Craftzine.com blog: Shawn Connally Archives

Archives: Shawn Connally

Keyboard Skull Art and More

The work of Maurice Mbikayi first caught my eye due to him creating a couple of skulls out of keyboard keys. Skulls, I once told a friend (only half jokingly), are my power animals. Add in some of the elements of my trade (keyboard keys) and I'm going to sit up and take notice.

And his other work is just as interesting; I'm most fond of his mixed media collage, but his sculpture and photography are equally striking in their outspokenness and ingenuity.

Maurice Mbikayi's Online Gallery

How-To: Wall Garden from a Pallet

Growing edible plants on your fence, wall, or balcony is all the rage right now, and for many good reasons. The setup is attractive, the greens and/or herbs are inexpensive and yummy, and the idea is just cool!

A friend recently sent me a link to this wonderful take on the wall garden; it uses a packing pallet and looks amazing. If you decide to try this project yourself, be sure to find a pallet that's stamped HT for "heat-treated." You shouldn't grow your edibles on a pallet or any wood that's been treated with pesticides.

I'd love to see more examples of wall gardens, so post them to the CRAFT Flickr Pool and let us know about it!

How to Turn a Pallet into a Garden

Hair Accessories with a Heart

My friend Tania Prosser is one of the most diligent upcycling crafters I know. She saves all the tiny pieces of ribbon to make barrettes, and reuses fabric scraps and buttons with great success in the form of headbands and ponytail holders. I love it when accessories bring a smile to my face when I wear them.

Tania just recently opened her own Etsy shop, for slightly different reasons that most of us open shops. Here's what she wrote on the Kady Did blog:

I have enjoyed looking at Etsy for years and from time to time considered setting up a shop but I did not have internet access that would allow for all the time required to work with internet sales. Our family decided to install a satellite and now we have high speed service so that block was no longer in place. But still I held back.
Last year my 16 year old daughter was diagnosed with cancer and went through surgery and chemotherapy. She has proved herself to be a courageous and strong young woman and is free of cancer. We are so proud of her. As pleased as we are with the work of her doctors and hospital we are still faced with the bills the insurance did not cover. I was motivated to find additional income and decided if my daughter could face the challenges of cancer I could very well get over my own insecurities about working online.

Tania and her daughters are strong and brave and crafty, much like, I suspect, all of you Craftzine readers.

But I digress. Back to the hair accessories! With the warm weather finally upon us, these FairyShadow hair accessories are great for keeping my long, heavy hair off my neck while making me feel stylish and fancy-free. And reminding me of my friend and her girls is a nice touch as well.

Amazing Quilt by Katrin Rodegast

I don't really have much to say about this quilt, except that it's STUNNING and I want it!

Some info from the creator, Katrin Rodegast, an artist in Berlin, Germany:

It is coated with a pattern of 270 illustrations observing the social reality. With my quilt I connect traditional quilt art and modern computer technology.

Here are a couple of closeups of the applique work -- truly amazing! (Extra Bonus: See if you can find Col. Sanders from KFC fame!)

R2D2 Quilt
Detailed Beauty in a Crazy Quilt
Vegetable Patch Quilt
Crop Circle Quilt
Paper-Pieced Harry Potter Quilt
Wende Stitt's Stitching Memory

Video: Linocut How-To

Here's a fun, 1-minute how-to video by printmaker and Etsy merchant Beside The Willow Tree. You'll be amazed at how much you can learn about the process in such a short time, and you'll be soothingly entertained at the same time (or at least I was).

The lovely final product looks like this:

How to Linocut - A Crafty Minute: Inside the Linocutter's Studio

Documentary: Anatomy of a Linocut

Craftzine Flashback: 101 Linocuts

Linocut Letter-A-Day

Great How-To: Little Leftover Note Cards

We editors and authors here on CRAFT have been oohing and awing over these cute Little Leftover Note Cards. Kristin Roach over at Craft Leftovers has done an amazing job with her step-by-step how-to; she makes these elegant cards look easy-peasy to make.

I'm now thinking of all the odds and ends I have in kitchen drawers, desk drawers, and, truthfully, even in my sock drawer. Could those little plastic pigs from the pig shooter be used in some way? What about the star-shaped bits I saved from an old toy? Corks, yarn scraps, ribbon pieces, and buttons I have handled, no worries. Those are in the bathroom cabinet, in my Sewing Notions box. Who knoew my note card masterpieces are just a few drawers and cabinets away!?

Check out Kristin's Tutorial here.

Related:

Kristin Roach's Craft Space

Book Review: Card. Paper. Ribbon.

Crochet or Knit Plant Propagator

Kristin Roach Author Page

Geek Crafts: Geeky Costumes Roundup

I've done my fair share of costume-making over the years, everything from Little Red Riding Hood to the Big Bad Wolf, Elton John to Harry Potter, R2-D2 to The Spy Who Loved His Mommy. And when I run through my repertoire, a decidedly geeky thread shines through. Geek costumes are more interesting, cooler, and just plain fun. So have you gotten your geeky duds on lately?

Here's a handy roundup of some of the geekiest costumes we've featured over the past few years.

One of our more popular posts last year was Goli's discovery of a Banksy Flower Thrower costume:

Of course, there's a plethora of Star Wars inspired costumes, for humans and pets, including:

Susan Beal's amazing Yoda costume...

Natalie Zee Drieu's Ewok costume for her little Lulu:

Read full story »

Extraordinary Paper Dresses

Our friend Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing points out the beautiful and ethereal paper dress work from designer Jum Nakao of Brazil. The dresses are made even more ethereal by the fact that they are destroyed after each fashion show.

"That is why we destroy everything, to show that there is something more important, something much more lasting than what people see and value at first sight."

BoingBoing post here.

Mathematical Coffee Table

I'm enthralled by this mathematical coffee table over on Makezine.com. I love the idea of switching to a different configuration depending on the number of guests you're having, plus it just looks cool.

The coffee table is part of their Math Monday series, which offers glimpses into geometrically pleasing jewelry and other neato projects. Check it out!

Great Upcycling with a Toddler Shirt

Sarah over at the Makin' Projiks blog bought a cute toddler shirt for a $1, and then realized it would never work for her young daughter. Rather than throw it out or give it away, she used the fabric and ribbons to create 6 projects of her very own. It's an amazing and inspiring example of upcycling! Crafty ingenuity at its finest.

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