Month: March 2020

pool noodles.

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I repurposed Awreatha from winter craft events and created a few spring-ready flower arches. Pool noodles for the win! Similar to Awreatha, I wrapped each pool noodle in strips of felt. For one I repurposed the wired leaves from Awreatha and inserted those into the pool noodle before wrapping with green felt (to both hide and secure the wire). For the first arch, I wanted to create a rainbow. I grabbed all my felt scraps and went to town with making flowers. Anything goes for this arch! I also used a few felt balls for floral centers. For the second I went with a spring jungle look and chose dark orange, pinks, yellows, and a neon yellow/green (tennis ball color!). For this one I wanted a more cohesive look so I created multiple of each flower type. Then glue, glue, glue! For the rainbow I started glueing from the middle of the arch to make sure I was adding flowers evenly across the arch. For the spring jungle arch I sprinkled flowers all over, adding …

make it pretty.

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On my last visit home my Mommy set aside some broken jewelry to be fixed. She usually packs them all in a baggy with a note that says broken or Can you fix these? It’s basically become tradition for me to take a container of broken jewelry home for fixing. I use my the Bead Smith tray to keep all the beads in place as I create pieces. Sometimes I can fix the pieces to look like the original jewelry; sometimes she let’s me get creative and I add some beads from my current stash. Here’s what I’ve been working on. I love creating long necklaces to showcase beads. I’m not super confident in working with stretchy jewelry (I feel like I can’t get the knots right to be secure.), so I prefer working with beading wire. My current favorite is Soft Flex brand which I use in all my necklaces. For all of these necklaces I’ve combined some of my Mommy’s jewelry with my bead stash. She has a broad collection of jewelry so …

cafe and chill.

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My fave thing to do on a day off is to explore and hang out in cafes to try the local flavors and relax. In grad school I remember dreaming about going to hang out in cafes instead of going to study in cafes. It’s everything I imagined. 🙂 Here are a couple of my recent finds, pre-shelter in place. I can’t wait until this is all over to do some more exploring! Add these to your list, too! fig and poe. I enjoyed a lovely breakfast here before a conference in Oakland, and when I accidentally combined a waffle and toast order, I loved it! For the win: jalapeño and cheddar liege waffle with goat cheese, plus a turmeric oat milk latte. The staff are fun, the decor simple and inviting, and you feel like a regular even if it’s your first time. farm and flour. Hubby and I ventured here just to hang. We arrived just in time because we snagged the last pieces of bread. I had the avocado toast and an …

egg hunt: succulents.

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I’m sticking with a plant theme for this year’s egg hunt (Did you catch the first one?). Egg #2 for 2020 is a succulent Easter egg! You might remember my cactus eggs from last year; this one is a total felt upgrade! For this craft you will need: Plastic eggs Felt in succulent colors, plus flower colors of choice Fabric scissors Hot glue Cut out succulent leaves. I like to cut out rectangles and cut the shape out two at a time. Succulent leaves can take on any shape; I went with teardrops in different sizes. You will need between 18-30 leaves for each egg, depending on how many rows of leaves you want, and how far apart you space each leaf. For a fuller succulent, use more leaves. Begin glueing on the smaller leaves to the top of the egg, and work your way to the larger leaves. Add hot glue to the bottom of a leaf and attach to the egg. Create one row of leaves around the egg by overlapping leaves. Add …

punch.

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Ok, don’t laugh. I attempted punch needle on my own and this is all I could come up with. Ha! Here’s my experience plus some lessons learned. I purchased a supply kit from Jenny Lemons. It came with yarn and monks cloth. I also purchased a #10 Oxford punch needle. I thought I could use a basic embroidery hoop for this project – it worked, but the monks cloth kept slipping. Lesson 1: I must learn to stretch monks cloth like an artist canvas so the monks cloth will stay in place as I punch. Lesson 2: It helps if you have a pattern in mind. I didn’t. I just punched! The punching itself is pretty satisfying and the technique can be easily mastered with practice. The Oxford punch comes with helpful tips, too, so take a look at the manual. Given my yarn color combo I was going for something Earth-y / planet-y. Perhaps it was achieved, but next time I would definitely pick a pattern or draw a design on the monks cloth …

plant friends.

