April 2011

Easter Eggs:

I thought that dying Easter eggs with natural dyes was a great idea, but it wasn’t the best plan after all.  You need to have ample time planned out for this project because the dyed eggs need sit over night in the dye of the desired color you want.

We attempted onion peels, clover, beet powder, a pink tea, and yarrow.  We used homegrown eggs from my mom’s chickens; meaning we had all kinds of colors and sizes to chose from. This was a good test of natural dyes. We even tried attaching cloverleaves to the eggs using nylons as a griper for the eggs. It worked great. The only problem was the amount of time we had given to the project. It just wasn’t enough.

All the dyes work!

March 2011

Bunny Hutch:

Most people get cats and dogs as their domestic house pets. Well, that is not the case here; we got a Rabbit!! Excited about this little addition to our home. He eats all locally-raised veggies, and greens. His litter is compostable for the garden, and he happens to be rather cute and soft.

My first project was to get him some space of his own. I was going to build a hutch completely from scratch, until one day while I was waking down our street, I realized there was the most amazing answer to my problems - a hutch out on a neighbor’s lawn with a sign that read “FREE”. Luckily the hutch was light enough for me to carry back to our house, which was in sight. This hutch was a small three- level kitchen cabinet, which had once housed extra pots or dishes.

As I start my journey home with my hutch, an elderly Russian woman came out of nowhere and insisted on helping me carry it back to my home. I let her help me the last twenty feet. She didn’t speak a lick of English, but she was so helpful and excited about my find.

During the next few days, I turned the unwanted kitchen hutch into my indoor rabbit hutch. I replaced the entire wooden door interior and the plastic window with a fine wire mesh that I picked up for under $10 at the local hardware store. I used my staple gun and scissors to do the rest.  I then added two holes to the existing shelves, for my rabbit to go up and down.  I allowed extra room on the bottom level for the litter box.

It has been almost four months now and he loves it. The top level is where I keep his water and food with the litter box on the bottom. The middle level is where he hangs out when he wants to be by himself or play with his toys. 

You might be wondering if that is where he lives 100% of the time. No, he doesn’t; he has free range of the kitchen, and I keep one of the doors on the hutch open at all times. He is very good about using his litter box, and I don’t want to be the cause for him not making it to his box.

This was such a nice and easy project that I get to enjoy daily. Luckily the color and size don’t take over our kitchen or our table area. Reclaimed furniture is the way to go for such projects in my book!

Febuary 2011

Knife Holder for “Josh”- Valentine’s Present:

Like everyone out there, I wanted to do something special for my boyfriend for Valentine’s Day. As I’m not your conventional girl, I wanted to create something he needed and would “love”’; brag to his friends about. Over the last few years, I have spent so much money on fancy knives for him as birthday or Christmas gifts, that I wanted a real home for these precious tools.  I contacted an old friend who has been making furniture and other small wooden objects: earrings, skateboards, cutting boards, etc.

I thought I would present an idea of a knife block and see what he would say. “That sounds interesting....” was what I got, with a: “I can do that!” Then we were in business. My friend Dan had all kinds of amazing wood around his shop: Purple Heart, yellow heart, Brazilian cherry, even a zebra kind, etc.. Super-amazing stuff. Now, you need to know Dan is a long time surfer, so the idea of shaping the knife block like a surfboard fin was a genius idea as my boyfriend is a native to Santa Cruz, CA.  So, the work began.

I went home, counted up the knives, and traced each one so there was no conflict later on their size. I handed off the traced items, and then waited.  Dan had the block done in no time at all, and the craftsmanship that went into the knife block is by far the best ever.

I remember sitting in the nearby coffee shop plotting our plan, when a woman said: “Oh my, that is pretty fancy for a knife block. My husband just went and picked one up at Costco the other day for $50.”  I had the feeling this woman hadn’t experienced the satisfaction of spending a little bit more, supporting a local artist/ craftsman, and receiving a superior product which is a piece of art. I have to say I plan on placing another order with Dan or other craftsmen or artist out there. With this economy, I feel the need to try to spend my money better and making sure it is ending up in places I’m proud of.

Needless to say, my boyfriend was so excited about the knife block. It was truly a Man Gift. Plus, I got to hear the words: “your gift is so much more awesome than mine.” Really, how can you compete with such a gift? He did manage to get me chocolate, wine and a Hawthorne Fern. I think he did great! 

January 2011

Barn fort:

 

Like many families out there, mine is growing very rapidly. All of my siblings have decided to have kids. This leads this World’s Greatest Auntie to constantly wonder: “ Whose birthday is next?”

Each year I plan on making a handmade gift for each of my nieces and nephews. This year I decided on a fort/ tent. The first of three was a Barn fort/ Rodeo Tent. It was great fun to make and caused all craftiness to be used.

Supplies: PVC, PVC connectors, 1-red twin sheet set, three pillow cases, scrap fabric, fabric markers, and lots of thread.

 

This was a great feat to be had. I had forgotten what a pain it is to have to handle so much fabric at once while using my hardy little Brother sewing machine. My machine has proven to be super awesome and, in general, does everything I want it to do. I can’t ask more than that. (Model: Brother XL-3510)

 

The construction of the Barn fort/ Rodeo Tent took about three days to complete said and done. There was: a Barn/ three quilted pillow cases with custom rodeo signs, (each sign comes off to use as a wall decoration later), A flag, and of course a storage box for all the parts with the custom instruction manual. I color-coded everything.

 

My nephew was very happy upon receiving this. He knew right away what it was and was instantly running around in and out of it smiley and laughing. Which of course gave me the idea that I’d better make two more this spring!

Dec 2010- First Holiday Craft Sale!

The first CraftEgeek Holiday Sale!

Like most people in America right now, it is a hard time at our house too. I felt the need to earn enough money from all my crafts to pay for my boyfriend’s Christmas present. I also needed proper motivation to sell my crafts, so as a result a Holiday Craft Sale was born! There were long hours and not much sleep to be had. It was great fun putting it together. The only drawback was the weather. Seeing as we live in Santa Cruz, CA I was hoping not to have to use “Plan B”, but I did.  Instead of having a nice festive Holiday Craft Sale in my front yard, which is nice and pleasant with flowers, a pond and a nice front porch, we got stuck with having to put up blue tarps in the alley on the side of the house. It was like Christmas in Korea came to our house. It was fun. Luckily, tons of hot chocolate, coffee and cookies were to be had. Plus, we had a Christmas tree donated compliments of Pacific Firewood Co. The tree made everything nicer. I received fresh Christmas tree branches from the tree-lot and I whipped into nice fresh wreaths with a “Michelle Bow”. Thanks Logan, for all your help!!Thanks Logan for the awesome tree!

 I did manage to wrangle a few other local crafters to make crafts to sale at my Holiday Crafts Sale. Everyone did well!

 me, after first day of craft faireme, after day two of craft faire

Thanks to all who made it to our sale, and helping support this crazy craft-er! After expenses, I made enough to purchase the limited edition Lego Space Ship. My boyfriend was very happy.

With more planning for next year’s Holiday Craft Sale, I think it will be even more awesome!!!