grab bag of holiday news

from That's Happy by Lisa RuppIn other news, I was on the radio last week talking holiday crafts on KQED here in San Francisco. It was a little disconcerting to be on the other side of the microphone – providing the answers instead of asking the questions. But after settling in, I had a blast and was very happy to be in the company of some very inspired gift givers and makers: Sean Timberlake of Punk Domestics and Gretchen Wustrack of The Curiosity Atlas, as well as Suzie Racho from The California Report, whose persimmon story brought tears to my eyes.

You can listen along right here.

If you’re at the wrapping stage of your gift giving, Ez at Creature Comforts has rounded up a couple stunning free gift tags to print at home, including the one above from Lisa Rupp. Cardinals always remind me of Virginia winters.

welcome to lo-fi

As I have mentioned plenty before, the holidays are when I turn our dining room table into a month-long crafty workshop. But if I am to be honest here, I have to confess that some years there has been a fine line between happy, crafty jolliness and I-still-want-to-make-how-many-presents-and-stockings-and-cookies mania. So this year, I am embracing an approach to my holiday crafting that I’m calling lo-fi DIY. Because I’m a lo-fi, analog kind of gal – a believer that a little old-fashioned distortion adds charm and texture, while still feeling warm and rich.

Michaels is helping make this holiday adventure possible, for which I am very grateful. So every week marching up to Christmas, I’ll be here getting my lo-fi DIY on. And I hope you'll join along.

First up, the universal symbol that merriment is happening behind this door: a holiday wreath.

As you may have noticed, gray is having a big moment. As are humble materials, in these humble times. And what’s more humble than something you clean and scrub with? So I give you, a steel wool wreath. A little gritty and a whole lot welcoming. The bands of smooth gold ribbon make for a great contrast against the wiry texture of wool. And after the base is in place, you can add greenery, berries, or even a little cluster of jingle bells.

You’ll Need:

Wire wreath frame

Steel wool in two grades: I used #0000 (super-fine) and #3 (medium course)

Glue dots or regular glue, like Tacky glue

Ribbon (I used ½” width)

Scissors

Sprig of greenery

Floral wire

Wire cutters

Jingle bells (I used 18mm size)

How To:

1. Start by wrapping your entire wreath frame in the finer grade steel wool. You should be able to unfold each packet of steel wool so it opens into a rectangle.

2. Place Glue Dots every few inches along one long side of the steel wool. Pull the long side without the Glue Dots around the wire frame, then lay the other wide on top to wrap. Press Glue Dots into place. While you need to encourage the glue dots to stick to the steel wool (they’ll want to cling to the paper since the wool is not an even surface), it’s easy to encourage them onto the wool, and it makes wrapping easy-peasy.

3. Continue until you’ve wrapped the entire frame. At this point, you might be worried that your wreath is going to look like it’s covered in rat fur, but hold your nerve and march onward.

4. Now place the pads of the course steel wool on top, end to end. You can add a line of Glue Dots or regular glue to the underneath of each piece of steel wool.

5. Cut a 10” length of ribbon for each steel wool pad. Wrap it around the frame and tie the ends into a knot at the back of the frame. Trim ends.

6. Continue until the wreath is covered with steel wool, with ribbon securing each piece in place.

7. Wrap the ends of your greenery or berries with a length of floral wire, twisting to keep the sprigs together. To create the jingle bell cluster, cut an 8” length of wire. Thread each bell through the wire, pinch the wire into a U-shape and twist close to the bells to keep them in place.

8. Press the wire tail in between the two layers of steel wool. If you want to make it extra secure, poke the end of the wire through to the back side of the frame and wrap around the wire frame. Repeat with the bells.

