Halloweenin'

Hello! First, the Indianapolis city guide is up and you can see it here. They included a lot of my photos. See if you can find me (I'm in a reflection, oops).

 Now, on to Halloween.

Eyeball plant stakes

I'm/we're doing a sci fi theme this year with monster plants. I have a small container garden's worth of faux potted plants and an assortment of plant stakes to enhance the live plants already present. This idea came along because I saw a great DIY from the prop master of Home and Family and I am a plant hoarder year round so it goes well with what's already on hand.

The image above is some of the stakes stuck in a rosemary plant. The stakes are easy and minimal. I used sticks from the yard, spray paint, 1.5" styrofoam balls, spackle, acrylic paint, and gloss coating. Find some sticks and paint them green. water down some spackle and coat the foam balls, allow to dry overnight. Spray them with white paint. Then I painted they eye with acrylic paints. I made a circle and watered down the paint in the center to create a darker outer ring. Once that dried a bit, I used the end of a paintbrush dipped in black to make the pupil. Then I let that dry and sprayed them with a few coats of gloss. After the gloss dried, I used a glue gun to attach the eye to sticks. On the first ones I added leaves and green fringe, but I decided I liked the minimal look best. Drying is slow, but assembly is quick so this project offered some instant gratification and that was nice after making larger carnivorous plants.

Here are the foam balls drying. I have a fancy system of discarded packaging and toothpicks.

This photo shows some of the process and that my cat is very helpful. I put the balls on toothpicks before coating them and stuck them in some packaging to stay upright while drying. I also kept them this way to while painting. I removed the toothpicks when it was time to assemble everything.

I'll have some more prop photos and DIY's after proper pictures are taken. If you would like some inspiration, try these sites:

Pumpkinrot

102 Wicked Things To Do 

Dave Lowe Designs 

There is still so much to do... make plant slime, sew a costume, paint more eyeballs, set up lights, etc.

xoxo,

b

Cyanotype Tutorial

Check out Cyanotype Photo Print Crop Top on Cut Out + Keep

The photo print shirt tutorial is available now through the link above.

Enjoy!

xoxo, 

b

Milk Paint DIY is Online

The Milk Paint Tutorial is now available on Cut Out + Keep. Give it a look here.

...and a cat meme.

xoxo,

b

Milk Paint Party Cones

I just submitted a tutorial to Cut Out + Keep. I will let you know when it is available. For now, here are some pictures...

xoxo,

b

Cyanotype Photo Printing

Hello! I just finished reviewing a Jacquard Cyanotype Set. That means that I got a sheet of instructions and 2 black bottles of dust. The instructions provided were concise, but included links to a website that had more information and helpful tools. I've been interested in "blue printing" for a long time, but I've never had any experience with it until now. The only thing I think I've ever seen are those sun sheets that come pre-treated. My daughter did those at summer camp one year.

Anyway, I got the set and I was intimidated, but excited. So I started working on all my pre-print stuff like picking an item to make, deciding what kind of image, etc. I'm not going to go over the whole thing here because it will be up on Cut Out + Keep, but there was an emotional craft fail along the way and I changed the original project. Initially I was trying to do a men's shirt refashion and that just did not happen. I am still planning to do the refashion at some point, but I'm not sure if it's the right item to combine with a cyanotype print.

I had a minor craft-tastrophe followed by crafter's remorse and then I pulled it together. I took some time to think, salvage my work, and move forward. Beyond all that though, this is a process that I think should be explored more. I've thought of a lot of possibilities for cyanotype printing, most of which would require greater skill with the process than I currently possess.

Unfinished panel from the tutorial

Test Samples

Detail

Detail

The first print that I exposed was large and once it was processed, I discovered a lot of mistakes. After I looked at the first exposure, I started over, but I added test pieces to experiment with. I discovered that smaller pieces of fabric were definitely easier to work with. That probably should have been obvious, but some how it wasn't. I was much happier with my test pieces than I had been with the first attempt I made. I have some more fabric cut and treated so I think I am going to back to those eventually and see if I can correct the first mistakes.

