DIY Pore Clearing strips

I enjoy creating handmade bath and body products. I can have control over the quality of the product while making the whole house smell amazing. I like giving handmade body products as gifts because I feel like I am giving a really luxurious present for a fraction of the price.

I just came across this site, Bath and Body Recipes, that has 787 recipes for bath and body products. There are many many sites out there with these types of recipes, but this is the first time I have seen a recipe for making your own pore clearing strips.

You can read an article I wrote a while back about how to create your own lip balm recipe here.

Knitted Bangle Tutorial

I was browsing over in the flickr Crazy for Knitting pool and came across these fabulous knitted bangles by See Mi Knit. She has written up a tutorial for how to create your own. You can see more pictures of her finished knits here.

Vote for Holiday Softies now!

Voting has begun for the 2007 Holiday Softie Awards over at Softies Central. Mr. Hankey did not make it to the finals, but there are tons of others that deserve your vote. Winners will be announced on November 14th.

Color on Color pt. 4, COMPLETE!

I started this Color on Color scarf designed by Kathryn Alexander from the Scarf Style book by Pam Allen back in early 2006 (or was it late 2005?). The wonderful ladies at Unraveled were hosting a kal. You can read earlier posts here.

This was my fist "large project" and I could not have completed it without help. I learned intarsia, fair aisle, i-cord, 3 needle bind off, how to pick-up and knit in another direction, and how to make button holes.

I used Merino Style yarn from Knit Picks. Merino Style is a nice yarn with beautiful colors, but if I were to do it again, I would have not used the red and pink. I would have dyed some yarn a fuchsia color and maybe a few other colors too. Or, I would have used the Paternayan yarn that was called for because it comes in so many many colors.

I would also have knit my i-cord longer and thinner. As it is, I ended up cheating a bit and braiding the pieces on the ends, otherwise this scarf would have still been sitting in a bag incomplete. I adore all the color, but I think this piece is a little too colorful.....and it looks like it belongs in the circus. Oh well.

DIY Costume Wings Roundup

I was over at the Craftzine blog and saw this amazing video tutorial on making your own wings from Threadbanger. I remembered that I had seen a few other tutorials around the web. So here they are:
Simplicity classroom: How to Make Wings
Instructables: How to Make a Pair of Angel Wings
Squidoo: Make your own Fairy Wings, scroll down a bit
WikiHow: How to Make Fairy Wings
CDHM: How to Make Fantasy Film Fairy Wings, these are small for dolls
Craftgrrl: Fairy Wings
Angry Chicken: Fairy Items
Knitting And: Halloween Fairy Wings
Dicey Home: Fairy Wings
Family Fun: Fancy Fairy Costume
About: How to Make Fairy Wings
Sonic: Make Your Own Fairy Wings

Wonder Woman Accessories

After I created the Leia Wig, I wanted to make more items that represented strong female role models of my childhood. I was a big fan of the Bionic Woman, but she had no iconic costume paraphernalia. Making a bionic ear was a thought, but a little obtuse, and you would not be able to wear it.

The equally best thing was to create something that was wonderfully Wonder Woman. As a young girl I had always coveted those fabulous evil deflecting gold bracelets and fancy gold crown.

And so, I present these Wonder Woman accessories, which are perfect for days when you need a little help feeling like a hero, or just want to play dress-up. They are available in my etsy store.

Yarn made of old newspaper

De Zeen, Design Magazine has a post up about yarn that has been manufactured from old newspapers. The idea comes from Greetje van Tiem and was exhibited during the Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show. It is a very fine guage yarn and is mainly being used for weaving, although their site shows an image of an automan covered with knit newspaper yarn. Via Dutch Design Week via Mocoloco.

Knitted Scene from an Animated Video

I was over at the Craftzine blog and came across this amazing knitted scene that toki45 posted at Craftster. The inspiring animated video was for "I Lived on the Moon" from Kwoon's album "Tales and Dreams". The designer and director of the animated short was Yannick Puig.

Wool Breast Pads for nursing moms, Pt.2

I have received a review for the Wool Breast Pads I made last February for my friend who was having a baby shower. She liked the larger size, but the colors from the silk or dyed wool ended up bleeding when she released milk. They ended up only being appropriate for dark colored bras.

