Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Crafty supplies for a cause!
Just wanted to quickly plug Joyful Abode's raffle. Emily took in a lost pup and is sheltering (and vetting) him until an owner can be located or a new family adopts him. How generous and kind and caring! Buy a raffle ticket, help with vet costs and maybe win some really nifty stuff!
Out of Doors
It was a very orange day in the garden today! A tomato, a pepper and a pumpkin!
And all my hostas are preparing to bloom. This is right outside the back door, in our courtyard area.
This is a recent project, my new compost pile! I had a compost pile at the rental house but having moved in here in February, it was hardly weather to make a new pile here. But everytime I threw away an apple peel or egg shell, I felt like I was throwing good nutrients and next year's compost out the window! What a waste of good soil amendments! So I finally got around to putting some poles in the ground and wrapping it with hardware cloth.
My compost tips:
-My compost pile is about 3 feet square and is made from 4 metal T-posts and 1 roll of 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth. Cheap and easy!
-I've seen a lot of plans for circular compost piles that are just hardware cloth made into a cylinder. My question for these is, how exactly do you stir the pile if's completely enclosed? I prefer an open pile that I can dig into with a stick or pitchfork each time I add something new. Stirring is important to compost to evenly break down all components.
-Make sure your compost pile is in a shady area. Sunshine will dry it out too fast and bake the organic matter to a crisp, not letting it decompose to a nice, rich compost.
-They (compost experts) say to water it frequently. I think this is a waste of water. A good pile, built in a shady spot, will keep a nice moist interior without your help. Yes, it may take a few more months for your pile to ripen but what do you have more of, time or money for a high water bill? I'll let you decide. (I don't water many things, besides seedlings right after their planted. I am stingy with the water.)
-If you have dogs, either make sure your pile is enclosed, add a gate to the front (hardware cloth panel or wooden pallet) or (if you have a dog like Sully who won't dig too much) make sure each time you add choice bits like melon rind or corn cobs that you bury them down in the leaves and grass clippings.
-Do not add meat, dairy products, sugary items or dog/cat poo. Plants like to eat other plants so keep it limited to veg. matter, and maybe some egg shells if you bury them well to keep the rodents out. If you have chickens or rabbits, their poo is just fine. Plant-eaters' poo=good, meat-eaters' poo=not good. Newspaper is ok if you shred it and don't add too much at one time. Large branches and wood chips will need to be sifted out for several cycles before they will decompose so I try not to add those.
-I keep an old Tupperware container on the counter (think Rachel Ray's garbage bowl) that I put scraps in and take out every day. I like something that is sealable just in case you have ants that crawl in the window screen like we do!
Another recent addition to our back porch is this bench, but it is not new to me. My parents have had this bench since before I was born. They found it at a garage sale, missing on spindle. My dad took the bark off a branch, whittled the ends and stuck it in there. When I mentioned to my mom that I wanted a storage bench for taking my shoes off and storing garden tools, she offered it to me but come to find out, years of being left on the back porch at their house had left it in disrepair. My dad was kind enough to rebuild it and paint it black, just for me! I love having something that has been a part of our family for so long. No, it's not an heirloom from hundreds of years ago, but the story behind it reminds me of what frugal, resourceful people my parents are.
And all my hostas are preparing to bloom. This is right outside the back door, in our courtyard area.
This is a recent project, my new compost pile! I had a compost pile at the rental house but having moved in here in February, it was hardly weather to make a new pile here. But everytime I threw away an apple peel or egg shell, I felt like I was throwing good nutrients and next year's compost out the window! What a waste of good soil amendments! So I finally got around to putting some poles in the ground and wrapping it with hardware cloth.
My compost tips:
-My compost pile is about 3 feet square and is made from 4 metal T-posts and 1 roll of 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth. Cheap and easy!
-I've seen a lot of plans for circular compost piles that are just hardware cloth made into a cylinder. My question for these is, how exactly do you stir the pile if's completely enclosed? I prefer an open pile that I can dig into with a stick or pitchfork each time I add something new. Stirring is important to compost to evenly break down all components.
