I’ve got 3 more linoleum cuts printed to go in the series I’m working on and printed them onto cards today. I like to draw these out ahead of time, and then when I’m flying I do the cutting on the plane or in the airport. Flight attendants love me. Really though, I do try and clean up after myself and I bring a little baggie to put all the linoleum pieces in. If I haven’t any travel plans, then I’ll do some work on them at night before I go to bed. The high level of concentration required is very relaxing to me.

Another print for my “cowboy” series. This one of a barrel racer.



And here’s my bronc rider.



And for the “chicken” series, a Crested Polish. This looks like a Rastafarian Crested Polish I think.



Wow. I completed this before I got King Strut, but it does bear a striking resemblance to him, doesn’t it?

I have a bunch of men’s business shirts that I bought a few months ago at the local thrift shop for $1.00 each.


With them I’ve been working on a skirt that I’m designing. It’s not finished yet — there’s a whole second layer that I’m going to put on it still, but this is it so far.


After making my Strung Silk Necklace this weekend, I got to thinking about making one with remnants from these men’s shirts.


I made all the pieces last night, and then, section by section today with what little free time I had I got it put together.



I finished it tonight. It’s going to look great with the skirt when I finish it.


If you look closely, you’ll see that I used pieces with buttonholes in them, and pieces with buttons on them too. I wasn’t trying to hide the fact that I made it from old shirts, I was trying to promote that.


And this time every time I tried pieces of fabric together, I would knot it once more over the loose ends. Although I liked it on the Strung Silk Necklace, I like the cleaner look of the finished knots on this one.

I love the way it came out, and the way it looks with a T-shirt, which is my usual attire. It proves the point I made in the Strung Silk Necklace post that there are really endless possibilities in what you could use to make a necklace in this style.

This pretty silk necklace is available at Anthropologie for $149

I saw this great scarf on Pinterest that was available at Anthropologie, but it was $149! I thought I could make something pretty similar to it for a whole lot less than that.

I started by hitting some local thrift shops looking for scarfs, but for some reason there were none to be found today. Then I tried T.J. Maxx, but what they had either wasn’t the right fabric, was too large, or too expensive. I ended up going to a local fabric store that has an amazing assortment of dressmaking fabrics. Since I was going to be buying fabrics rather than using what I found at a thrift store, I’d be able to really pick colors that I liked and worked well together. I started by picking a patterned fabric that I loved, and from there I chose different colored & patterned solids that coordinated or complemented the patterned fabric.


Unfortunately this store has a 1/2 yard minimum on fabrics. I knew I wouldn’t need nearly that much to make just one, so however many necklaces I can make with the extra fabric I’ll stick on my Etsy shop for sale. In the end all of the fabric and 6 spools of serger threads did end up costing me $90, but I think I’ll get at least 4 necklaces out of that. If I were to buy that many at Anthropologie it would have cost me $600, so I keep telling myself I’ve saved $510.
This project does require a serger sewing machine to create those finished edges on the strips of fabric. If you don’t own one and want to try this yourself, perhaps a local store has one you can rent.


I started by serging strips of the fabrics in assorted lengths, tapering down to a point at each end.


I did end up going to purchase this necklace so I could take a closer look at how it was constructed. It will be returned tomorrow. It was interesting to examine though, as what I initially assumed were just strips all in rows was actually a complicated pattern of assembly.


I don’t think I quite duplicated the exact way that it was assembled, but I tried. I created 3 separate sections, putting some twists into the fabric strips sometimes, that I joined together to create 3 strands. These 3 strands were then tied all together and knotted to create the necklace.

Strand One

Strand One and Two

Strand One, Two & Three completed.

Just like the Anthropologie necklace, I didn’t need to use any hardware to create the clasp. I make a double knot on one end, and on the other I inserted a thin strip of finished fabric opposite to the main strands and knotted them together to create the loop to go over the knot on the other end.


And here’s the finished necklace.



Now my friend Cyrena, who not only patiently shopped for the fabric with me today but stayed with me until midnight when I tied the final knot in it, pointed out that the Anthropologie necklace didn’t have the little tails on the knots, but had a more finished appearance to it. Of course we didn’t notice this until it was all done. Upon closer inspection we could see that they had indeed tied them just like I had done, but then tied the strips again to cover up the “tails”. I actually like mine the way it is, but it will be interesting to see what it looks like to try it that way as well.

