E told me today, Threadbanger had a puppet episode that showed how to make bike chain bracelets. So there you go. After we get it degreased we will make bike chain bracelets with our 56 inches of found bike chain.
( The Tuck and Snippit Show )

Yay!!!! Now I'm hoping to find more broken bike chains!

I'm in a lot of pain today so it's sort of hard to focus on what I meant to get done.
Updated Beadwork at BellaOnline with a sort of silly thing, instructions for converting a peyote pattern to a regular graph. It's a joke, since people keep asking how to like there is this quick and easy way to convert graphs.
School Needlework at Vintage Sewing Info, a ton of information on hand sewing and darning. (Darning socks, not the kind of darn that takes you straight to heck.)
Build a table top loom, which is very nifty, but fairly involved. (pdf)
More fun and something you can set up to do with younger kids, or have older kids help you build?
Thread Banger has this great weaving project.(youtube) It's a great use for scraps and such and the technique would work well with selvages.

Well.. more later. Time to go try to be productive.
I hope you all had a day with a lot of laughter.

And oh yeah.. me? Without coffee?? I think my family would start sneaking it into fruit juice or something.. too scary to contemplate.

Instructions for my record bracelets are now up at Beadwork at BellaOnline.com.

In some ways, we are tech junkies. I have 3 ipods, my kids each have one, and Mike has one. I carry a big purse to hold my sunglasses hard case, and all my toys, one lip balm, and the little notebook I keep notes in. We have 1000 watts of screaming Dolby sound in our sound system. But I've never bought a tv in my life, and I don't see the point of cable when the tv is off all day until Mike gets home from work, and even then, MOST of what we watch is on demand from itunes so we aren't chained to a tv schedule. So even when I suggest cable or dish network, he thinks it's a needless extra expense too.
But we live in a depression, and our reception gets a bit screwy sometimes. So far, he's bought 3 antennas to try and pick up all those digital signals, and the cheapest one worked best, but didn't let us get 2 networks consistently. The very expensive Quantum antenna went back the next day, with Mike saying he finally figured out why quantum mechanics is unprovable. Nobody wants to admit quantum means piece of $h**. Back to the cheap antenna.
So he searched youtube, and built an antenna last night, that works better then the very expensive quantum antenna. He wrote Quantum on it when it was done. Instructions are here.It's ugly, but it works better then even the expensive antennas he's bought in the past.

Part 1: How to make record bowls
Making new labels, including a template.
( Making new labels )
Wheee! So now you can hide that extremely embarrassing label on that record you listened to when you were 12, and turn it into a craft you can do with your kids.

I don't know anything about Kingdom Hearts, 'k? Well.. I know a bit more than I used to. I know
sora means sky, and riku means land.kairi is short for kairiku, which means land and sea.. But I know that because a friend speaks Japanese and told me after she found out how much E liked it.
Anyway.. this is Roxas.
( and this is E's version of his bracelet/rings )
And pictures of my record cuffs after I drilled them. I did NOT mark my drill holes, and they came out a bit uneven. So I'm going to make a template for drilling and cutting next time, and write it up for Beadwork at BellaOnline.
( you spin me round like a record baby )
Yesterday, there were all sorts of things I wanted to do, but life being what it is, I waited all day for Dad to call so we could do one part of it. He never called. Then it was suddenly 5 pm and too late to do anything.
This post is going to be followed pretty quickly with another post with a couple vintage patterns.
Hmm.. I graphed out a straight cross stitch, no back stitches or half/quarter stitches pattern of the St. Trinian's crest from the most recent movie, and the lyric that goes
"We are the best, so screw the rest
We do as we damn well please
Until the end
St Trinian’s
Defenders of anarchy"
You can download that in PDF format here.

