Big Girl Baubles

Getting Ready for DragonCon

2010-08-09T18:42:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it's August already?!? And what comes after August? Why DragonCon of course! For those of you not familiar with DragonCon, it's a "...multi-genre convention held annually in Atlanta, GA" blah blah blah 30,000 people... blah blah blah $25 million economic impact in 2008 blah blah blah. (Check out the site here, or a brief synopsis on Wikipedia here.)
Surprisingly, I didn't know about DragonCon until I moved here, but if I was the teenager I was back then in today's day and age, I'd be all over DragonCon (and would lose whatever bit of non-geek cred I had!) Anyway, it's a 4 day convention that takes place over Labor Day weekend every year. It's geared toward sci-fi and fantasy, but really if you're into anything you can probably find it at Dragon. And that means comics, too. My husband and I usually work a day or two for our local comic book shop Titan Games and Comics which means we get free passes to wander around AND they let me set up my jewelry and such at their booth (they're good about taking pity on me!) So this year, with the success of the comic book bowls and decoupaged bracelets at Heroes Con in June, I've decided to get my butt in gear and make as many as I can for Dragon.

This was one of my first bowls

I already posted the tutorials for the decoupaged bracelets and the upcycled necklaces, so it's time to talk about the bowls.
I'm trying a bit of a different approach to the Dragon batch. The bowls I made for Heroes Con were made with paper pulp which involved a lot of strain and stress on my blender.

Not a great pic - but here's the Conan bowl

The ones I'm making for Dragon will be a more traditional paper mache version with comic book images decoupaged on top (I really do like to decoupage!)
I'm using old Previews catalogs as my base so the bowls are still made from recycled materials.

I use the guillotine paper cutter to chop up the pages into squares/rectangles - I'm experimenting with shapes and sizes. One site said to make sure the pieces were square and no bigger than 1/2"; another site said 2 1/2" x 1 1/2" rectangles, so I'm working somewhere in the middle.

I got a little overexcited last night chopping up pieces and came down on my finger. LUCKILY my paper cutter does not have a sharpened blade! It just caused a big dent on my thumb. My husband made me take a break for a while.
I'm using a 1:1 ratio of water and white glue. I started with el cheapo glue that I picked up at Hobby Lobby and then hit a back to school sale on Elmer's at Publix. I haven't decided which one I like better yet. I will say the cheap glue mixes better with the water, but the Elmer's seems to stick better.

I picked out several bowls from the cupboard with various shapes and sizes. I covered the outsides of the bowls with plastic wrap pulled tight and smoothed down as much as possible and taped on the inside.

Oh yeah, do yourself a favor and cover your work area with plastic - this gets messy!
Also, have some stands ready before you start mache-ing! It's not easy to go rummaging in the pantry with watery glue dripping down your arms! I used cans, but I found they rust when you leave them sitting to dry. As long as it elevates your bowl as you're working and then it's drying, you've got a winner!
I mixed my glue in an empty cream cheese container. It was deep enough and wide enough for what I needed. Submerge a handful of your paper in the glue mix and let it sit so the glue can absorb into the paper.

You don't want it falling apart, so a minute or two is plenty. Take one piece, squeeze it through your fingers lightly (you don't want it sopping wet) and put it on the bowl.

I overlapped the pieces and alternated which way I placed them (there's not a whole lot of science to this - well there probably is, I just didn't apply it!)
You will need to do a minimum of six layers (more like 10 for a sturdy bowl!) and I did 2 layers at a time, letting the bowls dry between my crafting sessions. If it's stinking hot (like it is here in Atlanta right now) you might want to put them outside. The big thing is to make sure it is COMPLETELY dry before you pull it off the bowl and do any decorating. If you seal it before it's dry you get nasty moldy ickyness.
Once your bowls are dry, it's up to you what you want to do next. Depending on the type of material you used to make the paper mache, you may like the way it looks just the way it is. You can paint them or do what I plan to do and use images from the comic books to decoupage the outside and inside of the bowls. I plan to seal it with some acrylic spray and will post the results after they're done!
I do have a dream bowl I want to make - I would use a Martha Stewart Living magazine for the mache and then find images of the Craft Diva herself to decoupage. I might even add some glitter glue crowns!

