Not all crafters are the same beast

Part 2 of Duck Tape nirvana

So, I've come to the conclusion that there are many different kinds of crafters.

There are those who are unbelievably meticulous about their crafts. They plan out their crafts in meticulous detail and execute them with the same rigorous attention to measurements, adornments, final appearance, and photogenic excellence. These are what I like to call the Meti-Crafters. The internet is full of them. They are the folks making beautiful crafts, posting thorough and meticulous tutorials with plenty of in-process pictures.

Then there are crafters who are highly specialized in one area. They do one kind of craft, they do it very well, and they do it in great volumes, seemingly unable to stop themselves from creating more and more and more. They sometimes create highly complicated forms of what may look like a simple craft because they have created so many they eventually compulsively make the craft more complicated than it starts out to be. These are our OCD-Crafters. They are the ones making youtube videos of their unstoppable crafting and then speeding it up into fast motion for our perusal as the measurements and directions are posted across their lightning fast handiwork.

There are other sub-categories of crafters I am still identifying as I wade through the world of internet crafting. But more on that later.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not casting derisions upon the afore-mentioned character types. Because the fact is the quality of their crafts far outshines my meager offerings executed for myself and a very small circle of friends who tolerate my madness.

I mean only to explain why, even though my niece and I had the best of intentions when we bought all this Duck Tape yesterday, we failed to take enough in-process pictures to fully execute a proper “tutorial” on our design for a Duck Tape purse. As I think I've mentioned before, I tend to get swept up. I am neither a Meti-Crafter or an OCD-Crafter. I'm a Crazy Thrifty Crafter, characterized by my willingness to fly without a net, build without a blueprint, dive in head first, etc.

And so, without further adieu, and because the world would not be any friggin' fun without a variety of crafters on the internet, for your crafting pleasure, my niece Sydney and I bring you our very own Duck Tape Purse Design.

Does "duct tape wallet" really return over 2,000 hits on Etsy.com?

Guest Blogger Sydney Hooper

Syd (Sydney) is my niece. She was featured in a previous post where she and I constructed a safety pin bracelet for her friend Elizabeth. Today, I have invited Syd to guest blog because she has made a duct tape wallet that is absolutely adorable. It's perfect for carrying her money and her cell phone. She tells me she got this idea from her friend Madison, so she wants to give Madison a shout out for the idea.

Syd is in 5^th grade, plays basketball and softball, loves science, plays the trumpet, is a fisherman, a movie maker and a crafter.

Here is the unedited e-mail from Syd on how to make the duct tape wallet:

First start off with a BLANK piece of paper. Fold it up to WHAT EVER size you would like it to be. Get the duck tape you want, and now layer the duck tape onto the duck tape till it feels like JUST duck tape.

NOW, you may decorate that ONE (you should only have one right now) Get another blank piece of paper and do the same thing with that. MAKE SURE IT IS LONGER THEN THE OTHER PIECE OF PAPER! connect that to three of the four sides with the same duck tape NOW YOU HAVE A FLAP. which would be the "cover"

now, to keep it closed, you need a short string of paper as you see in the picture, (what im holding it by) TAPE THIS STRING TO THE FLAP OF THE "COVER"

NOW, make a pocket (like you see in a checkbook for your credit card at a restaurant) MY pocket is where the S is, that S is pink duck tape on the COLORED duck tape. it is about 2 by 3 inches long (the "POCKET")

last step, try to stretch the duck tape to make a little way for the string to POP in there to hopefully keep it closed

if you had trouble, it should make enough sense to fix. HAVE FUN:)

Thank you, Syd. I'm hoping you will teach me to make this next time we get together to craft.

How about it folks. That's Sydney's first blog post. Is she awesome or what?!

The 80s called; they want 'em back

I saw some cute legwarmers on Pinterest and I just couldn't resist trying to make some for myself.

