Poking through a small flea market seemingly a million miles off the beaten path, I stumbled across a cache of stationary, pens, and notepads from the 1930’s and 1940’s. With each vintage notebook cover sporting a classic design, and each priced under a dollar, I scooped up the whole pile and began making plans!…
One of my most popular posts is my tutorial on making your own tumbled sea glass using a rock tumbler. I love seeing the projects people are creating using the glass produced with the described in the tutorial. From vase filler to aquarium decoration and all kinds of beach-inspired crafts, it’s fun to follow…
One of the most frequently asked questions I am asked about my above ground pond is how it is cleaned out. This is often framed as negative feedback- which kind of confuses me because, having had both styles of garden pond, my above ground pond is much easier to clean than the in-ground…
Classy floor lamps are expensive –like, very expensive. As I priced sturdy lamps for my new Seattle apartment, I couldn’t find a single sturdy tripod-style adjustable lamp for under $250. Target and World Market had non-adjustable options in the $80-$120 range, but I’d been tricked into buying cute-but-fragile lamps there before and always ended up…
Most of my tutorials use felt in its natural state, but a few tutorials (like those for felt lettuce or felt taco shells) call for the felt to first be treated so it’s a little stiffer. Stiffened felt can hold a 3-D shape needed for more complex felt projects. Four Ways to Stiffen Felt:…
I love that embroidery is growing once again in popularity, rediscovered by modern crafters. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with felt applique as an alternative to filling in large spaces with color in needle-art. I’ve never had the patience to embroider, but by using blocks of felt cut to size I’m able to fill large areas…
Banners and pennants with wool felt word appliques can be a fun project to complete with scraps of materials. In this post I’ll be showing you how I recently created a word banner for a hard-to-shop-for friend. When you aren’t sure what to gift someone, gifting them words is one way to create a…
I first saw this pineapple in Anthropologie for $75. I fell in love with it but not with the price, so I made my own version! Anthropologie’s was $75, mine comes in about $8 using wool felt that’s pretty high-end, so if you use craft-grade felt the supplies will be under $5…
Today’s tutorial is a quick walk-through on how to make these adorable chocolate sandwich cookie toys. They look like iconic Oreos, but I wanted to make a fun generic version of the chocolate sandwich cookie rather than a specific brand. Our pattern makes cookies that are just about 25% larger than a standard Oreo…
Blundstone is an Australian company that makes a line of books originally marketed as equestrian boots, but now in style as popular, multifunction boots. With a $200+ price tag, Blundstones are an investment. In this post I’m going to show you how to care for your boot investment and keep them looking great for years.…
This felt salad is one of my favorite felt projects I have made over the years. The multicolored textured greens produce a salad that looks, well, edible! In this tutorial, I will be showing you how to make your own version of this delicious looking green lettuce salad for your child’s (or in…
With the exception of professional artists with dedicated out-of-home studios and hobbyists with the luxury of dedicated studio space, art supplies storage never turns out looking quite as good as the uber-organized craft rooms depicted in magazines. Instead, art supplies tend to spill into common spaces, especially for those of us who paint at…
Nesting boxes are a recent addition to my vintage 1920’s era chicken coop. Tired of retrieving eggs from plastic-totes-turned-nesting-boxes (which had a tendency to migrate across the floor of the coop!), I mounted permanent nesting boxes that could be accessed without climbing into the coop. Along the way, I used a few cheats to…
Today, I want to show you how to line a drawer with felt. This project can be a bit intimidating but it’s actually so easy to create a luxuriously lined drawer to upgrade your closet or furniture project! I’ll be demonstrating this method with a medium-sized drawer that I picked up second-hand just for this…
Whether you are creating fine art or a first-time concrete user making DIY planters for your houseplants, metallic gold can be a dramatic way to add visual interest to your project. Layers of metallic gold within a cement art object can create an effect that reminds me of geology, shaping the illusion that the pigment…
This post features a video showing the full waffle making process, a list of supplies to gather, a printable pattern, and finally a shorter step-by-step set of written instructions. Tutorial Video: [if no video displays, turn off ad-blocker and refresh page] I’ve been making felt food for my niece since…
Flat lay photography is surging in popularity but can be difficult to master- especially without special equipment- namely, a flat lay tripod. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create a horizontal mount for a tripod so you can stabilize your camera at the perfect angle, leaving you free to stage your flat…
