wise craft

the polymer clay cookbook

 

So, Emma, myself, and, pretty much every girl that comes into contact with it is freaking out over The Polymer Clay Cookbook. It is so crazy cute. We've had it for a couple of weeks and its been by Emma's bed for nightly reading ever since (she has a so much homework these days, that's when she gets her leisure reading in, poor girl). The allure of baking clay here at our house is strong. Emma has been playing with it since she was able to hold it in her hands, and over the years, her creations just get more elaborate and detailed. And now this book is taking it all to a whole new level.

We were looking for an easy craft activity for our Girl Scout meeting this week and I was totally inspired by this book. The girls are coming to us straight from classroom Halloween parties and will probably be pretty sugared up, but I am hoping they will love this. We'll be setting up three tables (there will be about 10 girls). At each table, there will be supplies, directions, and a parent to guide them in making a piece of jewelry. The projects I chose were the candy corn earrings (or rings), a tiny cinnamon bun (scented with cinnamon and a mixture of school glue and white paint to create the icing), and a pink cupcake, both of which can be hung from a thin cord necklace I'll have for each girl.

And because it is the responsibility of a good Girl Scout leader to be fully prepared, I felt the need to spend an afternoon testing out each craft and making samples before I let the girls try them.

chocolate cupcake with raspberry frosting and a cherry

my cinnamon roll with a head pin that's ready to be twisted into a loop. And it smells like cinnamon.

Cute????!!!!!

I thought about keeping this book locked away until Emma's birthday, then giving it to her with all new clay and supplies, but I just couldn't wait. (I decided to give her this book instead, with a stack of felt and notions.)

I thought I would post more this week but it just didn't happen that way. I will see you here on Monday though. Till then, happy weekend!

my styling toolkit

I finished my second photo shoot for Value Village today. I'm so excited about these new projects! This set is all for holiday and will be going up on their site soon, I will let you know when.

Its so fun to see everything come together at the shoot and have a professional photograph them. (Armstrong Photography does amazing work and have been so great to work with on these projects.) As a photo stylist for these shoots, I learned quickly how important it is for me to be prepared for anything. The photographer needs to know you've got their back, and that you're on it before they realize that you needed to be on it (well, that's my goal anyway). I realized during the Halloween shoot that in order to be fully prepared, I needed a lot of stuff. This was the real deal. I made a big list, did a little research, and assembled a kit. Which is fantastic, because anybody that knows me knows, I love kit.I thought I'd share this because a have a hunch a few of you out there like kit too, so you would understand my geeky happiness at something like this.

This is a pretty basic photo stylist's kit. There are many versions of a kit like this, depending on what type of shoot its for...clothing, food, etc. Here's what mine contains-

 

a variety of tape (glossy, matte, double stick, gaffer's tape, etc), tape measure, binder clips, tacks, pushpins, and nails, sharpie pens, small needlebook with assortment of handsewing needles and some thread, business cards...

 

several types of scissors (paper, tiny embroidery type, fabric, wire cutters), brushes, safety pins, rubber bands, glue, more tape, matches, fabric tape measure...

(*I love the new fine tip Martha Stewart glue pen. Used it for touch ups several times today and it works great!)

 

foam mounting adhesive squares, adhesive type clay, super glue, lint roller, pins, lint-free cloths, hammer, artists tape, goof off, tacky wax (helps keep round things from rolling around, etc), clear acrylic squares or small things to use as inconspicuous "risers" (to slightly raise items off a table, for ex.) fishing line/monofilament and, my new best friend, a can of compressed air, which absolutely saved me today. There was glitter involved with a couple of the projects I did and, shooting in macro, every single stray piece shows up in the photo. But with compressed air, just zap zap... all gone.

In addition to all this, I bring any paint I for touch ups, the projects themselves and the extra, leftover pieces (because sometimes process shots are needed to help explain how the project is made), any props (candles, plates, food, etc.) For each of these projects I focused around a color palette that I decided on early on, then bought every extra prop with the intention of working within that palette. We are not shooting on location, so if I don't have something, chances are its there in the photography studio somewhere. Shooting on location would require a lot more stuff. But still, my goal is to come prepared.

