want to learn how to make marbled paper?

well well erica domesek at design sponge shows you how



pic: from the erica domesek design sponge tutorial linked above

wapo has a great recipe for herbed margarine

i'd make it with half soy oil and half sunflower oil. i'd not use the milk of course. i'd go with the apple juice. bet you could leave out the herbs and mix in a bit of agave and spices too for a lovely toast spread

homemade herbed margarine

pic: (Mette Randem for The Washington Post)

please check out the work of

caryn drexl

AND the good news is, she has two etsy shops. with prints for sale (at VERY reasonable prices). amazing work. amazing.

keeping still (etsy shop)

lightleaks (etsy shop)

one of my favorites is some things you cannot hide

pic: is the header from ms drexl's etsy shop lightleaks

new bracelet i made

for a wedding i'm attending this weekend. i used industrial chic objects and elements

i'm going to make a necklace today (or tomorrow) to accompany my bracelet

got the charms and findings (chain, toggles, spacers, etc) at michaels

i HATED beets

until i was an adult. one day i tried them again and i just LOVED them. who can explain taste?

craftzine points us to a great recipe for beet burgers (well beet cakes. over at lucid food). these are RIGHT up my alley!



pic from: https://deepthoughtsbyhealey.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/beets/

this is nice and only ONE of many diy ideas

from design sponge's weekly wrap up

it's diy project: polli knitters’ cozy lamp shade


pic: from the design sponge link (second one) above

wow, i never knew how one would anodize titanium rings

now Thursday provides us with an instructable to do JUST that! (i'm excited). plus you get a bunch o' different colors too! can't wait to try this

anodizing titanium rings

pic from thursday's instructable linked above

more progress on kauni shawl

how long has it been since i posted anything tetris?

a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time. well this makes up for it
over at spritestitch

there's this wicked cool you complete me tetris chart it's by DWgrrl

pic is the completed work and it's from the spritestitch link above

wow, here's a wicked cool idea AND you get to help out too

 from boing boing:

Swap For Good: clothing swaps for charity
David Pescovitz





BB pal Orli Cotel, who by day works with Sierra Club on their radio show and other outreach, and Brianna Cayo Cotte launched a new non-profit called Swap For Good! Congrats! She says: 
Swap for Good is a new non-profit project to encourage people to host clothing swaps as a way to help raise money for domestic violence shelters. People are swapping all kinds of things - clothes, gadgets, tools, books - you name it.
It's a win-win situation - you get rid of your old stuff, get a new wardrobe or new books for free, and chip in some of the money you've saved on shopping to help a local domestic violence shelter. During the recession, funding for shelters has plummeted while requests for help have gone up. The National Network to End Domestic Violence did a study that showed that in just one day, over 9,000 requests for help went unmet, largely due to lack of funds.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness month, so it's a great time to sign up to host a swap and raise some extra money for this important cause. (sign up here )
Swaps can be small private house-parties with friends in your living room, or a big event in a public venue. For folks who have never hosted a swap before, we've created a handy how-to guide that walks you through all the steps to put together a really successful swap. (how-to-guide is here)
Swap for Good parties are a great way to promote creative re-use, build community, and help a worthy cause. It is an all-volunteer project, with no paid staff, and no office - so there are no overhead costs and all the money raised by hosts goes directly to the cause. Swaps are already signed up for this fall in 13 states - you can check out the map of public events here: http://events.swapforgood.org/ (there are lots of other events that are private and don't show up on the map). 


Swap For Good

if you've not checked out

beading arts in a while, i suggest you run right over (well click right over). some amazing stuff  and loads of instructions. GREAT site

pic: from beading arts (turquoise finger woven necklace)

New shawl I started

With kauni effektgarn colorway = eq

here's the kauni site (danish but in english). you can get the yarn online anywhere and your local knitting shop should have it too (that's where i got mine, sit-n-knit in bloomfield, ct). i started on size 3 needles but i think i'm going to go up to a 5 and knit for a while then maybe go to a 7. it will take me 20  years to finish this on a size 3. the GOOD news is for size 3 needles, if you're sitting at a bar having a cocktail and you seem to need stitch markers, you can cut up a readily available straw and use that!

 

coincidentally, i had to use my circle punch saturday morning

and then i came across this right now:

from shrimp salad circus

how to-sday . four clever uses for a circle punch

 

(found of course at totally tutorials)

image: getcreativeonline.co.uk

 

 

i REALLY dig the chips with lime

now i can make them myself!

