Vacation In A Can

I've admired these magnetic metal spice containers at Ikea but have been stumped for a use.

I made a fake vintage postcard using two of my photos. The tins allow for an image 3.5 inches in diameter. We collect sand everywhere we travel so I had some available to insert in the tin.

The depth was a bit more than I wanted so I put 2 layers of corrugated cardboard behind the printed image.

The photo came out very blue because every time I got near a light source the plastic lid had reflected images. My inner 12 year old goes Blue Hawaii and giggles. The tin insert actually looks like the image above but with sand.

How To Make Mini Saddle Stitched Notebooks Made From Comic Books

Somehow my kids keep ending up with free comic books which they don't read.   I wanted to do something with them other than the recycling bin so I started making mini notebooks that I enclose with my Stray Squirrels Etsy items.

Remove the staples from your comic book.

Tear the double pages into single pages and choose the best looking side to be the front side of the cover.

I made these booklets with 3 sheets of white paper which makes a 6 page booklet.
 

Determine how wide your cover will be and put a tape mark on the stapler so you know how far in to staple. My finished booklets are 3 1/8" x 5". Each page will make two booklets so you need to do 2 sets of staples. I just eyeball it but you can measure if you prefer the spacing to be exact.

The cover now has 4 staples. The paper I happen to be using is tabloid size but regular copy paper works better.

I use a bone folder to press down the staples if they aren't laying nicely. This is an excellent stapler so it isn't an issue, but some of my other staplers don't work as well.

Fold the spine along the staple line using your hands. Use the bone folder to make a crisper fold along the spine.





















Cut the long edge of the booklet. Again, mine is 3 1/8 inches wide. Turn the book so the spine is along the top edge of the cutter and trim one end. Trim the other end so the booklet is 10 inches long. Cut the booklet in half so you have two, 5 inch long pieces.

Buffy hopped up on the table to supervise and became a little jealous when she wasn't in the photos.

Beach Themed Love Note Treasure Hunt

I normally do riddle laden scavenger hunts for Birthdays but this time I did something a little different.

I took a sand dollar image, duplicated it and printed it on heavy paper with messages about what makes him special. I did one message for each year.

I put a little sand from one of our trips in the bottom of a container and then layered the messages and sand until the container was filled.

He then had to dig through the sand with his fingers to find the messages.

Chasing Buses Double Crochet Filet Stitch Scarf Pattern

Alethea had scarf envy and handed me a small ball of wool yarn. I knew I needed an airy design to compensate for limited resources but she also wanted a warm scarf.

I called the pattern Chasing Buses since my other daughter just started taking classes at the U of M and she had multiple bus adventures today. The solid parts represent the streets and the holes are her footsteps in the snow as she ran.

The first row is the filet stitch followed by 3 rows of double crochet.

Here is the pattern.

Use the crochet hook size recommended by the weight of your yarn. This scarf was done using a G hook.

I chained on 30 stitches since the scarf is worked in a repeating pattern of three and I prefer odd numbers.

Insert your hook in the 6th chain from the hook and DC, chain 2, DC in the 3rd chain  from the last stitch. Repeat DC, chain 2, DC until you reach the end of the chain. Chain 3 and turn. (You now have a row of 9 filet stitches)

The chain 3 is your first stitch.
2 DC in the chain 2 space. DC in the top of the previous filet double crochet stitch. Continue across the first row. Chain 3 and turn. You will have 28 DC stitches.

DC across the top of the second row. When you get to the end, chain 3 and turn.

DC across. You now have 3 rows of solid DC.  When you get to the end, chain 5 and turn.

The chain 5 is one side and the top of your first filet stitch. Double crochet in the 3rd stitch over. Chain 2. Repeat DC, Chain 2, DC until you reach the end. Chain 3 and turn.

Do 3 more rows of DC followed by a filet row. Continue pattern until you achieve the desired length. I would have added fringe to the ends but ran out of yarn.

Macchiato Colored Crocheted Scarf

I still had a lot of yarn left so I made a scarf using the pattern by Catherine South.

The scarf and the two hats used a total of 3 large skeins of yarn.

Nissa likes texture and the stitch has a fun little crossover bump every few stitches.

Ribbed Crochet Winter Stocking Hat

I had a lot of brown yarn left over so I tried another hat pattern, this one is from Crochet Geek. It's very warm and was much easier to fit.

Nissa was beginning to get a little concerned when I kept calling her to try it on since the yesterday's hat was too large and first trial fitting for this one was too tight.

