Martha Graham Lycra Lamp......House Beautiful

 

Since the dawn of time wire hangers and stretchy fabric have
gone together like Romeo and Juliet, like peanut butter and chocolate, like
Crayons and coloring books. You get my point.  I think this lamp looks a lot like what Martha Graham would
have in her home.  I love it with
all of it’s twists and turns.  One
word of caution, yours will be totally different from mine because there is no way two of these can be the same.

YOU’LL NEED

1 yard of super stretchy Lycra of Spandex fabric

Sewing machine

3 wire hangers

6’ Socket and cord set

1 energy saving cool light bulb

Needle and thread

Pliers

Straight pins

 HERE’S HOW

 1.    Unwind the 3 wire hanger and bend them into loops like shown.  Don't worry if they aren't perfect. Leave the excess wire bent toward the inside (like on the white hanger above)

  

Cut your Lycra/Spandex 20” by 36”

 3.  Fold it in half, right sides together, and sew a 36” long tube
out of your Lycra/Spandex. Use a zigzag stitch, it's easier. 

  4. Smoosh one wire circle and spiral inside the middle of the
tube and the other two at each end with the circle part of the wire toward the
mouth of each end of the tube.

5.   Use your straight pins to keep all the wires in place.

 6.    Flip the 1” excess inside each mouth of your lamp and tack it down with the needle and thread. This hides the wire and gives it a nice finished feel.  

 7. With your needle and thread, stitch around the circle part of
each wire only to keep in place so it doesn’t move inside of the tube.

 8.     Bend the excess of one of the end wires toward the top of the lamp
so that it can wrap around the socket part of your socket and cord set and so
that it keeps it in the center of your lamp and so the light bulb is not near
the fabric at all and you're done!

 *Since this lamp is so light it can easily hang from the
socket and cord set.  Just install
a small hook and hang it up.

 This and 100 more projects in THE BIG ASS BOOK OF HOME DECOR

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Best Dressed Dressers.........House Beautiful

Good Morning!  Strumming through the pages of my home decor magazines I spotted this AMAZING DRESSER in House Beautiful.  I love the blues together and I also love that it's wall paper adhered to the face and top of the dresser.  

If you don't have wallpaper and want to do something similar, there is a technique in The Big Ass Book of Home Decor that gives almost the same look.  Just change the colors to your taste and you're there!

 This is called the India Inspired Side Dresser, but you could change the colors, skip the stones and you'll have the same feel as above.

YOU'LL NEED:
Two colors of spray paint *(KRYLON is my spray paint of choice)
Can of spray adhesive
A dresser in need of some love

Coat your dresser with the base color and let dry.

 Spray the lace with the spray glue on one side.

Stick to the dresser carefully.  It is now a stencil.

Spray with your 2nd color of paint and remove the lace.
Voila!
For this and 100 more ideas, check out THE BIG ASS BOOK OF HOME DECOR
Available at all book retailers.
THE BIG ASS BOOK OF CRAFTS 2 is available October 11th and is also filled with furniture ideas!

Craft Night at CAFAM......Such a blast!

My 2nd ETSY CRAFT NIGHT at CAFAM (The Craft and Folk Art Museum) in Los Angeles was an amazing success and everyone had a wonderful time.  Here are some photos from the event where everyone got to create their own set of handmade glass magnets.  I hope you'll join me on November 3rd when we spend the evening together again enjoying snacks, beer and crafting (but not necessarily in that order)!

 Eco Green Crafts donated beautiful Glass Glintz for all 180 people who attended.

ECOGREENCRAFTS.COM has amazing products so go check them out and save 20% with this code:

ECOMM20

 The courtyard and the back rooms were filled with people working on their projects.

 The MAGNETSHOP.COM donated all of the magnets and everyone was able to go home with at least 6 new beautiful handmade magnets.

 Even the babies got to make them!

 The kids had a blast!

Mom and daughters enjoyed the evening, too.

