Best of: Crafty Geeky Christmas on Girl, Crafted. Stockings!

I love making stuff by hand for Christmas, especially when people have very particular tastes that cannot be satisfied by store-bought, mass-produced things. A couple Christmases ago, I shared this DIY geeky stocking tutorial when I made three stockings for three special friends. I thought you should know that I, too, go back and revisit my old posts, use the tutorials, follow the recipes, etc. So this year for a new friend who also didn't have a stocking (poor deprived children!), I made a very special archery-themed one.


This is much less sparkly and colourful than my personal taste. It's quiet understated for a holiday decoration. BUT, it is perfect for the recipient, and indeed when I asked him if I could add just a little glitter, he gave me an emphatic 'NO'. So he can keep his understated stocking as-is, which is still pretty great quite frankly.


If you'd like to try your hand at a stocking, here's the original tutorial. Once you've got the basic jist, you can make any type of stocking you might want. And these actually make great Christmas gifts, because you can personalize them so much and they'll be using them year after year.

Fifteen days 'til Christmas...keep calm and craft on!

Pumpkin Tutorial: Mini Pumpkin Vampires

PUMPKIN VAMPIRES--NOT THE SPARKLE-IN-THE-DAYLIGHT KIND

We went a little nuts this season and bought a half-dozen giant orange pumpkins, which are sitting on my doorstep and generally crowding out anyone trying to get into my house. But aside from that, we also found a bag of tiny white pumpkins, and I wanted to do something special with them. So here's my tutorial, so that you, too, can have some dashing pumpkin vampires outside your home this Hallowe'en. And remember: size matters not. If you have enough felt, you can make these fellas out of big pumpkins, too.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
White pumpkins (small or medium likely best)
Small silver pins
Sewing pins with heads
Beads
Embroidery floss
Felt (black used here)
Hot glue gun
Carrots, other accessories as desired

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

1. STACK AND MAKE A HAT.
Loosely stack your pumpkins so you know which one will be on top, then make a hat out of felt. It's easy: cut a circle for the base. Then cut a long rectangle to make a cylinder. Glue the cyclinder shut, then glue the cyclinder to the base, which is now the brim. Glue another small square on the top to close up the hat, then trim off the excess so it's round on top, too.

2. PUT ON EYES.
I used some beads, which I poked into place with those sewing pins with heads on them. You could try another method but I'm cautious with adhesives on something that is going to get wet and slimy and frosty.

3. NOSE AND A SMILE.
I chose to make my nose out of a carrot, which I know is a bit like a snowman, but originally I'd WANTED snowmen, and anyway they're cute. I cut down some baby carrots and held them in place with more of the tiny silver pins.

The smile, I did with hot glue and a piece of embroidery thread. You can improvise here, as well. Little silver felt teeth were added; you can make teeth of whatever you have around. Maybe candy corn pinned into place?

4. PIN YOUR PUMPKIN TOGETHER.
This is a frustrating step. I didn't want to use glue in case the temperature changes outside made it break apart, so I used sewing pins of various types to stab the pumpkins into each other. You could use nails or screws with bigger pumpkins. I did six or more pins around each pumpkin connection point.

5. MAKE A CAPE.
I actually ran out of felt, so I had to cut up an old fine-knit sweater for our capes. But it would have been easier with felt. If you're using fabric, the top stand-up part of the cape (the tall 'lapels', if you will) will need to be backed with someone stiff to make them stand up. I used scraps of felt, and glue gunned them into place.

The capes are basically a triangle but instead of getting pointy at the top, they widen out again into another rectangle shape, depending on how you think about it.

That's the top part of the cape: the rectangle will create the tall lapels
and the felt piece there will keep it stiff.

At this point I took another piece of embroidery thread and tied the cape around the pumpkin dude's neck.

Then I added a bit of glue to the cape around the head area to keep it in place.

YOU'RE DONE. ENJOY.

Your pumpkin vampires are now ready for a night on the town! They're cute and also creepy, which is a bonus.
Remember to be creative. You can add and take away as you please!
If you make your own, share it on my facebook page or tweet me on twitter! I wanna see!

DIY Bunting: Make your own string of pennants

DIY TUTORIAL: MAKE YOUR OWN BUNTING

Have you heard of bunting? I can almost guarantee you've seen it, whether or not you knew what it was called.