How would you decorate your bowl?

Next craft - (keeping in the comic book theme) recycled paper gift bows!

Upcycled Comic Book Necklaces

2010-08-01T17:08:00.000-04:00

My husband and I are comic book geeks.

A glimpse at our decor

I was always a cartoon and superhero junkie, and in college I got into Neila Gaiman's Sandman series; but I really got pulled into the world of comics when I met Eric and now that's pretty much our lives. A simple example that kind of sheds light on it all... we picked the paint color for our kitchen (you can see our kitchen in one of my previous entries) to match the background of a Tony Harris Batman painting that is framed and hanging in the kitchen. Told you we were geeks!
Despite the fact that I like comic books I do have a slightly sadistic and very sarcastic side of me that likes to poke fun at it all (especially at Eric's expense!) I can not tell you how much pleasure it gives me to chop up comic books (although I usually only use the bad ones) to make these funky necklaces and see the horror on the fan boys' faces when I put them on the table to sell at comic shows. There are a lot of bad books out there and this is a great way to keep them out of landfill.
ALSO!!! My tutorial for these necklaces will be featured on a great new site I found recently that features indie crafters. The site has profiles of crafters, great tutorials, and even GIVEAWAYS!!! Check out http://monsterbites365.com/ this Wednesday, August 3 for a chance to win one of my comic book necklaces. Then, keep going back every day for a chance to win other great stuff and meet cool crafters.

Upcycled Comic Book Necklace

These necklaces were actually inspired by a project I saw for a bowl made of one very large paper coil. I love geometric designs, but someone suggested I make one of these in the shape of an "X" since I was using an X-Men book at the time. I started with more abstract shapes but finally did the “X”!

Materials:
Comic book
Glue stick
Liquid glue (like Elmer’s)
Large eyed needle
Metal chain
Jump rings
Bamboo skewer (or other similarly shaped and sized stick-like object)
Lobster, spring ring, or other necklace clasp
Jewelry pliers
Rubber bands
Mod Podge (or other sealant for paper)
Small paint brush

Directions:

1. Find a comic book with little or no value. I usually stock up on "Free Comic Book Day"; the first Saturday in May every year comic book stores and other retailers give out books that are stamped "Free Comic Book Day" and are therefore not worth much to collectors. You can also use magazines, catalogs, or anything that has color. Each page of the comic book is about 6 5/8" by 10 1/8". I cut each page into 3 strips lengthwise (a hair shy of 2 ¼” wide). I used a guillotine cutter to make it easier, but scissors work nicely too!

Here's a pile of the strips cut to the right size.

2. Take each strip, fold it in half lengthwise, and then fold the outsides in to the center seam.

3. Lightly glue each strip (I use a glue stick) down the quarter flaps and the middle and press it together so that it's flat. I usually weight the strips under a heavy book or something of a similar weight for about 10 minutes to keep them flat.

5. Once your strips have dried, tape several together end-to-end. I wrap the tape around the paper completely. I wish I could find a better method because the tape is a little unsightly in the coil, but glues don't seem to get the job done the way I want. Note: I have used 2, 3, and 5 strips to make coils of different sizes.

6. Now the frustrating, I mean fun part. Start coiling your strips. I start mine around a bamboo skewer to get a nice round hole in the center. When you've coiled it around about 5 times you can pull it off the skewer and keep coiling. Pull it tight as you go and get ready for some to pop out of your hands and come undone! I don't glue along the way because it makes it really messy.