This project and 150 more are in The Big Ass Book of Crafts Volume 1

COMIC BOOK COASTERS.......

 

YOU'LL NEED

Images to copy from a comic book

4”x4” squares of 1/4” thick birch plywood (or head to the 99c store and buy a set and use those as a base, SHHH)

KRYLON spray paint in blue, red or yellow

Elmer's glue

Black Elmer’s Painter's Pen with chisel tip 

Sticky felt or Ultrasuede for the bottoms of the coasters 

 HERE'S HOW

1.  With the coaster on a flat surface, spray paint the edges and one side.

2.  Create your images in 4"x4" pieces.

3.  Paint the Elmer’s glue on the back of the image and adhere it to the

wood block.

4.  With your paint pen, draw around the edges to give it a nice

finished look.

5. Flip right side up and paint several coats of the Minwax Polycrylic

on the coaster and let dry.  Start with a very thin coat first and let

dry, slowly building up and letting dry in between coats.

6.  Cut out sticky felt the size of the coaster and adhere it on the back

of the coaster.

BOOM! BAM! ZAP! You’re ready to party!

 From THE BIG ASS BOOK OF HOME DECOR!

Photo of the day.......Abstract painted lampshade

I'm digging this painted lampshade today!  You don't actually have to paint your lampshade if you want to do something like this.  Trace your shade pattern on paper and then paint on the paper!  When you're done, just tape it over the shade.......Now that was easy!

Just roll and trace your shade over some paper to create your pattern and use that as the canvas.

CAST PLASTER MASK PLANTERS......Say that 3 times fast!

 CAST PLASTER MASK PLANTERS:

I love anything that you can use as a mold.  When I saw these 

Halloween masks the first thing I thought of was how to use them to cast

 something in plaster of Paris. Well, the results were 

terrific and it makes my boring garden pots, well, spectacular.

YOU’LL NEED:

Halloween masks that you can fill with plaster

Tape

Plaster of Paris 

Tile adhesive calking

Plastic or Terracotta pots

Goop Glue or E-6000

Hot Glue and glue sticks

White Krylon spray paint

Gray paint

Paintbrushes

Craft knife

HERE’S HOW:

1.  Mix enough plaster of Paris to fill your masks.

DON’T WORRY:  If your mask has holes in it for the eyes and mouth, just tape

 over it on the outside of the mask.  Not on the inside where you will be

 pouring the plaster.

2.       Let the masks dry and remove.

3.   Score the pot and the back of the plaster face. This will make it rough so that the glue has 

something to hold on to.

4.       Using hot glue, Goop glue, and whatever glue you can find, put the 

face on the planter and let it dry in place.  Squeeze in some Tile adhesive calking in 

the edges where the plaster face doesn’t touch the side of the pot.

 

HINT: My pots were cheapie plastic pots and I had to cut off some of the rim with 

scissors to get the mask to fit just right.  However, pots come in many different 

sizes. Take your mask to the hardware store with you to figure out which will work best.

5.       After your face is dried in place, fill the sides with more calking.  I thought this made

 it more finished, but honestly, it would look good without this step.

6.       Spray your pot white after the grout has dried.

7.       Dry brush your pots with the gray paint over the white.  This will make the 

features pop.  Keep doing it until you achieve the look you want.

Fill with a bushy plant and it will look like green hair.

This and 100 more ideas in The Big Ass Book of Home Decor!

Uncle Mark Stikes Again!

Birthday Capes for the nephews (Zen and Zane)

A great gift for boys 4-7!

This is me in the back yard taking one for a test drive.

 I appliqued Z's to the backs by cutting out the letter in fabric and interfacing and then zigzagging it to the back.

*When making capes for twins, it's important to make them different so they don't fight over them!

A 1" bias maker is great for the tie.

Thanks for the awesome Machine Bernina!

The super heros posing for me right before they flew off.  Too much sugar makes for a very rowdy super hero.