Big News for Tulsa!

If you’re crafty in Oklahoma, chances are you’ve already heard about Indie Emporium, a local craft show that has stirred up a major buzz.  But now, this craft-tastic collection of local, handmade goodies will be available all through the year!  MADE: The Indie Emporium Shop will open its doors on February 1, 2012, and you’d better believe this will mean good things for Tulsa.

Not only will the shop offer items that were made with love, but there will also be plenty of fun classes and events.  The first one takes place just one week after the grand opening!

Come visit the new shop and make a fun Valentine craft while you’re at it! I’ll be teaching how to make tile coasters from reused romance novels. These are lots of fun to make for yourself or give as gifts.

Keep an eye on this little gem in the Deco District, because you might just fall in love with all the fun, crafty things Tulsa has to offer.

XOXOXO

5 Valentine’s Day Card DIYS

The best part of Valentine’s Day is cards—and the more the handmade they look, the better. Here are a few valentine DIYS that are both easy to make, environmentally friendly (since most of them upcycle items lying around your house), and most importantly—for those of you who forget about Valentine’s Day or wait till the last minute—you can quickly make any of these valentines from things around your house!

As always, Happy Crafting!

Punch Drunk Love Valentine

Materials & Tools:

hole punch

book page (or paper of your choice)

colored ribbon

scissors

pencil

Steps:

1)      Draw dots onto your book page/paper in the shape of a heart using pencil. (I have used marker so that the dots are more visible).

2)      Next, punch holes on top of each of the dots.

3)      Measure your ribbon and cut. Leave yourself enough room to weave the ribbon through your holes and enough at the end of your heart to tie a bow.

4)      Thread your ribbon through the holes you punched. When you thread your ribbon through the first hole be sure to leave excess ribbon to tie the bow.

5)      When you’ve finished threading your ribbon through the holes—tie the ends in a bow. Be careful not to tear your paper when tying the bow. Trim the ends of the ribbon to your desired length.

6)      Cut out your heart. Leave at least ½ inch border.

7)      Inscribe to your valentine!

Scrap Fabric Valentine

Materials & Tools:

book page/paper; needle & thread; scissors; fabric scrap

Steps:

1)      Cut a heart shape out of your fabric scrap. (Or several tiny hearts if you wish).

2)      Next, place the fabric heart on your book page/paper. Sew it in place with your needle & thread using a running stitch. Be careful not to pull your thread too hard or you’ll tear the paper.

3)      Cut your fabric heart out of the book page. Leave at least a ¼ inch border.

4)      Inscribe with love! You could be extra-fancy and sew a message with embroidery thread. (And yes, Archie Andrews [AA] loves Betty Cooper [BC])!

Found Poem Valentine

Materials & Tools:

book page; light colored marker or highlighter (preferably pink or red); scissors; ruler and pencil; pen

Steps:

1)      Read your book page and locate words that describe how you feel about your valentine.

2)      Using your light colored marker, highlight the words that tell your valentine how you feel.

3)      Once you are done highlighting, trim the rough edge of your book using a ruler, pencil, and scissors. Inscribe if you wish. Mine says: Juliet–love, lips sought, breathless minute that seemed to him the most perfect of his life. grey mist prismatic, love, heaven and earth. embrace, togetherness, More than lumps of flesh and bone. I profess to love you, beloved, my heart and love, my dearest –James. Not bad for a novel titled The Doctor and the Dragon, all about a colonial war. If you want a steamier valentine, I’d recommend a romance novel! Great vocabulary to choose from there!

4)      Hide your found poem in your valentine’s current book or their morning newspaper for them to happen upon!

Spell It Out! Valentine

Materials & Tools:

glue; scissors; marker; book page; plain note card; Scrabble tiles (to spell out a message or word of your choice)

Steps:

1)      Glue your Scrabble tiles to your book page. Then let dry.

2)      Once dry, cut around the edge of your Scrabble tiles. To ensure that each tile has an even border it is easiest to glue the tiles parallel to the book’s printed text. That way, you can cut a border of “1 line of text” or “2 lines of text” all the way around.

