Heidi Boyd

Thai String Dolls Tutorial

2011-08-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

I still have so many projects to share with you from my summer workshop series, but I'm skipping this gem to the top of the line up. Our young adult librarian had suggested making Thai String Dolls, and after a little research I realized that it could be an accessible and popular project. I had a blast making these dolls with a half dozen great teens.

Traditionally Thai string dolls are made by looping a thick cord skeleton that is wrapped in thinner cord. I knew that there could be an easier nontraditional way to make the dolls. I immediately pulled out my box of chenille stems (pipe cleaners). Starting with the big head, I spiraled a chenille stem into a ball shape to form the 'skull'.

To add mass I wrapped two more chenille stems around the first one. It doesn't matter what color the chenille stems are, as they will be completely concealed in 'string'.

Fold your fourth chenille stem in half and trap your skull in the fold. Twist the chenille stem ends together under the skull to make the neck. Then fold the remaining lengths in half to form the arms.

Fold a fifth chenille stem into the letter 'W" to make the legs. Hook the center of the 'W' over the shoulder section of the arms. This might feel a little wobbly but the chenille stem will be firmly connected by the yarn wraps.

Thin cotton blend yarn works best for this project. I had a super collection of Plymouth yarns Wildflower D.K. left over from designing projects for Soft and Simple knits for Little ones. The colors are fabulous and the weight is ideal. Working directly off the skein, place the yarn end against the chenille skull and begin tightly wrapping the yarn around the head. Make sure you constantly change directions, if you make too many rotations in a single direction, the loops may fall off. If that happens simple unwind the dropped loops and rewind tighter in a different direction.

When it comes time to wrap the arms and legs, bring the yarn down to the elbow or foot first. Unfold the chenille stem and tightly wrap the yarn where it was bent. Be careful to completely conceal the chenille stem with your wraps.

Refold the arm or leg and over wrap the folded chenille stems together. Repeat the process with the remaining limbs.

Wrap the top of the legs together to form the base of the torso and make crisscross wraps across the chest. If your doll's head doesn't look big enough bring the yarn back to the top and wrap it some more. Once you're pleased with the proportions cut the yarn off the skein and use a dab of hot glue to anchor the cut end against the body.

I supplied Darice 9mm solid black safety eyes, you won't need the clear anchor piece (although one clever creator used them for the eyes). Simply push the screw end into the head. If you wrapped tightly it will take some effort and wiggling to get the screw end lodged into place.

I had stiffened felt scraps on hand (left over from the monster stuffy project). Stiff felt is incredibly easy to cut and hot glue in place. If you're ambitious you could thread contrasting yarn colors into a darning needle and stitch a mouth, eyes or other embellishments onto your doll.

Simply over wrapping your doll with other string colors is a simple way to dress them up. I rolled a tiny grey ball of string for this rabbits tail. This open ended craft is ideal, your imagination is the only limit to the characters and animals you can create.

French Mirrors a la Modge Podge

2011-07-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Teens will always keep you guessing... I knew this mirror project was going to be a hit with my DIY Friday library group. What I didn't realize is how much teens love collage and working with Modge Podge. It was the best project yet, everyone was relaxed, creatively engaged and in the end tremendously proud of their mirrors.

The first step is to locate inexpensive, preferably unfinished, wood frames. The ones we used were from IKEA, very reasonably priced at a few dollars each. It's the very same frame I covered with aluminum cans in my book Craftcyle.

I collected an assortment of black, white, ivory and red scrapbook papers from my stash. Our wonderful young adult librarian supplied photocopied iconic images from France along with an old french novel for tearing apart. I also borrowed a set of themed stamps from a crafty friend.

Start by covering the center of the mirror with a scrap of paper to prevent it from getting gunked up with glue. The teens launched straight into selecting papers and arranging them over the four sides of the frame.
Once they were sure of the placement they used gluesticks to anchor the paper pieces in place.

Hands at work stamping images to collage onto their frame.

I brought my paper cutter along and it was passed between tables. It's the fastest and easiest way to cut a perfect straight edge.

Before long the tables were covered in a sea of paper scraps. The conversation was lively and fun, they were really happy working on this project. I have to mention that the teen in this picture designed and stitched her lovely shirt!

I encouraged all the teens to just cover the top surface of the frame. Bending the paper around edges can be problematic, causing bumps and uneven edges. I love the tissue tearing technique that this artist used, it gives texture to the sides of the piece.

Despite the fact that everyone was sharing the same materials and wooden frames there was terrific diversity in the way they approached the project and their finished frames.

It was fascinating to watch this frame come together, beautiful balance and design.

The final step was to apply a coat of Modge Podge over the surface. In a few cases we had trouble with the paper wrinkling. When that happened we simply lifted up the offending piece and applied a layer of Modge Podge under it and then repositioned it, instant fix.

Playing with Shadow Puppets

2011-07-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it, my job is the best. I play with art materials all the time for publication and then I get to take a break and share creative fun with kids in our community. This week our One World, Many Stories theme inspired my Bali Shadow puppet workshop. This ancient art has been practiced for centuries, as a way to honor religious beliefs and share folklore stories.

We didn't use the traditional materials of hide and bamboo rods, instead each child was given a quarter sheet of black poster board. We also passed out two to three dowel rods that were 1/8" in diameter and cut to twelve inch lengths. We had hole punches, brad fasteners and clear packing tape on hand to connect the pieces together.

My sample puppets were loosely based on traditional puppet images. The male puppet is wearing a horn shaped crown, and a decorated loin cloth. The female puppet is also royalty, she's wearing a traditional skirt and has a stylish hair do. I always encourage children to create their own patterns, the head should touch the top of the poster board and the feet the bottom. The four unconnected arm pieces, two upper arms and two lower arms, fit on either side of the body. All the pieces need to be thick enough to accommodate the hole punch. When I'm working with groups of fifty children or more I often bring templates for those who aren't comfortable creating their own design.

After the body and arms are sketched onto the poster board the cutting begins.

Holes need to be punched through the shoulder of the body piece and the shoulder of the top arm piece. Brad fasteners join the pieces together while allowing movement.

The elbow connection also requires two punches, one in the base of the upper arm and another in the top of the lower arm. Once you've fastened them together repeat on the other side.

This is a great parent and child project, love to see big and little hands creating together!

Turn the puppet over and use a strip of packing tape to adhere one dowel rod to the bottom of the body and the other to the lower arm.

Decorative hole punching along the top of the puppet lets more light through and makes the shadow more interesting.

The moment we were all waiting for, the puppets worked! The kids had so much fun playing with them I wish I was able to record video. We had arranged the tables in front of the window bays to take advantage of the natural light. Translucent (inexpensive) plastic table cloths were taped to the table top and carpeting to make a stable screen.

Here's a happy puppeteer with her very own puppet design!

This wolf puppet casts a foreboding shadow.

So glad I got a shot of the creative action behind the screens.

Don't worry, be happy! How to make your own Guatemalan worry doll.

2011-07-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've been excited to share this project for weeks. Worry dolls are an ingenious Guatemalan craft that help ease troubles of parents and children who are working together to cope with stress associated with sickness and poverty . The idea is to make a likeness of the child and place it under their pillow at night. The belief is that the doll will take away the worry or sickness as they sleep. Like a dream catcher the act of making the craft is soothing. The project fits in perfectly with the library's summer theme - One World, Many Voices. I began the workshop by retelling the folklore story about how the craft of making worry dolls began, I found a great resource at this site http://www.sciencejoywagon.com/kwirt/mayan/

With a group of almost a hundred preregistered children we set up supplies in separate stations around the room to fully utilize the space and avoid congestion.

To stop heads from rolling four 10 mm beads are separated into cups. The multicultural chenille stems are a must, we ordered them from Dick Blick.

This is the clothing table, fabric is cut to 2 1/4" x 4" strips, colorful yard for tying and scissors. We had another table filled with an array of hair choices that included: yarn, embroidery floss, and wool roving in an assortment of colors. The last stop was lidded jewelry boxes with colored paper tape and adhesive dots.

After collecting all the materials the first step is to wrap the hair of choice five times around your fingertips.
Slip the hair off your fingertips and trap it in the crook of a folded chenille stem.

This sample shows a pinch of roving caught in the fold. Slide the bead head up over chenille stem ends so that it rests under the hair.

Here are three dolls ready with embroidery floss hair and heads.

To form the legs and arms, fold up the length of the chenille ends so they extend above the hair. The folded ends will become the feet and the ends will fold down at the neck to become the arms. Fold over the very end of the arms to shorten their length and shape hands.

Every child was encouraged to make a set of four dolls to showcase a variety of skin tones and hair color.

To clothe your doll wrap the fabric scrap under the dolls arms use a length of brightly colored yarn to wrap and tie it in place.

This young artist was using the yarn to make the clothing, he just kept on wrapping.

To make pants cut the fabric piece in half wrap and tie them around each leg. With a fold and a snip this doll ended up with a nifty felt shirt.

Fancy braided hair is held in place with yarn bows.

This doll was being tucked into bed, shhhh....

Decorating the boxes, was almost as fun as making the dolls. I was so pleased that the boys enjoyed this project almost as much as the girls. Wishing you all worry free days of happy crafting!

Flower Power - How to make giant tissue paper blooms

2011-06-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

Summers officially here and I'm thrilled to be spending my Friday afternoons running the DIY- Make it here, take it there, teen program at our local library.

Last week was our first Friday and I was happy to see familiar faces from last year (a couple of whom are now college kids) along with newcomers. This tissue paper flower project was a huge success, easy enough that everyone felt confident and dove right in.

Before you pull out the tissue paper the first step is it twist plastic beads onto either end of three - 4" wire lengths.

I used the Toner Fun wire I had on hand, you could easily substitute a lightweight 22 or 24 gauge floral wire. Be sure to save your scissors and use wire cutters to cut the wire lengths. When you fold the three wires in half they'll create a six bead flower center. Set them aside until you're ready to assemble the flower.

Tissue usually paper comes in 24" x 36" inch sheets. Stack four different colored sheets together, fold them in half and then in half again. This will give you four sets of quarter sized sheets. Each flower takes a single stack of four sheets. I pre-cut the tissue paper but encouraged the teens to mix and match the sheets to create their own color combinations. Starting on the narrow edge, fold up the bottom edge and then accordion fold the remaining length. It's just like making a fan, back and forth, creasing each new fold line.

Fold down the top inch and half of a 20 gauge fabric covered floral stem and then trap the centers of the three wire stamens and the folded paper in the bent wire. Twist the wire end around itself under the paper. If the paper is loose enough to wiggle free, twist it a couple more time to tighten the loop.

Twist the base of the wire stamens a couple times so that they stand erect. The next step is to select what shape to cut on either end of the fan. Each of the following three cuts create a different shaped petal and flower. Making one and half inch slits into spaced a quarter inch apart will create pompom carnation like flowers.

Making a v shape will yield a pointed lily petals.

A rounded n shaped end will produce a standard rounded petal.

Once you've cut your petal shape, gently spread open either side of the fan.

Starting in the middle closest to the stamens, pull one layer of petals up to the center of the flower. Slowly bring each tissue paper layer up behind the layer before it.

Once you've separated the tissue paper petals on one side repeat the process with the other side

Here's a lily that is blooming with color!

I loved watching the tables filling up with colorful blooms! Don't hesitate to try this with younger children or even adults. It's a great project to liven up a rainy summer day.

Rainsticks!

2011-06-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

Watch these creative kids turn a paper tube into a beautiful instrument during my first 'One World, Many Stories' craft workshop at Curtis Memorial library. Rainsticks originated from Chile and are traditionally made with dried cactus that are spiked with thorns or small nails. Our rainsticks are child friendly and recycle paper tubes!

This was a bring your own paper tube activity. We found that rigid tubes work best and you get a more interesting rainfall sound from gift wrap length tubes.

The wonderful librarians assembled the necessary materials for each tube:
Aluminum foil (cut to the length of the tube).
1/3 cup of rice
2 rubber bands
Colored paper tape
Adhesive gems
5" x 5" wax paper and packing paper squares
Colorful yarn scraps

Some friends brought super long tubes!

We cut a length of foil to match the length of each tube. It was up to the kids and their parents to cut the foil lengthwise into three equal strips. The strips are crunched and then slid into the tube. Their purpose is to slow the traveling rice and resonate it's sound. If the foil is crunched too tightly they don't slow the rice and if they're left too wide the rice can't travel freely from one end of the tube to the other.

Perfect crunching technique!

The next step is to decorate the paper tube with paper tape strips.

Sometimes little fingers need a little help.

We intentional purchased an assortment of sizes so thinner tape can be placed over thick tape.

In case you haven't had first hand experience, kids love tape!

Adhesive gemstones were applied to the blank areas (Oriental trading is a great source to buy these in bulk).

We supplied colorful yarn to over wrap the rubber bands.

Lay the paper square over the wax paper square and center it over the top of one of the ends. Use a rubber band to tightly wrap the paper over the top of the tube.We had colored yarn available to over wrap the rubber bands.

The rice was premeasured in 3oz paper cups, for easy pouring into the tube. Once you have one end covered you can pour in the rice.

Add a second paper covering over the end of the tube. Once the ends are secure you're ready to invert your rainstick and listen to the gentle sounds of pouring 'rain'.

Shoulder strap anyone?

I'm starting think my library workshops are all powerful, it's been drizzling for two days now and there's no end in sight for the weekend.

Serious last minute adjustments.

If you missed this workshop (it maxed out at a hundred preregistered children) I'll be doing it again at the Freeport library on July 19th. Please be sure to call in a reservation.

His rainstick is taller than he is and check out that tassel!

Steampunk Claytraptions!

2011-05-16T02:45:00.000-07:00

I began this sample during my demo and added to it during the workshop.

A few weeks ago I held a Steampunk Claytraption workshop for local teens at the library. To my surprise we had a full house that included a significant group of guys. These kids were well versed in Steampunk and came ready to create.

An empty watch case and strap became the perfect frame for a teen creation.

For those who aren't hip to the term Steampunk, it's a science fiction movement that came into prominence during the 1980s. Steampunk is set in 19th century Victorian Britain where steam power was still widely used. Steampunk creations often feature futuristic innovations as perceived by period fashion, architecture, and culture.

Melissa caught me in action conditioning the clay.

To get them started I shared a quick demo in conditioning polymer clay in their hands. Once it was pliable I showed them how easy it was to insert the hardware directly into the clay. I brought a generous of selection of silver copper bronze and black polymer clay to complement the metal.

Fabulous vintage clock work pieces, we limited each participant to just two so we would have enough for the group.

Our wonderful teen librarian was able to secure a generous donation of vintage clock gears and parts. I scoured my studio and turned up a plethora of scrapbooking embellishments; small hinges, rivets, brads, charms, and metal alphabet letters. I also grabbed a selection of chain, silver, bronze and gold wire, along with several pairs of wire cutters. The last step was to hit up my husband Jon's hardware supplies for small screws.

My dentist offered me sterilized dental tools for jewelry making. The kids loved working with them, they were instrumental in setting small wires and engraving patterns.

