Craft Show #1

My first holiday show of the season is over....and it went very well...now on to the next....

Where Did October Go?

...a little camping...

 ...a little hiking...

 ...a little time with friends...

 ...a little candy...

...a little (or a lot) of Super Henry...

...a little science museum...

...a little Superman...

...a little Herminone...

...and a little trick or treating...

Crafting For the Holiday Shows

Some handmade goodness that I have been making for the holiday shows this year....

It's All Happening At the Zoo

A couple of weekends ago, we went to the zoo...It was all happening there.

Now you might be thinking, is that a dinosaur?  And you would be right-an animatronic, roaring and moving dinosaur.  While HD enjoyed it, I found the dinosaur exhibit a bit distressing.  Trying to explain to small children the simple fact that dinosaurs are not alive anymore when there is "one" right next to the North American Black Bear is confusing to say the least.  Incongruent.  Let's stick to live animals in the zoo, please.

Piping 1, 2, 3

Did you realize that making piping is as easy as 1, 2, 3?  Never again will you be limited to the standard sizes and colors of store-bought piping....I needed a jumbo-style decorative edging to go with Kate's book snuggling pillow and this is what I did:

1.  Gather your materials...fabric strips that are a wide enough to fold around the cording with room to spare(at least an inch excess) and cording or rope in desired width and length for your project.  A little note about the fabric strips, technically you should cut them on the bias which will allow your fabric to curve nicely and allow movement and body to your project.  But for many uses, I simply do not do this. - as it is not needed.  I used this piping for a square pillow and thus movement and "curve appeal" just was superfluous.

2.  Fold the fabric over the cording and using the zipper foot, stitch a seam along the cording-encasing it in the fabric.  The zipper foot is key here as it allows you to get very close to the cording.

When you are finished, you have piping to use on any project that you see fit.

3.  To sew the piping in, on the inside of your project, place your piping-raw edges matching and still using the zipper foot, sew in place.  In this example, I made a pillow.  First, I basted my piping around the perimeter of the front side of the pillow case(as seen in the picture below). I then sandwiched the backside of the pillow on top of the front side with good sides touching.  Lastly, I sewed around the perimeter of the pillow and then turned inside out-as I had an envelope back of which to turn out from. 

Book Worm

Kate loves to read and when I saw this illustration eons ago, I knew I had to work a book snuggling pillow for Kate with it.  And finally, I did it...I thought the embroidery worked out well and cute.  I like the hot pink shantung on which I embroidered.  I also like the added funky jumbo piping.  The only regret I have is that I could have made the pillow smaller allowing the embroidery to cover most of the pillow OR have added extra embroidery to frame the illustration and thus cover more of the pillow case.  But, none the less, I think Kate likes it as I always catch her leaning on it and reading her newest book from The Sisters Grimm series.

The Happy Hooker Returns

I've been thinking a lot lately about these guys...

It might be time to get starting on a new guy...Thinking about a panda...Kate likes pandas...

Put Your Stamp On It

I make things.  I make things all. of. the. time. Since I make things, I always like to put my stamp on it- like a period at the end of the sentence.  Now there are many ways to make labels, hell you can even buy them.    I tend to think that this detail should not be overlooked.  Here is what I did this past weekend to attend to this detail when I make things.

1. Gather your supplies:  

• You'll need fabric cut into the size your printer will accept. You can use any type fabric, but you need to think about fraying.  For this reason, I use jersey knit.  If you choose something that  frays, use some Fraycheck on the edges and that should do the trick.
• Container that will fit your fabric.  I use paint trays.
• Freezer paper
• Scissors/rotary cutter
• Bubble Jet Set(can be found many places-just do a google search).  This is an additional step needed to prepare your fabric so that you can wash the  labels.  If you don't wash your handmade goods, then you can print directly to the untreated fabric.  I make a lot of clothing, so I need to treat my fabric.  If you are going to treat your fabric, follow the instructions on the Bubble Jet Set, which basically entails soaking your fabric in the solution, drying it, printing on it, and then rinsing it.  Pretty easy stuff...and pretty cool stuff that Bubble Jet Set is...

2.  Design your label using any software.  I used Photoshop.  I made each label to approximate 2 inches, and put my name centered about an inch down.  So that when I cut the labels, I make a hang tag type.  In this case, you fold each label in half and lay it in you seam and sew it up.  Or you can make any type of label you might want.  Your limit is only your creativity.

3.  Now for the best invention that is hardly ever used for what it is intended:FREEZER PAPER.  I love this stuff.  Anyhow, cut pieces a wee bit bigger than your fabric sheets and iron it on each fabric sheet.  This gives your fabric structure that can run through your printer.  Then after each sheet is prepared, print your layout on the fabric paper...hard work is done.

Here are my freshly printed label sheets:

4.  Cut out the labels using scissors or an rotary cutter.

And there you go....labels: painless, cheap, and handmade...

The devil is in the details,,,,