2006: a year to love

Yesterday I braved the boxing week sales to buy a new pair of jeans. I ended up getting this t-shirt from American Eagle, which is craftalicious, on sale, sparkly (aka bedazzled!) and oh-so-wise. "Love the things that make you happy," it says. I think this may well be my New Year's resolution. It's a simple thing, but somehow easy to forget when you get caught up in the stresses of day-to-day life. Craft is one of the things that keeps me grounded, makes me happy and inspires me. Much like my family and friends.

In the spirit of loving the happy-makers, today was fabulous. I slept in, had coffee and crumpets for breakfast and made a mixed cd of fun music, which became my soundtrack for the day. In preparation for tonight's NYE celebrations, I made kahlua & chocolate chip cookies, bought wine and made buttons for the party hosts. My day was going so well, I wondered how it could get any better. With pom poms, of course!

I haven't made pom poms since I was about ten years old, but there was an article about pom poms in this month's Bust that caught my eye. At first, I was going to make a pom pom necklace, but part way through I realized that was a bit too much, so I turned it into a dangly pom pom thing to hang under my lamp.

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope 2006 is full of the things that make you happy. Remember to love and appreciate them - and yourselves, too. Over and out till next year.

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love her or hate her, she can fold a t-shirt better than you

On the plane on the way home from my xmas vacation, I watched a re-run episode of Martha Stewart's show. This was a treat because (a) I don't have cable tv at home, so had not yet seen Martha's new show, and (b) when you watch anything on a little tv on the back of a seat in a plane, anything you watch seems fantastic.

So, on this episode, Martha taught one of the actresses from Desperate Housewives How to Fold a T-Shirt. (Note the authoritative, Martha-Knows-All capitals.) It was pretty great, like fabric origami. Here are the instructions, though you may have to see it to love it. It reminds me of Martha's How to Fold a Fitted Sheet, which I saw her demonstrate on Oprah some time ago, and use to this day. Again, fabric origami - and it just makes you feel good when you're taking your sheets out of the dryer.

Also, now that I'm on a Martha kick, here are the 30 Things Everyone Should Know - according to Martha - in handy PDFs on the Martha Blog (a fan blog run by a guy in Calgary - who knew?) and in video on Martha's site. Curiously, insider stock tips are not among the 30 Things Everyone Should Know. I guess she's revised the list.

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no starving artists here

Comparable to Mark Ryden, but without Abraham Lincoln and the bunnies, Victoria Reynolds paints spectacular portraits of meat. Grotesque and utterly gorgeous.

Her pimento painting, pictured second, reminds me of a baloney rug that I saw online once. It was a circular rug designed to look just like a big slice of baloney.

UPDATE! A link to the meat rugs!

This German company makes a whole deli-counter full of different types of meat rugs out of pure fleece wool: salami, beer ham, mortadella and blood sausage. Thanks for the link, Darrel!

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shake it like a cross-stitch

The good people at Threadymade in the UK are hosting workshops to create portraits in cross-stitch from a Polaroid photo. A few pictures are posted here and a few more are scattered on the events page. So much for instant Polaroid results; this is possibly even more time-consuming than the eye:hand coordination project.

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the eve is nigh

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. And more significantly, my Christmas crafting is coming to an end. I didn't make nearly as many gifts as I'd intended this year, but I'm happy with the few things I accomplished amongst the busyness of everyday life and work.

I spent most of Saturday tying up odds and ends for xmas gifts: in the morning, I turned my living room into Christmas Card Central and wrote like mad - mad in the most Christmassy sense possible, of course. Then, in the afternoon I wrapped, spent some QT at the PO and - brave girl that I am - I even ventured out to buy a couple of last-minute items. On Sunday, I met up with my craft group - lots of new, interesting gals - and got a lot of my very last gift accomplished. I finished it off this evening; I hope the mystery recipient likes it.

Now all I have to do before Christmas is pack for my trip. Oh yeah, and do laundry.

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that snowsuit sound

This weekend I saw something and I wish I had my camera. A bicycle in a winter coat!

Ok, so the bike wasn't actually wearing a winter coat. But there was a bike, locked up and waiting on the sidewalk, wearing little sleeves from a winter coat on its handlebars. A puffy winter coat, like the kind that you wear when you're little and it comes with matching snowpants. The mini-sleeves were attached to the handles with the wrist-sections fastened to the handlebars and the sleeve-openings pointing toward where your arms would be when you're riding. Like, someone had cut off the cuffs from their coat and left them there, outside, with the bike. And when they hopped on their bike again, their hands would be toasty warm, because their bike is also wearing a coat.

Is this a completely normal, established product in the biking world that I am simply unaware of? I tried googling "bike winter coat," "bicycle cuffs", "bike hand warmers," "snowsuit for your bike" and other such things - but to no avail.

