some wicked cool salt and pepper shakers

more here

man, they're ALL so kick arse

a MESS o' tutorials

from paper n' stitch (pic from one of the tutorials at paper n' stitch linked above)

elite beat street

Elite beat street from ryan Dooley on Vimeo.

via

from lilacs and roses, look at how COOL this is

garden birdbath

why don't YOU make one too?

pic from lilacs and roses

craftzine is having a give-away

and sharing a pattern from

Scandinavian Needlecraft

look at how whimsical this bag is!

(pic from the craftzine link above - from scandinavian needlecraft)

boy, i'm loving everything i see today!

from how about orange

some mid century bottle cap clock magnets

the lovely graphics are also included.
i have a LOAD of blank bottlecaps i ordered a while ago. i know what i'm making!

pic from the how about orange tutorial linked above

here's a link to the howaboutorange etsy shop

lampshade love

cool, no?

cool YES!

tutorial from dollar store crafts
by heather

pic from dollar store crafts linked above

see this guitar?

it's made out of POPSICLE STICKS! and even better, here's the instructable so YOU can MAKE ONE TOO

instructable by: busupholstery

pic from the instructable linked above

i like the simplicity AND the final look

via

i'm ALL over this one! stylin'

How-To: Basket Weave Kicks

Posted by Brookelynn |

cool

via

(manly) doily love

look at nathan vincent's work!

it's not only stunning, it's wicked FUNNY too

pic from mr vincent's website linked above

please check out ALL of his work. it's worth it

via

i LOVE berets

and i've never wet felted one before (i've knitted and i've knitted AND felted but never from roving without knitting first) and this is THE perfect tutorial!

from abigails crafts how to

how to make a felt beret

pic from the tutorial linked above

i'm diggin' it

Epic Fail

........spotted this amazing piece of art that lives in the office of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy. The heart of their office is an artwork that uses over 100,000 push pins that spell "Fail Hard". The wall mural took 351 hours to create.............

the absolute coolest use for fused plastic (bags)

is this envelope

from heartworks

pic is from the diy at heartworks linked above

she painted it and sewed buttons on and piped it in leather (i'd use the fake stuff of course). i absolutely LOVE this and i think they'd make great gifts.

stuff i'm diggin' from

how does she (via whip up)

a birthday wreath!

pic from the tutorial linked above at how does she

from craftstylish

how to turn a soda can into a brooch
Diane Gilleland, contributor
(i've posted a similar tutorial before on transforming an aluminum can into a pin or necklace)

pic from the craftstylish tutorial link above by Diane Gilleland

(i LOVE recycled crafting)

the ny times had some great pizza info

in the food section yesterday. i make my own as well. i DO use a yeast dough. i'm not dependable enough to make my own starter (you know you have to stir it and add more water and flour over a couple of weeks. i just don't like schedules).

i love making my own pizza. it's fun and it's a great activity for friends and family to help with. they can make their own mini pizzas with toppings of their own choosing.

i loved mashed potatoes on a pizza with onions and a little olive oil (cheese is nice but as you know i'm vegan so no more. although i have just discovered the best non-dairy cheese i've tried so far. it's daiya and it really melts and gets stringy. the taste is decent too). spinach is great on a pizza too. a little sauce, some mushrooms, onions perhaps and some blanched spinach. cheese too if you're not vegan (try the daiya if you are). i use what i have on hand for my pizzas. that's how i roll.................

if you've never made your own pizza, give it a try. it's NOT as hard as you think.
(and yes, when i think far enough ahead, i have always allowed my dough to rise at least ONE whole day in the fridge

The Slow Route to Homemade Pizza

By OLIVER STRAND

THERE’S little point in trying to match the horsepower available to a pizzaiolo. Their professional pizza ovens, especially the models that burn wood or coal, are the muscle cars of kitchens: when blazing at temperatures that range from 800 degrees to an infernal 1,000 degrees, they can turn raw dough into a blistered, bubbling pizza in as little as 75 seconds. It puts the home cook, whose oven typically reaches 550 degrees, at a permanent disadvantage.