E and I made simple record cuff bracelets today with some of the records I picked up last night, then she wanted to make a bowl.
She picked Jim Nabors Christmas Album, and we put a Pyrex bowl on a pizza sheet, then put the record on that, and popped it in the oven. The Pyrex bowl we could find was fairly large, so when the record slumped, it slumped naturally into 3 fluted edges and a vague triangle shape E was very happy with. So we exaggerated the shape after we pulled it out, and called it good.
( pictures )
Now, it seems to me, everyone should know how to make these,but if you don't, they are super fast and easy.
Heat your oven to 200°F or about 93°C and find an oven safe bowl of some sort. Stainless steel or Pyrex work well. Put the bowl on a cookie sheet or pizza pan open side down, then balance the record on top with the label centered on the bottom of the bowl. Put it in the oven for about 2 or 3 minutes. Seriously, that's all it takes. Pull it out when it slumps and working fast, crimp the pleats/flutes how you want them. The record will be hot, so oven mitts or potholders help.It cools pretty fast, then it's that shape. If you aren't happy with the shape, pop it back in the oven to re-soften and do it again. Better done with older kids only because the records get hot, but younger kids can decorate slumped records with rub ons, stickers, gel pens, or paint. I don't recommend eating something like chips or popcorn out of these bowls because I'm not sure if the vinyl will leech ickiness into food, but wrapped candy is fine. Which is why that one is full of kisses. It will be E's Christmas present for her Grandpa. She's pretty thrilled, it's a Christmas record, which will be full of Christmas kisses, on Christmas. And while I did most the work, she helped out enough to feel like it's something she made for him.

I updated Beadwork at BellaOnline with a bunch of links to recycled bead projects. I also posted a couple new links to pictures in my newsletter. (there's a subscription link on the side of the BellaOnline page). Here are the pictures if you're interested.
Polar Bears, taken at the zoo last Saturday.
Trees, taken in the same place this picture was taken before winter.

( find a penny, pick it up, all day long, you'll have a penny )
The nifty bandanna in the background? That's from Steampunk Magazine. You can read the zine online for free, or buy it fairly inexpensively, or read an issue or two online and decide you want them all. I ordered them and the bandanna because E is taking a huge interest in Steampunk thanks more I think to ThreadBanger then to books or movies, but I could be mistaken. It's a chicken and egg question. (I know. The egg which was laid by a proto-chicken, an almost chicken.. but you know what I mean, unless you believe in creationism, in which case, the chicken). I also ordered the near free zines you can order with them because I love zines. The SteamPunk zines are gorgeous full sized zines with stories, projects and wonderful art. I really recommend them.
But if you just love the bandanna, you can get them in different colors from Ratchet's Etsy Shop. They are very nice, well printed and pretty large.

I'm not sure I'm going to make it to chat tonight, we've got a busy night planned, and I need to find my cane, shower, get dressed and put on make up.
Current Melt Value of Coins, in case you were wondering.Looks like copper pennies are the only currency in current circulation worth their face value!

One of the nicest things about Mike being in the luxury hotel business is that I get the opportunity to get a lot of packaging things that I wouldn't normally. Like Crown Royal bags, wine crates, and bottle caps.
I told Mike to talk to the bartenders and have them save bottle caps for me. I haven't gotten them yet, but he asked me how many I can use.
I told him that scrapbookers buy "plain" ones to use for scrapbooking that cost 2.50 and up for 10. He looked at me completely baffled. But a lot of scrapbooking as a craft baffles me. Crafting to me means frequently, thrifty and creative re-use of things.
I want them to use for part of the sound chamber for whistles, and we don't buy bottled drinks often. More often if we get soft drinks instead of frozen juice, we get cans so I can re-use the aluminum.
Well.. still waiting for the bottle caps, and I told Mike I can use a lot. Some for the whistles, some for jewelry, and of course, I've used them for buttons before. So I guess I need to start a bottle cap list too to go with my plastic bag and cereal box lists.

I'm working on a printable box to keep adhesive strips in after getting some entirely too cool Justice League ones. So I can keep them in my purse for those inevitable boo boos.

I woke up this morning with a very clear image of an archway, and an imperfect metaphor for life and choices in my mind. That experiences and previous choices create new archways, paths to new choices, and an epiphany or defining moment creates the keystone that makes it remain, that makes it a life lesson you keep. You can't have the moment without the experiences that lead up to it, a keystone without that would fall on your head, but with all of it together, you have a new path.
It's imperfect. But it was sort of a neat image to wake up to.

