Random Acts of Craftiness 1

On New Year's Eve, as I thought about what I wanted 2016 to be, I decided I wanted to devote more time to crafting. To ensure that I would actually meet that goal, I posted on my facebook timeline that I would make something for the first 6 people who responded to the post. At some point during the year, without any notice, they would receive the handmade item. I referred to this as Random Acts of Craftiness (RAC) -- although, it admittedly isn't all that random since the individuals signed up for it (the random part is what they receive and when they receive it).

It's now the end of February and I'm one-third of the way through the 2016 edition of RAC. In January, using my Silhouette Cameo and some leftover paper, I made a set of bookmarks for Cindy, who I met through A Seasonal Bookclub. I combined a few different cutting designs and layered them for the final result. I will admit I sort of didn't want to give these away -- they totally are my colours -- but I can always make more. 

During January and into February, it seemed to me that a lot of people had taken up painting as a hobby. An individual in my office was registered in a class at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design, a friend in Alberta was attending classes, a friend in PEI posted a photo from a class that she'd taken. Clearly I had missed the memo! I've always wanted to paint, but admit that my art classes as a child tended to focus on drawing. The only time I had actually painted something was back when I did the first RAC in 2009. One of the recipients was my friend Amanda who had told me once that she gave her friends canvases and invited them to paint art for her apartment. As a result, I bought a small canvas and painted her a dark, moody piece.

Anyway, around the time that everyone was painting, I stumbled upon a painting video on YouTube in which a gal painted a sunset. It reminded me of the great artwork that a friend in St. John's creates -- sunsets with inukshuks in silhouette. The combination of video and memory inspired me to go out to Michaels and buy a few canvases and some acrylic paint. As much as I wanted to paint an inukshuk, I felt like that would be cultural appropriation, so I went with a tree. The result, a small 5x7 painting, was mailed to Sarah in February.

Again, it was a little hard to let this go. Not because I think it's a fantastic work of art -- it clearly isn't -- but because I really liked the colours. I decided to paint a similar one for myself a few nights ago (but the one Sarah received is way better).

So, those are the first 2 of 6 Random Acts of Craftiness. And plans are in the works for the next two. But there's also a bonus! A few individuals were "late" to the RAC sign-up and wanted to be part of it, but weren't among the first 6 to comment. I decided to add these individuals to RAC  Bonus. Consequently, Carla was selected to sample a Pinterest experiment -- homemade candy "mints."

I had seen these on Pinterest for the past few months and was curious about how they would turn out. I had all the supplies, so one evening I sat down and tried it out, making two batches -- one cherry, one orange. Verdict? Not worth the time, energy, or investment. I really don't like them. They are hard, crunchy candies, but there's something missing (maybe they aren't sweet enough?). I think the orange tasted better than the cherry, but I wouldn't make them again. Carla: sorry you got stuck with what I consider to be a fail, but thanks for playing!

So that's the first RAC update. I'm starting to think I should make this an annual event.

A Halloween Village

Last winter, I purchased the cutting files to make a Christmas village with my Cameo. I found a church, a town house, a shop, a house, and a barn designed by Marji Roy. I loved them and made a set out of white card stock to decorate my apartment for Christmas. Following the tutorial, I lined my buildings with wax paper so that the windows would appear frosted -- it was a winter scene after all!

I have since wondered what they would look like in other colours. For example, I've seen them on Pinterest made from what appears to be kraft paper and they look fantastic. I am thinking about trying that for this winter. In the meantime, I thought I would experiment with making them in black for Halloween.

This time I lined them with orange tissue paper and added a few purple pumpkins and orange chocolate balls. Sure, it's not spooky like some of the Halloween villages you can buy from the design store, but I like the way it turned out. I'm thinking about adding a graveyard to the church if I have time before Halloween. Next year I may try making the village in purple and orange!

How do you decorate for Halloween?

