Craft Current

Green Craft for Earth Day!

Here's a fabulous tutorial from 5 Orange Potatoes blog for a fun Carbon Cycle Moss Terrariums .   Speaking of elements... why not throw a little more chemistry into the mix and check out The Periodic Table: Elements with Style!.  Here's an other great invention:  The Periodic Table of Videos...

Celebrate the elements of Earth!  Happy Earth Day 2009 !!

Current Craze : Hypnotic Knit

I’ve been feeling a bit chilly these days.  How about you?  I’ve donned the fingerless gloves already; I’ve yet to wear my “Big Knit” sweater but the day draws near – I can feel it in my bones.  So, what better way to stay cozy than to knit?  And why not knit something cozy?  (Yes, most knitting projects result in something cozy but the cold is affecting me – writer’s block abounds!)

Over at Brooklyn Tweed you can find a pattern for the most beautiful scarf.  Called the Noro Scarf, it’s a striped scarf -- hpnotic and soothing.  but i bet you can tell that from the photo.  Wishing you warmth and peace.

Old Fashioned Halloween

Here are some old fashioned Halloween ideas from yours truly. Hope it helps your Halloween become more green-spirited!

The invitation -- inside and out.

A friendly pipecleaner witch.

Treat cups -- two views.

Table top scene!

All wrapped up. Individual home made candies wrapped with a halloween wish tucked inside. :)

Tea Cozies

History

From Wikipedia:
Although the history of the tea cosy may begin when tea was introduced to Britain in the 1660's, the first documented use of a tea cosy in Britain was in 1867. It is probably the Duchess of Bedford who, by establishing the activity of afternoon tea in 1840, would have brought the popularity of the tea cosy. Afternoon tea was the time for networking and keeping up to date with aristocracy gossip and topical news. With all the chatter at teatime the teapot would get cold, which would have at times cut short some tea parties. And so, the tea cosy came about. Tea cosies then flourished during the late 1800's, where they appeared in many households across Britain, motivated by the obsession of decorating and covering objects characteristic of the Victorian era.
Tea cosies started to be used in North America in the same period. Newspapers of the time reveal that tea cosies enjoyed "a sudden and unexpected rise in public favor" among women who hosted tea parties. Newspapers of the time included advice columns on how to make one: "Some very handsome ones are made of remnants of heavy brocade, but linen is generally used, embroidered or not, according to taste, as these covers are washable. Make the covering large enough for your teapot and provide a ring at the top to lift it off with."

Below is a felted cozy and my favorite elephant cozy from Lucky Beans. The cozy at the top of the post is from Mary Engelbreit.


OK, so I can't resist -- and this is well-known by my friends -- but I simply can not resist elephants! If feel the same and you'd like to make the cozy above, the instructions follow. Many thanks to Jill Mongato from Salt Water Pearls for permission to publish her pattern (liscensed under Creative Commons).

The Best Tea Party

First, I’d make pies in little jars. See photo below.

The directions/recipe is here at Not Martha.

and Fairy Cakes (pictured below) to serve after mini tea sandwiches of radish, watercress and butter.

(Photo copyright Sam Breach)

For the tea, I’d brew some jasmine tea pearls (while wearing pearls, of course!) -- dropping five or seven pearls in a white teacup like this black and ivory vintage Syracuse China cup -- so I could watch the pearls unfurl. They say when the leaves are waving at you from the brewing water in the cup the tea is ready to drink. Won't you join me for tea?

Oh My!

I have to add this tea towel from Sandy Jenkins to the best tea party ingredients. Isn't it sweet?

And then there's this one sent by a friend. I don't know who made it though. Sorry.

The Tea Party

"But where's our tea? . . ."

Next up: Tea crafts or just some really cool tea related posts.

Green Crafts

You can see my latest recycling craft ideas in the September issue of FamilyFun magazine. Below are the photos I took while working up the ideas.

Black and White and Green

I’ve finally used the fabric I purchased from Ikea last year! I wanted a large bag to bring to the farmer’s market – something large for all the baked goods and veggies. This does the trick nicely. The basic pattern is like the square bottom bag in Last Minute Fabric Gifts (see below). I meant to do a tutorial for the bag but needed it too quickly. I’ll make another smaller one soon and do a tutorial for that one.

Little Bird

This little bird ornament comes in pillow size too! She's hand-silkscreened on white cotton and appliqued to hot pink cotton. Gold ric rac completes the picture. If you ask me Blue Thimble's baby bird needs some friends to fly with. In any case, this makes a great gift or good luck charm. And can't you just imagine a flock flying over baby's crib!