Dabbled

Christmas Cookies Tutorial - Stacked Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:12:00 +0000

My Aunt Barb and Aunt Denise had the fabulous idea of taking the Wedding Cake Cookies I wrote about previously, and turning them into a fabulous Christmas cookie. These would make wonderful little gifts. As before, there is a good amount of labor involved in putting them together, but I think the results are worth it.

When we got to our thanksgiving destination, they were making these, so I had to grab the camera and document the process for you guys. And of course I got roped into doing a few myself too!

The instructions are below the How To picture below. Click through to see larger.

Directions:
1. Make/bake your sugar cookies ahead of time. You'll need Star shaped cookie cutters in 4 sizes. You'll need 8 cookies per tree, 2 in each size. Here's some star shaped cookie cutters- hey, you can always reuse for the 4th of July!
IMPORTANT: Your cookie dough recipe should not have any leavening in it (ie no baking powder or baking soda), so the cookies bake flat.

2. Icing - Use green food coloring to tint your icing green. We used a buttercream I think, but it really shouldn't matter, as long as the icing dries hard. Ice the largest cookie first, then ice the second of the same size. Immediately press the iced cookie on top of the first one, centering the points of the stars between the ones of the previous layer, so they do not overlap. Continue building the tree in this manner, with successively smaller stars. Mine were messier than Jennifer's, her's are the prettier ones! But exactness isn't needed, just make sure you ice the tips since that's what shows.

3. Decoration - You can decorate any way you like, but we used packaged royal icing flowers, which you can purchase from a cake supply shop or online. Just google royal icing flowers. Just press one on top while the top star's icing is still wet. We had some sugar stars we considered standing up on the top of the tree, but we didn't try that while I was there.

4. Trunk. the original idea didn't include a trunk, but the boxes they were packaging them in for gifts were tallish, and they decided the tree needed to be taller. Hence, a stem made from a mini Reese's Cup and glued on with icing! Mmmm always nice to add chocolate anyway, right?

5. Packaging - They used clear acetate favor boxes ordered online, tied with a gold ribbon. Let the tree dry thoroughly before transferring to packaging. Use icing to 'glue' the tree to the bottom of the box.

Related:
Wedding Cake Cookies Tutorial
Blueberry Pie Tutorial

Hope you find this useful! If you try it, be sure to let me know...
Later this week we're doing Oatmeal cookies, so Stay Tuned! (Don't miss anything - Subscribe!)

The Robot Scarf Tutorial (a Dabbled Re-run)

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:38:00 +0000

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! I'll have some great food related posts this week, including another picture recipe (this time Oatmeal Cookies, which the Handy Hubby made today!), info on making/freezing chicken stock, and a fabulous christmas version of the previous wedding cake cookies. But today, I'm not really up for something new, so here's a compilation post of everything you need to know to make a quick and cute Robot scarf!

This is a fun little project I did last year, and it took me maybe an evening to complete. I don't really embroider, so I went for a hand-sewn look to this that is cute and fun, and easily replicable by any of you guys. I'm sure this could be done so much better by someone with sewing skill, so take this tutorial and let me know if you create an even better one!

Materials:
Brown Fleece
White fleece felt
Embroidery floss in several colors.
(obviously, pick the colors you prefer)

The Process:

Step 1: The Design
You can use any design, but here is the pattern for the little robot I like to call Claude. It's CC licensed for personal use with attribution, so go ahead and click through and grab it.

Step 2:
I cut out the body and the hands out of my white felt, following the pattern.

Step 3:
Then, I stitched on the robot face and buttons on the body with embroidery thread, part of the charm of this being the 'hand stiched' look, so don't worry if you can barely sew! (I used a lime green, but lesson learned was it would probably work better in a darker, more contrasting color)

Step 4:
I cut the brown fleece into a scarf width, slightly larger than the robot pattern (I laid out the pieces on the fleece to decide placement), and slit the ends for fringe. Since this was a child's scarf, I just used the width of the bolt as the scarf length (for an adult, you'd need to go longer). Another lesson learned - I would probably double the width and stitch it up into a tube, so the back would be clean and you wouldn't see the stitching.

Step 5:
Body: I sewed the robot body to the fleece using a blanket stitch. I did a simple stitch across his neck line to define the head.

Step 6:
Arms: I used white floss to sew arms directly to the brown fleece. No fancy embroidery here, just made it up as I went along.

Step 7:
Hands: I placed the balls for the hands over the ends of the arms where I thought they looked good, and sewed them on using the gold floss, similarly to the body.

