craftnotes

Ibis is a Color

2009-06-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

I always thought it was a bird, but I am assured it is also a color, that looks nothing like the bird. This was made for Ornament Thursday's month of Ibis. The woman is a sculpture that popped out of my hands one day. She's made from polymer clay with a dash of cracked peppercorn added for spice. I'm thinking of calling her Fleur... maybe Pepper? Any suggestions are welcome.
mz

Ornament Thursday Ode to Aubergine

2009-04-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ode to Aubergine
Just as Julia Childs would say
If she were with us today,
O Aubergine
the colour that is purply black,
O Aubergine
Without you- life would surely lack.

Ok, so there is a reason I’m an unknown poet. Need I say more on this subject?

Helen’s birthday and off to a bead show we went. Armed with $20 I challenged myself to build a showy yet polymer-clay-free aubergine something-or-other from bits at the bead show without going over my $20. I must admit that I’ve seen this style of something on top of something a few places. The unique thing about it is that I made it, and I had enough cash left over for a hotdog, until Helen charged me $1.50 to use a couple of her jump rings. The things we do for jump rings.
mz

Boston Marathon Bib #6728 and 1/4

2009-04-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

Shshshshshshhh! This little fellow named Irving is secretly sneaking into the Boston Marathon to keep my friend Frank Vallin company at Heartbreak Hill. Don't tell Frank. Irving wants to be a surprise! Here's to keeping well hydrated! Give a shout out to Frank (and Irving) as they fly (and slime) through the streets of Boston next week.

The Celadon Dreamer - OT

2009-03-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

The woman's shape is a prototype of a sculpture I made for Kristine of Krafty Lady Art Moulds. I had some fun with the prototypes and made a couple boxes that I then shipped off to a couple of wonderful people and amazing artists, Debra Quartermain and Marie Browning. They put their one of a kind talents to work and made the boxes their own. This one went to Marie Browning and the box is the happier for it!

Another Dreamer (similar to this but not Celadon!) has been sent as an auction item to the Indiana Polymer Clay Guild's benefit for Ponsawan Silapiruti's daughter Ada. The amazing Christi Friesen is teaching workshops at the benefit. For more details about Ada and the workshops go to http://silastones.blogspot.com/.MZ

My Celadon project is a bracelet I made for someone who was leaving North Bay and heading to SF to continue her studies. She always wore cool jewellery so I wanted to make her something special to wear. The flower is a mold that Michelle made and the leaves are Michelle's designs for Krafty Lady Art Moulds. The bracelet features a Swarovski crystal bead and additional celadon polymer clay beads.

I love these flowers and leaf combinations and I have one in reverse too - pink leaves and celadon flower - it's funky but I love it too. HB

Michelle's Easter project for JoAnn

2009-03-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last year Michelle designed this too cool Easter project for AMACO and JoAnn.

Today I opened my Easter email from JoAnn and - guess what? - there was a photo of the chicks there and a link to the how to project on JoAnn.com.

I'm not sure what the female chick will say to carrying last year's handbag - she was really a very high fashion gal and that bag is so - well - yesterday ;)

So, when you make your chick, please give her an up to date look - she will thank you!

Easter door knob?!

2009-03-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

Meet Winky, the Easter Bunny’s ne’er-do-well sister. Hide the carrot juice and permanent markers. Winky gets a little crazy helping out brother bunny with the holiday decorations. Warrants have been issued in some areas as a result of some amazing graffiti.

Winky is made of polymer clay and coated with oil paint. I started making a portrait of myself and well, sometimes other characters just shine through the best of intentions.

I’m also not confirming or denying that Winky may or may not be a door knob as I posted in a previous moment of weakness a promise never to attach unannounced door knobs to Helen’s work station again. I’m not confirming or denying that either…
mz

Faux Dichroic glass bottle

2009-03-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Michelle has been playing around with some faux dichroic effects and one of her pieces is this wonderful glass bottle. It is an effect you can recreate with any glass bottle, large or small – imagine how neat it would look on a recycled perfume bottle?