7. When you're done, put a line of liquid (i.e. Elmer's) glue along the inside of the last inch or so of the coil. Smooth it out and wrap a rubber band around it fairly tightly to let it set. I find 5 minutes is usually good enough and I can pull the rubber band off to use on my next coil.

Here's a coil drying with the rubber band wrapped around it.

8. With a fairly stiff brush, coat each coil with Mod Podge. I do one side, forcing the Mod Podge in between the layers, let it dry and then turn over and do the other side. You can use your bamboo skewer to clean out the center hole.

9. After your coils have dried, arrange them in a pattern. I try to turn the seams in and usually tack them together with some glue.

10. Find an interesting thread and stitch away between the coils. I used cotton embroidery thread on the fuchsia one. I used a larger gauge beading needle and made three passes at each coil to coil seam. I wasn't able to do it in one continuous line of stitching, so there are some knots on the back. GLUE YOUR KNOTS!!!

11. I also made passes over the outer edge of the top coils so I could attach my jump rings. Use your pliers to open the rings and thread them underneath your stitches. Close the jump rings.

12. Attach your chain to the jump rings, add a clasp, and it is ready to wear!

This is another one I made using olive green thread.

Upcycling Wine Bottles - The Process Part 2 - Drilling and Assembling

2010-07-19T21:43:00.001-04:00

So I have to apologize for being THREE WEEKS (PLUS!) behind on this post. I have a really good excuse... there was a family July 4th celebration with feuding neighbors (and cops!), then a day job trip to California, and, oh yeah - my Dremel and camera batteries were dead! And then there was a surprise visit from our friend The James. See, perfectly legitimate reasons for not getting my stuff done. HA!
Hopefully you didn't give up on me! Let's finish our project...

We left off with cut and ground glass bottles. The next steps are drilling holes in the punt and bottom of the bottle, washing the grit off, getting any leftover label goo off, and finally assembling the wind chimes.

Do you know about Harbor Freight Tools? It's a fantastic store full of cheap tools and random garage/outdoor things (hamburger patty presses were across the aisle from a really dull machete!) The stuff there is super-cheap, but don't count on it lasting you forever. When working with glass, you really need diamond tip saw blades and drill/rotary tool bits. One single Dremel brand diamond tip bit is $11.97 at Home Depot; I got this set of 20 different bits from Harbor Freight for $7.99.

The tips worked great for a while, then they started slipping in my Dremel; it got so bad that any pressure would make the bit slip. I thought it had to be the cheap bits, so I bought another pack of different ones for $4.99 and brought them home to try out.

I use a Dremel drill press to keep the bit from chattering while it bites into the glass.

You always want to drill glass with water, so I use a small plastic container deep enough to allow the punts and bottoms to be submerged while drilling.

I used the 1/8" bit for the bottoms and the 1/16" bit for the punts since they're a lot smaller.

The punts are easy to do. Since they're domed, they almost act like a compass; when you put them in the water they usually trap an air bubble under the dome (make sure the dome is facing down).

This really makes it easy to find the center. Start with light pressure and lift your bit periodically out of the hole to let the water flow over it. You'll find your sweet spot for pressure after a few practice runs. You don't want it to be too light, but let the diamond bit do all the work. I usually set my Dremel speed on 4 - 5.

Your water will start to get cloudy from all the grit. That's okay until you can't see what you're drilling anymore. Be careful where you dump it, though because you may have some small shards of glass.

(See the pieces of green glass?)

I thought this punt was awesome! See the 3 little wine bottles design? I almost hated to drill it... almost!

Now let's talk about the bottoms. These are pretty thick hunks of glass and you have to be strategic about where you drill. There's usually a "moat" created when you cut off the punt; this gives you a thinner area to drill. Turn the bottom down so you're drilling into the "moat" (you don't want to drill flat and make a whole in your plastic container!) This is where it's really important to lift the bit every so often since you're dealing with a bigger whole and thicker glass than the punt. Again, use pressure but don't force it, let the bit do its job.

