8 Days Until Christmas - Yikes! Hand Made Scarves in Minutes

Eight days until Christmas and I have been so busy! Haven't we all? I had the opportunity to participate in the Seaside Farmers' Market Holiday Stroll so that was pretty awesome. It was my first Farmers' Market, so I learned a LOT. I was even invited back last weekend, and this upcoming weekend. I had to say "no" to this weekend because (like most of us) my schedule is just too packed this close to Christmas.

Christmas has got me busy with orders and gifts to make, and I am also prepping for our vacation which starts the Friday after Christmas. A week of camping at Big Sur and Point Reyes! After this crazy busy Season, I am looking forward to a week of relaxing surrounded by beautiful wilderness.

There is still time to bust out some homemade gifts, you guys. One of the quickest gifts to make and one that is perfect for the season is a homemade fleece scarf. You can buy "no-sew" scarf kits at any craft store. Personally, if you can sew even a little bit, I think it is just as easy (and cheaper) to sew your own and you get a huge variety of choices.

My local Joann Fabrics store carries fleece in tons of different patterns. So so many, I mean you can find just about anything. Buy about a yard & a half to two yards of fabric for each scarf, depending on your preferences. You will be get two scarves out of each length of material. Trim off the ugly edges and cut it lengthwise right down the center. Fold each piece, right sides together, and pin then stitch. Turn it right side out and cut fringe about 3 inches long. Make the fringe nice and wide, and once you're done, give it a gentle tug to stretch it out and give it a little curl. I leave the ends open because it's easier and you can slip your hands inside to warm them up if you forget your gloves. That's basically it. Hand made gifts in about 15 minutes. Not counting the time you spend picking out fabric. That could potentially add hours to this project if you are like me and peruse every bolt in the fabric store.

33 Days 'til Christmas - My Favorite Handmade Gifts - Wood Plaque Photo Transfer

economy size

This is another easy gift to make and one that is sure to be appreciated by the recipient. I recently made this plaque for my Mom's birthday. My Mom knows that she is probably going to get some kind of handmade gift from her starving artist daughter for just about every occasion and she is fine with it. I try to make the gifts useful and/or memorable. Believe me, there are a lot of weird and random craft ideas out there that I would never give as a gift. If it doesn't pass the "Would I Like To Receive This?" test, it doesn't make the cut. This craft passes with flying colors.

It is a very easy project, unfortunately you will most likely have to make a trip to the craft store. Unless you are an artist, it is doubtful you have gel medium on hand, and nobody I've ever met keeps a supply of blank wooden plaques hanging around. But if you are anything like me, you are at the craft store at least once a week (who am I kidding, I am there almost daily). Also you will need a laser print of the photo you are transferring. Unless you do a black & white transfer, then just a regular copy from a copy machine will work. The only thing that will not work is an ink jet copy. When you print your image, do not forget to reverse it so that when it's transferred onto the plaque it is the right way. This is especially important if your image includes lettering, or is a photo of your family home which you are giving to your mother as a gift.

Paint the printed image with a nice, even coating of gel medium. Carefully lay it on the plaque, making sure there are no bubbles, and smooth it down. Try not to press it over the edge of the plaque, and wipe up any gel medium that oozes over the edge. That stuff dries as hard as plastic and is a real pain to get off without marring the edges of your image. Let it dry for 24 hours.

The next day, set the plaque face down in a shallow dish with a little water & let it soak for a minute. It is so awesome, just like magic the image will be transferred onto the wood. Now you must carefully rub the paper off. You can do it under running water, or you can rub some off, soak for a minute, rub the paper, soak, etc. until it's almost all the way off then finish under running water, which is what I did. After it dries, you will notice that there is still some paper left and you'll have to wet it and rub it some more. This will happen a few times before all of the paper is gone. Tiny bits of the image will get rubbed off too, but it just adds to the home made coolness of the plaque.

Ta-da! Another fabulous handmade gift that will be sure to warm the heart of the lucky receiver.

PS: don't forget that there are many wonderful artists offering lots of lovely handmade items for sale this Season and all throughout the year! Even if you aren't into making all of your presents, consider buying handmade gifts this year and support small businesses! Although I am partial, these are two of my faves-

Red Scorpio Crafts & Art

Shadoan Photographic Arts

34 Days "til Christmas - My Favorite Handmade Gifts - Shrink Plastic Pendant

34 days until Christmas and I still have so many things to do. Pretty much everything. I should take my own advice and start busting out some cool handmade stuff to give to all of the people on my list. Maybe I will make a few of these shrink plastic pendants. They are super easy and look really awesome. Best of all, if you have any #6 plastic take out containers, they are just about free.