I made this one 5 stitches longer than the pattern called for since she's going to be taking the bus to the U of M and I wanted to make sure the cuffed portion covered her ears.

Forest Tree Face Sculpted From Clay

This face was so huge it took almost a month to dry.

I formed it over a plastic covered bowl so it wouldn't be too solid. The bark features were made by adding clay and forming ruts with my fingers.

The leaves were individually made, scored, and placed with slip.

The hardest part was transporting it, freshly made, home from the cabin in a car filled with dogs. I never thought it would survive but it somehow made the trip intact, didn't break in the kiln, and avoided being nabbed by the art thieves that plagued Nissa's class. We lost a surprising number of items.

Slice Carved Pottery Bowl

The wheel thrown bowl was generously sliced with a scooping motion using the loop tool.

Bowl Carved With A Zig Zag Cake Decorating Tool

You take the zig zag surface tool from Wilton's cake decorating line and heavily incise the surface. You need to do this before it's leather hard but not too soft or you'll cave in the sides.

Loch Ness Monster Plate

I attached Nessie to the plate and used a metal brush to brush on a rough wave pattern.

Wavy Textured Pottery Bowl

I had a mishap while this bowl was drying. I went to move it and broke a chunk out of the top. I almost tossed but sometimes accidents make things better.

I cut the top edge in a random wavy pattern and used a wire brush to texture the outside of the bowl. The bowl looks better after the mishap than it did before.

Assorted Carved Pottery Plates

The pattern was done with the tip of a church key. The piece has to be soft leather hard, if it's too dry the tool doesn't press in smoothly.

These were both done with the curved side of a flexible metal tool.

The same metal tool was used here but the cut was deeper and closer together.

The tip of the loop tool was pressed in lightly, then deeper, then lightly.

I used a small melon baller to scoop out the clay.

This surface resembles an orange. The surface was leather hard and I gently cut out small random bits with the smallest part of the loop tool.

Carved Pottery Hand Shaped Soap Dish

I took a thrown pottery plate and free hand cut out a hand shape.  I put in palm creases but some of the lines filled in after glazing.

I planed on it being a soap dish but it shrank to the point where it would hold guest soaps, now it holds rings.

Bark Carved Pottery Pot

I have a few pots drying before the first fire. Many of these have carving, some are plain.

I used a veining tool from a wood carving set to incise this pattern which reminds me of tree bark. You could probably do something similar with the tip of a vegetable peeler.

Carved Pottery Bowl With Stone Like Pattern

This pot was was so thick I wanted it to resemble a boulder, so using the loop tool, I randomly cut chunks off. 

I enjoy the smooth interior with the hewn exterior. It's pleasant to touch.

Deeply Carved Pottery Bowl

This pot was very chunky so I took the loop tool and carved into very deeply. The edges were a bit too sharp so I used the loop tool to smooth it a bit after it was drier but not totally dry.

Carved Clay Rose Petal Plate

This design was so much fun to do.  I started in the center, bent the flexible metal tool, and gently flicked out chunks of clay.  I think the pattern resembles an open rose. I used kiln space at my daughter's school so my glaze choices were limited, I basically did everything in blue or celedon.

Get A Life Mario Power Up Mushroom 8 Bit Gamer Poster

I went old school while watching 12-12-12: The Concert For Sandy Relief on Hulu.

It's been awhile since I played the old games so it was a good thing my kids let me know which color mushroom to use.

The 8 bit look can be done pretty easily in Illustrator.
* You make a frame using the rectangle tool.
* object->path->split into grid
* choose the number of rows and columns and make the gutter 0.
* click on a square with the selection tool (black arrow) and fill it with color. If you hold down the shift key as you select the squares, you can color multiple squares at one time.
* You are left with faint lines after you remove the lines by making them transparent so I go to window->pathfinder->unite and combine the shapes as I color them them.

Available on Etsy

Easy DIY Lacy Style Fancy Mask

I saw this pattern from Sprinkles in Springs and was struck by it's elegance and simplicity. I must admit I would never have thought of using Puff Paint for anything, much less a mask.

It peeled off the saran wrap beautifully and I used Tacky glue to attached a satin ribbon on the back of the edge.

We found sheer, flesh color fabric so it looks like it's floating on my daughter's face and the ribbon matches her hair color.

I would suggest checking the eye holes before making it since heads come in all sizes but we didn't have to adjust it for Nissa.