( PINK! PLASTIC! PEARLS! )
The butterflies are from cupcake rings. I got cupcakes as a treat for everyone last night just for the rings. They were happy. I love the juxtaposition of using the plastic with sterling and pearls. They DID turn out just a bit longer then I like to wear, so if anyone wants to trade? They are sterling wire, headpins and daisy spacers, with dyed and natural freshwater pearls, and firepolish glass beads. And of course the big reclaimed and repurposed plastic butterflies!
I'm having way too much fun with using toys as beads.

Remember a while back I posted about the possibility of using old business cards by recycling them with your name and contact info on the back? Truth is.. if you're in a job that gets you cards, they usually get more then you'll use over the lifetime of the job, and I asked Mike if he had some E and I could use for crafty purposes, and he gave us most of a box. There are lots of neat modular models on the net, and of course, the classic jumping frog model, but I think I'll see what E can come up with before I make any suggestions.
Last night I dreamt Mike and I were radio djs. Which doesn't make any sense at all. I'm too nervous to talk on a mic. I don't even much like talking on the phone except to a few people. I was also making an elephant in my dreams out of construction paper, and very upset because the poor quality of most construction paper would fold instead sculpting when I was working on the trunk, and getting it wet only ruined it.
I graphed out tie tack designs for Mike that will use the size 15 delicas. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time graphing out non-whimsical ideas that will be appropriate for work. The first one I'm making is the Hal Jordan GL ring design, I debated the Kyle Rayner ring, I like that ring really well... but he likes the Hal Jordan better. I also graphed out Deadpool's belt buckle as a pattern, an alien, and an American flag and an Alaskan flag pattern. I need to go pick up red size 15 delicas for the Deadpool and American flag if I do that one. (sort of doubtful, I don't think he'd wear it)

Two versus. and I missed one so I'll have to call and ask about it later. But this is week before last, and this week.
Poll #1225066 Superman vs. Thor
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Superman vs. Thor

Darth Vader vs. Sephiroth

This post is temporarily highjacked for the squeeage. I just got a picture of a bead that Ziggy made me.. Contact her for pricing and ordering information if you're interested.

It has sparkly eyes. Stardust eyes even. It had to be said.
She also made me a grey, and some matching accent beads.
*does the happy alien dance*

Back to your regularly scheduled post..
One of the dolls we got at the thrift store a few weeks ago was a Kelly doll with long black hair and short bangs, so I'm having W bring over his paints tonight so I can re-do the eyes/lips color to start turning it into a little Shala doll. Because I'm amused with a self portrait doll, and if I don't keep it.. I'm pretty sure I can find a home for a mini shala doll.

Wow.. I had lots of ideas for this post.. but.. I'm all alien headed now.
GOSH!!!!! I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

Shoe idea from spankmyspatula. I wouldn't do it with brand new shoes though when you can find old clogs with wooden bases or Dr. Scholl's sandals for the asking a lot of time. Or hit a thrift store for the right shoes.
This looks like a fantastic shoe for E. Who loves it funky and fabulous, and with the right base, you could glitter and decoupage that as well for extra personal sandals!

Also.. You could crochet a pair out of "plarn" (plastic bag yarn doncha know) or if you have tires around that your dad isn't having you hold on to because he knows he'll need them someday even if he sold the car 5 years ago and you've had tires in your shed for the last 17 years that he was going to use someday.. you can make sandals out of tires. (Not actually the link I wanted.. Jehanna? Don't suppose you still have the link I gave you in your history? Please?)

Produce bags, this is just brilliant. I've felt the guilt of using plastic bags for produce while using my reusable bags for groceries. I don't have tulle or scrap sheer curtains, but I have a few yard of cheap lace that would probably work just fine.
Wallet made from cardboard packaging, you know I'm wild for ways you can reuses boxes. Definitely planning to make some of these today. I've got all the supplies!
Tin can pin cushions, much like the ones made from bottle caps but big enough to be more useful. I think using packaging cardboard and a little creativity you could actually make a lidded box out of a can with a pin cushion top. Use the safety kind of can openers. But since we craft with cans a lot, those are the kind we use anyway.