Materials
* Recycled wine bottle
* Bottle pourer (available from www.fantes.com/stoppers.htm)
* 12 oz black Fimo Soft polymer clay
* 2' x 8" Mylar backed foil – Oil Slick color (from www.coveredinclay.com/foil.htm)
* Jacquard Piñata ink – Santa Fe Red and Sunburst Yellow
* Lumiere paints in Metallic Olive, Pearl Blue, Pearl Violet
* Envirotex Lite
* Houston art foil – variegated leafing flakes
* PearlEx powder - Brilliant Gold

Tools
* Pasta machine or clay roller
* Tissue blade
* Large discarded plastic bucket or container
* Discarded plastic container to stand the bottle on
* For mixing Envirotex Lite: 2 disposable mixing cups, 2 wooden popsicle sticks, gloves
* Disposable paintbrush
* Curing oven

1. Condition clay. Roll sheets of clay at #1 (thick) setting approximately 3/8 inch thick. Use clay pieces to cover bottle – trimming away excess clay with a tissue blade and sealing joints to get an even coverage. Cover bottle to within ½ in of opening (polymer clay should not come in contact with surfaces which touch food).

Remove any air bubbles by slicing into the air bubble with a tissue blade or craft knife held at a 45 degree angle, press out the air and reseal the clay. It’s essential you get a good even coverage.

2. Apply the Mylar backed foil to the clay decorative side facing up. Rub the foil lightly but firmly with your hand repeatedly to warm the foil and then lift the plastic leaving the foil behind – foil adheres to clay with heat and friction. Continue and apply foil all over the bottle. Aim for just less than 100% coverage – small areas of black clay are desirable.

3. Using Lumiere paints and a small paintbrush, paint random long brushstrokes across the bottle. Cross the colors over each other – you’re aiming to give the project more dimension and color.

4. Using the Piñata inks, dip a brush into the inks and touch the brush to the surface of the bottle to make small dots. The inks spread on the clay so a little ink goes a long way.

5. Place the bottle into a cold oven preferably standing upright. Heat the oven to the required temperature with the bottle in it and then cure for the amount of time and at the temperature recommended by the manufacturer. Allow the bottle to cool in the oven before removing it.

6. Mix the Envirotex Lite according to manufacturer’s instructions. It works best if you pour both parts into one container and stir to mix. Pour the mix into a second container – do not scrape the excess off the sides of the first container when you do so. Continue to mix in the second container using a fresh stirring stick.

7. Stand the cured bottle on top of an upturned discarded container in the large bucket. It works best if the bottle is standing on a container slightly smaller than the bottom rim of the bottle. As the excess Envirotex Lite won’t be able to be removed from the containers, use containers you don’t mind damaging.

8. Add approximately 2 tablespoons of the variegated foil pieces and 1/8 teaspoon of gold PearlEx powder to the Envirotex Lite and mix in.

9. Place an old cork into the wine bottle to seal it. Working over the bucket, pour the Envirotex Lite over the surface of the bottle and work it in so it covers the surface of the bottle. This is best done with a disposable paint brush or a gloved hand. You must completely cover the bottle with the Envirotex Lite.

10. When the bottle is covered, stand it on the upside-down container in the bucket, remove the cork and leave it until set. Perching it on a container ensures that excess Envirotex Lite runs off the bottom of the bottle and won’t adhere to it.

11. When dry, remove the bottle from the bucket and remove the plastic container from the bottom of the bottle. If you need to smooth the bottom of the bottle, sand the excess set Envirotex Lite with coarse sandpaper. Insert the bottle pourer cork.

Tip
The Envirotex Lite gives the bottle a wonderful glossy seal. For best results, follow the two step mixing process and don’t scrape the first container however tempted you are to do so! The product must be mixed thoroughly so it sets to a hard finish, if you don’t mix it well and if you scrape the sides of the container, you risk it remaining slightly tacky instead of glass like – believe me, I’ve done it before!

