Craft Leftovers

Craft Leftovers Zine: Issue 4.2 – A collection of inherited stash building

Kristin Roach — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:32:12 +0000

When I inherited my lastest stash in mid March I just new I had to share these stories with you. I’ve been so fortunate, and kind of a sucker, when it comes to getting free and super cheap craft supplies and tools!

In Volume 4: when you order the print version, you get instant access to the full color PDF version of the zine too! A little print love, a little instant gratification, a whole lot of crafty goodness!

Get the single Print issue for $6.00 – on sale for $5.00 through Monday!

Get the single PDF issue for $3.95!

Like etsy? Get the Craft Leftovers Zine from my Etsy Shop.

What to get a Craft Leftovers Subscription? Go here to learn how!

Happy Crafting!
Kristin Roach

Woodworking Craft Leftovers: Building a quick gate!

Kristin Roach — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:33:30 +0000

They want out.

He wants in so he can do to them what he’s doing to this bucket. Chewing the crap out of it.

Since we got Bob in March we’ve been doing this shuffling act of letting him out, putting him in, letting the chicken out, putting them up, letting bob out. About 3-4 times a day.

I put up a chicken fence awhile ago, but not only was it not keeping him out (he would either knock it down or just hurdle it), they also would jump or just squeeze out from under it.

After a few episodes of Bob chasing the chickens and me chasing Bob, I knew this “solution” wasn’t a solution at all and I really needed to put up a more sturdy, taller structure.

Read the full story and see the how to after the jump…

I’m not sure if I was being lazy or thrifty, but I really didn’t want to spend any money on this project. I dug around in my garage and found a pile of wood that I had been meaning to build into I’m not sure what. I think my lumber stash is about as big as my yarn stash lately. It was rewarding using up so much of it in one go!

I spent a morning pounding 2×2″ into the ground, topping it off by 1×2″ and stretching the 4′ chicken wire around it. Nice and easy, pretty straight forward though a little crooked, but what about a gate?

I’ve never built a gate before, but I knew that it had to be sturdy enough to deal with Bob jumping on it, putting his paws on it, and generally testing its and his limits. I decided to go with the sturdiest structure I knew, pretty much stretcher bars for a canvas, haha. It’s funny how often I turn to that basic shape – a rectangle with corner braces, and in this case, a cross brace.

Here’s how I built the gate:

Materials

2 – 3″ hinges
1 – latch + a carabiniere
chicken wire
random scrap wood from the garage
wood glue
brads or screws
staples

Tools

miter saw
staple gun
brad gun (or a corner brace + hammer and nails)

First I measured out the width of the “doorway” at it’s narrowest point since it’s a little cockeyed. I cut the first width of wood and double checked it against the space for the gate. It fit just fine, so I used it to cut a second piece of the same length (42″).

Second I measured out the height of the shorter post – so cockeyed, oh my gosh am I glad we hired someone to build our fence, it would have looked ridiculous! And cut two more piece with 45degree cuts at each end.

Then I pulled some 1×2″ scraps out of my scrap wood bin and cut them down to about 10″ each with 45degree ends.

Using wood glue and the brad gun I connected it up at each corner and then inserted the corner braces.

I love our air compressor so much, it was the best Christmas present ever. I plan on pretty much repeating this same project, except to make window screens for the house. Anyway….

Then I grabbed a 1×3″, cut that down to the width, and glued and nailed that in too as a cross brace.

I was smart for once and screwed the hinges to the gate before screwing it to the post. And then repeated the process for the latch. I decided to latch it in the middle vs the top so Bob couldn’t squeeze through. I want to get a second latch next time I head over to the hardware store. Which is looking like this weekend because I’m building a new piece for my display for Maker Faire.

Now they are safely on their respective sides of the fence.

It was so wonderfully sunny out I couldn’t help but blow out my picture. Ahh, peace in the backyard now. It’s really nice being able to go out there with Bob and have the chickens not cooped up and squaking at the unfairness of the world.

And with the completion of the fence I was able to do other fun things like mow the lawn and finish my potato tower of power.

