Technique Tuesday: Cutting Burlap

Remember when I helped my roommate to make this bag out of burlap? The next day I showed you how we created the stencil and painted the bag. I have one more tip to share with you that we learned while doing this project.

Cutting burlap straight can be difficult and if you do it wrong you will end up with crooked and fraying edges. Here is the technique for cutting burlap that we learned from watching the ladies at Joann's cut it from the bolt:

I hope this comes in handy if you ever need to cut burlap or another loose woven fabric.

Stay crafty,

Life Lately: March 20th

Hello all! 

Since my last day of school, here are some of the things that I have been up to:

Last quarter I purchased an espresso machine from my favorite thrift store  for a whopping $10(!!!) and I've had so much fun learning how to make lattes and mochas.  Not to mention, I spend a lot less money at coffee shops these days.

Enjoying a homemade English toffee latte 

We finally decorated the blank wall in our apartment by turning it into a fandom wall! It's already been added to since I took this picture. Can you name all the things that we love?

Last weekend I got to go to a Women's sailing clinic at the lake which we lovingly dubed TITS clinic. This was our group picture. Such a fun time with lovely ladies.

From the interwebs:

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I love this spring collection by lippedlove

Home by

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I learned that:

“You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.”
— Navajo Proberb

• Who knew that Google streetview could be so beautiful
• I discovered 99dresses, a website where you can buy and sell clothing with site credit. If anyone has used this site before, I would love to know what you think.

Today, I am leaving for a road trip to California (We are driving almost the entire west coast of the United States!) so I won't be able to post much but hopefully I can do some updates from the road.

Off I go!
Via

Always,

Make it Monday: Woven Rag Rug

This woven rug is made from old sheets and a loom made from a cardboard box.

Downloadable Cowl Pattern

Hey everyone!
I am happy to announce that I have finished the downloadable pdf of my cowl pattern. The ebook includes instructions for the stitches used and the pattern.  I uploaded the pattern to MediaFire and it can be downloaded here. I have never used this service before so please let me know if it is not working or if you find any errors in the ebook.

Download here

I hope you all like it!

XOXO

What I Wore: Last day of school

The day has finally come! Today, I had my last class of my undergraduate career.  In the spirit of remembering all my schooling, I channeled my inner kindergartner with this outfit.

dress: Salvation Army/boots: Nine West from Salvation Army/shirt: Salvation Army/purse: fix up from Salvation Army/tights: Fred Meyer

I just realized that almost everything that I wore today I bought at Salvation Army at some point. The bag is one of my favorites. I bought it a couple years ago and it was in pretty rough shape, so I cleaned it up and added the lace and a locket.  I think the dress is actually a child's because it is a medium.

I had the most difficult time trying to take pictures in my apartment.  We have terrible lighting and there isn't a single blank wall. I did get this interesting picture in the hallway:

For reference here is what I wore for the first day of school this year:

Please ignore the messy apartment. We were still moving in.

I wish that I had a picture from my first day of college to see how much that I have changed.  

I know that many of you are still in the middle of finals, so I won't gloat too much. I am glad to be done and that all the hard work has paid off but, I know that it will take a while to get used to being out of school.

Stay sane everyone!

On Blogging: Making stuff just to make stuff

Now that I am transitioning my blog out of the seminar class sphere where it was created and out on my own, I have been thinking about a bit about what kind of blogger that I want to be and what kind of posts that I want to have.  Last night, I came to one realization while I was browsing through craftgawker.  As I was noticing all the St. Patrick's Day and Easter themed craft posts, I had the thought "Oh dang I need to catch up and make some holiday posts too!". But that actually doesn't make any sense because I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day and Easter is coming at the end of a long road trip this year and will be celebrated with my family in Oregon so it doesn't make sense to decorate for that either.  So basically, I would be just making stuff to make stuff.

And that brings me to my second point. It seems like there is a trend in the craft world (at least the online one) to make A Lot of stuff even if it is not particularly useful or neat. There are certain bandwagons that everyone jumps on and just has to make their own tutorial of, even if there are three thousand already (hair chalking, friendship bracelets, painted sticks wrapped in string anyone?).  I see some tutorials on craftgawker or pinterest and at first I think "Oh that looks cool I should make that" and then I realize that I actually don't want or need that item.

I'm not trying to criticize you if you have ever made a replicate tutorial. I sure have done it and I've had the urge to do it but from now on, I want to make sure that I am authentic in the projects that I do. To me this means that the things I make are objects that I need and want.  I enjoy the challenge of trying to new projects so from time to time I might make something just for the challenge of it and if I don't actually want the item I will offer it as a giveaway on this site (if it turns out alright!).  I define authenticity as being true to my own style and interests. It doesn't mean that everything that I make will be unique or different.  The internet is an amazing source of inspiration and information which means that almost everything that I make has been either influenced by someone else or done before.  But the point is that it will still be me, an added bit of chickaddie, if you will.