Ornament Thursday is here!

2009-02-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

Ornament Thursday requires the use of a special kind of purple (heliotrope) this month and that calls for a special kind of earring. These are made from polymer clay and were made in such a way to show off the mica properties of the clay. One side shiny and one side dark, same clay. A twist is all you need to see both.MZ

My design this month was completed after I raided Michelle's secret box of beads. You see she and her friend Frank were putting up shelves above her desk in the studio and were busy drilling lots and lots of holes working on the principle that if they drilled enough of them they'd eventually hit a stud! They did but in the meantime they were so focused on the holes they were drilling and playing with the (very useless) stud finder that I had time to sift through her box of beads.

The box is full of clay beads she has made over the years. I turned up this set of polished beads - yeah! a perfect solution to this month's Ornament Thursday challenge. I combined them with a huge Bali silver bead I had, lots of silver bead caps and spacers and some wonderful dark purple glass beads. It took me less time to make this than it did for them to get one shelf up. Now that's what I call a productive afternoon in the studio. HB

Here's what the other Ornament Thursday team has been up to this month:

Heliotrope: Purple by any other name
Lisa waffles on what shade of purple is really "Heliotrope"

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Check out Linda's necklace and don't miss the giveaway!

Heliotrope-Ornament Thursday
Did someone say violet?

Shelly...
Michelle shares a heliotrope layout of her her and her fish!

The Lovings

2009-02-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce the Lovings. I didn't know their back story until it was explained to me. They were a mixed race couple - Mildred and Richard - who faced all sorts of trials including possible gaol sentences for marrying. The piece is a couple joined at the base - he is Caucasian, she is African American - hence they are "The Lovings".

This piece was a gift from Michelle for Christmas and it's the second in a series of these wonderfully quirky fish faces. The canes for the base were some translucent canes we made one afternoon based on a technique from Donna Kato. The faces for the pieces are molds that Michelle has made. The pieces are polymer clay and they are faces with fish bodies and colourful scales. They are finished with oil paint. We used to use acrylics and then one day discovered how much better oil paint works so the acrylics bit the dust and we now have tubes of wonderfully oily burnt sienna and burnt umber paints to age the pieces with. The oil paint gives the pieces a semi translucent look which is beautiful.

This is the first in the series, she stands on this wonderful crimson heart:

I just love these pieces, they really touch me in some deep place.

Vale Polaroid, Welcome Impossible

2009-01-19T22:51:00.000-08:00

If you, like me, am reeling from the news that Polaroid film won't be produced any more, you'll love this news. An Austrian artist is set to rescue the film. So, the news is that Polaroid film will be saved! The idea is that this guy's new company will partner with Ilford to develop and produce something compatible with SX-70 cameras and the 600 series.

You can read more about the news here.

We use Polaroid film in our art. We expose it then peel it apart before the image has developed then develop the image on a different medium. Michelle loves using the film when it has been fully processed. She heats it to release the film from the backing and she can then roll the semi transparent film onto something like these wonderful Baroque Beauty pieces. The mold here, is of course, one from the range of molds she's designed for KraftyLady Art molds.

More Friendly Plastic Ornaments!

2008-12-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't stop making Friendly Plastic ornaments. These are nice and round. No edges for the cat to whack her paw on as she helps Helen decorate the tree. These were made using a marbling comb. There's almost no wrong color combination though I plan on testing out black against black.

Have a safe and peaceful holiday season. Look for more Ornament Thursday posts in the new year. - mz

Recycled trees

My final ornament for Ornament Thursday is made from some recycled rub-on sticks of the kind that you get when you purchase alphabet rub-ons. These are from Making Memories so they’ve got Making Memories actually stamped into the surface of the wood which is why I chose them. The sticks have been painted with turquoise pearl paint and cut to size. I punched holes in them using a Crop-O-Dile and affixed large brads through the pieces to make the tree shapes.