Bunting is often thought of as a kid's thing, but I've made it a couple times now for adults and it's always well-received. You can do it up so it matches your decor, or fits in a cubicle, or specific to a holiday theme. When a friend of mine was sick this summer and needed a spirit boost, I did up this bunting for her; I just kept wishing I had enough time to also make myself one!

HERE'S HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN:

YOU WILL NEED:

Fabric (any kind that doesn't fray a lot, if you're going to be doing it the lazy way like I do.)

Felt (enough to back the triangles)

Ribbon 

Sewing machine with needles/thread (or fabric glue for the super lazy way)

Scissors

Felt or another fabric for the letters

STEPS:

1. Cut out your triangles of felt.

I made a template out of cardstock, and traced it onto the felt. 

2. Sew the felt to the fabric.

I do this so that I don't really have to worry about matching up edges or a lot of fraying.

3. Cut out the felt triangles, now attached to the fabric.

This gives you one side felt (for added weight and durability) and one side fabric (for the pretty side!)

4. Sew the whole thing into the ribbon.

Leave lots at the ends for tying up somewhere or for pinning to a wall. Space the triangles out evenly.

5. Cut and sew (or glue) your letters.

My bestie MJ actually did the lettering for this bunting. She cut out stencils by printing a cool font onto paper, then tracing and cutting. We glued the letters down because sewing around letters makes me crazy.

6. Hang and enjoy!

You'll find you have your best success if you keep the letters to 8 or less. Otherwise it can get a little large and unwieldy. 

Choosing coordinating colours can be tricky but it's worth the time to look for the right stuff. For small amounts of fabric (eg for the letters) consider using those squares (sometimes called 'fat squares') meant for quilting.

Have fun with it! There's no point in making crafts that make you miserable while you make them. Especially if it's a gift: gifts should come from a place of happiness and love. So don't stress about it too much, and just enjoy the process! Throw on some tunes or a Gilmore Girls rerun, and zen out with glue and scissors.

Tips For Painting Large Furniture: My Buffet Hutch

TIPS FOR PAINTING LARGE FURNITURE, AS SHOWN ON A BUFFET HUTCH

It’s been a while since we DIY’ed anything here on the Girl, Crafted blog, mostly because I’ve been just painting a lot of furniture and that can get a bit dry (no pun intended). But I finished a really large piece this week and I wanted to share how fabulously well it came out. There are some great tips that came to mind while I worked on it, so I’ll share them here.

SANDING AND PRIMING IS A MUST.

I have two nightstands, circa 1970, that I did not sand before painting. The result is that their wonderful Cozumel blue paint is slowly chipping off. I know sanding sucks. I know you want to skip right to painting, and I know that lots of paints come with built-in primers now. But you will pay for your impatience with touch-up coats. Save yourself the hassle and do a good job sanding and priming to start with.

I used a mouse sander for most of this job. A mouse sander is really cheap (usually under $20.00) and even an urban-raised city slicker like me can use it. Choose a sandpaper that will rough the surface up without actually damaging it. You can ask your local hardware store clerk for help with this. You really just want to create some ‘tooth’—some texture to the surface.

Priming seems tedious, but I can tell you that on this dark piece of furniture, even with primer, I had to apply 3 or 4 coats of every colour.

CHOOSE YOUR FINISH CAREFULLY

Paints come in a range of finishes: eggshell, semi-gloss, high-gloss, etc. The higher the gloss, the better the paint will typically hold up to wiping and use. But the trade-off is that often, the high-gloss paints require more coats to be truly opaque. If this is a problem and you want to use a matte finish paint (for instance, if you grab just the right colour from the mis-tints bin at a discount) be sure to varnish your piece afterwards. There are great water-based varnishes available now.

Also, and this should go without saying: use proper house paint for this kind of work, not craft or artist acrylics. The extra cost will be worth it, and you can find great mis-tints on summer weekends in the hardware store for cheap.

CHECK TWICE

If you’re doing a multi-step piece like this hutch was, be sure to have your drawing or guide picture with you at all times. You do NOT want to paint a section the wrong colour and have to change it afterwards. Chances are, it’ll make that one section look just a tiny bit different in tone or texture.

CHECK THE WEATHER

We did check the weather, and the promised two days of sunshine was a lie. This meant that my hutch got rained on overnight, had to be dried thoroughly, and was dragged by two girls with stick-like arms for the second day where I had to finish it indoors. Be ready for anything if you’re painting outside.

