I’ve been doing a lot of bike riding lately. Not only has it become my primary transportation for around town, I’ve been training for a triathlon and some long distance rides called brevets. Each week I ride my bike to get from here to there, and then once a week I go for a long endurance ride, and then once a week I do hill, speed work, and sprint intervals. It’s great fun! Cycling has definitely been on the mind.

I have my lovely hybrid Bianchi:

And, last fall I purchased a vintage Motobecane with a mixte frame – c’est super cool, n’est-ce pas?

It’s a french road/touring bike from the 1970′s. I cleaned it up, tuned it up, and just got it back from the bike shop today. It was in for final repairs – wheels were way wacked up and needed to be trued and the gearing cables were really loose.

Anyway, I have these visions in my mind of me cruising along on RAGBRAI on my “super cool” bicycle looking “trop mignonne et pleine de vie” as I wizz by really fast with a cute tank, big necklace, bike shorts, and a cute little skirt fluttering in the wind around my waist. Maybe even a unique little cycling cap. Oh and don’t forget the handmade handlebar bag!

(super cool in french = super cool, trop mignonne et pleine de vie = so cute and full of life – I think, it’s been too long since my last trip to france or my last french class)

Needless to say after sending the bike to the shop, getting a water bottle, a little under the seat bag, and my cycling shorts :: quick digression:: gregory peed on my old pair when he was a kitten – along with my dress shirt from banana republic and my handmade shirt dress :( He’s made up for it with loads of cuteness, purrs, and a lack of pissing anywhere but his litter box for the last 8 months. Anyway, digression over:: …Needless to say I really don’t want to buy any more cycling gear outside of necessities like a rear light and a reflective vest. Crafting time? Yes indeed! I started searching around and found a load of patterns and great ideas for what I can sew, crochet, and knit up myself! While I’m not ready to bust out the spandex and sew my own shorts, I think skirts, handlebar bags, skirt guards, and maybe even a new cap are in order. Here’s what I found:

Cycling Skirts

Over on Pattern Review, there was high praise for this pattern. The little “ballet” skirt actually looks a lot like little cycling skirts that you wear over your skin tight cycling shorts – which I’m not ready to try sewing yet just for the record.

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While there isn’t a pattern for this skirt, I thought it looked simple enough that I could make one up as I go along. I really like the idea of having a few “cover up” skirts to wear while cycling around.

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Same goes for this cute little number, which I found on the same site: LookBook

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The cutest yellow skirt ever!  – no pattern – but inspiring!

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I really like the selfish seamstress, because I often joke that I’m a selfish crafter, haha. She has a nice little selection of free patterns, including this cute ballet skirt, which I think would make for a perfect cycling skirt.

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Miss Celies Pants tells the fun story of making her skirt here, another ballet skirt, which I also think will be great for cycling.

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Super cute, super fast skirt to make. Will definitely give sewing this one a try.

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Cycling Cap

I made a winter cap quite a few months ago, but now I need a summer cap. I think this one looks pretty great and want to give this tutorial a try.

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Cycling Shirt

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Bicycle Bags and toting things

Super cute. love this bag.

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Fun little handle bar bag on Lark Crafts.

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Okay, if I had all the money, I would skip the crafting and just buy this awesome bag, haha. My true colors come out.

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This seems like a really nice messenger bag to carry stuff around town in. I love how it’s so high up on the back.

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I never thought about using a basket as my, umm, basket! Hahah. Maybe I’ll use that Hobby Lobby coupon in the side bar and go grab one for my bike. This post shows several examples.

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This is another “duh” moment. Purses with straps for my handlebar bag, excellent idea!

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Oh re-nest, I love you, and this is a great set of diy pannier bags.

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Cuteness on Dollar Store Crafts.

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And a similar bag on the Vegan Lunch Box.

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Skirt Guards

Love this crocheted skirt guard on Etsy.

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A well-written article about why dress guards and chain cases are so great, not just for fashion, but for the protection of your favorite threads.

A post I found with links to other great skirt guard posts.

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A pattern for crocheting your own skirt guard.