The bottom of the Christmas tree is a cut piece of one of the sticks attached with Glossy Accents. You really have to love Glossy Accents because it really sticks anything to anything. The design is finished off with some artistic wire which has been wrapped around a knitting needle. I threaded small beads onto the wire and then incorporated them into the twisted design as I made the coil. Remove the strip from the knitting needle and all you have to do is wind it around one of the brads and then through and around the Christmas tree shape and finish it off by winding the other end around the topmost brad. The tree hangs from another piece of coiled wire. -hb

To check out what the rest of the ornament Thursday team has been doing this week, visit: http://www.ornamentthursday.blogspot.com/

Lovely Little Matching Number

2008-12-16T23:59:00.000-08:00

What better for an elf to go holiday shopping in than a set of matching heels and purse? Who could resist the glitter of Swarovski cystals and the Pavelka stamp design (from JHB) set into shiny Fimo clay! These are a "Looking Good" addition to anyone's tree. - mz

Fun with Modge Podge
This week’s ornament is one that I’ve made some time ago but which I really still love. It’s a simple glass ball that has been decoupaged with black Mulberry paper, thin red tissue and some beautiful old music paper of which I had a couple of sheets and which I keep every last scrap of because it’s just so gorgeous. The combination of black, red and old paper really works for this ornament. It’s a simple process to decoupage the papers onto the ornament with Modge Podge and finish off with a final layer of Modge Podge just to seal it. And when the Modge Podge dries all over your hands you get to do that scary kid thing and peel it off like you're peeling off layers of skin - eeewwww
-hb

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Make a Confetti Ring to Wear at Your Next Holiday Party!

Holiday Sparkly Fan Pull
Lisa creates a dress up look for a ceiling fan

Linda's snowman
Some paper, beads, and fabric are transformed into an adorable snow guy.

Ornaments so easy... even a kid can do them!
A recycled idea from last year using pearl UTEE!

Poinsettia Madness
Beautiful poinsettias in glass.

Poinsettia Ornament
Polymer clay and glittery snow recreate a Christmas memory

Shiny Little Things
Felting for the Festivities!

Strands of Beads
Melissa has a quicker than quick snowball pendant for a perfect last minute gift.

Friendly Plastic Ornament Recipe

2008-12-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

Melt Friendly Plastic, swirl it around and cut out the pretty design with your favorite ornament cookie cutter. Pop an eyelet in and hang. Tada! A simple recipe for hours of fun. - mz

So, I'm Sewing again?
Continuing in my sewing theme for Ornament Thursday, I have a cute pair of felt mittens. I made my own pattern for the mittens, cut them out of felt and then sewed around all but the top edge and filled with fiber fill. I used some off-white wool roving to needle felt the cuffs.

The mittens are tacked together so that they’ll sit neatly and I used a metal snowflake brad on each to decorate them. An additional snowflake brad is attached to the felted cuff of the front mitten. The mittens hang from a piece of light cord. I really think that even though my first two ornaments this Christmas have been sewn it’s time to look for another medium next week - hb.

Now, it's time to surf over to check out what everyone else has been up to this week.

Cindy Gimbrone Puts Up Her Xmas Tree!
Fused Glass Xmas tree ornament sparkles from Cindy's real Xmas tree.

Gingham and beads and buttons, oh my
Counterchanges smocked gingham forms the foundation for this homespun ornament

HHH Enterprises
We are pleased to have this special guest join us this month!

My Favorite Things in an Ornament!
Lisa shares a special gift ornament

New Beaded Ornament
See our special guest's beautiful creation!

Secret Garden Christmas Tree Ornament
Michelle's got a special tree from the Botanicabella collection!

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off a simple winter rose bracelet project this week.

Christmas Past

2008-12-02T23:59:00.000-08:00

These lovely holiday skulls are all the rage and just the ticket for decorating ye olde cell phones. They're made from polymer clay and shaped using an AMACO bead roller. Just change the color combo and they make a nifty Hanukkah present as well. -MZ

Felt Ornament
I’m not quite sure what happened this Christmas but I ended up sewing some of my ornaments. Sewing is way from being my strong point but I guess there is just something very tactile about felt that drew me to it this year.