The teens created freely, using whatever combination of materials they desired. The only restriction was the two vintage piece limit.

I was thrilled with the incredible variety of the projects. Even with a similar heart theme these two pieces are distinctively different. One is flying on shards of metal and wire whereas the other floating on cloud like wings.

I circulated the room to check that the Claytraptions were strong enough to survive the baking required to cure the polymer. Thin sections of clay are apt to break. I also made sure all the embedded metal pieces were securely anchored in place.

If time permitted they would have all gladly stayed and created additional Claytraptions. We quickly decided to repeat the workshop this summer. In an amazing coincidence Jon came home from work that night with a bag full of watch parts from the repair shop down the street from his office. I can't wait to see what they'll create next time.


I love the use of the hinge and chain on this pair of golden wings.

Make it here, take it there: crafts with Heidi Boyd

Curtis Memorial Library

If you're entering middle school this fall (6th grade) join the creativity!

3:30pm Friday afternoons through the month of July.

6/24 Mexican Paper Flowers, 7/1 Indian Anklets, 7/8 Parisian Mirror Frames, 7/15 Steampunk Claytraptions, 7/22 Chinese Lanterns, 7/22 Japanese Folded Books, 8/5 Thai String Dolls.

Quilt Market Butterflies

2011-05-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

It's a treat to be able to share a current design project on my blog. Most of what I work on needs to be kept under wraps before it appears in books and magazines. I was delighted to make these butterflies for National Nonwovens Quilt Market booth. They manufacture gorgeous wool felts and roving products. The company supplies me with a selection of their product for my publishing work. I was especially grateful to have an array of their felt on hand while I worked through the designs for my newest book Stitched Whimsy, a playful pairing of felt and fabric (October 2011 North Light books).

They choose a butterfly theme for their trade booth and asked me to make a pair. Once I pulled out my butterfly guide and stack of felt, I couldn't stop at two. I expanded the project to four distinctly different butterflies in order to better showcase their product.

To make the pattern I simply folded a sheet of paper in half and then used the guide to draw half a butterfly wing. I cut the wing shape out of both layers of paper. Once unfolded I had a symmetrical paper pattern for the first layer of felt. I continued using the folded paper technique to make two to four additional smaller patterns for the overlays.

I stacked and pinned the wing layers together. In some cases I snipped holes or cut triangular darts into the overlays to reveal the color underneath. I machine stitched the layers together, creating a decorative network of freestyle seams.

The butterfly bodies began with a twisted chenille stem armature that I wrapped in wool roving. I needle felted all sides of the body to insure the roving was tightly anchored in place. The final step was to hand stitch the back of the body to the finished wings. If you're in Salt Lake City for the show be sure to stop by the booth and check out my warm woolen butterflies from Maine.

Flower Crowns for May Day!

2011-05-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

Happiness is watching children joyously dancing around the May pole. A symbolic ritual that chases away cold winter winds and welcomes springs blooming flowers and trees. As the mom of a kindergartner this was our first time celebrating May day at our local elementary school.

The children were divided into two groups; the youngest simply skipped around the pole, the older children looped and wove the ribbons.

We had a few after school rehearsals to practiced lining up skipping and dancing around the pole. During one of the practices I realized they needed someone to make thirty seven crowns. I quickly volunteered and set off to raid the spring garland display at JoAnn's Fabric store.

Stacks of twisted crowns filling my family room couch. These are the easy crowns made from the lightweight garland.

I was unable to find enough of one kind of garland so my method for making the crowns adjusted with the available materials. Lightweight berry garlands could simply be cut in half and wound into two separate crowns.

Heavy weight wire cutters and pliers were necessary to cut the wire vines apart. You can see the flower sprays that were pulled out of the garland at the top of the frame.

The other garland consisted of a heavy brown vine and lighter green stems. I had to pull this garland completely apart. I used wire cutters to clip the heavy vines and twisted them circles that were slightly too small for my head. I wrapped the loose sprays to the vine with lightweight plastic coated Fun Wire (Toner). the green wires of two floral sprays could also be twisted together to make a single crown. It took more work but I was able to get five crowns out of each these garlands.

Simply hold the berries to the vine in one hand while the other hand wraps the wire.

I brought the garlands into one of the last practices and shamelessly asked for help from other moms to cut and loop three folded ribbon lengths around each crown.

Finished crowns on the school bleachers.

The evening was a great community building event. Money was raised by May basket raffle tickets, and light refreshments sales. Koi fish were also sold to in honor of children's day and to raise money for Japanese Tsunami relief.


Celia and her dance partner leaving the May pole.

It's wonderful to be able to help with something that comes easily to me. It also makes me smile to know that each of the dancers took home their flower crowns as a keepsake from the dance.

Hedgehogs: Needle Felting Tutorial

2011-03-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I had the pleasure of crafting with some great teens. Needle felting is a simple accessible craft, if you can poke a needle you can needle felt. Only two of the participants were experienced needle-felters but everyone was very successful.

Hedgehogs are surprisingly popular in our northern porcupine country. Their shape makes them the perfect beginner project. I've been needle-felting lots of critters for my new book project Stitched Whimsy. In the process I've realized the importance of chenille skeletons that form a sturdy flexibility core under the wool roving. In this case the wire allows you to raise and lower the hedgie's nose. The first step is to fold the chenille stem in half and trap a thin pinch of roving in the fold. I use inexpensive wool mill scraps for the foundation of all my felted creations.

Form the chenille stem ends into two loops, twist the wire ends around the base of the loops. Interlock the two loops together to create a framework for the body.

Tightly wrap the roving around the folded chenille stem to create the nose and head. Working over a foam matt or section of rigid foam insulation poke the roving on all sides with a felting needle. A felting needle has tiny barbs that catch the individual wool fibers and knit them together, the more you poke the more the fibers are compressed.

Fill the chenille frame with roving and then over wrap the body with additional base roving. Needle-felt the roving on all sides to compress the fibers and solidify the body.

Cover the base color with brown roving, switch directions as if you were winding a skein of yarn. The combination of overwrapping and needle felting will tighten the body. Wrap the head and nose in beige roving and needle-felt in place.

Roll tiny pinches of colored roving to make the eyes and nose. Needle felt these small pieces directly into the beige head. Spiral slightly larger pinches of beige roving and needle-felt them on the matt/board before felting the bottom edges to either side of the head.

The flower embellishment is made by spiraling a piece of roving into a circle and felting it just behind an ear. Pull strands into the center to form petals. I added a touch of green roving for a small leaf accent.

This lucky critter was given a stylish purple top hat.

Three top tables and coffee tables made for cozy crafting. The bags of roving are from my favorite needle felting supplier Portland Fiber Company, on Congress Street in Portland.

As always my projects are open to adaptation, it was fascinating to observe the creation of this weasel.

One of the participents came late and skipped on the chenille stem step she made an adorable mashed potato pair.

So happy our amazing teen librarian was able to leave the desk and join the fun. I was also surprised to have crafty friends join me all the way from Standish.

We had a rare albino hedgehog sighting and a camera shy multi-colored tie dye hedgie.

Don't stop at just one, they're happier in pairs!

Winter Break Snow Globes: a tutorial

2011-03-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

This crafter doesn't need glitter to shine.

While the rest of the country might be seeing signs of Spring, Maine is still under a heavy blanket of snow. Last week the kids were home for winter break. A school holiday invented to slow the spread of colds and flu, give students and teachers a break, while providing everyone a chance to enjoy winter sports. The library requested a craft and we quickly agreed that snow globes would be perfect. We were astounded by the turn out, approximately eighty children arrived with glass jars in hand!

Hope it passed the test!

I started the event with the perfect book The Snow Globe Family, by Jane O'Connor. It was my first time being miked for a library event, it worked well until I moved around for the room for the demo and unwillingly broadcasted ear piercing screeches.

Jane O'connors book about life inside a snow globe is a classic.

Most snow globe projects require a strong adhesive to attach a plastic object to the inside of the lid. This presents two problems, the library budget can't afford 80 plastic objects and children don't want to wait a day for the glue to dry before filling their globes with glitter and water.

Crafting with a crowd is exciting inspiring and also distracting!

I decided craft foam would be the perfect alternative, it's waterproof and easy for kids to cut. My best discovery was permanent Glue Dots, quick to distribute, mess free, and best of all they instantly held craft foam in place!

A creative participant added a wonderful polar bear to the scene

We supplied the children with two shades of green foam and scissors. I demonstrated how to cut out two tree shapes (that would fit inside your jar). Then I cut a slit halfway down the middle of one tree and halfway up the middle of the other tree. Slide the two pieces together and you instantly have a three dimensional tree.

Test fit your tree before filling the jar, it's easy to give your tree a haircut if it's too tall or wide.

I had them place a glue dots inside the lid and press the base of the tree into the glue. Only a couple of trees sprang loose, to prevent this I'd suggest anchoring the sides of the trees with 1-2 additional dots.

Fill the glass jar to the first screw line with distilled water. Then squeeze in 5-7 drops of glycerin, which slows down the glitters movement in the water. Glycerin is sold with cake making supplies in craft stores but is less expensive in drugstores.


Initially the glitter floats on the top, once you screw on the lid and give it a shake the glitter is set into motion.

The favorite step was adding a spoonfuls of iridescent and light blue glitter. For a true snowy appearance I would recommend opaque white glitter. Glitter is the one ingredient that I should have double stocked, it's impossible to have too much!

Parents (and my two high school helpers) applied a bead of Silicon Aquarium Sealant (sold at pet stores) to the inside edge of the metal lid before screwing it in place. If you're making the project at home with the kids you could easily substitute a glass and metal glue.

We also provided white craft foam strips to wrap around the base of the jar. This covered the lids and gave the illusion of a snow bank. Glue dots were used to attach the overlapped ends.

No doubt about it, kinetic crafting is a hit!

I'll always wonder if our combined enthusiasm for snow ushered the ten inch storm that fell the next day. I'm already looking forward to planning a warmer craft for April break, maybe we can get flowers to bloom!

Isn't everything better with a bow on top?

Dog Gone Fun - Toy tutorial and Beefy biscuit recipe

2011-02-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

I'll admit I'm dog crazy, can't imagine my days without four paws by my side.

Just before the holidays we bid a teary goodbye to our ten year old wheaten terrier, Maizy. She was my faithful companion and an expert nanny dog. She was the inspiration behind my second book, Pet Crafts. She left us far too young but will be treasured in family memories.

We picked up Otto at the begining of the new year. He's a spring loaded mini aussie whose filling our days with love and laughter. Our five year old daughter is having a great time helping with all things puppy from training to bathing.

Puppy toys and upscale treats can be pricey, you'll be amazed how easy and inexpensive it is to make and bake your own. Over winter break Celia devoted an hour making Otto a crazy furry critter.

He immediately pounced on the crackling body and attacked the squeaky tail. This unique toy features a long Velcro body opening so that you can replace the crinkly water bottle stuffing.

You'll need the following supplies: fun fur and felt scraps,

fiber fill stuffing,

sew-on hook and loop fastener

a squeaker , you can recycle one from an old toy or order them online.

Fold the tail fur in half and cut through both layers to make a pointed tail shape that is 12" long, 5" at it's widest halfway down the tail, and 3.5" wide at the base. Cut the body fur into a 11" wide x 12" long rectangle; which should be wide enough to wrap around a large sized water bottle. Then cut a circle that is 4" in diameter for the head. Finally cut two pairs of 1.5" high and 1.5" wide felt ears, a 1.5" wide nose, and two .75" circle eyes.

Place the right sides of the tail together and machine stitch around the outside edge, be sure to leave the base unsewn. Make a second reinforcing seam. Snip off the very tip of the tail and turn the fabric right side out.

Lightly fill the tail with stuffing, then insert the squeaker.

Stack the ears together and stitch around the outside edge leaving the base unsewn, then turn them right side out. Position the eyes and nose in the center of head and spiral stitch them in place. Place the ears point sides down over the face and stitch them to the edge of the head.

Placing right sides together stitch the bottom edge of the body rectangle to the head. The body piece should overlap by an inch and half to enable the loop and closure to work.

Reach inside and turn over a half an inch of the cut fabric edge down the length of the body. Machine stitch a single seam to finish the folded edge.

Insert the tail into the base of the critter. Make sure that the unfinished body edge overlaps the finished one. Stitch through all the layers to close the base and attach the tail.

Turn the critter right side out. Pin and sew 10.5" length of hook and loop closure to the top of the unfinished edge and the underside of the finished edge. Insert the the bottle and let the games begin! A word of caution please be aware of your animals chewing habits and do not leave them unsupervised while they play.

When your pup slows down for a snack here's a biscuit recipe that will make them sit and beg.

Beefy Dog Biscuits

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees

In a large bowl/or stand mixer combine: 1/4 cup instant milk powder

1 T garlic Powder

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 cup oatmeal

2 1/2 cups flour

In a pryex measuring cup: Dissolve two beef bouillon cubes in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water

Add 1 T of Peanut butter and drizzled in some honey.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. Roll the dough to a 1/4" - 1/2" thickness on a floured work surface. We use a snowflake or flower shaped cookie cutter so that we can break off small pieces for training or stuffing into Kongs. Bake for 45 mins. then turn off the heat and leave the cookies to cool and harden in the oven for 10 hrs. Store in an airtight container. This recipe makes a generous cookie supply that lasts us almost a month.

Tweet Sachet tutorial

2011-02-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

The woods surrounding our Maine home are covered in a dense quilt of snow. The early mornings are especially quiet, if it wasn't for the sounds of the woodpeckers and chickadees I'd be convinced that the whole world was sleeping. The last few morning robins have covered our crab apple tree filling their bellies with fruit. I'm hoping these red breasted birds are a harbinger of warmer temperatures and birdsong to come.

Just after the holidays a local patron had asked me to make a couple of the bird sachets that I had stocked over the holiday fair season. She was willing to wait until I'd wrapped up the copy and illustrations for my latest book 'Stitched Whimsy'. I finally delivered the finished sachets this morning, just in time for her to mail them as Valentine gifts. I took photographs while I made them so I could share the instructions with you.

You'll need scraps of muslin and cotton. Use a cutting mat, clear rule and rotary cutter to cut a 7 1/4" x 4 3/4" rectangle of muslin for the front and the same sized printed cotton for the back. While you're set up go ahead and cut multiples. When you're in stamping mode you'll be happy to have a stack of muslin ready for printing.

Cover your work surface and mix up Simple Spray (Duncan) fabric paint with brown acrylic paint. I find the loose liquid of the simple spray dilutes acrylic and helps the fabric absorb the paint. Brush the mixed paint onto the fabric stamp. I purchased this gorgeous hand carved wood stamp from Nest, its a fair trade product that is also available online at Connected. Match your brushstrokes to the form of the stamp. I started at the head and worked my way down the body increasing the length of the stroke on the wings and tail.

I found that laying the fabric over the painted stamp works better than conventional stamping. Rub your fingers over the entire surface of the fabric covered stamp. If you prefer to press the stamp down onto the fabric, layer a folded old towel under the muslin. The padding will allow you to press down on the stamp and push more paint into the muslin.