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Link to and thoughts on skirt guards.

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Saddle Covers

Buy a custom made seat cover on etsy.

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Crocheted Seat Cover pattern on HolyCrapYarn&Stuff.

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And it says it’s crochet, but I swear it looks knit, seat cover.

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So I definitely have a long list of things I want to make, but the first on my list will be a little cycling skirt. I’m going to try and make it by the end of this week and get a pattern up for it next week. We will see. I’ve been having these headaches and have been sleeping more than usual – potentially over training, so I’m going to take it easy for a bit. Yeah, I got back from herb class on Saturday and pretty much passed out for the next 2 days! I swear, pillows and pattern coming soon!

Until Next Time!
Kristin

Oh no, no, no! Since my last stash bust post my little tile room full of crafting supplies has become the dumping ground for a million different piles of things from my studio, office, and around the house. We were having company and needed the living areas to look more tidy.

Get out of here you stuff!

Well, that’s a little better, but there is still a long way to go. Here’s a new pile of yarn in the shop to help get this room cleared out:

And, just to show you I’m making progress purging in general. I released 1 bag of old clothes to Goodwill, donated an old miter saw to a rummage sale since we got a new one, recycled a box of cardboard boxes, and filled a garbage bag with trash. Whew. I feel like more room should be cleared out than there is. Ah well.

Oh and I’m in the process of making some new pillows for our *hooray* new couch from scrap of fabric and a ton of stuffing.

I’ll be posting a tutorial on these in a few weeks. I took pictures. I just haven’t written it up yet.

How’s your stash busting going?

Until next time!
Kristin Roach

Two weeks ago I posted about how I was sick of all my zines being in a cardboard box and had started building a system of shelves to house them in the most creative way ever. Well, I got caught up getting my own zine finished and have finally returned to that pile of zines in my card board box.

With the clarity of 2 weeks, I wonder if my “most creative way ever” was really the best way for me to go about building my zine library. I want it to be mobile and functional and organized so I can find what I need. I decided to do what I really do best: research! After all I totally need to use those art history minor skills somehow. I started digging around in zine library websites, googling them, looking for reviews, and in general poking around on flickr for what worked best for what kind of zines. I’m not convinced that my library would best be done with a series of woodworking and cardboard cutting vs. just woodworking.

Zine Libraries I found

“SHOP Vintage Lounge and Arts Venue in Bristol houses its very own Zine Library. We want to create a central reference resource to help preserve and promote the diverse work of the small press world. The library operates by donations from zine makers and collectors, and we are always looking for more contributions.”

I love the reading nook style of this zine library–the big stuffed chairs and cute little table. If I could have shelves like that for all my zines I totally would. But, they don’t quite fit all the littlest of zines I have.

Over on Boing Boing, this sweet zine library, PaperCut Zine Library, was featured. While I totally love the stuff hanging there and really enjoy the visual eye candy, it’s not quite the solution for me because I want to continue to flip through them and see their covers. But wow is that fun. What a great job that would be to have!

The Toronto Zine Library takes the comic book shop style approach with zines in box sort of compartments, almost like a record store would arrange them. I like this idea a whole lot, but the question becomes, how to make it work in a shelf sort of setting? I think I’m starting to puzzle this idea out completely.

The Regional Assembly of Text has that beautiful look of clean, yet vintage, yet slightly cozy and welcoming. Maybe it’s just all the zines. Any place that has that any zines in such a pretty presentation must be a welcoming-my-kind-of-place. They also have a nice stock of little mini zines on the top shelf. They are hard to see, but they are in little boxes. Hmmm, I like this.

I love this, because it makes me think we could eventually have something like this right in our own home town library. If you are able to, encourage your local library to start carrying zines. It’s a great place to start a local zine collection, in a place where people are already coming to read and look and enjoy things in print.

Oh I do love the Roberts Street Library. Someday I’m going to have my office be floor to ceiling shelves of printed deliciousness.

The Little Berlin zine library has a nice little shelf set up to hold their zines. If I had my own shop, I think this is how I would house them.