This first ornament is two simple circles of olive green felt which have been sewed together and filled with some fiberfill. I tacked some gold and white trim around the edge of the circles and used a flower brad which I think is from K & Company as a decoration. One simple bow at the bottom of the ornament and a loop of matching ribbon at the top and — well — I have something that’s not only very simple to make but which I also think is kind of cute. HB

Check out the work of the rest of the Ornament Thursday team here.

The Cat’s Attitude of Gratitude

2008-10-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

When I was a young thing I fell head over heels in love with the neighbor’s cat. She drooled a lot due to an injury but the soppiness was easily overlooked because she was loving and grateful to be loved.

When she visited I sat out on the stoop, groomed her with my hairbrush (mom never knew that part) and gave her treats from our fridge. Occasionally she’d arrive with treats for me too - like live mice and lizards. We spent many stolen hours together on that stoop - some of them with me screaming!

She was a great cat and I offer this in honor of her attitude of gratitude. I’ve taken the liberty of making sure the mouse used in the piece was NOT alive but made of wood. -MZ

If you'd like to see what the rest of the Ornament Thursday folk are up to this month, here they are:

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's grateful for Ornament Thursday!

Gratitude Screen
Michelle's grateful for OT!

Linda shares her expression of gratitude
Of course there's a story behind Linda's shadowbox on the BeadStyleMag.com blog

Lisa looks at the meaning of the word
Just some reflection this month

Ornament Thursday - Gratitude
I am grateful that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Journals
Check out Brandi Lung-Gill's site too.

There are so many ways to say thank you
Our own Helen Bradley at http design puts wordle.net to work to create these earrings which say thank you in so many ways.

Thank you! in so many different languages

2008-10-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

I have a new love, Wordle.net. Visit the site, type a few words and click a button and you have a fantastic word cloud created for you. You can choose your fonts and colours and you can use your word cloud wherever you like.

I took a Word Cloud I'd made using the word Thank You spelled out in some languages of the places I have visited recently or will be visiting, like French, Spanish, Thai, Italian and printed the cloud at a small size onto Shrink Plastic front and back.

Punch a large circle from the plastic and then make a small circle for hanging and heat to shrink. I finished my "Gratitude" earrings with some chain and findings. Too much fun. - HB

If you'd like to see what the rest of the Ornament Thursday folk are up to this month, here they are:

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's grateful for Ornament Thursday!

Gratitude Screen
Michelle's grateful for OT!

Linda shares her expression of gratitude
Of course there's a story behind Linda's shadowbox on the BeadStyleMag.com blog

Lisa looks at the meaning of the word
Just some reflection this month

Ornament Thursday - Gratitude
I am grateful that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Journals
Check out Brandi Lung-Gill's site too.

Cat's Attitude of Gratitude
Our own Michelle at http design has a fun take on gratitude - think about it - what do cats give you when they love you? Mice!

Enjoy the creative talent of Evelien Lohbeck

2008-10-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

Oh wow. I love creative stuff and this is high up on the list. It is a winning entry in a Dutch film festival and it's funny, creative and very smart. Thanks to Susan over at the Daily Art Muse for the post where I found out about this:

Enjoy!

Friendly Plastic Open Challenge

2008-09-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

AMACO just announced that they're having a Friendly Plastic open challenge. Check out the challenge details here.

It's an open challenge for general crafters as well as designers. Feel free to post this information on your own blog or any other appropriate forum. We can use the help getting the word out.

They'll put all entries up on their website and the items themselves, depending on what they are, will be either auctioned off to raise money or donated. The more people that participate the better.

Among others, there's a Bottle of Hope category with donations going to the Hasbro Children's Hospital, and a Butterfly category with the butterflies going to the Holocaust Museum Houston.

