Inspiration! The Summer of No Pants

★☆★☆★☆Pssst! There's still time! Be sure to leave a comment on the Pug Pattern giveaway post: http://www.absolutelysmall.com/blog/2011/05/12/pug-pattern-and-giveaway/ Now back to the post.★☆★☆★☆

While I was pregnant with Olive, I discovered the joy of wearing casual dresses. I've never been a dress girl, but holy cow! A dress is the perfect thing to wear. One piece! Cool and breezy! Also, pretty! And! They hide post baby bumps magnificently!
Imagine my sadness at no longer fitting into said mumus, and trying to stuff said self into jeans again. I vowed then and there to be a casual dress wearing machine! OK, that hasn't exactly happened yet, but the intention is there. I bought a pattern and everything.
Thus, imagine my delight to find Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!'s Summer of No Pants. It's a 4 week challenge to make a dress or skirt EVERY WEEK.

Check out the lineup of tutorials & guest bloggers here: http://www.hideousdreadfulstinky.com/p/summer-of-no-pants-2011.html More inspiration than you can shake a skirt at.
It starts May 23rd (the day after Maker Faire!). I'm a little scared to sign up, honestly. (Newborns make it tough to stick to things like this...or get daily showers.) But still, INSPIRING!

Visual Caffeine

There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.
-Oscar Levant

Photo by Jim Crossley

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Annnnnd deep breath.

I get so frustrated with myself for not being able to do as much as I could pre-baby. A productive day now just means that I was able to get a shower. I was feeling a little down on myself about this when I found this quote on a sticky note:

"Children are gone before you know it.  I would advise artist parents to remember that their work is always there, ready to be resumed, but those first few years with your child can never be replaced.  Through the fog and frenzy, remember to relish the moments and not worry about being “productive” unless your livelihood truly depends on it.  Children refresh us.  Having them is the one truly great nearly-universal human experience.  Listen to them, let them affect you and inspire you as deeply as possible, and just watch how your work takes off."
-Marian Henley

This was just what I needed. Thank you, the lady who brought us Maxine! (No, not that Maxine. This Maxine.)

Visual Caffeine

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.

-Colette

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10 Fantastic Creativity Quotes

1. While most people in the arts think they have to be constantly looking forward to be edgy and creative....the real secret of creativity is to go back and remember.
-Twyla Tharp

2. Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.
-Rita Mae Brown

3. Anyone can do anything with a million dollars. Look at Disney. But it takes more than money to make something out of nothing, and look at the fun I have doing it.
-Tressa Prisbey

4. Don't worry about originality. You couldn't get rid of it even if you wanted to. It will stick with you and show you up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do.
-Robert Henri

5. The secret of the creative life is how to feel at ease with your own embarrassment. We're all in the dirty laundry business and we're being paid to take risks and look silly. Race car drivers get paid to risk their lives in a more concrete way; we get paid to risk our lives in an emotional way.
-Paul Schrader

6. One does not discover new lands without consenting to loose sight of the shore for a very long time.
-Andre Gide

7. What if you just did it your own way - no rules, no right or wrong, just what you think is beautiful?
-Sandra Magsamen

8. Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping it's life away.
-Ray Bradbury

9. Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of somebody else.
-Judy Garland

10. Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling,gasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, rumbling, rambling, gambling, tumbling, scribbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning, searching, perching, besmirching, grinding grinding grinding away at yourself. Stop it and just DO. Try and tickle something inside you, your "weird humor". Don't worry about cool, make your own uncool. If you fear it, make it work for you- draw and paint your fear and anxiety. And stop worrying about big, deep things such as "to decide on a purpose and way of life". You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO! Try to do some BAD work. The worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell.
-Sol LeWitt

Visual Caffeine

Moderation in all things- including moderation.

-Jaques Pepin

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt

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Visual Caffeine

Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself.
-Robert Henri

Photo by Bryan Rosengrant

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5 Things to Do With Pipe Cleaners

Pipe cleaners? Wait, like those things little kids bend into animals?
Yes. Pipe cleaners.
It just so happens that I have a TON of them. Some vintage, but mostly leftover from teaching kids' arts and crafts classes. There's got to be some way to use these things up. Some way besides straight up kiddie crafts, hopefully. Could pipe cleaners be transformed into kitschy, fun crafts? Could pipe cleaners be transformed into something bordering chic?
Here's what I found from around the internet. The results will shock you. Sort of.


Martha Stewart has some cute little creatures you could make, all with easy step by step photos.
Some even come with curious descriptions, such as "This squirrel likes to wave his tail around, which really cracks up the nut." Ooookay. Martha also identifies a danger for us: the loss of sanity from working with pipe cleaners.

This is in no way a tutorial, but I simply have to post it. Full Of Bliss shows us that yes, it IS possible to make wonderful things out of pipe cleaners. The secret may lie in the very sparing use of said pipe cleaners.

Pipe cleaners make decent armature wire. Sometimes I use them in various plushies. Here's a tutorial on how to make a needle felted replica of your own pet, using pipe cleaners and wait for it...

YOUR PET'S OWN HAIR.
Thank you, Craftzine.
(Note: Anyone else thinking of this? No?)


These personalized gift toppers were recently featured in ReadyMade. Dare I say it...these are almost chic! Hooray, ReadyMade!

Finally, something I truly never considered before:


Hello, easy way to make stop motion creatures!

5 Crafts to Make With Buttons

Ahhhh, buttons. Currency of the craft drawer. They're among the most coveted and hoarded of odds and ends, at least around here. When you're ready to show off a few choice specimens, here's a few crafts that are worthy of your favorites.

1. These Fruity Button Napkins by Martha Stewart Living are so cute. What a nice (and fast!) way to spruce up some boring old cloth napkins.


2. Bugs and Fishes has a cute idea to spruce up plain clothes:

Photo by Bugs and Fishes, of course. Check out her Button Sweater tutorial!

3. This flower bookmark by Pink Paper Peppermints is a really cute idea!

4. This Spring Bouquet by American Craft Studios would be great to work on during the more dreary days of winter. (AKA NOW.)

5. I saw this delightfully modern looking button bouquet on Flickr:

It's by Sunshine Walks. The tutorial can be found over on Kiddley.

10 Fun StumbleUpon finds

I find StumbleUpon very addictive. True, I may have started using it because some thread in the Etsy forums said it was good marketing (Uh, it isn't.), but I kept using it as my own bizarre bookmarking service.
(Oh, and if you are similarly addicted, here's my profile. Let's be friends, or followers, or whatever the kids are calling it these days.)
Here's 10 of the best things I've seen with it lately:

1. The Emerson House...aka the most stylish dollhouse EVER.

I could really see my flock of Chickenpants living in a place like this...

2. Jason Lee's amazing photography.

THAT'S why you have kids. Thanks for the reminder! (I forget a lot.)

3. Whatimade.com is gorgeous. The projects he dreams up are delightful, too!

4. Box templates! Glorious box templates! All sorts of paper boxes you can fold yourself. Handy!

5. I want to make the heck out of this Cocktail Umbrella Lamp Shade.

Hooray, there's a tutorial!

6. Cats playing patty cake...what were they thinking?

Oh, now we know.

7. How to make live culture pickles.

Although it may just be the picture talking, those pickles look amazing!

8. Getting over perfection - a really fabulous post by Finslippy.

9. I really want to try this Flourless Chocolate Cake.

10. You've no doubt already seen this, but:

Super Mamika!

Flickr Finds - Terrariums

Okay, one of those is not actually a terrarium. One of them does have a cute little tutorial attached to it, though!


1. terrarium in my studio, 2. Terrarium, 3. Return of the Pants: Special Edition (The one where George goes Chickenpants crazy and changes out bears for chickens!), 4. Terrarium darlings

If you'd like to see one of your Flickr finest in an upcoming feature, post it to our group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/absolutelysmall/

5 Ways to Use Up Leftover Yarn

What is there to do with those random ends of skeins? Lots!