And this is a really cool looking library at Niagara College, but the image was fully copyright protected, so go look at the neatness by clicking here.

Zine libraries are on the rise around the United States so I was able to get a nice broad perspective on housing and organizing zines. One thing I’ve decided is to start keeping a running catalog of all my zines. I now realize a few are missing and I have no idea who I loaned them out to.

After looking at all these great zine libraries, I’m finally ready to build my own. I’ll be back on Friday (for reals this time) to show you how. Wednesday I’m posting about some of the fun projects I have going on around the house like brewing my own hard apple cider and growing produce in the basement in the middle of winter.

Happy crafting!
Kristin

The very nature of being a zine maker leads me to own a crap ton of zines. I’ve participated in swaps, I’ve purchased them from around the world. I’ve been given them by friends. And I have multiple copies of my own zines of course. Now, all these zines…I love each one. But they’ve ended up languishing in a cardboard box. That really sucks. I want them to be out. I want to enjoy them. I want to easily thumb through them and be inspired by them, even my own past work. It sounds egocentric I’m sure, but practically speaking, you can learn a lot by looking on past work–things that have been lost sight o, or even reflecting on ideas and layouts that went horribly wrong.

Did you know Craft Leftovers Monthly has 37 issues? Issues 1-14 were limited edition, never to be reproduced, 15-26 are available as back issues (Volume 1) in the shop, and Volume 2: Issues 1-11 are now available as a box set and singles. Volume 3: Issue 1 (the 38th issue)? That will be available on Monday.

I’m still stunned that I’ve put out 37 zines, actually 4 mini zines + and ebook too! Wow. Holy crap. I’ve been making them for 3 years now, heading into year four.

Volume 3 is going to be different. You see, I’ve reworked the format for the new volume. I’m taking it back to a more intimate size, but keeping all my favorite things from Volume 2. Kind of like when I looked at the blog from my readers’ perspectives, I’m looked at the zine with those same eyes. Just like when I cozied up to my favorite blogs, I’ve spent the last few months cozying up to my favorite zines.

I like pocket sized zines. I like zines that are around 20 pages. I like zines that work with a theme. I like zines with good art and attention to detail. Here is what inspired the current volume, all of my favorite zines.

Quite a few zines I love

Tangle Craft zines - These zines are amazing, hand crafted, quality story telling, inspiring construction, ideas, and images.

Croq Zines – and holy crap she just finished issue #12! The first in 3 years! I’m so excited because I was planning on writing “I really wish this zine was still in production,” but I don’t have to write that now!

MixTape.

The Beany, Start to Draw Your Life, and other Micheal Nobbs Zines

Oh the Christmas Digest from Sister Diane

Locally: The Catholic Worker (the zine for the local Mustard Seed Coop Farm) and The Ames Progressive (which I helped with for just about a year) and my good friend Linda’s zine/booklet of poetry. (She edits Craft Leftovers Monthly just about every month, and when she isn’t able to, it sure does show!)

Not to mention all the zines I get from zine swaps, indie books stores, friends, and whenever I go anywhere new I hunt them out.

I especially love zines about bicycling–like Saddle Sore and this sweet little zine about bicycle adventures. Oh and zines about zines like: Make a Zine!

I decided it was time to make a change. No more cardboard box for my zines! But what then? Seriously? They are all different sizes. Some of them have things in them, like most of the issues of Tangled Kingdom.

It’s not like I can just toss these on a book shelf. I can’t really see them and enjoy them all crammed together. They get bent up and damaged and slide behind the bookcase. No good. Well, I came up with a great solution, I hinted at it on twitter the other day–zine boxes. I’ll show you how next Friday. I have my own zine to finish. I’m printing it Sunday night. I’m so excited.

What zines inspire you the most? What’s your favorite zine topic? How do you organize your personal zine library?