In any case, it was insanely cute and taught me (again) to always bring my camera with me. Constant vigilance!

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pratical / impratical

Israeli designer Alon Eliezer Meron creates some fantastic furinture using the things that the furniture "uses". Meaning, the tableware on the table is part of the table, acting structurally as the tabletop or as hinges. According to Alon, the Lucid table, where bowls and cups and trapped inside the table itself, "is a result of a study of the triangular relationship; man-table-vessels".

The Pot Table uses a cooking pot as a central hinge; the Spine Table use cups as "vertebrae" to hold the two halves of the table together.

I also love the Padlock Hanger, which is clever clever clever.

[Link via mocoloco.]

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fish flap and reindeer fly

Keisuke Saka designs some amazing paper toys - and they move!

My favourite is the Doomed Fish. Click on that link to see the poor fish flap around on the tabletop. Kind of sadistic, but somehow very funny.

For something more seasonal, here's a free download of a reindeer warming up for the big night. Again, click that link for an adorable animation. Go reindeer go!

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no two alike

Cut out your own virtual paper snowflake at Snowdays.

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a good hangover project

Design Within Reach is hosting their 3rd annual Champagne Chair contest. Save popped corks from your New Year's Eve bash and enter your miniature chair creation made from only the cork, wire and foil (no glass) from no more than two champagne bottles. Win $2000 at DWR plus fame and maybe even a tour!

See the finalists for 2004 here, plus more fantastic past entries here and here.

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musicians listen to music, too

Devendra Banhart loves Vashti Bunyan and Vashti Bunyan loves Devendra Banhart.

See who other musicians list as their top musical picks for 2005.

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you need this

Hurry hurry - José González's cover of "Hand on Your Heart" is available for download via the wonderful Said The Gramophone. Go go go.

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eye vs ear

The trailer for Sophia Copolla's Marie Antoinette movie is fantastic, mostly because it reminds you how pre-formed your expectations are for movies and especially for trailers. (For instance, does anyone know the name of that one guy who seems to do voice-overs for 99% of Hollywood movies?) It's so strange to see a period piece movie set to a contemporary score: in this case, the 18th century French court rockin to New Order. I wonder if the whole movie will be like that - and if that would be sustainable for two hours.

I realize I may be doing exactly what the film's marketeers intended - luring in that key demographic of hipster fans of Lost in Translation and Virgin Suicides; Copolla fans who would usually zone out for any period piece - but hey, Sophia, it's working. My ears perked right up.

P.S. Here at M&C, we are apparently psychicly linked, because I was just about to post this trailer. I have watched it four times myself and have been showing it to everyone I can. "Age of Consent" is my new favourite song - it's great for dancing. The font/lettering for the movie title is my favourite - hot pink! Did you know that Marie Antoinette was only 14 years old when she took the throne? Too bad this one's almost a year away.

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last minute gift ideas

• Make a 1950's star for your wall.

• Make a knitty kitty.

• Make a gingerbread PC. (Some Swedish required.)

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punks afraid of commitment

Are you umming and awwing about getting a tattoo? Concerned about what your future grandchildren will think? Can't decide between getting a pile of skulls or a stream full of Japanese koi?

Worry no more. Wild Rose sells tattoo shirts and stockings so you can test out tatts, commitment-free.

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bikers love paper crafts

Yamaha now makes motorcyles out of paper. Rather, they want you to.

Check out the amazingly complex paper crafts on the Yamaha site. You can download, print, and fold everything from motorcycles to Japan’s largest owl.

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boys who knit are hot

Hot in the media, anyway.

(Ok, and just hot, too.)

This month, Bust has a four-page article all about men who are coming out of the knitting closet. (My favourite line: "It always seems like people are surprised boys are going anywhere near a set of needles and not stabbing someone with them.")

Vogue Knitting's current Knit.1 magazine is "the men's issue" and contains somewhat sassy photos of boys with wool, like the one here. (PS. Here's the pattern for the "bear skin rug" he's strewn all over.)

Also read David Demchuk's article on Knitty.com about what it's like to be the only boy in a knitting group.

Some links from the Bust article and beyond:

David Demchuk's Kit like a Man blog
Men Who Knit
Colorado Knits blog
Fibre Alive blog
Queer Joe's blog
Men Who Knit webring
Crochet for Men weekly podcast

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seeing the light

"Excuse me," says this lady to the man standing in front of her in line at Home Depot, "would you mind if I went in front of you? It's an EMERGENCY."

I looked over, expecting her to be buying supplies to repair an exploded water main or a crumbling roof. Instead, she's carrying two ceiling-mount track lights and a quasi-chandelier... What kind of emergency can she possibly have? "Oh no, suddenly it's too dark!"... "Dear god, my lighting fixtures are out of fashion!"... Maybe she thought she was Trading Spaces and had to get her home renovations done within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the guy in front of me in line bought $132.38 worth of lightbulbs.

