Monthly Archives: February 2008

I am getting a new roommate soon. She is arriving from the Phillipines. I will soon write about the why and how of this as it is HUGE! I have everything she needs and today decided to go look for a coat. She is after all someone who has never lived in the cold. I found her a beautiful designer winter trench coat, it’s green. Hopefully it’s not too big.

Again I found a myriad of odd things but no sweaters this week.

Pink suede jacket (to recycle)
In the same tone as the blue suede pants. It could make a cool combination.

Green 70’s cookie jar
With animals around the side. Marked JAPAN. I used to have a cookie jar shaped like a mushroom but gifted is as a joke housewarming present.

The Encyclopedia of decorating, Tome II (French – Marabout)
Small paperback with cute deco info from 1964.

Craft magazines and patterns from the 70’s (LOTS)
There are some absolute gems in there including instructions for a macrame top, awesome cable sweater patterns, cute cross-stich alphabets, vintage baby wear, so very 80’s sweater patterns and the list goes on. From 1977 to the early 80’s including a Phildar Winter Book, 100 idées from France and Family Circle Craft Issue. There are no more craft magazines at the thrift store, I took them all. Next time I attack the craft books.

A pink Phentex slipper making kit with pattern and crochet hook.
Too cheesy to resist. I’ve never used Phentex before, I’m curious to see what it can do. The pink is perfect. My idea right now is to crochet flowers along a long chain line and make a super kitsch curtain. I have matching beads!

Knife block that is 1mm too small for my cleaver (to re-gift)

2 sake cups (for my Japanese errr… china collection in tones of brown and blue)

A WPRDJ radio toy from Wild Planet that transmit to the regular radio and has laughter and other sound effects buttons. Had a Louis Armstrong cassette in it. Fun but needs to be so close to the receptor to work. I found a hack page for it!

A vintage metallic thread sewing on card kit (Sew Design)
Barely used and in mint condition. Who wants some shiny owls on black cards?

Various conveniently shaped tins and baskets for storage.

A vintage trivet shaped like an orange
I spent many winters in Florida as a child and yearn for kitschy cheery Florida souvenirs.

Single sized white cotton blanket. Those cool thick cotton blankets that are textured. If it’s in pristine condition, I buy! I had one over my outdoor couch last year but the sun made it go yellow. Perhaps I will attempt to dye it some crazy funky color.

There must be other things but I can’t remember them right now. All this for 7$. I know, weird but I will not argue. I brought a huge thing of big heavy duty shopping bags, they always run out.

Is this a totally crazy idea? I will soon put some crochet flower stickers in my Etsy store Petitcoeur. Yes your eyes are not deceiving you, these are actual crochet stickers made with Alpaca yarn. Each is about an inch wide, some are smaller. They are all different.

Yes, I know, I make really random stuff! But I really want your opinion. They should retail at about 10$ for 5 and come with a package of random ephemera as a bonus.

UPDATED: I posted the flowers. I will make more this weekend. I have been playing with them and they can be used as appliqués, made into earrings and so much more. I am trying to get my urgent work done so I can have myself a Crafty Thursday and renew my set of gifts with Etsy order. I love making surprise bags and now I even have a printer to identify everything neatly. I have enough stash to make 1000 things for my store but not the time. I sign on a few clients to my Friendly Webmaster service each week and they all have pressing issues to fix and websites to launch. Oh and I also have to work on MY website!

I have been putting a part of my revenues in Kiva.org. This month it kind of equals 17% which is more than what I told myself I would put in (10%) but I like it as a savings account. Some people are investing their toddler’s College fund in Kiva which I think it is a great idea.Let’s say you want to put 75,000$ away for college and say you put 1/3 of it in Kiva.org and grow the rest with interest in a traditional REEE-type account. Those 25,000$ can be returned annually into Kiva.org loans and help thousands of entrepreneurs over the course of 15-17 years. Be aware that there is a very small default rate so your funds are not 100% guaranteed.

My daughter already has two REEE (college savings accounts in Quebec), one from her dad and one from my dad. When she is ready for higher education she can certainly choose from ALL possible programs and schools. While I can’t contribute to them myself I can create for her a Kiva.org portfolio in the hopes that she will soon be able to manage it herself (Choose who gets the new and reimbursed funds.) I think that it will teach her to value money as something that can do more good when put towards a loan rather than a toy or candy.