Step 8:
Final touches: Added "ears" and antenna with gold, and lightning bolts in green.

All in all, a fun, relatively quick project, with lots of learning opportunities. and that is the purpose of this blog, to just TRY IT!

Lessons learned:
- I envision better than I can hand sew. I swear I need minions, maybe elves, to actually execute my visions.
- By the time I was done I was sewing alot better and my fingers hurt.
- Fringe should be cut wider on a child size scarf. And i should take the time to cut it straight.
- I should have used darker floss for the robot decorations (eyes, etc) for better contrast.

All the pics and instructions are also here, as an Instructable!

Happy Black Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:17:00 +0000

I have no desire to shop the malls today... But hey it's the ....Amazon Black Friday Sale!

I know, we're trying to buy handmade and make things, and that's great! But sometimes we also need to buy other stuff too. And I like Amazon (they're doing a great thing with their new Frustration Free Packaging program to reduce packaging and waste). So if you're going to shop anyway, buy online!

I figured I'd spice up your Black Friday with a few gift recommendations (plus I love playing with Amazon Widgets).. Here's a few for those hard to buy for people:

Also, gift ideas for preschoolers! My 3 year old being my source of expertise for this.

(Gifts for 3 yr olds)

Finally, for the crafty woman (or man!) on your list. Crafty Books that I either have read or are in my plan...

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:27:00 +0000

It's Thanksgiving for those of us in the US, I wish everyone has a safe and happy Turkey Day. This lovely Bacon Wrapped Turducken
<-- is one of the many cool things at Superpunch's Thanksgiving Round-up. Neat stuff - check it out!

So, taking a quick moment today to you guys how thankful I am for all of you, the Dabblers out there... I wouldn't write this stuff if I didn't have you to read it!
THANKS!

... Tired of just hanging out with family? A little bored? Turkey coma? Go Try Something New and enter it in the Dabbled Holiday Contest!

I'll be featuring the entries here on Dabbled as they are entered. Remember, any handmade holiday project -- from gifts to decorations, or whatever -- , which has some element of recycling/upcycling to it, is eligible. To enter, just tag your photos 'dabbledholiday' on flickr! Full details here.

Crafty Blog Spotlight - One Pretty Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:25:00 +0000

If One Pretty Thing isn't already on your feed reader*, you need to go add it now! :)

I've talked about Rachel's great site before, but she continues to amaze me with her fabulous knack for finding great stuff on the web and posting it in such a lovely manner.

Some definite things to check out for the holidays:
- The Fall Roundups - Yes, we still have thanksgiving and fall to celebrate before we get to Christmas and the winter holidays! A collection of great craft projects and ideas all fall related. Love 'em!
- Handmade Gift Guides - A great collection of handmade holiday gift ideas, so well organized into categories like 'for men', 'for babies', 'for pets', 'gifts to make', etc. Check them out!
- Christmas Roundups - Crafts, how-to's, and inspirations from around the web. Here's the latest.

Stuff you might have missed in the flurry of things I posted yesterday:
... be sure to check out our first Holiday Contest entries, from Chica & Jo. Get yours in!
... Holiday Handmade Shopping Links Page is Live--check out what we have thus far...and check back, because there's more to come! Find out more about getting your shop included here.
... Buttons! Get Contest and Dabbled Holiday buttons here. Support Handmade - Get Handmade Holiday buttons here.

*What? You don't use a feed reader? How do you keep up with all the great sites you follow? There are lots out there, I use Google Reader because it's easy and suits my needs. Wanna add Dabbled to your Reader? Click Here (or here, if you want condensed Dabbled + extra stuff)! Wanna add One Pretty Thing - go here...

Oh, and a big thanks for featuring Dabbled's White Elephant Party Rules and Invitations on One Pretty Thing this week!

Dabbled Shopping Links Page in Beta!

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:41:00 +0000

I've been trying to figure out the best way to create a shopping links page, that wouldn't require too much fiddling with at this busy time of year!

Since everyone who has sent me links to their shops have been Etsy sellers, I've decided to try out doing it using the Etsy Mini feature. I've created a starter page with some of those who have sent me their shops. (Sellers, if you don't like the items I picked, just email me)

Check it out here!

Wanna participate? Just put one of these nifty buttons on your site*, and send me the link to 1 or 2 of your favorite items in your shop. (Let me know if we need a different size-these are 200 wide) Send to holiday (at) dabbled (dot) org. I'll at least link to 1 item, and 2 if we have room.
[*Don't have a website or blog? Link to the page in your etsy shop, or promote on craft forums instead. The idea is to promote both your shop and the shops of other cool indie crafters!]