• Of course, the time honored Granny Square is an excellent way to use up a stash. The Purl Bee has an excellent tutorial, jam packed with lovely photos:

• Knit this lace scarf, using up 3 or 4 colors.

• Of course, you could just skip all that hooking and knitting, and skip right to decoration. Apartment Therapy has some cute ideas:

(Of course, they're billing the above as "storage" as well. Um...sure. That's one way to store things, I guess...)

• This Knit Pincushion by Craft Leftovers is an awesome way to use up all those tiny bits:

AND you can even use different weights and textiles together. Score!

• Another idea for decoration: scrap yarn wrapped branches

Great tutorial with lots and lots of yummy photos. Plus, she links to several other really neat projects!

I feel like we've barely scratched the surface of what's possible with leftover yarn. What do you like to do with yours?

Visual Caffeine

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

-Douglas Adams

(for the record, this photo was taken way back at 25 weeks. oh, how far we've come.)

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Visual Caffeine

If you are to embrace your life as an evolving whole, you must think of yourself as a story- admittedly, a highly biased and poorly researched pulp paperback that is constantly being revised and incrementally updated with no sign of when it will end or what the characters will do next, yet a story that is uniquely yours.
-Mark Leyner

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Visual Caffeine

Eclectism is a virtue. I don't know if it's a word, but it's definitely a virtue.

- Will Smith

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10 Things to do With Fabric Scraps

***Special note! It's not too late to enter the Road to 500 Giveaway!***


The cuter a fabric is, the harder a time I have parting with the tiny bits of it. I have a serious Japanese cotton habit, and somehow using the tiny leftover scraps makes me feel...industrious! Smart! Less wasteful! So, in the interest of mitigating my hoarding habit (and not winding up on one of those shows in the future), here's a list of things to do with all that leftover fabric.

How tiny are your pieces?
1" pieces or less -

• These can make excellent stuffing for softies, or any place you'd use polyfill. Naturally, the stuffing cotton scraps make is much denser and heavier than the stuffing that leftover fluffy fabrics like poly fleece make. Just so you know.

2" pieces

• Button covers. Craft Pudding put together an excellent tutorial on how to do this without a kit!

Photo by Craft Pudding

• I actually wrote a tutorial for Craft Leftovers Monthly recently on how to make a mini-garland with scraps just this size.

• This amazing ticker tape quilt calls for pieces that are just 1" x 2"! Full tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew!

3" pieces

• Flower pins....perhaps something like this?

Photo by Wise Craft

4"

• Okay, this would technically call for a LOT of 4" pieces, but I've had this sweater in mind ever since seeing it on Mighty Girl eons ago. Weird side note: I saw the sweater ON Mighty Girl herself a few years back at Maker Faire. It is incredible in person! And also, she is very tall. And adorable. And I swear I am not some sort of crazy blogger stalker.

5"

• We're getting into easily usable fabric territory here. Hello, applique! A quick Flickr search reveals more awesome applique and tutorials than one could make in a lifetime.




Photo by me. Here's another view.

6"

• Twelve 22 put together this super tutorial on how to make a small zippered pouch. Even better, it's also a tutorial on how to install zippers...EASILY!

• There's an unending variety of plushies you could make with 6" fabric scraps. Here's one little cutie by Lori-La_Tortuga.

7" +

• If you happen to have lots of loooong-ish skinny pieces (1.5" seems to be the average), why not make a rag rug? (OR just sew those tiny bits together to make long strips.) This would bust the living daylights out of even the most generous rag stash.

Tutorial on Moda Bake Shop!
(Photo by Moda Bake Shop too, natch!)

Four Fine Flickr Finds For Fall

Do forgive the post title. I simply couldn't help myself. Count yourself lucky that there isn't a pun in there.
Anyway, here's a few recent favorites from Flickr. There are two recipes squirreled away in there!

