Craft Attack May 2010: Tara's Package from Susan!

I got a package in the mail a few days ago, and I finally had a chance to open it. My inspiring loot for May is pictured above:

- About a yard of satiny aqua-blue fabric

- Two ribbons: one pink and one gold and white

- 30 pewter-look buttons

- A package of pink feathers (from Shifra)

Now I just need to figure out what to make!

Pre-Attack Intro post..

Alright, so technically, this is not a craft-attack-swap post, BUT I have been urged to share these nonetheless. So consider this a little introduction to tide you over to the final, attacked product. And I do mean attacked.

For St. Patrick's Day this year, I made a little hat/hairpiece and a pin to wear to school. My little cherubs also got to make their own versions. Here are mine:

Also, While I'm here, I'll include this other picture of some hair flowers I've made recently. One is (obviously?) made of zippers, with the zipper pulls still attached, like leaves. The other two are leftover edge from some curtains I just hung in the basement. reusing is so green. :)

Stay tuned! I'll figure out what to do with my bundle of craftiness! I really will!

I love paint SO MUCH.

I love paint a LOT. I bought wayyyyy too much of it for this project. (Therefore, technically not a *swap* activity. But it's crafty, right!??!)

Two of my roommates moved out, and I get to move into their (bigger) room. (Swapping rooms = a swap.) And because I didn't care to feel like a baby boy in a baby boy room, I decided I really, really had to paint the gungy periwinkle walls. You can see where all the pictures have been in the entire life of this paint job. And the paint is entirely matte. MATTE. Ick. Plus, I am of the opinion, I realize, that you don't feel like you live in a room, if it's a color that you wouldn't actually wear on your body. I mean, I just look terrible in periwinkle.

Here's a before pic, complete with yards and yards and yards of blue tape. This is over 60 yards of painters' tape -- I used an entire roll and then some. This room has FOUR WINDOWS and a closet in addition to the door -- and crown molding and baseboards. That's a lot of edges.

I even managed to find the original paint can for this paint job, and it took me about five minutes to pop it open because it was Rusted Shut. I couldn't remember whether my roommates painted it that color when we moved in, which is clearly not true. And indeed, the label on the original can entirely proves my theory that it was a baby boy's room.

Oh little Harrison . . . how old are you now? You HAVE to be at least five . . . that's how long we've lived here. Maybe you're in high school by now . . . definitely time to paint!

I triple-plastic-dropclothed the hardwood floors and THEN laid down paper bags and THEN made a paint station in the middle of that. No risk-taking. (Note the five million cans of paint? Yeah, I overbought. But, the three colors I picked I could live inside forever, so I guess I'll just paint everything those colors forever for the rest of my life. ;o)

My vision: to do a sort of swirly glaze paint job in kind of ocean colors, using the periwinkle as a base coat. In a sort of eggshell finish, and so you can see the color depth = entirely the opposite of the flat, flat periwinkle walls. So I picked a GREAT color called "Deep Blue Sea" as the sort of basic topcoat, and then a dark dark blue and a dark dark purple as additional accent/mixing colors, just in case.

I get to, therefore, paint with my hands and sponges a lot. Because I totally love paint.

Here's coat number one! It's a little patchy, but when I glimpse it from down the hall as I'm eating lunch, I go "EEEEeeeeeeeeprettty!" Which I'm taking as a good sign. I don't know how many more passes I'm going to do . . . stay tuned!

Puppets!

Back before Christmas, long, long ago, Mandy sent me a copy of a puppet pattern she had made (a la Marcel and Ponchetrain, for Great Puppet Musical fans). After looking at it many times, I finally sat down yesterday and brought him to life.

I arrayed my collection of fabrics across the living room floor (some might describe them as "strewn," but that might be a bit judgemental) and siezed upon a horriffic dollar-store metallic-gold sweater and some white fleece. A bit of charcoal gray felt (left over from an adventure in Battle of Hastings helmets ... long story) became his mouth, two sets of miraculously matching buttons, sewn on with blue thread, were his eyes, and in no time at all, he looked like this:

I'm thinking of adding some frayed sweater bits for hair, but I don't know if he needs it ... if I do, though, I'll post an update here.

Swap Numbah One: the Materials

I am a terrible procrastinator!

But anyways. Here are the photos of the First Package, which I got from Tara!

The Cuuute Outside. Note the use of Adorable Markers from the package I sent *her.* Well played, McDonough.


Inside: Some Buttons. In a Clever Post-It Envelope.

A Rrroll of Rrred Rrrred Rrribbon (you have to say it with the R's Rrrrrolled). 1/8" wide.

A pile of assorted fabric triangles: some blue polyester mesh-ish stuff, some yellow polyester of the same kind, and some cotton triangles of . . .

THIS adorable bug fabric which Tara also sent me about a 1/4 yard of.

(Not bad for some cellphone pictures, eh? Thanks, Palm Pixi!)

Let the crafting begin! ;o)

The First Post

Resolved: that we wish to be more craftily inspired in this New Year 2010, and
Resolved: that we wish to use up some of these darn craft supplies, and
Resolved: that we wish to, instead of thinking up things to do for the above, let our friends inspire us with arbitrary Materials and Deadlines,

. . . we hereby establish this blog, community, and institution:

Look out!

It's a CRAFT ATTACK!