Just copy and paste this HTML to add this button!
<a href="http://www.dabbled.org/2008/11/shopping-links.html"></a>

Don't forget! Enter the Contest!

Dabbled Holiday Contest Entries

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:54:00 +0000

Check out these cool entries for the Dabbled Holiday Contest - from Chica & Jo!

I'll be featuring the entries here on Dabbled as they are entered. Remember, any handmade holiday project -- from gifts to decorations, or whatever -- , which has some element of recycling/upcycling to it, is eligible. To enter, just tag your photos 'dabbledholiday' on flickr!

Full details here.

Tree Skirt from a Bridesmaids Dress - So Clever!

Make your Own Snowglobes! Such a fun little project with tons of possibilities!

All Holiday 08 Posts

Hey, guys, don't forget to grab your "I entered the contest" button:
<a href="http://www.dabbled.org/search/label/holiday08contest"></a>

Dabbled Holiday Buttons

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:43:00 +0000

Add this button to your blog to promote the holiday contest!:
<a href="http://www.dabbled.org/search/label/holiday08contest"></a>

The much loved "I entered the contest" button:
<a href="http://www.dabbled.org/search/label/holiday08contest"></a>

Add this button to your blog and join the Dabbled Holiday Festivities:
<a href="http://www.dabbled.org/search/label/holiday08"></a>

Shopping Links

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:28:00 +0000

Want to Participate?

More to check out - The Gift Guide from Artisan Beaders -- Too much cool stuff to link it all on this page.

Illustration Friday - Opinion

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:08:00 +0000

Are you an etsy seller? Check out how to get your shop included in the Dabbled Shopping Page!

Beauty was of the opinion that the Beast was not exactly the man she was looking for.. OK, I'm reaching here for this to meet the theme, I admit it! But I had to show this off :)

(click through for larger)

Related:
Alice in Wonderland in the Rose Garden
The Wizard of Oz: Poppieees

Here's the version I did just for Heather -- Do you like her better as a brunette?

PS: Don't miss the How to Throw a White Elephant Party from earlier today!

How to throw a White Elephant Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:44:00 +0000

After my big Halloween Parties, my next favorite party to throw is a White Elephant gift exchange party. I do one every year in mid december for our close friends, and if you've never done one, they are a lot of fun. A great icebreaker type party if people don't know each other well, and even more fun with a group of friends who have inside jokes! We do ours prior to the holidays, but this is even better to do in January so everyone can regift the crap they got from Aunt Hortense! ... So here's the deal:

A White Elephant gift exchange, sometimes called Dirty Santa, is where everyone brings a gift of a set dollar amount (extra credit for re-gifts!) and you pick and steal the gifts from one another. Detailed rules & hosting hints are below, as well as an invitation you can feel free to use, numbers ready for printout, and a "Steal Tally" sheet..

The Rules:
-Basically, everyone brings a WRAPPED GIFT, of whatever dollar value you set. $15-20 is a good amount, but you can go higher or lower.
-Gifts can be anything, newly bought or regifts that the person received previously (going over the $ limit is allowed with re-gifts). Fun and silly gifts encouraged, but remind your people that crappy ones aren't. If in doubt, alcoholic gifts tend to be popular!
-All the wrapped gifts are put out on display so everyone can see them.
-At the beginning of the gift exchange, everyone draws numbers from a bag. This is the order they will choose their gifts in. #1 goes first.
-Whoever gets #1 will also get a chance to steal at the end.
-#1 picks a gift from the table. They are stuck with that gift, unless someone steals it from them, (or they have their chance at the end)
-#2 can either pick a gift from the table, or can steal #1's gift. If they pick from the table, it moves to #3. If #2 steals from someone, that person then gets the option to either pick from the table or steal.
-Play continues in this manner. Each guest can either pick from the table or steal. And if someone is stolen from, they get the same option.
-Each steal should be recorded in the Steal Tally. Once an item has been stolen 3 times it is LOCKED (ie the 4th person to touch it gets to keep it). Once it is locked it should be noted on the STEAL TALLY.
-You cannot steal from the person who just stole from you! So if Person A steals item from B, then B cannot immediately steal it back. But if C steals it from A, then B can grab it back.
-When the last # comes up, that person can steal or choose the last gift. If they choose the last gift, move to next step. If they steal, then continue the steal process till someone has chosen the last gift.
-The person who had #1 then gets to steal a gift if they wish. If they don't game is over. If they do, then stealing continues until either all gifts locked or the person who is currently up is happy with their gift.