Costume-a-thon contest at Etsy

Etsy is hosting the ultimate handmade costume contest, and awarding eighteen winners with over $2,000 worth of prizes. These are the categories: Pet, Kid & Baby, T-Shirt Costume, Sci-Fi, Green, and General Awesomeness. The Judges are from Babble.com, Boingboing.net, Craftzine.com, Makezine.com, Tcritic.com, Treehugger.com, and Threadless.com.

I have entered my Knit Leia Wig pattern, and fleece edition Leia Wig. You can see the other entries here.

2007 Holiday Softie Awards

There are two weeks left to enter the 2007 Holiday Softie Awards going on over at flickr. There are a bunch of fun entries to look at. My Mr. Hankey doll has been entered into the Doll Dress up category. You can learn more about how to enter here. via Craftzine

Craft My Ride contest

Scion is hosting a competition for handmade car accessories called Craft My Ride. There are only 2 weeks left to submit. So start up your sewing machines, warm up your glue gun, and thread your needles! The best submission will receive a 2008 Scion xD. Yeah!

Buccaneer's Booty, knit sock pattern

I just stumbled across a knitting pattern for these super cute Buccaneer's Booty Socks. They are perfect for the fall Halloween days that are just a few weeks away. This pattern was designed by Anne Kuo Lukito of Crafty Diversions. I may have to start making socks now.

The Art of Documentary Film

I have always been a big fan of documentary film. One of my friends has decided to embark upon a documentary project. The film is called Blood & Honey. It deals with the psychological pain of living with chronic illness and diabetes in particular.

Psychological pain is something that western medicine often does not include in its diagnosis and treatment plan. With the number of diabetes cases on the rise, this is an important film. If you are interested in this subject and would to make a tax deductible contribution, you may contact Dr.Bernstein here.

DIY Labels

I wanted to add a label to my Fleece Leia Wigs that had my business name and online store listed on them. I decided to make them myself so I did not have to order thousands, also I had waited until almost the last minuet.

I had remembered that there were several posts about other crafters who had made their own labels on the Craftzine blog. This one by I Sew Biz seemed the easiest.

I headed over to my local fabric store and purchased the "Colorfast Sew-In Inkjet Fabric Sheets" by June Tailor. They worked out great.

For the first few wigs, I had sewn in the label so it showed. I decided to change this and now all the tags will be sewn into the inside.

Recycled Cardboard Chandelier

I am a big fan of things made from cardboard. Dutch designer Anneke Jakobs has created an amazing chandelier called the Chiquita Chandelier which is made from old cardboard Banana boxes. You can read more about the chandelier here at Inhabitat.

Be sure to check out some of the other amazing things she has created on her website.

The Leia Wig, Fleece Edition

I have had many requests from non-knitters for a knit Leia Wig, rather than a pattern from my Etsy store. But because they take a while to make and Alpaca fiber is not cheap, they are a bit expensive. I was thinking of a way to produce them that was not so labor intensive. So, I present the Leia Wig, Fleece Edition.

It took a while to design a pattern that would fit just as nice as the knit version, but I think I finally did it. I will be offering these for sale during The Brewery Artwalk, October 6 & 7, in Unit 642, W-9. I mentioned the Artwalk here.

I will be offering the fleece version of the Leia Wig at my Etsy store in brown and black, just after Artwalk. They cost $49.

The Brewery Art Walk, Oct. 6 & 7, 2007

The Brewery Fall 2007 ARTWALK is just around the corner.

Saturday and Sunday
October 6 & 7, 11am - 6pm

Come visit me and over 100 other working studios of Brewery artists and purchase art at studio prices.

2100 N Main St
Los Angeles, CA 90031

directions are here
list of participating artists with links here

FREE ADMISSION
FREE PARKING

images of previous ARTWALK's here

My New Kitchen

I have a new working kitchen! The new loft came to us without closets or a kitchen, which was a trade-off. Although we have had to do a lot of work, we got a 1,200 sq. ft. place within an art colony for a decent price.

We purchased almost everything from Ikea. The cabinets are from the Akrum series with Applad doors, Lansa pulls, and Capita legs. The counter tops are Pragel. We got the steel sink, which is discontinued, from the as-is bin for half price, and chose the Edsvik faucet. The spice racks, shelf, and paper towel holder are from the Grundtal series. The flooring is Armstrong's Standard Excelon industrial composition tile. You can see images of the progress on our kitchen here.

Knit Wonder Woman Sweater (Jumper)

Practical Polly has created an really fantastic knit Wonder Woman jumper (sweater). Hopefully the pattern will be available to us soon. via Craftzine