Happy crafting!
Kristin

There is so much holiday cheer and happy crafting going on right now I can hardly stand it. I do love it all so much. Here are a few of my favorites that I’m hoping to make in the next 10 days:

1. Dollhouse Sized Aluminum Christmas Tree on Zakka Life
2. Felted Christmas Trees on the Purl Bee
3. Swedish Dala Horse on AllSorts (via Whipup.net)
4. Flatware pouch on Craftiness is Not Optional (via Craftgossip)
5. Winter Caroler Sewing Pattern (via Craftzine)
6. More Inspiration on Creative Kismet

What’s your favorite holiday crafting project on the internet? Have you tried it yet?

Want to use up some of your leftovers from Christmas? Check out my ebook Card.Paper.Ribbon. that’s all about finding non-christmas uses for Christmas gift packaging supplies!

Happy crafting!
Kristin

Jason and I are spending our first holiday season in our first house. It’s not terribly different from the apartment but there’s just something different. Maybe I’m a little different. Maybe it’s being able to have a real Christmas tree for the first time that’s actually REAL and over 4 feet tall. It’s got me all holiday spirity.

First I made the winter stars for the kitchen window. Then there was the evergreen sprigs on the table under the tv. Last week we actually got our first real Christmas tree. And this week, oh the holiday crafty goodness is commencing and I’m bringing you on for the ride!

For the tree, since we didn’t already own lights, we sprung for the LED christmas lights, three strands did the trick. And they were happily on sale. Excellent. Well, with the tree all lit up, it was time for ornaments. Last year our little tree was overloaded, but this year, it now looks sparse! So later this week I’ll be sharing some of my favorite ornament tutorials with you along with a new one of my own. We need a few more to round it out, but I don’t want to pack it. I’m kind of looking forward to adding them slowly.

I need to make  a new tree skirt since ours from last year is too small. I want to give the kitties a nice plushy place to sleep under the tree–their new favorite spot in the house.

Garlands will be in order for sure. I’ll be combining some evergreen style garlands with a few handmade touches. And since I’m just now getting around to decorating for the holidays, I’m going to keep it “winter” themed vs. “Christmas,” which works great for us since we like to celebrate the winter solstice at the house since we are always out of town for Christmas. More on that next Monday.

A few other fun handmade touches will be paper snowflakes in the windows, a yule candle set up on the “mantle,” loads of cookie baking starting this weekend, and some festive lighting. On Thursday I’ll be sharing some of the tastiest looking holiday recipes + my baking plan.

I’ve been looking for inspiration around the internet and here are a load of tutorials on holiday decorating that I’ve really enjoyed.

1. Quilted Christmas Tree Skirt with Fur Trim (via Craft Gossip)
2. Holiday Decorating on Posie Gets Cozy
3. Acorn Garland on the Magic Onion (via Craft Gossip)
4. Reuse Holiday Scraps on Lola Nova (via Whipup.net)
5. Snowflake Craft Project Round-up on Craft Gossip
6. Making a Doily Garland on Smile and Wave (via Craftzine)
7. Paper Snowflakes! on How About Orange
8. Paper Globes on Tiny Happy
9. All the Trimmings Stocking from Denyse Schmidt (via Craftzine)

So how do you spruce up your house for the holidays? What’s your winter welcoming tradition?

Happy crafting and happy holidays!
Kristin

Here are some things to look at, to enjoy, to make, to think about and to get you through the holiday weekend.

1. Giving Thanks
10 Great Ways to Show You’re Grateful & Why Living a Life of Gratitude Can Make You Happy on Zen Habits

2. Cranberries
I love them just about anyway but canned cranberry sauce. Here are some delicious looking recipes to try if you bought that bag of cranberries and aren’t sure what to do with them. Fresh Cranberry Relish and Cranberry Pecan Muffins and Holiday Cranberry Chutney.

3. Napkin Folding
It’s fun to fancy things up a bit with cloth napkins. Impress your whole family with fancy pants napkin folding skills when you set the table on Thanksgiving.

4. Center Piece Making
Leave it up to Martha to put together the best festive center pieces out there. Check out these neat options on her website.

5. Gluten Free Stuffing
My mom has gone gluten free and she feels so much better for having taken the leap. She’s going to really miss her stuffing though and is trying a few wheat free alternatives. While I’m not sure which one she tried, this one looks amazing!

