T Shirt Remod

My roomate Jim wanted a tank top for the gym,

so here's the trial run. I cut out the armholes and

neck, removed the pocket, then bound the

edges with strips from another butchered tee.

Add an iron-on transfer (probably illegally

obtained from the interwebs) and there you go.From

a plain pocket tee to a snazzy tank top in three easy

steps. Well, there were more steps, I had him try it on

a couple times in the process. He's super picky about the

fit of his clothes, so I cut down the holes a bit at a time

so to get it where he wanted it. It was easy, so I'll be making more for him. Next is one with the Sackboy

stencil...

Free Stencil Downloads

http://www.verybestbaking.com/promotions/free/stencils.aspx

I just came across these while entering a contest at Nestle. The stencils are for cakes and cupcakes, but since the download is a PDF file, they are easy to resize. I can imagine using them for many things, such as:

1. Use in a repeat pattern as a wall border.

2. Stencil some paint on fabric or paper.

3. Use those scrapbooking inks to stencil on cards, etc.

4. Use as patterns to make ornaments from fabric, paper, or recycled plastic. :D

5. Print coloring pages for toddlers.

And that's just off the top of my head. Now go make something!

Last Cards for Receive Your Own PC Swap

Three more postcard, this time it's a wrap. Receive Your Own PC crossed off the list. On the right is one inspired totally by the papers. It's a shout-out to Jasper Johns, I love his encaustic American flags, and while this one is not a flag, it is flag-like.

The idea for this one came totally from an article in the Dallas Observer a while back, it's all about the famous $30,000 millionaires of Dallas. The Dallas skyline with some beautiful oriental paper. Orange and blue make me happy lately.

(If you care to read the article, go here: www.dallasobserver.com/2007-11-29/news/douchebags-in-the-mist/).

This last one is a cutout of a dragon shape in a nod to my partner's penchant for oriental themes. You can't really see the dragon, and this picture shows the colors badly, but I love this one. I coated it with gloss sealer to protect the orange print paper and all those little cut edges. So now what will I work on??!!

Last Night's Swaps: Handmade Handbag and Craft for a Craft

This was for a handmade handbag swap. After two (2) false starts, I came up with this bag. It's made from a bargain buy so great I won't even say how little I paid, a placemat and napkin set I got a while back from the clearance rack. The placemat was heavy enough not to need interfacing, it's lined with the stripey napkin fabric, with an elastic loop and button closure. (Three stacked buttons there.) I bound the side seams on the outside, then squared the botton with a stitch across the corners inside. Easy, and cute, and from almost nothing!

This swap was a craft for a craft, and my partner likes Americana, red/white/blue things, so I made this heart-shaped potholder. All fabrics from my stash, and I used a new potholder from Landa for the substrate. Cut it, cover it, bind it, and voila, a new from nothing pot holder. Funny story about the applique stars....they were born to cover the tiny brown spots I managed to get on the front side midway through. That's me, destruction equals creation all over.

Two Cards

Here's another PC for the Receive Your Own PC swap. I have a penchant for cutting out images, do I layered this one with some bright card stock. You can't tell in the pic, but the purple background is handpainted with a slight texture. All from the stash Russ sent. I have tons more stuff, and lots of time, so stay tuned ...

A really bad picture of a card made for a friend. I loved this image I cut from a magazine. It reminds me of the time I lived in San Diego, and of stopping for fish tacos on the the drive home from Ensenada.

"dude you should check out the giveaway over at V and Co. sponsored by csn mattresses for a chance to win the most gorgeous pillow"

You should know I'm all about the free stuff, so check this out:

http://www.vanessachristenson.com/ There is a gorgeous petal pillow here that I will probably recreate at some point.

And to top that off, here's my dream site: http://www.totallyfreecrap.com/ They mean what they say, so much cool free crap it took my breath away. I'm still a little weak in the knees, let me go sit down.....

Indoor Fireworks

Here's a PC I made for a swap, and I am totally in love with it. (Sniff, sniff, goodbye sweet postcard!) The swap was "Receive Your Own Postcard" and the idea was to make a PC from materials sent to you from your partner. Well, Russ sent me SO MUCH great stuff, I was overwhelmed, and for about a month, I just looked through it over and over. This effort came from a combination of a calendar cutout of fireworks, the red/white paper and some of the card stock I got, and an EC song. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a response, I hope it's well received. I have a huge amount of all kinds of supplies left, so I will be making more. It was most definitely an inspiring swap, so much fun.

Pnut Envy

Here's another PC from the last group made. I cropped it for the pic, it was shiny and had lots of glare. On the back, I explain that Pnut is in the throes of jealousy, she wants sparkly fur in a bad way. The glitter coat on the bottom left Pnut photographed poorly, in real life, it is colorfully sparkly. Also , there's the punny title. Ha.

