Crafty Book Review - Microcrafts - Tiny Treasures to Make and Share

The good people of Quirk Books contacted me, asking if I would like to review Microcrafts, one of their latest crafty books.
A book devoted to making itty bitty crafts? Oh yes, I would.

Microcrafts - Tiny Treasures to Make and Share features 25 projects by 17 different authors. (For ease of looking it up, it is compiled by Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, and Katie Hatz.) In other words, there is a wide variety to the projects. Everything from tiny bird feeders to hang on tiny trees to baby monsters to tuck into little spaces. Sewing, paper crafts and model making are just a few of the techniques you'll encounter. Many of the projects feature ideas for spin off projects. All the directions are clearly laid out, and a few of the projects even offer template downloads. The book itself is hardcover with lovely glossy pages, all beautifully laid out.

(photo from the book, by Steve Belkowitz)

But what does one DO with all of these tiny things? The authors thought of that, and include a bunch of ideas for how to use these cuties in the back of the book. There are also nicely illustrated sewing techniques, tips on making tiny patterns, and all sorts of resource information.

(another photo from the book, again by Steve Belkowitz)

Picking out a project to sample was tricky. (The tiny candy charms? The perfect mini books? Oh man, the little taxidermedied deer heads...) I settled on the little owls. My baby owl went together without a hitch:

She's only 1.5" tall! (That's 3.8 cm!) Perfect for tucking into a card or onto a gift to make it even more special. (Bonus: this guy went together FAST, and all with scraps. Nice!)
I'm inspired to try out more of the projects from this book.
Bottom line, if you enjoy tiny things and the making of them, by all means pick up this book. Oh look, here it is on Amazon:

Microcrafts - Tiny Treasures to Make and Share by Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, Katie Hatz and Friends

Why yes, I AM that shameless.

Crafty Book Review – Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule

Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures

I recently* picked up a copy of Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule of SouleMama fame. This book is a total delight!
I loved that this book focused on reusing fabric. There were several projects that called for used clothing, which is a really neat way to preserve memories, I think. (I know I'll be saving and crafting with some of my baby's finest.)
This book really opened my eyes to different sorts of projects, and the idea of sewing useful things for the home. Before reading this book, I'd really only focused on sewing plushies. But once I got started making useful things, I was hooked. Our house is steadily becoming filled with handmade textile goodies. It's really oddly satisfying.

There are tons of projects to try, especially if you have little ones to craft for. If not, there's still plenty to keep you busy. It's a huge project, but I'm dying to try my hand at making a rag rug, as laid out on page 39.
There's a wide variety of projects, and nearly all of them useful.

Check it out on Amazon, where you can peek inside:

*Ahem. Okay, by "recently", apparently I mean February. Because that is when this post began. Somehow**, it never got posted until now.

**This is probably how:

A quick peek inside the crafty life of...me, actually.

I've been working like a plush making machine over here, readying all new creatures for Craftland. (Hence the lack of new Chickenpants lately.) Here's a peek:

I shot the video with my new phone, so the formatting is a little weird. Anyway, there it is. Hopefully the next one will be bigger. (Er, if I even should do a next one. We'll see!)

The most effective baby toy ever - Tutorial!

Behold, the best baby toy ever. At least, that's what Olive thinks. This little toy has bought me all sorts of quiet time. Dude, she is playing with it right now as I write this post. As someone who has long considered herself a toymaker, I have mixed feelings about this toy. On the one hand, it works! The baby likes it! Isn't that what it's all about? On the other hand, boy, is it ugly.
In any case, I'll let you decide. Here's a tutorial. Make it for the busy little ones in your life.

What's really cool about this toy is that you can just use whatever you have on hand. Here's what I used, though:

6" square of silky fabric
6" square of fleece
Felt in 3 colors
Various ribbons in various lengths
Polyfill
Thread
Needle & thread
Sewing machine (Optional, but helpful)
Scissors

First, cut two circles roughly 6" across. Seriously, roughly is fine. This thing is going to get spit all over it.

Then cut your ribbon into various lengths. I used 9 pieces of ribbon ranging from 13" to 4". Cut your felt into three 2.5" x 2.5" squares.

Stack the pieces of felt on the right side of the fleece. I staggered them a bit, like so:

Now sew them in place.

Here's where it starts looking crazy. Arrange your ribbons on top of the fleece, wrong side up. Pin the ends in place. You may want to turn some of the longer ribbons into loops. Just pin both ends to the edge in that case.

See the big fat purple ribbon on top? LOOP!

Now, carefully carefully carefully sew the ribbons in place. Just sew in a circle, making sure to catch at least one end of each ribbon.


Place the silky circle right side down on top of the fleece piece. Pin in place, being careful that all ribbons are tucked safely in the center. Sew in a circle, leaving about a 1" opening.

Now, it should look like this:

A total mess. Anyway, turn that bad boy inside out, stuff it with polyfill, and then sew the gap closed thusly:

Needle, thread, pinching the raw ends in. Boom.

There! You're done! I hope this toy brings you and your favorite little one hours of enjoyment.

Notes!
This is machine washable. Toss it in the machine cold, then hang it to dry from one of those loops you put in. Easy peasy.

Maker Faire 2011 Recap

Maker Faire San Mateo 2011 was wonderful! I'm positively infused with inspiration and a sunburn.
This was my first year attending as a free, non-table bound person. It was so weird for me to not be vending! Honestly, I didn't know what to do with myself. And I sort of missed having a table I could duck behind when things got overwhelming. (Which happened at about 12:57 pm. I overwhelm easily.)
This is one heck of a link-heavy post, so you may want to grab a cup of coffee and a snack. (Don't worry, all links open automatically in new tabs.)
So, what did I see? Let's start with these amazing costumes for the Venice Carnival:
They were made by Erin Mahoney. Amazing, right?