-Make sure your compost pile is in a shady area. Sunshine will dry it out too fast and bake the organic matter to a crisp, not letting it decompose to a nice, rich compost.
-They (compost experts) say to water it frequently. I think this is a waste of water. A good pile, built in a shady spot, will keep a nice moist interior without your help. Yes, it may take a few more months for your pile to ripen but what do you have more of, time or money for a high water bill? I'll let you decide. (I don't water many things, besides seedlings right after their planted. I am stingy with the water.)
-If you have dogs, either make sure your pile is enclosed, add a gate to the front (hardware cloth panel or wooden pallet) or (if you have a dog like Sully who won't dig too much) make sure each time you add choice bits like melon rind or corn cobs that you bury them down in the leaves and grass clippings.
-Do not add meat, dairy products, sugary items or dog/cat poo. Plants like to eat other plants so keep it limited to veg. matter, and maybe some egg shells if you bury them well to keep the rodents out. If you have chickens or rabbits, their poo is just fine. Plant-eaters' poo=good, meat-eaters' poo=not good. Newspaper is ok if you shred it and don't add too much at one time. Large branches and wood chips will need to be sifted out for several cycles before they will decompose so I try not to add those.
-I keep an old Tupperware container on the counter (think Rachel Ray's garbage bowl) that I put scraps in and take out every day. I like something that is sealable just in case you have ants that crawl in the window screen like we do!
Another recent addition to our back porch is this bench, but it is not new to me. My parents have had this bench since before I was born. They found it at a garage sale, missing on spindle. My dad took the bark off a branch, whittled the ends and stuck it in there. When I mentioned to my mom that I wanted a storage bench for taking my shoes off and storing garden tools, she offered it to me but come to find out, years of being left on the back porch at their house had left it in disrepair. My dad was kind enough to rebuild it and paint it black, just for me! I love having something that has been a part of our family for so long. No, it's not an heirloom from hundreds of years ago, but the story behind it reminds me of what frugal, resourceful people my parents are.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
I did it
So, labor day weekend got me in a painting mood so I did it! It's green! Very green! Asparagus to be exact. I love it and best of all, husband loves it!
Yes, my kitchen is always a mess. Hopefully the green draws your eyes up and away from the overflowing garbage and the dishes in the sink!
Yes, my kitchen is always a mess. Hopefully the green draws your eyes up and away from the overflowing garbage and the dishes in the sink!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Yo-yo tutorial
I have posted a new tutorial on Instructables for quilting with yo-yos. If you've ever wanted to make yo-yos but never quite understood how to make them or attach them to each other, check it out! I have entered it in the Craft Skills contest so if you're an Instructables member, I'd really appreciate your rating and, later on in the process, your vote.
Belated post
There were several great posts in celebration of the late Tasha Tudor's birthday last week including this wonderful one from Cathy of The Christmas Corgi Blog. I was introduced somewhat late in life (I'm only 27, so how late could it be? But I didn't know a thing about her until a few years ago so what do I say? Middle-off in life?) Having corgis predisposes you to Tasha Tudor exposure. Tasha items are quite popular for auctions that benefit corgi causes such as the yearly Corgi-Aid auction. Her drawings remind me of my mother's, untrained but with an unhesitatingly honest and gentle, and with a humble knowledge of the world behind them. And I admire and aspire to her work ethic and simple lifestyle. I think she would like this picture of Sully all dressed up in a fairy saddle and flower garland.
I never got a hand-drawn card from her like Cathy was lucky enough to get! But Sully got a letter from her corgis!