3)      Then glue your tiles to the notecard and let dry.

4)      Embellish if you desire, by drawing hearts around your Scrabble tiles using your marker.

5)      Inscribe to your valentine!

Buttons & Bakers Twine Valentine

Materials & Tools:

book page; scissors; needle & thread; hole punch; bakers twine; buttons; scrap of lace; pencil; marker; glue

Steps:

1)      Draw two hearts on your book page, one large and one small. Using your marker, color in the small heart and then cut out both hearts.

2)      Arrange the small heart, buttons, and lace on your large heart. Once you have everything place as you would like it, you can begin sewing on your buttons. For the small heart & button—I punched two holes correspondent to the button holes of the button I wanted  to layer on top of the small paper heart. Then I hole punched the small & large paper hearts. Next I cut a length of bakers twine and then tied the button to the large and small paper hearts. When you have successfully made your bow, cut off any excess twine.

3)      Next, sew on the rest of your buttons and your lace using needle & thread. Be sure to go through the small holes you initially make so that you won’t tear the paper.

4)      (Optional) To cover up unsightly stitches, you can arrange bakers twine over them and glue it in place, trimming off excess twine at the ends.

5)      Last, but certainly not least, inscribe to your valentine!

Spring Cleaning plans

Now that the Holiday Season is coming to a close, the turkey has been eaten, the presents open, the credit card bills are almost here….you get the picture, it’s time to start thinking about everyone’s favorite yearly tradition: Spring Cleaning!

If you’re anything like Christine and I, organization is a topic that has to be revisited, and revisited, and revisited. So, I’ve been scouring the web looking for some practical tips to help us spruce up our lives and make things easier, and here are, what I consider to be, the best.

1. My wife probably won’t approve of me sharing this, but she can NEVER keep up with bobby pins. They are always on the floor, in the couch, on the counter, in the fridge…well maybe not that bad.  So, here’s my plan for her bathroom cabinet.  Just take a magnetic strip and affix it to the door, and voila, bobby pin storage galore.

Photo Courtesy of Superwoman

2. While on the magnetic strip idea, I have two more purposes for this in the kitchen, both to make life a little easier for the chef in your home.  I love to cook (though the holidays have greatly reduced my ability to cook) and I use a ton of spices depending on the meal I’m cooking. I have a Lazy Susan style spice rack, a drawer full of odds and ends for jars, and a spice cabinet…finding what I need can be quite a chore so I found this wonderful little Instructable for a magnetic spice rack for our stainless steal fridge.  Just pick up some metal containers (I prefer see thru lids like these from Ikea).  Either set up a magnetic strip on any surface, or get some heavy duty magnets and some E-6000, glue them on your containers, and they’re good to go on any surface.

photo courtesy of Instructables, a Mecca for DIYers

You can also organize all of your knives in a convenient location by attaching a magnetic strip in your kitchen then putting your knives on it.

 photo courtesy of automism

3. Wooden chairs and tables are notorious for getting dings and scratches and start looking unsightly.  Apartment Therapy has a great idea I’ve heard about before; you take a walnut (the meat, not the shell) and rub the walnut oil on the scratches.  This quick fix makes it look like new.

photo courtesy of Apartment Therapy

4. We always lose parts of our sheet sets, so, we’ve started following Martha’s advice.   Once you’ve washed and folded your linens, put the set inside of one of the pillowcases.  Everything is together, easy to grab, and looks better in the closet.

photo from Martha Stewart

6. Back to the kitchen.  In a pantry, there is nothing worse (to me) than a ton of half-opened bags of rice, pasta, beans etc or unsightly boxes of cereal.  Since there are only two of us in my house, so we don’t eat an entire bag of pasta/rice/etc.  I think it looks so much nicer to have all of your staples in jars lining the shelves.  Invest in some Ball or Kerr jars (easily found at Target or online).

photo from Whole Foods on a Budget

So that’s what I’m planning to do over the next two weeks to make 2012 a little more organized. What plans do you have?