Plus I just looked out in the garden and that strawberry corn I was so excited about just sprouted! Delicious homegrown popcorn here I come!

Have a good weekend!
Kristin Roach

Market Day Iowa & Craft Leftovers: Three Year Reunion!

Kristin Roach — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:23:59 +0000

We were up at 6am Saturday morning shuffling around the house, getting coffee and stocking the citizens up on pets and food for the day. We were doing our first Market Day Iowa in 3 years. It’s funny, to remember that I thought “what issue was I selling?” Oh yeah, Volume 1!

So 3 years and 3 volumes of zines later, Market Day and I have both grown!

Read the whole recap after the jump

Craft Leftovers

Less equals more - Jason was the one that pointed this out. He was like “oh my gosh, do you remember that first time you did Market Day? We hauled so much!” I had kits and vintage stuff, zines, and I’m not even sure what.
Zine rack - I made this for Renagade and it’s worked out really well – it’s pretty much like a little magazine rack to put my zines (and book) in!

The zine - while the price is actually the same, it’s totally revamped. More comic book meets craft magazine than it’s previous incarnations. It’s larger in size, more pages, printed on sustainably forested paper, and with soy inks. Oh and the cover is color now!
Square - Hello, this is a biggie. You know how hard it is to sell subscriptions and box sets when you can only take cash? Square has done much to make fairs worth while.
Subscriptions - while still the same, because of changed in my layout, printer, and paper choices, I’ve been able to drop the price significantly. So subscriptions are just $36 for six issues and $54 for 12 issues, which includes shipping and handling.

Mend it Better - it’s strange to think that 3 years ago I wasn’t even dreaming of publishing a book. I have to say, it was a load of fun telling people “This is my first book, it just came out in February?”
700+ posts and 27 zines later – really. wow. I ballparked it to around that. Over the last 3 years I’ve written 700 posts and published 27+ zines for Craft Leftovers.

Market Day Iowa

New Venue! the first thing of note, they’ve been able to secure the Kirkwood Lobby and adjoining Social Club Ballroom for the fair. It’s literally right in the farmer’s market – which is HUGE. Before they on Market Street, a few block from the farmer’s market.
Foot Traffic! Those few blocks have made a big difference because now instead of driving to the venue, or riding your bike, you can wander in directly from the farmer’s market.
Curated vendors – while they curated before, now they are getting enough applicants that they can really pick and choose. It’s a quality show.
Curated vendor locations – walking around you can really tell they put a lot of thought into placement of vendors, like who’s next to who and the flow of traffic. Plus they made sure similar items were spaced out. Before, I believe you got to pick your own spot on a first come first serve basis.
The name is out there – they did a great job publicizing the fair before, but now, it has that familiarity where everyone who goes to the farmer’s market regularly, pretty much goes to Market Day regularly.

photo from marketdayiowa.com

Did I mention traffic? Today we set a record with over 2000 people walking through the door in just 5 hours, numbers that have previously only been seen at the Black Friday Market Day! Awesome! I think three years ago it was in the hundreds.
Organization – just like anything, you find better ways to do things the more you do it. They have been great at compiling info for the vendors, their website has a ton of great info. They’ve also brought on more admin help, there are three key women making this event possible now. And they set out booth assignment, parking info, drop off info, and all the things you need as a vendor to make an event a success in a timely matter.
The booth fee – it’s gone up a little bit to help pay the bills, but I feel like it’s well worth it given the traffic they bring, the professionalism, and most everyone I talked to said they had at a minimum broken even, while others made out like bandits.