One of Sully's hobbies is writing to famous dogs (especially corgis) and waiting to see if he gets letters back! Tasha's corgis were one of the few dogs to ever write back. Do you know of any famous corgis or dogs that he could write to next? He has written to several politician's dogs, including Barney and Miss Beazley, those famous Scotties, and Jackson and Dave, the VP's labs. The queens corgis did not respond, sadly. And neither did Stephen King's corgi, Frodo. Martha Stewart's dogs' people wrote back a boring canned response, I bet they didn't even notice it was a dog writing to them despite his own stationary with paw prints on it!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Chairs
Thanks to Mary Ellen for alerting me to another one of my pictures featured on the Craftzine blog! You can see the chairs all painted and finished here. I made these for last year's Club Little House and I am so excited to see that Amy is planning for the next one! I already know what I'm making since last year I couldn't decide between two projects and bought the materials to make both but choose the popsicle stick and toothpick chairs over the.....secret project!!
P.S. This picture here shows the distressing/crackle finish on the chair better.
P.S. This picture here shows the distressing/crackle finish on the chair better.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Nails in the walls
Now that we own our own house, I feel the pull to explode my crafty and creative side all OVER it! This weekend, I've been adding some more wall art including these four paintings I finished months ago for the living room but hadn't gotten around to hanging. These are above the dining table now and I like them much better hanging than sitting on the floor!
I found this lovely owl cut paper art this morning at a garage sale for ten cents! I put it in this frame that had been hanging around, waiting for something to put in it and now it's brightening the hallway.
I also found this expanding peg rack, something I'd been keeping an eye out for to put in my craft room! Now it's waiting to be filled with all sorts of fun creations!
I have a really cute yarn painting I got at a garage sale a while ago that I just can't find the wall space for! Need to rearrange! (You can see it even still has the price tag on it.)
When we moved in, we painted just about every room, and not limp beige or eggshell. Ok, so the living room is a bit of a beige (Bagel, actually) but we paired it with a rich brown! The bedroom is Halcyon Green, Mike's office is smoky blue and my studio in Afternoon.
After all that painting, I was done for a while. It's been a couple of months (We've lived here 6 months now!) and I think I can paint again. I've chosen a small project, the bulkhead in the kitchen. Right now, it's a bland tan color. Putty? Dried mud? Whatever it is, it doesn't inspire me!
So, I'm thinking green since I have a lot of retro green dishware/bread box/appliances. These two are top picks, I'm looking for a green with a lot of yellow.
I found this lovely owl cut paper art this morning at a garage sale for ten cents! I put it in this frame that had been hanging around, waiting for something to put in it and now it's brightening the hallway.
I also found this expanding peg rack, something I'd been keeping an eye out for to put in my craft room! Now it's waiting to be filled with all sorts of fun creations!
I have a really cute yarn painting I got at a garage sale a while ago that I just can't find the wall space for! Need to rearrange! (You can see it even still has the price tag on it.)
When we moved in, we painted just about every room, and not limp beige or eggshell. Ok, so the living room is a bit of a beige (Bagel, actually) but we paired it with a rich brown! The bedroom is Halcyon Green, Mike's office is smoky blue and my studio in Afternoon.
After all that painting, I was done for a while. It's been a couple of months (We've lived here 6 months now!) and I think I can paint again. I've chosen a small project, the bulkhead in the kitchen. Right now, it's a bland tan color. Putty? Dried mud? Whatever it is, it doesn't inspire me!
So, I'm thinking green since I have a lot of retro green dishware/bread box/appliances. These two are top picks, I'm looking for a green with a lot of yellow.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Take the plunge, update your own blog!
Several people have commented and emailed, curious about how I did what I did. So I'm going to give you some tips and websites. But I will preface this by saying this was my first time doing any major changes and I may not have done everything super-correctly! We will see if CorgiPants falls to shreds in the days to come, so far so good! (Sorry if this is way boring for those who either don't care or know way more than this!)
I started off with a free 3-column template from Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates and tweaked it a bunch. She also has some great tutorials so check her out!
I made my own background image in photoshop using those awesome free fabric texture brushes I saw posted on Craftzine. Here's a little info on using an image as a background.
