It works so well...

I do have an actual palette, as in the real thing but these plastic lids work out great.

The almost Heromine bag

I made this last week from a scarf I got from a little boutique and had to make something with. My favorite part though is the inside. I didn't have anything on hand and I'm probably not going to use my graduation gown for anything so I cut it up. She thought that was really cool. I think overall it's girly enough for a 16 year old and it also fulfilled my desire to make the bag.

Plus she gets to decide if she wants anyone to know about the inside fabric.

More on Augmented Reality

Oh Google Glasses, why couldn't you have been this?

More Calvin

This is from one of my favorite strips.

Cue ominous music

The back of the peacock all nice and quilted... the front will be posted after I give it to my sister in law next week.

And another thing...

I'm doing 2 projects at the same time.  I like this one because it makes me feel like a real painter. Not that I'm not one now but I'm certainly not making a living at it. I could have done this on a canvas but I'm never finished with just painting something. This will be a new baby blanket for a cute little boy.

Bleeding Paint

I love how watercolors look but because it's so translucent I can't hide mistakes. This is with acrylics that I've made to look like watercolor. The colors are bleeding together and I love it.
To be continued...

Productive doodling

And another birthday

It seems like a lot lately right?

I was browsing Pinterest a few weeks ago and saw a cute owl bag. I saved the picture and let it cook a few more days not planning anything to do with it and by the weekend I was buying fabric and zippers.

He liked it.

I think I stress about this way too much. I brought a finished map to visit a friend and asked for more island names and general feedback. All the while catching up I couldn't stop picking at it so I finally put it away. One good suggestion I got was to add a magnifying glass and since I'd bought a Diego party kit I had that, a compass and a spyglass kaleidoscope.

The final map...

I am going to make so many more of these. I'm also pretty sure the future recipient of this one and his parents don't read this blog so I'm posting my progress.

Last night, boil in tea water for 30 minutes. Pour out water and leave until morning. Bright and early, bake in oven at 200° and check every 20 minutes. This takes an hourish. Very carefully open maps up on a flat surface and let air dry or a fan speeds it up. Next, spray with misted water and iron until flat enough. You will never get it back to the original flatness so don't worry. Draw in everything you can wring and scrounge out of your head. I seriously spent a good 6 hours (total) making it purty.

Paint! Don't go overboard, the water color effect takes patience so colors don't bleed together too much. Air dry, mist and iron. Place names! I used all the nieces and nephew names then started in on fictional places. They'll be on Wikipedia for days trying to figure it all out.

The final product will be delivered tomorrow night. This is always the scariest part no matter if the kids always like your stuff. I hate the unwrapping and what's this? and oh I like that (or not). Gift anxiety is what it's called times a million for something you made.

Lack light table

I saw this on a few crafty hack sites and definitely need one. I bought a Lack table from IKEA for $9, some lighting, high gloss white enamel paint and a piece of Plexiglas.

Cover one side of the glass with white tissue paper. While it dries cut open a square of the table top which is fairly easy since its particle board and a honey comb of cardboard below. Clean the inside out and paint as many layers as needed to cover everything. I had to add some wood inside for the Plexiglas to sit on, I tried gluing a domino inside the center but that didn't work.

At first I screwed down the corners of the glass but the tension made it concave and I need easy access to change the lights.

Right now the goal is to reproduce a folio from the book of the kells,  a really old copy of the bible, so I started with a Celtic cross. It works great so far.

Not quite a project but....

I hike every weekend if I can. I'm slow and have to tape my knees and am afraid of heights but every weekend I go higher than I thought I could the week before. And it's worth it every time.

Oh hey what's that black thing in a few pictures? That would be a helicopter, down below.

The never ending project

I keep having to take stuff out and redo it. Man I suck at knitting.

Molding and casting

I keep loosing bone folders, a tool used in bookbinding, and need cheap ones for giving craft classes. They are fairly inexpensive online $5-$10 but that can add up fast.

I got a mold making kit for my birthday last year and played around with it a bit but not liking the project so I shelved the kit until a few days ago. I originally planned to buy the bone folders in bulk but the shipping was too much so I did the next best thing. I molded the remaining bone folder and then cast it with a quick set white plastic. They are perfect, just enough flexibility to work and strong enough to last. Or get lost. I need to buff them with steel wool now but overall this is great.

Chalk Awesomeness

There's a little kid scooter thing that's been right outside my door all weekend and I finally had to do something about it.

Inside I added a rubber ducky and some plastic pirate gold.