms crossed and a pinched expression on her face. She was trying not to be trampled by the passing crowd. They oozed past in surges of colorful blotches, carrying with them the clamorous roar of chatter, but she couldn't make out a single word. The games surrounding her dinged. Suddenly, an elephant blasted, making her start. She might have been interested in seeing the animal were she not already decided on being in a bad mood.

Dahlia, hair as frizzy as always, ran up to her and grabbed her hand. "Sorry I lost you, there are just so many people," she said, then started dragging her along. Dahlia was wearing black and white striped fingerless gloves, a rainbow striped shirt, and poofy red skirt. She fit right in.

Apple, dressed far more modestly and tamely and boringly, followed. Her feet were reluctant to move; they must have rooted. "How much longer . . ." will we be here?, is what she wanted to ask, but she really didn't want to offend so she said, ". . . will the circus be open?"

"All day! Don't owrry, we can stay," she said (and Apple pouted inwardly). "I know you must be dying for the civilization after all that rain. I know I got cabin fever." She pulled aside a tent flap and led Apple to a bench, setting her down nice and tidy. "Now stay here," she ordered. "I'll be right back." Then she vanished in a flurriy, in that funny, hopping sort of way she walked.

Apple was almost disgusted by herself. It was wrong to feel so unfriendly when Dahlia was trying to be so nice. Or was so nice. Dahlia was always like this to anyone who showed her attention. She was like glue. One touch and she was stuck to you.

Apple had brought it on herself. She'd felt bad for Dahlia. They way she was ever the wall-flower, though not a very pretty one.

She reappeared and handed Apple an icecream cone. The scoop was heaping and dripping slowly down the cone. Apple smiled and took a lick. It tasted good but that bright mint color was a bit questionable. What had they put in it? Oh well.

Dahlia shouted, "Ohhh!"

Apple flinched and almost licked the icecream right off the cone and onto her dress. She recovered and saw what her new friend was so excited about. The lights dimmed. Out walked the ringmaster. Wearing the Big Hat. Apple gazed at it dreamily.

The hat was tall, wider at the top than the base, with a big brim. There was gold inlaid in a crown shape around the body of the hat. Gems glittered in the low light. The man wearing that hat was pretty big himself, htough far less attractive. He raised his arms in welcome. The crowd gathered on the benches cheered, including Dahlia, whose applause verily shook Apple off her seat. She felt a fresh surge of annoyance. Why was she so excited? Nothing was that amazing. Though that hat . . . Apple really wanted that hat.  If she owned the title that came along with wearing it . . . She'd show everyone what she could do. They may think she was dull, incompetent, reckless. they could think whatever they wanted. But once they saw her in a Big Hat they'd change their tune.

The man announced something and girls in frilly outfits rode out doing flips and spins on the backs of horses. Then out trumped that elephant. It had been painted from head to toe in colorful geometric shapes. Apple didn't want to be the person who had to bathe the animal after. That's for sure.

Hoops hanging from the celeing, or whatever you called the top of a giant tent, suddenly burst into flame and a spotlight came to life with a great electric whoosh. At the end of the tunnel of light was a red velvet curtain suspended in midair at the end of the row of flaming hoops. (Apple hoped the tent didn't catch fire and fall donw on them all.) The curtain parted to reveal a dragon, shimmering green.

THE END

Wow. That was not exactly fabulous. But fun fun!

Give me some prompts! Comment below!

  




 

Tote Bag with Wooden Handles

Today I wanted to make something fairly easy--you know, straight lines, simple stitches--though I daresay I'll overcomplicate it. Oh well. ("That's your problem. You always want everything to be clever." - Moriarty)

I'm going to make a tote that I can carry all my sheet music in (I play violin and piano) + use as a purse if I want to. I rifled through our tote collection the other day and found them totally inadequate for my purposes. They are all mesh bags, which end up rounding the corners of papers and folders.

I want the bag to be pretty large (I like big bags and I cannot lie), have boxed corners, a lining, some pockets. I think it'll be open top but I might fiddle around with a button and loop closure.

Now to hunt down some fabric. I'm in a bit of a quandary because I can't decide whether I want to do something with good ol' quilting squares or do a solid piece fabric. (I have been daydreaming about a bespectacled cream-colored mouse reading a book . . . no idea why.)

Ooh, that Hawaiian-ish one looks great with the color of those handles. (I know, I know, it's winter . . .) Also, I have black lining which will work great with that.

First I'll lay the handles down on the sheaf of fabric, which is folded in half, to see how wide I want the bag. (I'm not going to be using a measuring tape, partially because I can't find it.)

Chaos, we meet again. *dramatic music*

If you're wondering why on earth my room is such a disaster it's because we're in the middle of a renovation, meaning everything from one room has been compressed into another, dispersed in piles, and crammed into boxes. We also have a giant storage container in our front drive. It's full too.

Now that I know basically how big I want the bag I'll cut out (with the fabric folded) a large square. Now I have two of the outside fabric. I'll do two squares of the same size in the lining fabric and two of the batting. (Batting can be omitted.)

With right sides together I'll sew my fabric on three sides, same with the lining. Now I have either a great bag for kidnapping people or a fabulous hat. Ta-da!



Now to box the corners. To anyone who doesn't know how, you basically set the bag on its end seam and take the adjacent seam and press it down directly onto the end seam to form a triangle. (Oh, I hope that explanation translates.)



Then, depending on how wide you want your boxed corners, you sew straight across, making a triangle at the corner of the bag. Cut off the triangle.

Do that to both sides and you've got it. Okay, I boxed the corners of my fabric and my lining. (I later went back and sewed just my batting in the same way--the three sides, then boxing the corners. There is probably a better method for doing the batting but I didn't bother to Google it.)

Now I'll fit all my layers together exactly as I want them to look on the finished product. No seams showing, just the raw edges at the top. Now (and again, probably a better method out there) I'll fold over the raw edges, lining inward and fabric over batting inward, and tuck the handles down in there. (Here came my downfall . . . darn you, measuring tape)

I hand sewed the handles on through that big slit in the wood and use a line of hot glue to hold down the very edges.



Same thing with other handle. I also hand sewed the remainder of the upper edge of the bag. Then I hopped back up to the sewing machine and wrestled with sewing a nice solid line just beneath the handles all the way around the bag.



That was hard. I guarantee there's a better way to do that, if nothing else.

All right, now with all bottom corners matched and aligned properly, I hand tacked in each corner to ensure the layers won't pull apart.

Ta-da! The finished bag!



Now about the downfall. The handles, due to "offness" in my eyeball measurements, are not centered. But hey, the bag still carries stuff so I'd say it's a pretty good day.

Another mistake is that the lining fabric bunched a bit when I was in the deathmatch with the sewing machine, leaving a big fold where it shouldn't be. To cover that up (rather than pulling out the dreaded seam ripper), I'm going to crochet black trim for the inside and light green for the outside with the yarn in the picture.

Tips and suggestions? Project you want to see me fiddle with? (Or should I say "Any projects with which you want to see me fiddle?" Cool your jets, Charles Dickens.)  Comment below!

Make a bag of your own (show me pictures!) or hop over to my Etsy shop to buy one.

NOTE: I bought the handles at JoAnn's.

And yes. I am wearing pajamas.