The butterfly exhibit is scheduled for 2012. Can you imagine 1.5 million butterflies? Check here for more information about the Butterfly Project.

It's not easy being green

2008-09-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

I bought a big (to me) screen TV and was singing along with Wizard of Oz while pondering the brew project. Then my favorite character the beautifully green Wicked Witch of the West was before me in 31.5 inch HDTV widescreen glory. I wanted to BE her! I offer you this lovely lapel pin that isn't a doorknob and which strangely looks a lot like me, but with green and oily skin.

From now on
I'll be history,
I'll be his...,
I'll be history
And OT will glorify my name!
I will be a bust,
Be a bust,
Be a bust,
In the hall of fame!

Tra la la la la la la la la la la
Tra la la la la la la
Tra la la la la la la la la la la
Tra la la la la la la

-MZ

Now check around and see what the other OT members have "brewed" for you this month:

BeadStyle & Milwaukee's heritage
Linda shares her Amber Bock Bracelet

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
New Beads are Brewing...

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble...
Joolz by Lisa has a "Hairy" Twist on OT Brew.

The Art Bead Scene
Jennifer's Not-So-Scary Halloween Bracelet

Brew'in up a few Witches
Witches born of glass

Strands of Beads
Something wicked is brewing at Melissa's place

Swelldesigner
Alexa stirs it up with this retro witch wall hanging!

Another cover - and I'm hooked

2008-09-15T17:09:00.002-07:00

I am officially addicted to having my art appear on magazine covers.

I get such a trip from seeing my work there. This month, Get Creative in Australia has my 3D popup birthday cake card on the cover. I really hoped I would get this cover. The article was perfectly timed, it is the magazine's birthday issue and this cake card is so wonderful.

While paper engineering isn't my forte, this card came together so well and it really is a very smart design. It folds flat and then assembles with two pieces of double sided tape - how cool is that. It comes complete with its own built in candle! It features papers from the wonderful Sassafras Lass collection too.

If you're in Australia, you'll find it at good newsagents and Spotlight stores. Inside, in addition to a template and instructions for the card, I also have a rebuilt notebook project and a method for making cute scrunchy wire beads using packing peanuts.

Enjoy!

Michelle's Edumacation

2008-08-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

This month’s Ornament Thursday theme is Academia. Last month’s theme was Red Hot. I thought I’d be smart and redecorate Helen’s work station without her knowledge. Not so smart of me. Turns out I was suddenly assigned the cleaning of that desk including dusting the designer door knob.

This month I have learned the error of my ways and recognize that my first designer door knob might not have been the best choice (or at least putting it on Helen’s desk was sorta stupid). I now offer an innocent yet educated cherub-like face designer door knob using a Krafty Lady art mold. I have graduated. No more door knob redecorations… after this one. Really. I swear. MZ

Check out the wonderful work done by the other Ornament Thursday members this month:

Art Bead Scene & The Golden Rule
The Art Bead Scene editor shares a few words of wisdom for jewelry designers.

Back to School-Make your own Pencils
School is back in session, everyone needs new pencils. Why not glass?

BeadStyle goes back to school
Lindsay Haedt's on her way to the classroom, but not before Linda shares one of her recent designs

Beading Help Web Wires Up Academia
Lynn Kvigne to read! While you can easily use a scrap of paper or an old magazine subscription card for a bookmark, why not whip up a stylish book mark instead?

Check out the "homework" project from Joolz by Lisa
A collab effort works out great when you plan ahead

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's learned how to Mail!

First Day
Michelle's School Book - it's academic!

Swelldesigner goes crazy over school supplies!
Alexa shows you how to turn pencil grips into ultra funky accessories

I'm a cover junkie

2008-08-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

It's confession time, I am a total cover junkie.

It gets like this, you know your stuff will be in a certain magazine in a certain month so that is, pretty much a given. What you don't know is when you will get a cover. It might be a line or two describing your project, it might be a small image or it might be the whole enchilada.

It's the first thing I look for - did I get a cover?