Allow the printed fabric to dry before continuing.

Placing right sides together pin the printed muslin to the printed fabric backing.

Align the outside edge with your presser foot and machine stitch around the outside of the sachet. Leave a one inch opening to turn the sachet right side out.

Trim away any excess fabric and clip the corners.

Turn the sachet right side out, using a stuffing stick or knitting needle to push out the corners.

Pour a cup of dried herbs into the opening. I used a 1/2 cup each of Balsam and Lavender over the holidays. I filled this new batch sachets with a cup of lavender. It's time for me to place a new order at San Fransisco Herb Co. and experiment with spring and summer scents. Tuck the raw edges of the opening into the sachet so it matches the seamed edges on either side. Instead of hand stitching the opening closed I machine stitch a second top stitched seam around the edge of the stuffed sachet. The opening will be stitched closed in this seam.

Hand stitch cut felt leaves and wooden beads by the foot of the bird. You'll be happy that you cut and stamped extra birds, this sweet sachet makes a great gift. It's too pretty to hide in a drawer enjoy it out in the open until spring arrives. If you're not in the mood to whip a sewing project I'll be stocking these sachets in my brand new Etsy Store.

Holiday Craftiness - Simple Gifts

2010-12-14T06:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had the pleasure of crafting with some wonderful teens at our local library. I planned three quick and easy projects that used materials I had on hand to keep costs down. We made wreath ornaments, lavender sachets and beaded choker pendants. The girls were thrilled with their creations and had friends and family in mind for each gift.

Crafting wreath ornaments was a great way to work through my giant bag of scraps. You'll also need to gather: 18 gauge galvanized steel wire (hardware store), jingle bells, scissors, pliers and wire cutters. Start by cutting the scraps into 'uniform' one inch square pieces. Fold each piece in half and clip a small slit along the fold line.

Once you've prepared enough pieces String them onto a 14" length of wire. Continue stringing until you have enough felt to encircle a wreath. String a jingle bell and/or two felt holly leaves onto one of the wires.

Bend the wires at a ninety degree angle where they meet at the top of the wreath. Coil one wire end around the other, use wire cutters to trim the coiled wire end. Use pliers to form the other end into a large open spiral hanger. Give your wreath a hair cut, use scissors to trim away stray felt ends.

This simple beaded choker pendant was a very successful group beading project. Making a beaded pendant is just like making one half of an earring set. It also allows you to showcase one of a kind beads. Rubber Silkies necklace cords are my favorite new beading supply. They're manufactured by Pepperrell and are sold at our local JoAnn's fabric store. The smooth rubber clasp is built into the cord and is very comfortable to wear.

I purchased a bulk bag of glass beads and divided them in bowls for easy selection. You'll also need small bead caps, head pins, round nose pliers, and wire cutters.

Simply string three beads onto the head pin, add a bead cap into the mix if you want to highlight a bead or narrow the opening of a large bead. Use round nose pliers to turn the end of the head pin into a loop. Open the loop laterally and then slide it onto the center of the cord. Be careful you don't pinch the rubber in your pliers as it breaks apart when squeezed with metal. Use the pliers to carefully close the loop back to it's original shape.

These sweet little lavender sachets scented the room as we crafted. You could easily substitute great smelling Balsam or make use the fabric pouch as a small gift bag. You'll need two different colors of purple fabric, straight pins, lavender buds (San Fransisco herb Company), thread, hemp cord, card stock labels (I cut my with my Sizzix Big Kick), stamps, chalk ink pad, black pen.

Cut the fabric into 4" x 7" rectangles, placing right sides together stack one color over. Pin the two layers of fabric together. Because I had a nice small group I was able to help each girl machine stitch three sides of the fabric together. For many of the girls it was the first time they'd used a sewing machine. Trim the top off the bag with pinking sheers then clip the extra fabric off the corners with regular scissors.

Turn the fabric right side out and used a pencil point to push out the corners. Pour a half cup of lavender buds into the sachet.

Stamp and write messages onto the tags before tying them around the top of the sachet with a section of hemp cord.

Fa la la la la ...Crafty girls with their creations!

Felt the Halls with Wooly Garlands!

2010-11-24T10:02:00.000-08:00

The holidays are officially here and it's time to get your crafty self into action! Forget about stringing popcorn and cranberries this up-cycled wool garland project will add warmth and color to your home all winter long.

Over the last year I've been saving my wool and felt scraps from plushie making. I regularly use my stash for bird beaks, wings, leaves and flowers. However the bags get larger each day and I needed to find a craft that uses entire color selection in their existing shapes. I found inspiration at my neighbors home, she has gorgeous handmade wool garlands hanging around the door ways and windows of her home.

I turned up an over sized darning needle, some cording, and a collection of large wooden beads in my studio. Then moved the bags of scraps to the floor of our television room. The first step is to tie an overhand knot at the end of your of cording. The length of the cording is dependent on where you want to hang the garland and how much time you have. The next step is to slide a wood bead on to the cord so it rests against the knot, it'll prevent the felt pieces from falling off.

Now you're ready to begin stringing the length of your garland. Simply slide the 2" by 1" scraps onto the needle. I folded my long strips in half and drew the needle up through both layers.

I quickly discovered that felted sweater scraps effortlessly slid over the needle whereas the tight weave of the brightly colored commercial felt from Commonwealth Felt was a struggle. My solution was to fold the felt and snip a single cut into the center of the piece, then unfold and string the needle through the cuts.

I'm drawn to random color stringing when I bead, it was automatic for me to distribute colors and textures along the length of the garland. Custom stringing garlands to match your decor is as simple as sticking to a limited color pattern or grouping like colors together. To break up the monotony of the stringing I periodically added beads a felt flowers to the strand.

I had grand plans of making loads of long garlands for craft sales. The results are beautiful but they took twice the time than I estimated. I stopped at five 55" long garlands and still have piles of scraps left to use. If you don't want to commit to making a whole garland consider adapting this project to make a fun scarf. For comfort I'd suggest omitting the beads and using strong yarn as your stringing material.

My book Craftcycle features projects that use felted sweaters and other recycled fabrics. For more crafty inspiration take advantage of twenty percent off your order and free download on Cyber Monday at Mycraftivity.com!

The Castle tote and matching puppets from Soft and Simple Knits for Little Ones is one of today's free download selections.

Home Studio Chaos

2010-11-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

This time of year can throw any professional crafter into a tailspin, but add a December book deadline and craziness abounds. Here's a behind the scenes peek at what creativity looks like in my house.

My dining room sewing set up, the chairs become portable shelving. Note the paper bag full of scraps they're test patterns that didn't make the cut. It all needs to be cleaned up and put away before dinner, a necessity that helps keep me organized.

This morning I've been working on vintage dachshund, cat and deer patterns for my upcoming book 'Stitched Whimsy'. I'm stitching the prototypes with flannel and Minky. I have some wonderful vintage prints, fuzzy eco felt and corduroy ready to use on the final versions. My sewing machine is a little Bernina, a twenty year old wedding gift from my parents. No bells and whistles but it's a workhorse that's seen me through years of Better Homes and Gardens costume making.

The Hedgehog Softie I created for Stitched Whimsy worked out so well I've been making a few extra for the weekend fairs. Jon cut out eight sets of pattern pieces and I've been assembling them production style. These finished arms are ready to meet their bodies.

I do have actual studio space upstairs over the garage but I find it's easier to work down where the kids are. When life is busy, part of the studio becomes a dumping area. It's hard to tell but underneath this chaos is a treadmill that has been seeing very little action.

I have an awesome felt selection from Commonweath felt. I've been using their 100% wool 35% wool and bamboo felt in many of the designs for my upcomming book.

I separated my fabric collection into warm and cool colors. I owe a huge debt of gratittude to my sister for filling out the selection with wonderful prints she collected in NYC.

I'm not going to lie it's a thrill to paw through prints and felt to find the right combination for a design.

Decorative top stitching finds it way into many of my designs. I can't tell you how happy I was when this designer kit arrived from my friends at DMC.

After my little one goes to sleep I'm too brain dead to work on book designs, that's when I nestle into the couch with piles of busy work. These 'Little Hoots' are awaiting hand embroidery. They sell so well it's hard to keep them in stock. I'm contemplating adding the pattern to my book...

More late night busy work these birds of a sweater first seen in Craftcycle are in need of wings and legs they're stationed by the television remote. Despite my creative stash I still make weekly runs to JoAnn's for missing items. At the top of this weeks list - more stuffing! Here's wishing you a happy holiday season filled with creativity.

Brunswick's first Indie Holiday Marketplace

2010-11-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars spread the word and grab a friend. Thursday night is the first ever Artsy Affair at the Frontier, Fort Andross in Brunswick Maine. It's starts a five, don't bother cooking dinner plan to enjoy Frontier's delicious food and wine.

The gorgeous Frontier Cinema and Cafe.

Artsy is the brainchild of Brunswicks own Carrie Sullivan of Sheabella Tutus. She had participated at similar evening events in Boston and knew the concept would work in Brunswick. Carrie and I sat down to coffee and made the commitment to bring her idea to reality.

One of Carrie Sullivan's beautiful tutu creations

Enlisting the help of Amanda Smilien of Maine Street Events has been the key to creating a successful evening. She has made launching this event a pure delight! From the very inception our goal has been to create a unique handmade marketplace, filled with some of the best design talents in the area. It's amazing how quickly the planning has fallen into place. We've been overwhelmed by the response of the Frontier, artists and the community.

Here's a sampling of the twenty two vendors that are sure to make this evening a success:

Whimsy skirts feature gorgeous fabric, playful trims and a comfortable adjustable waist band!

One of my favorite vendors is Kendra Haskell's line of 'Whismy' skirts bags and accessories. I couldn't resist choosing one of her skirts at Higgins beach fair this summer.

Original wire work jewelry by Susan Bryant Caron

Susan Bryant Caron will be showcasing her amazing wire work jewelry - this is a lady I could learn some wire work tricks from!

Amazing cupcakes from Fields of Cake

I'm looking forward to meeting Carrie Fields of Fields of Cake in person. She's offering six packs of the following amazing cupcakes: Chocolate Cake filled with homemade salted caramel and toasted pecans, lemon cake filled with lemon curd, Triple Vanilla Brown Butter cake filled with wild Maine Blueberries and topped with Maine Maple Buttercream, Gingerbread stout cake filled with cheesecake and topped with Caramel Brown Sugar Buttercream ....Oh my goodness I'm salivating!

Wendy Jung of Soggy Dog Design's photography will be on hand to photograph the evening and showcase her playful portraiture.

Adorable kids in Little Planet fleece!

To take away the chill Annie Roberts is bringing her colorful fleece hats and sweaters from Little Planet Creations and Regina Kusche will displaying her elegant Akosua knitwear designs.

Lovely bird magnets from Littleputland

Casie Metcalf Hitchcock is our Maine Etsy team leader she's bringing her Littleputland scrabble tile jewelry and magnets. She introduced me to Anna Low of Purple Bean Bindery in Portland, I can't wait to get a closer look at her incredible handmade books.

Whimsical handmade book from the Purple Bean bindery.

Charlotte Agell will be signing her books and offering a chance to win a child's portrait to be painted at your home. Her very talented daughter Anna Simmons has her own creative business entitled ANNAES and will be selling her graphic narrative pieces.

Charlotte Agell's newest title, great reading for young people!

Sitting alongside Charlotte will be illustrator Lisa Bossi, who'll be selling her gorgeous prints and books.

Barbara Berry Palm's 'Warm Earth' necklace, takes my breath away!

Our very own Barbara Berry Palm (art teacher at our junior high) will be showing the elaborate polymer clay pieces she creates for her Moose Winks line.

Cool Earth Tone and Fish tone belts - completely adjustable so that you can still enjoy cupcakes!

Chake Higginson and Catherine Worthington are two more fabulous local artists. Chake and Peyton will have their very popular shirts on hand and Catherine will have her gorgeous fabric art pieces from her Earth Tone and Fish Bone line.

If you're looking for homemade preserves and jams Berts Awesome Stuff will have a great selection on hand.

We invited Spindleworks to be our guests, I'm looking forward to seeing what their artists have cooked up.

Also in the line up is Penobscot Porch Swings, Lacey Pots, Zinnia Clothing, Christine Detroy and Lily Pad Designs. They're so many talented people in this event, but if I don't stop posting links and photos I won't have time to get my own work ready.

Jon and Heidi Boyd are adding these new coat hooks to their fair wares.

If you live in the area please come join in the 'Artsy' fun. I'd love to meet you - my booth will be the one filled with birds owls and lobsters!

Hometown Halloween

2010-11-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Our town shines especially bright at Halloween. Creativity abounds as families and friends make costumes to parade down Maine Street. Our daughter Celia loved finding her school friends and teachers in the crowd. Next year Jon and I have vowed to create costumes of our own.

Here's a shot of our pre parade party group, our little ballerina is on the left wearing her Sheabella tutu. When the junior high band walks by, we know it's time to make our way into town.

The 'mall' is our green space in the center of town. In the summertime it holds food vendors, farmers market and evening concerts in the bandstand. The junior high band leads the parade and the high school band pulls up the rear. The play a great rendition of the Adam's family theme song for this event.

Surrounded by chocolate and candy this healthy string cheese stands out from the crowd. High school students from the key club distributed glow in the dark necklaces.

This trio displayed seriously impressive techno crafting skills!

Some of my favorite creations are the stroller and wagon makeovers. Tucked inside this truck was a fireman and a dalmatian puppy.

This lovely jellyfish caught the afternoon light in it's beautiful iridescent fabric.

Who doesn't love Shrek? The teal dress is perfect.

You had to see this pup in motion the spider legs were the perfect length for his body and jiggled with every movement.

Jon calls this the money shot, the throng of parade goers getting into formation. It gives a glimpse of the tail end of our fall colors and the historic New England architecture. The police are busy blocking off traffic, once they give the all clear the junior high band starts the procession. This year many onlookers brought candy into town to fill the kids treat bags.

We spotted several men with Yellow hats carrying monkey's in the crowd.

This may just be a professionally made costume, love the Mad Hatter!

Love the brilliance of Anna's simple costume!

The parade ends at our rec department, a final chance to see friends you might have missed along the parade route. They host a fabulous costume party and give out treat bags. We always dash home to grab a quick bite to eat and then go door to door trick or treating around town.

After marching in the parade this great bunch of girls are heading out on a candy quest. Check out little miss smarty pants on the left!

How to make your own Zombie Plushie

2010-10-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

For the last month I've been all about creating felt and fabric for my new sewing book. I spend more time pushing the pedal of my sewing machine than I do driving my car. I'm completely immersed in the stitching zone. When it came time to plan a library event I knew I wanted to share my enthusiasm for plushies with teens and zombies were the perfect way to grab their interest.

Coming up with this Zombie pattern was a snap, I folded a piece of loose leaf paper in half and then outlined a large head, short neck, arm and foot. Cut through both layers of paper and unfold, you'll have a perfectly symmetrical pattern. I use this trick whenever I design patterns.