Everything goes into a tackle-type box with a lift out tray and several compartments to keep things separated. I'm not crazy about my pink box, but I'm also not picky and I figure this will stand out in a mess.

 

This box (like my fabric scissors) is off limits to everyone in our house. Nothing should ever be taken out of it...glue, tape, nothing (Emma!). It gets put away, fully stocked, until the next time I need it.

Making up this box took my back to college, when we were taking our sewing classes and carried our tackle boxes of sewing essentials back and forth to class. Compartmentalized boxes really are great for carrying a lot of smallish things. I was surprised to see many of the folks on Project Runway also carry a tackle box, which made me smile to think that things like that haven't changed much.

the only empty space not filled with glitter around here

Today I spent part of the day being completely geeked out on Martha Stewart's new tinsel glitter. Have you seen this? I love it! I am moonlighting on a new set of projects for Value Village due next week and am now convinced that everything is better with this glitter on it. Everything. Really. Everything. Well, except maybe my floor. 

And my black cords.

I am happy to report that I see an empty white box called Sunday in my little planner (by the way, am I the only one who still carries a planner??). Apparently, we will not have a thing in the world to do but sit around and catch up on relaxing. No soccer. No school tours. No Halloween costumes (done as of today, only one to make this year). Just sitting, watching the newest Project Runway with Emma, board games with Ian, a little planning what the girl scout troop is going to do at our meeting next week. Maybe I can start stitching "Walk in the Woods". I've also got new reading (thank you Jen).

 

Have a great weekend. Wishing you a big white empty space at some point in your weekend...for you to fill up as you wish!

And your reward for listening to me ramble? This! It's as good as tinsel glitter

one more simple halloween idea

I saw a red spray painted wreath in a recent issue of Country Living (which was lovely against a yellow wall and I have misplaced the image I was going to scan in and include with this post). I had all the materials here (leftover orange spray paint, a grapevine wreath) to do a Halloween wreath version to hang on our front porch. Its simple, but I like it and may add some more Halloween out there. Then again, I may just add red spray paint to this next month and call it Fall. I have such a love/hate relationship with Halloween. I know to some kids Halloween is bigger than Christmas, but Emma stays spooked from the minute anyone puts up the first decoration. She really struggles with it. So we keep it low key in our house.

I also wanted to mention that the folks at Red Tricycle have a contest going on for folks in the Seattle, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. You can register to win this tricked out red tricycle here on their site. So cool!

And thanks so much for your encouraging words on my last post. Sounds like a lot of us are going/have gone/thinking about going back to work. I'm really glad I can share our little story here.

Have a great day!

appreciation for the little things

Well, I disappeared from this space last week unexpectedly. I am not surprised. Picture me, making a *lot* of lists, then making another list to prioritize the lists I made. As I sit down at my computer to type this post this morning, I am thankful for the peaceful feeling in the house right now. Because I know that soon enough we will, yet again, hit the ground running later today. One of the big issues on our minds right now is figuring out where Emma will go to middle school. Middle school... Next year... Oh my god... Its coming fast and we're trying to think through our options rationally and realistically. Its taking a lot of my mental energy. Because that's what moms do, devote a lot of mental energy to things like that. At the same time I am spending time with Emma, the fifth grader, cause she's pretty great. We go shopping for cool headbands and cute shoes. We paint our nails. We talk about boys (sometimes, when I can stand it). I cherish little moments like this with her.

