A little isolation crafting

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Started these on my first day of social distancing/working from home last week and finally had a chance (and was in the mood) to finish them up.

Lavender and Baskets

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I made this felted wool lavender from a kit by Wooly Pines. So cute and easy.

Happy Easter!

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 Happy Easter!

Sorry it takes me so long to actually write anything on these automated posts. I thought if I could link some of my Instagram posts to my blog I would actually be better at keeping content here fresh, but I that hasn't necessarily been the case.

Part of my lack of motivation is that a year ago Google/Blogger did something to the way their blogs are indexed in the search engine and it really screwed everything up. It isn't just me, it sounds like from reading the message boards that it adversely affected everyone. I went from my posts having 300 to 600 readers to now only 30-60 (if I am lucky). While I am not doing this just to have a big following, it is not very motivational to spend hours photographing baskets, editing them, writing about them, etc., only to have a hand-full of people even see them.

Anyway, thanks for hanging in there with me. I will keep plugging away.


Happy weaving,
Tony

Playing in My Craft Room

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Playing with one of my stamps I redesigned so you could fill it with eggs. These colors reminded me of araucana chicken eggs

Did you know I have my own line of basket and basketry related rubber stamps? I have got to get my etsy shop open so people can actually order them. I will be at the Stateline Friends Weaving Retreat next month selling them if you want to see them in person or to just stop by to say, "hi." There will be lots of other basketry vendors there to shop at, so plan a road trip with your friends.

Stateline Friends Weaving Retreat 

Kuhlman Center
Wayne County Fairgrounds
861 Salisbury Road North
Richmond, IN 47374

April 11-13, 2019

Basket Stamped Cards

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Gotta love when you actually use the scraps you refuse to throw away. Made these from pieces leftover from 2017 Christmas cards. I’m really happy with how they came together.

Smashing it in 2019

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So again this year I completed my 2018 Smash Book on the first day of the new year. While that sounds like an OK achievement, the reality is I was 7 months behind!!! It took me all day to sort and print photos, and assemble everything. Lord please don’t let me do that again in 2019.

Book Binding

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I took another fun class at Perennial last week, this time learning how to do Coptic binding. I have wanted to take this class for awhile now, but for various reasons the timing had never worked. It was surprisingly easier than I expected, but we weren't getting overly complicated with our stitch pattern. I look forward to trying another one.

What I am making

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Make some basket tags this weekend using a custom Archival Distress Vintage Photo ink pad and my MISTI. I found these cute little craft paper tags on my trip to the John C. Campbell Folk School this summer. We stopped for the night in Nashville so we could go to the huge Nashville flea market. Of course now I wish I would have bought more, but isn't that the way it always goes?

All Wrapped Up

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Figured out how to make a four-strand braided leather bracelet. Why buy a bracelet for $25 when you can spend $75 on books and supplies?

Actually these weren't that expensive, but of course as any good crafter you can't just buy supplies for one, you have to buy enough to make an army of bracelets. It was cheaper to buy a spool of 50' of leather, but it only took 12 feet to make the triple-wrap, so I have enough left over to make at least 4 more.

As one of my friends said once, "you are going to save yourself right into the poor house."

Let the fun begin. Stateline Friends Weaving Retreat

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All setup and ready to go at the Stateline Friends Weaving Retreat. This is the first time I will be featuring my new full line of basket stamps. I am excited!

Christmas Card 2017

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I present this year's Christmas card. Often my cards are inspired by other stampers. I found this plaid background stamp set from Concord and 9th and then searched for cards people had used it on. That led me to the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous "Great Outdoors" set of images. I did a little picking and choosing of parts that I liked from the samples I found, and fit those into the papers, inks and embellishments I had on hand.

This isn't the most "Christmassy" card, but I do like the snuggle by the fire vibe it gives off. I just mailed these out this morning, so everyone should get them at least before Christmas. Every year I say I am going to get started early and I don't think I really procrastinated, but I still was cutting it close.

A fun evening of crafting

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Perennial, my go-to place for taking fun classes using upcycled/recycled materials, hosts periodic classes at area shops. This month's make-and-take was at Larder & Cupboard in Maplewood, MO. We made upcycled notepads out of salvaged boards, discarded adding machine spools, leather, twine, wire and screws. We also make place holders out of forks (depending on the metal the utensils are made of, bending the tines can be a b*tch). And finally we made gift bags from maps, magazines pages and picture books.

Work in Progress

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I’ve been super busy lately working on the faux cathedral window throw out of upcycled jeans and dress shirts.

Cutting Boards

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Finished the last of the cutting boards I made during my visits to Perennial on Community Workshop nights. Back last fall I took the cutting board class and now have made a bunch of gifts on my own. These are made from scrap wood, either salvage from the cabinet maker in my home town or scraps too short for my dad to use in his furniture. They are a mix of cherry, oak, walnut, mahogany, maple and alder. They will go down in my stash of handmade items for when I need a gift for someone.

More stamping around

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Playing with some ink and another one of my basket stamps. I was trying to see what I could do with just a single layer of overlapping images. I used Tim Holtz's new Distress Oxide ink for the basket image. I love the detail you can get with it. If you are a stamper and haven't tried the oxide inks you really need to give them a shot. I still love the original Ranger Distress Ink line, but for highly detailed images it is a bit too "soft". I used it for the overall background stamp on this card and the resulting image is wonderfully vintage looking, but for the basket I wanted it to be nice and sharp.

Designing Cards

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Playing with some ink and one of my basket stamps. Distress Blueprint Sketch really does look like an old school architectural print. Love how the water spots turned out.

Don't mind the mess...

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...I'm actually working in my craft room! I always have the best intentions. As I am leaving work and walking to my car, all I can think about is what project I want to work on. Then I get home and the couch looks so comfy, and that is all she wrote...

Card Games

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Playing around with my stamps and some ink.

Little Helper

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Grayson wants to help me make cards. We have a different definition of helping I think. But just look at that face, how could I scold him.

The bad thing was that I was inspired to craft, which hasn't seemed to happen much lately. I finally did get back to work when he became bored with me. I was working on a set of cards, but only got partially done with them before it was time to wind down for bed. Hopefully inspiration will strike again and I will get these finished up soon.

2016 Smash Book finally completed

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So I don't know if I can really count this as "getting caught up". I am just now finishing up my 2016 Smash Book. I started 5 years ago doing one of these and have continued to fill a book a year. I guess now I better get busy on 2017...