Stack two layers of fleece over each other and then pin the pattern ontop of the layered fabric. Cut a quarter inch away from the edge of the pattern, this will be your seam allowance. You've just cut out the front and back of your zombie.

Set the pattern aside, re-pin the two fabric layers together to stabilize them while you seam around the outside edge. Leave a two inch opening on the outside of the leg.

This is where all the teens started the craft, we had pre cut and pre sewn zombie bodies to this step. Trim away any excess fabric and turn your zombie right side out through the opening. Start feeding Fiberfil stuffing through the opening. It's important to tightly pack the head arms and legs and then cram more into the stomach. The fleece will expand to accommodate the stuffing and tighter fabric is easier to embroider.

I passed out sewing needles and a thread for them to hand stitch the openings closed, I was amazed not single person had trouble with this step!

I laid out pre-cut circle eyes (thanks to my Sixxiz Big Kick and circle template) and passed out a crewel needle with a full strand of DMC embroidery floss so that they could stitch a face on their zombie.

It's a good idea to pass the needle inside the head between the eyes and mouth so that you can use one continuous strand of floss. The most popular mouth design was a single horizontal stitch that gets intersected by a row of three or four vertical stitches. I taught them to tie the ends in a knot under the edges of the felt eyes.

I love the creative stitching on the right eye of this zombie! I had a pile of straight fleece strips that we free for the taking, they made great bandages to wrap around the zombie. I wished I'd brought some red paint to make these creations a little more gruesome.

Hootenanny!

2010-10-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of putting on a birthday party for a special seven year old girl. I came up with an owl project that encouraged the party goers to color, stitch and stuff. At the end of the party each child went home with an owl softie of their very own.

Before the party I created a simple pattern with folded newspaper. I made a top and bottom piece for the owl front and a single piece for the back. I pulled out assorted fake furs, and white cotton knit from my fabric stash. This is a great time of year to purchase fun fur, it's on clearance with Halloween novelty fabrics.

I pre-stitched the owl heads to the bodies to cut down on machine stitching at the party.

The first step was to have the children decorate the white owl bellies with fabric markers. Be sure to place a piece of scrap paper under the fabric to protect the table.

Next we outfitted each girl with a crewel needle strung with a full strand of embrodiery floss. They stitched felt flowers, circles, large button eyes, and a triangle beak to the owl's head. I encouraged them to keep the embellishments away from the sides where they might get trapped in the seams.

After a quick demo the kids pinned the fronts and backs right sides together. This is when the line began to form at the machine, fortuantely not everyone was ready at the same time. It took me a couple minutes to make a continuous seam around the outside of each owl. Many girls left their owls with me while they enjoyed snacks and cake.

I left a three inch opening at the base and snipped the excess fabric off the top of the ears. I showed them how to turn the owls right side out and sent them to stuff their owl. This is a favorite step, I've yet to meet a child who doesn't like to stuff! For time sake I needed to stitch the opening closed on the sewing machine. We found that lightly stuffed owls were much easier to get through the machine. Be sure to tuck under 1/4" of the cut fabric edges in before seaming up the opening closed.

This party took place at one of my favortite creative places Art Mind and Soul Studios in Fort Andross.
Wishing the party girl many happy returns of the day!

Autumnfest Craft fair

2010-10-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

Fall is one of the loveliest times to visit New England, and this weekends weather was perfect for Autumnfest in Bath, Maine. We were overwhelmed by the fantastic response to our booth, so grateful for all the kind words and many purchases. Half of our customers were local and the other half were on vacation enjoying the peak color.

As expected the owls where the hit of the day both the Hilarious Hoots and Little Hoot ornaments literally flew off my tables (not just because of the wind!). I'll be spending many nights stitching up new flocks before the holiday season is over.

Scentsational sachets were a new product I unveiled today. They're filled with a combination of Balsam and Lavendar. I hand stamped the images with Fair trade textile stamps from India. They're backed in bright cottons and embellished with wooden beads and felt leaves.

The owl version has a felt bead in an acorn cap, thanks to my husband Jon for drilling the acorn caps!

I had such great reactions to the seashore bracelet I made for Crafts n Things on-line newsletter that I whipped up a bunch for this sale, they quickly sold out!

After the successful library workshop these Mermaid and King Triton Kits have become a new staple in my fair inventory.

This much admired felt trio were a hit in the booth. Originally featured in this falls issue of Crafts n Things magazine, they're still in need of a good home!

The ponytail holders were a hit, I'll be replenishing this supply before the holiday fairs kick in!

Wire Beach Blooms with sea glass centers made great mementos for tourists to bring back home.

These new little wood fish feature spiraled wire hangers with glass beads. It's a little early for tree ornaments but we'll be working on several more editions with different brushstrokes. Lisa Marie would like a set for her store in Bath were hoping to add inventory to Penobscot Porch Swings in Brunswick as well.

I love single day local fairs, it's wonderful when friends stop by our booth. I make new connections and meet interesting vendors each time we set up. Tonight I'm completely relaxed, tomorrow I'll try to put the house back together before the work week begins. I've got a big book deadline this Friday!

Free Double Loop Earring project from Wired Beautiful!

2010-09-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

Wired Beautiful is filled with unique projects that I'd love to share with my blog followers. After much deliberation I decided to post instructions for the earrings that I was happiest to get back from the photo shoot. They're straightforward and simple with an original twist, making them a perfect introduction to beading with wire, Enjoy!

Shaun was the lucky winner of the book drawing hope she sends her shipping address to my e-mail heidiboyd@suscom-maine.net so I can mail a copy off to her!

Shameless self promotion and Wired Beautiful book giveaway!

2010-09-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

Wired Beautiful has arrived ... and it's absolutely gorgeous! I'm head over heels in love with the design and photography.

This book is intend for people who love to string beads and are looking to branch into wire work. This approachable book takes you through the basic process of making your own clasps, jump rings, earring wires. Never again will you need to search stores to find coordinating findings, when you can easily make them yourself! The projects also include non traditional wire techniques like wrapping wire cages, using a knitting spool, crochet, and macrame.

I destroyed my hands creating wire designs for this book through spring and summer of 2009, then flew out to Cincinnati to photograph the detailed step by step shots that fall. A year later the actual book is in my hands. When the advance copies arrived I was apprehensive to open the package. What a delight to have the finished book exceed my expectations. I'm relishing the great reactions of friends and family. What a relief to know colors and designs I labored over are fresh and current.

The box of original projects from the book arrived last week and I can also enjoy wearing my creations!

Please leave a comment if you'd like to win a copy of Wired Beautiful, I'll draw a random name Sunday 9/26. Stay tuned I'll be sharing a free project from the book soon.

If you'd like to order a copy on sale for $16.49 at My Craftivity please use this coupon code Crafty1035c for 10% off your order your total order of $35.00.

Bead Blessing

2010-09-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I was honored to take part in a special going away party for two local artist friends Beth and Esther. Patricia who leads the local art collaborative had the wonderful idea to send them on their new adventures with a custom made piece of jewelry. We came to the evening with beads and a special message in mind.

After a lovely dinner followed by cake, we took turns placing our beads in water while imparting our words of wisdom. Some people had taken the time to look up the meanings of their stone beads, others shared words of inspiration or special memories.

Amanda read these words of wisdom that touched everyone in the room.
Only a Person who risks is Free - Author Unknown
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your ideas, your dreams,
before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the
greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing,
have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;
they have forfeited their freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

After all the beads were shared and blessed, I dried them off and started to help assemble the bracelet for Beth. If you're planning a similar party make sure you bring filler beads and findings to help turn the blessed beads into jewelry. Amanda had the forethought to bring a blank Blue Moon charm bracelet that Beth preferred to simply stringing the beads into a bracelet. We removed the clasp and strung on a large quartz bead directly onto the chain. I regret that I didn't try to add the large red bead in the same way. Amanda did a beautiful job creating this bracelet carefully adding head pins to each of the beads to turn them into dangles.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay to help finish the jewelry I had to run and collect my oldest child from work. During this busy back to school week I was thrilled to have escaped for a couple hours to be a part of the evening. I'm grateful that Patricia recorded the event with pictures and generously shared them with me.

Newly returned form a long stint in Australia, fiber artist Priscilla helped string Esther's double strand green necklace. These pieces should be a happy reminder of their creative friends in Maine.

Hope Esther is enjoying her new home in Massachusetts and Beth is relishing her time in Australia!

Patricia Boissevain creates amazing jewelry from natural stones, she'll be selling her pieces at Fall in the Village Art Festival at LLBean's Discovery park in Freeport Maine, 9-5pm September the 18th. Both she and Damian will be donating a percentage of the proceeds to The Gulf of Maine Restoration Efforts. If you're in the area please stop by and see her work, she'll have a few of my things there too!

Covered Button Ponytail Holder: How To

2010-08-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

It's back to school time! Once you've picked out your wardrobe, it's time to get crafty and make coordinating hair accessories. If you stash fabric or are holding onto small scraps this project is just for you. Making fabric covered buttons is a cinch, if you haven't tried it before follow these easy steps. It's a great crafty trick to have up sleeve.

Purchase the desired sized button covers and tool kit at your local sewing store. I used 11/8" covers which are too large for toddlers and preschoolers but are perfect for school aged kids and adults. The kit comes with two plastic pieces, a white base and dark blue insert. You'll also need: fabric, thin hair elastics, chain nose pliers and scissors.

Use the template on the package to cut out a circle of fabric. Make sure the center of the circle features the portion of the fabric design that you want to appear in the center of the button.

Place the fabric right side down into the white plastic base.

Position the button back rounded portion down over the fabric and press it down into the base.

Curl the fabric edges down into the curved button. Place the wired button back down over the fabric covered base.

Push the dark blue piece down over the button cover and press down until you hear the top and bottom pieces snap together.

Remove the finished button from the white plastic base.

Flip the button over wrong side up on your work surface. Grab the wire shank with the chain nose pliers and push down against the button back to widen the shank. Pull the elastic halfway through the modified shank. Loop one end of the elastic through the other and pull tight.

There's no end of possible button sizes fabric and elastic combinations, have fun!

While I've been booking Holiday Craft Fair dates I've been brainstorming ways to keep inventory throughout the season. This bright and colorful ponytail project is easy on the hands and should be popular stocking stuffers. I just placed a bulk order for button blanks.... maybe I'll have to go fabric shopping to find some irresistible smaller print fabrics.

DIY Throw pillows for teens

2010-08-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

I wrapped up my summer teen program with this sensational teen DIY throw pillow craft . Creativity was on the loose and Polyfill stuffing was flying through the air.

Last spring I was gifted a beautiful selection of fabrics I pulled out a stack of 1/2 yards for the teens to use. Our wonderful teen librarian Melissa had the kids select their favorite patterns. She borrowed my rotary cutter, cutting mat, and straight edge to pre-cut the fabric into pairs (fronts and backs) of 16" squares.

I cut Muslin into twelve inch squares, two for each crafter. One for drawing and the second to use as a backing to block the intensely saturated patterned fabrics.

I set the teens loose with fabric markers and some Tulip Multi-Surface Stencil tm the peace, skull and cupcake images were all very popular. The stencils have a tacky backing that grips the fabric while you trace around them. One note of caution be sure to use scrap paper under the fabric as the markers will bleed through. Check the package instructions, some varieties of markers need to be heat set with an iron.

It was exciting to walk through the room and see the range of styles, the markers sparked creative freedom.

These artist didn't use stencils!

I asked the teens to stack their drawings over the plain muslin backing and pin them to the center of a patterned squares. If I ever repeat this project I'll demo how insert a straight pin, its easy to forget that the majority of kids aren't familiar with basic sewing techniques.

We had a large group, one sewing machine, and a time limitation. I quickly seamed the edges of the drawings to each pillow fronts. With a smaller group I'd encourage the kids to use the machine themselves. Placing the pillow front and back right sides together proved to be another conceptual challenge.

After they pinned them together I seamed the four outside edges together leaving a four inch opening to turn the pillow right sides out and stuff.

I was happy to let the teens hand stitch their openings closed, for many it was their first experience with a needle and thread. Thank goodness Melissa was on hand to help, I was tied to the sewing machine the entire second half of the program. They left with stunning creations, pride and a sense of accomplishment. What a great way to spend an hour or two with a group of teens.

Melissa Orth super teen librarian in action!

This afternoon we're getting together to brainstorm more DIY teen crafts for the fall, I can't wait to get started again.

How To: Mermaid and King Triton Craft

2010-08-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

If you spend time with little girls you've already seen first hand how tales of mermaids capture their imagination. This easy mermaid craft project is inspired from the flower fairies I created for my Fairy Crafts book ten years ago. There's nothing like creating magical beings to ignite a child's imagination. I've been eagerly anticipating this workshop all summer long and was excited to share it with my library friends this week. The best surprise was watching how much the boys enjoyed making the Triton variation, arming the merman with a shiny trident was key.

Books are the best way to bring a group together, I began by reading Mermaid Sister by Mary Ann Fraser, it's the perfect read aloud full of fishy humor and entertaining jabs at sibling relationships. It's one of my daughters favorites, I can almost recite it by memory.

Materials:
Wool roving for the hair - Portland Fiber Company
20mm Unfinished round wood bead
20mm and larger Colored wood bead - Darice
Felt - I use National Non Wovens Xoticfelt tm made from Bamboo for my kits
Beige chenille stem cut in half - one half for the body and the other half for the arms
Silver tinsel chenille stem for the trident, and an additional 3" piece section to make a crown.
Small amount of Poly fil stuffing
Colored pencils
Silk flower petals - pulled from small silk flowers for the mermaids collar

Tools:
Wire cutters to cut the chenille stem (to save your scissors)
Hot glue gun and melt sticks
Needle and thread or Sewing machine

To make the merfolk tails you'll need to create a simple paper pattern. Fold a sheet of paper in half draw half a fish shape 4 1/2" long tail that is 1/2" wide at the waist, 1" at the hips, 1/2" at the connection to the tail and flares out to an 1 1/4" at the tail. Cut along the line so that the paper unfolds doubling the measurements and makes a symmetrical full sized pattern. Use the pattern to cut two felt tail pieces, stitch the outside edges together, be sure to leave the top open for stuffing. For the sake of the workshop the librarians kindly pre-cut all the tails and I pre-stitched them.

The first step is to fold the chenille stem in half and trap a generous pinch of the roving hair in the fold. The mermaids hair falls in two long flowing sections, tuck in the ends of King Triton's hair to make it appear shorter. After you arrange the hair slide the unfinished wood bead head up the chenille stem ends, pushing it snug against the hair.

For the mermaid thread the petal collar over the ends and slide it up against the head bead.

Position the second beige chenille stem for the arms between the the ends and slide it up under the head bead/petal collar. Slide a colored body bead up the ends and push it up against the arms to hold them in place.

Bend the arms at the elbow and fold the ends over to make hands.

Separate the chenille ends under the body bead to create hips that hold the stacked beads and arms in place.

Use a pencil end to help push the Poly fil stuffing into the tail. Leave some empty space at the top of the tail to accommodate the body.

Carefully apply hot glue to the chenille hips and the base of the body bead and carefully pull the tail over the glued areas. This is an adult step, after years of crafting I still manage to burn myself with the glue gun!

Shape the short silver tinsel chenille section into a crown, and the long section into a trident. King Triton also needs a beard, carefully glue a small section of roving to his chin. Use colored pencils to color a face, avoid using felt tipped markers that will bleed into the unfinished wood.

This was my daughters favorite workshop of the summer, get crafty and spread some merfolk fun with your family! I'll be selling these handmade mermaid kits at Higgins Beach Craft Fair next Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th.

Groovy Guitar Pick Bracelets: How To

2010-08-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Fridays guitar pick workshop was pure chaos. I found myself surrounded by thirty teens instead of the usual fifteen. The turn out was great, just wish I'd knew it going to happen. We avoid preregistration to encourage more last minute attendance, I brought enough supplies for twenty five teens which is ten more than usual. After a frantic head count and some quick math I switch the two banded bracelet design to a single band, and realized that I would have to limit the girls to two guitar picks each.

Buying guitar picks for a group can be expensive, I advise purchasing economical twelve packs. I took advantage of my son's employee discount at the Music Center to provide the group with a selection of brands and colors. If you're just making a couple of bracelets you can splurge and select individual picks with gorgeous graphics and textured plastics. Just remember to stick to the medium to hard varieties that can withstand drilling and wear.

Materials:
8" length of Round Leather or faux leather Black cotton cord.
2 coil crimps
2 6mm jump rings
1 lobster clasp or spring coil clasp

Tools:
Chain nose pliers
Scissors
Drill with 1/16" bit

Working over a wood scrap, drill a hole straight down into the center top of the pick, 1/8" from the top edge. My husband Jon kindly pre-drilled all the picks before the workshop. Over the years he's drilled so many small items for jewelry making he's comfortable stacking them together and drilling through multiples.

Use chain nose pliers to open the jump ring laterally, slip on the pick and then close the ring. To read more on opening jump rings please see my 'Summer Earring' tutorial. Repeat the process until each pick is strung with a jump ring.

Thread one end of a 8" length of cording into the open end of the coil crimp. Grasp the wire end with your chain nose pliers and squeeze it into the center. The bent wire end should trap the cord in place. I won't lie many of the girls found this difficult. We had a two fold problem a shortage of pliers and the cording was on the thin side (remember I was planning on doubling it) it would pull out from under the bent wire. It would be much easier to trap a solid thickness of real leather.

At the end of the program I realized I could have avoided the frustration by simply threading the cord all the way through the coil and tying it into an overhand knot to prevent it from slipping back through.

Making decorative overhand knots down the length of the cord adds texture and help position the picks. Slide the picks onto the cord, then finish making additional knots. Check the size of your bracelet by wrapping it around your wrist. If necessary use scissors to trim away extra cord before crimping the second coil in place.

Open the round end of the coil crimp and slide on a spring or lobster clasp onto the wire and then place the ring in it's original position. The clasp hooks directly onto the round end of the first coil.

I hope your adventures in guitar pick jewelry are less stressful than running this workshop. The good news is that the girls were happy and proudly shared their creations with their parents. Some were even motivated to make matching earrings.

As always I'm grateful to Curtis Teen Program for their support and the great kids who put up with me photographing them and even hang around to help clean up!

You grab a line I'll grab a pole...let's craft a fishing game.

2010-07-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

This morning fifty children joined me to make a fishing game craft. I had wonderful high school helpers and the materials on hand but hadn't planned a book selection. Nothing like having the library director pitch in to help me with a search minutes before the program began. We stumbled across a great book entitled 'Piggy and Dad go Fishing'. Father and son don't want to hook smiling worms so they bait their hooks with pieces of their sandwiches. When they do catch a fish they fall for his smiling face and release him into the water. In the end they abandon the fishing rods and begin a new tradition of feeding the fish. After this crowd pleasing tale I shared the following instructions to make the fishing game.

The fishing rod is made with a 12" length of 3/8" dowel rod, which my husband had kindly cut down from one yard lengths last night. You simply tie one end of a 15" piece of string to one end of the dowel rod. Sandwich the other end of the string between to sections of adhesive magnet. Magnetic tape is sold by the roll and is easily cut with regular scissors.

The fish, octopus, crabs, mermaids, boots, pirate treasure... are all made out of construction paper and markers. I gave a quick demo showing how the shorthand drawing for a fish doesn't work. When you cut a fish symbol the connection to the tail is too narrow and it breaks off. My next drawing featured fish complete with lips and fins to encourage my young artists to flex their drawing skills.

Halfway through the activity I suggested the older to children award their pieces point values to turn the game into a fun math exercise. Each fish needs to have a paperclip slipped over it's paper mouth, so that it can be caught by the magnetic fishing line.

While everyone was busy drawing and cutting their fish I went around the room transforming the two liter pop bottles into ponds. I cut the tops off the bottles with a sharp pair of Fiskar soft touch scissors. I suggested they keep the tops as they make a great funnel for the beach or sandbox.

We used additional paper and clear packing tape to affix drawings and wavy water to the outside of the pond, the finished fish are simply placed inside the pond.

In my experience kids love making something that they can play with when they're finished. Many thanks to the wonderful parents and children who let me photograph and share their creativity. I'm also grateful for the continued support of Curtis Memorial library.

Waterless Aquariums - Free Tutorial

2010-07-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

Monday found me toting my bag of tricks to the library to make a magical project for the 'Splash into summer reading' program. Fifty children arrived with jars and matching lids ready to create. After reading the classic story Fish out of Water by Helen Palmer, the kids were inspired to make clay fish that would never need feeding.

We spread a tarp of blue water over the center of the floor to create a protected community work surface. The first step was to have the children form fish around a small colored paper clip. I stressed the importance of making sure the top of the paperclip emerged from the top of their finished fish. We passed each child a generous pinch of Model Magic in each of the primary colors. This was enough clay to create three fish and a few bottom dwellers.

Crayola's model magic has a unique texture it is similar to modeling with marshmallows. It air dries in a day, the only drawback is leftovers need to be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and be used relatively quickly. I was surprised that a single 2lb tub provided enough clay for the entire group.

The children (and parents) dove right into creating, I witnessed wonderful originality, dolphins, octopus, clam shells, sharks, solid and multicolor fish instantly took shape from the blobs of clay. I wish I had remembered my camera to share images with you, I blame mom overload for this oversight.

The next step was to have the children pour an inch of aquarium gravel into the base of the jar. Next we carefully placed the bottom dwellers over the gravel. They're a little sticky if necessary use a pencil to separate and position them.

Parents helped tie a piece of fishing line to the top of each exposed paperclip.

We used packing tape to attach the end of the lines to the underside of the lid. It's important that the lines extend out in different directions and are varied in length. This will prevent the fish from clumping together. If possible it's a good idea to let the clay dry before placing the fish in the jar.

When my son Elliot was studying fish in first grade we procured giant pickle jars from a friend in food service. The kids spent several hours creating elaborate aquariums with lots of fish.

Thanks to my friend Erin for having a camera in her purse so I could take a snap of some of my favorite young artists!

It was a joy to to share this project with the kids it brought back fond memories of my days as contributing editor to Crayola Kids Magazine.

Sea Monster Sandcastle

2010-07-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we enjoyed two glorious beach days that make living in a place called 'Vacationland' a joy. The sun was shining, nothing but bright blue skies above. Lowtide was in the middle of the day offering a huge expanse sand. Recent erosion on Popham beach has made it practically non existent at high tide. A constant cool breeze blew in from the Atlantic, making us forget the heat of the sun's rays and sparing us attacks from the dreaded green head flies.

I come from a line of serious sandcastle builders and now that Celia is old enough to join in the fun I'm enjoying the chance to play with sand again. While the kids were frolicking in the waves I dug up four mounds of sand. When they came out of the water I had just finished shaping the head and they all hit the sand to help smooth the mounds and form a bumpy ridge along the top. It brings me so much happiness when kids are excited to create.

My husband Jon helped by elongating the tail forming it into a curved shape. When we decided the monster should be spewing seaweed, the kids enthusiastically collected and positioned it. My only wish was that we had rocks or shells for teeth, none were to be found.

Our monster made us lots of new friends, kids from other families joined in the fun. Celia and one of her new friends kept rebuilding the head as the incoming tide carved away our creation.

Sunday we made a giant starfish the kids helped out and covered it with different varieties of seaweed. We enjoyed watching the ocean claim it, although it lacked the presence and magic of our monster.

Teens flip for flops: free tutorial!

2010-07-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

This is the time to hit summer sales and stock up on flip flops, you can pick up a pair for a dollar or two! They're so many ways to craft them into something spectacular. I did a web search and found a plethora of ideas: from tying water balloons and fabric strips around the straps to applying rhinestones buttons and beads. I loved the inspiration but the reality is we live in Maine and one soggy downpour would completely destroy fabric or feathered footwear. I also wanted to avoid eating up my DIY workshop budget with toxic glue to attach embellishments. I had both a bucket of wood beads and roll of hemp in my studio and decided to simply try wrapping the hemp around the plastic straps to give the flip flops a natural look. I was thrilled with the results, the hemp 'grabbed' the plastic and stayed in place without needing glue.

The group of 15 teens loved the project, it took seconds to explain: provided well over an hour of entertainment, an opportunity for personal expression, and countless days of wearing enjoyment!

Materials
Assorted wood and shell beads, be sure to select beads with large enough holes to accommodate the hemp.
The flat shell beads are Natural Elegance from Blue Moon beads, the patterned wood beads are JoAnn Fabric brand.
Roll of narrow hemp, usually used to make thin macrame jewelry, if you have a group of more than ten people I'd suggest picking up a second roll.

Start by cutting a three yards length of hemp of the roll. Tie one end around the base of the strap and then begin tightly wrapping the hemp up strap, be sure to catch the end in your wraps.

String a bead onto the hemp and slide it down the cord, position it on the top side of the strap. This takes a second to check, it's easy to mistakenly position the beads on the inside especially at the strap base. Make sure you wrap the cord several times around the strap after each bead addition.

When you reach the end of the cord tie it around to the last wrap on the underside of the strap. When you add a new strand make sure to cover both the new and old hemp ends in your wraps.You can always use a darning needle to slip an end under existing wraps.

Once you hit the center of the strap you'll need to make additional wraps on either side of the toe strap.

It takes two to three strands of hemp to get around each flip flop depending on the size of the shoe, beads and tightness of the wraps. Follow the directions above to start or end new strands. Once you start your second flip flop you'll be a pro!

I loved watching how differently each of the flip flops turned out. Many thanks to the creative teens at Curtis Memorial Library that let me photograph their hands in action.

How To: Summer Earrings!

2010-07-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Last week a made a fresh batch of lightweight summer earrings with a great group of teenagers. I chose ornate findings and a simple jump ring assembly. My hope was that the girls would be successful and enthusiastic about exploring new jewelry techniques. In the past I've had trouble teaching groups how to turn and wrap headpins, I carefully chose this project avoid that problem. Earrings make great inexpensive bead projects for large groups as they use significantly less beads than bracelets and earrings. The girls were thrilled to be working with 'real' materials, and were delighted with their finished pieces. My only regret was that I couldn't scrounge up enough pliers for each girl to have two pairs.

The moms were equally excited about this project and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the earrings ended up in their jewelry boxes. In fact I ran into a librarian already wearing my sample yesterday! Please follow the directions below to whip up a pair to match your summer wardrobe.

Materials
Blue Earrings - Laser cut metal earring components with ear wires, Natural Elegance, Blue Moon Beads
Red Earrings - Elongated hoops, Natural Elegance, Blue Moon beads you'll need to purchase the earwires separately and connect them to the hoops.
6mm jump rings
Blue and red seed beads - Global nomad, Blue Moon Beads (these are actually larger than traditional seed beads I think of them as 'e' beads)
2 silver sequins
Optional - Aleene's Metal Jewelry Glue

Tools
Chain nose and bent nose pliers

The trick to opening jump rings is to hold a pair of pliers in each hand, then use them to grasp the wire end on either side of the split. Gently open the ring laterally. If you simply spread them apart the ring will loose its shape. Hook the open ring through the finding, then string on an 'e' bead before closing the ring. Use both pliers to click the ring back into place. If the wires don't connect the thin metal finding can slip through the opening. Some of the girls found it helpful to add a drop of Metal Jewelry into the bead and slide the bead over the split. Repeat the process to add a bead ring to each of the openings in the finding. For added shine string a sequin behind the bead on the ring that hangs from the center of the finding.

Repeat the process to create a second earring, slide them on and enjoy!

I'm always grateful to Blue Moon for graciously supplying me with products for my designs, these were left in my stash from working on designs for my book Simply Beaded Bliss. Hopefully these findings or a similar alternate product are still available at your local retailer.

I SPY game bottles, rainy day craftiness.

2010-06-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

After two weeks of drying out bags of sand I was anxious to make 'I Spy' bottles with my friends a the Curtis Memorial Library. A hundred children arrived ready to create with plastic bottles in hand. We began the event with a lively story entitled 'Surf War'. Next I acted out the steps and intentionally made mistakes to both entertain and keep the kids attention.

I had the children walk around the room collecting one of each of the objects. We had a great assortment of parts left over from our mosaic pot craft and added other inexpensive items that fit into the top of the bottle: paperclips, golf pencils, water balloons, puzzle pieces, beads, plastic figurines, buttons, marbles, toothpicks, plastic bugs, beans.

The next step was to write all the items on a check list. Fortunately, I was able to use reading program bookmarks and simply punch a hole in the top.

The children worked over big tubs to cover their items with sand. They continued to pour handfuls of sand into the bottles until they were 3/4 full.

We topped the plain sand with 1/2" of colored sand that we had on hand. Unfortunately we ran out of colored sand before all the bottles were complete. If I was to do this project again I would invest in a couple bags of fine aquarium gravel. The colored sand was too fine, and the color was quickly lost in the regular 'play' sand. Our project needed to fit into the 'ocean' summer reading theme, but you could easily substitute rice.

Ocean themed foam stickers (JoAnn's) decorate the outside of the bottle, and a piece of ribbon attaches the content list around the neck. When your child is happy with their bottle the lid can be glue in place (Aleene's Tacky glue).

A great toy to keep in the car, simply rotate the bottle to rediscover the treasures hidden inside. Please see my home page for a listing of upcoming craft events.

Imperfect Father's Day card brings Perfect Results!

2010-06-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

a little typo my son discovered we actually met a decade earlier in '88.

I'd like to say that on Father's day morning I'd planned a perfect gift, that involved the enthusiastic participation of all three children. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Instead I came downstairs with Celia in search of coffee and a plan. Time was on our side as it would take hours for the men in our house to wake up.