No wonder some of the pizza-obsessed do everything to coax their ovens into performing above their limits. (Making pizza on the self-cleaning cycle seems to be popular.) The Johnny Knoxville approach has its appeal. But after cooking more than 200 pizzas over several months, I learned an easier way to edge closer to the kind of airy, creamy, chewy, thin crust you find at pizzerias that have otherwise sane people waiting in line for an hour. And it has less to do with heat than good baking technique.

I let the dough rise overnight...............

pics:
pizza:

Jennifer May for The New York Times

The pale crust at left is from newly made dough while the crust at right is made with the same dough, aged a day. More

the daiya cheese packs from the daiya website

(way too) cool

edible fashion
Posted by Tara McGinley

Fulvio Bonavia

the anti craft has it's beltane 2010 items up

one of them is the creeping jenny

pic from the anticraft link above
Amy Klimt (photo)

(there's also a cute double knit scarf with a skull pattern you can knit should you so wish). check 'em all out (the back issues too)

part ii of making a corset is posted

at craftzine. it's: assembly
By Alaina Zulli


pic from the craftzine link above

bottle garden love

how to from design sponge

i've never really seen anything like this. it's lovely. think herbs too.........imagine the possibilities


pic from the design sponge diy linked above

from crafting a green world, here's a good base of

eco friendly art and craft supplies

Written by Wenona Napolitano

i also came across this blog with a ton of good ideas eco friendly crafts

i'm smiling (but not folding YET)

instructables directs us to:

50 awesome papercraft robots


pics from the papercraft robot link above

felt love

over at bugs and fishes
AND

a great tutorial on how to make a
felt raincloud brooch (it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wicked cool)

it's unclear if i can use one of her photos or not so i'm just NOT. but i do insist you stop by and check it out. it's so whimsical!

here are some links to lupin's shops:

online shop (£) plus lots of felt squares and other supplies. I also have shops on Etsy ($), DaWanda (€) and Folksy (£).

via

animated embroidery

via embroidery as art jenny hart's blog

geeky AND cute AND knitted!

from carissa knits

a pattern for a knitted pacman (how cute IS he??????????)

carissa has some other free patterns and some for sale. cool blog. take a peek at it!

pic from carissa knits


via whip up

dollar store crafts turns us on to this

make your own crackle finish for cheap tutorial
by heather


i may have posted crackle finish tutorials before, but it never hurts to go over it again. i've used this technique before and it DOES work. i used it on a wooden box i am making for friends

pic from the tutorial at the link above

the crafty crow

has links to some dandelion crafts and recipes

most think they're just weeds. not me. i like 'em!

pic from ::dandelion study:: / you're not lost you're here

craftzine is going to have a three part lesson

on how to craft a corset (part i)
By Alaina Zulli

pic from the craftzine link above

(me? no no no. i ain't makin' no corset. i have a couple as a matter of fact, but i bought them. no no no. i ain't sewing one!!!! but i think it's cool if those of you out there want to make YOUR own)

corset illustration via

studiodax

shows us how to make a cool metal pendant

(pic from studiodax)

and here's the etsy shop of studiodax

found via totally tutorials

adorable!

Comic Book Amigurumi Dolls Are Really Cute

By Jai

...........Lady Lindsay has designed a series of Amigurumi dolls that can be used as gifts if you are visiting a geek. In fact, she would do custom orders and you could tell her which Superheroes, fantasy characters, popular movie characters, or anything else you want.

Read more: Comic Book Amigurumi Dolls Are Really Cute | Walyou http://www.walyou.com/blog/2010/05/10/comic-book-amigurumi-dolls/#ixzz0nb6d2SMS
http://www.walyou.com ........................

amigurumi pics from the link above (which comes from the etsy shop of Lady Lindsay)

crafting for change

crafting a green world points us to

cambodia knits

from Becky Striepe at crafting a green world..........