Host Hints:
-Have an extra gift or two on hand for that couple who only thought they needed one gift, or the slacker who forgot. It makes it more fun if everyone plays. Have extra gift bags for anyone who shows up without their gift wrapped (unlikely, but possible).
-Either print out numbers before hand and cut onto slips of paper, or handwrite on slips of paper - 1 number for each gift.
-You'll need seating in the gift exchange area for all guests.
-Make sure you set a 'gift exchange start time' after the party start time. We know how people are fashionably late-- let them know that if their too late, they'll miss the fun.
- When everyone arrives there should be a place for them to put their gifts. No one should know who brought what.
- Appoint one guest to keep the Steal Tally (provide tally sheet and pen)
- Remind people that stealing is fun and encouraged!

Invitations, Tally Sheets, and Numbers - these are all CC licensed, so feel free to use. Though credit is appreciated!

Invitations (3 options)

Steal Tally Sheet and Numbers (up to 36)
Steal Tally: Numbers:

Alternate rules for big groups: I've organized these several times for office holiday parties, and with big groups I recommend (for time reasons) reducing the steals to 2 (ie the third person gets the item) and labeling each gift with a number (1-n number of people). Each person must receive the gift with their number (if they chose to not steal), rather than picking a gift. This saves time on the initial gift choosing. Everything else continues as normal.

Hope you have fun with this!

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Tutorial - Make a Blueberry Pie!

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:02:00 +0000

More Holiday Eats...Check out the Christmas Tree cookies!

So, my dear sweet adorable handy hubby requested a pie for his thanksgiving luncheon at work. And after suggesting the many fine pies available at our local Publix, I relented and made one. Don't be intimidated, this is really as "easy as pie" to do, so put this one in your toolbox for friends & family events coming up. Here's a recipe and tutorial! (Recipe and instructions below the pic)

Dot's Mom's Blueberry Pie:

Ingredients
Pastry for top & bottom of 9 in pie *
4 c fresh or frozen blueberries (I used frozen ones from my parents haul this summer)
3/4 c sugar
3 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind (doh! no fresh lemons on hand today, so I left out)
dash salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1-2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbs butter
*Although it's certainly not that hard to make your own piecrust pastry, I cheated here and used the all-ready type rolled pastry you can find in the refrigerated section of your grocery store, near the cookie dough rolls and biscuit dough tubes.

(row 1)Combine sugar,flour, spices and peel in a large bowl
Toss with blueberries
Line 9" pie pan with pastry.
Pour blueberry mixture into shell
(row 2)Sprinkle with Lemon Juice, Dot with butter.
Top with top crust**
Crimp crust edges together, squeezing with your fingers.
(row 3)To avoid too brown crust edges, use aluminum foil to make little strips to cover the edges of the pie. (Unless you have a pie crust shield like this or this)
Sprinkle with xtra sugar and cinnamon.
(row 4)Bake 375 for 35-40 minutes (reduce heat if needed to keep crust from over browning)
Pie is done with nicely tan on top, and blueberry juice is oozing through the holes in the top. Mine took about 15 min longer than the recommendation above.

**For my top crust I used a handy cheat - basically a giant cookie cutter that gives the appearance of a lattice crust. You can do anything you want here (if you use a solid sheet, be sure to prick the top of the pie), including making a 'real' lattice top, or using cookie cutters to cut out shapes.

If you click through to flickr, the picture above contains notes explaining all the steps - a one stop recipe!

EDIT: You can get a Fox Run Lattice Pie Top Cutter HERE!

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Tutorial Link Day - Go Green for the Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Be sure to check out the latest contest at Tissuepapers, to win a mini camera! (Tell 'em you came from Dabbled!) She asks how you are going green for the holidays...

On that note, here's some ideas for you to go green and handmade for this season! Tutorials -- Try Something NEW..
- Lots of different Crafty "Can"dleholders, made from aluminum cans - Tutorial at esprit cabane.
- At Whip up - How to make an adorable toddler skirt out of an old cotton ribbed sweater. I love the ruffled edges!
- Via Craftershock - Make garlands of nifty star decorations out of plastic bottles! Tutorial Here.
- A fun project for fall! Leethal turns an old sweater into a fun and funky cardigan. HOW TO here... so many possibilities.
- At Whip up - Make a pretty little book out of recycled junkmail envelops - HOW TO here.
- How to make Homemade Aromatic ornaments at Crafting in A Green World.
- Tutorials on Handmade gifts:
**Bowling Bunnies at Bitter Betty,
**A really pretty purse at oh, fransson! (via Craft), and
**Cute Pajama Pants from Craft Stylish
- Love love love this pocket advent calendar from My Little Mochi! It counts down with gum!