After enjoying coffee and sufficiently awaking to consciousness I grabbed some white paper off the printer, a pencil, ball point pen, Crayola markers and a stapler. Celia is a willing accomplice in any card making activity. I folded two sheets of paper in half ripped them and then folded them again to make a miniature book. With pencil I sketched out my cartoon booklet. My rough idea was to make a quick cartoon story of our lives. I slimmed myself into a vixen for the falling in love page, and then devoted the subsequent three pages to each of our children. I showed them all as chubby babies holding their favorite baby toys. The final pages featured Jon as 'Super Hero Dad'. I added an ending note from our dog Maizy and credited 'Kitchen Table Publishing' on the back cover.

Celia and I packed our cards into an envelope and proceeded to make 'crispy' Belgium waffles and maple sausages. We made a room service delivery and Jon enjoyed his feast while watching our favorite CBS Sunday morning program. When he opened the card his eyes welled up and while paging through the book it was hard to tell whether he was laughing or crying (some of my stick figures were atrocious).

There's no way I would have been able to find a card that would be as touching as the silly one I made. I know it'll be added to the stack of handmade cards that we shared over our 22 years together. I still treasure the gorgeous cards Jon made me when we began dating.

It's not too late to make your dad or husband cry, get out markers and crayons and get busy! It doesn't need to be perfect, just heartfelt.

Fairy houses in the Maine woods

2010-06-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of having children is the chance to relive the wonders of childhood. Building fairy houses with my daughter is a great escape from work and has brought fantasy and creativity to our playtime. We've developed a system first we select the spot usually at the base of a larger tree. Then I build the structure with large sticks while she collects shells bark twigs acorn caps and pinecones. She loves the role of interior designer selecting where the beds tables and swimming pools should be located.

Our Botanical Garden two story fairy house.

We've started erecting a vail of the fairies to one side of our long driveway. That way we can keep an eye on the coming and goings of any animal visitors. Today's mission was to bring our house building talents to the 'Fairy Village' at Coastal Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. In preparation Celia loaded up her purse with sand dollars, oyster shells and a few pieces of sea glass. I had the more mundane task of packing food, bug spray and sunscreen.

Celia crouching to take a closer look at a small fairy house just inside the village gate.

After hanging our merchandise at the Botanical Market Fair we escaped down to wooded fairy village that sits in the shade alongside a tidal estuary, There's a child sized opening in the fence and a small sign with the following instructions.

Welcome to the Fairy Village

Enjoy Building fairy homes, but please use only non living materials.

Yes : Pinecones, Bark on the ground, Sticks, Fallen leaves, Stones, Shells.

No : Moss and Lichen, Bark on trees, Tree branches, Leaves on trees, Mushrooms and Fungi, Ferns and other living plants.

The interior decorator placing her finishing touches on our creation.

What a joy to walk around all different kinds of structures, I especially loved a fairy treehouse that was built halfway up the trunk of a tree. There's also a huge pile of sticks with a 'gnome depot' sign.We had a great time building our home with a pine needle roof. Hopefully will get a chance to visit it again this summer. We're looking forward to making a ferry trip to Monhegan to experience their island fairy realm.

This impressive stone table sits at the base of the fairy village, if you look closely you'll see fairy houses behind it.

If you have children that are interested in Fairy houses I would highly recommend the Kristen's Fairy house book series and video recording. For adults there's a brand new book entitled Fairy Houses of Maine Coast filled with gorgeous photographs of fairy houses and the festival at the Botanical Gardens.

I will be selling my Mermaid and Fairy doll kits along with necklace pouches at Heritage Days Craft Fair in Bath over the July the fourth weekend.

Here's wishing you summer days filled with creative magic!

Painted Pebbles are Pet Rocks with Personality!

2010-06-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

Crafts like fashion trends constantly recycle into new carnations. Pet rocks were a fad when I was child although I don't remember them being particularly colorful or fun to make. I've decided to bring a new breed of pet rock to the Brunswick Maine this summer. I'm loading up buckets of beach rocks to bring into the library so that creative youngsters can transform them into in vibrant sea creatures.

My four year old assistant officially tested the project and gives is a double thumbs up painting three rocks, and asking for more the next day.

This craft will be the first of my six free Monday morning craft workshops for kids, a part of Curtis Memorial Library 'Make a Splash, Read!' summer programming. Please pre-register for this 10:30 am June 21st event with the childrens desk starting 6/7. Proceeds from the book sale at the junior high helps support children and teen programs so be sure to hit up the sale June 25-27.

These are my rocks after one and a half coats of paint.

If you're unable to join us at the library there's no reason that you can't have a rock painting party of your own. All you need is a rock, acrylic paint, paint brush, some plastic eyes, Aleene's metal jewelery glue, and Krylon Waterproof spray sealer to keep your rock in high shine. Make sure you wash your brush between colors and dry it on a paper towel. While painting my test rocks I discovered that a low moisture acrylic paint would dry faster and require less coats. I've received some great 'facebook' suggestions for an alternative brand of paint and am currently on the hunt for Patio Paints to see if they'll do the trick in a single coat.

This a combination of both our creations, you can see that there's no wrong way to paint a rock or make a pet!

Once the paint has dried, glue on the eyes and let the glue set. Adults should spray the rocks in a well ventilated area, use a paper towel to quickly remove the spray film from the plastic eyes.

DIY carpet sample flooring

2010-06-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Heidi and Jon's weekend 'free' carpet installation.

Jon's offices are moving to a new location in Portland which means they've been purging stock piles of old product samples. He works for an architectural firm that specializes in 'Environments for Health' hospital and assisted living facilities. Part of their client services is to offer custom tailored interior boards that feature flooring, wall coverings, paint and trim samples. Instead of unloading the leftover commercial carpet samples he brought them home with a Memorial Day weekend den remodel in mind.

Commercial carpet samples have heavyweight rubber backing, making them ideal for high traffic areas.

Since the day we moved into this home we've loathed the dark blue shaggy nylon carpet in our TV room. Six years later we were still living with it. The one redeeming quality is that it hid the kids and dogs spills and messes. On the other hand the navy color showed every stray thread and fiber from my sewing and felting projects.

You can change the appearance of two of the same patterned titles by simply orienting them in a different direction.

The worst part of this project was discovering that the floor underlayment needed replacing under the old carpet pad. Once we got through taking it out and installing a new one, the actual placement of the tiles was quick and easy. I camped out on the floor sticking the two foot square tiles in place with a double sided flooring tape (easily found at a hardware store). Jon devised an effective cutting strategy, he clamped either end of the carpet square between a straight cutting edge and cutting board. This secured the tile so that it stayed in place while he trimmed it to size with a utility knife. We worked from one side of the room, one row at a time across to the other side. If necessary it'll be easy to pull up a square and replace it with a new one. It took two hours to cover our 10.8 x 11.8 room.

The purple paint went on the night before it's Martha Stewart 'Lavendar Verbena' and works well with the yellow, orange, and aqua colors in the adjoining rooms. What brought me the most satisfaction was finally printing Celia's baby pictures and getting then up on the walls alongside her brothers. We missed a day on the beach and in the workshop working on lobsters but it was nice to relax on the couch and enjoy the room watching Shrek with Celia.
Please check out my book Craftcycle for more recycled home decorating ideas.

Binder Remix

2010-05-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Decked out in duct tape!

We're approaching that time of year when the contents of desk and lockers are brought home and dumped into our homes. Think green and take a moment to carefully sort through the debris and salvage what can be reused. If you discover a worn binder this duct tape project might be the ticket to get your teen away from the computer and crafting.

Creative hands at work.

This project was born out of the desire to create a useful party craft for my neighbors' birthday party. The party space was reserved and held at Art Mind and Soul Studio. My neighbor had originally considered making duct tape messenger bags. As much as I loved the idea I was hesitant that it would be too complicated for the number of girls and the allotted time. My suggestion was to simply cover binders with tape. My hope was that the ready made smooth surface would encourage preteens to freely explore color and design with tape.

The Birthday girl in creative action.

It worked like a dream, the girls were almost completely independent. My role was chief tape un-sticker, and scissor blade de-gunker (hand sanitizer). The key to the success was having a great selection of colored tape on hand, including printed tie dye and plaid varieties. Many of the girls used a different color combination on the front and back of their binder and also took the time to cover the inside covers.

The smaller half finished binders in the center right were quick samples I whipped together with my sons binder cast-offs.

The studio had adhesive foam flowers on hand that made fabulous accents over the tape. I was thrilled that the girls enjoyed themselves and was really pleased with the variety of designs. Binders get a daily work out at the junior high, tricking them out in vibrant duct tape is not only fun but strengthens them as well. I wonder if any of the girls will write in them this summer?

Baking Therapy cures Mom on Overload

2010-05-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Batch of molasses cookies, fresh from the oven!

When people hear I write craft books they're usually intrigued. I fight the temptation to admit that it's really not very glamorous. A creative career is truly a mixed bag. There are some wonderful moments when a new design falls together and editors appreciate my work. Other times I'm up til the wee hours of the night reworking an unsuccessful design. The scariest time for a self employed artist is when your workload hits a lull. What makes up for all the ups and downs is when I meet someone who knows my work, has followed my directions, and in the process has fallen in love with a new craft.

Our oldest in his natural habitat.

The biggest impediments to my work are also my greatest joys. Our three children straddle high school to preschool. Each day brings a new logistic dilemma: how do we get everyone where they need to be? All moms are busy whether they stay at home or work outside of the home. There's never ending lists of chores and emotional needs to keep a home and family running (or some days limping along). There's no way I could endeavor to do any of this alone, my husband Jon is always there with a sense of humor and an amazing ability to stay up late.

Our favorite athlete.

This week has been the perfect storm of home and work activity. The boys have been incredibly busy with end of the school year music performances and sports. Little Celia's preschool is almost finished, which means I'm using up my last mornings of solitude. I've been reading through the final edits for Wired Beautiful, wrapping up Halloween magazine work, and trying to get craft merchandise into stores. In the back of my mind I've been planning which new sewing book projects to tackle first.

The constant entertainer!

Whenever I'm stuck in the middle of chaos I bake. It's my therapy. I follow recipes and fill our home with delicious food. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and makes my family happy. It doesn't help get through my work assignments or clean the house but it offers measured moments of peace and order.

Molasses Cookies
makes approximately 30 cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together:
3 1/4 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of allspice, 2 tsp of ginger, and a dash of freshly ground black pepper, set aside

In a separate bowl blend:
8 tbsp or one stick of butter, 10 tbsp of shortening, 2/3 cup of brown sugar, 1/3 cup of white sugar: beat until fluffy
Then add: 1 egg, and 11/2 tsp of vanilla
When combined add: 3/4 cup of molasses.

Quickly fold in dry ingredients.

Lay parchment paper on two cookie trays, grease them.
Roll the batter into 11/2 inch balls moisten them by dipping your fingers in a water bowl. Roll the ball in sugar and place it on the prepared sheets.
Bake for 12 minutes until the tops are cracked.
I find it helps to rotate the trays top to bottom halfway through baking.

Enjoy!

Preschool Posies for Mother's Day

2010-05-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

It was a treat to volunteer in Celia's preschool class on Wednesday. I had a project in mind and her teachers graciously let me come in and work with the children. When I found 'Easter trees', simple clay pots with green floral wire stems, at the Dollar Tree store I immediately snatched a cart full. I knew that they would make the perfect base for one of a kind flower creations.
To prepare for this activity I hauled out a bag of stiff felt scraps leftover from the library monster program. I ran the felt through my Sizzix 'Big Kick' machine to cut out an assortment of flower shapes. I've fallen in love with this versatile tool that will cut three layers of felt in a single pass. I also ran craft foam sheets through the Sizzix with the tag template so the children could write their name and 'MOM' on gift cards.

I hand cut leaf shapes out of green craft foam and used a 1/8" paper punch to make a hole in one end of each leaf. I dug through my supplies and discovered an interesting bag of plastic floral parts (salvaged from pulling apart silk flowers) and added them to a growing assortment of plastic, foam and pompom beads. I packed everything into a trusty laundry basket and tossed in a couple spools of ribbon. I was ready for action!

The children had no trouble threading the pieces onto the wires, my job was to help them figure out how to bend the wires over so that the beads and flowers wouldn't fall off. The kids jumped right into the assortment of supplies and made some gorgeous creations. They unexpectedly figured out how to thread some of the unusual flower parts onto the end of the wires. Fortunately the teachers had a glue gun on hand, after everyone finished, I was able to add a little glue to make sure their unique touches wouldn't fall off.

The children were proud of their work and I know their moms will enjoy their one of a kind centerpieces. Here's wishing you a very Happy Mother's Day!

A little faith - Beaded Necklace Tutorial and Giveaway.

2010-05-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

I find the greatest spiritual wonder in nature, which is why I placed this beaded cross on a mossy stone. The view from a mountain top, the peace of a quiet walk in the woods, or the crashing sound of the waves on the beach all take my breath away.

A couple years ago Pure Allure sent me a selection of jewelry findings that featured Swarovski crystals for use in my design work. I recently delved into the stash and discovered an amazing selection of crosses. I chose a simple earthy mix of colored glass and crystal beads to contrast the detailed metal work.

You can easily adapt this design and create your own bead mix to accentuate a favorite finding or make a custom pendant by stringing larger sized beads onto a head pin. Please check out the 'Beaded Collage Pendant' on page 97 in my book Simply Beaded Bliss for inspiration.

Finished dimensions: 17 1/4"

Materials

20" length of silver .015 Beadalon stringing wire
2 silver crimp beads
6mm silver metal jump ring
O ring toggle clasp - Blue Moon Beads
Seed beads - brown foil, steel gray, and sand-washed brown
'E' beads - silver and brown
11 rectangular beadlettes
6 4mm round crystals - Swarovski
7 4mm bicone crystals olivine - Swarovski
Metal cross pendant inlaid with crystals - Pure Allure
Clear tape

Tools

wire cutters
chain nose pliers
optional - bent nose pliers

1. Begin by mixing all the beads in the material list into a shallow bowl. If you think it's too light add some dark beads, conversely if you find it too bright add in some dark beads. This mix worked well for crosses that also featured tan and topaz colored crystals.

2. Fold a piece of tape over the end of your stringing wire and begin stringing a 'random' assortment of the beads. Even though your goal is to have a random appearance try to space the rectangle beadlettes and crystals an inch apart, so that you have sparkle and added dimension along the entire strand.

3. Once you've beaded 17" test fit the necklace around your neck, if necessary add beads to increase the length. When you're satisfied with the length, string a crimping bead onto the wire end then loop the wire through one half of the clasp and back through the crimp bead. Remove any slack in the wire and squeeze the crimp bead flat with your pliers, trim the end with your wire cutters. Remove the tape and then repeat the process on the other side of the wire to attach the remaining half of the clasp.

4. To attach the pendant open the jump ring laterally, slide on the charm. Hook the ring onto the center of the beaded chain before closing it. It's helpful to use a second pair of pliers to open and close the jump ring. You'll hear and feel a little click when the wire ends meet and the close back in their original position.

For more beading tips and close up step by step instructions please look for my beading books: Simply Beautiful beading, Simply Beautiful Beaded Jewelery, and Simply Beautiful Beaded Bliss.