Kiva.org allows you to read the business info of people applying for a loan. Loans rarely take more than a few days to be funded. The typical loan is about 70$ which can fund individuals or groups of 5 people. Most loans go to women’s businesses. You can contribute in small or large sums, the average contribution is 25$. You get an almost real-time account of the fund raising process, payments and follow-up.

Of course I have another ulterior motive!

Through Kiva.org I would also like to make contacts in Cambodia and Thailand (and to a lesser extent Southern Africa) with woman who own small craft business and sell clothing or accessories either to import their goods or send them second-hand or surplus clothing and shoes to sell (a popular business model in Africa.) I also want to visit in the near future.

Project: Recycled Coca-Cola Valentines.

Time: ***
Skill ***
Aggravation ***

You’ll need:

• Cardboard box from your favorite food, ideally red. I am using Coca-Cola slim 12-pack boxes.
• Cardboard to make heart template.
• Fiskar hole puncher, the small one.
  
• Twine or Hemp cord. You could also use yarn.
  
• 4-6mm beads. I am using Indian metal beads recycled from a necklace and left over red beads.
• Sturdy and sharp scissors

Lets make lots of little hearts.

Step 1: Make your heart template.

You will need a cardboard template of one heart. Your heart should be at least 3.5 inches wide. It must be perfectly even as pieces are placed back-to-back.

Step 2: Undo you cardboard box and lay it flat.

Step 3: Trace hearts on the back.

You can either trace as many hearts as possible or strategically place them to catch the box design you want. Each finished heart requires two pieces so use as much of it as possible even the bit with the nutritional data.

Step 3: Cut out your hearts.

Step 4: Match fronts and backs together.

Choose you best half (will become fronts) and match with a backing.

Step 5: Punch holes.

Holding both pieces together with good sides facing out punch holes all around the edge. I use a small Fiskar single hole puncher. If you are using a spring loaded or hammer punch, tape or glue the two pieces together before starting.

Step 6: String

Cut a long piece of cord (18 inches) and insert it in the top hole where the two circles meet. Leave about 7 inches of cord behind, this will become your hanging loop. Thread all holes creating a blanket stitch.

Step 7: Tie and bead

Create a loop with the cord you left behind and tie it to what remains of the threading cord. Make a very tight knot. Thread beads on one of the cords tie a knot and cut the other one.

There are many ways to modify this project.

I hope you upload your creations to Flickr or Etsy 🙂

Project: Creating a Cross Stitch Pattern from a .ICO file

Time
Skill
Aggravation

You’ll need:

• Aida cloth remnant larger than 32×32
• Embroidery thread to match your design
• Embroidery needle
• Printer
• Icon Edit
  
• Snagit

Back in September I realized that I could take any windows icon and make a cross stitch chart out of it. I figured a 32×32 square wouldn’t be too daunting for me. This became my Christmas gift to Marie-Tangerine’s dad. I have always loved this “Shocked Cartman” icon from an Icon Factory set published in 1998.

Here is an early picture of the work with the printed pattern.

In this tutorial I give you the quickest route from a to b, however if you are technically saavy you can probably use other software to achieve the same results.

1. You can use Icon Factory to capture the icon you want on the Web or simply save the .ico file and open it in the program.

2. Now you have a conveniently seperated pixelized image. But it’s a bit small. Capture the display area using Snagit or [Prt Scr]. Paste into an image editor and blow up 200%. The cleanest way to do this is in Snagit by zooming the catured area and re-capturing the results.

3. You an print this page as is or import it into an image editing software to create a color key. For Cartman I re-created a box of each color on the side and wrote which DMC thread matched the color. I highly recommend that you match your floss colors ON SCREEN rather than on the printed paper.

Print out the results (stitching-cartman.pdf) and voilà, you are ready to stitch.

These small squares are perfect for tree ornaments, biscornu designs and badges.

This is a knit and crochet bracelet made for Marie-Tangerine. I am currently making a head band in the same style. Made yesterday while traveling to and waiting for Hannah Montana in3D. Now available in 3 sizes in my Etsy store.

Marie-Tangerine and I had fun yesterday and we even got haircuts. My hair is 10 inches shorter and hers is now layered and just below the shoulders. She loves it! It was her first time getting a big girl haircut. I think she is too old for the kiddie salon and it’s not like they do a good job anyway !