Once you have your punts and bottoms drilled it's time to clean up! Remember you're basically dealing with melted sand, so the grit that comes from the holes is very fine and very messy - you'll need some elbow grease! I fill the sink with warm soapy water and use a baby bottle cleaner for the insides of the bottles and a cloth for the bottoms and the punts.
This is a great time to check for cracks. Cutting and drilling has put stress on the bottles and if they crack that crack will run.

(it's hard to see the crack on this one, but it's there)

If you're careful you can salvage a cracked bottle for a suncatcher but don't expect it to make a pretty sound (more of a dull "thunk" than a delicate "tinkle"). Sometimes if a punt is cracked the glass will just crumble away and you'll lose it. In this batch of bottles I lost one bottle and one punt.

Dry your bottles (I just put mine on the counter to air dry since I was out of time to work on them for the evening). Don't be surprised after they're dried if you have to wash them again, I tell you that grit is tough!

Next step is getting the rest of the label goo off. You'll think your bottles are clean, but trust me they're not. Touch them! Are they sticky? If so, that needs to come off! I said before I wished I could find a better cleaner, but right now the Goo Gone is about the best thing I have. I tried nail polish remover but it didn't work as well. Even with the Goo Gone it takes some scrubbing and a couple of passes - guess the wine companies don't want their labels coming off!

Now that we're squeaky clean we can assemble the chimes. I've done three batches of chimes so far and the assembly method for each one has been different.

For the first batch I drilled two holes through the neck of the bottle and then created a twine contraption that had one loop going through the neck holes (HA! that reminds me of vampires!); then I strung the punt on another longer piece of twine and knotted the twine above and below the punt; I fed the twine through the bottom of the bottle and knotted it several times; finally I had to tie the hanging piece to the loop through the neck. It wasn't very elegant, but it worked.

For my second batch, I had been to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon and saw a guy selling wine bottle lanterns (I'll be making some next). He was using a smaller gauge chain and two sizes of split rings (the rings on key chains). The smaller ring was used to hang the bottle and the larger one worked as a stopper going from the body of the bottle up into the neck. BRILLIANT! I got my split rings at Wal-Mart in the crafts section; they also have them at Michael's with the summer crafts.

The only problem was the chain added extra "clanging" against the glass that detracted from the pretty "tinkle" of the punt. So on to round three.

With this batch I went back to twine but I'm still using the split rings.

I had a nice ball of twine, but the cats got to it, so I just have to cut off what I can.

I cut a piece about 3 feet long and double it up. Tie the top of the twine to the larger split ring; I'm not a knot expert so do it however works best for you as long as it doesn't slip!

About 3 - 4 inches down tie a good sized knot. String the punt (dome down) onto the doubled twine and tie another knot below it - you want to keep the punt from sliding.

Come down another 6 - 8 inches (it's all preference) and string the twine through the hole you drilled in the bottom of the bottle. Now you could certainly avoid drilling that hole and just thread your twine through the hole in the middle left by the punt, but I like the way it hangs with the extra hole. Whatever you do make sure your knots are tight and don't slip.

Cut another piece of twine about 12" - 18" long. Tie it to the opposite side of the large split ring and thread the entire thing up through the bottle of the neck. The split ring will stop it from feeding through the neck.

Leave about 2 - 4 inches of twine out of the bottle (again it's your preference) and tie on the smaller split ring.

Voila - you now have a beautiful upcycled wind chime! It's amazing that each one sounds so different.

These have been a hit at the craft shows that I've done. Up until now I haven't listed them on Etsy, but I think I will. If you're interested in buying one, here's the link to my shop: http://www.amica813.etsy.com/. I'll try to have them listed this week.

My next project still involves upcycling glass bottles, but I'll be making lamps (electric) and lanterns (candle)!

If you try your hand at the chimes, let me know how it goes!