And work. I really like my new job. It feels good on many levels. Many have asked for me to give more details. There are lots of proprietary things I don't feel comfortable sharing, but I can certainly talk to the idea of how me working out of the house for the first time in nearly 12 years is affecting myself and our family, because a lot of us struggle with that. The office I work in is a small one, with a lot of good energy every day when I walk in. Its super important for me to feel I'm making a difference in what I do, and to feel good about work. We get things done there, which also feels great. Sort of like I would imagine going back to school might feel to me, the unexpected appreciation for little things that happen there are exciting. I will admit that there are days here and there when me working makes our family life a little more harried, but Peter and I are learning to work together on things like this, and that also is very good. (And I am learning to love my slow cooker, which really requires its own post, "ode to my slow cooker"...) Like the other day when I felt I needed to work a little later and get a package out the door to one of our factories. Peter jumped in, changed gears, and picked the kids up from school. Just like that. Now, of course, me being mom, and knowing things like that don't happen often (if ever) but may happen more, I was curious about what the kids were thinking. I asked Ian "Did you wonder where I was, and were you surprised to see Dad after school?", to which he, very matter of factly, replied "Well, I just said to myself, 'Mom must have had something extra to do at work, that is why Dad is here'." It may sound silly, but I guess I love that he got it and that he was not worried. Emma, being 11 in a few weeks, is of course very excited and intrigued by the fact that I work for a clothing designer, and she often says "your job sounds fun". Ian, being 8, is very intrigued by my descriptions of the sweet dog that hangs out in our warehouse with his owner and greets me at the door and sits on my lap.

I feel like our house has entered a new phase. Each of us is realizing a new role within the family. There will be bumps, big and little. But it feels like we are gaining new appreciation for what each of us contribute to the whole.

Now on to those list(s). Halloween costume to be finished, a new project for Value Village stores that I'm excited about. And, um, cleaning the house. That probably should move up a little higher on the list.

glittering

I don't often need a reason to play on the computer, but the coolest thing popped into my email inbox last week from Martha Stewart. At her site, you can download a photo of your choice and have it "glitterized", which means it is automatically separated into segments of color (kind of like a paint by numbers effect), like this-

You also get a list of suggested Martha Stewart colors to complete your image (and a coupon!).

I'm feeling a Gracie picture for Emma coming on big time-

featured sponsor washwise

If you have dirty clothes (um, yeah), you will want to check out a contest going on over at the WashWise website. WashWise is a water and electricity conservation program in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, as well as in the Portland, Oregon area. Between October 15 - November 15, capture the perfect photo that illustrates why you need a new high-efficiency washer and a year's worth of cold water laundry detergent. If your photo is chose, that's what you win. No kidding, a new washer! You can read the complete rules on their website. Voting takes place between November 16 and November 30, 2009. You do not have to live in Washington or Oregon to win. Correction: You must be in these service areas in order to participate.

random monday thoughts

<>Probably the only drawback of wearing a scarf round my neck is not being able to wear a necklace too. If I could pull off both at the same time in any way that made sense for me I would, believe me. I am a necklace *freak*, have been my whole life. At Emma's age I had a favorite puka shell necklace and collected dozens of fun necklaces that I picked from every day when I dressed for school. I've always preferred short ones, close to the neck, and one of my new favorites is the one above by Susan of Sulu Designs, in Portland. Her jewelry is lovely and thoughtful, and her original intent series is so interesting and beautiful to me. This necklace caught my eye because I love the simplicity of the silver circle with the antiqued silver chain, and it fits right in with my "few, well chosen work wardrobe pieces" mantra I'm chanting these days.

<>Peter and I had a wonderful grown up dinner out with friends on Saturday night at Delancey. What a delicious meal! Molly and Brandon are 2 of the hardest working people I know (I found this video of the restaurant on youtube), and that place was buzzing, with good reason. So glad I finally got to sit down to supper there. I saved half my proscuitto pizza for later and got to enjoy it all over again. The meal was even nicer knowing it was made by friends. If you're in the Seattle area it is well worth a babysitter to fully enjoy an evening there.

<>Hey, I'm Miss November! I found out over the weekend that my image of Maine Morning Mitts (knitted last year) will be included in Whip Up's 2010 calendar. I love well done calendars, probably because I am a sucker for turning the page and unveiling a new image each month. Last year I bought only 2, but this year, who knows? Included in this one are some amazing photos from some very talented artists I am thrilled to be included among. In the US you can purchase it on Lulu. Thank you to Kath and everyone at Whip Up!

<> Sarah, Ms. Small Fox, is hosting an ornament swap for the holiday season. You can get all the details here. I did one of these when I began this blog back in 2005 and I still really enjoy pulling those ornaments out every year and remembering where they came from. Ornament swaps are so much fun, if you're thinking you'd like to do it, you would. Trust me.