EDIT: I made the wallet, but I need to tune the template for my needs, because my purse is an active zone and it will pop open in nothing flat leaving my cards where they are now. Scattered all over my purse. However, the elastic cord? Brilliant. But I will need tape on mine to reinforce the folds, and I need the cord to be set a bit differently to hold it more securely closed.

and I'm working with Mike and my brother to see how we can do it and how much it will cost with stuff scavenged where ever possible..
I think we can make a heated food dehydrator in an old tower case using an older power supply (because we have a brand new old power supply in a box from about 4 years ago) and scavenged fans, and light bulbs. But I think it's such a great idea I figured I'd share.
See, the best food dehydrators has fans on the sides of it instead of at the top or bottom. Top or bottom fans don't evenly distribute air through the layers, plus if it's on the bottom, food/liquid can drip in them and needs to be cleaned. But good food dehydrators with fans on the side can be a bit pricey. Computer parts are easy.

I was also watching E turn a plastic bag into a wind sock and remembered another one of those things mom used to do with us.. she would give us washed used aluminum foil and plastic bags to make comet balls out of. We had a lot of fun batting them around with old badminton raquets.

Yesterday, my son asked me about using cloth bags. He knows we've been using them for a couple years, but it's only recently it's become "trendy" and most people still don't. I hope it's different for you when you go shopping, but here, I think I've spotted 4 other people in the last 3 months of shopping using them. Plastic bags certainly have their purpose in my craft supplies, but since I don't throw them away when I do forget my bags sometimes, and I can always ask people for them, I'm fine on plastic bags.
Using cloth, with the amount of shopping we do, and the 5¢ discount we get for using cloth instead of plastic, will, in a year, save me 14.80 after the cost of the bags.
If you aren't spending 50 dollars on a bag for shopping, a lot of greener choices do save you money. A lot of ours are done because they are thrifty and I'd rather have the money for books or beads. Like going no shampoo. The shampoo that worked best for my hair type was 16.00 a bottle, and another 16 for conditioner. ACV is 3.00 a gallon, and baking soda, in big bags from a warehouse store is 6.00. So in a year, I save close to 200.00 on shampoo. Well.. a little less because every so often I splurge on a locally made shampoo bar for 5.00. That's not counting savings on hair trims because I've found that my hair splits a lot less.
There are a lot of great Christian living sites that have tips and hints from pioneer times. I don't think I'd like to be a pioneer, but what women did in those days out of necessity can save a lot of money now, as well as being the greener choice. I don't want to come off as being virtuous because we craft and re-purpose. It's not about virtue. It's thrift a lot of the time. The side-effect of also being green is a benefit, but not always the original intention.
When I was a kid.. (insert flashback sound effects).. my mom was thrifty, and also very into luxury. It was a contradiction handled by her creativity. She dumpster dived for clothes, and she hit thrift stores for everything under the sun. She grew edible flowers to decorate her salads with, and people thought my mom was so classy and elegant in her own quirky way. She'd bring home things she found to make stuff out of, and got terribly annoyed every time she saw a hand crocheted afghan at a thrift store. She valued handmade items, prized them. Along with her fine jewelry, she also had a lot of funky handmade jewelry she wore regularly. When I started beading, it wasn't quiet pieces I made for her, but big, bright, fun pieces.Growing up with her was magical. She was fae and fun. One of my fondest memories of her is from a year before she died. Mike was grilling food at her house for all of us, and she had this used karaoke machine she found somewhere that she played cds on. She pulled it outside, and was dancing on the walk outside her house, just so happy. Her barefeet were dirty, they often were, she hated wearing shoes if it was nice enough not to, and she was wearing jeans from a thrift store that were too long and she never hemmed them up, so the hems were ragged and softly frayed. Her dancing style was influenced by the native villages she taught in when she first came to Alaska. So her little feet patting out rhythms on the ground and her happiness at just being outside in the sunlight, with good food being cooked and her family around.. that was my mom.
It's not about green for me. It's somewhat about thrift, but even more then that, it's about my mom. What would she do. Can I see the world as she did? Full of ideas and creative uses? Can I teach that to my kids like she taught me? Can I teach them to value handmade over instant and the satisfaction it gives you to know you did it yourself? Or to enjoy something that was made by a local artist and appreciate the time and thought that goes into it?
So far, the answer has been yes. My son doesn't want a commercially produced case for his ipod, he loves the one I crocheted for him that has the button made with a scrap of wire and a bottle cap. My daughter makes cool things from cardboard boxes and thinks ThreadBanger is one of the greatest shows ever made.
E and I were talking about making a zine together, but she's not sure anyone would be interested. I told her she was wrong. That there are people already interested. Possibly the first one will just be a collection of stuff I've posted in here, crafts we've done together. I know if my mom were alive, she would be encouraging us to do it. She would have been absolutely enthused and full of ideas.
I really think, and it will sound arrogant, if I can influence people at all through the stuff I have on the net, then the legacy of who my mom was, will never die. She won't have just affected my life and the people who knew her, but also a lot of other people who she never met, who I'll never meet.