Creativity that sticks -Childrens Plant Pot Workshop

2010-04-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

Proud artists with their plant pot creations!

Have I told you lately how much I love our library? When we moved to Brunswick Maine from Des Moines six years ago Curtis Memorial Library was the very first place that made us feel part of the community. My older boys loved both the children's and teen programs. Four years ago when Celia joined our family I began taking her to 'baby lapsit', many of her preschool friendships started at the library. Last summer my husband Jon and I were delighted to donate our time to help them revamp the childrens play area, I promise to post shots of my murals soon. Recently I've been fortunate to be part of both the children and teen library art and craft events.

Parents and children making one of kind plant pots at library Earthday library event.

Today's craft was inspired for a design I developed for the summer issue of Crafts 'n Things. I created a trio of Mixed media plant pots that incorporated 'junk' everything from odd game pieces to hardware. I loved the 'in process' pots almost as much as the finished grouted pots. I realized that using adhesive alone would be the perfect way to introduce kids to the concept of mosaics and tiling. One of the biggest challenges in preparing for this event was collecting enough recycled materials.

This is me intently helping someone decide which pieces will 'stick' to their pot.

A girl after my own heart, she was intent in filling the entire surface of her pot.

To make this project at home, begin by sealing the inside of the pot with a weatherproof sealer. Purchase a small container of tile adhesive at your local hardware store. Use a plastic knife to spread a 1/4" layer of adhesive onto the outside of your pot. Press found objects into the adhesive, filling the small spaces with plastic beads and buttons. Let adhesive cure 24 hours before planting your funky pot.

Another superb original creation!

Today's plant pot activity quickly reached eighty preregistered children, unfortunately the librarians were forced to turn many people away. At a time when library budgets are being cut nationwide, the outstanding attendance for these kinds of events is a strong indicator how important libraries are to our community!

These young men found a way to personalize their pots with letter beads.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be working with the librarians to plan more creative summer activities for both children and teens. I can't wait to get messy and share more smiles!

Happy 40th Earthday!

2010-04-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the Earthday I'm giving away a signed copy of my Craftcycle book to a lucky winner. This book was a labor of love, it's filled with craft ideas, recipes, and green living tips. A random winner will be selected from my blog followers, please post a comment here to let me know you're interested. I'm loading up my chip purse and heading out the door to teach teens how to fold a java wristband, Good luck!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments! Wish I could give you all a copy, Amanda W. you're the lucky winner!

Stitching up Spring

2010-04-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been all about stitching chez Boyd. It started with working up sample projects for my new sewing book and then moved on to stitching together a blog header. While I was selecting fabric for the header at Alewives in Damriscotta, I couldn't resist picking up a Modkid sewing pattern. Patty Young designed this gorgeous 'Emma' dress that is actually a versatile skirt and top set. Celia and I had so much fun picking out the fabrics, there's no shortage of inspiration in the gorgeous fabrics that line Alewives shelves.

Taking time out to make my own project is always a challenge, there's usually a list of things that need to be made for publication. I rewarded my self with time to work on this dress after I sent the finished stitched header to my sister. She graciously offered to photograph it and add the type to create a logo. I'm anxious to see what she comes up with and finally make my blog official with a handcrafted banner.

The last time I made a sewn garment I was pregnant with my son Jasper (who is now 17) and had outgrown all my maternity clothes. What a joy it was to follow this wonderfully clear pattern and settle down to something that wasn't going to be shipped away. It was also a delight to whip something together with just a couple yards of fabric, knitting and sewing for children is the best! I'm curious to see how floaty this design would be in lightweight voiles that are recommended, I might just have to make it in a different colorway.

On one of our many trips to Jo Ann's for odds and ends I treated Celia to a little felt sewing kit. We had a few relaxing afternoons sitting together, her stitching and me unknotting her tangles.

She did surprisingly well and was excited enough to make four different little softies a butterfly, cat, flower and heart. While I was helping Celia stitch and working on her dress, my sewing book passed through North Light books proposal process. I have a deadline of January to make up all kinds of sewn personal and home accessory projects. It looks like this springs stitching frenzy might last through the new year!

Green Bling, Java Bracelet - Free Tutorial

2010-04-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

With Earth day around the corner, there's no time like the present to get crafting with recyclable materials. The Chip Wrapper Purse is one of the most popular projects in my Craftcycle book. Unfortunately many crafters don't have the time to commit to making the whole purse. I decided to pare the project down to it's gum wrapper bracelet roots. This way you can try out the technique and be able to wear your new creation in about an hour. I substituted the wrappers for long lasting coffee bags that can easily survive hand washing.

Materials

Foil Coffee bags, the more colors the better! Some high end pet foods are also packaged in the same type of vacuum sealed bags.

Rotary cutter, cutting mat, and clear ruler

Scissors

Cut the bottom seal off the bag and then cut open one side of the bag along the seal. Flatten the bag and use a paper towel to remove any coffee bean residue. Working over your mat, cut the bag into 1 1/4" x 3 1/2" strips. You'll need approximately 26 strips.

Follow Gary Duschl's Gum Wrapper folding directions to fold your strips into links. Continue to following the instructions to connect the links. Test wrap the bracelet around your wrist to gauge the size, you don't want it to be too tight. Make sure you have an extra half inch of length so the bracelet can slide over you hand. Make necessary adjustments by adding or removing a link. The final link is the hardest to place, prefold it, then open it and weave it through both the first and last links. Your goal is to have it fit seamlessly into the existing pattern.

Once you get the hang of this technique you'll be folding up bracelets in no time, experiment with different color combinations, repeated patterns and/or solid colored bracelets.

I'll be teaching this craft as a free teen workshop at the Curtis Memorial library on Earth Day, Thursday April 22nd at 3:00pm.

For more fun green jewelry making projects check my Barbie Shoe bracelet, Bottle Cap pendants in Craftcycle, and Credit Card Bracelet in Simply Beaded Bliss.

My friend 'eco' Heidi Borchers has some great on line tutorials on green jewelry making at to Cool 2Craft, it's the time of year to check them out! Wearing green creations is a great reminder to live as green as we can.

Carrot Cake Recipe and Pysanky Egg Decorating

2010-03-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

This weekends Ukrainian egg decorating workshop inspired a baking frenzy at our home. It began with getting the carrot cake ready for the workshop. The recipe comes from Jon's childhood neighbor Jeannie Hulten. My mother in law shared it with me and ever since it's been a favorite for birthday celebrations. The first alteration I've made to the recipe is to add ground walnuts into the batter. I chop them in our coffee grinder which imparts a mild coffee flavor. I also add a pinch of nutmeg and cloves to enhance the cinnamon.

Carrot Cake Recipe

Mix the following together:
3 cups of grated carrot
4 unbeated eggs
2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups of oil

Combine the following dry ingredients together then add to the wet ingredients above:
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of cinnamon
optional I add 1/4 tsp of nutmeg and cloves
2 cups of flour

Stir in 1/2 cup of ground walnuts

Oil and flour two round cake pans or a 9" x 14" brownie pan
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 mins, add 10-15 minutes for the brownie pan.

Frosting
Combine 8 oz of cream cheese with a 1/4 pound of margarine, add powdered sugar until the frosting has a nice thick but easily spreadable consistancy. Frost the cooled cake and then scatter chopped walnuts on top. Double the frosting recipe for the double layer cake so that you have enough frosting to spread between the layers.

The Ukrainian Egg Decorating Workshop at Art Mind and Soul was a huge success. A wonderful creative group of women took part in the class. It was a delightful quiet afternoon with the smell of beeswax filling the air. I was thrilled with the rich colors of the dyes, and how quickly everyone grasped the process.

Deb Merrill working on her beautiful chick egg. She came with lovely eggs that her chickens had laid and a wealth of experience of batik and fabric dying.

Joy's lovely red and white eggs with Erin Vazdauskas in the background using iconic Easter imagery.
Patty Sullivan made a pair of delightful eggs in two different colorways. Beth Carr, the owner of the Studios, joined us and decorated an enormous goose egg that challenged our small dye containers. Patricia Boissevain was holding a jewelry class in the adjoining studio, it was a treat to take breaks and see what they were creating.

My husband Jon saved the day by blowing out the eggs out in the morning, what a horrendous task! The resulting eggs inspired exquisite German pancakes. Topped with butter and maple syrup the were a delicious breakfast treat, this recipe comes from an old issue of Yankee Magazine.

In the midst of mixing up the dyes he started the dough for these beautiful loaves of Challah bread that greeted me when I returned home. The smell of fresh bread trumped the beeswax but only by a small margin.

This Saturday I'm bring the dyes and tools along with another cake up to Sweetland Retreat in Manchester, Maine to teach workshop again to a whole new group. Please let me know if you're interested in joining us.

Blooming Bracelet - Free tutorial

2010-03-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

I've been intending to make my mum a bracelet since before Christmas. She is the biggest fan of my jewelry creations, and wears my designs more often than I do. I'm always crafting on a deadline for work and seldom get to take time out to make gifts. Work and band commitments took away two of our children for the day leaving us with just a little girl at home. She adores her dad and was thrilled to have him to herself while I focused on bead work.

The plans for this gift started when I potted rooted cuttings from my Cape Angel plant. My favorite houseplant, it blooms sweet purple flowers all year round and despite the shade from our Hemlock woods. The color of the blooms is the same as the polished stone beads, a color that also works well with my mums wardrobe. I poured through the rest of my bead stash this morning to find the leaf, flower, and freshwater pearls to accompany the stones. I used the limited color palette as a device to tie together the different bead styles and shapes. Despite it's intriguing appearance this bracelet uses very simple beginner beading techniques.

I'm grateful for a day of personal crafting: a quiet afternoon of bead stringing for someone very special. Here's hoping this spring offers you moments of solace and creativity.

Finished size: 7'1/2"
Materials:
9" section of 19 strand .015 copper colored Stringing wire - Beadalon
Antique gold lobster clasp - Blue Moon Beads
5 12mm antique gold jump rings - Blue Moon Beads
2 antique gold crimp beads - Blue Moon Beads
1 antique gold head pin - Blue Moon Beads
18 Semi precious stone beads 'Enchanted Planet' - Blue Moon Beads
12 4mm violet blue freshwater pearls
5 glass flower beads - purple
5 glass leaf beads 'Color Coordinates' - Blue Moon Beads
1 16mm glass flower bead
Tools:
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Flush cutters
Clear tape
*please note all supplies were provided by the manufacturers

1. Fold tape over the end of your bead strand and begin stringing the first part of the sequence, three stone beads.

2. String the second part of the sequence: freshwater pearl, leaf bead, freshwater pearl.

3. Use your chain nose pliers to open a jump ring laterally and then slide a glass flower bead onto the ring. Carefully close the ring and string it onto the wire to complete the sequence.

4. Repeat the bead sequence in steps 1-3 four times, ending with three additional stone beads.
5. Check the length around your wrist, if necessary string a fresh water pearl to either end. To make the flower dangle first string the glass flower onto a head pin. Use round nose pliers to shape the end of the pin into a loop, wrap the wire end around the base of the loop and trim away the excess wire.

6. String the flower dangle onto one end of the bracelet, follow it with a crimp bead and one part of the clasp. String the wire back through the crimp bead and then use chain nose pliers to squeeze the crimp flat, trim the wire end with flush cutters. String the second crimp bead and other part of the clasp onto the other side of the bracelet. String the wire back through the crimp, be sure to remove any slack from the wire before squeezing the crimp flat and trimming the end.

Spring Tease?

2010-03-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to spend the weekend working on a new book proposal but the unseasonably warm temperatures and bright sunshine made it impossible to stay inside. 50 degrees might seem a regular winter day in other parts of the country but to Mainers that much warmth in March is a dream. We're usually mired in feet of snow, that slowly melts and gives way to enormous puddles and an endless mud season.

To celebrate we visited to two different beaches over the weekend, Popham in Midcoast Maine close to our home and York beach an hour away in Southern Maine along the border of New Hampshire.

We were thrilled that Elliot came along for the trip, these days he sometimes chooses to skip 'family' adventures. He took the photos in this post except for the one of him demonstrating his mad juggling skills with beach rocks.

There's nothing like a dog running the length of the beach and into the surf, Maizy was in doggy heaven.

After a romp and wet feet at York beach we stopped at Jon's favorite dining establishment Bob's Clamhut in Kittery. We feasted on fried seafood on a picnic bench in the sunshine.

I did squeeze in an important stop into the Portsmouth Fabric Company, to pick up fabrics for the sample book projects. They carry a wonderful selection of high end printed cottons, embellishments and trims in a historic downtown storefront. Jon and I longed to meander through the streets of Portsmouth but after a visit to G.Willikers toy store Celia was ready to leave. Hopefully one day Jon and I will return and take time to enjoy a great restaurant and some window shopping. For now I'm thankful the early taste of spring, and a bag full of fabric that should help me settle down to work.

Ukranian Easter Eggs and Family Stuffed Sock Bunny Workshops

2010-03-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

I took a late afternoon walk around our neighborhood yesterday with my daughter Celia and our wheaten terrier Maizy. It was so pleasant to have the sun shining on us in the late afternoon. The streams were rushing with the water from the weekend storms, providing plenty of mud and puddles for the girl and dog to explore. There was an abundance of downed sticks and branches on the ground to poke into the mud and instigate a game of tug of war with the pup. Nature had created the perfect playground for my companions. I relished their happiness and started to believe that spring is slowly creeping it's way to Maine.

I'll be giving my first Pysanky egg decorating class at Art Mind and Soul studios on March 28, 2-4pm. I was captivated by this technique as a child in Canada, a very kind neighbor spent an entire afternoon teaching me the craft. Although my designs are not authentic, the process is true to it's origins. If you become a committed follower of Ukrainian eggs there's an entire alphabet of authentic symbols to memorize and master. I love how easily this craft can be modernized to suit your own creative style, in many ways its' similar to batik. A small stylus is used to heat beeswax over a candle flame enabling you to draw the wax directly onto an egg. The egg is repeatedly dipped in dye and more wax is applied after each immersion. The dramatic finish happens when the egg is heated over the flame and the built up wax is wiped away to reveal the colors and designs.

It might be because Easter falls close to my birthday but I've always loved this season of renewal! To celebrate I'm offering another spring workshop for parents and their children to enjoy together on Saturday March 27, 1-3 pm also at Art Mind and Soul Studios.We'll be cutting up socks, stuffing and stitching them together to make adorable stuffed bunnies.

Mark your calendars, and send me an e-mail I'd love to have you join in the creative fun!

Sweet Needle Felted Bunnies - free tutorial!

2010-02-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed the most beautiful taste of spring in Maine this weekend. After a glorious walk on the beach we stopped at the pet store on our way home. To Celias absolute delight we stumbled upon a pen of baby bunnies. There was no chance of us adding to our menagerie, but our short visit was the perfect inspiration for this needle felt tutorial. If you haven't tried needle felting please do give it a second look, it's incredibly accessible. All you need is some wool roving and a felting needle to get started. I've yet to find a better medium for quickly making miniature furry animals. These low maintenance bunnies will be so popular you'll need to felt a whole litter in time for Easter!