D.I.Y. Holiday Gift Tags

Winter Wednesdays at the Indie Emporium Pop Up Shop are always fun and this past Wednesday was our D.I.Y. on how to make your own Holiday Gift tags from upcylced things you may have leftover from last year’s decorations & wrapping supplies.

In case you couldn’t make it, here is a PDF of our holiday gift tags complete with a list of supplies needed & directions with ample pictures to guide you. This D.I.Y. is brought to you by Samantha from Bohemian Romance who wishes you and your family, Merry Making!

We hope to see you at our next class–check our Facebook page for updates or stop by the Pop Up Shop!

DIY Snow Globe Tutorial

Hello, crafty friends!  Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it’s officially safe to go into full-blown holiday mode.  If you’re in the market for an eye-catching decoration, a unique gift idea, or just a fun project, I’ve got a tutorial you might enjoy.  Keep reading to learn how to make your own snow globes!

Here are the supplies you’ll need:

★ Clockwise from top left ★

-Recycled glass jars, cleaned thoroughly with labels removed. Mine are baby food jars.
-Glitter in your choice of colors (I used silver and white).
-Distilled water. You can buy this in jugs or make it by boiling water and allowing it to cool.
-Glycerin, which you can find at drugstores or the pharmacy section of certain grocery stores. This little bottle was $2.30 and I found it near the first aid section of the store. (Clear liquid dish soap may be substituted if you can’t find glycerin).
-Sandpaper
-Small holiday toys or decorations. Being the clay-loving girl I am, I sculpted mine from polymer clay. But anything cute and festive will work.
-Waterproof epoxy glue such as E-6000.
-Optional: Paint for the lids of your jars. Acrylic or spray paint will work.

★ If you’d like to change the color of your lid, give the lid a light sanding and coat with acrylics or spray paint. Only the edges will show since the jar will be upside down, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. Allow paint to dry completely.

★ Sand the inside of the lid and use epoxy glue to attach figurines and decorations. Apply glue liberally to make sure it remains intact when it’s submerged in liquid. Allow glue to dry at least 12 hours.

★ Once the glue is dry, sprinkle glitter into the jars. Use enough to attain a “snow” effect, but don’t go overboard or you’ll have a clouded mess. Fill the jars almost completely to the top with distilled water. Add 1 teaspoon of glycerin or clear liquid dish soap.  If your jar is larger than a baby food jar, adjust the amount of glycerin or soap accordingly.

★ Holding the decorations upside down, lower the lid gently into the jars. You will want to hold them over the sink during this step because they should overflow. It’s good though- it means that your air bubble won’t be very large. Screw on the lid as tightly as possible. You may even wish to add a layer of epoxy glue to the inner rim of the lid to permanently seal your snow globe.

★ Give your snow globe a few shakes to stir the liquid.  Watch the snow fall and enjoy your festive new decoration.  Happy crafting!

Indie Emporium is Pop Up Shopping 2011

Spreading the holiday cheer is going to be a little easier this year when Indie Emporium and other local businesses take to the storefronts of downtown Tulsa.

The area between 5th and 6th street on Boston Avenue will be home to a few local businesses who have joined together to open up temporary retail stores on the ground floors of the Thompson and Philcade buildings.  The event is called “Pop Up Shopping 2011” and these stores will be open from November 30th – December 30th, 2011.

Many of the make:Tulsa members and Indie Emporium vendors will have items for sale in the Indie Emporium shop.  The shop is conveniently located next door to Elote and across the street from Mod’s Coffee & Crepes.  Store hours for the Indie Emporium shop are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am – 7pm, Wednesday from 10am – 8pm and Saturday 11am – 8pm.

Shop and eat until you drop, but on Wednesdays be sure to drink some extra coffee to keep you going as “Winter Wednesdays” is scheduled for every Wednesday night during the month of December and will include carolers, visits from Santa, cider stations and other holiday festivities.  An evening the whole family can truly enjoy!