While I was working on more printables, (I'm to cards now! Yay!) E was making nice things out of duct tape and the box from her dinner last night. She had Winnie the Pooh cheddar filled ravioli because she thinks my spaghetti sauce is gross (all those vegetables and meat, she thinks spaghetti sauce should be just a plain smooth red sauce).
( come see what she made )
She seems to be having much more fun then me today. :) But we are henna-ing later.

So... I walked into my room, and E was sitting on my bed with the remnants of probably a saltines box, and her duct tape sword on the bed, and a top hat in her hands. I watched her pull up a piece of tape from the sword.
"Why are you taking apart your sword?"
"How else am I going to make this top hat?"
I asked if I should pick her up some more tape when I go to the store. She said "That would be great!" and we talked a bit about the armature of the sword, which, despite having several layers of cardboard from packages, is a bit floppy. I grabbed one of Mike's wire coat hangers from drycleaning and started bending it and started to say "Have you thought about reinforcing with coat hanger wire?" She beat me to it. "THAT would work!"

The top hat is made from cardboard from some sort of packaging, like I said, I think saltines (we get big boxes), the crown of it was wrapped in red paper from our reclaimed giftwrap stash. And duct tape. And you know something?

I think it's incredibly neat my daughter can look at stuff most people think is trash, and make things.

You know how plastic marked with a 6 for recycling is shrinkable right? I knew the deli containers from the salad bar* at my supermarket are made with it.
Well.. so are the black bottoms of Mc Donald's salad containers. How cool is that? We save them for disposable "bento" type containers, or for paint palettes or.. but I never bothered to look at the recycle code on them (Alaska? Not big with the plastic recycling, which means if we are going to recycle plastic, it gets shipped out on barges. Which is also incredibly bad for the environment.)If you don't go there often, but you have friends with kids who do, who eat the salads, have them save the bottoms for you! In my case, my daughter loves the place, my son frankly hates it except for breakfast, but if we stop there, he orders a salad. So does Mike except when the Mc Kinley Macs** are calling him.
Hmm.. I'm seeing shiny hard plastic bat necklaces with glued on swar eyes in my immediate future.
I made the template for the paper lj icon beads. I'm going to test it later. It's 1"x1"x .30" so it should work fine with my 1/8 inch hole punch.
E is considering things she can make in black, but she likes the idea of bat necklaces.
#6 plastic shrinks considerably more then Shrinky Dink or regular shrink plastic. I really recommend making your first project a ruler, as long as the pieces you use regularly (like deli container lids, or some espresso stand/shop cup lids) and mark it at 1 inch intervals. Then when you shrink it, you have an idea of the finished size, and can figure out how many inches you need to start your design at.


*Yeah. I'm an awful person. I do use reusable grocery bags and all that, but I also have chronic pain issues, and pre-cut veggies help a lot. I can get just as much as I need of what I need for the meal I'm making, and it cuts down my standing time. I also sort of resent the fact I feel like I need to excuse my use of salad bar containers.
**A Mc Kinley mac is a big mac made with quarter lb patties. I don't want to know how many calories are in it. I also don't want to know which marketing genius decided to completely ignore our name for that mountain. Denali. The Great One. It's an Athabaskan word, and darnit, we were here first.

