All posts by Kristin McCormick

Crafty Challenge One: A Study in Teal

October 9, 2011craft, Craft Challenge, Creativityribbon, spools, wire wrapping, wreathKristin McCormick

So, we posted two weeks ago about our latest activity, the Crafty Challenge. This challenge was to use old thread spools in a craft; any sort or craft. There were no limits and you had two weeks to complete the project. Today we unveiled our projects and here is mine!

Photo of spool wreath — I think it is easy to tell that my favorite color is teal.

I decided to make a wreath. This is usually Cheri’s forte, but I thought I could do something that was good, clearly not up to her standards (I will have to get some pics of the wreaths she has made for me posted sometime), but pretty.

I have to admit that I procrastinated the whole two weeks away and actually made this in about 2 1/2 hours this afternoon. First, I had to paint the spools. I used some acrylic paint I had leftover from an art class. None of the colors are repeated and in fact one of the spools is not painted at all, it is a lovely green color. You can see it below with the labels still in view.

I used some heavy gauge wire and some plastic tubing to make the wreath base. I pulled the wire through the tubing and then wired the ends together. I then made the loop hanger. I covered the tubing with some pretty blue ribbon to hide the base and blend it into the background a little.

Then, I wired the spools to the base. We actually only received 22 spools for this challenge and I did not have enough to go around the entire base, so I designed a large bow-type decoration at the bottom of the wreath to hide this fact.

Photo close-up of the ribbon at the bottom of the wreath.

I wrapped the thin teal and brown ribbon all around the spools and then layered it very heavily in the bottom space to give some fullness to the striped bow.

The striped ribbon is cut into several pieces and each curled and then wrapped around the wreath base with some more wire. This gave me a long bow instead of a really large bow.

I am really happy with how the whole project turned out. I was so surprised by the variety of each of our finished crafts, so keep on reading! I can’t wait for the next Crafty Challenge (to be announced tomorrow)!

Sunset Challenge: Dunes

September 20, 2011camping, Photography, sunset challengeIndiana Dunes, Lake Michigan, sunsetKristin McCormick

Here at the Indiana Dunes, the DNR posts the sunset times on their big activity boards. Last night we went to the beach and, along with quite a few other people, watched the sun set at 6:52 pm.

It was really quite surprising how fast the sun went down. Within 15 minutes the beach was cleared of everyone but us.

The best photos of a sunset (in my opinion) come after the sun has gone down. The colors are much more dramatic then.

Mom took quite a few photos and I cannot wait to see how hers turn out.

My feet were getting cold so I sat on the sand while Mom continued taking photos. I declared this to be my space, Facebook was over there. (I apologize for the terrible pun.)

The Unexpected

September 19, 2011camping, craft, CreativityArt supplies, travel, vacationKristin McCormick

So as some readers may know we (Kristin and Lynne) are up in Northern Indiana visiting the Indiana Dunes. Lynne (who shall hereafter in this post be called Mom) had never been to the Dunes before, so we came up here for our yearly camping trip. We travel well together and as we had nowhere specific to actually be, we have stopped at any and everything that looked interesting.
While wondering around trying to find Beverly Shores we found this excellent little art store. After wondering around the store for a bit, I could no longer call it little. This place has more supplies crowded on every shelf, we could spend hours in here. I am actually writing this while Mom is looking at every type of pencil or pen available, whether oil, water or crayon.

If you are up north looking for art supplies, this is a great place to stop. It is called Glenn L. Firme Art and Office Supplies. It is on Highway 12 in Beverly Shores, IN. Hey, we found the town we were looking for!

The Coach-A-Thon

September 14, 2011garage sale finds, One of My FavoritesCoach, garage sales, messenger bagKristin McCormick

One of my best garage sale finds happened just this season. It was during one of those rare times when all four of us get to run around together and boy, we had a successful day. Unfortunately, we hadn’t started the blog yet, so there are no pictures of the bountiful booty we picked up that day, but you have seen and will see some of the items we picked up in other posts here. My new to me Subaru Forester was absolutely packed to the brim and we had to repack everything at least once.

My particular favorite purchase was a black Coach messenger bag. Now, to understand the gravity and wonder of this find, you first have to know that we love Coach purses. The family hunters have had great success over the years at finding them, but this sale was like a gold mine. They were selling 5 of them. They originally were asking $5 for each, but as the day was waning, they would sell them for $2 a piece. With absolutely no haggling, I picked them all up and we instantly sounded like a flock of clucking chickens deciding who got which ones. I was pretty adamant that I get the black messenger bag as I had been specifically looking for one, which made it the perfect day!

I love the hardware. I’m not normally a fan of brass hardware, but here it is perfect.

