Tag: indie craft

DIY 356: Keep an Ideas Binder

Every time a magazine or website appeals to me, I clip out photos and ideas and pop them into a big binder. I keep it handy so it’s easy to file things and the clippings don’t pile up. It is, quite literally, my brain food. That, an a good cup of coffee, and I am ready to get creative.

Make your own Ideas Binder:

  1. Buy the largest binder (about 2″ will do) as well as clear pockets from your local office supply store.
  2. Use tabs to mark sections, like: Home, paper, embroidery, color combos, and others areas of interest.
  3. Start cutting images from all the magazines you receive in the mail, then move onto sites with good ideas.

In no time your biunder will be bulging with great references you can use!

Until tomorrow~Sarah

DIY 357: How to Make a Rag Flower Hair Pin

I have been admiring all the rag flower hair clips and pins in Anthropologie and I have been hankering to make some for myself. Turns out it’s really easy!

How to Make a Rag Flower Pin:

Cut fabric into strips (1″x20″)
Tie 3 strips together. Leave a little “tail”. It will be the center of the flower
Twist first strip.
Run lines of glue, and begin wrapping twisted piece around center knot
Tuck end in and glue, and repeat process with other 2 strips.
Twist, wrap and glue all three stips.
If you need to, secure with a pin until dry.
Choose a fastener and sew on the back after the glue is dry.
Snip center of flower to fluff out the center.
Use the iRock to apply some sparkle.

Have fun! Have a great weekend!

Until Tomorrow~Sarah

DIY 358: Easy Home-made Jewelry with Sculpey

The summer vacay bug has bitten, and I am getting really excited to go camping. So much in fact I made three charms using Sculpey and stamps I own.

Make your own charms out of Sculpey:

  1. Purchase desired colors of Sculpey at a craft store
  2. Buy or use inking stamps. The bolder shapes and simpler lines are easiest to work with
  3. Follow directions in working with Sculpey. I found that kneeding the clay in your had to warm it up makes it very easy to work with
  4. Press into the stamps
  5. Cut away excess
  6. Use a pencil or pointy end to poke a hole in the clay where you want it to hang
  7. Bake according to directions on the box

Zooming around on the internet looking for info about Sculpey, I ran across this funny little animated short…check it out.

Sculpey the Slug — an animated short from KMPer02 on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

Until Tomorrow~Sarah

DIY 359: YUDU, the personal screen printer does patterns

I love the ease with which I can create screen printed fabric on the YUDU. I made a simple leaf design and turned it 180º as I worked across the fabric. I will be turning these into curtains for my sewing room.

You too can screen print using the YUDU~Here is a resource if info and great tutorials:

  • Find an introduction to what’s in the box, here >>
  • Erin Bassett is a pro. See her video tutorials, here >>
  • Find some good tips and tricks, here >>
  • Buy more accessories and supplies, here >>

And have fun~I sure do!

Until Tomorrow~Sarah

DIY 364: Frame Vintage Photograhs

My mom calls this a “Rogues Gallery.” I call it “a great place to put all those old photos dad off-loaded onto me a few years ago~citing me as the ‘family historian.'” I did some research on how best to handle these (admittingly cool) pics and found great information on the National Archives site. They go into great detail about how to preserve these little bites out of history.

Make your Own Rogues Gallery:

  1. Buy frames you love, or re-purpose ones that are laying around, and frame up family pictures, or any other grouping you want to see everyday.
  2. Lay out a grid: clear a table or a space on the floor and figure out how you want the grouping to look on the wall. ~Since I used all different sizes I couldn’t do a regular grid. I ran four columns (top to bottom) with parallel spaces between the 1st and 2nd and the 3rd and 4th. Check out the graphic below~a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
  3. Measure thrice, hammer once.

Until Tomorrow~Sarah

Sewing vinyl fun and easy (bags and more bags)

I got lucky last month when my mom gave me her like-new Viking 500, preferring her 30-year-old Viking 6000. I have never owned my own sewing machine, preferring to beg and borrow from friends. I could never justify spending the hundreds or thousands of dollars they cost to buy since I wasn’t sewing everyday. Well how about that: when there’s one in the house, I end up sewing every day!

I began sewing with a vengeance a week ago when I got my hands on several pieces of vinyl. The stuff cuts like butter (love butter) and since it doesn’t fray I can leave a raw edge. The possibilities of a raw edge are endless, and I started by punching three holes in the side pocket of this bag I whipped out in an afternoon.

The inside I lined with ironing board cloth (the silver stuff) which makes it look all the more urban. There’s a pocket on the back side, too.

I am sewing coin purses as well, trying to figure out the best way to put in the zipper. Mom told me I started the hard way with zippers by going small, but I love a challenge and I am here to tell you putting a four inch zipper into these little bags has me scratching my head sometimes. No one seems to notice, but for me they aren’t perfect just yet.

I started selling them at Made (a super cute bungalow-turned-shop in downtown Phoenix), as well as my other little creations. Cyndi and I will be running a set of workshops at Made this summer. As soon as I have our schedule and the projects I’ll post the info.

At SXSW with Provo Craft and Lovely Lula

Last week, Cyndi Coon of Lovely Lula and I joined Provo Craft in Austin, TX for South By Southwest. (A city-wide music festival, for those of you who don’t know what that is). Cyndi and I are huge music fans so this opportunity was as fun as it gets. Here are pics from the trip…

Sunny St. Patrick's Day in Austin with Cyndi, Mike and Jon.
A silly band who played in The Dirty Dog Bar, where we were stationed for the day. We rocked out to great music and good times.
Wednesday night we were way lucky to get in to see Spoon, the band.
Cyndi showing her stuff. (That's the yudu screen printer)
Practice makes perfect. We screen printed t-shirts with the yudu, and I lost count at 250!

Overall the trip was fantastic. We landed on St. Patrick’s Day, got to eat dinner in an Irish Pub, saw great music, hung out with some fab people (the Standard Recording folks, Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching and, of course, Mike and Jon of Provo Craft), we had a successful day of demonstrating the yudu, and got home in time for the weekend! I tell you, this is the way to live.