Making bundles of herbs to dry is a great way to both use up leftover herbs and use up little scraps of wire and ribbon. Not to mention they are really pretty around the house, smell wonderful, and nicely dried can be wonderfully delicious in any meal. We had quite […]
howto - journal - nosew
How To: Cover a coptic bound book
I recently made a book from my favorite papers and envelopes using the codex binding method, but the only thing I had for the cover was some thicker paper. So, the first step in fixing up my book, is giving it a bit more stability.
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On the Needles: Changing Yarns Around
It’s been awhile since I started a new knitting project, so I wanted it to be really great. Something I would want to wear all the time. And something that would be brainless to knit so I can take it everywhere for me. At first I was going to do […]
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Guest Tutorial: How to Prepare Your Pumpkin for Painting
I do a lot of paint related things – stamping, collaging, illustrating, and painting. And really paints shouldn’t be kept more than 6 months to a year. They will start to separate and dry out over time. Every time I buy paint for a project, I’m faced with leftover paint […]
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Making Waxed “Linen” Thread
There are many great reasons to have waxed linen on hand – coiling, book binding, jewelry making, and braiding just to name a few. Here is a really easy way to use up some bits of embroidery floss and get that elusive waxed thread into your tool kit (the only […]
howto - journal - nosew - patterns & tutorials
Free Tutorial: Make Your Own Pendant Necklace
Last week I showed you my favorite way to make pendants {link} and today I’m going to show you how string it up into a necklace using a fisherman’s daughter’s knot! I love necklaces like this and you can use this method for anything with a hole in it. Many […]
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Apartment Redress: Vintage Lamp Rewire Finished!
We went to the hardware store and picked up all the parts to replace every electrical related piece on this little guy + we added the feature of a snazy little clicker on the cord because “Kristin, you can’t reach the top of the frig, how are you going to […]
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Apartment Redress::Studio Curtains Part III:: Finished!
All finished! Today I went to the hardware store and picked up a curtain rod and something to hang the curtain with. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, some simple metal shower curtain hooks, but then I got to the “curtain isle” and holy moly what a selection. […]
fabric - howto - patterns & tutorials
How to :: Loopy Felt Flower by Sister Diane
If there ever was a classic instant-gratification craft, it’s the venerable felt flower. I was playing around one day, and stumbled upon this method for making an interesting zinnia-style design. Hope you like!
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Crocheting Around Town :: Circlular Sensations
This past week I have been doing a lot of crocheting in the round and so when I would go through my rss feeder it seemed like every post about crochet seemed to jump out and yell “pick me, write about me, read me!” I picked my favorite tutorials and […]
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Making Mini Croissants :: How to
My grandma was always into doll houses and remember looking at them and wishing I could have one all to myself to fill with little odds and ins. The Borrower’s was one of my favorite book series when I was a kid. I’ve always loved things on the small scale […]
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In the Garden :: Compost How To
As I was pulling all the grass clumps out of the freshly tilled soil I was thinking “oh great, what am I going to do with all this sod? good for nothing grass!” And then I read that you can actually compost it no problem, you just need plenty of […]
Crafty Business - howto - journal
Knitting Basket Breakdown :: Part III
I was planning on getting this posted yesterday, but it took 6 hours of handwork on this great little guy and it’s was around 12:30 when I finished up. I thought it would just be like 2 hours of hand sewing, oh how I underestimate things like that. So here […]
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Starching Lace for Non-Traditional Reasons
I’ve been overly fascinated by crochet lately and have started to use it more and more in my paintings. I’ve working on this particular piece and while I want the crochet to be flat across the painting I do not want a lot of tension on the sides of the […]
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Mending :: Fixing Zippers when it’s the Fabric’s fault :: How To
I was going to tell you all about how I finished my skirt today, but it slipped my mind that today was the day I needed to go to the ER to get my stitches taken out. No harm done though, while waiting I started mending my friend’s bag and […]
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How To :: Yarn Spa Day :: Refreshing Spent Yarn
Sometimes yarn gets a little abused and used and worn out and just needs a good relaxing day. Well, actually, after ripping out yarn several times it does need to be refreshed. Maybe not a full on spa day, but a nice dip in some soapy water does wonders. In […]
howto - journal - nosew - patterns & tutorials - redress
Enveloping Organization :: Free Needle Envelope Templates!
I really like these envelopes because 1)They are just the right size & 2)They have folding tabs that lock into place and unlock with ease. Oh and they are made with old paper bags! Even Better! Download the free template….
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ATC Envelope :: Guest Pattern!
Su Mwamba of Tangled Crafts has provided me this great instruction set to share with you! I am so impressed by all of her productivity!
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All Wound Up :: The good, the bad, and the ugly
I remember the first time I brought home yarn in a hank. It was a disaster. I laid it out nice and flat on the couch next to me and started to knit. Wow. You can guess what happened next. So I went to the yarn shop and asked about […]
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Stitching School: Chaining and the Single Crochet
I’ve had a crush on crochet for a long time. I feel like I’ve been giving a lot of attention to Knitting lately -which I also love- and I really wanted to wax poetic about crochet. I love the way that I can improvise and work organically. You can connect […]