bid against bullies

The dress I created for X Out is currently up for auction on Ebay. 

Please take a look and bid now!!

Hole

No Friday the 13th has ever been unique for me other the one that just passed. After a special viewing of Patty Schemel's Hit So Hard, a small crowd gathered at Public Assembly in Williamsburg, where Hole, minus C Love, promised to play. That youthful awkward excitement peaked when Courtney Love herself, rolled in to join the band at nearly 2 am. Happy to have been a part of the whole Hole experience : )

video: hole covering wipers song 4.13.12

flower

Botanical Gardens were beautiful today.

X X X

I recently had the privilege to work on an auction project where 100% of the proceeds from sales go to Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center. The task was to embellish, decorate or re-design a plain American Apparel white dress. An acne treatment product called X Out sponsored the auction. For those of you familiar with the miracle product, Proactiv, from the same maker comes X Out, a new one-step pimple treatment. All I have to say, is I wish X Out was available when I was a teenager!!

Here's what I did to my white dress:

1. Bunched dress up and soaked black it with RIT Dye. It turned out more of a purple color.

2. Turned the dress inside out and pinned a piece of black cotton fabric to the chest area.

3. On a sewing machine, sewed an X shape through the dress and black fabric.

4. Trimmed all the black fabric outside the X.

5. Flipped dress right side out and trimmed the dress fabric inside the X.

5. Used fingers to fray the cut edges inside the X.

6. Lined up and pinned tons safety pins, of various sizes, through the black fabric in the X.

7. For the back of dress, folded back panel of dress vertically in half and marked a V with chalk.

8. Used a rotary cutter to cut one inch horizontal lines through both layers of fabric in V shape.

9. Opened up dress and stretched out each one inch strip to make the fabric curl.

10. Done. Wear it. Rock it.

The auction for the X Out dresses will go live on Ebay April 23. I hope you bid on mine so we can raise lots of money to stop young a-holes from abusing nice people—there is no need for bullying.

lemmemakeit stitched

Embroidery I did last summer while traveling. Never posted it because I didn't like the contrast between the  white "e" and black "m". Maybe one day I will redo the em in grey.

organizing, labeling and purging

 Remember plastic label makers, way before p-touch?! Well they're one of my favorite manual gadgets and although it comes out rarely, I wouldn't organize without it.

 For all my metal drawers and boxes, that hold a variety of craft supplies and tools, I punched out a plastic label and mounted each on a sheet of magnet, cut them out and slapped them on the appropriate storage container. This way I can move things around, if need be, without any issues or new labels. 

Organizing is never fun, but it feels good to purge, know what has been accumulated and know exactly where everything you need is.

rockin' baby

Posted about these rock 'n roll onesies I made for my friends on its way baby on the craftsdept blog, couldn't help but share here too!

 

To make:

1. Pick a band. Print the logo out backwards. 2. Pick a fabric. For dimension in a design, layer fabrics—I used a thin cotton quilting fabric with wool felt on top for a few designs. For fine detailed designs, I recommend not using felt (Nirvana shirt). 3. Iron Steam-a-Seam (a double-faced fusible webbing) to a piece of fabric. Peel the protective paper off one side, place it web-side down to the backside of your fabric and iron it in place. 4. Print out design backwards and tape to web side of fabric. Use sharp scissor and a craft knife to cut out design. 5. Peel the protective backing off of cut out design and place on shirt. I referenced the original design for positioning. 6. Place a press cloth over the design and iron. Move iron in a circular motion, so not to burn the fabric. 7. Remove press cloth and let cool. 8. When soiled, hand wash and hang dry.

letters to kurt. april 5 2012

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a special performance and book release for Eric Erlandson's Letters to Kurt. I finished reading the book last week and was touched by Eric's introspection and reflections on his friend and his suicide. Yesterday also happen to mark the 18th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death. Sharing the evening with all the bandmates of Hole, minus Courtney Love, on April 5 was unique. I truly enjoyed Eric and Melissa's rendition of "Seasons in the Sun"—a song being about a dying protagonist's farewell to relatives and friends. Kurt once sang the song too.

plastic bird

 When I was gathering all the plastic off the beach in the Bahamas, I couldn't help but think of the inspiring collection of photographs by Chris Jordan of deceased albatrosses with stomachs teeming with plastic debris. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an ocean gyre spinning with garbage from land-based sources as well as ship-generated waste. Dead birds with plastic particle-filled bellies are only one effect of this floating mass. With an estimated 100 million tons of accumulating pelagic plastics, I can't imagine what it is doing to the wildlife, ecosystems and even us, the reason for all the pollution. 
Sometimes I feel guilty crafting—am I causing more waste?

making sweet carrots

For those of you expecting the Easter bunny on Sunday, a carrot is the perfect way to entice him to leave you some sweet treats. Instead of a carrot packed with Beta-carotene, you can make your own carrot pouch and fill it with candy instead. I'll be joining Martha on her show to demonstrate how to make life like carrots perfect for an Easter basket. Made from wool felt—one of my favorite materials—these carrot pouches are fun to make, but more fun to fill! 

How-to:

1. Cover a big carrot in cling wrap. Use a piece of paper to determine the template of the carrot. Wrap the carrot in the paper and trim where paper overlaps. 

2. Trace paper template onto piece of orange wool felt and cut out.

3. Saturate the felt in warm water. Wrap the carrot with the wet felt, stretching it around and creating overlap on the seam. Pin along seam and let dry.

4. When completely dry, use Fabri-tac to glue seam together. Once dry, remove carrot.

5. Make carrot stems: 

-cut 5 pieces of green felt in an asparagus shape. 

-use a sharp scissor and fringe the "asparagus" tip.

-saturate the stem and stretch it out from the just below the fringe to the end.

-gently stretch the fringe top and let dry.

-once dry, bundle 5 stems together with a knot on the end.

6. Attach bundle of stems to inside top of carrot with glue and let dry

7. Use a screw punch to create holes along the top edge of carrot and weave an orange cord though.

8. Fill carrot with wrapped candy or treats and cinch and tie top closed.

 

A single carrot makes a lovely hostess gift or make a bunch as favors for all your guests!