Whoa! Thanksgiving is This Week!

Howdy Faithful Readers!

I have been gratefully working on some new crepe "forced bulb" creations and plugging away at the annual Pre Tree Cleaning Spree. I made applesauce from great local apples, finished a couple of orders for the Iron Dog and

I find myself  still in denial about the the rapidly winding down Fall!

I'm going to do a little catch up on my gratitude list:

4: Yummy fall produce. Winter Squash and greens, apples, beets, leeks, potatoes, clementines... I just love them all.
5: Hiking the steep muddy trail with my dog and friend. This makes the pie possible and just last week we even helped a lost, shirtless, shoeless guy (8 AM, in the 40's temp wise) find a friendly ranger. Good deed before breakfast.
6: Good Thrift. Oh My Goodness! 2 great lengths of vintage holiday print  for  $3.50.
7: Bleach. I know it's evil. But it saved the awesome fabric mentioned above.

 

8: Creative time. I am so lucky to get as much as I do.

9: My Pets. I spend time every morning in a big pile of my fur friends, enjoying my first cup of coffee.

10: Coffee. Can you be grateful and addicted at the same time? I say YES!

11: All my sisters. Blood and otherwise. You know who you are and without you I'd be lost. LOST!

12:  Casey and Rae at the Iron Dog. Seriously, with out you, my creativity would lack an outlet! Thanks for your support and encouragement.

 13: I am grateful for the motivation of a deadline. I hope it makes me into a wildly productive and jolly person for the next few weeks. I have lots of fun tucked in and am excited to be spending Thanksgiving with my wonderful Grandma and Baby Linnea (and the rest of my family too!)

A little "No Thanks" for my dead computer, but hey.. with a little miracle I'll get what I need off of the hard drive and keep moving forward.

Thanks for Reading!!

Betty

Tutorial: Make Your Own Spring -Paper Daffodils

 

 

Hi! Well, I had a request about my paper narcissus...
from vivacious Jamie over at Curly Girl Press.

She wanted a tutorial so she could make a whole bunch. Fake-y Forced Bulbs by the Fistful.
High Whimsy, I do declare!

I actually learned how to make them at a class Castle In The Air
on my birthday. If you have the opportunity, I think you should get
on over there and take that class. It was a gorgeous experience.
I personally drove an hour and a half each way, and would do it again in a minute!

I did find a great vintage Japanese book after the class, that has the instructions.
Fancy Paper Flowers by Kiyo Sekiye.
( Yes, The Japanese folks have been making awesome craft books- practically forever.)
I have scanned them for you.
Click on each image to enlarge.

As you might recall my Narcissus had a bulb on it.
That was made by adding a watte cotton "pear" wrapped in brown crepe paper to the bottom of my flower. Since then I have added cotton string roots as well, you know... to make it "right". And the whole flower is on the small side to match the scale of the bulb.

Here is the thing:
Castle In The Air is the only place I have found that stocks the "good" crepe paper. And if you live anywhere in Northern California, or are coming this way, you are cheating yourself if you don't go there to take the class and do a little shopping to boot. You will learn so much more than just this one little flower, and you'll get a stack of supplies that's enough to make you drool!

But just on case you can't get to California,
order online:
deep olive doublette
yellow doublette
and gold doublette
and for the bulb, brown florist crepe.
(and since you are paying shipping anyway,
get some paper mache eggs and dresden trim to go with!
May as well....)

( you all do know that the "red" words are links, right? Take you right where you need to go!)

I found the wires and floral tape at my local regular craft store.

Sparingly use tacky glue or hot glue if needed, too much or another type of glue could cause colors to bleed.

.. and I use pattern tissue scraps for my bud cases.

That should put some spring in your step!

(Even if it is suppose to snow down to sea level here on Friday!
What?!?
Hello, Isn't this supposed to be California?
Still, that's exciting for us, as long as you can stay off the roads.)

Don't Worry, It's Not Serious.

Lately I have been playing with paper, getting ready for spring.

I really like the optimistic cutesy cuteness of these kinds of exuberant novelties.

Perhaps it's shows my deep seated silliness,

but, I assert to you now:

Frivolity Rocks!

Good Intentions Mean Nothing If You Don't Post.

It's kind of crazy how much I'm thinking about blogging when I'm not doing it. Everyday I get started on some project and I let myself get carried away because I want it to be good enough to blog about.

That is one thing I really like about blogging. I think it makes me take extra steps to get things the way I want to see them. But sometimes those extra steps are just what bogs you (meaning  me) down and the project goes for some time... semi finished and in the way.

Well, anyway, that is what has been going on around here. I keep meaning to post Grand Tutorials for Projects of Great Importance... and finding myself not up to the Challenge. (The early dark is really bad for photography too, is also on my blog absentee excuse list.)

it kind of looks real, in a papery kind of way

So, Today I share: My Crepe Paper Amaryllis. This is my first from-scratch /self-designed crepe paper flower, that I made with techniques  I learned At The Castle In The Air  in Berkeley (4th Street) at a class taught by Anadamai Arnold and Aimee Baldwin. (It was what I did with my sisters in lieu of a Birthday Bash. Guinness Milkshakes afterward, an excellent night to be sure!)