Upcycled Glass Bottle Windchime Part 1.5

2010-07-12T20:40:00.000-04:00

So, when you are getting ready to craft something for your blog, make sure ALL of your batteries are charged... not just the Dremel you will be using, but also the camera battery!

In other words, sorry I haven't finished up the project! Everything is charging, so check back soon!

Upcycling Wine Bottles - The Process Part 1 - Cutting the Glass

2010-07-05T18:41:00.000-04:00

We're wine drinkers around here. Sometimes we get good wine and we savor it; sometimes we get not so good wine and we dump it! Either way we end up with a lot of empties. I was using them for decorations until I started running out of cabinet space!

I love glass arts; I had a brief attempt at doing stained glass comic book heroes, but for a beginner Spider-Man has a lot of curves! I kept all my materials though because I knew they would come in handy someday. I'm fascinated by slumped glass and fire polished glass (check out this AWESOME Etsy shop for upcycled glass) and would love to learn to work with it, but alas a kiln is out of my budget right now. I had seen some wind chimes done with slumped bottles but I wasn't fond of how they looked and since I didn't have the kiln the method was out anyway. But after a vacation to Napa and Sonoma last year

I wanted to do something crafty with our bottles so I started chewing on ways to make the windchime and came up with these.

Once I started on the windchimes, my friends started scoping out cool bottles for me. My friend Steff went dumpster diving for the cool blue wine bottle and the Skyy vodka bottle (I think it will become a lantern)!

There are several ways to cut a bottle; many use those 70's bottle cutters, some people use acetone on a string, some use candles, but I found t his tutorial on Instructables and since I already had a tile saw, I went with it! I would like to try the bottle cutter method but I can't see spending $25 for one. The pros of the bottle cutter are that you get a really clean cut; the cons are that you lose a lot of bottles if it doesn't break perfectly. If I come across a cheap one at a yard sale, I'll definitely pick it up and give it a try, though. The pros with the tile saw (for me) are that it's quick and it rarely breaks a bottle, also I use the punt (the little bump in the bottom of the wine bottle) as the "clanger" for the wind chime and I haven't been able to figure out any other way to cut it off.

The cons are that the cuts aren't that clean and I end up having to grind the glass (fortunately I have a grinder on hand). I would love to be able to fire polish the edges, but that requires a kiln which we already know the story with that. For now, they'll just have to be "rustic".
The first step in the process is to wash your glass. I've found through trial and error that it's a lot easier to get the labels off before you cut the glass than after. I still haven't perfected the method, but this time around I soaked them in hot water for 5 - 10 minutes and then used a razor blade to scrape off the labels.

I would love to leave the labels on, but since I use a wet saw to cut the bottles they don't really stay intact. (Any suggestions for preserving them?) I still end up with adhesive left on some of the bottles and end up cleaning them up with GooGone; I'd rather not use it but I haven't found anything better.

Now you're ready for the power tools! I cut the bottoms and the punts off with the wet tile saw. Make sure you have eye protection!!!!! (Also, earplugs and a respirator wouldn't hurt. Although the saw and grinder use water, silica dust in your lungs is a BAD thing!)

I also wear a plastic apron because chips of glass fly everywhere! I usually separate the bottle from the bottom, then run the bottom through again (very carefully) to remove the punt. Some bottles have smaller punts and this can be tricky. You'll be surprised at how messy this is so I always try to do it outside. I used to set up on the back patio but even after sweeping there would be glass chips left all over the place and that's not good for puppy paws!

As I mentioned before, the tile saw does not make the cleanest cuts so you have to fix that with a glass grinder. This is probably my least favorite part because it takes some time and I am very impatient! I grind the punt - standing up to remove burs and then flat around the edges:

I grind the inside ring of the bottom where the punt was and then stand it up on its side and go around the edge:

Finally I grind the bottle itself. I try to smooth out the cut as much as possible, this way no one gets hurt!