Last Night's Efforts

Okie Dokie, here are the PCs I did last night. I'm currently too exhausted to try and make the pics go where I want them, so I'm going with what I've got. The top left pic is a detail from the card to the right of it. This was my go at a lesbian-themed piece (my partner listed these in her likes), and I hope it's not insulting. (I dunno.) Two random magazine images, the 'woman controller' is from a holiday advert, the boots from some fashion mag, and presto, together they are a humorous PC. To the right of that one is a print of my Warrior Cat drawing. And lastly, the yellow one is another Amelie tribute. I printed the pic out, used two kinds of nail polish on the rabbit in the clouds, a little sparkly nail polish on the girl's hair, and sealed it all under a coat of clear nail polish. Ta-da.

I just don't know why every idea must percolate for so long before I'm able to enjoy that first first cup of creativity...

Freida Kahlo Post Card

I had this clipping of a Frieda Kahlo painting that I loved, so when I wanted to make a postcard for my painter friend JJ, I grabbed it. It is made of fabric stitched over paper, and the pic and words have plastic stitched on top to protect them for mailing. As you can see, when I'm in the throes of creativity I can rarely manage straight lines and right angles. Oh well, at least one knows it's handmade....And I really do want that unibrow sometimes.

Free Candy, Anyone?

What's better than chocolate? Free, free, totally free chocolate, of course. Follow this link, they will send you an e-mail alert. Starting at 8am Central Time each Friday till September 25, you can log on and get a free candy bar. The number is limited to around 250,000, so be timely. Also, I think they limit you to four free candy bar coupons. I just got my first one yesterday; Snickers here I come!!!!

https://realchocolate.com/default.aspx

Get Some Free Paint

This link was on my Facebook from Craftster, I think, and I was tickled...not pink but Candy Apple Red, the free paint I'm getting!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.glidden.com%2Fpromotions%2Ffree-paint-giveaway.do&h=fe496e3feaa5e82e03b3bde32755c759

Swap Birthday Cards

These are some birthday cards I made for a swap. I used card stock/envelopes from a birthday present last year for some, and 2 ply printer paper and cardstock for others.

The glittery party hat here came from a gift bag Landa gave me; it's like a snow globe inside.

The candle graphic is from a free Avery Dennison program.

The silver paper here is from food

packaging.

More Birthday Cards From Almost Nothing

Birthday cake in Carnival colors.

Candle exclamation mark with some stenciling. I used the background piece from a set of punch-out cardboard shapes someone sent me for the stencil.

There was a cat person in the swap who was also into witchy things, so I did this one for her.

Altered Baby ATCs

The swap was Altered Baby ATCs. First I had to hunt for baby images, that was the easy part. After many fits and starts, I got here. Above, not much altered in the baby image, but too cute to pass up. The letters S M I L E are my secret craft staple. (Ask me if you want to know what they are, or comment if you think you already know.) The baby makes me laugh every time. Below is an image I found in a mag, the baby was pretty much diva-ed out already, I just enhanced with silver pen. I re-used the base from an ATC I deconstructed and put to separate uses. I hope no one I know takes their baby to a photographer who would do this to a helpless infant.

 

What's Black And White And Red All Over?

My Fairy CraftMother Landa gave me a giant roll of laminating plastic that was in the trash at her job. I tried laminating things with an iron, and it works perfectly if one is careful. I laminated once with the steam accidently on, and it made a pretty cool effect with moisture bubbles trapped between the two layers. So far, I've laminated a feather, a shake-n-bake box and magazine covers.

This butterfly I made from lamination samples and nail polish.  I really like the enamel effect you can get from dollar store nail polish. It's a little extra I included in a  swap recently. The underside is painted bronze and yellow, I think. Forgot to snap the other side, oops. I just cut some slits in the body of the butterfly for the wings and antennae, which have tabs corresponding to the slits. I found a paint pen at Office Depot for a buck, and I love that thing. Used it to draw around the edge of each antenna. This was fun to make, I'm thinking I'll laminate some sheer fabric to make more. 

Next time I'll show my dollar store glasses transformed with dollar store nail polish...if you eat all your broccoli, that is.

What I Got In The Swap

Here's me and the tote I got in the Thrift Store purchase swap. It matches the shirt I wore! It's big and roomy, I had Tara's lap quilt in there plus the regular takealongs. There is a center divide, and she used the shirt pocket on the inside of the bag. Neat!

Towel Wrappers For The Whole Family

I made these for my ex Bill and his new family. He met his sweetheart through Match.com I think, and is getting married again. I'm real happy he found someone, he deserves happiness more than almost any one I know.  Bill sent me the towels a while back to make into wraps for the gym. When he got engaged, I decided to do one for each of this new family: Bill, Deb, and his new daughter Sophie, who is five or six. The striped towel I used for the hood was on hand, and what do you know, Landa still had the matching bath size towel, which she donated for the trim on the rest. And the three hearts on Sophies towel stand for the three of them. I hope they like them, but I know Bill appreciates anything I make.

Weirdest Found Silverware Yet

I can't figure out how this spoon got that way. A car ran over one side and rolled it, then the spoon flips and another car rolls the other half of the spoon bowl the opposite way? Someone rolled it up on purpose and threw it out the window while driving down Audelia Road? Is it some king of drug ingestion device? Someone hates soup? It exists simply to puzzle me?