Materials
Assorted wool roving: white, tan, grey and small amounts of black and dark brown for the eyes.
Felting needle (there is no substitute for the genuine barbed needle)
Piece of rigid foam insulation or a foam felting mat.

Finished size: 2 1/2" x 2 1/2"

1. Starting with the body, roll the main color into a tight ball as if you were forming a bead. Repeatedly poke it on all sides to stabilize the roving. Wrap additional strands of roving around the ball to increase the size. Be sure to needle felt it on all sides after each addition. Add more roving to one end so that the ball becomes an egg shape, approximately 2" long and 1" thick at the widest point.

2. To make the hind legs spiral the roving into a circle (1" in diameter). Fold the roving end several times to make a paw shape that extends 1/2" out from the leg. Add a couple more pieces of roving to thicken both the leg and the paw. Repeat the process to make a second leg.

3. Position the legs on either side of the body. Repeatedly poke the outside edge of each leg with your felting needle to anchor them body, let the paws fall free.

4. Fold a new piece of roving several times to make a 1 1/2" long arm. Wrap the folded roving with a second strand and then needle felt it to compress the fibers. Create a bent elbow in the arm by folding it and then needle felt the folded area. Repeat the process to make a second arm. Position an arm on either side of the body. Needle felt the top shoulder portion of of the arms to the body, let the paw ends fall free.

5. Create the head as you did the body starting with a tight bead shape. Wrap and needle felt additional strands of roving around the head until it measures 1"x 1". Position the head above the front paws and needle felt directly through the rabbits face to attach it to the small end of the body. Make additional pokes around the neck to insure it's properly connected.

6. Stay with me your bunny is starting to get cute... We're on to the ears, fold a piece of roving as you did the arms so that its an 1 1/2" long. Needle felt it and if necessary add another layer roving. My ears tend to get wide, I fold them in half lengthwise and needle felt the folded layers together. Create a second ear, and needle felt the base of each ear to the top of the head.

7. Take a small strand of beige roving and spiral it into a spot, needle felt it to one side of the face. Make a larger beige spot for the bunnies back. Roll the tiniest pinch of dark brown roving for the eyes and nose and use your needle to poke them directly into the face. The more you poke them the smaller they appear as they become incorporated into the head.

8. The final step is to roll up a loose ball of white roving for a tail and poke it directly into the back of the body.

Enjoy experimenting with different colors and ear positions. Here's 'hopping' we all get to enjoy warmer weather and longer days filled with sunshine!

Needle felted hearts and raspberry square recipe

2010-02-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

Last night I enjoyed a wonderful evening sharing needle felting techniques with creative women at Art Mind and Soul Studios in the Fort Andross mill. This renovated brick mill sits beside the Androscoggin river in Brunswick Maine. The interior has been beautifully renovated into office and artist studios, the building is also home to restaurants and antique shops. Art Mind and Soul recently opened their doors as a center for the visual arts community. It's a wonderful place to hold workshops, create for an hour or two or rent a small studio space.

My approach to teaching this needle felting class was to hand everyone a kit full of supplies and impart as much technical knowledge as I could. I demonstrated wet and dry felting techniques along with flat and three dimensional construction. The joy of needle felting is that you immediately start poking fibers together with a felting needle. I was thrilled with the originality of the finished projects. They were stunningly beautiful raised designs abstract to illustrative on wool felt rectangles, charming three dimensional hearts and even a few white bunnies.

If you missed out on this workshop, don't fret I'll offer it again soon with a different theme and new construction techniques. I'm looking forward to sharing Polymer clay millefliori beads and stamped charms on Feb 23 and Pysanky egg dying on March 28. If your a parent of young children please click the sidebar link to find a listing of my inexpensive family workshops also held at Art Mind and Soul studios.

The other hit last night was my mums' raspberry coconut bar recipe named 'Louise Cake'
My parents are British, my mother kindly converted the amounts from weighted quantities. For the sake of the workshop I doubled the recipe and baked the bars in a 11"x13" metal brownie pan, I needed 35 minutes to brown the crust.

Preheat the oven to 350

Cream 1/2 cup of butter and 2T +2t of sugar together.
Add 2 egg yolks to the creamed butter and sugar.

Stir in 1cup +1T of flour and 1t of baking powder.
Press the crust mixture into the bottom of a greased 7"x11" baking pan.
Generously spread raspberry jam over the 'crust'.
Whisk the 2 egg whites until they're stiff.
Fold in 2/3 cup of sugar and 1 cup of sweetened coconut.
Gently spread the topping over the jam.
Bake 20 minutes until the top puffs and starts to brown at the edges, let cool completely before cutting into squares.

Victorian Beehive Valentines - Free project tutorial!

2010-01-31T10:49:00.000-08:00

Who can resist pink, red and white papers, sparkly stickers and ribbons? Ever since I was little I was completely enamored with making Valentines. This year I've been entertained by watching Celia get carried away making hearts and running upstairs to secretly hide them in her room.

The magic of a beehive Valentine happens when you pull up on the center ribbon. The paper expands into a beehive shape to reveal the hidden message underneath. When I taught at the Des Moines Art Center, the education director Peggy Leonardo shared the instructions with me. She had discovered them printed in an old time Valentine craft book. I featured a gilded birdcage variation of this project in my book Simply Beautiful Greeting Cards, North Light Books. When I recieved a gorgeous selection of papers and stickers from EK Success last month, I knew I wanted to recreate this 'vintage' paper craft. Fancy stickers and papers are inspiring but you can use any paper or rubber stamps you have on hand.

Finished dimensions: 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"

Materials :
Pink and red scrapbooking paper - K and Company Lovely Designer Paper Pad
Retro Valentine Stickers - EK Success
Glue
5" length of 1/4 inch satin ribbon

Tools:
Scissors
Paper trimmer - Optional

1. Trim the paper for the of the card into a 4 1/2" square. If you plan on sending the card in an envelope adjust the size to fit. Cut a smaller 3 1/2" square to fit in the center of the first. Next cut a small white piece of paper to place behind the sticker, mine was 1 3/4"x 2 3/8". Glue the three pieces together and then apply the sticker to the white rectangle.

2. Cut a second 3 1/2" square for the beehive. Select a lighter weight paper that will be flexible and won't retain the crease lines. Fold the paper in half and then in quarters. Cut rounded slits 1/4" apart alternating between the folded edges. Akin to cutting a snowflake its important not to cut all the way through to the other side. Unfold the paper and apply glue to underside of all four edges. Position the beehive over the center of the card, firmly press down the glued edges.

3. Thread the ribbon length through the top two slits in the beehive. Gently pull up on the ribbon to test your beehive. If necessary use your scissor tips to carefully extend any slits that don't open sufficiently. Decorate the border of the beehive with paper strips and sentiments trimmed from the coordinating scrapbook papers.

Easy embroidered felt heart sachets - Free tutorial!

2010-01-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

I just finished creating these Valentine craft project samples for my Feb 8th visit with Curtis Memorial Library's fiber arts club. The children in the group are 7-12 years old. Felt is the perfect material for introducing kids to embroidery, its sturdy enough to hold it's shape without an embroidery hoop. I like to use a full strand of embroidery thread so the stitches stand out. A crewel needle has a sharp enough point to get through the felt without poking fingers. It also has a wide enough eye to accommodate the floss. To keep Celia happy while I created this sample I handed her a felt heart and along with a threaded needle. With a minimal amount of help she was able to stitch her favorite finds out of my button stash onto the front of the heart, she was so proud!

If you're local please preregister at 725-5242 ext 225 and join me for this free workshop. If not follow the directions below, break out the embroidery floss and buttons and get your kids excited about stitching!

Materials:
1/4 yard or less of pink and red felt - I love the felt National Nonwovens sends me. (http://www.commonwealthfelt.com/)
Embroidery floss, pink red and white - I'll use any excuse to break into the box full of colors DMC shipped me. (http://www.dmc-usa.com/)
Assorted buttons
Poly-fil stuffing (http:www.poly-fil.com/)
Scented plastic pellets - from plastic sleeve sachets (available at major box stores)
4" section of ribbon or cording for a hanging loop

Tools:
Scissors
Pinking sheers-optional
Crewel needles
Large heart shaped cookie cutter
Sewing machine - optional substitute sewing needles and thread

1. Use the large cookie cutter as your template to cut out the felt heart top, add a 1/4" seam allowance to all sides.
2. Thread the crewel needle with a full strand of embroidery floss and begin stitching flowers, cross shaped kisses, buttons even messages onto the front of the heart. If desired add a blanket stitch around the edge of the heart (see the red variation). Tie all knots on the backside of the heart and trim the ends.
3. Pin the heart to a second uncut scrap of felt, make sure it extends a half inch on all sides of the heart top. Position the ends of the hanging cord between the layers.
4. Machine stitch (or hand stitch) around the edge of the heart, approximately a quarter of an inch inside the cut edge. Trap the hanging cord in your seam and leave an inch and a half opening for stuffing.
5. Lightly stuff the heart and then pour a teaspoon of pellets into the heart. Hold the opening closed and position it back under your sewing machine presser foot to stitch the opening close (or hand stitch closed).
6. Use the pinking sheers to trim the heart backing so that it extends a 1/4" from the heart front.

Enjoy your sweet soft heart, make another and share the love!

loveable monsters - Free tutorial!

2010-01-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

I'm so lucky to be able to create crazy creatures for work. Even more fun is to be able to share my crafty enthusiasm in magazines, books and workshops. I devised this pared down softie project for a free winter break workshop that will take place on Wednesday February 17, 10 am at Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick Maine. The goal is for every child to make a stuffed creation inspired by a childrens' monster story book. This stuffed monster requires minimal sewing and his shape is open ended. Children can easily customize the project adding horns, lips, even additional limbs to make a unique creation. If you're not local please try creating monsters at home, it's a parent and child activity. They'll need an adult to supervise the cutting, operate the sewing machine and glue gun.

Finished dimensions 12"x 10" body arms extend 6-8 inches off the bottom and sides

Materials:

1/4 yard of fleece will make several monsters

2-3 sheets of stiff felt (available at Michael's stores)

Plastic (screw shaped) stuffed animal eyes that are packaged with metal or plastic disk backs (available at sewing and craft stores)

Fiberfill stuffing

Tools:

Sewing machine - don't worry (we're only making a straight seam!)

Hot glue gun and melt sticks

scissors

straight pins

1. Fold the fleece in half and cut a double layer monster body approximately 12" x 10", leave the top straight and round the bottom edges. Cut 2 legs arms eyes, eyebrows and a mouth out of the stiff felt.

2. Place the body pieces right sides together. Insert the arms and legs between the layers so that a half an inch of the felt sticks out beyond the fleece fabric edge. Pin the legs and arms in place, if necessary place additional pins to tack the fingers and toes away from the edge, you want to avoid accidently trapping them in your seam.

3. Starting two inches from the very top sew down one side, across the base, and back up the other side ending two inches before the top edge. Be sure to leave the top completely unsewn. Remove any additional pins, trim away any excess fabric and turn your monster right side out. Lay the monster flat and cut 1 1/2" slits a half inch apart across the top of the monsters head.

4. Lightly stuff your monster so that you can see how he's taking shape. With your scissor tips carefully poke a hole in one of the felt eyes. Thread a plastic eye into the hole. Determine where you want the eyes positioned and poke a hole through the fleece. Thread the back of the plastic eye into the hole and then reach inside your monster to firmly press the backing up against the the back of the eye. A layer of felt and fleece will be trapped between the two eye components. Repeat the process to attach the second eye.

5. Finish stuffing your monster and then knot the fleece strips together. This will seal his/her head closed while creating shaggy hair.

6. Hot glue the remaining mouth teeth horns and eyebrows in place. Let the glued areas cool before giving him a monster hug!

New Years Kringler!

2010-01-01T15:46:00.000-08:00

Almost a week after we planned to make Kringler, Jon woke up making it his first task of the New Year. He’d already loaded the stand mixer, pressed the dough crust onto the cookie sheet and was stirring the pudding like filling over the stove top, all by the time I made an appearance downstairs . The recipe comes from his mother, my mother in law Jan whose mother (Jon’s grandma) is Norwegian. I like to think this is a family recipe that has been passed down although I need to confirm if that is truly the case. Jan would serve this Scandinavian pastry at the annual Boyd family Christmas in their Des Moines home. I have fond memories of feasting on this warm danish while the kids unwrapped their stockings.

If you’re beginning the year with a renewed commitment of health you might want to skip this culinary delight. It has only a few ingredients none of which make an appearance at the bottom of the revamped food pyramid. It’s an ideal treat for a cold winters morning when the pantry is bare. The main ingredients are butter and white flour the flavoring is dependent on the magic of almond extract. Relatively easy to make it has a wow factor when it emerges from the oven puffed up and golden brown.

Wishing you the sweetest of years filled with blessings, happiness, health and lots of crafty goodness!
Heidi

Scandinavian Kringler
Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 TBLS ice water

Puff Topping:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract

Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 TBLS margarine
1/2 almond extract
2-3 TBLS milk
slivered almonds

Oven - 350 degrees Divide dough in half. Press each half into a 3 x 12 inch strip on an ungreased cookie sheet. Heat water and ½ cup margarine in medium saucepan to boiling. Remove from heat & immediately stir in one cup flour until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth. Stir in ½ tsp. almond extract. Spoon ½ of the batter over each crust. Bake at 350 until golden brown and puffy...about 50-60 min. Immediately remove from the cookie sheet and cool. Topping will shrink. Spread frosting and sprinkle with almonds.

Easiest Candy houses to make with kids!

2009-12-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Nothing like telling a four year old you're going to make candy houses to insure that it happens. I carved some between playgroup car repair and work deadline to squeeze a sugar rush into our afternoon. Elliot had his good friend Gabe over who was very willing to participate in the eating and building. Yesterday I'd purchased a good selection of candy and cookies at good ole fashioned Reny's department store in Bath. The only other preparation was sifting through the recycling bin to turn up cardboard bases and an assortment of food boxes and cartons for the building structures. You can easily cut boxes in half to get the right size. It's a good idea to cover the cardboard base with wax paper so that the frosting and candies don't permeate the base. I'd like to say we make royal frosting but we don't, simply crack open tubs of white frosting and pass out the knives. These are not masterpieces but they're incredibly simple and provide instant gratification. Celia can spread the frosting on the side of a carton and stick the cookie wall in place by herself. I read her Jan Brett's 'Gingerbread Boy' before bed and she noticed that our houses were not of the same caliber as the elaborate illustrations. One day I'll roll out the gingerbread and make a real house again but for now this project is a winner.

Girls Night Out Winter Craft Workshops

2009-12-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

Please join me for an evening of jewelry making (Jan 19th) and/or needle felting (Feb 9th) at the beautiful Art Mind and Soul studio in Fort Andross. Enjoy a relaxing couple of hours of creativity, all supplies dessert and coffee are included!