6. Crafting on the Road
To get a head start on all my dishcloth gifts, I’m putting together a little tote of cotton yarns to crochet into a million and one dishcloths while I’m on the road. I’ll make sure to have print outs of two of the patterns I’m using, crochet hooks size D and G, loads of cotton yarn, a little pair of snips, and a yarn needle. What patterns am I using? Scrubby Bumpy Cloth & Buds and Blossoms.

Enjoy the holiday weekend & I’ll see you all on Monday!

Happy crafting!
Kristin

Things to Make and Look At

1. I saw these little knit leaves and instantly thought “oh, leftover yarn bits could make those little lovelies”. Over on Knitting Iris, I can’t remember where I first saw this.

2. Little trees made from leaf rubbings (love this!).

3. Ruffled leaf tee shirt tutorial on Positively Splendid (via craft gossip)

4. Would not mind making one of these dainty leather clutches, love the scalloped trim – On a Lemon Squeezy Home (such a cute name!) via CraftGossip.

5. Camera Strap Tutorial on Thimble

6. Sexy Pumpkins – if you still have pumpkins laying around, this would be a fun way to jazz them up for thanksgiving.

7. Doily Star Decorations on Poppytalk – so pretty and so festive. I think I’ll use this come the first snow – potentially this weekend.

8. This whole blog, everything on it. I love what you are doing Tracey Meek!

Inspiring Articles

9. The Little Guide to Inspiration and The Little but Extremely Useful Guide to Creativity - reminds me of all the ways to be inspired, stay creative, and keep loving life’s simple pleasures.

10. The Myth of the Exceptional Life – time to live exceptionally true to myself.

11. The #1 Sneaky Lie That Attracts Overwhelm

12. Inspiration vs Motivation

Yummy Recipes

13. I love small things (look at the September issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly for proof) and these little Itsy Bitsy Doughnuts definitely fall into that category of small and delicious. Must make these! Yum!

14. Apple picking season is one of my favorite times of year and I thoroughly enjoyed this unique and delicious take on an old favorite: Baked Apples Savory Sweet

15. Love Sloppy Joes – my dad is named Joe after all – and this is definitely beyond your average sloppy joe. Deliciousness on The Urban Baker (new fav foodie blog).

I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I do!
Happy Crafting and Autumn!
Kristin

Movies and shows I love you. Oh, you are seductive. But, you lower my productivity by 90% or more and I just can’t have you in the studio anymore. Hulu, you bring me my favorite new shows. I look forward to checking my queue. I find you irresistible. NetFlix, I was able to eliminate cable because of you. I learn about the world through you, Art21, a mash of documentaries, and more Law and Order than even TNT shows. I must say goodbye. I must tell you so long. I must reserve you for evenings at home.

One of the things I loved about working in my studio at university was that it eliminated the tv…but not any more.

I never fully comprehended how watching movies and shows of any kind, even ones I’ve seen before, kills my creative process. I can’t write. I can’t sew or crochet. And while I can knit while watching tv, I’m a lousy pattern writer when I watch because I get “sucked in.”

I know this about myself and yet I perpetually self distruct my own creativity and work flow by watching “just one show” or “just one movie”. Which always turns into a rest of the day hulu/netflix/youtube binge. Not very helpful. So from today on, I’m going to restrict ban tv watching to after hours. Will I be able to hold to it? It might sound like an extreme thing to do, but given my complete inability to control myself, I’m actually blocking it on my computers. Sure I could unblock it, but it will be an extra step and it will hopefully give me a little more pause before tuning in.

Replacing a Bad Habit with Good Ones

I’ll be honest, sometimes I get a little bored while working. Not all of Craft Leftovers is fun, happy, crafting time. Even when it is, I like listening to something while I’m making things and putzing around the studio.

The radio:

I love the radio and I’ve missed that in my office/studio. Our old clock radio (who’s alarm clock function is broken) now has a home in my cube.