We (Jason and I) learned a ton doing Market Day this weekend. Partly about booth set ups, but also about selling in general. Here are some of the things we are changing before heading out to San Francisco for the Maker Faire Bizarre Bazaar:

One thing is that I’m going to get a dolly for my next show.
Buying some rubbermaids that will replace my cardboard boxes.
I’m building a folding upright wall with shelves (I’ll post about this when I make it later this week) that stores flat in the trunk and is light weight.
For those of you who are selling at fairs, this was a big one – work on your closing pitch! Jason pointed out that while I was doing great greeting people and telling them about the book and zines, I wasn’t making a good closing. Still working on that, but I never even thought of that of that before! Something like, “I do take credit cards, debit, and of course cash!”
When I have a boothmate, particularly Jason, people are more likely to commit to buying. I’ve talked to some other vendors about this too and they said the same thing. Having a guy in your booth somehow mentally pressures people into making a purchase. Like Jason will think they are a jerk for not buying his wife’s hard work. To which he said “yes, because I will hulk smash them into buying your book”. Haha. No seriously, he will.
2 fer’s – we found that if people were buying the book ($15) and I said something like “You want me to add in the zine for $X” I sold a zine about 9 out of 10 times when I wouldn’t have otherwise. Which is why I was okay for offering bundled at such a discount.
When people purchase something, or are interested in purchasing but just not today, asking them to sign up for the mailing list. When I did it that way I got about 10x the amount of sign up if I don’t mention it.
And I’m making better signage.

It’s so funny, I spend all this time making the zines, putting together my display, going to an event, and then I forget to make signs for it. I like the chalk boards a whole lot, but I think it would be good to have a price list and a printed sign saying something like “Subscriptions Available!” and then maybe even a little thing talking about the zine. I found the best way to describe it to people is “Comic book meets craft magazine”. It’s about half story telling with illustrations and half story telling with tutorials.

And speaking of the zine, here’s a little teaser photo for one of the projects I just finished up for the issue that will be out on Monday:

Okay, so it’s actually just Molly inspecting what I’m making. Thanks to her management, it turned out awesome. I’ve had so much fun working on this issue and I know you are going to just love it!

Happy Crafting!
Kristin Roach

Make, Eat, Think Roundup – Fuel Your Creativity!

Kristin Roach — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:34:44 +0000

Links to all the things I want to make with my craft leftovers that I just don’t have time for. One can dream!

1. DIY Handmade Clay Pots via Craftzine – simple and striking at the same time.

2. Macaron Coin Purse via Craft Gossip

3. Stiffened Felt Boxes

4. PingPong Pendant Lamp on MarieClaire – translation in English on Poppytalk

5. Build a Box City

6. DIY Fabric Tape via Craftzine – awesome use of scraps of fabric, and I’m sure useful in many applications!

7. Stacked Quilt Block tutorial on the Long Thread

8. Round up of Fat Quarter Tutorials on Sew Mama Sew

To Eat:

Edible Spoons via craftgossip – this seems like the most amazing idea, I think it would be really good with fillo dough too.

Use up Leftovers – an interesting concept recipe search tool on Big Oven. You plug in three leftover ingredients you have and it shoots out a huge list of user submitted recipes.

To Think:

Mason Jar History – things like these always make me happy. I love history. And I love mason Jars. Perfect.

Act of Making Things - a short article that’s sure to inspire and make you think about your own process of creating.

How to Grow Social Media Leads New Research - if you are a blogger and a nerd, you’ll enjoy this look at the statistics of social media and blogging.

Leftovers: Tasty or Trash? – It blows my mind when I hear someone say they or their spouse refuses to each leftovers.. Turns out this is pretty common, I didn’t realize there was such strong opinions about it.

Eating Leftovers and Other Things I get Excited About as a Parent - a funny article about all the things you get excited about once you become a parent, though many apply to just getting older (as in post 30′s)

Financially Secure People Eat Leftovers - leftover food was on the brain apparently. Since we are leaving for San Francisco in just one short week I’m trying to clean out the fridge before we go. Lots of scrounging and eating leftovers here.

What has inspired you on the web this week? Share a link with me! It might just make it into next Monday’s round up!

Happy Crafting!
Kristin Roach

LIVE Video Chat with me Tonight!

Kristin Roach — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:53:32 +0000

Hey everyone! I just wanted to remind you that TONIGHT, I’ll be hosting a live video chat on my new book Mend It Better.

If you go to my Shindig event page at 6PM ENT (5PM CST), you can talk with me, ask questions, and hear some never before insights on my craft book and career. You’re not going to want to miss this!