Cool Crafty-ness and Mystery Party Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:44:00 +0000

Missie Krissie used the Freezer Paper Stencil Tutorial to create this nifty cupcake! I love how she embellished it with fabric paint. She's also done an adorable giraffe in the linked post.

I love this tortilla chip scarf done by Shes_crafty. Too fun! Thanks for tweeting it to me! Makes we want to go make some homemade guacamole.. .I haven't done that in ages.

We dressed up again this weekend (man, we've dressed up A LOT lately!) for a murder mystery party--1920s filled with gangsters and flappers, guns and gambling. So I (we) spent much of Saturday embellishing my outfit and creating props. I was a cigarette girl in a speakeasy. I tacked on beaded trim to a black dress to make it more 20's-ish, and the hubby made me a cigarette tray out of a cardboard box and ribbon (and decorated with leftover trim from my dress. I pinned some different trim in my hair to make a styling 20's headband. (That's me on the right.) Ooh, one quick trick I did (adapted from when stockings were unavailable during WW2), since I couldn't find seamed stockings easily. I had D draw a line up the back of my legs with a brown sharpie, then put on regular stockings..

A few more pics from the party... Much fun was had by all, and kudos to our hosts for a fabulous time!

Elephant Purse HOW TO - A Dabbled Re-run

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:23:00 +0000

Dot had a great time at a mystery party last night, so today you are treated to a re-run of one of Dabbled's popular projects!

How to make a cute little elephant purse by recycling old sweaters.. I did this as a Christmas gift last year. It's simple to make, cheap, and was much loved by the recipients. This is my own design, and I encourage you to try it yourself and add your own spin!

Related posts:
Another version of the Ele-purse. (This one is sturdier and more colorful).
See all recycled sweater projects here.
A reader does her own take on the elepurse - Nifty!
July 08 - The Baby Elepurse

The Process:

In case anyone wants to try it, here's how i did it. And please do, just give me credit ;). I'm sure someone with more skill could do a much better job, and this is a very creative project, in that you could vary the materials, face, or construction and come up with a very different outcome. Be warned, this was a no-pattern trial and error experiment, so the directions may not be the best I've ever written. If I do it again, and anyone is interested, I might make a pattern.

I picked a sweater from the ones I had bought. This one was a light green lambswool, either a ladies or girls size.
The original idea was a backpack, but I didn't know how long to make the straps, so I decided to go with a bag instead.

The Sweater collection:

the "body"
I started by cutting a square out of the bottom, leaving one side seam intact. I reversed it, and sewed it into a pouch (if i'd done the backpack idea, this would have also been when i added the straps in). The bottom finished edge of the sweater serves as the open top. The size could vary dependant on the size of the sweater (and the desired end result), but i made the pouch just slightly wider than the top of the sleeve of the sweater. Stitch a ribbon or whatever you want to use as a handle on either side of the pouch. If I'd been feeling ambitious i might have tried making the strap out of the sweater material, but I wasn't.

the trunk/head
I cut the sleeve off straight at the shoulder. Since this sweater had 3/4 length sleeves, I used the whole thing, but basically, you need it to be a few inches short of the length of the pouch. Turn the sleeve wrong side out, and center the seam in the back. Now to make the trunk skinnier: About half way down the length of the sleeve, mark with pins. Come in about 3/4 in (depending on the size of your sleeve) on either side of the finished sleeve end, and mark with pins. You want a couple of inches between the pins. Then one each side, sew diagonally from the end pin to the middle pin. Turn rightside out and see if it looks vaguely elephant head like!

Turn the pouch so that the front is showing. Turn the trunk so the back is showing, trunk pointing up.
Slide the top of the sleeve into the pouch about 1/2 in and sew in place to the back of the pouch. The head and trunk should form the flap of the purse now.

the face
I just guessed on the ears. Trial and error gave me a 45 degree triangle, with one side rounded off, and folded a bit to make them stand up. Hard to explain in writing :). I just tacked them on the sides of the head, and covered with buttons. Then added buttons for eyes, and that was about it! More embellishment might be fun too.

Finished project, and other versions:

IF: Pretend (Alice In Wonderland)

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Wonderland... Is it real, or just pretend? Alice was requested in the comments last week, and there are so many great scenes one could illustrate from the stories, but I chose the Rose Garden to go with last week's Poppieeees. (Be sure to read the In Other News below)

I'm not sure I'm thrilled with the colors - I tried taking some of the orangy-ness out here:
CLICK ME

In other news, I'm still collecting cool online shops for the holiday links page - if you have an etsy or other online shop, with cool stuff, click here for more info.