In the lace print example above I used decorative packing tape. I would like to make a pattern using this and find some other prints. I'm thinking I could also use painter's tape and create a striped pattern. The palm print is from a section of the photo negative I used in the first exposure. I wanted to make sure that the problems I saw in the image had to do with the way I had coated the fabric and not because I had a bad negative.

Testing...

This photo is of the samples again, but also includes a piece of fabric that some of the mixture dribbled on. I was looking at the "water mark" on the fabric and started thinking that the chemicals could be used to create a gradient painting or even a tie dye type of print. I am not a painter, but my husband is so I'm thinking I'll give him what I have left of the sensitizer so he can experiment.

So what do you think? Have you tried any of the other uses I've suggested? 

xoxo,

sun exposed

b

The Tiara is Up!

See Pompom Tiara And Wand and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

The book review is posted now on Cut Out + Keep.  I also photographed a tutorial and I share that here next week.

xoxo,

b

Vegan Quiche

Hello! We just finished the spring performances at the ballet school and it's been a very busy few weeks. I'm not really sure if I was coherent the entire time. All I remember is the driving, some crying, and lots of food. So. Much. Food.

Athena the ballerina as a swan with Smart Water accessory.

First, obligatory photo of adult size child in costume. I haven't ordered my photos yet and this was taken quick while she was running backstage. This was her second weekend of performances. The week in between had some rough moments. One of these moments resulted in me making quiche for the first time, late at night after being gone all day and making two trips to the store... Oh, well it all worked out.

The recipe for one somehow made enough for two.

The quiche I was replacing had broccoli filling.

One evening last week the Lady came home to find that her quiche had been eaten while she was out. This was more than she could take at the time. I went to the grocery and purchased the ingredients to make a new quiche (after looking up a recipe). I think I follow directions, but I overflowed the first pie shell. I decided since there were two shells and excess whipped eggs, I should make a second one. What was I really going to do with a frozen pie crust anyway? I sauteed some chard and kale for the second quiche. Normally I wouldn't buy a pie crust, but it was 11pm and corners were cut. It seemed to turn out okay. The quiche smelled great, but I don't eat eggs so I'm not sure about the flavor. It looked right (if that helps at all) and my family ate it willingly.

The photos are from my phone and taken at night. This is what happens when you don't think you're going to be doing things, but then you do them and decide to put it out in the world. Everything in the kitchen photographs just a little extra yellow at night. (Conjuring up horrifying images from Martha Stewart's food Tweets.)

Vegan Quiche

 Mr. Husband and Miss Lady eating quiche all week made me hungry, but I don't eat eggs. I decided to make a vegan version. It could definitely be prettier and I'm sure next time it will be, but it tastes okay. I think I could have added more water or something in order to get a smoother filling for the crust. I used a recipe from PBS.org. It was very simple and involved most of the same ingredients used in tofu scramble.

I was hungry. I didn't wait for it to cool and firm.

A view of the cut away section.

I just read through the quiche directions and I can tell you what I did wrong. Do you see how it looks layered in the photo above? That was a mistake not a preference. I forgot to stir the blended tofu with the cooked vegetables. Oops. I'm sure the flavor is still basically the same, but I would have preferred everything to have been blended together. Not skipping that step might have helped it to fill the pan better. This time I made my crust using the same recipe as before with the pot pies. It's a really great non-vegan recipe and I just sub out some of the ingredients.

Last thing, I follow a blog called Annie's Eats. I've been following awhile and sometimes I will veganize a recipe. I was at the farmer's market on Saturday and I saw a woman that I thought had to be Annie from Annie's Eats. It was her, but I did not speak to her or tell her that I follow her blog. It seemed too weird. Is it strange to be a blog groupie? I'm torn.

xoxo,

b

Granola Bars!

For awhile now, I have been thinking about making granola bars. Is that weird? It's something that I keep going back to and last night I finally bought the ingredients. It was kind of fun.  I went to the grocery store that's run by the local food cooperative.  This grocery has an entire wall of bulk bins and a decent selection of natural dried fruits. I needed a few other things from there that I can't get as easily from the regular grocery so I decided to go for it with a new baking adventure.

