Tiny Weaving Ornaments

Every year I make a series of ornaments that I mostly give away to friends and family. This year I made many more than I needed (weaving is a little addicting) and I’ve put some of them up in my etsy shop for sale. I would order soon to be sure they arrive before Christmas.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about making these weavings is how deceptively simple and rustic they are. They hang from twigs collected from my walks and include a piece of string to hang from a tree or the wall.

Cool Craft Kits

One of my favorite things to look for on Etsy are craft kits. Just about any kind of craft you’re interested in, but don’t know where to start has a kit put together by another maker. I like them much better than the kits you find at art stores. Mostly those kits are geared towards kids and have shoddy supplies. These kits are for the most part put together from whatever supplies that maker would want to use. Plus you get their first hand knowledge in a project or two with it.

This screen printing kit is actually in my etsy shop. A lot of the free stencils I offer on my blog work well with it too.

This Frame Loom Weaving Kit from Hello Chiqui is an amazing starter kit. It comes with everything you need, and each piece is made beautifully.

If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at the urban homesteading skill of soap making, this Cold Process Soap Kit from Wild Herb Soap Co looks great.

The Embroidered Doll Kits from Kiriki Press are adorable and would be a great way to practice your embroidery.

JPants has so many terrarium supplies, but my favorite are the complete kits. Everything is packaged beautifully and comes with tiny amounts of everything you need. This Desktop Terrarium Kit looks really fun.

All photos in this post belong to their respective and linked owners, except the first, which belongs to me.

Division Street Fair

You’re probably wondering what happened to me last week. Or not. Either way.

I ran out of my prepared blog posts and thought maybe I’d have a chance to make some things and post some things, but frankly I am swamped! I’ve had big, huge, life changing, crafting events two weeks apart all summer. How amazing for me, right? Also I’m a bit on the exhausted side. I’m super, super lucky that I have some amazing friends who have been more than supportive while I suffer these growing pains.

I’ve got some great photos from the Division Street Fair, which was pretty hot and a lot of fun. But first, news!

My etsy store is open! It only has 4 things in it, but more to come. So go check it out and tell your friends! You can see a link to it on the sidebar too. In case you need to find it again.

Renegade Portland is coming to town August 9th & 10th and I’m doing free Mini Pinata Workshops all day(s) long at it. For anyone unfamiliar with Renegade, it’s an awesome craft fair with amazing vendors and cool happenings. It’s got a little different flavor than the local Crafty Wonderland. And this is the first year it’s in Portland.

Thanks to everyone that I met and talked to me at the Street Fair. I loved seeing how people interact with my products and I got some great feedback that I needed.

While I was actually pretty good and got most of my prep work done in advance, I did end up making my sign at 10:30 the night before when inspiration finally struck.

There was a parade!

There was much more than this one band, but I was too busy to leave my booth to get any photos except for a few shots of these guys. That rolling drum set was amazing.

The Birthday Party In a Boxes were a big hit. People were absolutely fascinated by them, although I think most people were at first confused by the concept. This kid negotiated with me so he could buy one with his allowance.

Hope to see more friendly faces at Renegade this weekend. I’ll have more kits and patterns available for purchase as well as the free pinata making.

Portland: It doesn’t rain a lot, it just rains often.

I titled my post after a button I saw on etsy. It was this saying that I tried to convey to my mom when she was here caught in yet another rain storm. “It’s not usually like this,” I tried to say. But when Portland has such a reputation of rainy weather and then the proof is soaking wet right in front of you, it’s hard to dispute.

I think if you choose to live here, as so many of us moved here from elsewhere, you resign yourself to at least some wet weather. And I like to think that I’ve come to embrace it. So this post is dedicated to the rain in Portland.

Red Umbrella Watercolor Painting by Michelle Maule on Etsy

Cloud and Rain Felt Garland from Oh My Deer Love on Etsy

Turquoise Rain Romance Giclee Canvas Print from AmberElizabethArt on Etsy

Rain Drop Polaroid Print by Instant Analog on Etsy

Handmade Christmas Stockings

J & I gifted each other our Christmas stockings many years ago. So mine is purple velvet and his is this floppy hand-sewn red/red and white stars deal. They are both ridiculous and wonderful in their own ways. I’ve thought about replacing them with something new that matches and is better made. But I love them still, so at least one more Christmas of them.

But maybe you want to make yourself a new set of stockings? Here are a few tutorials to get you started.

Positively Splendid has a full tutorial and free printable pattern of these simple, straight-forward stockings. You could add lots of details or amazing fabric to really make these your own.

 

I got lost in the maze that is Martha Stewart‘s website looking at all of the options for stockings, not to mention holiday decor. Martha Stewart has tons of great ideas and beautifully styled photos, but the tutorials always seem to be missing all of the little details. So it’s pretty much trial and error working with her patterns. But these look really straight-forward and easy to make. So if you’re up for the adventure, they could be so cute!

 

The Purl Bee is the opposite of Martha Stewart. They’re tutorials are super long and detailed with tons of good pictures showing all the tricky parts. Which is good because this is a pretty intricate tutorial.

 

Last, but not least, I put together a treasury on Etsy of a whole slew of stockings I found. The top half are all patterns for sale (mostly instant downloads) and the bottom half are all stockings for purchase. I love those elf boot ones with the curly toes and I’m super impressed by the appliqued ones. Beautiful work all around!

All of the photos included in this post belong to their respective websites, except the screenshot of the etsy treasury, those images belong to the individual artists listed.