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gone but not forgotten

November 8, 2009 at 11:30 am | In FO, crafts | Leave a Comment

I’ve dismantled the altar, but took one last photo before packing it up.

as usual, i have about a million projects to work on right now. for those who asked, YES, i’ll be posting a skull-making tutorial, as soon as i can get around to doing it. uhhhh, so that should be sometime before dia de los muertos 2010. or maybe even in time for this year’s winter solstice! hee.

the DDLM altar is complete (i think)

October 31, 2009 at 12:33 pm | In FO, crafts | 3 Comments

yup, i’m about 99% sure that i’m done. i really should just say i’m done, and i’m keeping it simple and i’m not adding anything more, but then i might be fibbing. i may get a wild hair and add a little more later…

a little background before the rest of the photos:

this is pretty much an homage to my mom, who died last year, with a nod to my dad, who died just before i turned two. i included items that my mom enjoyed: scrabble, playing the lottery (the tickets on the altar are the number choices my mom pulled for every draw), gardening, gnomes, creative stuff (the wood carving on the floor is one made by her way back when), cribbage.

and yes, that urn in the back contains her remains. cremains. whatever.

the two buddhas on each side were hers – a happy one on the right, and “profound buddha” on the left. the fruits on the altar are a pomegranate (a nod to the greek mythology of persephone and the changing of seasons going on right now) and limes (which mom grew for years and loved). the keychain has the brass “bitch” fob that mom carried ever since i was a little tot, along with a copy of dad’s dog tag and our old abyssinian cat’s tag. the old black & white photo is from one of the happiest points in mom’s life – just after she married my dad. the other photo is from 2007 – not long before the cancer came back. she’s standing in her front yard garden and she’s smiling. that’s how i like to remember her.

and now, the photos:

and i just joined the crafty chica/craftzine shrine challenge… i hope i win!

happy halloween, y’all. y feliz dia de los muertos.

a little progress

October 30, 2009 at 7:23 pm | In FO, WIP, crafts, embroidery, sewing | 1 Comment

we’re back from a lovely trip to california’s central coast, and i’m diving right back into working on my dia de los muertos altar.

i (think i) finished skull #2 (skull #1 is the sequined one, and yeah, that’s done):

i used some dmc satin floss for all except the green – that’s dmc light effects.

and i started skull #3:

i glued and sewed little ribbon roses to the crown. and now i’m going to get back to it so i can put together the rest of the altar tomorrow.

it’s barry puffins!

September 28, 2009 at 2:51 pm | In FO, crafts, sewing | 6 Comments

what would you do if you found some cute toddler socks in the dollar bin at target? i mean, besides the obvious “put them on a toddler”.

i’d make something happy.

like a puffer fish.

it took lots of time to sew those little poky spines onto his skin.

but in the end, the effort was worth it.

the button is meant to be his mouth. my husband thought it looked more like a pig’s snout.

this puffer’s name is barry puffins, and he’s become quite good friends with mrs grimbley. i’m sure i’ll be adding more creatures to their entourage before too long.

chalk it up

September 18, 2009 at 3:55 pm | In FO, crafts, painting | Leave a Comment

adventures in chalkboard painting!

first, grab some 10″ square pine-framed ikea malma mirrors.

remove the mirrors and cover the wood with a couple coats of chalkboard paint.

after 24 hours, use acrylics to paint aliens or monsters on the chalkboard-painted surface. paint the edges with paint that matches the alien or monster.

glue the mirror back into place.

hang the chalkboard and enjoy!

i said HELL YEAH

September 5, 2009 at 11:34 am | In FO, crafts, sewing | 3 Comments

last weekend, i started putting together some patchwork blocks for a new pillow cover, and it just wasn’t working for me. too boring, i guess. no zing. nothing going on.

and then… well, some big block letters popped into my head, and i couldn’t resist.

HELL YEAH! i pulled out my stencils and chalked some 4″ tall letters on the black fabric. a little heat-n-bond and some zig-zag stitching around the edges, and a new pillow cover was born.

for the back of the pillow cover, i placed the paper backing from the heat-n-bond on the fabric and pounced some paint over ‘em.

and there’s a zip at the top for easy removal.

i baked, i sewed, i slacked off

August 30, 2009 at 12:23 pm | In FO, crafts, food, sewing | 3 Comments

the only breads i’ve baked before have been quick breads (banana, zucchini, beer – you get the picture) and no-knead bread. but now, thanks to bob’s red mill, i’ve been able to make a kick-ass loaf of potato bread!

it was delicious. and look at that crumb!

i cut big, thick slices like the little rascals kids used to eat.

and i finished up a little sewing project yesterday. vogue 1290 – yet another pattern that’s been in my stash for years. i tried out view c, using muslin fabric.

i adjusted the seams at the waistline but completely spaced on adjusting for my rear end.

turns out my butt is too big! hilarious! i’ll just chalk this up to experience, and be thankful that i used muslin instead of something pricey. maybe i’ll turn the finished garment into an experimental art piece or give it to the goodwill or something.

another artbook collage

August 16, 2009 at 10:36 am | In FO, collage, crafts | Leave a Comment

last week, i challenged myself to create a collage using only two sources:

i picked up the sears roebuck catalog reproduction at a local used bookstore last weekend, and the palmistry book has been in my “cut it up for craft stuff” collection for awhile now.

the “fabric” of the male model’s trousers is a magazine page that was already glued to that side of the artbook page, so i’m not counting that as an additional source. heh.

i also picked up a larger version of one of those sears catalog reproductions, and will be incorporating pages from it in other pieces, i’m sure. back in the day (like 20 years ago), i used to use a lot of images from jim harter’s pictorial archive books from dover publications in my collages. i still do, every so often, and i’m feeling like i want to use them even more now. there’s something about engravings that really appeals to me, whether they feature corseted women or men with giant brushy mustaches or bears eating wild salmon…

in other crafty news, i picked up a jar of folk art chalkboard paint and have created a couple of small chalkboards for the apartment. i may or may not eventually end up posting them here, but BOY do i want to paint the stuff on everything now. so i may end up creating a boatload of chalkboards, who knows?