These babies aren't just flamboyant holiday decoration, they solve an ongoing problem. The spot where they are placed can't support real plants. They All Die There. And I have other plants that survive so, it's not  me. Not 'mostly me', in any case.

So all that said,  I have some lovely tutorials to post as soon as I finish them up. Trees Made from Books, My World Famous Biscotti,  Houses Made Of Sugar, and How to Glorify Rescued Ribbons...And How to Trap Tiny Humans In Christmas Ornaments.

Hmmm, I better go get something Finished.

Crammed To The Brim With Holiday Spirit,
Betty

PS: Did you find the Snow Baby Box Tutorial at the Castle Blog? Another item on the Crafty To Do List.

PPS: I HAVE been staying on top of the wrapping. and I simply couldn't be more full of myself about it.

Tutorial Tuesday: Vintage Suitcase into Mobile Studio

Once only a lonely lost piece of luggage
Now this cutie is full of gift tag and correspondence goodies...

I like a good vintage suitcase, but after you aquire 40 or 50 of these little darlings it might begin to occur to you that you can and quite frankly MUST give them a second incarnation of true utility, or buy them their own house or something.
While thrifting in my old hometown got a sweet little green case and I was reminded of of something I saw on Koreana's Flickr that she had scanned from a Cottage Living (I think) article.

So I gutted the little darling.
It was yucky, wear gloves.

cute on the outside...groddy on the inside. But for 2.00, who cares?

And now my step by step Tutorial on the vintage case upgrade.

You will need
a stripped out vintage suitcase
paper bag or large paper to trace a pattern. sturdy is better
fancy paper or fabric- amount varies by case size I used 2 large sheets of paper
foam core enough to make an insert for case lid and bottom
a large piece of poster board- enought to wrap around the sides of the case top and bottom
I used bias tape for an accent trim
flat elastic for tool loops

glues:
spray adhesive
hot glue

craft knife and scissors

1)Use a paper bag to make a template of the lid and bottom of the suitcase.
2) Use the template to cut the shape from foam core board or corrugated cardboard.




3) Lay out the tools the way you'd like them to hang in the case. Mark the back of the board where you will add elastic loops. (In the final design, the large pinking shears were too heavy for this lid insert.)


4) Cut the paper extra large round the board



and clip notches in the overhang, so it will lay properly as it's folded over.



5) Mount with spray adhesive. Fold over edges and let dry

6) Cut strips of the poster board to fit into the edges of the bottom and the edges the lid of the case. Cut paper to cover; enought to fold over the top and have 2-3 inched of notching clips on the bottom. ( Similar to lid insert.) Glue to cardboard, I used the spray adhesive.


7) Fit sides to inside of case.


You might need to slice 3 or 4 really deep notches to go around rounded corners.

Hot glue into place. Notched ends can be secured with white glue or more hot glue,

8) Apply bias tape as an accent and to hide little goofs.


9)Now lay out the tools and add the elastic loops to hold them in place. I pierced the paper and board witha sharp clean standard screw driver, and fed the elastic through from the front to prevent paper fraying. Mine are secured with knots and hot glue on the back side.



10)Hot glue in lid and bottom panels

11)Fill and thrill to the joy of your super custom stylish craft case.


12) Decorate the outside of the case as you see fit. Mine got a floral racing stripe decoupaged to it. But a stencil could have been really cool too...

Wanna be penpals? I got the paper.

Smooches dolls,
Betty

Back to Life.. Back to Reality...

Yesterday was the first day back to school.

Yesterday I accomplished:

Deep cleaning my bedroom to get ready for a photo shoot in there.
That included scrubbing the floors. Hands and Knees style.

I canned 5 quarts of whole peeled tomatoes, my first batch, ever




I made a pillow cover and valence for my son's room out of thrifted mod animal fabric.




I worked on my next outfit for New Vintage

I started on and nearly finished a collage for my bedroom.



I finally got some overdue mail out.

I signed up for the "organic veggie box"

I filled out a ton of stuff for school

I worked on my next video


I am so relieved it is "Back to School"..
I feel like my old self again.

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Happy Year of the Piggie Everybody. As part of my resolution for the Other New Year, I decided I wanted to throw more parties.



Here is the party I have been planning.



Our Menu was:

Ginger Martinis, shrimp wraps, wonton wrapper chips and edamame, ( Japanese... I know.. but tasty.)

General Tsaos Chicken, Salmon in black bean sauce, Sesame Broccoli, Garlic Beans, Hoisin Tofu with Cabbage

Tea, tangerines, and fortune cookies



( I made these for the kids.. they are boxes I stuffed these with "snaps", confetti and a candy pig. They were inspired by some I saw at Castle In The Air where you can take a class in how to make them , it is one of my favorite places in Berkeley... and Ulla teaches classes there too..)

I did a sit down dinner for 19.. and I was a mad stir-frying fool. Almost didn't make it.



Had so much fun planning and had fun with the guests too.. But neglected to think of the chaos that would be created by having 4 dishes that had to be stir fried at the last minute in those kinds of quantities. But I had helpful guests, with a good senses of humour so we all ate, drank ginger martinis and were very happy.

Next time: Dinner will either be make ahead... or delivered!

And I am already thinking of the next shin dig..

Perhaps a garden party???? (With ALL the food prepared in advance.)

Anyone want to come?