More & more restaurants are switching to #1 and #2 plastic for take out boxes, and that is wonderful because #1 & #2 can be easily recycled, in fact those are the only 2 kinds my recycle bin accepts. If you do happen upon some #6, save it to make shrinkies. You will be helping the planet by not tossing more plastic into the trash and you get to enjoy a super fun and easy craft. Win-win. If you can't get your hands on #6 plastic, shrink plastic is readily available at craft stores and in the craft department of Target, Walmart, etc.

awesome necklace

You will need:
#6 take out container or store bought shrink plastic
Sharpies
Colored Pencils
Hole punch
Scissors
Craft heat gun
Jump rings, wire, cording, or something of your choosing from which to hang your pendant.


Let's start with the design. I wanted to make a cool pendant for my Mom's birthday gift, and I happened to have a fierce pic of my Mom and my dad Bob. First, I had to tweak it a little by making it black & white and adjusting the contrast. You can find out how to do this by Googling "picture to stencil". Here is a great Instructable on the subject. Don't get hung up on trying to get a super smooth edge. You will be tracing the pic and therefore can take a whole lot of liberties. Alternately you could find some cool clip art. Your original image should be no bigger than 5"x5"and probably no smaller than 3"x3".

Make sure your container is very clean. Cut out an appropriately sized piece, making sure there is nothing stamped on it (like a big ol' #6). You should lightly sand it with fine grit sandpaper if you are using colored pencils or if you want a more opaque look but if you use Sharpies sanding is not necessary. Tape the plastic to the image you're tracing. This is a very important step, trust me. Start with the outline and the big obvious shapes, then add in the details. For a monochromatic piece like this one, make sure you leave blank spaces, in the hair for example, to give it texture. If you are using a Sharpie you will notice that it "marks" areas that you have already colored. Don't worry about that, you will not be able to tell once you've shrunk it down.

these sunglasses look all googly now, but they won't in a minute

 If you make a mistake you can erase it with a Q-tip barely moistened with rubbing alcohol. Once you are satisfied with your design, trim the plastic down to a neat shape and punch your hole. Or holes, depending on how you want your pendant to hang. I made mine into a beaded necklace, so I punched a hole in each top corner. A regular office-type hole punch is perfect. The holes will seem huge but shrink down to just the right size. Place your plastic on a heat proof surface and shrink it with your crafty heat gun. You could use a toaster oven, if you have a spare, but I wouldn't shrink plastic in something I cook food in, and the heat gun works great.  ***Before you shrink have a flat bottomed glass handy (with no lettering on the bottom!)  so you can press your piece flat if you need to, and try not to blast the plastic off the table with the forced air of the heat gun. It is going to curl up so don't freak out. It should straighten itself out, but if not, you can tweak it into submission while it's still hot. And it will be very hot, so be careful.










Here is the result! Store bought shrink plastic may give a soother finish (although I wouldn't know, I've never bought the stuff) but I like this imperfect "wabi-sabi" finish. If you're feeling extra creative, colored pencils work great as well and are permanent once you shrink them. My Mom loved her necklace and I bet your Mom would too. I think I will now go make some shrink plastic ornaments for my tree.





PS: don't forget that there are many wonderful artists offering lots of lovely handmade items for sale this Season and all throughout the year! Consider buying handmade gifts this year and support small businesses! Although I am partial, these are two of my faves-

Red Scorpio Crafts & Art

Shadoan Photographic Arts

35 Days 'til Christmas - My Favorite Handmade Gifts - Infused Vodka

There are 35 days left until Christmas! And it's the perfect time to make handmade gifts, so I will be sharing some of my favorite handmade gift ideas. My #1 rule for handmade gifts is "Would I like to receive this as a present?" Because frankly, there are some pretty weird and kind of lame craft ideas out there.  This one is very well received.

I'm going to tell you how I make it, then you can tailor it to your own circumstances. I happen to have a large empty Vodka bottle on hand (at all times) so I buy a large bottle of Costco Vodka and pour half into the empty bottle and leave half in its original bottle. There is no need to buy expensive Vodka for this project. Decent Vodka works great. Actually, Costco Vodka is very good and it happens to be the cheapest per ounce, so that is what I use. Put 1/4 cup of cracked black pepper and 1/4 cup of crushed red peppers in each bottle, close tightly and let it infuse for at least a week. I am posting this as the first gift idea because I think the longer it sits, the better it tastes. Decant into pretty bottles for giving, straining out the solids. The Vodka will be tinted by the peppers, so you can make custom labels and call it "Dirty Vodka" or something sexy like that. My life's theme is black & red, so I make black & red labels and call it "Two Pepper Vodka" with a warning that it is extremely hot. That's it, couldn't be easier. I've made this for a few years now and I actually get requests for it around Holiday time.

