• Blog

    Paper making

    June 26, 2009 - By 





    I had an unlikely helper today while making paper.

    The last time I made paper, neither kid would come near it.

    I’m trying out making a couple of paper bowls using two different methods.

    The first I squeezed most of the pulp out then pushed it into the inside of a glass bowl.

    The second way was to make a sheet of paper but tear it and mold it over an up turned bowl. I’d think this way should yield a thinner bowl.

    Everything is drying on the driveway in the 90+ degree heat. Too bad the humidity is up high as well.

  • Blog

    ABC 6th Anniversary swap

    June 8, 2009 - By 

    Each summer ABC_alteredbookclub celebrates the anniversary with a collaborative project. This is my 4th year participating.

    My 1st year we did an alphabet themed chunky book.

    The next year was another chunky book.

    Last year we did something a little different. We made circles!

    This year we are doing a skinny chunky book. Sounds weird, huh?!
    I’m nearly finished with the whole swap. I cut out 28 of these 3×6 inch recycled cereal boxes. Only 25 are required for the swap but I wanted to make sure I had room for mistakes.

    I sprayed them with black, brown and gold paint on the printed side of the cardboard. The back is sprayed with white, brown and gold.

    I decided to mix a custom color of embossing powder since plain white seemed way to stark against the dark background. I mixed mostly white with a little gold, copper, black and jasper. I really like the slightly speckled effect.

    I have 7 more to complete but I ran out of the beaded trim. Either my math skills failed me at the store or I was severely cheated.

  • Blog

    Bike bag

    June 7, 2009 - By 



    It was such an overcast, cold crumby day that I needed to find something to do in the house and I certainly didn’t feel like cleaning today.

    I made this bag to carry my “park-play” items. Water bottles, mini first aid kit with instant cold pack, my cell phone, sunscreen and sometimes a snack. I do still need to put a closure on the bag but haven’t decided if I’ll have the flap go inside or outside. I’ll likely just use Velcro since it’s quick and easy.

    The denim is from another chair slipcover and the patchwork came in a bag of scraps I got in a free box at a sale.
    Total cost of project: virtually nothing…just my time and a little electricity.