I was lucky enough to snag a dress by Field Day. (photo to come soon!) Perhaps I can start living the Summer of No Pants, after all!

Bug Under Glass was there with his super insect displays. He even had some of the bugs posed on mini-bikes displays. LOVE those!
You guys, if you're thinking of starting a bug collection, start with this guy. His pieces are amazing. And he has a baby due in two weeks. Just so you know.


This fantastic coat was made by an artist as part of the Redux Studios and Gallery in Oakland. Oh you guys, I want this coat. It's exactly how I want to dress. *ahem* Anyway, coat lust aside, the artists make amazing things out of cast off stuff. It's recycling at it's finest.

I totally regret not snagging something by Village Clayworks. Oh, those darling plates!

Also in the "I regret not snagging it when I had the chance" category: the Miyazaki Club shirt by Martin Hsu.

Amazing woodblock artist Ayu Tomikawa was there. I seriously wanted one of everything at her table. He work is so precious!


Also, anyone know which company made the fabric on this skirt? So perfect.


I was delighted to see Motormouth Press and her food-y cuteness. Laurie is one of the sweetest makers I know! Annnd I managed to not take a photo. Nice.
*No, wait! Okay, here she is. Waaaaay at the left side corner, next to my table. That's Motormouth Press' table! And Laurie herself. And it's only...3 years old! I really need to take more photos.

I feel like I'm forgetting to mention a million things. (Like these guys! And this!) And I also feel a bit overwhelmed again. I suspect you do, too. Let's wrap this up:

Naps for everyone!

J is for Joss Whedon

Have you seen most ABC books? Yawn. I wanted to create a book for Olive that would be tactile and interactive. Also, awesome. I wanted to show her things that mean something to her father and I. Important things, like trademarked characters and ice cream.
Thus I raided my stash of felt and set to work with scissors and a hot glue gun. And a gob of fake hair. (See page H.)

I cut every piece by hand, thus the general wonkyness. I created a few pattern pieces, but mostly it was just easier to cut them free hand.

Here are a few of my favorite pages:

S is for Sun and Stars, T is for Totoro. The T page is actually the first one I made.

I'm happy with how Zelda here turned out:

She's one of the few princesses who don't make me want to throw up. Even if she is mostly just baggage to be saved for most of the video games. She really comes into her own around the Majora's Mask era, however. But I digress.

I incorporated a few photos, too:

O is for Olive, of course. The photos turned out being some of the simplest pages to make. Photo, thin sheet of plastic, felt, glue, go.

J wound up being for Jetpack, but I like to imagine that it's Joss Whedon wearing a jetpack. (A million thanks to the lovely people on Twitter for helping me out with J. Other honorable mentions: Jabberwocky, Joule, Jellybelly, Jawa, Jabba the Hutt, and Jock Strap.)

You can check out the whole book here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallchick/sets/72157626558378113/

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.

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?

Crafty Book Review - Sewing Bits and Pieces

Wiley Publishers Sewing Bits & Pieces

I think I've mentioned before my affinity for using up tiny scraps of fabric. That's why I was so excited to find Sandi Henderson's book Sewing Bits and Pieces. It shows you some truly interesting ways to use up gorgeous fabric scraps. Because sometimes a fat quarter is just a distant memory.

The directions are easy to follow, and are accompanied by plenty of clear illustrations. The projects range from enhancing existing things (tablecloths, sweaters...) to making something entirely new. The cover says there are 35 projects, but it honestly seems like more. There are projects for every room of the house.

If you're in the market for a book that will open your eyes to new possibilities for your scrap stash, by all means check this one out.

5 Useful Things to Make for Babies

Sheesh, babies. Is that all anyone can talk about around here?
Alas yes, pretty much. (Today marks 35 weeks. Eeep.)
Babies apparently need a tremendous amount of stuff, much of it horrifically expensive. However, you can make some of it yourself (or as a gift). This gives one a wonderful sensation of "sticking it to the man". One does not get to feel that very much when one is pregnant, let one tell you.

Bibs
You'd be amazed at how crummy a lot of bibs are. A lot of them appear to be made out of kleenex. I can practically see the liquefied vegetables leaking through them all the way from the future.
Enough grousing. Chickpea Studios has an easy tutorial to make wonderful bibs. And there's even a downloadable pattern.

Burp cloths
A friend of mine has a baby with horrible reflux. That poor woman can barely keep a shirt dry. She's let me know that most of the cute burp rags are pretty much useless. However, these ones by Sew She Sews are excellent!
Burp Cloth Tutorial by Sew She Sews

Slings
One of the most highly recommended items has been a sling. "Get yourself a sling!" people keep telling me. "Do you ever want to use your hands again? Get a sling!" Who am I to argue? Using my hands sounds great.
Jan Andrea has put together a whole index of sling tutorials. Everything from ring slings to mei tais.

Breastfeeding cover
It's a glorified apron. It is also known as a "hooter hider". Egads.
Maybe I've been in the crafty community for too long, but my gut reaction is, hey, make one!
Freshly Picked has an excellent, photo filled tutorial to show you how.

Swaddling blanket
Can babies be swaddled? The experts say yes. The parents say "Eh, sometimes. At least for a little while."
You can swaddle in a receiving blanket, or you can whip up one of these awesome swaddling blankets:
Swaddling Blanket Tutorial by Prudent Baby

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!)