Other local businesses scheduled to “pop up” in this temporary retail front are Earthful Delights, Theraganic’s, Topeca Coffee, Books Are Fun, Odds & Ends, The Candy Castle, Mecca Coffee and Bedlam Sports.  Keep your eyes peeled as more vendors are in the works to open their temporary retail doors.

When downtown Tulsa was in it’s prime, you could walk the bustling streets and delve into a delicious meal, see a show, peruse the windows of local shops and get lost amidst the constant flow of people.  It was a treat to visit and downtown Tulsa was a bustling community; everything you could ever need was just a quick jaunt away.  Time has taken it’s toll on this lovely community and today’s Tulsa is much more spread out.  That is all going to change this holiday season.

Cultural Consciousness & Handmade Businesses

Getting Personal

I’d like to get personal–yesterday I went to see a documentary, Miss Representation. The title is a pun on how women are represented (or rather, misrepresented) in American media. The current cultural climate is debilitating to women and young girls because of a constant media stream of representations of women as (highly) sexual objects. The film is a part of a larger project to promote media literacy, particularly for the next generation. The film really hit home, especially the question that Jennifer Posner poses: “The fact that media are so derogatory to the most powerful women in the country then what does that say about media’s ability to take any woman in America seriously?”

I began thinking about the various media I encounter daily but also, I examined closer the advertisements and social media I created for my business.

Women and the Handmade Movement

The handmade revolution to me is about environmental and cultural conscious consumerism (as well as an appreciation for craftsmanship and artistry, valued before the days of the industrial revolution). Buying handmade means that I can support businesses that value the same things I do. As a salvage artist, the bulk of my jewelry is from upcycled or recycled things. And for the most part, I have seen a trend in that kind of production–environmentally friendly and conscious creation. What is not as widespread in the handmade movement is a cultural consciousness. What do I mean? Some handmade businesses use sexploitation as a means to promote their business. There are also a fair amount of handmade businesses that utilize thin models (and perhaps even photoshop them to unrealistic proportions). You have probably seen these kinds of exploitative photos frequently featured on Etsy’s  front page, in fact Regretsy has parodied this very fact in a blog post, “Gratuity Included.” Why are small, handmade businesses  perpetuating the same exploitative and damaging images of women as big business? Everyone knows and agrees that “sex sells,” but should it?

A Call to Arms!

As a handmade business owner and a woman, I think it is important to be culturally responsible. We (and this is an invitation to every handmade business owner, not just women) must be conscious of the ways in which we advertize on our Facebook pages, blogs, websites, Twitter, and Etsy shops. As Avandi Wallace astutely observes, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” So let’s show the next generation a more positive image of women–let’s lead by example.

Pictured: Bohemian Romance, Sunshine & Carousels, Weather & Noise, and The Knit Owl

Cute Fall Craft Ideas

Hey, TulsaMakers!

I found this beautifully crafty website called Two Shades of Pink and I just had to share!

I especially love this tutorial for yarn wrapped pumpkins. They are so cute and I can’t wait to make one!

Happy Crafting!

Sherri, Crochet Maker

A must for the discerning crafter! (Photo via Two Shades of Pink)

Origami Organization

Here is a post of the demo I did at the Indie Emporium on Saturday.

Origami is a practice.  You do the same thing over and over again.  This doesn’t become meditative and soothing until you have done it so much that you operate on autopilot, no longer having to think about the folds.

This is a photo demo of how to fold a traditional masu box, which can be used for organizing your craft supplies.  The size of paper you start with will determine the size of your box.  I use small boxes for small items, and use larger 12″ squares of cardstock to fold larger boxes for organizing larger supplies like spools of thread in a drawer.

Christy Rogers

Sabi Wabi

fineartballs.blogspot.com

A Short Animation of my Temari Balls

On Saturday at Indie Emporium, I did a demonstration on Origami Organization.   I am working on instructions with photos to post this week.

While I work out the technological kinks, here’s a short animation of my Temari Balls, set to music.

Christy Rogers
Sabi Wabi
fineartballs.blogspot.com