Free, Free, Totally Free Samples

I just got my free samples in the mail, these are some terrific little glue dots. She sends samples of different types; high and low profile, heavy and light stickyness, and some removeable ones. They are so cool, I've already used a bunch. I will definitely try to fit these into my budget when the money tree gets ripe.

http://www.buygluedots.com/free_glue_dot_samples.html

Thrift Store Quilt Swap

I just finished this tote for a swap. The deal was to buy a thrift store shirt with 5 or more colors and transform it into something quilted. I loved the giant burnt orange flowers on this fabric, and the shirt was only $1! For the trim, I used fabric from a blouse I made two years ago. It never fit right, thus was worn once only, so I cut it up. The fabric from that blouse came from, you guessed it, my Fairy Craftmother Landa. Beautiful fabric, too nice to have no future hanging in my closet as a reject blouse.  Instead of batting, I used part of the sweatshirt I bought to make the cat hoodie. For the handles I used blue webbing from an old tote bag covered with fabric.  The trim arose from the need to cover seams in the thrift store blouse, so I used the divisions for different quilt patterns. The outline quilting on one panel doesn't read well, though. It was a fun swap, can't wait to see what I get!

Hurry Hurry, Hurry and Maybe You'll Win

You must drop everything you're doing and sign up for this giveaway. These papers are so much more gorgeous than they look below. Maybe one of us will win! What have you won in contests? Me? A pair of tickets to Tom Jones, a movie soundtrack (with cool French music, wish I could remember the name of the movie), Comic Relief video tape, and movie tickets come to mind.

Here's the link, yall.

http://www.curbly.com/bruno/posts/6602-giveaway-handmade-marbled-paper-2-sets#jump

The Saga of the Knife Found in Parts

Here's an assembly of some stuff I found on my walks around Audelia Road. I put them in a frame whose glass I had broken, and it finished quite nicely. (I must tell you that the large square on the right is a little different now, I removed the nuts with pennies and the fork portion.)

Now here is the crazy part. I still pick up a lot of junk from the sidewalks, lately more metal objects than colorful ones. About three months ago, I found this knife with it's tip broken off, and believe it or not, yesterday I found the tip of the same knife!!! It is an exact match...what are the chances of that? They were found about a city block apart. Maybe I'm easily impressed (which is true) but this just boggles my mind. What do you think?

Biggest Bargain Ever

I found 2009 calendars at WalMart marked down to five cents each. I bought 17 calendars, fodder for all kinds of future projects. Come back to see what becomes of these gems!!

I hung three of them next to my Katrina Quilt, the months were chosen because the red in the pics looks good next to my quilt, but one happens to be the current month!

New case for my camera. I take it along a lot more these days, and it needed protection. This case has a hard shell and magnetic closure. And it was only $3 at DD's Discount, home of bargains galore! Good buy because though I could make a functional substitute, the price here was so low, it makes sense to grab it and use my time on other wondrous pursuits.

Found this site that is right up my alley!!!

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/

So much cool stuff, I'm flabbergasted! WOO-HOO for the Dollar Store!!!!

My Apartment Sweet Apartment

Took some pics outside toay, and here's where I live!! Doesn't look like a high crime area, does it? But so I read. Anyway, the wreath here was made from flowers from my Fairy Craftmother and a coat hanger. Free, free, totally free, as Monicatz and I love to say.

Impromptu Hanging Knife Rack

My roomate has bought knives that not only must be hand washed (yuk) but also cannot be stored in the drawer with all my apparently inferior knives, so I came up with this last night when I finally got fed up with seeing them lying atop the kitchen bar. It matches my jeans potholder, and it's pretty funky, so I like it. I may explore this idea further for my Etsy shop. I became obsessed with hanging things on the wall when I lived in my studio apartment in New Orleans; I hung everything from kitchen stuff to my answering machine. I have a little more room here, but my kitchen is still tiny enough to touch the walls standing still, so I do hang all the measuring cups and spoons, bowls, cutting boards, etc.

Latest ATCs

Here are the ATCs made for my latest swap at SwapBot. The category was monoprints, and I had a blast making these. The fleur de lis was of course for New Orleans, the shell because my swap partner likes them, and the house one is what I saw outside. I love the goldfish best, and it was an accident. 

I haven't gotten my partner's monoprints yet, can't wait to see them.

ReVamped Vamp Pocket Mirror

Landa gave me a plastic pocket mirror recently which I remade thusly. I love the red lips. Fabric from my stash: raw silk left over from sewing job, red shiny fabric from pajama bottoms (Landa largesse too), and some cardboard and thread. If I were a girly girl or a vamp, I would love this, but I'm lucky if my pucker gets a bit of Chapstick slapped on. So it's in my Etsy shop.....

Around the house

Here's my new coffee pot vase. This is the second coffee decanter I broke in like ten days, so now it holds some fake plants. Real ones get depressed around me, for some reason. Anyway, it's cute...it sits on a mat made from a paint rag cut up and pieced together. The picture below doesn't relate to making stuff, aside from the yummy cheesecake pie, but I love the fork. The garbage disposal turned it into a "Live Long and Prosper" fork, now my favorite eating utensil.