I made my own header in photoshop too, using from digital scrapbooking thingies like ribbon. Those stripes? I used the Random Stripe Generator, did a screen capture and then edited it in photoshop.
Bloggerbuster and Tips For New Bloggers are two great resources for tutorials.
My tips are:
Save your widgets before you do anything else. That Simply Fabulous lady mentioned previously has a tutorial on how to do this! Don't be surprised (be happy!) when some of them are able to transfer over automatically.
Make a test blog, perfect your code and then copy it all over and delete the test blog. Do not try things out on your actual blog, too much can go horribly wrong! Not that anything went wrong with CorgiPants, I made a test blog that started out looking really horrible and finished up like this! Ta da!
I was inspired by Colleen and her new blog, FreshBlogTips! I have a couple of other new things planned, including a weekly feature that involves a diary from the 40s!
I started off with a free 3-column template from Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates and tweaked it a bunch. She also has some great tutorials so check her out!
I made my own background image in photoshop using those awesome free fabric texture brushes I saw posted on Craftzine. Here's a little info on using an image as a background.
I made my own header in photoshop too, using from digital scrapbooking thingies like ribbon. Those stripes? I used the Random Stripe Generator, did a screen capture and then edited it in photoshop.
Bloggerbuster and Tips For New Bloggers are two great resources for tutorials.
My tips are:
Save your widgets before you do anything else. That Simply Fabulous lady mentioned previously has a tutorial on how to do this! Don't be surprised (be happy!) when some of them are able to transfer over automatically.
Make a test blog, perfect your code and then copy it all over and delete the test blog. Do not try things out on your actual blog, too much can go horribly wrong! Not that anything went wrong with CorgiPants, I made a test blog that started out looking really horrible and finished up like this! Ta da!
I was inspired by Colleen and her new blog, FreshBlogTips! I have a couple of other new things planned, including a weekly feature that involves a diary from the 40s!
A new pair of pants!
As Mary Ellen was quick to notice, CorgiPants has a fresh new look! How do you like it?
It went from "I need to freshen up, I'll make a new header image."
to "For a small fee, I could have someone make me a whole new template."
to "Heck, I can do that myself with a little research!!"
So here it is, 3 columns just like all the grown-ups! Please let me know if anything is amiss like text/link colors being a little weird or something out of place. New additions to the sidebars include an updated blogroll (please peruse and meet the neighbors), SwapDex button is now clickable (duh, why didn't I do that originally?) and a group profile widget for our new My Friend Dolls flickr group!
It went from "I need to freshen up, I'll make a new header image."
to "For a small fee, I could have someone make me a whole new template."
to "Heck, I can do that myself with a little research!!"
So here it is, 3 columns just like all the grown-ups! Please let me know if anything is amiss like text/link colors being a little weird or something out of place. New additions to the sidebars include an updated blogroll (please peruse and meet the neighbors), SwapDex button is now clickable (duh, why didn't I do that originally?) and a group profile widget for our new My Friend Dolls flickr group!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A big Thank You!
Thank you to everyone who has posted some linky love for my free patterns! And thank you to everyone who has made a purchase from the Make-Do Mercantile! There will be new items this week, a new pattern is in the works (one perfect for fall and winter coming up!) and a couple of really special sets for those who love your Fisher Price My Friend dolls. I can't believe how many Jennys and Mandys I am seeing pop up on blogs! I'd love to hear from anyone who loves them as much as I do. Maybe we could start a flickr group? Ok, I went ahead of created a flickr group: My Friend, what a doll!
For those who purchased the Pillowcase Pinnie Pattern or are new members of the Make-Do Marigolds, I would LOVE to see pictures of any project you make using my patterns! Please let me know of any you post so I can enjoy them and link back to them!
For those who purchased the Pillowcase Pinnie Pattern or are new members of the Make-Do Marigolds, I would LOVE to see pictures of any project you make using my patterns! Please let me know of any you post so I can enjoy them and link back to them!
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