Cheers!

PS: don't forget that there are many wonderful artists offering lots of lovely handmade items for sale this Season and all throughout the year! Consider buying handmade gifts this year and support small businesses! Although I am partial, these are two of my faves-

Red Scorpio Crafts & Art

Shadoan Photographic Arts

More Birdie Drama...

Last week there was all kinds of drama involving our quail hatchlings, so this week the grown-up birds decided to raise a ruckus.

We've had a small flock of Japanese quail for almost three years. We are down to five now, the two chicks and a threesome of adults. Buddy and his two girlfriends usually get along just fine, however, once or twice a year, the girls try to murder Buddy. They are pretty savage about it, and honestly I have lost more birds to quail on quail violence than any other cause. Generally I just remove Buddy for a couple of days and when I put him back everyone gets along as though nothing has happened.

That didn't work this time. This time when Buddy was reintroduced, the attacks commenced immediately. It took me several minutes to figure out that the girls didn't want Buddy around because they were broody. Well, one of them was broody, and her sister was going to defend her to the death. This turn of events was astounding to me because quail very rarely go broody. Like never. But there she was, trying to spread her body out to cover eight tiny eggs. It looked so cute, I didn't have the heart to take them away from her. I figured "what the Hell", and let her try to hatch her own babies for once in her life. The main problem with this scenario was that her sister was not broody and therefore kept on laying a tiny (and without Buddy, infertile) egg every day, one that the wanna-be mama gathered up under her fluffy breast to be set upon. As you can imagine, this was a hilarious sight albeit a losing proposition. I doubted any of those few fertile eggs would ever be properly incubated but I let her set on them anyway because, hey, you never know. But yeah, none of them hatched.

After a few days I tried to put Buddy back with his harem. Unfortunately, he was no longer welcome and now the poor guy lives all by himself, next door to his former lovers and BFFs. So sad! He used to pick the choice crumbles out of the feeder and set them on the ground for the girls to eat. He was such a good mate & I bet they just took him for granted.

New Additions to the Homestead in the Suburbs...

It has been a rough couple of weeks over here! It started with plumbing problems that stymied us for days, until, through sheer will and tenacity, my sweet husband was finally able to get us back on track and draining properly.

Then, my quail hatch did not go as planned. When my young Showgirl pullet, Liza, became broody, I tried to break her bad habit. Instead the broodiness spread to her mama, my darling Silkie, Elsa. For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to stick some of my quails' fertile eggs under them. If they're going to be parked on the nest all dang day they might as well be doing something, right? Wrong. Turns out Liza is not the "Mother Hen" that Elsa is, because she killed the hatchlings.  I managed to save two chicks and set them up in their own cage and they are doing fine.

A few days later, our washing machine suddenly croaked. Eesh. No wonder I haven't had time to do anything fun and creative.

Here are some quail chick pix and a short video for your amusement.

taking shelter under Mama

two lucky chicks

taken right before Liza pecked that chick. she was immediately removed.

If You're Going to Make that Curtain, You Need to Know How to Make Jump Rings...

Jump rings are so cheap and easy to make, there is really no reason to buy them ready made.

 Tightly wrap your wire around a smooth rod like this pencil. (Note: wood pencils don't work as well because the wire tends to "bite" into the wood.) Something plastic and straight works best. For the curtain project the rings don't need to be perfect. For jewelry, make your rings very tight and close together.

 Once you have wrapped your wire, slide it off the rod. This is why you need a rod that's smooth and straight.

 Use flush cut pliers to snip the coil into rings.

Enjoy your pile of jump rings. That's it!

Grown-Up Popsicle Stick Project

It's been a rough week here in Red Scorpio Land. Besides making super cool bracelets and arbitrary art projects, I also have a small flock of pet chickens, and those dang birds were giving me all sorts of troubles this week. But we'll save that story for another day. Today we are talking about one of my seemingly random whims, and the awesome popsicle stick "bead" curtain I made.