Maybe they know something that I don't.

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Simone Lia & Tom Gauld

I like Simone's work. I like her book Both, done with her partner (work? life? dunno) Tom Gauld - I really like his stuff.

"Gauld and Lia met at the Royal College of Art and have together published First and Second (published together here as Both) under the name of Cabanon Press."

I laughed a lot while reading Both.

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i scream, the end

They say that good things come in threes. Well, in this case, bad things came in threes - and good finally dragged its sorry self out of bed for four.

Yesterday I had a stressful day at work, then came home to no internet connection and a cranky sewing machine. After wrestling with the tension (both mine and the machine's) for a while, I gave up and watched Martha Stewart, The Apprentice instead. It's hilarious that on Trump's Apprentice he gives amazing rewards to the winning team - fancy dinners, exclusive events and the like - whereas Martha's big reward is going horseback riding and playing scrabble with her on her porch. And boy, was Martha ever pysched about playing scrabble.

Anyway, today went much better. I discovered my sewing machine does not like T1 thread, but T4 (which I was using beforehand) is OK, so I just changed the plan and used that instead. Now I have a happy little stack of cards. Christmas won't be cancelled after all.

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i scream, part two

Day Two of making my Christmas cards was relatively uneventful. How smoothly things go when you don't have to assemble yout gear from scratch and improvise for power tools! I printed my second layer lickety split, without even ripping the stencil this time as I used a heavier paper stock (genius!). The paint dried so fast that I even did some sewing on the cards and wrote out the envelopes! Throughout, I listened to the fantastic CD that Lindsay, my fellow magpie&caker, just sent me in the mail. A great soundtrack goes a long way.

Tomorrow: Final sewing touches and... actually writing the cards!

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i scream for silkscreen

This weekend I had planned to make all my Christmas gifts. I would dream up ingenious plans for each of my unique and brilliant friends, and craft away with a song in my heart until Sunday evening, when, lo and behold, I would be all ready for Christmas. Heck, there might even be time to make gingerbread cookies for the gals at the office.

Evidently, this did not happen. I did nothing crafty nor Christmassy all weekend. And to top it off it, on Sunday evening my mum reminded me that I haven't sent Christmas cards out yet. Which means I haven't made Christmas cards yet. Gah! New priority.

So tonight at 8:30pm, I decided to start silkscreening. For the first time in 13 months. Here's what I learned from my crash course back into the craft:

1) Preparation is key. When I took a silkscreen course last fall, this was my teacher's mantra. Did I follow this essential guiding rule? No. But did I wish I had? Several times? Yes. Nothing went horribly wrong; it was more a case of "Hey, where's the...? Oh yeah, I didn't prepare that yet..."

2) Get your gear ready to rock. This is much like Lesson One, but here I'm referring to me not having screwed the hinges onto my board yet, and then not having a drill, and then using a nail and three sizes of screws to make up for the lack of a drill. Oh McGyver would've been proud.

3) Paper stencils stick to paint. And tear. But only blue paint at 10:30pm.

4) The pantry makes an excellent drying rack for papers. Yet another reason to love the pantry.

5) Check what colour the bathtub is before you rinse out the screen. After I cleaned up, it looked a little green around the edges. I scrubbed away (and won!), but in the end, I'm pretty sure it was not my permanent fabric ink staining the tub, but instead my roommate's green soap. Eww.

Tomorrow: Phase Two!

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Love, love me do

Piotr Nathan, a painter from Berlin (via Poland), just had a show in town and, as is wont to happen, I only found out about it the day after it closed. However, I saw this lovely painting of his, made all the lovelier by having my name written all over it! It's a little hard to see here, but it says "Love Siobhan" many times on the bottom half of the canvas. Apparently, the words were taken from a letter written to him by a friend. But you may interpret it as you will.

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slippers... made of sock monkeys

Sock monkey slippers. Need I say more? No.

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the advent of the season

It's December 3rd, which means only 21 days until Christmas. But perhaps more significantly, it means we're 3 days into advent.

My friend Annie and I go way back with advent. In the Glory Years, we created an elaborate advent ritual including candles, crowns, songs (in ASL no less), our nextdoor neighbour and, of course, the advent calendars. Note the plural.

Now we're separated by literally 5,000 miles, so I sent Annie this advent calendar. Partway through making it, I realized that sending a delicate 3-D paper object from Vancouver to Boston may not have been the wisest choice. Surprisingly, however, it arrived intact. A true advent miracle!

The advent tree is made of paper, tape, glue and buttons. You pull out a numbered button every day to read a hilarious Christmas joke. Hilarious, I tell you.

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