This month, when the September preview issue of Get Creative arrived from Australia, I knew I had some fun pieces. One of them is a minibook on graffiti and I had 'altered' my face in a photo giving myself glasses and a moustache and goatee beard. They published it all! And I had this wonderful painted card which I love more than nearly anything I have done before and a cute felt necklace. But no cover..

Well, it took me about half a dozen times of looking at the cover before I realised OMG I got the whole enchilada! My necklace was the lead photo on the cover - I'd been looking at the panels down the side but there it was! How cool is that?

I loved this necklace and lived with making it through Photoshop World in Orlando and a flight to New Orleans and back. I'd pack a mini sewing kit with all my felt pieces, fiber fill and beads and take it with me. I'd sit on the plane or waiting for classes and sew darts into felt, sew and fill I don't know how many felt strawberries, I'd bead them then top them with little stalks. It took weeks of 'filler' time to complete. And was it worth it? Yeah! it looked so cute on the cover.

Inside they described it as having "an innocent retro charm" - I was so stoked that they 'got it' and they saw it for what it was and went with it. I love these folks, they make a great magazine which gets better each month and they are committed to showcasing a range of stuff from very current mainstream to some funky cool ideas. I don't know if Australian crafters know what a gem of a magazine this is, if you're an Aussie crafter, I suggest you check it out.

DIY screen printing...

2008-08-07T12:58:00.001-07:00

If you've been following my recent posts, I've got a thing for screen printing right now. Here's another great tutorial - this time it uses embroidery hoops to hold the fabric for the screen and Modge Podge to make the screen. It's too cool, too simple, too clever and you have to love it.

Check it out at ThreadBanger - there's even a video to watch to see how it's done.

Printing with Gocco

2008-08-06T12:09:00.001-07:00

1. Create your image(s), originally uploaded by mariss+drew.

If you are like me you have a cool Gocco printer tucked away in a cupboard that you've never used. Ok, you use the cupboard but not the printer if we're going to delve into semantics here.

So, this Flickr user has created a cool step-by-step Gocco tutorial that will take you all the way through the process. Armed with the concepts you now have no excuse for not digging out the printer, fire off a bulb or two and get printing.

Come to think of it, Christmas is just around the corner (and about a mile up the road), so why not dig it out, dust it off (find something else to fill the cupboard space - I'm thinking the new paper range from Sassafras Lass) and get printing. I think I will.

Red Hot!

2008-07-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

I decided to use this month’s theme, Red Hot, as an excuse to accessorize Helen’s desk for her without her knowledge or permission. ( At first I was thinking something for her hair, but a red hot color would blend in too much these days.) Door knobs really tell you about the person.

This little devil may care fellow was originally a practice piece for making teeth. Tommie Howell had been kind enough to sit with me for a special lesson. I remade him for Ornament Thursday in a lovely hot red color. He’s a mix of Kato and Premo clays and has a wash of black oil paint to give him that nice sunken eyed complexion.

Check out these links to other Ornament Thursday Red Hot projects:

Art Bead Scene
ABS Editor Cindy Gimbrone Goes Red Hot Crazy!

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Trendy, Popular and Red Hot!

It's a Red Hot July in Arizona!
Lisa finally finishes a project from over a year ago. Check out this "hot" take on a changeable necklace.

Katie's Beading Blog
Check out Katie's Red Hot faux coral necklace! It's a punch of color with a summery feel.

Linda Augsburg at BeadStyle Magazine
Linda shares a red-hot card she created

Michelle is RED HOT!
Well, really, Margot is...

Strands of Beads
The heat is rising, and Melissa is making a Red Hot Firecracker necklace!

Savvy Crafter
Hotsie Totsie Plexi-glass Flower pendant over on Candie's blog!

Strands of Beads
The heat is rising, and Melissa is making a Red Hot Firecracker necklace!

Swelldesigner a.k.a. Alexa Westerfield
The Swelldesigner gets red hot with a Hunka Hunka Burner Necklace!