My husband and I like to have our dinner out on the front porch when the weather is nice, but at a certain time in the evening (dinner time) the sun sets just so in the sky, causing my dear husband to squint and turn in his seat at an odd angle. I offer to switch places with him, but he is a gentleman through and through and of course says, "I'm fine" and goes on eating his dinner while the sun blasts him in the side of the face.  My left brain contemplated a solution to this problem while my right brain demanded it be adorable and creative This is what I came up with:

it's a Mermaid

And this is how I made it:

First step, eat a lot of popsicles. Just kidding! You can buy already popsicle-free sticks at any craft store. First step is to drill a hole in each end. I have a Dremel drill press which makes this step pretty easy, but it is tedious and requires your undivided attention. Not my favorite part of this project but obviously crucial. I tried drilling more than one stick at a time but it took longer to get a nice straight stack of sticks than to just drill them one by one. If I make more of these curtains, I will probably make some sort of jig to simplify this step and speed the process. It is very important to drill them in the correct spot (close to the edge), and to make a nice splinter-free hole. This curtain took 329 sticks.

Lay them out super straight, making sure the columns line up properly or your image won't look right when the curtain is hung. Tape them into position. You may be tempted to skip this step and just decorate as is, but I think that is a bad idea. You need the sticks to remain in position for your image to look right, and these little buggers do not want to stay in formation on their own. I will skip the plain masking tape next time and just use more blue tape to make it easier to peel the sticks off when it is time to string the curtain. Before you flip the curtain, number the top row of sticks with a pencil to avoid any mix ups.

I sponged on watered down red paint for a stained look, then ironed on a stencil cut from magical freezer paper and sprayed it with silver paint. The image looked sort of washed out so I traced the outlines with a red sharpie. Next time I will use a bolder design and more high contrast colors. This image is a little too subtle, but there was not a whole lot I could do at this point so I just went with it.

Once the paint is dry, it's time to string the sticks together using jump rings. I made my own, but you can buy them already made. They are super easy to make and much much cheaper, but they kill your hands and wrists, so it depends on what is more important to you. I like to think that pain builds character. Yeah. Carefully peel the sticks off one column at a time and chain them together. Hopefully you took my advice and numbered them. It will be much easier to keep track if you did. You can either add a ring to the top hole now or wait until you attach the curtain to the rod, whatever you prefer. You will save a half step by adding the ring later when you attach it.

This curtain is 47 columns wide, so I drilled 47 pilot holes one popsicle-stick-plus-a-smidge apart, then screwed 47 eye screws into the dowel. I also screwed 2 into the top of the dowel for hanging. They only had large eye screws at the 99¢ store and really didn't feel like going to Home Depot, so that's what I used. I would make a special trip to the HD for small eye screws next time because these were too big and industrial looking.

So that's it. It looks pretty, even though the design is way too delicate, and it makes a lovely sound when the breeze blows, like a soft muted wind chime. Most importantly, it keeps the sun of my sweet husband's face. Sounds like a winner.

Another "Down & Dirty" sewing project...

I found this adorable hat at the 99¢ store, only problem was the dang thing wouldn't stay on my head. No worries, I've got a remedy for that problem and it involves my trusty sewing machine, Sew (pronounced "Sue").

I made some lovely ties from some fabric scraps and attached them to the hat. Pretty easy! It probably would have looked even nicer if I weren't too lazy to change Sew's thread. I could still add some embellishment to cover the stitches. I tried to make a matching band but the hat is too slopey so I took the lazy way and just covered the stitches with some white paint. It looks fine, you guys.

plain hat. looks good on Pooh though.

scrap of fabric folded wrong side out, pinned and pressed

straight stitch along the edge, then diagonal at the end for a fancy point

turn out and pinned to the inside edge of the brim

then stitched into place

looking good, Pooh!

Sew magical!

Sewing is magical and here's a quickie project that proves it. I work from home, therefore I do not wear pants with pockets. Or zippers or buttons. Confession: I wear denim leggings all the time. Like, all. the. time.