PAINTER’S TAPE IS YOUR BFF, BUT IT’S NOT PERFECT

I used a lot of painter’s tape to keep edges smooth and perfect in sections where two colours join up, but it’s not a perfect system. There is usually some minor bleeding around the edges, especially on a three dimensional piece of furniture. Be ready to wait until all the paint is dry and then use a sponge brush or other high-control brush to carefully touch up the bleeding.

TAKE OFF THE HARDWARE

This is a step I always forget, except this time my best friend stopped by and caught me before it was too late. Sometimes you can’t get the hardware off—the hinges on the bottom cupboards, for example, called for some strange martian screwdriver we didn’t have—so you’ll have to decide: do you paint that hardware or try to keep it paint-free with tape? We painted the hardware here, but in a pinch I could use a q-tip with some paint thinner later on and clean them up again.

PATIENCE

A project this size is going to take time. I watched an entire season of The Mindy Project and a half-season of Scrubs while doing this project. Put the appropriate time aside for your work, otherwise if you’re like me, you’ll get halfway through, have to put your paints away, and then it’ll be months before you find time again to finish it.

BE FEARLESS

This hutch was free, as it was headed to the trash. Yes, it’s a lovely piece of wood, but no one wanted it and the dark colour was wrong in my home. I hear it’s a sin to paint solid wood, but the reality is this piece was going to the junkyard unless I found a way to love it. Now it holds all my ponies and unicorns, plus all my craft fabric and all my in-progress paperwork for my business. Worst case scenario? The paint job could have gone wrong and I would have had to start again. No big deal. Be fearless and try your best!

Comiccon Cosplay: MJ and I Rock

For Ottawa Comiccon this year, MJ and I went as Tank Girl and Jet from the Tank Girl comics (and also movie). If you don't know these characters, here's a pic. (They have no set uniforms...basically picture what two quirky girls would steal and wear in a post-apocalyptic Mad Hatter's tea party of a world...)





We had a blast. Corben came with, and he did great, too. I think the pictures do enough talking of their own. Enjoy.

Oh, and if you don't already know, I kinda run this little site called Capital Geek Girls, so you can go over there and geek out with us. MJ and I do a YouTube show called Two Girls Talking there, and it's so bad it's good. Cheers.

Ottawa Vintage Clothing Show: Spring 2014 was all about the frocks!

If you missed the Ottawa Vintage Clothing Show this year, I'd like to torture you for a few minutes with what you missed.

The show was as big and grand as always. If you were looking for anything from costume jewellery to stunning vintage shoes, you were in the right place. The cold spring meant there was still a market for coats and furs, so it was not uncommon to see someone trying on a spring gown at the same time as they were purchasing a wool jacket.

The plethora of unusual hats this season was matched only by the skads of fabulous vintage wedding dresses. Lace, organza, and tulle in all shades of white were everywhere, and to my utter joy, numerous cool brides were trying them on. Likewise, anyone looking for an adorable prom dress that would not soon be forgotten was definitely in the right place.

I left with a kicky little orange 50s dress, and hesitated over a hand-stitched Ukrainian peasant blouse that I really wish I'd picked up. There's always something you regret not grabbing.

The show was packed as always, and the treasures were worth the occasional stray elbow to the ribs as men and women clamored for access to the racks. The cowboy shirts, alone, were enough reason for men to get in there and pillage the show.

All in all, this was another successful sale and I hope you'll all come to the next one in the fall. For those who were there with me, I do apologize if I elbowed you myself. A girl can't be held to blame for what she'll do for vintage fashion.

If you'd like to stay apprised of the Vintage Show's happenings, check them out on Facebook today!

Unicorn Fan Art: how I torture my little brother

MORE UNICORN

Somehow in my life, and I'm not sure why or when, I became synonymous with 'unicorn fan'.

I think originally, on MY end of things, it was supposed to be sardonic. Over time, however, I get sent every unicorn meme on the internet. I also have a slowly growing collection of unicorn vinyl figurines from Tokidoki. I have this glorious unicorn clock I bought at a thrift store. Because it's so hideous. And it needed a home.