Again, I want to offer big, merry, crafty thanks to Michaels for the support (and most of the supplies) for these projects.

summercraft: tomato cage lanterns

It’s funny how some projects are born. Like this one: I recently created fabric lanterns out of old tomato cages for an upcoming Washington Post project. I first tried making them with tissue paper paper-mache, but that bombed. So I sewed the fabric into the cages, which made them lovely and taut (I’ll share that version when it publishes next week). But I still wanted to try another method that would be a faster, more lazy way to transform the humble tomato cage into a July Fourth-worthy lantern.

That’s when I tried homemade fabric stiffener. I dunked the whole piece of fabric into a bowl of diluted glue, squeezed out the excess, and draped it over the frame. At first, I didn’t think I liked the effect because it was so different to the drum-tight version. But after it dried, I became enamored of its relaxed, crumpled vibe. And the lighting-fast way the project comes together and then dries to a hardened shell.

I used an old ripped sheet for the base fabric and appliquéd red and blue stars onto the fabric, but you can use any material you like, and skip the appliqué step if you’d prefer

You’ll Need:
Tomato cage (I used the 33 inch size)

Strong wire cutters or hacksaw

1 yard fabric

Clothespins

Fabric scissors

Elmer’s glue

Bowl

Battery operated votive candle

How-To:

1. Wearing safety glasses (and being careful!) trim upright prongs from the tomato cage just above the smallest circle.

2. Working with the wider end of the cage on a table, drape fabric over the top of the cage, with at least ½” of fabric extending up and over the top of the cage. Secure fabric in place with clothespins.

3. Now pull fabric to the bottom and secure, again with clothespins. Continue around the entire bottom of the cage.

4. You can trace along the top and bottom openings with fabric pen, and then cut out the fabric. Or you can cut while the fabric is on the frame – you don’t need to be very exact. Just leave about ½”-1” excess fabric around the top and bottom of the cage, and where the fabric will overlap. Remove clothespins. If you are adding appliqué, do this now so you can see where to add the decorative elements.

5. Here’s where you get to get a little messy. In a bowl, mix 2 parts glue to 1 part water and stir. Dunk the fabric in the glue mixture until it’s thoroughly saturated, then squeeze out the excess glue and drape the fabric over the cage, turning the top and bottom edge over the frame to seal, and let dry.

6. As it dries, check to make sure the top, bottom and side seams are drying closed. If necessary, re-pinch the seam into place as it dries and flip when the lantern is partially dry to better seal the bottom fabric.

summercraft: picnic strap from maya*made

Because it’s coming up on July Fourth (which happens to be one of favorite holidays) I’m posting not one but two craft projects today. Yeehaw! First up is a project from Maya at Maya*Made. Maya and I realized we are living sort of flipped lives: she grew up in San Francisco, and now lives out in the country on the East Coast; while I grew up in the country on the East Coast and now live in San Francisco. You have probably seen Maya’s beautiful burlap buckets and a range of hand-printed wares. Over on her blog, she is savoring summer in simple ways that completely inspire. Here she is:

The picnic/potluck season is now in full swing. Bringing a special "dish to pass" is always a favorite summer tradition. Before you cover up that bowl of potato salad with a sheet of  foil or plastic wrap, consider whipping up a re-usable bowl cover strap! You'll  transport your dish in eco-style and highlight pretty linens at the same time. Make your own with any fabric scraps on hand, or here's a super fast method I'm excited to share with you, using a thrifted men's shirt. The one featured here uses a red checkered shirt that has picnic written all over it.

You'll Need:

Scrap of fabric or large button down shirt
Seam ripper (for button removal)
Scissors/rotary cutter
Strip of elastic
Safety pin
Thread and needle

How-To:
1. Create a simple fabric tube. The strip that holds the buttons on the shirt is a perfect channel for housing elastic. Slice it off neatly from the body of the shirt. Strip off buttons and cut off any loose threads.

2. Insert a little length of elastic.

3. Connect the two ends of elastic with a few stitches. Don't bother to sew the fabric tube together, as this gives plenty of room for stretching over larger sized bowls.

Now, isn't that ingenious? Thanks, Maya!