Snow Days Mean Puzzles

Last January (2014), on the first snow day of the year, I popped over to visit my elderly neighbours and found them working on a puzzle together. They invited me to join them and four hours later we were eating pizza and ice cream, and putting the final pieces in place. It was a great afternoon and, ever since, snow days have meant puzzles.

I remember enjoying puzzles as a kid. In particular, I had an awesome Garfield puzzle -- one of him entertaining at night on the fence -- that I put together countless times. Over the years, however, I got out of doing them. I'm sure more than a decade passed before I put another one together. Then, sometime around 2007, while doing my PhD in St. John's, NL, I discovered a local company that made custom puzzles. The prices were reasonable and if you lived in the area, you could pick them up instead of paying for shipping. Clearly, this was the perfect gift for the person who has everything and wants nothing, so I ordered one of our cat Tigger for my mother for Christmas. I remember hiding it at the back of the tree and making the gift card out to "The Cabin" (a play on a family joke about everything being for "the cabin" -- as in, "Don't eat that cheese. It's for the cabin."). When I was home and at the cabin (which I refer to as the cottage, since it is more of a summer home than a shack) the following summer, I put the puzzle of Tig together and once again enjoyed the challenge of fitting the pieces together. But, as the years passed, I again fell out of doing puzzles.

This January (2015), I remembered the custom puzzle I'd ordered for my mother and thought again that it might be the ideal gift, this time for a friend. I asked her for her favourite high rez photo of her Doxie and a few weeks later the puzzle arrived in my mailbox. Again, I was happy with my purchase. But I had a lot of time to think during January and February due to an illness that put me off work for a few weeks, and I started to wonder whether I could make a puzzle with my Silhouette Cameo. After all, it said that it could cut cardboard. In the design store, I found a few templates for puzzles, but I wasn't sure I liked the shapes or the sizes, so I just left it as something for another time.

Last night, though, as I awaited the start of the storm, I mentioned to a friend that I was in dire straits. I had run out of wooden spoons and so would not be able to burn designs into them (my new hobby) during the storm. Whatever would I do? He suggested that I make something with my die cutter instead, perhaps a puzzle. Perhaps a puzzle, indeed! Today at about noon I started researching how to make puzzles and cut box board once again. Armed with a few tips, such as taping the cardboard to the mat before cutting, I purchased a puzzle design and was off to the races! Er, I mean, craft room!

I decided I would make a test puzzle out of a candy box. After all, I have several of these lying around because I use them in bookbinding. I measured my cardboard very carefully and adjusted my puzzle design so that it cut the section I wanted. Then I taped it to the mat, loaded it into the machine, selected my cut settings, and sent it to cut. A few minutes later, I had my first puzzle.

I closed the software and turned off the machine, returning everything to its place. Then I carefully pulled the cardboard off the mat and was thrilled to see that the cuts were absolutely perfect. I pulled all the puzzle pieces apart and took them to my dining room to put the puzzle back together. Luckily, it was a small puzzle (just 36 pieces), because I couldn't really remember what the image had looked like. No worries, though! In no time at all, I had it together.

Earlier in the day, my friend asked about the thickness of cardboard required for a puzzle. I thought box board would work and she didn't. I decided the only way to know would be to test it. Now, there's no question that the cardboard from the candy box I used is too thin. It holds together well enough for a small puzzle like this one, but it would be horrible for anything larger. (I will note, however, that the puzzle in my Christmas cracker this year was made of cardboard that wasn't even as thick as the cardboard I used today, so it really depends on your purpose and preferences, I suppose.) The thicker box board found in a cereal box, on the other hand, works fairly well. (I say this based on a cutting experiment that must be kept secret for now.) I'm not certain yet, however, what the size limits of such a puzzle might be.

And so I have satisfied my curiosity in terms of cutting puzzles using my Cameo. It's pretty cool. I find myself hoping that some of my friends who eat cereal will save their boxes for me so that I can make a few more. Wouldn't a Cheerios or Cocoa Puffs or Lucky Charms puzzle be fun? (I'd use one of the larger templates of 100+ pieces.)