And I'm debating canceling the Holiday contest -- I'm thinking this just may be too much on my plate, and I haven't really heard any real interest yet. (And I'm definitely doing year 2 of the Black Hearted Valentine's Day contest after the first of the year!) But if enough people are interested, I'll do it :).

The Art Card Show (where you create a holiday greeting card or party invitation), however, I do want to do if enough people are interested, since we never really have contests for artists.

So do let me know in the comments if you are interested it either.

Thrifty links, & little known facts

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:09:00 +0000

Thrify links to save money for you today, and also the very talented Peter Breese tagged me with one of those question thingies where you learn more about me, which I'll get to at the end.

Want to live well this time of year, without a lot of cash? Some fun and thrifty links for you today:

-Tons of Christmas Stocking stuffing ideas at Want Not. What do you put in stockings?
-Make something! Handmade Fabric Gift Bags at Crafting in a Green World. Reusable and fun!
-Holiday Gift Ideas, under $5! At Indie Fixx.
-Entertaining on a Budget at Hostess with the Mostess. I love her gorgeous ideas.
-Chica and Jo have a shopping guide! With nice links to Discounts and such.

PS, if you missed it, don't forget to check out the Holiday Contest (Recycle!) and get your links to your stores to me if you want to be chosen for the Dabbled Shopping Guide!.

One more thing, I'm trying out Tumblr. Currently it takes the feed from Dabbled and my twitter, plus some other stuff I add occasionally. So if you're on there, follow "A Smidgen of Dabbling" if ya like!

Now, for the Tag:

1. You must link to the individual who tagged you and post the rules of TAG (which you are currently reading).
2. Post 7 random facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 friends and link to them and
4. Let them know that they have been tagged by leaving a nice little message on their blog.

So, Peter Breese tagged me, and I really adore his work. He loves robots as much as I do, and his style is fabulous, especially his silhouettes and dark shaded work. Check him out! (PS, I'm obviously flattered to be chosen, because I hate doing these things because I can never figure out what to write!)

7 random and possibly little known facts about me:

1. The most popular picture on my flickr is this one, currently at 144,732 views. No, it is NOT me.
2. I have an MBA.
3. Currently reading... comic: xkcd.com book: Little Brother, Cory Doctorow magazine: Reason
4. Red wine and dark chocolate are divine foods, followed by salmon nigiri. Well, and a good hefeweizen too.
5. I'm a moderator on the message boards for the Sluggy Freelance webcomic.
6. I'm older than you probably think I am.
7. I met my husband through a blatant setup by our best friends.

7 links (Only 7? OK, I'll do mostly artists because I don't link to them as often.) I also love to interview people that inspire me, so check out some other people I recommend!

1. Samae - Because I just want to tag her, my bestest girl friend, and always fun to read blogger!
2. Josh Pincus Is Crying - Such a strong style and images, and each one has a great story.
3. Juan Carlos Federico - Just incredible collage style artwork.
4. sketched out - Clever, funny, and a must read on my Illustration Friday list each week.
5. Honor Bowden - I love her gorgeous ladies and she's so clever too.
6. Alice of Futuregirl - This was one of the first craft blogs I started reading regularly, and she was a big inspiration for me to build Dabbled. And she's got such cute stuff!
7. Cory Godbey - Really inspired me to get back into my artwork and was a huge photoshop help with his tutorials on The Photoshop Experiment (interviewed here)

a Dabbled Holiday Contest - Recycle!

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:31:00 +0000

Here's the scoop on the Dabbled Holiday Contest.

The theme for this season is Holiday (whichever holidays you celebrate, or do them all!) decor and gifts, recycled from something else. So your bag from recycled sweaters or your wreath from plastic bags, or whatever! You can enter as many items as you like (but you can only win with one), and we love tutorials...

HOW TO ENTER: This one will be flickr based, so you'll need a flickr account to participate (it's free, and I love flickr!). (This will make it easy for everyone to see all the entries, and easy for me to post links to the entries here -- ya know at holiday time, we need EASY!) Upload your pictures of your cool holiday craftiness, with a link back to your blog on the picture description if applicable (be sure to tag them "dabbledholiday" and add to the dabbled flickr pool.
I'll be pulling stuff from there to share with your guys all month..
Questions? Comments? Post them in the comments here, or email me at holiday -at- dabbled.org. You're also welcome to link here in the comments to show off your stuff :)

Due date is December 12, so you have one month from today! We'll have buttons you can put on your site, and the winners will receive nifty buttons proclaiming their greatness to the internet, as usual. I'll add prize details later.