1. fall coasters, 2. Winter Fruit Pie, 3. Happy Bokeh Wednesday, from Squiggy, 4. It's All About the Sides: Garlic Rice Pilaf

If you'd like to see one of your Flickr finest in an upcoming feature, post it to our group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/absolutelysmall/

10 Awesome Miniature Craft Tutorials

Love minis? Personally, I am obsessed with them. It was a dark day indeed (er, financially speaking) when I first discovered Re-Ments.
However! Buying miniatures is not the only way to get your fix of tiny goodness. I've scoured the whooooole internet and BEYOND, and here are some of my favorite tiny tutorials.

Photo copyright 2008 Lesley Shepherd

1. 3" Hippo. Do I really need to say more? Well, yes. Here's a tutorial to make your own miniature felt hippo.

2. This tiny accordian book tutorial from Something Monumental is too cute!

3. These miniature patchwork pincushions are too cute! Thank you, Purlbee!

4. Photojojo has a neat tutorial on how to make photos that only look like they're miniatures.

Photo by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

5. Want to learn how to make tiny edible cupcakes that you can then place on real cupcakes, thus taking the joy of cupcakes to THE NEXT LEVEL? Of course you do. Tutorial (and super cute photos) on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

6. This video (Which I would have embedded, but that's been disabled.) on how to make miniature caned candies is amazing. (Cue Huell Howser voice!)

7. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the September '10 issue of Craft Leftovers. (AKA my favorite issue, ever.) It's devoted to miniature crafting! There are tutorials on how to make mini chocolate cheesecakes, a miniature quilt, and more. Like the tutorial I wrote on how to make a mini garland:



8. How to make tiny paper flowers. This post is formatted weirdly, but the tiny daffodil tutorial at the end is incredible.

9. This Miniature Cigarette Box Theater is so wonderfully curious.

10. Finally, because I can't seem to get enough of tiny papercrafts and tiny animals, here's another Cut Out & Keep tutorial on how to make Miniature Origami Turtles:

See Miniature Origami Turtles and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Happy (tiny) crafting!

Visual Caffeine

MTV is to music as KFC is to chicken.

- Lewis Black

10 Great Embroidery Project Tutorials

Man, do I love embroidery. It's not that I'm particularly *ahem* skilled at it. There's just something fantastic about taking a bland object, a few hours, and some gorgeously colored thread and making something wonderful.

That said, I can't always think of what to embroider next. Other crafters to the rescue! Here are 10 of my favorite embroidery tutorials from around the internets.

1. For learning the basics, The Purl Bee has wonderful step by step tutorials.



(photo by Aimee Ray)

2. Mini Bunny Quilt by Aimee Ray, the author of Doodle Stitching. (Which is a wonderful book, by the way!) Check out her blog Little Dear Tracks for more tutorials.

3. Queen Anne's Lace Pillowcase by Alicia Paulson (http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/) I especially love the clean modern look of this project.

4. Boy and Girl Pocket Pillows by Goody-Goody (http://goodygoody.typepad.com/goody_goody/)

5. The Party's Over pattern by Tamie Snow (of Roxycraft fame)

6. Already have a great image on your computer that you'd like to embroider? Wondering how to get it from here to there? Instructables to the rescue! Embroidery From Digital Artwork

7. Super-adorable My Favorite Things pattern by Peptogirl (http://peptogirl.blogspot.com/)

8. Yarn scrap embroidery sounds like kitschy fun. Thanks Craftzine!

9. Simple Embroidered Gift Labels, again via Instructables.

10. The secret to embroidering on stretchy fabric, plus a cute pattern! Thank you, Craftstylish! (Word of warning, this page unfortunately has a talking ad box. Blerg. Adjust volume on your computer accordingly.)



(photo by Erika Kern)

Do you have any embroidery tutorials you'd like to share? Post them in the comments! I'd love to see them.