Paper Boxes

I feel like I'm already getting a little carried away with this blog thing, but for some reason it is REALLY EXCITING to share my little projects (even though, at this very moment, I don't think I have any readers!).

So I'm sitting at my Work Desk, thumbing through Martha Stewart's craft book, and I am just dying to try something. However as I don't quite have Martha's craft arsenal at my fingertips, I DO have a nice packet of paper (thanks wedding planning!) Alas, a paper box was born! Now, just pretend that sheet of paper is decopauged and not purchased off the rack at Michael's and we're in business! Martha, of course, had instructions for 7 sizes of box bottoms and their corresponding lids but being equipped with only the sheet of paper and a ruler I've had since I was about 8, I decided just to make one box bottom (conveniently!) the size of the paper:

If you can see in the book there on the table at all, you can see Martha's whole stack. As soon as I can get my hands on one of those little grid cutter thingies, and perhaps a rotary knife thing, I too can have my lid size of 9 7/8" x 9 7/8"!

Ta-Da! This project makes me very happy, even though it took approximately 5 minutes to both learn and create. Though, I have to admit for the first try I used a piece of copy paper that I ripped into a square, and tried to measure the folds with the above-pictured iPod Shuffle. When I realized it was doable, I ripped apart the room for the ruler and busted out the fancy paper. I see a trip to the Michael's in Southcenter in this weekend's future...

First Entry!

Craft blog and...go!

I've been throwing the idea of starting a craft blog for the last couple of months. I want to be able to post not only things I have completed, but ideas I'm working on and inspiration. So far the extent of my crafting has been decorating my second bedroom with random cute accessories, but soon it will be a haven of creativity! With yesterday's addition of an official Work Table (thank you Ikea Vika Artur being 50%) I have no more excuses to work on the kitchen table and slowly meander over to the TV, or start playing Animal Crossing (shaking fist at Tom Nook). Maybe it is best that Tommy doesn't get that game...I don't think I could resist the urge to send him empty cans I fish out of the river or that crappy office chair I dug out of the recycling bin.

On a craft related note, I have (almost) finished my first needle felting project - a rose corsage. I bought all the supplies about a week ago and I love it! Who knew that taking some random wool and poking it with a barbed needle could turn into such art!



Also, please note I say almost completed here because I want it to eventually be a pin, so I need to go out to JoAnn's soon and buy a little clip to felt onto the back. Right now it just kind of sits on my desk and reminds me of all the possibilities...

I think my next project is going to involve both wet (washing machine) felting and needle felting. I want to knit a set of coasters, felt them, and then needle felt something onto them. Getting back into wet felting is really making me wish I had a washing machine in my apartment after all...though the old one in Magnolia was really a piece of crap. I predict myself in a month's time going to get a roll of quarters just to felt next door. The alternative is using my parent's condo in Ballard which, really, wouldn't be bad either. It will be interesting to needle felt something freehand, though, as sadly the rose corsage was made by felting inside of an easy-to-use mold. Edward and Murphy still like it though...

OK one last thing (I was going to leave you with that artful picture of Edward and Murphy on my wine-rack-turned-yarn-holder, BUT I forgot to rave about how my new potential favorite book was couriered to me today at the office THREE DAYS EARLY (thank you Amazon!). Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts is just waiting for me to sign off and sit down at the above-referenced Official Work Desk and thumb through it with a cup of tea and my dog. And...GO!