I also find myself dreaming of owning a colour printer. I have joked many times in the last year or so that my monochrome laser printer was limiting my creativity. Now I am certain it's true! With a colour printer, I could make custom puzzles using photographs or other fun images. And who knows what else?!?!?

There may be a trip to Staples in my future.

Addicted to Die Cutting

I'm sure that for many years I saw demonstrations on the home shopping network and infomercials on weekend mornings for the Cricut cutting machine. I was always pulled in by them and watched intently, contemplating the amazing things I could do with a die cutting machine. Of course, I saw them as largely being related to scrapbooking, a hobby that I have resisted because it seems as though it could take over your life and all the free space in your home. (I realize that could probably be said about any hobby, especially a craft-based one, but scrapbooking seems particularly vulnerable to craft-creep.) With no immediate use for such a machine, I only admired them from afar.

My attitude, however, started to change in November 2013. Our department had decided to make a wreath for a silent auction fundraiser and I found myself at a colleague's home getting my craft on. She too was an avid crafter who sold some of her knitted and crocheted items, and she had a Cricut. When we finished our wreath, she thought we should make a tag for it and naturally turned to her die cutting machine. There's little question that I was enthralled with the close up demonstration of how it worked and what it was capable of. She was aware of my new bookbinding hobby and suggested such a machine could be valuable for designing custom covers for the journals I was making. She had a point.

For the next month or so, I thought about die cutting machines. I conducted some research on the latest models and the features available for each. How large was the cutting mat? Did I want to depend on cartridges which can be expensive, but I could share with my friends? Or was I content to use it near my laptop and be able to purchase only the designs I knew I would use? What fonts were available? There was much to consider. I read reviews. I checked and rechecked prices. And while I was home over Christmas and brought the idea up with my father and sister, they both asserted that there really was no contest: I should purchase the Silhouette Cameo because it would allow me to import and cut my own designs. And so the first Saturday of January 2014, I made my way to Michaels and purchased my die cutting machine. 

The set up was simple and the software was relatively easy to use. For my first project, I made a bookmark for a friend. Over the next few months, I tried other projects, including several designs for envelopes. But it wasn't until November 2014 that I really got serious about the cutting machine. Earlier in the year, I'd seen a beautiful Christmas village that fit over battery-operated tea lights and I knew that I needed to make one to decorate my apartment. I purchased the designs for the church, cottage, and townhouses. The designs were intricate, so they did take some time to cut, and putting them together required some patience as well, but I was thrilled with the result (I lined them with waxed paper to create frosty windows).

About the same time, I became intrigued by the idea that it was possible to buy sketch pens to use in the Silhouette Cameo. Again, Pinterest was my introduction to this feature. I had seen online examples of envelopes addressed by using the sketch pens, creating a beautiful calligraphy effect. This was enough to hook me. I located a set of 24 sketch pens on Amazon.ca and began watching them. When the price was right on Boxing Day, I added them to my cart and had them shipped to my apartment. I couldn't wait to get back and test them out.

Of course, the best laid schemes of mice and men oft go awry. Not long into January, I was stuck down by an evil virus and it put me out of commission for a month. Now that I'm feeling better, I've had the chance to test them out. Sunday night, I removed the sketch pens from the package, loaded one in my cutter, selected a design that I thought would work for a test, and printed a few snowflakes on card stock. Snowflakes seemed particularly appropriate, since we have been hit by so much weather lately!

I have to say, I was surprised. First -- and I suppose I should have realized this by the name -- the sketch pens were actually ball point pens. Somehow, I had expected something different (markers, perhaps?). Second, the colour I chose for the test had a beautiful shimmer to it. This impressed me greatly. Finally, the consistency and intricacy of the drawing were impressive. I cut the print out into several small gift cards.

Last night I viewed a tutorial for how to draw with sketch pens and then cut the design, without removing the mat from the machine. I can't wait to test this out sometime very soon!