Bean Sticks

 This is the sort of thing you make when it's freezing cold outside, and you are longing for both the beach and the garden. 

I'm planning to stake my bush beans this year and see if I get more productivity.  The paint is to help preserve the wood. (Still need to seal them.)  And I figured if I'm going to paint them, I might as well have some fun with it.

It's the Little Things

 BEFORE:

 

AFTER

 

 

This little box was fun to make, and it's making me inordinately happy!

Snow Day Pillow

I did this back in February, but I want my readers to know that I do still craft....

This is entirely from recycled materials.

We had a blue pillow that didn't match our living room decor.  Now it's been nicely hidden by the homemade pillow cover made from old T-shirts.

Lately....

I'm taking Improv 102.... We are on track to pay off the house this spring...... Arwen is coming over to paint tomorrow.    Robert bought one of these and is planning all kinds of adventures.....

My dear friend Stacy taught me to crochet....

I've been using my handy, dandy dremel on what I've decided to term My Mysterious Project.....

       

I've been playing in my art studio...

I'm hemming a dress to wear to my brother's wedding.

Lots of fun stuff!  Hope all is well with you, my dear readers!

Bird Bath Transformation

As usual, the joke is on me.

When my husband was in Germany last time, Mom and I dumpster-dived an ugly bird bath from some neighbors down the street.  It was resin or fiberglass or plastic, or something and a hideous color somewhere between brown and burgundy.

As a joke, I put it in the backyard and told my husband across the ocean that I had "put in a water feature" while he was gone.

And then he got back and actually liked it!  Oh no!

So with some spray paint, glass gems, and liquid nails, we effected a transformation.  (Actually, it was mostly him....)

As I type this, it's raining like crazy, so we will soon see how it holds up.....

My husband says every time he looks at it, it makes him, and isn't that one of the great purposes of art?

Almost done...

Black Top from Old T-Shirts

My Latest Creation!

It covers my tummy (still big after my illness and Christmas), which also hides any jean-like element of the non-jeans-so-I-can-wear-them-to-work pants.

I made it with four pattern pieces, although in retrospect I only needed two, one for the two front pieces and one for the two back pieces.

Yes, not counting the braid that connects the front and the back, this top has four pieces.

This isn't a tutorial, but someday I'll make one.

The photo above was the muslin I made, which actually worked on the first try.

Book Bag: Clothes, Crafts, and CRAZY cool!

The Curated Closet: A Simple System for Discovering Your Personal Style and Building Your Dream Wardrobe
by Anuschka Rees
265 pages

Normally, this kind of book isn't my thing.  I'm just not that into clothes.  But I liked this book because:
A) it was about breaking away from the endless consumerism of buying cheap, disposable clothes and following fads and
B) it took into account the fact that there are many, many different styles and personality types when it comes to clothing and
C) it had exercises to help put the theories in to practice.  (For example, take a photo of what you are wearing every day for two weeks and then analyze what you are wearing a lot and what you look good in.  How does how you want to look match up with how you actually look?)

I thought the book was very sensible, and I am going to recommend it to Arwen when she gets a little older.

Materially Crafted: A DIY Primer for the Design-Obsessed
by Victoria Hudgins (Creator of the blog A Subtle Revelry)
175 pages

I will let the author telling you what the book is about in her own words.

It always begins the same: We see a pretty photo, we click the link.  We read a post that starts with "melt the wax" and we freeze because we don't really know how to melt wax, what kind of wax to use, or where to buy the wax.

We then search "working with wax" online and, upon article after article of technical jargon that often contradicts itself, and is full of unrelated keywords and obnoxious ads.  We get discouraged, downhearted, and quickly put aside the original idea we has to be creative, to make something new and unique with their hands.  And we returned to scrolling through the pin boards, seeing great ideas and dreaming about accomplishing them someday.

Victoria covers the basics of these categories:

• spray paint
• plaster of Paris
• concrete
• paper
• thread
• wax
• would
• Clay
• glue
• fabric
• metal

She also has very simple projects included for each category.  There's some stuff I want to try, like the baskets woven from T-shirts and the concrete planters and the plaster of Paris/lace doily bowls.