Meet the Author (me!) LIVE Thursday at 6pm Online!

Kristin Roach — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:02:38 +0000

I am happy to announce that I will be hosting a live book talk on Shindig, a new customized video chat space for live events. We will be connected globally via webcam online, and can interact and participate in a live talk about Mend it Better!You can socialize with other participants, or just watch and listen. The event will be this Thursday at 6pm EST – which is 5pm if you live in Iowa like I do.

Here’s how it works. About 15 minutes before it starts go to this link and log in. You should test your microphone and camera at this time. Then when the event starts we can get underway. We will have an interactive talk about my new book Mend it Better, followed by a question and answer session. The talk is sponsored by Shindig Events.

The way to make this interesting and fun is to have A LOT of people in attendance. So please invite as many of your friends as you like to join us! Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter to as many people as you can.

If you’re worried you’ll forget, we’ve got that covered. Go here to rsvp, you’ll get a reminder about the event and an email right before it starts!

I’m really excited about this, it’s a chance for me to meet all of you for the first time! You can ask questions and even show off your own mending! I’m going to start out by sharing some of my own story – how I got into crafting, became a pattern writer, and got my book deal for Mend it Better. If you have any topics you’d like to cover or questions that might require me to do a little digging, just leave me a comment!

And again, share the news please! Anyone you think would enjoy it!

I’ll see you on Thursday!

Happy Crafting!
Kristin

Round up: 6 Reason’s to Love Coletterie!

Kristin Roach — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:59:42 +0000

It was a funny thing, I was collecting up sewing articles and patterns to post a round up about and I realized that 6 out of the 8 post I picked out to share with you were from Coletterie.com. When I was in Chicago I stopped by The Needle Shop and couldn’t help but buy a Coletterie pattern. I’m sure many of you have seen these wonderful vintage inspired patterns. Charming, well made, super clear instructions. So I’ve opted to gush purely about my love of their website and patterns.

See the 6 posts that really stuck with me after the jump!

I haven’t done it yet, but I’m still hoping too. I want to participate in the Spring/Summer Palette Challenge! I’m slowly compiling ideas on Pinterest of all the garments and colors I love.

I love sewing with a sort of disdainful loathing because I tend to make every mistake under the sun. On Coletterie, they keep the frustrated sewer in mind by posting really useful posts like this one on how to Avoid Some Common Fabric Problems.

Love this dress, and Sue, it’s wonderful maker. She was featured on Coletterie (along with her project). That’s one of the things I love, they feature seamstresses on their blog. And now I’m now following her blog, Sewin’ Steady.

I’m filled with envy every time I pull this post up and see these awesome blue Clover pants with welt pocket. I want to make them. I want those pants. The only thing I don’t like about Iowa is there’s not really a good store for garment fabics. Maybe it’s for the best. Sewing my own pants might be a bridge I’m not quite ready to cross.

They pretty regularly post inspiration boards, like these welt pocket examples. I’ve been considering doing the same here on Craft Leftovers. We’ll see. Right now I’m just enjoying the ones they put together for us all to enjoy and be inspired by.

Pant Fitting Troubleshooting is another helpful post. Maybe this write up on will help me get over my sewn pants paranoia. I have to say, I was all set to make my own jeans and I was checking out at the fabric store when my determination was completely derailed. The lady checking me out said, “what are you going to make with all this denim?” And I very enthusiastically said “Pants!” And she gave me this sour look and was like “Pants are too hard, you’re ridiculous for doing that”. Which is ridiculous that I took it to heart, and I hate to admit it, but I never did make those pants. I love the empowering sewing attitude on Coletterie.

Happy Sewing!

Kristin Roach

WIP: Kate Mitchell Mural!

Kristin Roach — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:06:24 +0000

I have a huge WIP to share with you this week: a 24′ long mural! A little shy of a month ago I was hired to design and paint a mural for an elementary school. It was in honor of their successful community garden and the idea was to kick it off on the very appropriate earth day. They wanted me to design it in such a way that the kids could all come out and help paint. I would have loved to help paint a mural as a kid and was delighted to make it possible for them.