I think this is a terrific necklace with endless possibilities. You can make it with heavier fabric, thicker strips, add beads, do themed necklaces, like red, white and blue for summer holidays, etc. I’m going to try one with men’s shirt fabric to see what that looks like too. If anybody gives this project a shot let me know. Or, if you just want to buy one, check back in my Etsy shop and I should have a few there soon.

I’ve finished the second card for my “western/cowboy” grouping of lino cut card prints. I think this may be my best one yet. I love the detail.

So amongst all of the other things I’ve been filling my days with lately, I have managed to finish two more linoleum prints.

This is the first in a series of western-themed prints. I just love this one. And I know, why can’t I just stick with one category and finish that one before moving on to the next…

Boots and Cactus

And I did get another one done in the Chicken series…

Don't Fence Me In

This is my new niece Sia on the baby blanket I made for her. I didn’t take any step-by-step photos or anything, or even any finished photos of it before I wrapped it up to give to Marissa & Brooke. They did take some for me after I realized this mistake.


With so little to offer you you’re probably wondering why I’m even bothering to post this. Well, I’m posting it anyway because you can find great step-by-step directions right where I found them; click on The Purl Bee, which is the craft blog for Purl Soho, a terrific sewing, knitting and craft store in SoHo in Manhattan. I even took a rare trip into Manhattan to go to Purl Soho to get the fabric for it, but you can purchase everything on line from their website. They don’t have a lot of fabrics there, but what they have is really unique. I found the most amazingly soft fabric. Certainly not one would think of automatically as “baby blanket fabric”, but I thought it was perfect. I also used the wool batting that the pattern called for (and I got at the store), which was really fluffy and should be much warmer than a fiberfill batting. I did make the quilt slightly smaller than the original directions — I used traditional crib quilt dimensions of  45″ x 60″. I also chose tie down the batting with a french knot rather than the knot and hanging threads they had in their pattern since I thought that would be safer for the baby.

If you are looking for a unique baby gift, or for a throw for yourself for when you’re watching TV (which is what the original pattern is for), you should really try this quilt. I bought fabric to make one for myself. One of these days I’ll actually find the time to make it, too.

Lest you think I was just lolling around in Wyoming not doing anything crafty, I’m here to prove you wrong.

As I discovered on my trip home from Wyoming last month, doing linoleum prints while on a plane is a great way to spend time normally spent doing mindless activities into productive crafting time. I left for Wyoming this time prepared with a few linoleum pieces all drawn and ready to cut. If you ever feel like trying this yourself, remember to bring a small baggie to put all of your cutting scraps into so you don’t anger the flight attendants!

Then while I was in Wyoming for essentially 10 days (I’m not counting the two travel days), I did manage to get one done every few days as well. I got one last complicated one done on the plane trip home as well, but I haven’t had time to print it yet.

Angry Rooster

I did this print especially for India. It is of her 3 favorite stuffed animals. I spelled 'musketeers' wrong though - that's what happens when you are drawing at 2 a.m.

Here’s another great idea I got from Pinterest, which was originally from Martha Stewart‘s website. Make your own magnets or push pins out of bottle caps. These were easy and fun and the kids all loved making them for themselves and their friends. I sent Evan a bunch at camp with a small piece of corkboard and he loved it too.


I purchased all of the supplies I needed right off Etsy.com. I found everything I needed in Willow Run Crafts’ shop, but you have lots of choices, and may even be able to find all of the supplies at your local crafts store. You can, obviously, also use recycled bottle caps that you’ve collected. I bought two different kinds, the traditional bottle cap or the flattened style. Martha’s instructions called for using a liquid resin over the image, but I chose to use one-inch clear epoxy domes. They were self-adhesive, inexpensive,  and really easy to use . If you use them, just be careful to peel them from the edge and hold with the edge of your fingernails, or maybe use some tweezers, as fingerprints will stick to the adhesive and blur your image a bit.

For appropriately small images, try cutting details from large photos. Or, if your software has a contact-sheet mode, use it to reduce pictures drastically. You need an image that fits into a 1″ circle.

Tools and Materials
1-inch circular craft punch
Craft glue
Bottle caps
1″ clear round epoxy domes
Contact cement
Small magnets or thumbtacks

Magnets and Thumbtacks How-To
1. Cut the printed images either into 1″ strips, or cut the individual images out slightly larger than the 1″ area. Using the craft punch, cut out pictures. You can easily put your printed image into the craft punch and see exactly where you need to align it to get the right image cut. I found that a few images just didn’t work and ended up not using them.


2. Using craft glue, attach one picture to the inside of each bottle cap. Let dry. Peel the clear epoxy dome carefully from the paper backing, being careful not to get your fingerprints on the adhesive, and place into the bottlecap over the image. Press down to adhere.