Each section is not exhaustive – if you know a lot about what wood or fabric already, for example, you will find them pretty simple, but that is okay.  It's just enough to get someone started using each material.  And the projects are simple enough that you aren't going to get in over your head too much.

That's not the case at all for the next book, though.

Extraordinary Projects for Ordinary People: Do-It-Yourself Ideas from the People Who Actually Do Them
Edited by Noah Weinstein
465 Pages

This book represents the best (or the wackiest) of Intractablesl.com.

Most of these projects I couldn't do because they involved wires and programming something called an Arduino.

  But the cool factor is really high!

• flame-growing jack-o'-lantern
• Star Trek-style bedroom door
• solar-powered ray gun
• amphibious couch-bike
• tree climbing robot
• birdcage dress
• pocket laser engraver
• digital camera Halloween costume – that actually takes pictures
• bike jacket with turn signal
• bacon roses
• vacuum-cleaner bazooka
• solar-powered bicycle

Yes, the more I read the book the more nervous my husband got!  It has inspired me to want to turn our summer family reunion into a family events where we design and build a boat that can break down and fit in the back of a sedan.  I'd also like to make the next-and-bolts chocolate using a DIY silicone mold.

It really made me envy those people who have computers/electrical type of technical skills.  I need to get me some of those….

Weekly Round-Up

Lately...

... I started a Twitter account: @jpariodesigns.

.... Belovedest, Auntie M. and I went to a tiny house tour.  We were mostly disappointed, as there wasn't much effort at being self-sufficient or energy-efficient.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the 384 square foot house didn't feel cramped, even though there were 11 people in it.
Belovedest pointed out that that was because most of the couple's stuff was up at their other house, which was just up the road.  So they didn't need to store, for example, things like: a vacuum cleaner, snow shovel, books, paperwork, extra food, entertainment, etc. there.  It was more like a little getaway cabin than anything else.

I liked the outdoor shower, though.

And I did learn that building codes vary by county DRASTICALLY in our state.

Auntie M. shuddered at the thought of cooking a full meal in this kitchen, and I think she's right:

Bees and Bee-Keeping in Pioneer Days

We saw this old-fashioned bee-keeping stuff at the Stuhr Museum and thought of a dear friend who keeps bees.

The honey harvest should be happening soon.....

Another Good-Bye Card

As you know, I collect used Christmas cards, and sometimes people give me other kinds of cards like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day cards.  

I love roses, and they are a frequently used symbol in connection with St. Teresa, our parish patron, because she promised to send "a shower of roses" on people who pray for her intercession.  (People have received all kinds of answers to prayers that came through roses thanks to the little saint of France.)

I decided to use roses cut from cards to make this new card.  I wanted it to be nice and large so that multiple folks at the party could sign it.

Cutting roses from cards rather than flower catalog worked really well.  The cards are more sturdy, and if there is anything on the reverse side, it doesn't show when the image is wet with glue.

 I trace the saying in pencil first.

 You'll see below that "strewn" has two 'n's.  That's because one was too far from the 'w' and looked like this: "strew n."  So I slipped another "n" in between and made plans to cover the extra with a rose.

 I added a light wash over the text by mixing paint with water.  I just used regular tempura paints, the kind that comes in a big bottle for 99 cents.

It looks rather blank unsigned, but I put it near the desserts at the party so I'm sure it soon got signatures!  :)

My Friend the Cobbler

My friend Marcia makes her own shoes.  Seriously!  She is like that—she’s always doing cool DIY stuff that I’d never dream of attempting.

Here’s the FB page she started for like-minded amateur cobblers:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/shoemakingfun/

Making Fireworks A Little Safer

Q.  How can you keep the fireworks' tubes from falling over and shooting fireworks in unpredicted and unsafe directions?  (At bushes, cars, spectators, etc.)

A. Make an easy DIY fireworks platform.

Screw the launch tubes to a big piece of plywood.

Really, you are thinking--shoot fireworks on top of something flammable?   As anyone who has ever tried to start a fire to cook dinner or roast marshmallows, wood doesn't burst into flame as easily as you'd expect.

We've used the same one for years and it's never caught on fire.

Despite us doing this: