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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

This past July, I participated in a pencil rubbing swap on Swapbot. It reminded me how much I enjoy and how beautiful this simple technique is. With all the leaves blowing around, there are plenty of things to make textures from. When Kelly C told me she wanted to learn to draw textures, my mind instantly thought about pencil rubbings. I know, not exactly what she had been talking about, but a fun project for leftover paper all the same. Love the way the mind works.

::Materials::

• Scraps of thin paper, tissue paper actually works really nicely if you are gentle.
• Color Pencil or 6B Drawing Pencil
• Scraps of cardstock – 8 1/2 X 5 1/2″ size works nicely for a little thank you card.
• Rubber cement

::Making Pencil Rubbings::

First you will want to pick out some nice leaves, the greener the better really. Dry ones will crumble under pressure.

Then, pick out a soft pencil or charcoal (crayons and markers work well too, experiment a little and see what you like best). After playing around a bit, I liked the way colored pencils worked best. I suggest a softer one like Prismacolor vs Crayola.

Rub softly with the side of the lead to discover the edges of your leaf.

Use more pressure around the edges to high light them and work softly between the veins.

I love tissue paper for making rubbings because you can really pull out all the tiny details.

Take the card stock you want to use for your card and fold it in half. I like the way the raw torn edges look, so I just tore the leaf out of the paper. You can cut it instead. I even played a bit with some decorative scissor for a different look.

Apply a nice thin coat of rubber cement to the back of the paper.

‘

Smooth out the paper on the front of the card stock and let dry (like a minute or less).

Play around with different papers, colors, and leaves. Here is a smaller leaf that I made into a 4×5″ card.

I’ve been trying to get into the habit of giving people thank you cards when they do awesome things – like host a great dinner party. I know it always makes me feel special and “job well done” when I get one. Try it out. It doesn’t have to be for anything “huge”. Maybe a kind word, a good meal, or an awesome craft zine that they sent you in the mail :)

Happy Crafting!

Kristin

Every issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly is full of patterns, tutorials, and fun little snippets. What are these snippets I am referring to? Well, that varies from month to month. Because October’s issue was all about Falling into Fall, I filled the pages with patterns, tutorials, and thoughts on crafting outside as well as cozying up with fall crafting. Here is one of my favorite pages from this month’s issue about what I’ve learned about drying gourds:

You can get the October issue for just $7.00 during the month of October, a pretty good deal since it has 4 patterns, an interview, 2 recipes, and a collection of fun things like the page above.

Have you dried gourds before? What’s your best “learned the hard way” tip?

Happy crafting!

Kristin

It is always so satisfying to use up stash yarn I must say. I’ve had this nondescript bundle of bulky super wash wool for quite sometime. It was given to me by a friend who was de-stashing. Known as the “Craft Leftovers Girl” I often get donations of leftovers from other people’s projects. It’s like Christmas all the time. Anyway, I’ve had this yarn for sometime and finally made  a hat with it. I love the subtle color striping, the green in blue are so close in value and shade that at first it is hard to distinguish the two. Well, just this week, with the turn of 18 degree weather and sleet storms on the way it was high time to get the scarf made. The scarf I had been using up until now was wonderful, my grandmas had made it for my mom, but a little on the lacy side. I needed something that would keep out the wind. A nice thick fabric. I opted for a 1×1 rib. After seeing my friend knitting a scarf in a 1×1 rib I was sold. It looks like a really thick stockinette stitch, but it doesn’t roll. Fabulous!

Materials

Size US10 1/2 cirular needle 16” length

Size US10 1/2 double pointed needles

Yarn needle for weaving in ends

For Hat:

60g Main Color Yarn

30g Contrasting Color Yarn

For Scarf:

120g Main Color Yarn

120g Contrasting Color Yarn

Notes

Guage: 3 sts/inch

CO = cast on

K = knit 

MC = main color

CC = contrasting color

K2tog = knit 2 together

P = purl

BO = bind off

Hat

When changing colors, carry the yarn up the start of your round so you will not have one billion ends to weave in.

Using MC CO 75 sts using a cable cast on.

Row 1: Join in the round and knit all.

Row 2: Change to CC and k all.

Row 3 & 4: Change to MC and k all.

Repeat rows 2-4 ten more times.

Decrease for top of hat:

Maintain the striping pattern, but work the decreases as follows at the same time. You will get to the point where you will need to change to the double pointed needles.

Row 1: K1, (k2tog, k4) repeat to end.

Row 2: K all.

Row 3: K1, (k2tog, k3) repeat to end.

Row 4: K all.

Row 5: K1, (k2tog, k2) repeat to end.

Row 6: K all.

Row 7: K1, (k2tog, k1) repeat to end.

Row 8: K all.

Row 9: K2tog to end.

Cut yarn, thread through all loops left on needles, cinch hole closed, weave in all ends.

Scarf

Carry the yarn up the side of your work so you will not have to, like the hat, weave in a billion ends.

With MC; CO 24 Sts using a cable cast on, works as 1st row of striping pattern.

Row 2: (K1, P1) repeat to end.

Row 3: With CC, (K1, P1) repeat to end.

Row 4: Repeat row 2.

Row 5: Change to MC, (K1, P1) repeat to end.

Row 6: Repeat row 5.

Repeat rows 3-6 until desired length is met or you run out of yarn.

BO all stitches.

If it is a short scarf, use a fancy broach to fasten it around your neck. 

Creative Commons by Kristin Roach 2009, Some Rights Reserved, Non-commercial.

{This pattern was first released on CraftLeftovers.com in the winter of 2007}

November is all about entertaining, having fun with friends, and some good fall just about winter crafting, oh and a great selection of christmas gifts to make and give. This month’s kit is in the spirit of entertaining. Enough cute fabric + the pattern to make your own fabric napkins! And in the zine there is a great pattern for crochet napkin rings. You will be all set!

This is a listing for the November zine plus kit bundle, only on sale until the 20th of October. All orders will be sent out on the 24th. 

Get the November Kit+Zine Bundle (Etsy) (Artfire – no account needed)

Get the November issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly (Etsy) (Artfire – no account needed)

Craft Leftovers Monthly is great Handmade Craft Zine filled with projects, recipes, tips, stories, puzzles, and ridiculous illustrated nonsense just for the fun of it. 24+ pages of crafty goodness in this great handmade craft zine! Printed on partially recycled paper, all original art work, projects, and recipes.

Each subscriber’s package is unique because it is made up of reclaimed leftovers and random, stashy goodies and therefore a few of each kind only.

Starting next month there will be subscriptions available again. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been cooking up.

I do a lot of paint related things – stamping, collaging, illustrating, and painting. And really paints shouldn’t be kept more than 6 months to a year. They will start to separate and dry out over time. Every time I buy paint for a project, I’m faced with leftover paint to use up before it dries out – particularly with acrylic and water based craft paints. I was so happy when Mallie from DecoArt paints emailed me about their new set of tutorials on About.com and said I should feel free to share them with you! Last year I painted a pumpkin for the first time and it faded pretty quickly. Thanks to this tutorial, I now know how to clean and prepare my pumpkin for painting and have some new ideas for decorating it! You can get quite a few more ideas on pumpkin painting on their About.com Pumpkin Painting Idea Center too. 

Cleaning and preparing your pumpkins

Choose pumpkins that don’t have any blemishes. (They might rot.)

If the pumpkin is a little dirty, wipe off with a baby wipe or damp paper towel. Let it air dry or wipe it dry with paper towels. Either way, it needs to be completely dry. If the pumpkin is muddy, rinse it off with a garden hose. Scrub gently so that you don’t bruise or puncture the skin. Let it dry.

 Paint the whole pumpkin with Multi-Purpose Sealer (figure 1). Let dry; usually it takes a couple of hours to dry completely. Another option is to mist pumpkins with a light coat of Americana Matte Spray Sealer and set aside to dry.

General tips for painting your pumpkin

 Draw a face, pattern, or freehand design onto your sealed pumpkin with a permanent marker (figure 2).