Well, my last call for ideas, 101 Things To Do With An Empty Cereal Box is still at 10 things. But I'm going to try again.

101 Uses for Plastic Grocery Bags
1. Reuse them as bags. Obviously. Who hasn't run to the gym with stuff in a plastic bag because it's convenient? Well, I haven't,because I've got my big happy Hello Kitty bag, but my son takes his sneaks to the gym in a grocery bag.
2. Donate them to your local library or charity, used bookstores can also use them.
3. Keeping yarn pristine while working on a project.
4. Fuse them, fused plastic bags make a very tough material, and with a bit of duct tape for people who don't have a sewing machine, or with sewing, you can make all sorts of neat things, like re-usable grocery bags, or messenger bags.
5. Sculpting, I love this project, and E and I are so doing it. She's a HUGE Simpson's fan, and this is so clever. Plastic bags can be used to bulk up things lightly for all sorts of projects.
6. also by dadcando, a golden snitch using plastic bags for wings.
7. Crochetor knit a bag with them. I don't actually cut mine that way, I lay the bag out flat, and cut completely across in about 1.5 inch wide strips that are loops, then I loop them together like you probably did with rubber bands as a kid to make chains. I like doing it that way, because I can just have a stack of strips and just loop on a new one as I need it rather then dealing with rolling balls of plastic , plus doing it this way also means if you do accidentally rip one, you just have to replace that section without having to tie a knot.
8. A variation of 7, white plastic bags cut a little thinner then you would for a bag and worked with a size J or K hook make nifty weather proof stars and snowflake ornaments. Pick your favorite pattern.
9. Toy clothes. I know, it sounds silly, but they've been used for petticoats, skirts, raincoats for plushies in our home. Usually taped, but I'm going to have E try our Eurosealer as well.
10. About toys? Plastic bags also make good stuffing for amigurumi. I've only handwashed things I've stuffed that way.
11. I haven't tried it yet, but how about a water resistant sit upon? I have made pillows to keep in the car to keep under my back when it's really bothering me, and I like them.
12. Pom poms! My mom used to make these for some of the kids in our neighborhood (I never wanted to be a cheerleader).. iirc, she may have used empty pill bottles for handles. I think she'd cut across the handles, and make vertical cuts into the bag leaving a couple inches at the bottom sealed end, then roll up the ends and glue them into the pill bottle or something like that.
13. Kites! Plastic bags rock for kites because they don't weigh anything. My dad was a cloth kite snob until he found out how easily and high plastic kites can fly.
14. From lupabitch, packing! Nice soft packing for moving, packing pretties you've made for friends to mail et cetra
15. This only uses a tiny bit, but when I was a kid I used them in dioramas with a bit of paint to make campfires, what other modeling uses I wonder?
16. From taimatsu- Use them to stuff a duct tape dummy
17. Also from taimatsu- try making a shower curtain out of fused plastic bags, there is a link to fusing plastic bags above.
18. Crochet a scrubbie

So, leave your suggestions in the comments, or links to other projects!

( W's iPod pouch )
I went to the doctor this morning, and found out my blood pressure is back down to normal! I cheered. I'm so many kinds of thrilled, it's been really high for 3 years. So there's a fairly fast result of my exercising.
I got a years supply of the flexeril which helps keep the pain down to managable levels, and we talked about my knees, which aren't doing so much worse, and she has a lot of faith that if I've managed to put off a replacement this long, I probably can hold it off for another 10 years, with exercise and care. Also really good news.
So all in all, the most positive visit I've had in a few years. I did get a bunch of blood tests, but most of that was because I was fasting anyway to check my liver and make sure my cholesterol meds and anti-inflammatories aren't messing it up, so she just asked if I wanted to do all the yearly screens at the same time. Oh yeah. Means no blood test next month!
I also got a flu shot. Just a bit late, but hopefully it will keep me from getting so sick again this year.