3. Using glue or contact cement, attach magnets or thumbtacks to the backs of the bottle caps. Let dry overnight before using. I also bought on Etsy some paper clip bookmarks that I glued the bottle cap directly to. I also was able to find peel and stick magnets at the hardware store and they worked well too.


The finished products.

I love the peel and stick bookmarks

In almost no time at all I've got a great mixture of magnets, push pins and bookmarks

In an effort to find ways to keep my bored girls entertained these days, I entered ‘teen craft projects’ on Pinterest and came across the instructions to make these cute bangle bracelets on Alma Stoller’s blog. They looked easy enough and I happened to have all of the supplies on hand. I did, however, go out and buy more supplies in duplicate as I now plan on sending each girl off to camp with the necessary supplies for her and her cabin-mates to make their own. It seemed like a great project for a rainy day.

I took posterboard and cut it to three different widths, 1″, 1-1/2″, and 1-3/4″. You can cut them to any width you want your bracelets to be. Then I took a piece of string and scrunched my hand up like I was trying to get a tight bangle bracelet on and measured that distance, cutting the string to that length. I used this string to measure how long to cut the posterboard strips. Starting at one end, gently bend the strip into a circle. The posterboard I used was quite thick, so it did some cracking, but I found that doing it gently this way worked best. Then, using good-quality masking tape, take a piece a few inches long, and holding the strip together to form the bracelet, keeping the seam as tight as possible, wrap the masking tape around the seam several times to join it tightly together. I never did figure out how to keep it from getting that slight “teardrop” shape at the seam joint, but it wasn’t too bad. Then, using longer strips of masking tape, maybe 5″-8″ long (depending on the width of your bracelet), carefully wrap the entire bracelet in masking tape, covering the cardboard completely and tightly sealing each strip to the cardboard with your fingernail if needed.



Paint the masking tape-covered bracelet with a goat of gesso and let it dry completely. When the gesso is dry, cut strips of newspapers, paint an area of the bracelet inside and out with gel medium and then paint a strip of newspaper on both sides with the gel medium and carefully wrap the newspaper strip around the bracelet, gluing it down to the bracelet as you go along. Once the strip is completely wrapped around, apply another light coat of gel medium and move on to the next area with the next strip. Completely cover the bracelet in this fashion and give it a final coat of gel medium and allow to dry thoroughly. When the bracelet is dry you can paint it. I wanted the newspaper to show through the paint, so I used watercolors, but you can use craft paint for an opaque look or water the paint down for a more transparent color.


I went through magazines to cut out words or phrases that I liked. You can use magazines, newspapers, or print your own off the computer. Remember thought that if you are printing off the computer the ink will probably run when you apply the gel medium. I had to print out the ‘Crafty’ for my largest bracelet, and the pink ink did run a bit. I don’t mind the way it looks though. Using the gel medium again, ‘glue’ the words or phrases onto your bracelet, pressing them down onto the bracelet to make sure they are adhered well and applying a final layer of gel medium. Allow to dry completely before applying your finish coat. I propped them up on the necks of bottles so they dried evenly all around.


Once the gel medium is completely dry, apply the finish coat of gloss medium, Diamond Glaze or resin. Allow to dry thoroughly.

That’s all there is too it. Now you (or your kids) will have unique bracelets to wear all summer long.

On the flights home from Jackson I worked on some linoleum cuttings I had drawn out before I left. I bet the airline loved me – little pieces of pink rubber strewn around the seat. I did bring an empty baggie with me and cleaned up as best I could! In the two flights I was able to complete 3 cuttings. What I ended up with once they were printed were these:

The Nest

Mountain Goat

Bird on a berry branch

Then since I’ve been home I’ve made a few more.

Bee Skep Dripping Honey

Guinea Hens

Bison

Combining some of the earlier cuttings I had done in my ‘art classes’ with the kids, I would like to come up with a couple of different sets of cards; maybe ‘Wyoming Wildlife’, ‘Bees’, ‘Birds’, and ‘Chickens’. While I don’t have any complete sets yet, they would look something like this.

The beginning of the grouping called ‘Bees’.


This is the beginning of the ‘Wyoming Wildlife’ set. I’ve got a bear I’m going to do next. Perhaps I should include Evan in the series?


Maybe a grouping of these could be called ‘Birds’?




And of course I’d need to come up with a chicken and goat series, but so far I’ve only got one for each category.


Does anybody like the idea?