The last few days have been fairly busy. I finished gluing the other leg of my cardboard stool. I didn't take a picture of that, as it looks exactly like the first leg. Right now, it is in the craftshop, drying.

I finished my spotted lantern fish. I still don't know whether I like the end result, but I certainly enjoyed the process. The biggest problem was that I got glue all over the front of the project. It was really hard to handle all of those bitty little pieces. I'll take it to the Boys and Girls Club and let the kiddos decide what it is worth--someone can use their homework points to buy it, and they'll have a little piece of original art of their very own.

 I also turned one old t-shirt into heavy yarn for a rug.

I really enjoy making new items from worn out things that don't seem to have any life left to them. This shirt will make a great contribution to my next rug.

Another cardboard stool

The kids at the Club still vie against each other for opportunities to use the stool that I made from corrugated cardboard. I needed to clear several boxes out of my attic anyway, so I took the opportunity to start on another stool.

This picture shows my progress from a few days ago. Today, I cut several more panels and carved the central square out of all of them. I hope to cover this one with canvas or some other material, now that everyone has seen what they are made from. The current one, while still really sturdy, is showing some wear, and I would like to protect its surfaces so it will last longer.

I did one other thing yesterday, although I forgot to take a "before" picture. My friends Fred and Pat Trusell gave me their loom, and I went to their apartment to pick it up.

Here it is, all in pieces in the back of my car. It will have to live in my attic until Anna goes off to college next fall. I have permission to use her bedroom as a weaving studio once she is at school. Fred tells me he will come to help me put the loom back together when the time comes. Fred made the loom himself, and the Trusells used it for decades, so it is a great honor to be the one to receive it.

Maybe I'll never need these skills that I am learning. Somehow, though, I feel so much happier knowing how to make some things myself, instead of having to go buy them from complete strangers who live on the far side of the world.

Spotted Lantern Fish

I have been trying to do a little crafting every day. I have been posting on Facebook, since the effort was spurred by my cousin Kelli, who had a crafting initiative called "Hibernate and Create" on Facebook for the month of January. Now that January is over, I am going to try to post a little bit about what I did each day here on my blog instead. Kelli's project got me moving a little faster, but it also made it clear to me just how much making I was doing already. Thanks, Kelli!

For the last several days, I have been working on a spotted lantern fish made from found materials. I found a picture that I liked in my marine life book, and I drew a copy onto a scrap of wood. My other materials are Sharpie, yogurt containers, glue and paint.

I made templates for the head armor using some old typing paper I found lying around.

Here's what it looks like right now. I can't decide whether I like this project as an object, but I am certainly enjoying the process of making it. I think I will find a button to glue on for the fish's pupil, and I need to add a few more beads where the fish would have lantern cells. I also need to finish up the fins. Maybe I can complete my fish tomorrow! Then I just have to decide what to do with it.

I have been taking part in a crafting initiative that my cousin, Kelli Sweet, started. Her challenge to all of her acquaintance was to do at least 15 minutes of crafting and post on it every day for the month of January. While I have not quite managed to keep up with the daily nature of the challenge, I have been getting into the craftshop consistently, and I have started and completed several projects.

One of my favorites was a stool that I made out of corrugated cardboard.

It is 14" tall; I designed it for the younger children in the Learning Center at the Boys and Girls Club where I work. I started with the carton that my daughter's Christmas present came in. It was a double layer of corrugated cardboard--about as sturdy as a box can get.

I used a broken old self-healing mat for my template.

It took a few hours to cut out the legs of the stool. I started with a craft knife, and I managed to tear the skin on my finger before Chip discovered me trying to cut double-thick cardboard with it. He immediately went and got a box cutter for me. I love my husband!

Once I had them cut, I glued the pieces together to make two laminated legs.

The pieces that I had cut out of the center of each square made excellent supports and spacers for the center of the stool. Next comes the seat.

I glued multiple strips of cardboard together to make a laminated block. The center piece that I installed the day before held everything in place with the glue dried.

The only thing left to do was try it out! Here is Anna, age 17, trying out the stool. It is rock-solid and much more comfortable than it looks.

I took it to the Club the day after I finished it. The children there have been vying for an opportunity to use it, and I have several requests to make more of them.

January 11, 2016

I have been a fitful blogger, partly because I wanted to include pictures. I was extremely frustrated, as I was having a hard time arranging the pages with both pictures and text. The other day, Jim asked me why I wasn't blogging much, since I had been so interested in it when I posted my first few entries. When I explained my frustration to him, he suggested using a different web browser, so here I am, trying this out in Chrome instead of Firefox. Here goes nothin'!

