While some of you may doubt the “leftoverness” of this book, let me assure you that Painted Pages is filled with wonderful ideas how you can take those smallest of small treasured scraps and integrate them into beautiful works of art all your own. Not an artist? Let me assure […]
thrift kitchen
Home Again: Looking Back and Looking Forward
I loved my room at the Porches. It was a little oasis where people picked up after me for a change, coffee was delivered in the morning along with croissants and cream.
But, by the end of the week I was so ready to be home. I missed home cooked meals and being able cuddle with the cats. I missed the daily walks with Jak and working out with Jason–and just hanging out with him in general.
journal
Book Making and Photoshoots
I feel like a bona fide author this week! Storey Publishing flew me out to Massachusetts to be on hand for the photographing of all the books steps. It’s turned out to be really good for both of us. We have been able to tighten up wording, make things better, […]
thrift kitchen
Thrift Kitchen: Taco Mix!
I should tell you, I love tacos. I like chicken tacos, fish tacos, beef and bean, bean and cheese, tofu, avocado. Tacos are probably hands down my favorite food. After my 40 minutes of chest and bicep exercises are up I am jonesing for some freaking tacos. If I don’t get some tacos stat I’m going to have a serious melt down of give me now fits.
book review
Book Review: A Dyer’s Garden by Rita Buchanan
Not that many years ago I was naturally dyeing yarn on a small scale to sell in my etsy shop Green Prairie Fibers. I love natural dyeing in all of its aspects–collecting, fermenting, straining, the smells, the surprise of colors from unexpected sources, and the beautiful fusing of chemistry, cooking, […]
crochet - patterns & tutorials
Mosaic Scarf’s Little Sister: Free Crochet Pattern
Over the last 3 or so years, there have been a lot of emails about how to shorten up the Mosaic scarf. It’s long. Really long. So long that I must admit I only wore it a couple of times. I could literally wrap it 5 times around my neck. […]
book review
Pattern Review: the Darling Durby Sweater (aka Jak’s Jumper)
I finally finished Jak’s sweater. Thank goodness we had some excellent, unseasonally warm weather this past month. I just had too much on my plate to be able to get it done in a timely fashion. But I did get it done! The pattern that I used, the Darling Durby […]
fabric - howto - journal - patterns & tutorials
How to: Make a Replacement Pet Bed Filler
When we got Jak last month, I thought I was being oh so smart by getting a dog bed with a removable cover. The theory was that I could just take off the cover, give it a wash, and be good to go again. Well, that’s true except in the case of accidents where the whole thing gets soaked through. Next time I’ll make sure to get a cover that’s water proof as well as removable. Ah well. Hopefully we have dealt with the last of the pee issues.
Time to pull out the sewing machine and make my own. It was surprisingly easy, so I thought I would share this with you, just in case you have a pet with a bed that needs a new inside.
howto - patterns & tutorials - zines
Leftover Christmas Zine: Issue 2!
The newest issue of the Leftover Christmas MiniZine is in the shop! In this month’s issue we make ornaments together. I talk a bit about silhouettes, felt, and cut paper. The zine contains instructions for making your own ornaments in bulk from silhouettes and includes an my own original design […]
clm - vol2
Craft Leftovers Monthly Zine: Volume 3, Issue 02!
Ah such sweet musings of late winter, crafting, and *haaaa-chooooooo*. Umm, excuse me…where was I…ah, yes . . .and being sick. Seriously, I’ve been fighting some kind of cold/sinus/ear/throat/infection since Christmas. It never fails that I get sick while I’m at my parents’. And, funny enough, my mom gets sick when she comes to visit us.
fabric - feature
How To: Fabric Stitchy Bookmark
One of the things I wanted to work on this year was reading. And I have. In fact, I’ve worked on it a lot. It seemed only right to make a new bookmark to mark my place. I’ve already read more books this year than I did in all of […]
journal
Fixing Craft Leftovers Update
We found (and by that I mean Jason found) what went wrong. So it turns out that when the server went down (which was a hardware failure on their part) it corrupted one of our database tables. It started chewing through and dumping memory or something like that (this is […]
journal
Doggy, Post, and Book News
My book is cruising along at a good clip now and Sunday is the deadline for me to finish my final revisions of the manuscript. I think in light of this fact alone I really should have taken the week off posts to focus on that. Second, I have a […]
wips
Newest CL WIP: Jak’s Jumper
This Saturday Jason and I delightfully welcomed the newest citizen of our home: Jak Jak Par, a retired racing greyhound. And, being me, I immediately looked up everything I could about knitting for dogs. You see, Jak has 7% bodyfat, and at 80 lbs and about 3 feet high he […]
book review
Book Review: Crochet Master Class
Every Thursday I make my way to the local library to peruse the books on my current topic of interest (lately herbalism, greyhound adoption, and botanical illustration) as well as check out the newest craft books (which is usually quite a few because the circulation manager happens to be a […]
clm - howto - journal - patterns & tutorials
Zine Library Part 3: How to: Modular Hanging Boxes for Unique Publications
When I first thought of making my own zine library I was at a loss as to what would fit them all. How could it look good and be functional? I thought it would be kind of neat to make a series of small boxes that would hang on the […]
wips
Winter Harvest: Lettuce, Seedlings, and Home Brew!
Jason and I are having a load of fun lately with starting up our own indoor garden and playing around with home brewing. Me, well, I just needed some green in my life. And, like I talk about at the end of today’s post, learning new things and spending time […]
organize - redress - round up
Zine Library Part 2: Organizing ideas from offical libraries
Two weeks ago I posted about how I was sick of all my zines being in a cardboard box and had started building a system of shelves to house them in the most creative way ever. Well, I got caught up getting my own zine finished and have finally returned […]
knitting - patterns & tutorials
Free CL Pattern: Knit Convertible Mittens
You may have seen this earlier in the month, but just in case you didn’t: Check out my newest Craft Leftovers pattern over on Craftzine! These convertible knit mittens will keep your hands toasty and warm during the cold of winter. To free your fingers, simply open the convertible flap! […]
clm - vol 3
Craft Leftovers Monthly Volume 3: Issue 1!
I’m so happy to get this issue out! E-to-P and print versions are now available! January is always a blah month in the north–snow snow snow. Loads of gray. Dry skin. Blah. Well, thankfully I’ve whipped up a load of self pampering DIY for you and me! In fact I […]