Indie Crafts

Cartoon character skeletons

Minnie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:25:28 +0000

I know I have blogged about Michael Paulus somewhere before, but maybe not here.

Michael Paulus had some great art pieces with cartoon characters on an overlay and underneath the characters skeleton. These newer pieces lack the overlay but are nice resin coated pieces drawn to look a bit more like scientific plates.

There are more character skeleton pieces listed on his main web page including this awesome Hello Kitty skeleton!

I’ve seen many resin coated artworks recently and I like them! I wonder, is it hard to get it smooth and nice or are you constantly worried about bubbles and such?

Cutest bat softie pattern!

Minnie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:56:08 +0000

My kid thinks all bats are Stellaluna and he says Stellaluna like this “Elloloolooolooloona” which, if you have a kid (if you don’t have a kid you probably don’t give a crap and I don’t blame you one bit), is like the cutest thing ever. Speaking of kids and stuffed animals you would not believe the restraint I have brought to bear in the buying my kid stuffed animals department. We have been to several zoos, aquariums, parks, toy stores, etc. and I have bought him nary a stuffed animal. All his animals were either hand me downs from friends, his cousin, me or his dad or from Ikea.

Anyway. I like this bat pattern from Cynic the Lamb on Etsy a lot and her fabric choices for the photos are superb. This one is on my list. As soon as I actually sew some softies form the patterns I have already purchased this one will be next!

Cynic the Lamb has several other patterns and already sewed softies for sale in her Etsy shop and you can read her blog here. OO! Looks like she will be at the Bazaar Bizarre in SF this winter! I can’t wait to check out her shop.

Little Green Monster on my wall

Minnie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:00:09 +0000

green monster 2

Originally uploaded by melissastanley727

I like to think that this little green monster wasn’t slaughtered and mounted on this embroidery hoop. She’s there of her own free will to keep you company. Arms are posable!

This was created by Melissa Sue and you can find her blog here and her Etsy shop here.

In the ‘Animals Up To Something’ category

Minnie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:48:33 +0000

Mice are always up to something whether it be exploding fireworks all over the place or hiding behind the fridge eating all your cupcakes.

Dandy Lion Press has a number of animals up to something cards and the like, all letterpressed by the artist herself. Also, there are various jackalopes involved. Aren’t there always?

OMG dying. Drunk crafty Ewoks.

Minnie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:30:48 +0000

ahahaha. This is killing me. you have to watch all of it. Around minute 3:55 one of the drunk pissed off they are in a hot costume Ewoks starts moon walking and a minute later WORSE.

hmmm. I can’t seem to embed this video…
Link to Drunk Ewoks on crafty segment of the Today Show.

Darth Vadar is MOST DISPLEASED but the live audience is cracking up.

P.S. I kind of like the decoupaged pumpkin idea…

Ann Wood paper mache sailboat #7

Minnie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:39:44 +0000

sailboat #7

Originally uploaded by annwood

I can’t remember whose blog I saw these on last week. But I love these paper mache art pieces by Ann Wood. They’re all sold out already but you can take a look at them on her main web page and her blog is here.

Ahaha, her shop has a whole section for ‘small things‘. I love small things!

Daintiest cross stitch that ever was

Minnie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:37:23 +0000

I just can’t help but still love any non traditional cross stitch or embroidery. Can you imagine going to your grandmother’s house and seeing this hanging in her cluttered doily infested bathroom? I will be that grandmother…

You can find this crossstitch at Bee Frank’s Etsy shop. You can also find her cross stitch and embroidery patterns at Mr. XStitch’s shop. I’m liking the grafitti cross stitch patterns!

How to Sew Your Own Produce Bags

Minnie — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:57:33 +0000

I often wander the grocery store grumpily thinking about how stupid it is for people to freak out about paper or plastic grocery bags, it just seems like such a pathetic thing to focus on. Our country is AT WAR still ffs.

However, I get home and have a bunch of produce annoyingly in a bunch of plastic bags. And thusly, that makes me want to make these net produce bags. My question is, “what kind of net material do I use”?

Boy and Girl Halloween dress up dolls!

Minnie — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:43:45 +0000

Oh these are cute! Dress up boy and girl paper dolls just in time for Halloween!

Created by Babalisme. Great job! Also, check out her cute downloadable Halloween party invites!

Bazaar Bizarre Winter Show 2009 – Dec 12-13

Minnie — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:26:56 +0000

The Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco winter show has been announced! You can check out all the vendors here!