We had great sponsors for the Halloween Contest, but I'm not sure whether we'll do that this time or not, but if you want to be a sponsor, just email me.

Other Dabbled Holiday Stuff for you to know about:

Best of Crafty "Upcycling" for Christmas, Thanksgiving, or your holiday of choice - Show off your recycling skills by making gifts or decor out of 'trash'. Submit your tutorials to be featured on Dabbled! (Here's some previous Dabbled Upcycling Projects if you need some inspiration)

Holiday Art Card Show - Artsy? Create a holiday card for the dabbled contest, and show off your work! Not Artsy? Download a cool holiday card from the cool artsy folks! More to come on this, email me if you think you'll wanna play!

Shopping Links - Do you sell your art or craft? There will be a special page with links to Dabbled approved cool sellers. And for everyone, a great opportunity to support your fellow indie artists and crafters when you're buying those holiday gifts! More Info HERE

Getting ready for the holiday shopping links page

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:35:00 +0000

Like I mentioned before, I'll be creating a Shopping Links page to help readers find cool stuff for holiday gifts, made by independent artists and crafters. Thanks to those talented people who already sent me emails (holiday-at-dabbled-dot-org) about their shops and want to be included--I'm reviewing them now. Feel free to pass this along to other talented artists/crafters.

I've worked up some link buttons, let me know what you guys think! I'll do at least one more style, so if you have ideas, let me know!

Once I get the page set up, I'll provide the code so you can add these links to your sites, and support these cool folks! That's part of the deal for the free publicity, you do need to link back to the shopping page so we're all helping each other out :)

And don't forget, we'll be showcasing lots of neat holiday stuff at Dabbled, particularly around the 'trash to treasure' theme, so if you have stuff I need to know about, email me.

And of course, Don't Forget to Enter the contest. The theme for this season is holiday (whichever holidays you celebrate, or do them all!) decor and gifts, recycled from something else. I moved the Details on HOW TO ENTER here.

Poppiees, now with nifty color!

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:57:00 +0000

Finished yesterday's sketch

By request, prints of this image now available here

And hey! Check out the stuff we're doing for a Dabbled Holiday. I'll get the Art Show details posted hopefully this week, but email or post comment if you're interested, so i can see if we have enough people for this one.

IF: Wise (aka Poppieees)

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:36:00 +0000

Here's a sketch I did for Illustration Friday this week. I call it Poppieees (you have to say it in that Wicked Witch voice.) We just finished reading the Wizard of Oz
(all 20 something chapters) to The Boy for his bedtime story for the past few weeks.

Oh, and artists, I'm doing a Holiday Card Art Show/contest here on Dabbled, hope you'll join!

The scarecrow was wise, he knew they must keep moving...
Click thru to see larger - Color version is below.

EDIT:
Now with nifty Color!

Prints available here

Freezer Paper Stencils Tutorial (Re-run)

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Sorry I've been MIA for the past few days... We had a wonderful weekend, hanging out with friends, going to the Chomp and Stomp in Cabbagetown, and being basically lazy playing Spore. And the house is a wreck from all that fun, which I'm cleaning up this morning. So I'm re-running some fun stuff that you might have missed this morning, how to make cool fabric items with Freezer Paper Stencils. Try it yourself! There's lots of other info, how to's, and inspiration ideas out on the web, too, but here's some I've done and my technique.

I love Freezer Paper Stencils. They allow you to do much more intricate designs than regular stencils, and are so much easier to work with.
Below is an example of a simple design I used to decorate cotton training pants I did for the Boy when he was potty training. They were plain white, and I figured he'd be more excited about them if they had a design on them. For these, I chose a simple robot and the letter "D" (known to the Boy as "my letter!")

The ProcessThis technique works on any kind of cloth/clothes... In fact, my original foray into this type of project was a Robot T-shirt (also for The Boy). As you can see on this one (orange shirt, at the top of this post), it was a much more intricate pattern, and i used darker, thicker fabric paint. It took alot longer to xacto out the pattern.

So, for the training pants, I wanted something quick and easy, so I used a simple robot design, and a very simple letter. I also used some paint i had on hand, which isn't as thick, so the results aren't quite as crisp as the previous version.