Here in Iowa we have great local, national, and international programing through Iowa Public Radio (AM640). In Ames, we also have a pretty nice college radio station that plays a diverse selection of music (88.5FM). The classical music station (90.5FM) has a really well rounded selection of classical music. Sometimes, it’s nice to just chill out and listen to a roaring symphony.

Podcasts:

I like listening to a range of podcasts, but most have to do with either being creative, running a creativity based business, crafting, being an artist, or music. Here are my favorites:

The CraftyPod – All about being crafty. Started out as more of a how to and slowly morphed into a gem of an inspirational podcast covering topics from blog tune ups to the culture of free. Really interesting dialog on craft, entrepreneurism, and, of course, crafting!

Craft Sanity – Fun interviews with all sorts of people across the creative field, from editors to shop owners to bloggers like myself. A longer listen, but usually because Jennifer and the person she’s interviewing are just having a really great conversation about creativity (been there, she’s fun to talk to and asks great questions!).

The Accidental Creative - This has been the newest edition to my podcast listening. Each show is a discussion about a particular aspect of being in a creative job, where you are expected to come up with creative content on a regular basis. It covers ways to keep from burning out, staying true to your own creative practice, and regularly features great guest interviews–like the author of Getting Things Done for instance.

Bad at Sports - Chicago based podcast, but features interviews and reviews of art happenings all around the world. I think it was started when they were in college at the Art Institute, and then as they moved to separate parts of the world, they kept on as “reporters.” Really fun, kind of vulgar sometimes,  and very honest look at a broad base of contemporary art practice.

Ruby Fruit Radio – all girls all the time (music that is)

There are a lot of great video podcasts out there too, but like Hulu, YouTube, and Netflix, I try to keep that to after hours.

Pandora

Most of you have heard of this, but if you haven’t you are in for a treat. Essentially the idea is to make your own radio station based off one band you love. If you sign up with your Facebook account, you can see what “radio stations” your friends like. My favorites are Bon Iver, New Pony Experience, and Bjork. You can also browse by genre and select radio stations Pandora puts together. I like the Chill/Downtempo and Classic Indie Stations.

And with that, I’m going to get back to making stuff to the sound of a little Bon Iver Radio.

Happy crafting!

Kristin Roach

Usually, the day after a holiday it dawns on me, “Hey, I should post about all those neat projects I’ve come across lately.” Well, not this time. Ha! I got you this time 4th of July!

Check out these sweet projects I’m excitedly whipping together for the first 4th of July in our new home. (I’ll post about that next week and you will just have to keep guessing until then.)

Picnic Bowl Cover Strap

Out of all of them, this is my favorite. I can’t even remember where I first saw it, but I tweeted it immediately. Maya*Made shows us how to ditch the rubberband and make this wonderful reusable picnic bowl cover strap. Click here for her well documented tutorial.

The fact that she makes it from the button band of an old button up shirt is even better! You could easily alter the pattern to use any strip of fabric you have laying around. Ah fabric strips, the theme of the July issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly, I will find uses for all of you some day!

Pinwheels

These charming little beauties are fast, fun, and cheap to make. They add a bit of fun to any event and double as “flowers” if you need of a centerpiece.  Make them up in blues and reds, call yourself a patriot, and show off your grandma’s potato salad recipe–the best in the world of course.

I liked ohdeedoh’s tutorial best. Learn how to make some pinwheels by clicking here.

38 fourth of July Crafts

Of course when I googled “4th of July” and “craft” Martha Stewart was all over it. And I suppose rightly so since she and her team came up with 38 craft projects to set the mood and celebrate.

I really liked the drink umbrellas and these fun decorations. You can print them on the opposite side of misprints too. I’m always waging a war against a pile of things I printed wrong.

And of course I enjoy this nice little solution for taking your own silverware  and napkins to the potluck. I like the stripes and light blue checks because you could use those year round. I think I have some fabric very similar to that in red I can use.

So those are the 4 patriotic crafts I’ll be whipping up this week for the weekend. What’s on your list? What have you already made? Leave a comment with links!

Happy crafting!

Kristin