Monika Nowaczyk’s family fled communist Poland when she was 6 years old. They relocated to Canada, and it was on this journey that she picked up knitting and crochet. Maybe this formative event is what opened her heart to the plights of Cambodians evicted from their homes and relocated to areas far from the city centers, where it was hard to make a living.

Years later, Monika read about a group in Bangladesh that was supporting over 2000 families through knitted goods, and something sparked:

Stitch by stitch. That is what appeals to me most about knitting. It is a slow and laborious process, sometimes monotonous, always meditative, that results in an end product completely unlike what one starts with: two sticks and some yarn. Now, stitch by stitch I hope that I can help people in Cambodia improve their situations through fair, flexible and rewarding employment.

In the summer of 2009, Monika launched Cambodia Knits, which she’s financing with her own savings and money from family and friends..................



pics from the cambodia knits website

awwwwwwwwwwwwww

via

fork love

more forks here

it's been a LOOOOOOOOOOOONNNGGGGGGGGGGG

time since my last tetris posting. this makes up for it



via

i'm diggin' this RUBBER FEZ (how could you NOT?)

via

dabbled has some mother's day craft ideas up as well

Make Fabric Flowers (and a flower wreath) for Mother’s Day

(pic from the dabbled link above)

the crafty crow

has a bunch of ideas for mother's day crafting

here's one:

button bracelet
::Second Sister::

(pic from the button bracelet link above at second sister)

threadbanger shows us how to make jewelry

0ut of hardware store items

get busy, mother's day is a few short days away

but in order to assist you one pretty thing has

a big ol' mother's day craft roundup

here's one a spa slipper tutorial (pic from the tutorial link at pickup some creativity)

from knitting daily

some cool chunky yarn covered bangles
posted by AnnieB

Mags Kandis in on set with a funky bangle project using thin, fine yarns as embellishments over even the chunkiest projects. This bangles pattern is an exclusive excerpt from Mags's book Gifted: Lovely Little Things to Knit and Crochet (Interweave, 2010). .................

pic from the bangles link above

nini makes

has a tutorial for this whimsical owl (made out of egg cartons)

pic from nini makes tutorial linked above

(via)

this is neat and it would be a fun FAMILY project

Craftlicious: Mosaic Keychain Holder - Tutorial



pics from the (comprehensive) tutorial on craftlicious linked above

i kicked out this beret very quickly

once again, i didn't exactly follow a pattern. i used two yarns and TOO LARGE needles resulting in a VERY large brimmed hat. i don't have any green ribbon on hand, so i'll get some. once i do, i'll thread it through the 2X2 ribbed brim and make a cute little tie. for the time being, i just used the yarn.

i used a corn/cotton green yarn and the white yarn was a silk/cotton yarn. both were sock weight. like i said, the needles i used were WAY too large. it's lightweight and just a tiny bit shiny. it will be GREAT for bad hair days in the spring and summer. it's a good thing the first time i knit something i usually knit it for me. that way, i can fix my mistakes for the next one.

i was inspired by the following two patterns (i sort of combined them)

the lion brand beret (you'll have to register to see pattern)
and
the purl bee beret

see previous posting

here are the brownies. the pictures are HORRID but i'm telling you the brownies are MOST EXCELLENT. they're just like i like them too. gooey on the inside. i've frozen them and they're PERFECT that way. here's a link to the VEGAN tahini brownies. super moist is all i have to say

i'm making

THESE right now

IF they come out, i'll post a picture (the batter was kick ass). NOTE: if someone had a gun to my head i could NOT follow a recipe exactly. i did NOT use rum (didn't have any) and i used vegan cane sugar and not confectioner's sugar (didn't have any). in addition to the bar of chocolate (i used a vegan semi-sweet baking chocolate bar), i used some semi-sweet cocoa powder and added a TOUCH more oj and tahini too

keep your fingers crossed for me

potato chip scarf

i knit for my friend ronnie from work. she retired on friday. i used a child's chopstick as a scarf/shawl pin

just google knit potato chip scarf for a pattern. there are MANY out there