Materials:
Freezer Paper (buy a big roll in any grocery store). It has a paper side and a slick side.
Xacto knife
Iron
Fabric Paint
Sponge or sponge brush
your target Fabric (anything that is relatively smooth and accepts fabric paint)

Step 1:
Determine your design.
I like to sketch something out with a big sharpie, and color it in in black. Draw your design on the paper (non-slick) side of the Freezer Paper. Remember that the area you color black will be the area you cut out, and the 'painted' portion of your design. If you're not artistic, just find some appropriate clip art. The great thing about this type of stencil is that it's perfectly ok to have pieces that are unattached to your main design, you'll just place them in where they need to go. In this simple example (the training pants), the robot's eyes are o's of freezer paper that I placed on the fabric where I wanted them to go.

Step 2:
Cut out your design.
The important thing is to keep the white parts intact, you can mess up the black parts, they are trash. Cut out any interior pieces, and don't lose them! (It's also a good idea to mark the top (non-smooth) side with a pen so you can tell which side is up)

Step 3:
Heat your iron.
Layout your primary stencil (the white part) on your fabric, slick side down.
Iron it on til it sticks (doesn't take long)
Place each interior piece where you want it to go, and iron it on.
Repeat til done.
Give everything a final press with the iron to ensure it's stuck.

-painting the stencil...-

Step 4:
You're now ready to paint.
A sponge or sponge brush dipped in fabric paint does nicely. Dab the paint on lightly, in an up and down stippling motion, repeating til the area is thickly covered.
Let it dry a bit and touch up any light spots (be sure to get good coverage near the edges to have a clean edge.

Step 5:
Let it dry to touch.
You can then begin carefully peeling off the stencils.

Step 6:
You're basically done. Check the label on your fabric paint to see what it recommends, but I usually don't re-iron or anything like that.

Here's some onesies I did, using both the positive and negative stencils, and mixing different fabric paints.

Holiday Craft and Art at Dabbled

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:23:00 +0000

I know, I know, we just finished Halloween. And yes, it's annoying that the stores already have Christmas stuff up! So, if you're not ready yet, I apologize! But if you're planning ahead, and going handmade for the holidays, you really do have to start thinking about it in November, so here we are.

We'll have a couple of things going on for November and December (showcases and contests), so here's a preview:

Best of Crafty "Upcycling" for Christmas, Thanksgiving, or your holiday of choice - Show off your recycling skills by making gifts or decor out of 'trash'. Submit your tutorials to be featured on Dabbled, and their will be a contest too! (Here's some previous Dabbled Upcycling Projects if you need some inspiration)

ENTER THE CONTEST -- INFO HERE!

Holiday Art Card Show - Artsy? Create a holiday card for the dabbled contest, and show off your work! Not Artsy? Download a cool holiday card from the cool artsy folks!

Shopping Links - Do you sell your art or craft? There will be a special page with links to Dabbled approved cool sellers. And for everyone, a great opportunity to support your fellow indie artists and crafters when you're buying those holiday gifts! More Info HERE

Wanna participate? More Details are HERE now, but here are the basics you need to know:
- Crafters: If you have already have tutorials/blog posts on making cool holiday gifts/decor using recycled materials, email the link to holiday@dabbled.org. I'll be posting links throughout the next two months.
- Crafters: For entering the recycled craft contest, post pictures of your upcycled projects to flickr with the tag "dabbledholiday", and add them to the dabbled flickr pool. If you blogged the project, you can link back to the blog post in the description.
- Artists: Any cards you create must be CC licensed for personal use, so other Dabblers can download them. I'll post more details on the Art Show later.
- Sellers: If you're interested in participating in the Holiday Shopping link page, email me at holiday@dabbled.org with a link to your shop. If you're offering any discounts for Dabbled readers, let me know that too. If we like it, we'll need a small (like 200 pix wide) graphic to add to the shopping page. We'll provide you a link button to the shopping page for your site as well, and you can help promote other indie crafters too!

Illustration Friday - Vacant

noreply@blogger.com (Dot) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:38:00 +0000

The first place winner of the Dabbled Halloween Contest (check out the winners, cool stuff!) chose an original graphic as her prize, and requested monsters in the bathroom for her son. So that's my IF for this week! Which yes, is REALLY late, but I have Halloween to blame for that, honest!

Oh, and if you missed it:
-Earlier today I posted the Dabbled Interview with Jenifer Nakatsu Arntson - Really cool vinyl goods!
-Halloween Food Wrapup with how-to's
-My Halloween Party costume pics!

Sorry, the shower is definitely NOT vacant!

And thanks to Diana for reminding me about Museumr
Here's last week's IF, framed in a gallery! Too Cool :)