This is what I’ve been up to these last days in the course of getting ready for the Spring Handmade Cavalcade:
Urban Chicken
Fused Plastic Chic
Good Night Water Tower
Sewing, sewing, sewing. . .
Don’t forget, next week is our book club meeting.
Monthly Archive for April, 2009
- Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis and Anna Jarvis
The other day, I researched Mother’s Day and learned that it wasn’t a holiday created by a card company, but a day envisioned by Anna Jarvis for each family to honor their mother. In honor of her mother Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, a social activist, Anna Jarvis lobbied for years to make Mother’s Day a recognized holiday. As part of this campaign and in memory of her mother, she distributed white carnations in front of her mother’s church in 1907. In 1914, Congress declared the second Sunday of May Mother’s Day. It was never Anna’s intention for this day to become such a commercial event. In fact, she declared
“A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment!”
However, I think she would have approved of these flowers as Mother’s Days gifts:
Fabric Flower Tutorial by Blair of Wise Craft:
Beaded Rose Tutorial by Beaded Flowers:
Or, for some international flair, how about these Kanzashi Flowers by Mookychick:
Just a heads-up that the next book club is scheduled for May 6 to discuss Jenny Ryan’s Sew Darn Cute. If you are new to the book club here are the rules. And here are some inspirational pictures:
Pictures from Sew Darn Jenny’s Flickr Set
It is Spring break and I’ve been working on a few assorted projects while keeping Missy entertained.
Fused Bead Tutorial
This is one of my more popular Flickr pictures. You can find my fused bead tutorial on The NewNew Blog.
Communion Outfit
My daughter’s first communion is next week and I think we’ve finally pulled the outfit together.
The skirt is made using Goingsewcrazy’s Twirly Skirt pattern and cost a whopping $15 and 2 hours.
Commissioned Bag
A friend of the mother of a friend in Japan commissioned this bag.
Here’s a roundup of crafty blogs from the Commonwealth of Australia. I apologize in advance for the many authors I have left out. If you feel someone in particular must be added to the list, please list the link in the comments.
New South Wales
Fern of Not Nigella blogs about her crafty life. She also writes for CraftBlog and her site sports a host of tutorials. Check out her story about the caterpillar she made for her son.
Queensland
Tsk Tsk is a lovely blog from Queensland authored by Tiel, an illustrator and designer. She works mostly with paper and canvas, but also makes some interesting soft toys. She is also a co-author of Meet Me at Mike’s the book.
South Australia
Scarecrow and Doc are prolific gardeners from South Australia. Scarecrow chronicles how she coaxes beautiful edibles out of the ground while working with? around? the South Australian climate. Doc posts his frugal and practical projects that support his wife in her endeavor.
Tasmania
The Teacosy Revolution is about, well, tea cozies. Tara Badcock’s brainchild is all about fabric, textiles, stitching . . . it just needs to be experienced.
Victoria
Jodie is the force behind Ric-Rac. She sews. A lot. Currently she is featuring a really interesting series about her creative process in designing Milton, the sewing machine man.
Western Australia
Sew Delish loves anything girly and beautiful. Her latest project features a cute chihuahua in a no-sew dog sweater. Perfect for the Australian fall.
Northern Territory
Tash is currently based in Darwin and writes For Arts Sake, a blog focused on scrapbooking and her day-to-day musings. She is on the design team of the Little Scrapbook Shop and shares her layouts with her readers.
Australian Capital Territory
Consumption Rebellion is a really interesting blog by Eileen. In 2006 she decided not to buy anything new for a year. The year is up, but she continues to share her thoughts about simple living.
As for the remaining territories, does anyone know of other blogs that stem from there?
Since wedding season is upon us, here is an idea for a quick favor. These wine charms are for a bridal shower. Incidentally, we will also make them as a teacher-appreciation-day favor. All you need are wire hoops from a craft store or jewelry supply store, beads, and little favor bags. Instead of the wire hoops you could also use memory wire. String a few beads or charms onto the hoops, bend the wire end up to close the hoop and you’re done.
For more favor ideas, check out The {NewNew} blog for instructions on:
In fact, the entire month of March on the The {NewNew} blog was dedicated to wedding planning, so if such an event is on your horizon, you should definitely pay a visit.
About a year ago, I decided to move away from plastic containers for my dry food storage and use glass jars instead. I now have a lovely collection of former wheat germ jars I use for rice, sugar, couscous, and so forth. For a while now, I’ve been planning to embellish the jars with glass etching. Today I finished my first one:
Materials
- Glass Etching Cream
- Clear self-adhesive Contact Vinyl
- Sharp Crafting Knife
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Protective Rubber Gloves
- Permanent marker or other writing utensil that won’t smear on the vinyl
Instructions:
Trace your design on the front of the vinyl with a permanent marker to make a stencil.
Make sure the glass item you want to decorate is completely clean and wipe off the surface with alcohol.
Either adhere the vinyl onto the glass and then cut out your design with a craft knife, or cut out your design first and then place the vinyl on the glass. The second method was easier for me, but you may want to experiment a bit.
Make sure there are no fingerprints on the area you want to etch. If necessary, carefully clean the area with rubbing alcohol.
Put on the gloves and with a paint brush, apply the glass etching cream onto the stencil and follow the manufacturers directions. I my case it took five minutes for the cream to do its job.
Rinse off the etching cream under running, cold water, remove the stencil and, voila! there is your design. Remove any remaining adhesive with window cleaner and/or soap.
Only six jars to go. . .
Other Resources
Fig and Plum has a great list of glass etching resources; SuperCute! uses masking tape instead of vinyl
or search “cream glass etching tutorial” for other suggestions.
Earlier this year Etsy allowed you to use Google Analytics to analyze traffic to your shop. Fantastic, except the amount of data is overwhelming and what does it all mean? Thankfully, some very generous people have written up some explanations on how to interpret the data.
Setting up Google Analytics
Google Analytics and Etsy, a Picture Book Story by Awesome Chicks of Etsy - a step-by-step tutorial on how to set up Google Analytics for your shop
Overview
Inside Google Analytics by Handmadeology
- A six minute video overview on Google Analytics using an Etsy shop as an example
Specifics
A series of great instructional videos by Don R.
- Tracking Internal Etsy Traffic
- Tracking Etsy Search Traffic
- Tracking Referring Sites by Hour
- Tracking Depth of Visit
Tracking Time Trends by Handmadeology - Find out what time of day your site receives the most traffic
Internal Tracking with Etsy Stats by Blog Handmade - Explains what all those cryptic urls in the content section of Google Analytics mean with a link to a document providing an in depth listing of Etsy analytics codes
That should keep you busy this weekend. Happy analyzing.
Just mailed off a batch of hair accessory sets that will be included in ten raffle bags at the Spring Handmade Cavalcade.
And here is how I attach felt embellishments to ponytail holders:
First, sew the center button to the embellishment. Then sew through the button, the embellishment, and loop around the ponytail holder. Repeat this several times until you are convinced it will hold. Still using the same thread, sew on a small circle to the embellishment that covers the spot where you attached the ponytail holder to the embellishment. The felt circle will blend into the embellishment. Oh and I suggest you use button thread for a strong hold.
So, you bought your ticket to come to Brooklyn on May 9th and 10th, right?
