Sunday, February 21, 2010

Thirsty?


My friend Jill lives far, far away in a hot, humid land populated with giant mosquitoes and sticky, sweaty air. It's called....Houston.
So I wanted to make sure that she stays healthy and hydrated with this handy-dandy water-bottle holder, made with an adorable Amy Butler print.
I was inspired by looking at this tutorial, but, as usual, failed to heed the directions and made up my own.

Monday, February 15, 2010

More ambiguous hair adornments

Terrariums aside, I've been mostly awash in wedding preparations for my sister.
I wasn't going to post any wedding crafts pre-ceremony, but these have already been rejected. :( Long-distance craft consulting is hard!
I've been tinkering with a few of these fabric flowers. Unfortunately, none of them have quite the right kind of poofy-awesomesome that will suit me (or my sister).
On feathers: I bought three packs of different colored feathers at a hunting and fishing store, a place into which I thought I'd never step foot. But now I've learned I must go back when fishing season starts - more color selection! I'm a little leery on how these feathers were gathered, however; I was told they came from farm-raised poultry, like from Asia. Hmmm...it's kind of like borderline-fur-ethics?
On the mess-and-clean-up: on the carpet in front of me, spread in a three-foot radius, are the remains of these three. It looks like I've done some sacrificial slaughtering of fowl and shredded up cerulean shards of fabric in the process.


Sunday, February 14, 2010

warning: terrariums may be my new crack obsession

I have a black thumb like no one's business; I'm sure plants and all things verdant have a better chance surviving a nuclear winter than under my care.
But....(deep breath)...I decided to try my hand at sculpting little terrariums out of succulents, which need little care and make excellent house plants, according to my research. Plus, who can resist a project that creates miniature wonderland scenes with cheap, sustainable materials? Not me!

Apologies for the cell-phone quality of the photos. If you squint, you can just make out a tiny brontosaurus gazing around her new home of succulents.
I used this great tutorial on Thread Banger to learn.
I've planned my strategy like a serial killer (horrible metaphor, I know, but I've just finished Indian Killer, by Sherman Alexie) and gathered my materials over a stretch of a few weeks: local thrift stores yielded a glass bowl, a few wide brandy glasses; at a party store, bought some adorably tiny dinosaurs and a few plastic horsies. I also bought some Spanish moss at a craft store, at the recommendation of a terrarium blog, but ended up not using it at the moment.