I can't take credit for this idea. This is from mrsfleury at split the lark and you'll find the music. There's a tutorial included at this site so I won't bother repeating her instructions. Bless her heart, her dainty little legs (or the legs of whoever is modeling them) wear them much better than my big ole honkin' calves.

But if you're anything like me and you find yourself at the thrift store YET AGAIN looking at old sweaters and saying “gee, what can I do with this,” then you are always on the lookout for ideas like this one.

Auction follow-up

I learned a lot today.

First, I learned that no matter how much I looked at the online pictures of what was available, I wasn't really struck by what I wanted to bid on until I got there and previewed the lots.

I took a seasoned auction pro with me to my first auction. And the minute I started bidding, she looked at me like I was nuts and said something about waiting for the auctioneer to go down further before putting in the opening bid.

But I couldn't help myself. All that clambering from the auctioneer, all those people huddling around and bidding against one another. I totally got swept up in it.

My very first auction tomorrow!

My prized thrift store find, a mid-century liquor cabinet

Used to be you could get really great furniture at thrift stores. The last great piece of furniture I got at a thrift store is my mid-century liquor cabinet with the boomerang formica on the interior prep surface.

Since then, things have changed in the world of thrift stores. All the good stuff is scarfed up by secondhand stores before it ever gets to the thrift store. And the thrift stores here are full of cheap new furniture from North Carolina.

What I'm looking for is some smaller accent pieces that I might paint, decoupage, change up, whatever. End  tables, small tables, display cases, bookcases, or small desks. So I'm taking my first foray into the world of auctions.

I even thrift to make jewelry

My big secret is that, besides all the crafting for home decor and housewares, remodeling, and gardening, I also make jewelry. And even with jewelry, I cannot resist thrifting and re-using old and vintage jewelry, baubles, beads, etc. I love coming upon a pile of costume necklaces at a garage sale that just looks like a pile of crap. Somewhere in there are usually some pretty good fake pearls or crystals, or even mid-century plastic "glass" beads, which actually catch light, unlike today's plastic.


I take this "crap" home and pull it apart and store it for a rainy day.


Last night was a rainy day.


These days my typical evening looks like this (in this order): 

1. Eat dinner (I do cook for myself even though it's just me; let's face it, it's healthier).
2. Watch any mind-numbing television I feel compelled to watch (there's not much on that interests me besides Modern Family, American Pickers [duh], reruns of 30 Rock, and Pawn Stars.
3. When TV fails me, I turn on some talking heads (news, not the band from the 80s) real loud, and . . . 
4. Head to my craft room to make JEWELRY.

Last night I made these heart bracelets in honor of Valentine's Day. The hearts and findings for these came from JoAnn's, but all the beads are from vintage or old jewelry that I take apart and re-use.

Thrifty ain't "cheap" if you have taste

Thanks to HGTV and now Pinterest, we all have pretty good taste (well, maybe not all of us), but most of us don't have the cash to back up our good taste. I certainly don't. But I love HGTV and Pinterest and I love to redecorate. If remodeling didn't require money, I would remodel constantly. Sometimes I think I am working just to support my remodeling, crafting, and gardening habits.

In fact, I just finished remodeling the entire first floor of my house. I'll roll out some before and after pictures here from time to time. There are still a couple projects yet to do to complete the kitchen, so I'll share those with you as I complete them.

Today's project is more a solution than a craft and it's for the living room.

I live in a two-story working class home built in the 1920s. It has “good bones” as they they, but not a lot of craftsman detail. One of its main selling points was that it already had brand new siding and all new replacements windows, a must-have for the cold Ohio winters.

There are two square windows flanking the living room fireplace, a pretty typical feature in these working class homes. In a more upscale neighborhood, they might sport some lovely craftsman detail such as stained glass or beveled glass panels or something. By comparison, my replacement windows don't open and they look pretty sad and plain. And as a bonus, when my neighbors are on their second floor, they can look straight down into my living room and see what I'm up to.