Kelly felt the need to move to the District of Columbia to infiltrate the world of non-profits and to give up her vote in Congress. An environmentalist by day, and blogger by night, Kelly spends her free time by pursuing crafty endeavors and volunteering for numerous causes. She is an avid knitter and fabric hoarder, whose stash of crafty material threatens to take over her tiny apartment.
On top of all my various journals, I own way too many tote bags. Accumulation can happen fast. One too many conferences and craft fairs and bam! you have a closet over-flowing with totes.
It’s a good thing really, enabling you to BYOB (bring your own bag) on any numerous shopping excursions.
On one such recent shopping excursion to everyone’s favorite big box store, Target, I found another green offering to the tote world. […]
After the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge popped up in the news again, my mind couldn’t help but think of all of the great wildlife found in the arctic and in Alaska; the porcupine caribou, the arctic fox, and the polar bear. But do you know of the musk ox?
The musk ox is a large gentle creature similar in weight and stature to a buffalo. They have large curved horns and long shaggy hair and are more closely related to goats and sheep than to oxen. I first fell in love with these animals when I was researching the arctic a while back for work. For those of you that have watched the Planet Earth series you know how cute they are.
Surprise, surprise the weather turned gorgeous this past weekend here in our Nations capital and I enjoyed the sun outside at a few choice locations. Usually one to bring along my own water bottle when venturing outdoors, I forgot. Inevitably I got thirsty in the hot sun and needed to quench it. So, I did the one thing that I really hate to do and bought a bottled water.
I know. I know. We actually all know the reasons not to do this. But my thirst won out and I was left with a happy sigh and an empty bottle.
To give myself a little bit of redemption, I gladly toted the empty bottle around for the rest of the day with all intentions for bringing it home, destined for the recycle bin. On my return home, I instead left it on my desk and contemplated the water bottle’s next life as a possible craft.
For those of you on the West coast, this weekend is an amazing 2 day event packed full to the brim with DIY goodness. Put on by Make Magazine and Craft Magazine, Maker Faire celebrates things people create themselves—from electronic gizmos, to “slow made” foods and homemade clothes. The event is a non-stop “wow-fest” where surprises and inspiration are as ubiquitous as the festival air.
The 2008 Bay Area Maker Faire will put a special emphasis on “Green” living. There will be a huge exhibit featuring Farm Aid’s Homegrown Village, a local farmer’s market, Swap-O-Rama-Rama’s giant used clothing swap, DIY workshops and fashion show, Bazaar Bizarre’s crafts fair, a live Prius plug-in car conversion from Bay Area’s Calcars.org, and much, much more.
The Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a huge clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops. Bring a bag of your unwanted clothes to swap with other participants and then learn to make modifications or totally transform your new finds. Recycling reused clothing has never been more fun.
Here in the District of Columbia, we have a very short window of time we call Spring before the oppressive heat and humidity descend like a hot wet blanket over the city for the Summer. Blessedly, we are currently enjoying our Spring. The cherry blossoms have since bloomed and it is that sweet spot of weather where long leisurely lunches outside make returning to work all that much more difficult.
The pretty weather and gorgeous sunshine have given me a hankering for beautiful spring colors in my yarns. Thankfully Tahki Sky has it covered.
It is hard to talk about stuffing and not talk about batting. They are practically the same material, except the former is loose and used for pillows and plushes and the later is formed into flat layers perfect for quilting.
Like the world of plushes and softies, quilting is another craft that I have been keeping an eye on, but have yet to fully try out. The concept seems easy enough, but I’ve never been very patient and can’t quite get the whole measure twice, cut once, thing down. A friend of mine recently made me a quilt and I am in awe of the time and talent that she put into it.
Quilting is definitely on the move in the crafting world and quickly becoming the hip craft to do. The exploding popularity of Amy Butler and Denyse Schmidt have propelled this craft into the lime light and it is easy to see why.
One craft that I have yet to delve into is the art of making a softie. These cute creatures, some with faces only a mother would love, abound on the internet. I would even say that there is a softie explosion of popularity happening right now with all the attention being made to creating your very own cute and cuddly creature.
There are several books devoted to softies and plushes, as well as quick and easy tutorials on creating a softie. And don’t forget the plethora of amigurumi. Heck, there’s even a gallery showcasing some of the best plush makers around.
With all the craft love for the softie, how can we make them a bit more lovable for the Earth? It’s all in the stuffing.
Based in Birmingham, “Owlbama,” Night Owl Paper Goods is a letterpress stationary company that gives a hoot about the environment.
Their letterpress designs are printed on sustainability harvested yellow birch, creating unique postcards and journals. The wood is sliced thin to produce a large number of cards from a small amount of raw material. Each piece is different due to the variation in the wood grain and very little water and power is used in […]
Wrist cuffs are fun accessories that lend an air of rock and roll to any outfit. Thrifting vinyl records is a great way to add rock and roll to your music collection. Put the two together and what do you get? Wrist cuffs made from thrifted vinyl records!
Etsy has lots of vinyl cuffs for sale, but the gold cuff pictured above by Tresijas really caught my eye. The color is amazing and the shape is wonderfully curved just so. Colored vinyl is often hard to come by, making this find even that much more special.
To make your own vinyl wrist cuff you only need a record, an oven and an xacto knife. Simply follow these instructions from the DIY Network to make your own rockin’ wrist cuff:
Half eaten boxes of marshmallow Peeps; straw from Easter baskets strewn about; slowly coming out of a sugar high; plastic egg halves littering the floor. Does this sound like you and the aftermath of Easter? Feeling a little unsure of what to do with those plastic eggs now that the hunt is over and the candy eaten?
Well have no fear because this week CAGW will tackle that very question and offer up nifty solutions to reusing your Easter eggs!