Anyway, that's part one. Part two is that my little brother, Mike, grew up and has turned into a really talented videogame artist. I don't know when this happened. I still remember him being twelve years old, curled up in his Crayola crayon comforter, blissfully unaware that I was hiding under his bed with a 1942 gas mask on and that I would, about thirty seconds later, leap out and make him scream like a high pitched dog whistle.

Mike is probably the best toy my parents ever gave me. There are many stories. He may not forgive me if I share.

Anyway, so part two is that Mike is an awesome artist and started sharing links to his portfolio art site with everyone on Facebook. But he's a dork and he does that self-effacing thing where he says, "Working on it...not sure I love it yet!" And that makes me crazy, and is a perfect opening for some big sister heckling. So I started by writing below his link previews on Facebook,

"It needs more unicorn."


When he ignored me, my demands became more persistent. I went through his facebook albums writing, "More unicorn." "Needs a unicorn." "Unicorn is missing." ...on everything he'd drawn.

He still ignored me.

So I saved a bunch of his drawings over to my iPad, and started adding the unicorns and posting them back to Facebook.

This is a unicorn photobombing an Asian landscape. I thought about calling it a uni-bomb, but that has other
connotations.

Yeah. I'm the best big sister ever.

Anyway, he's just released some new drawings, but I haven't had time to deface them yet, so I just spent the morning commenting on one of them as new ideas came to mind.

For the grammar nazis, you can blame my 'smart' phone for the homonym there/their issue. Now shut up.

The truth is, I'm incredibly proud of my dorky little brother. He's still ten years old, dressed for Hallowe'en as Mr Fantastic with stretchy arms (thus unable to hold his candy or defend himself from my poking) in my eyes. But he's a really good drawer. He really does need more unicorns, though. I may not know much about videogames, but I know you can't ever go wrong with a horse with a sword in its head.

Fish and Filo Pie: Jamie Oliver recipe adaptation

FISH AND FILO PIE 

As many of you know, I’m learning to cook…well, I’ve been learning to cook for a while now, but I’m currently learning to cook meat. And fish…well, that’s ‘next level’ meat, because if you do it wrong, you either get sick, or get shoe leather. And the window between both is very narrow.

 

Our cooked & flaked cod

I’ve been watching a lot of Jamie Oliver lately, because I find his teaching style very easy and relaxed. Rarely does he have pre-cut perfect bowls of ingredients measured out, and very rarely does he seem overly concerned with perfection of any sort. It’s also great to have a show (like ‘Save with Jamie”) that you can follow with the guidance of a cookbook (like “Save with Jamie”). So when Jamie made a salmon filo pie, I wanted to try it.

It was really very easy, and as usual, I did some substitutions. First off, I replaced the salmon with cod. This is because my mom is allergic to salmon and I really wanted her to try the pie; it is also because in my mind, it was a far greater blasphemy to mess up a beautiful salmon steak than

to mess up a cod filet. However, to increase my chances of success, I bought a piece of cod fresh from the fish counter—no frustrating thawing process here.

I also think I may have reduced the quantity of leeks, but the ones I got at the local grocer were HUGE. We went with 2 instead of 3, and we had plenty of filling. I don’t know what kind of sad anemic leeks they grow in England, Jamie, but ours were ginormous and two did the job.

Oh, and of course I left out the parmesan cheese, because of my whole dairy intolerance. But honestly, it was fabulous without it.

Cooking fish turned out to be super easy and not at all scary, though admittedly I was guided by MJ (the former executive chef); but because it’s so easy to see when fish is done—it becomes a true ‘solid’ and flakes apart—it wasn’t scary. Doubly good was that the fish goes back into the oven inside the pie, so if I wasn’t 100% sure it was cooked, it’s getting good and hot all over again.

Because I didn’t have leftover fish, as Jamie’s recipe calls for, just a heads up that we cooked the fish, cooled it so it wouldn’t cook the egg mixture, and then put it into the recipe.

I’ve included the link to the recipe on Jamie’s page but be aware, you gotta scroll way down…it’s not a user-friendly site by any stretch. You can look up the show, though, and of course, the official cookbook is a gem. I have more postits in the margins than I ever had in a textbook in school, I’ll tell ya that much.

I’m learning that one of the most important steps for great cooking is little leaps of faith—faith in yourself, for the most part! Maybe that’s why there are so many cooking-is-life metaphors. Like a lot of other great new things, the only way to see how you’ll do at it is to take a leap and try your best.