Book Art

My mom was asked to do a book art display for the anniversary party at the Shediac library. The display was to showcase various crafts that can be done with vintage books or atlas. I believe it took her a few months to complete all the projects. The finished set-up looked great.

I not sure if I would have the patience to make all those folds in those books.

Dried flowers

After my boyfriend reminded me that today was our 4th year anniversary living in our house, my first thought was it took us 4 years to hang stuff on the walls.

To celebrate the occasion, I decided to re-frame an old dried flower arrangement my mom made me about 8 years ago. It's previous frame was ugly and it was banished to the basement. Now I think it's pretty cute and deserves to be on the main floor. One wall down, 6 more to go.

Button stamp

A few months ago, I saw a tutorial on making a button stamp using old thread spools . I thought these would be perfect to decorate my envelopes. My mom volunteered to make a few button cut-outs for me since she owns a button punch. Today I finally had a chance to test them out. Fun stuff!

Simple doily project

During my Christmas vacation, I made a few crafts with my mom. This was one of them. My mom provided the 2 vintage doilies. I provided the double pane frame. Simplest project ever!

Photographed next to my Valentine's gift - a miniature rose bush. I'm not very good with indoor plants, hopefully this one will last more than a few weeks.

Glass jar surprise

For my birthday, I was lucky enough to receive this lovely glass jar with a fun gift card inside from my mom. It was such a cute idea, I figured I would share the steps involved in creating this package.





Supplies:
- standard size mason jar
- 2 piece standard mason lid
- crumpled brown Kraft paper or tissue paper
- 2 x 32" Martha Stewart baker's twine or other funky twine
- shredded sheet music
- gift card

Using a small plate (8-9" in diameter) as your guide, trace a circle onto the Kraft paper and cut out. Place a small amount of shredded paper in the bottom of the jar. Place the card in the center of the jar and stuff more shredded paper on each side and on top of the card until it's no longer visible. Screw lid in place. Place a small piece of scotch tape in the center of the Kraft paper circle and center over the lid. Press firmly to secure. Since the twine was thin, I cut 2 pieces of the same length. While holding the Kraft paper down close to the jar, tie the twine around the neck of the jar and make a bow.










Pretty easy don't you think? My boyfriend also received one with shredded maps instead of the sheet music. Not only do they make a cute present, they also make for a cute decoration. I'm using them on my mantle here.

Matchbook Cover Collage Tutorial

Back in 2006, my boyfriend and I bought our first house, an 1950's bungalow. During our first Spring at the house, we discovered a large (and I mean large) bag of matches in our little shed. The extensive collective had been left, presumably by the previous owner, next to an old lawnmower and a can of gasoline. For obvious safety concerns, we brought the matches inside and started rummaging through the pile. There were matches from Ford, motels & hotels, insurance companies, tomato sauce companies (with recipe printed inside the cover), matches made from spaghetti and the list goes on.

Initially I didn't think of crafting with the matches so whenever we would have smokers over at the house, we would offer a bag of vintage matches as a parting gift. After a few years, our pile dwindled down and most of our friends quit smoking so I decided to make a little souvenir of our discovery.




Steps:

With a pair of scissors, I carefully cut the front of about 50 matchbook covers. In some cases, I had to remove the back staple. This part was annoying since most staples were rusted. I suggest buying your frame in advance so you can roughly plan the placement of each matchbook cover.

On a 11" x 15" medium weight paper (made for acrylic paint), I glued each little matchbook in place using a regular glue stick while leaving only a 1/4" spacing between each cover. Once the glue dried, I place the collage in a double-matted frame I bought at Deserres (my new favorite craft store).


Here's a few close-ups of my favorites covers:

My favorite is "Tout pour le fumeur" which means "all for the smoker".

Featured in the press

I recently found out that my Parisian catnip mouse was featured on craftstylish.com. I had almost forgotten about that little guy. He's still available in my Etsy shop 4Paws.

I also discovered a fun website called Then and Now. They feature artist that have pictures of their very first piece. It's really interesting to see the evolution in people's work. I didn't have any pictures of my first sewing attempt but I did have one of a bookmark I made as a child. Thankfully, my crafting skills have improved over the years.

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Sewing tip -leftover soap

I love using a thin leftover bar of soap to mark lines on dark fabric. It's a great alternative to using tailor's chalk. It's good for the environment as well as the pocketbook. Just make sure it's nice and dry before you start using it.

In the picture below, I'm marking a line on the stretch jersey to make a 1/2" band as part of the
finishing on a halter top. I bet you thought soap was just for washing !

Handmade tags

My newest obsession is making paper crafts. I hand cut these tags from gorgeous Amy Butler cardstock. They will soon be for sale in my tangente shop - $4 for a set of 5.

Great for gift tags, thank you notes or even display signs for your craft fair table.

Amy Butler Spring contest

On the very last day, I decided to enter the Amy Butler Sew Inspiring Contest. The challenge was to create a purse or bag with an Amy Butler pattern, fabric or just something that is inspired by her very distinct style. In case your not familiar with Amy Butler, she's a designer and author that makes amazing textile and paper prints.

Since I couldn't find any of Amy's fabric at the local fabric store, I decided to create the purse with my own fabric using a pattern I created. This is the first time EVER I've attempted sewing a purse so I kept it simple and decided on the basic shape of a wristlet. I used a distressed cotton and coordinating patchwork fabric. With the patchwork fabric, I sewed it in a “men's tie” shape and embellished it with a vintage turquoise brooch. I decided to do a random topstitch on the handle to add a bit more character.

I "borrowed" the brooch from my mom about 6 years ago. I hope she doesn't need it back since I'll be selling the purse in my second Etsy shop tangente shortly.

Did I mention the grand prize is a fancy Janome Memory Craft 6600P Sewing Machine. Wow!!! You can view all the entries on the Amy Butler Sew Inspiring Contest Flickr group.

Etsy on Martha tomorrow

I just heard the news. Etsy will be featured on The Martha Stewart Show tomorrow February 29th. I checked my local listing and it's airing at 10am and then again at 11am on a different channel (in case I miss it).


I can't wait to see who they'll feature.

Crafters for Critters

I recently donated these 2 items from my 4Paws' Etsy shop to Crafters for Critters.

Crafters for Critters is about simultaneously supporting handmade, independent businesses/crafters/designers/artists and rounding up money for animal rescue organizations.

All proceeds from items that are currently for sale until the end of June 2008 will be donated to the Greyhound Protection League and Grey2K USA.

The Crafters for Critters shop is not just for pets, it also has jewelry, t-shirts, home goodies and much more. So be sure to check them out.

Brooklyn or Bust

Inspired by Swimmy, a book by Leo Leonni, Etsy asked its members to make & send a friend for Swimmy to be included in a giant diorama at Etsy headquarters.

With the help of my mom, we were able to make our own version of Swimmy. He's getting ready for his long journey to Brooklyn. Good luck Swimmy.




For more information on making your own swimmy, visit the following Storque article.