<>And, lastly, I'm so sad to hear that Cookie Magazine will be discontinued (and let's not get me started on Gourmet). It was really the only kids and family magazine I identified with these days. Why do I feel hollow the minute I hear a good magazine has bit the dust?

back to work wardrobe basics and a new love affair with black

I was a little worried about about putting together a back to work wardrobe. I try to pull myself together every day, but I knew I needed to pull it all together a little better and sharper if I was walking into an office. Even though the office is full of fabric swatches, sample sewers, and garment patterns.

Where to start?

Well, there was something I figured out in my first meeting with my boss, the designer. She likes black. And gray. A LOT. She wears it every day and you know what? She makes it look great. I love black again (well, I always have.) This made it easy for me. In my mind, a few well chosen black or blackish pieces could go a long way. Hello J. Crew cords in dark steel gray. And American Apparel black turtlenecks. And J Crew favorite tees (which we all know are the best colors out there...I chose steel gray, a dark grayish blue, a pale gray heather, and white). I was able to pull together some really workable outfits for not too much money. 

But I like to have a little color somewhere, even if its subtle... a ring, something in my hair, a little something. I fell hard for a J Crew pea green scarf that would have been perfect, but I didn't want to pay $45 for it. I remembered the post Steph did on 3191 about making a scarf and went to Joann's looking for homespun cloth. A lot of the plaids weren't what I was looking for, but this blue/army green/brown one was really pretty, so I bought a yard of it. I cut it in half lengthwise down the middle, sewed the 2 long pieces together on one of the short ends (I did a french seam so there would be no raw edges), then did a small double turned hem on each of the long sides, stopping 1 1/2" from each end. I frayed the edges of each of the short ends about 1 1/2" up.

Done. A scarf for $4.00 (love those Joann's coupons) in less than 30 minutes.

I wear it wrapped several times around my neck, tied it in a double knot. I don't like scarves that hang down because they get in my way and this is not bulky around my neck at all. I am planning to make a white/black/gray one next. I often wear a basic steel gray cotton tunic I made using Simplicity pattern #2725- their website isn't loading for me. (Remember when I was looking for a tunic? This is the one.) Zipper up the back, sleeveless, looks great over every tee I have, and works when I need to pull on my favorite black cardigan over it. Basic, and it works with so many things.

So, I'm getting a handle on my wardrobe. I love that these days you can totally get away with wearing the same great pieces a little more often. Earlier days in the apparel industry, I felt a lot more pressure to constantly update my wardrobe, but not so much now. I'm still struggling to find the perfect pair of wingtip shoes. Black, of course.

I have a purple scarf coming from Martha's new collection. To add to my collection of scarves from her. Soooo easy to wear.

One more thing I also wanted to mention is that my beloved Boomerang audio for kids now has a free downloadable episode on the website. Yes, its free. Really. Go grab it and share it with your kids this weekend. Sit under a quilt and gather round the Ipod. Spend some time listening to it together. We do and I really love these episodes as much as the kids do. We are in the process of tweaking the website and adding some new fun things, so I will let you know when that's done.

Have a lovely weekend!

new craft books for fall

I really like Kata Golda's new book Hand-Stitched Felt: 25 Whimsical Sewing Projects. I have been thinking about what my next hand sewing project would be (because for somebody like me, nighttime TV is just not the same without it). There are some really great, basic techniques explained, celebrating the imperfection of simple, hand done stitches.

I could definitely see Emma and I each picking our own projects out of this book-

I love these buckets-

 

And I might actually translate this mail holder into a bed pocket for Ian's room-

 

Another book that I'm loving is Quilting for Peace by Katherine Bell. There are some really inspiring stories and projects throughout. This could be my next quilt, I've been wanting to do some sort of traditional star pattern-

one of my favorite projects is the quilt for pet carriers used for animals in shelters-

Read the story of this book and how you can get involve on their website.

I am going to get in that studio of mine this weekend and do some sewing.

Well, after those two soccer games we have...

But definitely after that.