I have been carrying it for a few weeks now and I find that I like it more all the time. I had just bought a new purse a few weeks before (a really new one from an actual department store), but it now sits by the wayside. I will get back to it it eventually, but for now it is Coach at my side.

Cheap Tricks: iPhone Bag

September 3, 2011Cheap Tricks, craft, How to, SewingBags, iphone bag, kitty fabric, shoulder bagKristin McCormick

Cheap tricks are great and most of the time, they are things you just don’t think about, you just do them. Today, I did one that I had to think about. I love lounging around my house in comfortable clothes. However, very few of those pajama type bottoms that are the perfect lounging wear actually come with pockets where you can stash your phone, and since I like to listen to audio books and music while working around the house, I definitely need someway to carry my phone around. Hence, I created the Kitty Bag (named after the fabric I used, not the actual application of the bag, although, if the Kitty Bag were big enough, our cat, Jamison, probably wouldn’t mind being carried around in the bag too).

I bought this absolutely adorable, kitty-patterned flannel some time ago. It was just too cute to pass up a few yards and was on sale to boot.

You can see the three pieces I cut out of it today. They are all cut selvage to selvage (45″). I then sewed the long, thin strips at one end, right sides together. Then I sewed this even longer strip into a tube, again right sides together and turned it for the handle. The last piece of fabric (which is about 1″ wider on each side than my iPhone) I also sewed right sides together, leaving the selvage side open to turn the fabric through.

Next I ironed the two pieces (thank you Loryn for stressing ironing projects, it really does help). After determining the length of the handle (the handle is actually sewn all along the sides of the bag, so it needs to be long enough to go from the bottom of the bag over your shoulder and back to the bottom of the other side of the bag) I ended up cutting off about 3 inches on each end. I made the bag to go across my body, not just over my shoulder. Then I sewed the handle in, starting with the front panel of the bag, down and around to the bag with only about a 1/8″ seam. I did the same thing with the other side of the bag. This created a flap of the extra body fabric.

I needed to decide how much of a flap I wanted and I also wanted something to weight it down a little and after digging through my supplies, found a pretty ribbon that looked perfect with my neon kitties. I cut off about three inches from the flap and turned it under and wrapped the ribbon all the way around and sewed two seams, one towards the top edge of the ribbon and one at the bottom. This also has the benefit of closing the opening left from turning the fabric.

All-in-all, this was about 1/4 yard of fabric (if even that much), 6″ of ribbon, black thread and some time, all of which I had on hand today. It was done very quickly (about an hour) and works just perfectly. It is also big enough to hold my ear buds and hangs just at my hip when wrapped across my body. Then flannel lining helps protect my phone from damage or anything else I choose to stuff in it.

Well, time to get some housework done now that I can carry my phone around and bop to the music. Have a wonderful Saturday!

P.S. Sorry about the odd lighting effects, I just got my very own studio lighting and haven’t quite got them where I want them.

Crafts from the Past: Temari

August 28, 2011craft, Crafts from the PastJapanese art form, temari, thread ballsKristin McCormick

There is this marvelous Japanese art form called Temari. These are decorative balls made of thread (although I have seen them made with metal, wire, and many other materials) that vary from incredibly simplistic to extremely ornate. I never really got past the intermediate phase, but some of the examples I have seen make me wish I still had time to make these lovely creations.

The above temari is one I made for an exchange with another member of the TemariKai group. This website is chock full of all sorts of information about temari; how to make them, people who make them, books, examples, and so much more. It is well worth looking at just to view the photos.

From what I learned, the origin of the craft was a ball traditionally made by mothers for their children from old kimono thread. From there, the craft burgeoned to the art it is now. I made them for several years and most of mine started with a thread ball made of stuffing material that you then wrapped miles and miles of thread around until you had a round ball (this takes a lot of practice to get the ball to come out round and tight). Next you mark your center and your guideline threads. Then you begin your pattern. I used DMC thread for the most part to make my patterns and most of mine are in flower formations. My guidelines were usually metallic threads. I made some with tassels, but most without. I also made some with a styrofoam core that I hollowed out and inserted bells.

This was a mobile of tiny temari (at most 1 1/2″ in diameter) that I made for Lynne (my mom). I have always loved making mobiles and this art form seemed to just scream at me “Make me into a mobile!” The photo below is a smaller mobile I made for Loryn (my sister).

These are just some examples of temari I made. I made them for most of the family and I still laugh to see them. I made so many that I have forgotten what they look like and who I gave them to. It makes it loads of fun to see the products of my creativity from what feels like new eyes and gives me a whole new perspective on what I consider good, successful work.

the crafty sisters

craft writing drawing