First home made granola bars

Yesterday before shopping I looked up several granola bar recipes.  Most of them were very similar.  I wanted to sort of figure out a kind of base recipe to go from.  I saw that most recipes included honey, brown sugar, and butter.  I read some blog entries with a few of the recipes and I had a moment; high fructose corn syrup is not the devil. All of the recipes I read included the addition of sugar. Some of the recipes pointed out that commercial granola bars contain high fructose corn syrup and the authors of these posts went on to say that they did not feel good about consuming HFCS. It's fine to have opinions, but they still chose to use sugar in their recipes. If the goal of making your own granola bars is to reduce the amount of sugar you are eating, great! However, eating sugar is still eating sugar and sugar intake of any kind should be kept low. Anyway, I like sugar. I know I usually eat too much of it and this statement about HFCS, just like what I read written in the blog posts of others, is an opinion.  

The recipe that I used can be found here and you know I didn't follow it exactly because for some reason I can't. I made a few substitutions for a vegan version (you can decide for yourself how you feel about honey). I used Earth Balance instead of butter, carob chips instead of chocolate chips, and dried cherries instead of cranberries. Carob chips have improved so much from what I remember eating. The ones I bought yesterday tasted like dark chocolate. I don't even think my daughter (who has never had a carob chip) would have noticed any difference. I just stirred all the chips into the warm mixture instead of leaving some out to press in. The directions said the melted chips would act like glue and I wanted glue.

They were super simple to make and more affordable than expected. I'm enjoying the tartness of the cherries with the other flavors.  These have a nice texture and a range of flavor, chocolaty, nutty, and tart.  I'm planning to try some other variations.

nom nom nom, xoxo,

b

How Not to Follow Directions

Salted Caramel doughnut and coffee at the General American Donut Company.

I'm doing a book review for the site Cut Out + Keep.  This means that I receive a craft book, look through it, tell them what I like, and then make something from it.  That seems straight forward and easy enough.  I chose a project that I felt excited about and I got all my materials together.  I even learned what a hand cranked knitting dolly is.  Nothing knitting comes naturally to me; that thing was/is confusing.

I spent a couple of hours sitting in bed watching a movie and cranking out cord.  Clearly I was over excited about this because I have cord for days.  Really, I have made the project twice and I still have a pile of cord.  Also, don't make cord in bed, sit at a table or something.  My back and my arms were sore.

Okay, back to the project; I made it and it was frustrating.  Then I looked back at the book and found directions that I did not follow.  I made it again, it was less frustrating, and again, I found myself not following all of the directions.  Maybe this project was written in a general way so that the person making it would be encouraged to take a little creative license?  Maybe I'm just not good at following directions?

I already know I'll be making a third version of this project (I just can't let go!) and I want other people to make their own versions so I can see if they follow the directions or do something more like I did.  This has become less about crafting and more about a curiosity of how each person interprets things differently.  Obviously, I need to get back into grad' school. I'm even carrying the book around with me so I can study it.

Soy latte at the Foundry.  They have great diy OSB tables.

Anyway, in between making versions one and two, I went to a doughnut shop and a coffee shop.  The Lady Bean wanted to explore her home city and we were out of coffee.  I probably needed the break because I think I'm obsessing.  Wanna' come over and make a tiara?  Bring yarn.

xoxo,

b

Alligator Pinata

It was birthday time again and this year that called for an alligator pinata.

The candy went in an opening in the mouth.  The alligator is based on the one from Oh Happy Day.  If you'd like to see more photos look on my Instagram.

xoxo,

b

One finished corner...

Valentine surprise

I have a bedroom update, but first, have you ever tried to gift balloons on an extremely windy day?  It doesn't work.  All the strings tangle and won't separate.  So my two bouquets of six became one room's worth of ceiling balloons.  I grabbed the scissors and right before I gave into cutting the strings, I decided to just release them.  I think this worked much better.

One completed corner.

I have one corner (and most of a wall) of the bedroom finished.  I tried to hang the mirrors I had just finished painting, but they're very heavy and one of the wires kept snapping.  I put them away and bought the proper supplies when I went out to run errands.

The art wall has been up for awhile, no changes there.  Her back ordered West Elm bedding finally came and I steamed it in the dryer.  I couldn't handle the thought of ironing it.  I think I might hate ironing so I was procrastinating about putting on the bedding.  I survived though and I finished these little mountain pillows.  I read a tutorial for making these pillows, but I ended up just sort of doing my own thing.  I had a sweater dress that shrank and some felt scraps so I made some chalk shapes and cut them out with a rotary tool.  I sewed the felt and sweater into place at the same time.  After they were stuffed and together, I tacked down the felt edges with a buttonhole stitch.  I cut out the rest of the dress and decided to make more.  It's very satisfying.

The side table is the same one we've had for awhile.  It's from Urban Outfitters and I think it's for record storage, but it's also good for books.  The wall sconce is new and also from Urban Outfitters.  I had to finish the headboard before I could decide where to hang it.  It doesn't look like they sell the table anymore, but I kinda' love the little light.

The headboard is what I would call one of my major projects for the room.  The main project, other than painting and papering, was refinishing the dresser.  I looked for some headboard inspiration for awhile.  I know that beds don't have to have them, but it makes it look complete to me.  I love tufting and I saw a great tutorial for a faux tufted twin headboard on Vintage Revivals.  Mr. Husband is a painter so we have a variety of large frames around the house.  I looked around and chose the one I liked best.  I got real excited and bought all the supplies.  I found some great remnant fabric and learned that it's cheaper to buy a foam mattress topper than it is to buy foam (Joann Fabric coupon + twin eggshell topper = best deal I could find).  Alright!  I was ready to go and my materials sat there for a few months.  Um, meh.  I have no idea why I'm this way, but I am.  I think I was intimidated by the thought of messing it up.  When I finally did decide to conquer it, everything went quick and smooth (until I realized that I didn't have access to a nail gun-- we're working on that).  I had another person to help for everything except the tufting.  The directions are easy to follow.  I had some trouble getting my faux tufts to staying so I pressed down harder with my stapler and put 2-3 staples in for each tuft.  I used the same button kit as the tutorial and it worked well, but thicker fabric will take a little forcing.  I used a hammer to press the button backs in (be careful not to flatten the button face when doing this).  I kind of love it.  I would make another.  I'd actually enjoy having a reason to make another.

Right after I finished.  See my scissors?

Here's a bonus photo since the pillows are stacked in front of it in the other photo.  My next big DIY for the room is to cover a bean bag chair in faux fur.  The pre-fab versions that were adult size (Miss Lady is 5'5 and growing) were way too pricey so we got a cheaper chair with the intention of making a cover.  I just ordered the fabric. 
The room should be done in April.  I'm slow and I need to make a trip to Ikea before I can complete it.  So much to do.

xoxo,
b

Featured Member on Cut Out + Keep

It's finally up!  I'm horrible at the interviews, but check it out here!

xoxo,

b

Has it really been almost a month?

Wow.  I do get distracted.  Last time I posted, the current pumpkinhead was just a baby form.  Now it's getting a base coat; photos soon.  I am posting a "How To" for the pumpkin masks on Cut Out + Keep.

Fancy Bat is taking shape.  The only parts left to make are the leggings and the shirt.  I'm still frightened of knit.  I am sewing a practice set before cutting into the actual costume fabric.

I made my first turban and wore it to a holiday party.  I used these instructions in a size medium.

 

Okay, last thing today, a picture of my daughter's room taken while she was in ballet for the day.

She gets the best light in the house.

xoxo,

bmerry

Catching Up

Mr. Husband left town over the weekend and we had an all lady house (except for one kitty cat man).  We started our weekend by watching Maleficent and then we got crafty and loungey.  The Lady Bean listened to a lot of music and worked on homework (wow).  I decided it was time to pull out old projects and new ones... always new ones.

Let's start with the new!

Pumpkin form

I made progress on the pumpkin mask, but for some reason I don't like using a black bag for the form.  I don't even know why, but it's covered with paper now.

Linoleum block

I finished my first product review for Cut Out + Keep.  A project with a tutorial and final photos will be posted there.  I am not sure when, but I will put a link here when it happens.

I call this "The Louise Pattern".

Miss Bean decided to be Louise Belcher for next Halloween.  I know this seems insanely early, but I enjoy working on the costumes when I'm stuck inside during the winter.  I also realized after years of last minute costumes, it's much more fun to be done with a costume when October hits than it is to be starting one.  The other benefits are better costumes because I'm not rushing and if it's already made, it's harder for her to change her mind 5 times.

Now for the old...

From white to grey.

I pulled out a bag of supplies that I had for a project(s) started two years ago.  I used to feel awful about doing things like this (you know, setting something aside and then just sort of walking away from it), but then I realized that I often end up going back (eventually) and it works better that way.  Sometimes I need to develop a few skills or step away in order to figure something out.  The problem with this method though, is that sometimes you decide you want more of a certain fabric you were using, but you can't find it anymore.  So the photo above is me "making it work" and dying some similar fabric that I already have.  Not what I would liked to have done, but I learned to buy a little extra in the future.

Fancy Bat is back.

That brings us to this, Fancy Bat.  Fancy Bat wears a fancy hat.  Fancy Bat also wears a vest and maybe some sort of a pocket watch, sips drinks with a pinky out, etc. because Fancy Bat is fancy.  FB is inspired by Mary Engelbreit characters, personified animals in children's books, and a bit of the Victorian era.  I drew the original sketches and sewed the hood and cape in 2012.  I was using this piece to challenge myself to sew a complete outfit based on a created character.  At the time, I was planning to purchase a shirt and tights to layer the pieces over, but now I've decided to sew those as well.  If I'm using this as a personal "sew a complete look" challenge, I really should go all the way.  Anyway, the next piece is cut and ready to sew and I've made a few tweaks to the design. I am loving it.  

Does anyone write?  Fancy Bat needs a story.  Maybe someday I'll write one, but that's not really my thing.

xoxo,

b

Halloween 2014!

It snowed!  WTF?  Snow and ice and rain... aaarrrrggghh.  

A husband and wife pumpkin couple.

The weather on October 25th was like summer.  We spent some time walking around the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival in our home made costumes.  I totes felt like I was in a parade even though we didn't actually stay and join in the costume parade.

The Halloween banner at work.

We did Halloween at work on the 30th and it was pretty great.  I made a last minute banner out of burlap, twine, and paper.  After I hung it up I wondered why it had taken me so long to utilize this big, blank wall.

Halloween night the weather was unkind.  There was snow, and ice. and wind, and rain; and I was so very unprepared for it.  I heard it would be cold and maybe rainy, but I was so unprepared for snow and ice.  I also believe that I was firmly in denial about the weather until my hands were completely numb.  So I ran home and my friend finished trick or treating with the kids.

xoxo,

b

I forgot something...

I made a wreath for the door.  It's based off this tutorial and uses the Happy Halloween banner from this tutorial.

crow wreath

You can't see it in the night time photos, but it's lovely.  I tied strips of burlap around a wire form and then sewed a few to fill in spots.  I added some wide bird print ribbon for a hanger, pulled the feet off a fake crow, and distressed my printed banner.  I printed the banner on a textured grey card stock and then I did some stamping and painting to make it feel worn.  I added cork to the paper so it would have some dimension.  The original instructions are all in the first tutorial link and just do your thing from there.

Okay, now I think I'm done.

xoxo,

b

Halloween House Decorating Contest 2014

Hello, hello!

Last night was the house judging for the north portion of the neighborhood.  I went with an Alfred Hitchcock "The Birds" theme this year.  I also decided to go all out and make myself part of the display.  I covered myself in fake blood and dropped on the lawn; bird attacked woman of Bodega Bay.

 Oh, Blogger is having some formatting issues!