Recipe: Baked Cumin Lime Tortilla Chips

(by) Katie Goodman blogs at goodLife {eats}


pic from the craftzine recipe linked above

COLORCRAZED: Eden's Promise Tutorial

COLORCRAZED: Eden's Promise Tutorial

pic from the tutorial at colorcrazed linked above (unbelievable)

via totally tutorials

oh how i WANT

via who killed bambi

pic from (in)decorous taste

i made a quick little case for my new phone

i cast on 17 stitches with a bulky wool (brown sheep lamb's pride bulky)

knit 39 ridges in garter stitch (about 16 or 17 inches i believe). then i purled one row (for the flap to turn down). then i knit 3 rows, then i did a row with 2 decreases (k2 tog, k to the last 2 stitches ssk), then k a row plain, then a decrease row, then k plain, then another decrease row. then i knit a buttonhole row, then a couple more rows plain. i also knit a little pocket on the front (pick up and knit right then i sewed the sides down with  yarn) for credit cards. i sewed the sides up stitched on a kitty button, then i put it in a pillow case and tossed it in the wash to felt. when it was done i did a bit of needle felting to make it a bit more UNplain. and there you have it

Note: i KNOW i didn't do a good job. i didn't block it or anything. i just wanted a case for my NEW phone and i wanted it in a hurry. if i made this for someone else, i WOULD have been more careful

anyway, here are pictures of the front, back and one of it unfelted and unsewn. dig those scissors? me too! i got them at sublime stitching (click the link for a better look at the scissors. they really ARE wicked cool)

sweet!

via

see what you can do when you put your mind to it?

Crafty Reuse: Ink Cartridge Art

by Becky Striepe

UK ink cartridge company Ink and Media was tired of watching used cartridges heading to the landfill. They wanted to show that empty cartridges are useful after the ink is gone, so they invited artist Faith Pearson to come up with some ink cartridge art..............

pic from the crafting a green world story linked above

and now for something COMPLETELY different

via

cool embroidery stitch(es)

the  lazy daisy peacock feather stitch from follow the white bunny

here's the etsy shop of follow the white bunny original hand embroidery patterns (they're lovely. i think my favorite is 'oh dear i shall be too late')

picture from follow the white bunny's tutorial linked above

via

my new spider RING

i love it. it's wicked cool, no? (it's wicked cool YES!)

it's from the etsy shop of warped metals

 (check out his corset rings. well check out ALL his stuff. he has some traditional pieces and some NOT so traditional).

anyway, i am in love with my ring. it feels nice on too.

living crafts has some

free patterns up

i'm ESPECIALLY enamored with the felted rose ornament by Tiziana Boccaletti

picture from the tutorial by tiziana boccaletti linked above 

(it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO lovely)

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: i saw this on

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: i saw this on

oh my

you MUST stop by maya's blog little treasurers. it's truly a delight.

here, she makes organic jewelry

pic from little treasurers (also linked above)

and here's a link to her flickr photostream

found via

what i'm diggin' on thursday

from make 

Print-cut-fold Google map envelope generator

 

pic from the make how to, linked above

i am ALL over this one

from honestly wtf (great name huh!)

diy friendship necklace (really this IS me)

pic from the tutorial at honestly wtf linked above

(via)

speaking about pillows

how about orange has a cool tutorial on

how to make your own fabric prints with tape

pic from the how about orange tutorial linked above

i've been beading a LOT lately

i'm making a multi strand necklace in coppers with a tiny bit of turquoise here and there. for one of the strands i used the spiral weave stitch (i did it a bit differently than this only in that i strung the ENTIRE core first then went back and did the sprial/outside beads.)

craftzine tells us about

pillow cases for a cause

  Posted by Rachel Hobson

Dana of MADE shares a pattern and how-to for making pillow cases from your stash fabrics to donate to the ConKerr Cancer organization. ConKerr delivers brightly-colored pillow cases to chroniclly ill children in hospitals to help brighten their hospital rooms.  ............

pic from the craftzine article linked above

here's a little necklace i made

for our summer intern (she happens to be the daughter of my boss). cool kid (and i actually like my boss as well).

anyway, it's a simple beading job. i just strung a single strand of a bunch of different beads. some inexpensive some kinda expensive.

i made the center bamboo tile though. i used a metallic permanent gold marker and made dots all over it. i then took a picture of the photo copier (where she spent 80% of her time, transferring paper to scanned images) and used the gel transfer method to transfer it to the tile (you get acrylic gel and brush it on the photo copy in thin coats, letting each layer dry in between. i did about 6 or 7 layers and it took a few hours. then you put a layer of gel medium on the tile and while wet put the image face down on the wet gel. wait a moment or two then burnish (burnish it WELL). let dry OVERNIGHT or for several hours. when dry take a few drops of water on your fingertips and gently start rubbing the paper off, using more drops of water as needed.  ideally the image stays and the paper rubs off). i then coated everything with resin. that MUST dry overnight. i did put a picture of her father holding the 'department doll' on the reverse side (i never said i was nice)

how much am i diggin' this lunch sack?

 here's a hint: A LOT

TUTORIAL at hideous! dreadful! stinky!

pic from the tutorial linked above

found via totally tutorials

oh so cool

from etsy ireland: (i know it's not tuesday)

How To Tuesday - How To Make A Japanese Bound Book

 

pic from the tutorial linked above 

 

found via