Get all the details, full sized photos, and the back story after the jump!

The garden has done a great job bringing the school together as a community in just one year. You see about 90% of the kids are bused in, so the parents aren’t there day in and day out picking up the kiddos from school. The garden though, each weekend, the kids bring their parents back to the school to help grow food for their lunches. It’s had an amazing impact on school pride! And this last month, a group of kids won a scholarship (I think it was a scholarship) to go garden with the Obama’s at the White House! It’s really turned the kids’ attitude toward food, gardening, and their school around!

There was definitely reason to celebrate and commemorate their first growing season’s success! A mural was in order. Just like the garden, they wanted the kids to be able to take ownership of the mural just like they did the garden. I started out by asking if the teachers could have the kids draw what they want to be in the mural. They had a ton of great ideas and here’s what the final design looked like:

With the help of the project’s coordinator, Kristen Loria, I dived the wall into a 1×1 foot grid and labeled each square with a column number and row letter.

From there it was a straightforward (though long) process of transferring the design. It took about 9 hours when it was all said and done.

Well, 9 hours and coffee! Here’s the print out of my design gridded out.

I took a picture of myself. It was raining.

Here it is about 1/3 of the way done.

Using the grid method we were able to get the kiddos started. Each area was color coded. Which the insider take is that I was up until 4am printing out the grid squares on card stock for them. And then got up at 7am to got set up for the first class of kids at 8:30. The kids did awesome asking for the right color for each square. Which is good because I was sleeeeeep deprived!

After the first few classes, which cycled through in 20 minute blocks each. We had over 300 kids come paint from 8:30am to 3pm. It was nuts. And awesome!

A couple of hours and 100 kids later.

They were pros! The 4th and 5th graders were put to work filling in areas that needed paint and working on the sky.

Here it is at the end of the day! What a beautiful mess!

We’re going to have a community painting day either this Sunday or next weekend. If you live in Ames, get updates on the upcoming rain day (originally was scheduled for Saturday) on Facebook here.

There will be much more crafty goodness next week! Until then, happy crafting!

Kristin

Recipe: Pepper Steak with Rice

Kristin Roach — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:41:23 +0000

I mentioned this in my post a couple of weeks ago about my “go to” meals. It’s a delicious dish that’s fast, pretty healthy, and freaking delicious! Get the recipe after the jump over to Craft Leftovers:

Ingredients

8oz of steak
1/2 a large red onion
2 T. crushed garlic – about 4 cloves – I looooove garlic so much!
2 green peppers
1 T butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 T corn starch
1/4 cup water

Step One: Get the rice started so it will be finished Cut the steak 1/2″ wide, about 3″ long, and 1/8″ thin. Slice the onions and green peppers however you love them the most – I like them about 1/4″ thin.

Step Two: Mix the soy sauce, water, and corn starch together.

Step Three: Heat up a skillet and melt the butter. Sauté the onions and peppers. You want the peppers and onions to be cooked, but still crispy. Set the peppers and onions aside.

Step Four: Saute the garlic and beef together until the beef is fully cooked. Add the soy sauce mixture and stir until the beef is coated. Add the green peppers and onions back into the beef. Give another good stir.

Serve with rice. Serves 2!

So funny thing, Jason and I loved it so much and chowed it down that I forgot to take a picture of it. I had to wrestle this last bit away from Jason before it was completely polished off!

Happy Cooking!
Kristin Roach

Round Up: April Showers….

Kristin Roach — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:58:32 +0000

May Flowers! Maybe we aren’t quite there yet, but with flowers all around me I couldn’t help but be inspired by them. See all the posts I loved this weekend after the jump!

Spring Celery Flowers on The Joys of Home Educating

Photography of Kari Herer on Free People

Doodle Stitching for Fun and Relaxation on Checkout Girl Crafts

Fun with Flowers Part II on Katherine Marie Photography

Tulips in Vase by Paul Cezanne

White Flower Embroidery on yumikohiguchi

Embroidered Flowers on Chris Faves

Botanical Illustration of Thistles

Have a great week!
Kristin