Super Stash

I've been doing a bit of yarn sorting lately. Kind of like a Spring Cleaning for crafty people, but more like an excuse to pile all my yarn on the table and gaze at it lovingly.

Despite what you may assume from the pictures, my stash is a lot smaller than I thought it was. I got rid of a lot of stuff before we moved, so I'm really just down to the "good stuff." The wools. The pretties. There's not too much junk acrylic to be seen.

It's kind of a thrill to have all my yarn out in the open. I feel like I should just start at one end of the table and knit/crochet my way to the other end. Like a glorious fiber buffet.

In my sorting, I even updated my Ravelry Stash for super easy viewing. It makes planning projects a breeze, since I get almost all my patterns from Ravelry anyways. All my info is right there! Weight, yardage, dyelot...all ready to be paired up with patterns, hooks, and needles and whisked off into Projectland.

How do you tame your stash?

DIY: Make Your Own Buttons with Sculpey or Shrinky Dinks!

You can make your own buttons??  You heard me right! Trust me, I was just as excited as you are when I made the realization that yes, indeed, you can make your own buttons to adorn whatever project you choose. Think of the possibilities!! You just need a few simple supplies and an oven. Easy peasey. You'll be a button-makin' machine before you can say "whose got the button"!

Buttonbuttonbutton. Don't think I've said 'button' enough yet. Button.

Two weeks ago, my dear friend Becca from Halfway to Hipster came over to hang with me. We had a smashing crafternoon, and I thought I'd share with you all the efforts of our activities! And give you a few instructions so you can jump on the button wagon with us.

You'll need:
-An oven
-Some Sculpey (or other oven-bake clay) in any color you desire (I did white so I can paint them later)
-Some Shrinky Dink plastic
-Sharpies, watercolors, colored pencils, or other art-devices to color on your Shrinky Dinks
-Scissors
-Hole punch
-A toothpick or skewer

Becca got clever and stuck some buttons to a newspaper to lift the ink and get a cool wordy effect

 For Scupley Buttons:
 Pinch off a little nubbin of clay. Work in in your fingers until it gets soft. Form it carefully into a ball, then flatten it onto some wax paper with your thumb. Rub out as many thumbprints as you can (or leave them for a very rustic look) and poke as many holes as you want into your button with a toothpick. Flip the button over and make the holes clean on the other side as well. Follow the direction on the clay package to bake your button, let it cool and admire your work!

You can get really crazy with the size, shape, texture, and hole placement on these buttons. Be wild!

Becca made some cat buttons!!!!

 For Shrinky Dink Buttons:

Trace a circle approximately 2" in diameter. Cut it out , and go nuts with decorating the button. When you are done, punch some holes with your hole puncher (standard size hole punch results in perfect button holes). Bake your Shrinky Dinks according to the directions on your package. I love to act like a small child and sit on the floor of the kitchen to watch them shrink. MAGIC YO.

All my Shrinky Dink buttons I did with watercolors. They turned out so spiffy! I prefer the way they look from the "wrong" (aka, shiny) side of the button once shrunk. So vibrant!

The blue one looks super cool in person, but crappy on my camera

 A quick disclaimer, I have no idea how these buttons stand up in the washing machine. My bet is you should PROBABLY handwash any project you use these on.

Nekkid buttons! Can't wait to paint them.

Are you going to make some buttons??

Watercolor Wanderlust

Here is something I've been doing lately that is not in the normal vein of my crafty outpouring: watercolor painting. It is so relaxing for me, and it's a great creative exercise to get my brain ready for whatever I decide to do next. You know, like knit. Or crochet. Or walk the dog. Like working out your body, it's a good plan to warm up before you work out your creative muscles.

Plus, I feel really fancy with my watercolors all spread on the table. Colors are the most inspiring thing for me, and a box of colors is just the thing to glace at when you get depressed about the fact that it's April and it snowed again last week.

I've had my plastic pallet since high school. My benevolent art teacher preached quality of materials and scorned the dreaded Prang watercolor pallet. We got to use real-deal, from a tube, watercolors in her class. Let me tell you, it makes you feel like a real grown up to use them. Right before I went off to college, she let me load up my pallet with any colors I wanted to take with my to school. A little paint goes a long way!

It has been a few years since then, so some of my colors were beginning to run out. I was lucky enough to score a ton of new tubes of color from a local model/train/hobby shop. They were clearing out their fine arts inventory and all paint tubes were marked down to $2/tube. TWO DOLLARS A TUBE. These Windsor Newton watercolors usually sell for $5-8/tube. What a deal!!

I love Micron pens. So much.

Just for fun. Nothing fancy. Just a little way to push myself to be more creative in different ways than I normally do. An artsy challenge, if you will. I may never be able to push myself to run a mile, but by golly I'll push myself to paint more.