Anyway, happy haunting!

I hear the book is better than the movie, xoxo

b

Close up of the porch at night.

Me before I took my place in the yard.

Birds as high as I could reach.

Jewelry and Gems

Hello!  I've explained that I have tendinitis and I still do, but this is the first time in my life that I've ever had a brace.  I've never had a cast or a sling or anything.  The wearing of a brace seems to have made me very aware of the appearance of my hands.  So I started painting my nails again and for the first time, became interested in some finger jewelry (I hear this type of jewelry is commonly referred to as rings).

The first thing I normally do is go online and look at all the great stuff I could buy.  After that, I remember that I have a child and a small income and also that I like to make things.  Then I start thinking of all the jewelry I could make and that's when I realize I don't actually have the skill set needed to produce the things that I'm thinking of.  So yeah, then I either compromise to reach my vision or I start learning.

 This is the result of my recent finger decorating excitement; an assortment of purchased and DIY sparkly goods.

 

 

I've been saving my daughter's teeth ever since they started falling out because, what do you do with them?  You pull them out from under the pillow, stuff a few dollars in their place and stick them in a drawer, right?  Okay, but then what?  She got braces recently, but had to have 6 teeth removed before they could go on.  Not all of these were baby teeth.  Suddenly I had a wonderful selection of natural items to work with. Woo hoo!  Of course, I have no idea how to make a ring setting and teeth can be hard to work with.  Um, I tried.  I have not been successful yet.  So the ring above represents a compromise.  I found someone who makes ring setting that I like and I asked her to do a custom ring.  It's amazing.  Thank you Sarustar.

What else did I get??  Knuckle rings from Ollie Jays.  They don't appear to have more in stock right now, but these are nice and were very affordable.  They're really comfortable and that was a nice surprise

The other rings in the first photo are my DIY experiments.  I made a few rings using a tutorial from A Pair and A Spare and a few by cutting up clay. --More on all that later.

xoxo,
B

The Happy Hair Conclusion

This is my after.  I love it.  Also the 90's called and asked me to come back and be a proper riot grrrl.

On Saturday my fabulous hair and I went to a little man's 3rd birthday.  I took him this pinata.  This wasn't the design that I originally intended to go with, but My wrist was not very happy Saturday and I was running out of time.  I did a quickie style round pinata to go with his Superman theme.  This pinata goes together in under 2 hours.

Happy Day, Happy Hair

xoxo

b

From Wrist Brace to Statement Cuff

Hello!  I still have tendinitis.  Which means I still have a brace.  Well, I have a brace to wear indefinitely and I'm sure I paid an unreasonable amount for this accessory.  Since I have to wear it though, why not have fun with it?  I can pretend it's a bracelet and since it's big, it can be a statement cuff, right?  It works.  I mean, people decorate their casts so why not their wrist braces?

The materials; oops this was an after though photo (my brace is already bedazzled).

 I chose to go with black and gold studs.  You'll need a brace, studs (mine weren't silver so I liquid leafed them), jewelry pliers, utility knife, marking pencil, and if you want a different finish, liquid leaf, and a paint brush.

I had metal studs that I purchased years ago (Ms. Merry is a punk rockeh).  All the studs were silver though and I wanted gold. I counted out the amount of studs I would need and painted them with 2 coats of liquid leaf.  After they dried, I placed them on the brace and marked where to cut to attach them.  These studs have prongs on the bottom that fold over and grip the fabric so you'll need to make a little hole to pop the prong through.  You can use a tape measure to get everything exact or you can just eyeball it.  I measured a little and then it just started doing it's own thing.  So I started to  lay the studs out and mark where the prongs hit so that I wasn't messing up and cutting extra holes.  Use the pliers to bend the prong over and hold the stud in place.  That's it.  If you want to get even more fabulous and fancy you can use some glitter tape (as seen in the photo above).  This tape came out of the Target dollar aisle and it actually sticks to the fabric really well.

Boom!  Statement Cuff.

Of course, why stop there?  Do your nails and put on some rings.

X's and O's,

Tendinitis B