Every bottle cuts differently (I find that the thicker the glass, the cleaner the cut), so you need to take your time grinding. Run your finger around all of the exposed edges. They won't be perfectly smooth, but no one's going to be licking these (hopefully!) so as long as your finger comes out okay, you're good to go! (Have the band-aids handy, just in case. HA!)

After I grind, I usually clean the bottles. Just rinsing them doesn't get all the gook off so it takes a couple of rounds. First I rinse them off outside with the hose and try to get the glass chips off.

(They're so beautiful in the sun!)

I will also take them into the sink and put them in warm soapy water, but I don't want the big chunks of glass going down my disposal. I use a baby bottle scrubber to get the inside of the bottle clean.

Some tips: I put each complete bottle (bottle, bottom, and punt) in a grocery bag to keep them together and protect them a little.

(It's also nice to have a wine box with dividers around!)

There's one more glass cutting step, and that's drilling some holes with a diamond bit on my Dremel. I'll pick up with that on the next post and we'll start assembling! In the meantime, chugalug pooh bear! Go get some vino and get to work!

Georgia Wine Festival 2009

(at some point I think I had a glass in both hands)

Upcycling Wine Bottles

2010-07-02T18:16:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow's post will be about upcycling wine bottles. I've been making wind chimes for about 9 months now out of wine bottles and I'm going to walk through the process in my next entry.
I also have several little cute Coke bottles that are a little too small for a chime but are begging to blossom into something fun. Any ideas?

Steampunk Saturday - Yes, I'm one of THOSE people!

2010-06-26T18:04:00.000-04:00

So let me start this post with some nostalgia and a bit of insight into my childhood and what has molded my personality (if you want to skip this part, I don't blame you!) I was a weird kid, from the beginning. The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was Star Wars,
I was three. I wrote my first vampire story at age four, I dictated it to my grandfather who graciously wrote it all down. Starting in about the 5th grade I fell in love with the Victorian era, and carnival freaks. I was a member of SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) in high school and was thrilled about a summer job at Medieval Times (didn't quite give me the historical interaction I was hoping for though). Also, back in the day, there was no Hot Topic. You had to work to find the alternative stuff; they didn't sell Dr. Martens at Shoe Show.

Where this is all leading to is that I'm a little behind the times on my alternative fashions; had I the resources during my youth I would have been SOOOOOO Steampunk! (Did you hear that? It was the sound of my husband groaning with annoyance and displeasure!)
If you're not familiar with Steampunk, there's a very clinical and brief definition on Wikipedia that will help. If you are familiar, and hate it - too bad! If you're familiar and love it, and I butcher your beloved genre with my crafty attempts - get over it!
A couple of weeks ago I was at the Rings N Things Bead Tour in Norcross. I had seen the little canister of gears in the catalog and had flipped through but wasn't ready to make the leap.

I also kept flipping through this Steampunk inspired jewelry book.

I was getting lots of inspiration but no courage until I found this free tutorial by Christi Friesen. I figured I had lots of clay from previous crafty mishaps, I now had the gears, and I was feeling bold and was ready to share with the world my Steampunk interests!
I made a practice heart earlier in the week that I was pretty proud of. So today, I sat down and worked on my Steampunk hearts that will be made into necklaces.

I bought some more polymer clay; I'm still a novice and don't know what brand I prefer yet so I went with what was on sale at JoAnn's this week. I also found some really fun findings that were on clearance (I love the brass monkeys!)

I forgot to take pictures of the process, but here's how they turned out. Some I like better than others, and actually the first one I made earlier in the week is my favorite.

(before and after baking)

I'm kind of disappointed about this one:

The clay was a really beautiful deep crimson color and I mixed a little black. When it baked, though, it turned really dark. Maybe it will lighten up as it cools. I guess it's still cool in the darker color, but I really liked that red.
I also made a beaded necklace that I would categorize as Steampunk because of the colors and materials: red lampwork beads with blue dots and copper accents, copper beads, and really funky blue cat's eye beads. I was stuck with the lampwork beads (long mother-in-law story) and was in the Steampunk state of mind when this happened:

The question now is whether to put them up for sale now or save them for Dragon Con in September. The folks at Titan Comics are always very generous about letting me sell stuff at their booth, but Eric thinks I should go ahead and put them in the shop now. Maybe I will, and maybe I'll make some more Steampunk gear in the meantime. I've been really inspired by these awesome cuffs on Etsy (I could totally ~~wear~~, I mean make something like that!)

So, if you're at Dragon Con this year I may not be on the safe side of the table, I may comingle with the weirdos and actually blend in; 'cause guess what! I AM ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE!

Decoupage Day - Update

2010-06-24T18:26:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to add some additional learnings to the Decoupage Day post. It is definitive that newsprint comics DO NOT work for the bangle bracelets; it has to be magazine slick. None of my Teen Titans images stayed on. For some reason the adhesive just doesn't hold.
Also, the Aleen's Collage Pauge - still don't like it. There are several spots on the Hellboy bangle that did not smooth down and the paper is very crunchy. I'll stick with my Martha Stewart goo.

Fabric Flowers

2010-06-20T20:45:00.000-04:00

I tried to think of something simple to post today since I probably won't get to post much during the week and decided to do some fabric flowers. I actually was really ambitious last night and cut all the pieces out, now I just need to stitch them together (ugh). A little background on me and the fabric arts, I may like them but they certainly don't like me! My grandmother was a fantastic seamstress! She could whip things up without a pattern and every year my Barbies always got a box of new clothes from Granny.

Sadly, this amazing trait skipped my mom; the story of my brothers' jackets that almost sent her over the edge is a legend. I guess Granny thought she might have better luck with me because sometime around my freshman year in college I got an unsolicited sewing machine for Christmas.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great present and I still have it and (try to) use it, but I think she gave up on her dream of passing on her pinking shears to someone deserving when we spent a good chunk of that Christmas vacation working on a vest together. Over the years, I've pulled out the sewing machine from time to time for little projects but this past October I decided I would put my nose to the grindstone and make my Halloween costume. It was a fairly simple pattern and I didn't think I did too bad of a job, but apparently Granny did. She passed away that week and was buried on Halloween thus saving me from embarassing her with my terrible sewing skills. HA!

Well the long ramble was to get me to the point of today's project. Just because I don't sew well doesn't mean I don't love fabrics and patterns and am incredibly envious of people who do so well. So I'm thrilled when a sewing project comes up that requires very little stitchery, and in fact the worse the stitching the better the project looks! I got my pattern and instructions from the Wise Craft blog.
Now for the fabrics... I saw one of these pins in an antique/variety store (Queen of Hearts in Suwanee - awesome place!) a couple of weeks ago and thought they would be great to make. Most of the ones I saw looked to be made of upholstery fabric and I've been trying to figure out where I could get some on the cheap. I happened to walk into my JoAnns two weeks ago and there they were! They were selling the swatches of their discontinued home decor fabrics for $1 a swatch (and I can probably get 4 or 5 from each swatch)! I tried not to go crazy and narrowed down my choices to 8 swatches that I thought would be good colors for the summer and brought them home. They've been sitting in a bag on the floor of my craft room since then...

I did whip one up Wednesday night as a test and it was fairly simple, so I decided to do one of each swatch today.

I don't have a jar of buttons like most people, but rather a drawer of buttons. It's a shallow drawer in some odd Ikea piece of furniture meant for jewelry and lacy things, but the top drawer is reserved for buttons.

These pins would be really cool if I had some vintage buttons to put on them, but alas I think the oldest one I have is about 18 years old (that's close to vintage!) and was salvaged from one of my favorite rayon shirts (do they still make rayon?). Anyway, I chose some of the funkier ones and voila! Here are my fabric flowers.

(before stitching them together)

I stitched a pin back on each of these, but they could easily be used as pendants... if you like fraying fabric ends tickling your neck. I thought about using some fray stop on the ends, but that takes away from the shabbyness of them. Hope you enjoy - they'll be on my Etsy site soon!

I may get a post or two in this week, but my next big project will be on Steampunk Saturday!!!

Decoupage Day - Lessons Learned

2010-06-19T13:12:00.000-04:00

Alright, I've been productive this morning with my chores: cleaned the shower, bathed the dog (see fur pile),

did some laundry and there's a dishwasher load running, I even cleared off some space on my craft worktable (pic is before the cleanup).

Normally I work in the 6 inches in front of and 12 inches to the side of my keyboard despite the fact that I have a whole table to work on.
Now it's time to get crafty. I wanted to work on my decoupage comic book bangle bracelets today. I have images cut for Hellboy, Teen Titans, and Sandman Endless bracelets.

These sold like crazy at Heroes Con this year.

I had never really decoupaged before but I had some Martha Stewart Crafts Decoupage Glue and Sealer

leftover from some project years ago that I used for my first batch of bracelets. This product worked really well, it's thick and clear so it holds onto the paper and lets you manipulate it without soaking through and tearing it - this is REALLY important for folding the paper around the bangle. It's also really glossy and there's a bristle brush included in the bottle. However, I was running low and decided to try a different product. I bought a good size bottle of Collage Pauge (Aleene's)

at Hobby Lobby with a coupon (40% off - sign up for their emails!). I DON'T LIKE IT! It's very thin and soaks through the paper quickly, which means it tears easily, which means it doesn't work very well on the bangles. The instructions say to dip your finger in water and smooth out the wrinkles; this made the paper even more apt to tear. It also seems to dry very quickly once you spread it on and it gets all flaky on my fingers and does not wash off easily (yuck). Looks like I'm headed to Michaels today to stock up on the Martha Stewart goop. And it looks like the Hellboy bracelet will be a discount item since the wrinkles look not so pretty.

I'll use the Martha Stewart product on the Teen Titans and Sandman Endless bracelets that are up next.

(bracelets are drying)

By the way, I got the basics for these bracelets from this great video series on YouTube. The instructions are with tissue paper (which I've used) but I had to do something with comics, so voila!

First Entry

2010-06-18T21:52:00.001-04:00

Okay, I bit the bullet and now I have to start writing. My skills are a little rusty, but hopefully with time they'll get better. I plan to keep you all informed about my crafty projects and my kids (hope you like dogs and cats).

A word about my title - Big Girl Baubles... it's actually the name of my Etsy shop and when I was talking about it with a friend of mine he asked if I was being degrading to myself. Well, despite the fact that I am a big girl, the title for the shop came more from the saying about "putting on your big girl panties and deal with it". My favorite phrase in college was, "Suck it up, camper" (I worked at a summer camp and there was a lot of whining) and the big girl panties thing seemed along the same lines. Now in retrospect I'm owning both aspects of "Big Girl"! So, back to the shop - I mainly sell jewelry and I love the word "bauble" so add it all up and you get where I'm coming from... hopefully.

Tonight I've been working on listing more of my jewelry on Etsy. I met a lot of great folks at Heroes Con in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago but I had forgotten my business cards. I ended up scribbling my shop address on lots of scrap paper; but even if they did go to my site there wasn't much listed (I had gotten a little disenchanted with Etsy lately). Anyway, I'm back in the saddle and listing my stuff and hopefully someone will find it.

So yeah, back to the blog - you'll learn very quickly I tend to ramble and write in a stream of consciousness, not that there's anything wrong with that, so hang on and enjoy the ride.

On tap for tomorrow - decoupage comic book bangle bracelets. I'll take some pics and post.

Okay, gotta run, dogs are barking at the neighbors. Hope you all have a good night.