The 2009 Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco (BBSF) will
feature 100 of the best indie crafters and designers.
DJs will provide entertainment and food from local
eateries will be available. The event will also serve as
a networking opportunity for indie designers and
businesses. Past Bazaar Bizarre vendors have
included My Paper Crane, Craftster, My Favorite
Mirror, Fred Flare, and Etsy.

Workshops and Demonstrations
Every year we include interactive sessions and craft
demonstrations from local and national crafters and
companies. In addition we will host a two day long
Swap-O-Rama-Rama. Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a
clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in
which a community explores creative reuse through the
recycling of used clothing. Previous companies include
Get Crafty.com, CRAFTzine, Workman Press and Mrs.
Grossman’s

Website: http://www.bazaarbizarre.org/sanfrancisco/
Date: Dec 12-13 2009 12-6pm
Place: SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY FAIR BUILDING
9th Ave and Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94122

Beer Goggles! hur hur

Minnie — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:34:55 +0000

Beer goggles. Heh! and Ouch!
I think I may have posted about the wooden frames from Urban Spectacles before.

Made by reusing empty beer bottles, these goggles are a playful take on eyewear. Pick out your favorite beer, or even make the selection based upon and interesting glass (think Delirium), then either drink it down or send it to me and I’ll take care of it, and the construction of Beer Goggles will begin. Then I will fit any prescription or tint of lenses into the frames and they will be ready to wear out to your local pub.

Sadly, they have an extremely annoying website from like 1997. I like the squirrel drawing though.

Dino Spiked Leggings Tutorial

Minnie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:37:36 +0000

I saw these spiked leggings on Threadbanger the other day and just about died laughing. They are AWESOME and HILARIOUS. If weren’t a respectable *cough Cough* lady I would totally make and wear these babies. As it is I might translate these spikes onto some spats.

The art of Furoshiki – Using cloth to wrap packages

Minnie — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:56:41 +0000

I found this great visual explanation on how to use cloth to wrap gifts on a Japanese government website. You can use any square or rectangular cloth.

Furoshiki (???, furoshiki) are a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that were frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods. Although possibly dating back as far as the Nara period, the name, meaning “bath spread”, derives from the Edo period practice of using them to bundle clothes while at the sent? (public baths;public furo). Before becoming associated with public baths, furoshiki was known as hirazutsumi (??), or flat folded bundle. Eventually, the furoshiki’s usage extended to serve as a means for merchants to transport their wares or to protect and decorate a gift.

Last weekend I was in a craft store and there was a display of gorgeous wrapping papers. I love a fancily wrapped gift. However, as we all know, it creates an absurd amount of waste for just a moment or two of beauty.

I’m about to make one using some soft cotton and some flannel. Basically I am going to make a small blanket and also wrap a gift in it. Two gifts in one and nothing is wasted!

Ready-to-Stitch ECO TOTE Model Citizen by Bonnie Rue Limited Edition

Minnie — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:37:46 +0000

What do you get when you combine sublime stiching, bake and destroy and model citizen? Awesomeness, that’s what.

Introducing a new design in the Sublime Stitching line of exclusive, ready-to-stitch EcoTotes, pre-stamped with wash-out ink! This is a limited-edition design, by Bonnie Rue of Model Citizen Clothing. We love Bonnie’s tiger-headed ladies and wanted to share her designs with our stitchers!

This tote is so cute!
ROAR!

Fail Harder

Minnie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:55:06 +0000

Fail Harder

Originally uploaded by swissmiss studio

I saw this ‘Fail Harder’ sign on SwissMiss that someone made out of like 45 million thumbtacks. I need this sign (along side my Natalie Dee print out that says ‘I’m a Quitter!’ (which you can now get as a t-shirt(can I double triple parenthesis like this?! whatever, go buy a Natalie Dee t-shirt. they are awesome.))) above my craft space because I fail hard and I fail often.

“Over 100,000 thumbtacks were used over 351 hours to create this typographic mural that spells out Fail Harder, a message that underlines the importance of failure during the creative process.”

It sucks to have a craft project crash and burn. I attempted to dye a pair of shoes today except that at the last moment I realized the shoes weren’t actually leather… Instead of not doing the project I went ahead with it and um… it didn’t quite work out. FAIL. And this on top of last week after my silk screen project turned out assy when I was thinking, “MAN, please let me have one freaking successful project. GOSH!”

Sometimes I want to get stabby when I’m reading all the craft blogs where people are seemingly cranking out perfect craft project after perfect craft project and all the commenter are gushing about how awesome the blogger is. Maybe that’s why I so mean spiritedly love Regretsy and Craftastrophe.