In my studio: Staying close to home

 I always feel a tinge of jealous for my artist friends who live by the ocean. They always seem to collect amazing things on their beach-combing trips.

Having just entered the third trimester of my third pregnancy, I am in no condition for long excursions but walks around the block with my two little ones in tow is completely do-able! This led me to make a collage of goodies that I found within a one-block radius of my house.

In my studio: following instructions is sometimes best!

A few years ago Art Mind posted a tutorial for making a polymer brooch or ring. I thought that it would be very useful to make a mold for myself so that I could spend more time decorating my clay pieces an less time manufacturing them.

My brain was still recovering from the holidays when I decided to make a mold in a cardboard box. Yes,  I thought that it would be a good idea to have plaster dry in cardboard. 

Oh, and I also cooked the clay beforehand which did not help matters one bit!!

I couldn't pry them out of the plaster so the only thing to do with it was draw a face on it (before throwing it away). :-)

Thankfully, I learned my lesson and decided to follow the instructions.

  

Success!!

in my studio: making lemonade out of lemons!

So, something good did come out of my most recent DIY fail. I liked how my sketches translated onto Christmas ornaments so I thought that I would try and see how they looked on sculpy.

Now I just have to seal them and turn them into pendants!!

Faux porcelain: DIY fail!!

I attempted to make some Christmas ornaments using a "faux porcelain" recipe I found on Pinterest. Think I didn't cook it long enough...

 I kinda saved some by sketching on them with permanent markers.

Love the idea of this so I'll probably whip up another batch later on in the month and try again.

In my studio: Serious stash-busting Owls (just in time for Christmas!)

With the holidays quickly approaching, I've been trying to think of ways to use my stash of fabric and fabric scraps to make presents. My daughter just loves to have a doll or stuffed animal to hold and squeeze so I drew up two basic owl shapes to use as a pattern for making toys.

If you would like to make some of your own, here is what you need:

Pattern (owl 1 and owl 2), fabric, poly-fill stuffing and basic sewing supplies

Step 1: Trace pattern on fabric scraps and cut out. (I wanted to make quite of few of these so I made my pattern using manila folders.)

Step 2: Pin facial features to fabric.

Step 3: Set zig-zag length to 3 and stitch length to 1 1/2

Step 4: Sew nose, inside eye shape then outside eye shape. For the outside eye (the whites), I put blue thread in the bobbin so just specks of blue would show through.

Step 5: Place front and back pieces right sides together and sew using a 1/4" seam allowance (leave a wide enough hole to allow for piece to be turned right-side out).

Step 6: Press seams and make little clips around the curved seams.

Step 7: Turn right-side out and use a pointy object to push out the corners. 

Step 8: Press seams again.

 Step 9: Top-stitch around upper portion of owl.

Step 10: Stuff animal with poly-fill making sure to fill corner spots.
Step 11: Stitch opening closed. (here is a great video tutorial)

And you're done!! Since I am making more than I am planning on giving away for Christmas, I am not stuffing the extras to save much needed studio storage space!

I hope this helps all of you get rid of some of your scrap collection and get ready for Christmas!!

Hand-made holidays: a few of my favorite tutorials

Just wanted to share some of my favorite holiday tutorials with you!!

Marbleized ornaments

German ornament wreath

Christmas ornament mobile

Make iced branches

Hand-stitched ornaments

DIY Christmas stockings

Mistletoe kissing ball

Burlap and tulle garland

Happy making!!

On the needle...

So, remember how last week I blogged how I was going to cast on for a new project? Well,I kinda got distracted by by two comfy blankets that I picked up at my favorite thrift store for 80c each...

and then I started going through my box of embroidery floss and thought to myself how great these colors looked together...

and before you know it...

 I'm just stitching along, all happy as a clam!

In my defense, I'm still using a needle...just not a knitting one!

From my studio...

So, I'm guessing that you think that I've taken pictures of my latest painting....

Well, guess again!

I painted my laundry detergent box!

Now, before you start with the eye-rolling, let me explain myself. I wanted to make my own laundry detergent but didn't want to put it back in the box from the grocery store. I like handmade things to be held in handmade packaging. Make sense or are you now rolling your eyes at me? :-)

Making my own detergent didn't require any extra flexing of my creative muscles. It is actually quite simple.

There are lots of recipes out there for homemade detergent that are all well-loved. Here's the one I used:

1 bar of Ivory soap grated

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing soda

See! So much cuter than the grocery store box!

Week in review

So, it has been a crazy (but fun-filled) week for me which unfortunately meant no blog posts for awhile. So sorry!! Here's a little peak into what I've been up to:

Every since I saw this windchime from wine bottles, I immediately knew that I had to make it.

I have plently of empty, label-free wine bottles (thanks to having a husband who makes wine) so the real challenge was to cut the bottles. Having looked at multiple tutorials from various blogs and YouTube, I thought that I was ready for the challenge. I was wrong.

So, my first attempt was an obvious DIY fail, but I am not going to let this discourage me from trying again. Christmas is just around the corner and I have several family members who would love this for their gardens. (BTW, photographing glass is no easy feat!)

Next up is my cycling-inspired painting for my brother-in law. I did go ahead and use the first thumbnail for the layout and am pretty pleased with how it is turning out. 

I do have some touch-ups to finish but nothing too major.

Hope you all are making progress on your Christmas present projects!!

On the needles...

So I made a decision concerning which pattern to use for my next dishcloth project.

Is the suspense killing you? :-)

I selected the Chinese Waves pattern by Margaret Radcliffe!!

 I'm loving it so much that I think that I'm going to start tackling this cone-o-yarn. 

Happy knitting to you all!