But I am forever wishing I had a pocket, especially to carry around my phone. Recently, I picked up a couple of tool aprons from Home Depot for a buck or two, and then I magically transformed them into a cute little work apron to tote my phone and other necessities while I wear my stretch pants.

don't judge me because I'm messy

Here is the original apron. Kind of ugly, right? (Yes, that is my pressing table and yes, I know it is messy and cluttered. I tried to crop that part out. ) Another thing I didn't like about the original is it has two large pockets, and I would prefer more and smaller pockets. We can kill 3 birds with one stone here and cover that gross Home Depot ad, make the pockets smaller and increase the amount of pockets.

there are always scraps of red plaid fabric lying around my studio

I am a plus sized gal, so I dolled-up two aprons and then tied two of the strings together sort of permanently in the back and then wear the apron by tying it on in the front, which cured another of my pet peeves, tying aprons behind my back. I am not good at it. Here, I have attached a pocket by taking a scrap of fabric, folding the edges under and stitching it into place. I wasn't super concerned about straightness or anything like that. This was a pretty down & dirty project because that is how I roll.

no need to turn under the T-shirt.

stitch verrry close to the edge

of course I carry two pair of scissors, doesn't everyone?

For the next apron, I cut a piece out of an old T-shirt and pinned that down and stitched it on, then fancied it up with another scrap of plaid fabric. There are now 13 pockets of various sizes between the two aprons! Here they are with some stuff stuck in them.

And here is my model, Pooh, showing of the finished product. Please ignore the pile of crap behind him.

I have been a busy bee, cranking out bracelets like mad.

Now I'm getting ready to start something totally different and I am excited about it! Details soon...

Homemeade Yogurt: Check!

I finally did it you guys. I actually followed through and made the yogurt. And it went pretty well, I must say. Although for some reason I doubled the recipe and made a gallon of yogurt and now have enough to feed a small army. Why do I do these things?? I think I must have starved to death in a former life because I habitually make way too much food.

So making the yogurt was fairly easy. I used the recipe from Jennifer Reese's  Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, an amazing book and one I highly recommend. I make "cheese" so I have some basic equipment such as a thermometer and cheesecloth ( real cheesecloth, AKA butter muslin, that cheese makers use and not the gauzy stuff you find at the grocery store). Yogurt itself is just two ingredients, milk and yogurt with active cultures (also referred to as "the starter"), 1/8 cup of yogurt to 1/2 gallon of milk. (DO NOT do what I did and double this recipe unless you have 20 people living in your home). I used some ripe plums, pluots and nectarines I had on hand to make the fruit "jam", basically cut up fruit and a little water boiled into a chunky syrup. Mmmmmm!

Ok, so step one is make sure everything is clean since you are basically leaving milk out all night to spoil. Don't want any bonus cooties in it, right? Heat the milk to 185º over medium high heat, or just before the boiling point if you don't have a thermometer. You really should get a thermometer though. It takes out the guess work and they cost like $5, maybe less. You can stir constantly or just let it do it's thing (guess what I did).  If you use a non-stick pot, cleanup is super easy. The milk skin peels right off and dogs and chickens go nuts over this special treat. While you heat the milk, let your yogurt starter sit at room temp. Once the milk reaches temperature, pour it into a clean non-metallic bowl. I used my crockpot (turned off) because it has a lid and it's kind of insulated. Wait for the milk to cool to 110º and then mix in the starter. It takes forever for the hot milk to cool. Ms. Reese suggests using an ice bath if you are impatient. I just puttered around the kitchen, occasionally checking the thermometer and stirring. When it finally cools, mix in the yogurt very well and then cover it up and bundle it with a big towel to keep it as close to 110º as possible while the friendly little bacteria work their magic. I was paranoid about keeping the yogurt at the correct temperature. This is probably the one thing that kept me from trying to make this for so long. But Jennifer Reese made it seem like no big deal and I trusted her. She was right, because this morning I had a crockpot full of yogurt.

You don't need cheesecloth to make yogurt, but you do if you want to take the extra step of straining out some of the whey for a thicker final product. Supermarket cheesecloth will work, but the weave is super loose and so you'll need to double it up, and still stuff will leak through. Also, you can really only use it one time, as opposed to REAL cheesecloth or muslin which can be washed and used repeatedly. You can also use and old sheet or thin cotton towel (washed of course) or plain old muslin from the fabric store. Line a colander with your cloth and spoon in the yogurt, then wait half an hour or so. Put your colander over a bowl to catch the whey and use it for baking. Chickens and dogs love it too. I pour it on their food and they lick their bowls clean. The dogs do, the chickens don't, because their tongues are weird and tiny.

I will definitely be making this on a regular basis, but only a quart at a time. And I will let it ferment for 8 hours as opposed to 12, since the longer it sits, the tangier it gets and this was pretty tangy. If you make your own yogurt, please let me know how yours turns out in the comments.

crockpot full of yogurt

fruit at the bottom

Hubby's yogurt ready to go

this is what's left after filling 6 small containers. Yikes!