It’s time to get stitching for spring with this super cute glove bunny. This is Coco, bunny #1 in my bunny making journey (I have since stitched up and shared over 20 of these little guys) Hippity-hoppity.

You can either use a pair of holey gloves that aren’t going to make it to next year, or a pair of cheapo worker man gloves from the 99 cent store like I did here.  The details of the project are outlined in the pictures below… you are going to have to CLICK on the pictures to see them in more detail.

For the arms: I stuffed them about 3/4 full with the other pieces of glove that were cut off and then tucked the rest of the finger (the cut off part) back in to the finger with the stuffing, creating a smooth edge. Stitch the arm on to the bottom of the body, below the rim of the glove, with either matching or contrasting thread if you want a patchwork look.

Stuffing the bunny: Stuff the head and body, use a chop stick to get the filler up into the ears and legs. You can use whatever type off fill you want, but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I like to use recycled fill like stray sock stuffing or an old clean t-shirt all chopped up.

Attaching the head to the body: If you notice, with this particular glove, there is a lip (or a rim) around the bottom of the glove.  If you notice on the top picture, it looks like the bunny is wearing a turtleneck… I simply shoved the head all the way down into the body portion of the bunny. Sewed along the edge where they were joined (I went around twice with the stitching because some of my bunnies were going to kids and I wanted them to last through some heavy hugging) and then flipped the rim of the glove over the stitching to create the turtleneck effect.

And if you only have one stray glove lying around the house, be sure to check out the baby glove bunny project.  Happy Spring!!

I purchased a couple of  new plants for spring. I figured that they could live in their plastic planters for another month or so before I transfer them to new pots… but those ugly green plastic things didn’t sit so pretty on my windowsill. So, for the next few weeks the plastic planters will sit nestled inside of  empty tomato cans. Wallah, beautiful!!

So…. accidents happen!!  For example, when your dog throws up on your comforter and it says “Dry Clean Only” but there’s vomit on it, and it’s gross, and you put it in the wash anyway, only to realize later why you should have followed the instructions.

See the picture above, well that is what my comforter now looks like. A bag of stuffing and some fabric. After a nice wash and dry in the machine, all the batting clumped to one end and the fancy patchwork comforter was no more.  I cut open the fabric, put the batting in a bag and shoved it to the back of my closet.

Meanwhile, my dog had taken to lying in the pile of fabric as sort of a makeshift bed. After doing a little spring cleaning (and washing his dog-pile bed) I decided to whip out the sewing machine, put the batting to good use, and make my little guy a real bed.

This project was inspired by a recent trip to the American Folk Art Museum (gift shop) in New York City. This simple-looking project is not as easy as it appears. Sure, it’s just folded paper with a little glue, but there are actually more steps and time involved than you might assume.

1. Begin by pulling a magazine out of the recycle bin. I wanted a very large paper wheel so I used a W magazine. Rip off the front cover of the magazine and then carefully peel out a few pages. Trim the rippled gluey edge so the pages are straight.

2. Fold the page lengthwise in a back and forth pattern, like an accordion. My folds were about 1/2 inch thick, and, to make the creases crisp, I ran a credit card over the seam of each fold.

3. Fold each accordion folded magazine sheet in half as seen in the picture above. For my circle I used 18 pages.

4. Apply a sparse dab of glue along the seam of the fold, and nest another piece inside of it. Repeat with one more piece (so that three pieces are nested together) and then clip with a paper clip while the glue dries.

Tip: Do the gluing work on top of a sheet of wax or parchment paper to avoid the glue sticking to surfaces while it dries.

5. When glue is fully dry, remove paper clips and assemble into a large circle with all tips coming together in the center. Squeeze some glue into the center of the circle, allow to dry and then flip it over and do the same on the other side.

6. After the center glue has dried join the separate side pieces together with glue. If you would like to hang your circle you can glue a piece of string into one of the side seams, or use a hole puncher to pop a hole for hanging when the project has dried completely.

Around my home there’s always a use for an empty jar!

One of my friends recently lost her tooth, and while washing away the winter debris we talking about the tooth fairy and how she would have really liked the awesome recycled fairy houses we made a couple years ago. So, instead of pining over past projects we got busy on a new one…

To begin, we spent some time scavenging the yard for sturdy sticks, dried leaves and debris we thought might make a nice home for our magical friends.

The structure of the house is a simple tee pee design. We collected sticks of almost-equal length and started tying them together with a piece of twine. Add a few more branches and continue to wrap until you form a nice framework.

Use dried leaves to create walls around the tee pee frame (areal view of the tee pee below).

]]> http://craftawl.com/2011/03/07/a-house-fit-for-a-tooth-fairy/feed/ 2 http://craftawl.com/2011/03/04/kitchenadventures-homemade-dog-food-take-2/ http://craftawl.com/2011/03/04/kitchenadventures-homemade-dog-food-take-2/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:55:19 +0000 tammy http://craftawl.com/?p=1706

click the pic for another tasty pet recipe! woof.

Visiting relatives, I spied this darling button bouquet and snapped a few shots. The project is simple and great for kids.

You will need:
- an assortment of buttons
- green floral tape
- green floral wire
- an empty jar or vase

Cut the wire to desired length, 8 to 10 inches. Fold the wire in half to find the middle and then open up again. String one or two buttons to the center of the wire, fold, twist the wire down to form a stem and lock the button flowers in place. Wrap the wire with green floral tape. Make bunches of them!!

Arrange your creations in an empty jar or small glass vase and share with someone you love.

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]]> http://craftawl.com/2011/02/19/button-bouquet/feed/ 0 http://craftawl.com/2011/02/13/key-to-my-heart-linocut-prints/ http://craftawl.com/2011/02/13/key-to-my-heart-linocut-prints/#comments Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:14:41 +0000 tammy http://craftawl.com/?p=1542

This may come as a surprise since I don’t post a lot about either.. but two of my favorite mediums to dabble in are linocut printing and india ink. Here’s a quickie run-through of my latest project:

(click on the pics for more detail)

Please keep in mind that this is only an overview of linocut printing, and that any time you plan on using a sharp tool, it is important to observe proper safety precautions. The instructables website has a nice piece on linocut printing and safety here.

And for further reading and inspiration be sure to check out this impressive online exhibit of Picasso’s prints by MOMA. As usual, they have outdone themselves with another amazing interactive web presentation!! Love. Love.

Get in the Valentine’s mood and start spreading the love a little earlier this year with a project that ends in a gift. While this is a photo project, moreover, it’s a way to leave a little heart in some unexpected places.

Shown, are just a sampling of outtakes from my Hearts Project. To get started all you need is brightly colored paper, scissors, tape, a digital camera, and the guts to look ridiculous in front other people for a few moments.

The adventure began by cutting out a purse-full of hot pink hearts, grabbing my camera, some silver duct tape (for lastablitiy) and going about my week as usual. The only difference being that, like cupid, I left a little love everywhere I went… and photographed it!!  Sometimes it was not possible or appropriate, but whenever I could I left the heart where it was shot, like tiny pink remanence of joy for whomever might cross its path.

There are oodles of things to do with the pics when you’re done, but if you’re want to really go for it, I suggest transforming your digital collection into a beautifully bound book to present to your Valentine. Both Kodak Gallery and iPhoto are great reasonably priced places to get you going.

I hope to see your hearts around town!!

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