It has been a very satisfying year in the craft studio. I have done everything from fiber arts to paper crafts and upcycled miscellany. Many of my projects have been of a practical nature, as I love combining the aesthetic and the useful. I particularly like containers and receptacles. It has also been a year full of big changes for our family. Without further ado, here is some of what I and my family have done in the last year:

Anna and I did a lot of gardening.

Junior prom, May 25.

I have been trying to become more self-reliant for the last decade or so--providing more and more of my family's needs myself, instead of going out and buying them. We did buy veggies this year, but not nearly as many as we used to.

A tree fell on our house just before our two big party days.

Our son, Jim, spearheaded the building of a shed for the Cider Knoll Community Garden over the summer of 2014 as the centerpiece of his Eagle project. On June 6, Troop 2 held an Eagle Court of Honor for him at our church.

This shed was Jim's Eagle project.

Eagle Court of Honor at our church

On June 7th, Jim graduated high school. He was beyond relieved to be finished, and he is much happier in college.

James Read, Marlborough High School class of 2015

Band concert, June 2015

 Several years ago, Jim joined Chip in the community band. Here, you can see Jimmy in the back with his trumpet (second from the left). Chip is directly in front of him. Now that Jim is at college, he can't make it to rehearsal, so he has given up the band for now, and he is exploring other possibilities for the moment.

All the cousins down the shore

I have been doing more crafting now that winter has come again. Below are a few projects I have done for my cousin Kelli's "hibernate and create" group crafting activity. The idea is to do some crafting for at least 15 minutes every day during the month of January. I have made a lot of stuff this month, but I don't foresee buying many supplies at the moment. I still have about 20 years worth of built-up crafting supplies, so I won't buy anything until I need something specific. Letting my materials guide my crafting choices worked well for me in 2015. I plan to continue until I run out of both ideas and supplies. Here's to a new year. Cheers!

A banner I made as an example for my kids at the Boys and Girls Club, where I work

Drawstring bags made with leftover yarn

I'm making a stool out of corrugated cardboard.

May 21, 2015

I scratched my most recent attempt to write a post almost as soon as I started. Why? It was a list. Bleccchh! I have done a lot of crafting since December, and I have several finished projects. I have made everything from quirky hats to exposed-seam gifts bags. I also started to repair a duck mask that Anna made in art class once. Eventually, I may post pictures of some of them, but not all at once. The mask will probably get its own post.

I have been to the fabric store (twice) since then, mostly for thread and other small supplies. I did buy some fabric for a few pairs of pants I wanted to make. It is hard to find enough fabric for dress pants or jeans in the scrap pile. I also caved in and bought a few remnants (two, to be precise). So I haven't followed my resolution not to buy new fabric perfectly, but I have been good.

Anyway, spring is here, and I have been doing a lot of gardening. Anna and I sheet-mulched about half of the yard on the west side of our house last fall. Sheet mulching involves laying cardboard or paper on the soil and covering it with compost, then (if possible) leaves or some other non-woody mulch. This spring, we are working with the results. I don't think we put quite as much soil on top as we should have. There are sprigs of grass growing through it in many places, and we have needed to dig holes through the cardboard for most of the things we have planted. On the other hand, there are tons of worms in our garden this year, and most of the new seedlings are thriving.

The potatoes seem to love the new garden, as do the peas. We planted a lot of peas this year! There are 200 square feet of them at the community garden, and we have another 40 or 50 square feet here at home.

The other picture here is something that I nearly pulled up, as it looks so much like one of our common weeds, wood sorrel. Wood sorrel is lovely to add to a salad, as it lends a tangy flavor, but you can only eat so much of it. I end up throwing it in the compost most of the time. This plant is oca. It is closely related to wood sorrel, but the stem is a lot thicker. The thick stem reminded me that I had planted something there. It is a South American tuber, which the Inca often ate right alongside their potatoes. I can't wait to find out what it tastes like!

One more picture:

Monie enjoys the grass that I haven't yet pulled up.                                                                                                                                                              

Back in August, I took some pictures of all the craft supplies I had sitting around the house. I have things tucked away in all sorts of places. I wanted to document the overabundance, in case I ever started to do something with it. I have supplies in cupboards and trunks, under my sewing table as well as on and next to it, and in boxes, baskets and bins all over the house.

The living room:

 My basement crafting area:

Yarn on the guys' electronics area

 I had supplies in areas that I never use, like the computer/video center that Chip and Jimmy set up for their entertainment needs.

Some of the supplies in this cabinet are starting to fossilize. There is also a trunk full of yarn and fabric in another part of the house. It is probably about time I emptied it and used it to store something else.

Next, I'll post some updates on the projects I have done over the last few months. I have been busy!