So don't expect to see any clover garlands or Easter egg dyeing any time soon. Here is a list of the projects that I do have in mind/in progress:

• tote from sail material
• wallet from sail material
• WWU Sailing vinyl sticker
• dress to skirt refashion
• embroidered Toms
• floral bralette
• Moleskin scrapbook
• pink blouse refashion
• linen dress refashion
• glass etching

Do you have any thoughts on blogging authenticity or the repetitiveness of craft projects?

Thanks for listening,

Sneak Peek

So, I told you guys in my last post that I have a project that I have been working on. As my final project for my blogging seminar, I have been making an e-book of my crocheted cowl pattern. The e-book will be in pdf form and free for download.
Here is a sneak peek of the cover:

The e-book includes the pattern and instructions for the stitches used to make it.
I will be presenting it to my class tomorrow and will hopefully have the final version done by this weekend!

XOXO

Mani Monday: Glitter tipped nails

With all the craziness that the final last two weeks of college has brought, I didn't have time to do a Make it Monday this week. So, it will have to be Manicure Monday instead! 

I had so much fun doing this manicure and I really love how it turned out. The only downside is that the sparkling catches my eye sometimes and distracts me! Check out a great tutorial on this technique here.

I have been working on something for you all as my final class project in my seminar on blogging that I will announce this week so stay tuned!

Keep on keeping on,

From the Nest: A lovely little present

I just wanted to pop in real quick and share something that my professor gave me yesterday.  In my major (Human Services), the professors tend to be incredibly kind, compassionate and giving. They love to bring food and gifts for their students. During my last internship class, my professor passed out little mesh bags that contained this adorable gift:

Can't tell what it is? It's actually a crocheted bookmark that looks like a strange little worm (bookworm get it?)

Step 1. Stick him in a book

Step 2. Laugh at the funny worm face

Have you ever noticed that if you put googly eyes on something it becomes instantly hilarious? Try it and not laugh I dare you!

Added bonus:

If you make him eat his tail...

it becomes a bracelet!

I am having waaaayyy too much fun with this and now must learn how to make them myself!

Stay silly,

A letter to my readers

Surprise!
If you look up you will notice a new tab on my pages bar entitled "Dear Readers".  This page is a letter to all my readers, especially my classmates for whom this blog was created, about the creation and future of this blog. If you are interested, feel free to take a look and please leave comments if you have any thoughts on the subject. Otherwise, carry on!

Make it Monday: Button Bobby Pin

The other day I was looking through my craft supplies trying to come up with a simple tutorial and I realized how many cute buttons that I have but might never use.  So I came up with this fun way to wear them.  All you need is a button with a tab on the back and a bobby pin.

1.  Choose a button with a tab sticking up on the back and a hole big enough to slide the rubber tip of a bobby pin through.

2.  Stick the tip of the flat side of the bobby pin through the button hole.

3.  Slide button to end. The pin might look upside down because the flat side is up but this is actually the way that bobby pins are meant to be used. The flat side pinches the hair against the crimped side to keep it in. See a great tutorial on hiding bobby pins here.

4.  Enjoy your new lovely bobby pin.

Life Lately

It's Friday! That means I have TWO WEEKS until I graduate from college. It's really starting to freak me out. It seems that every day I get another exit survey or message about how I need to turn things in and wrap things up. How do you wrap up the last four years of your life? I've also been sleeping a lot more lately. It seems like my body is in denial and thinks I can just sleep through this and it will go away.

A calm day at Lake Whatcom. Beautiful but not good for sailing:(

Jane looking adorbz

Our friend gave us a TON of expired frozen pizzas!

I've been trying to be much better about cooking meals this year. I even have a bread machine now and make my own bread. But when things get busy and you have this many frozen pizzas in the freezer, the inevitable happens. Pizza for all!!

Morning at Camp Kirby team race regatta on Samish Island

I had my last sailing regatta this last weekend at Camp Kirby.  The sad thing is that I didn't really realize that it was my last so I didn't have a last hurrah. We had good wind on Saturday but then it nuked on Sunday so we had to call it and go home. It was an absolutely beautiful venue though and a wonderful time with good friends. I just wish that I had known that it was the end.

From the interwebs:

I love these food interpretations of Pantone colors. Via

Mt. Hood from Portland, OR Via

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He lets me rest in fields of green grass and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water. He gives me new strength. He guides me in the right paths, as he has promised. Psalms 23 Via

I would love to wear this outfit Via

The perfect kitchen Via

• See this awesome urban crochet bombing project
• I wish that I could visit this bookstore organized by color
• In the spirit of cooking more this is my favorite cooking blog

I learned something from this quote:

“If your ancestors cut down all the trees, it’s not your fault, but you still don’t live in a forest.”
— Pam Oliver, a professor in the UW-Madison sociology department, explaining the historical roots of racism in the United States to her undergraduate students.

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Let's have a good one guys!

XOXO