 Use pattern templates, foam or adhesive stencils, or foam stamps to paint designs onto your pumpkin (figure 3).

 Trace and gently transfer a computer font or clipart printouts or patterns onto your pumpkin using transfer paper and a pencil. Simply apply the graphite side of the transfer paper onto your pumpkin and place the image you want to trace on top. Use a pencil to trace the design and reveal (figure 4).

Use masking tape to create stripes or squares on your pumpkin for perfect lines and shapes.

 If you plan on using DecoArt Craft Twinkles or Craft Twinkles Writers, make the sparkles pop by applying an undercoat to the area of a similar color before applying the Twinkles (figure 5).

 Adults should spray finished pumpkins outside or in a well-ventilated area with Americana Matte Spray Sealer (figure 6). Lay down a piece of newspaper or paper before spraying to catch excess. To make a customized spray booth, cut off the top and one side off a large cardboard box and spray your pumpkin inside. This will prevent overspray and will keep fumes and spray in one place.

Always have wet wipes available to clean your hands or to wipe off any painting mistakes.

Fun ideas to try

 Use a low-temp glue gun to add additional embellishments or accents to your painted pumpkin. Use yarn, raffia, or corn hucks for hair, and Styrofoam balls for eyes. Also try accents such as artificial leaves, chenille stems, pom pons, beads, sequins, scarves, and hats to create a one-of-a-kind pumpkin. You can also embed small objects such as sequins, rhinestones, or buttons using DecoArt’s Foam Paint (figure 8).

 Give a sparkling sheen to your finished pumpkin by sprinkling Glamour Dust on it while paint is wet (figure 9).

 Create a non-traditional looking pumpkin by painting wacky shapes, stripes, and polka dots. Use a pouncer brush to make perfect polka dots (figure 10). Dip the pouncer in paint, dab off excess, and pounce onto surface.

Combine pumpkin carving and painting techniques for a truly original pumpkin design.

Pumpkins don’t always grow perfectly. If a pumpkin will sit better on its side, see if you can use the stem as part of the face. (As a witch’s nose, for example.) Study the shape. You may come up with a funny monster, puppy dog, alien, or bug.

 Easily personalize your pumpkin with your name or giant initial for a fun touch. Transfer a computer letter font using transfer paper and pencil onto your pumpkin (figure 11).

 Use Craft Foam to add easy, 3-dimensional effects to your pumpkins like wings, ears, hands, crowns, etc (figure 12).

 Add decorative painting techniques and strokework to create elegant and stylish scrollwork pumpkins (figure 13).

Just two more days to get an October Craft Leftovers Monthly zine+kit bundle! And just 5 left! Once 5 more are sold the zine+kit bundles will be removed from the shop. I can’t handle more than 50 going out :) Thank you everyone for another amazing month!

Today I finished up the last project so I could photograph it.  I had so much fun! I harvested a ton of herbs and made a wreath! It’s beautiful and decorative and once dried and crappy and deteriorated, can be taken apart, crushed, and put into jars. My friend Sarah and I had a great time swapping herbs (we each had things in our garden that the other didn’t so we divided and conquered the herb pile, check it out:

October is such a great month to write a zine for – fall here, a touch of halloween, and the last bit of running around outside. Learn about halloweens past, my mom’s adventure making costumes for me and my sister, folk lore, fairy houses, paper leaf garlands, and even stamp projects using out door found objects! And more. Of course more! 

October Craft Leftovers Monthly {artfire; etsy}

October Zine + Kit Bundle {artfire; etsy}

2 Months of Zine + Kit Bundle starting with the October issue {artfire; etsy}

This month’s kit is so fun! Bringing the Outdoors in with Weaving! It’s a mini book about weaving with the outdoors + yarn + warp + mat board to weave on.

See you all on Monday!

Kristin

There are certain things about every month that I love, but I look forward to October more than any I think. Getting fresh apple cider, apples, gourds and squash, honey, jams, apple butter, oh the apple butter from local orchards is always a high point. It’s all so delicious and inspiring. The colors, tastes, and smells. The cool weather moving all of us Read more →