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Happy Spring! I completed my first full week of working from home, and it’s Day 5 of the mandatory shelter in place in the Bay Area. Luckily, I do have some company – my Hubby (who is off from work at least through the end of the month) and my plant bebes! Here’s a little plant update from my indoor plant friends. There are 18 total; 23 if you count the ones that I’m trying to revive/propagate. One. Sansevieria laurentii (snake plant). This one came from my parents’ backyard. I named him Green Mamba. He’s fairly tall now; showing off some of the lil sprouts. Two-Ten. In the kitchen/living area I have Calethea roseopicta, Zamioculcas zamiifolia (ZZ plant), Calethea lancifolia (rattlesnake plant), Calethea ornata, bamboo, sweet potato leaves (rooting them!), marimo (moss balls), Peperomia obtusifolia, and Hoya carnosa variegata. Eleven. Next to the TV I have a Ficus lyrata (fiddle leaf fig). I recently gave him a trim because I wanted to propagate him, but I’m not sure if I did it correctly. Also, his …

egg hunt: roses.

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Yay! You found the first of my hidden Easter egg crafts! For this Easter egg, I was going for tulips, but couldn’t get the petals to sit right on the shape of egg, so I went with more of a rose look, sans thorns. For this craft you will need: Plastic eggs Felt in rose colors of choice plus green Floral wire Fabric scissors Hot glue Pliers x2 (optional) Cut rose petal shapes; you’ll need between 12-18 petals for each egg, depending on the size of the egg and how far apart you decide to space your petals. Petals for each egg should be about the height of your eggs; they don’t need to be exactly the same size. Begin gluing petals to the top half of the egg with a little petal overhang onto the bottom half of the egg. Add a line of glue to the petal and attach to the egg. Make sure glue only touches the top half of the egg or else the egg will get glued shut. Keep adding …

sashiko.

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Oh yay! My friend Laura gifted me a sashiko kit. I was so excited to get started! The kit included fabric with a pattern, sashiko yarn, a needle, plus instructions. But the instructions were in Japanese, so I had to watch a few YouTube videos to figure out some basic techniques. The drawings helped though! I also attended a sashiko meet up earlier this month to learn more. Thanks to my Craftcation friend Emily for inviting me! I learned a few tricks, like how to cut your sashiko thread into manageable lengths, and how to secure loose ends. The monthly event is held at the Kimono Momo Studio in Alameda. It was fun to browse the fabrics and sashiko supplies while taking sashiko breaks. Also, they carry Maito brand yarn! Eeee! I enjoyed the sashiko company and seeing all the projects everyone was working on. I snagged a few goodies to continue my sashiko practice, too, including longer needs, a pattern, and thread. The sashiko process is slow, but I find it super satisfying. I …

clover weave.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I thought today would be an appropriate day to share these Clover brand weaving looms. See what I did there? I was suppose to teach two weaving workshops (sponsored by Clover!) at Craftcation 2020 in April, but unfortunately, Craftcation has been cancelled given the latest COVID-19 developments. I thought I’d share anyway because these tools are so fun! Thank you to Nicole of Craftcation (and Dear Handmade Life) for sending me a Clover mini weaving loom to play with! It’s such a nice portable craft tool. I particularly like the ‘lift’ it gives you when you’re working on your piece. Also a plus – the tines are removable so you can weave until the very top and still take your piece off the loom (versus leaving some warp blank for tying). Here are a few samples I’ve been working on, made with three basic stitches: tabby/basic stitch, rya/tassels, and soumak. Mixing up colors, yarn textures, and size of your tapestry can add so much variation. With this tool you can also …

all the poms.

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So, I made a ton of pompoms and tassels with my yarn stash. (Gotta use the yarn to buy more yarn, am I right?) I was thinking of creating some colorful decor for my office cubicle. I started winding pompom donuts in December of last year and every now and them would trim a few. I finally finished! I love all the fluff! And I’m very pleased with the color combo. I ended up making a garland (or panda scarf?) plus a tassel chandelier. Tahdah! Here’s to working through my yarn stash!