Creativity that sticks - Childrens Plant Pot Workshop

Proud artists with their plant pot creations!

Have I told you lately how much I love our library? When we moved to Brunswick, Maine from Des Moines six years ago Curtis Memorial Library was the very first place that made us feel part of the community. My older boys loved both the children's and teen programs. Four years ago when Celia joined our family I began taking her to 'baby lapsit', many of her preschool friendships started at the library. Last summer my husband Jon and I were delighted to donate our time to help them revamp the childrens play area, I promise to post shots of my murals soon. Recently I've been fortunate to be part of both the children and teen library art and craft events.

Parents and children making one of kind plant pots at library Earthday library event.

Today's craft was inspired for a design I developed for the summer issue of Crafts 'n Things.

I created a trio of mixed media plant pots that incorporated 'junk' everything from odd game pieces to hardware. I loved the 'in process' pots almost as much as the finished grouted pots. I realized that using adhesive alone would be the perfect way to introduce kids to the concept of mosaics and tiling. One of the biggest challenges in preparing for this event was collecting enough recycled materials.

This is me intently helping someone decide which pieces will 'stick' to their pot.

A girl after my own heart, she was intent in filling the entire surface of her pot.

To make this project at home, begin by sealing the inside of the pot with a weatherproof sealer. Purchase a small container of tile adhesive at your local hardware store. Use a plastic knife to spread a 1/4" layer of adhesive onto the outside of your pot. Press found objects into the adhesive, filling the small spaces with plastic beads and buttons. Let adhesive cure 24 hours before planting your funky pot. 

Another superb original creation!

Today's plant pot activity quickly reached eighty pre-registered children, unfortunately the librarians were forced to turn many people away. At a time when library budgets are being cut nationwide, the outstanding attendance for these kinds of events is a strong indicator how important libraries are to our community!

These young men found a way to personalize their pots with letter beads.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be working with the librarians to plan more creative summer activities for both children and teens. I can't wait to get messy and share more smiles!

Happy 40th Earth Day!

To celebrate the Earth Day I'm giving away a signed copy of my Craftcycle book to a lucky winner. This book was a labor of love, it's filled with craft ideas, recipes, and green living tips. A random winner will be selected from my blog followers, please post a comment here to let me know you're interested. I'm loading up my chip purse and heading out the door to teach teens how to fold a java wristband, Good luck!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments! Wish I could give you all a copy, Amanda W. you're the lucky winner!

Stitching up Spring

The last few weeks have been all about stitching chez Boyd. It started with working up sample projects for my new sewing book and then moved on to stitching together a blog header. While I was selecting fabric for the header at Alewives in Damariscotta, I couldn't resist picking up a Modkid sewing pattern. Patty Young designed this gorgeous 'Emma' dress that is actually a versatile skirt and top set. Celia and I had so much fun picking out the fabrics, there's no shortage of inspiration in the gorgeous fabrics that line Alewives shelves.

Taking time out to make my own project is always a challenge, there's usually a list of things that need to be made for publication. I rewarded my self with time to work on this dress after I sent the finished stitched header to my sister. She graciously offered to photograph it and add the type to create a logo.  I'm anxious to see what she comes up with and finally make my blog official with a handcrafted banner.

The last time I made a sewn garment I was pregnant with my son Jasper (who is now 17) and had outgrown all my maternity clothes. What a joy it was to follow this wonderfully clear pattern and settle down to something that wasn't going to be shipped away. It was also a delight to whip something together with just a couple yards of fabric, knitting and sewing for children is the best! I'm curious to see how floaty this design would be in lightweight voiles that are recommended, I might just have to make it in a different colorway.

On one of our many trips to JoAnn's for odds and ends I treated Celia to a little felt sewing kit. We had a few relaxing afternoons sitting together, her stitching and me unknotting her tangles.

She did surprisingly well and was excited enough to make four different little softies a butterfly, cat, flower and heart. While I was helping Celia stitch and working on her dress, my sewing book passed through North Light books proposal process. I have a deadline of January to make up all kinds of sewn personal and home accessory projects. It looks like this springs stitching frenzy might last through the new year!

Carrot Cake Recipe and Pysanky Egg Decorating

This weekend's Ukrainian egg decorating workshop inspired a baking frenzy at our home. It began with getting the carrot cake ready for the workshop. The recipe comes from Jon's childhood neighbor Jeannie Hulten. My mother in law shared it with me and ever since it's been a favorite for birthday celebrations. The first alteration I've made to the recipe is to add ground walnuts into the batter. I chop them in our coffee grinder which imparts a mild coffee flavor. I also add a pinch of nutmeg and cloves to enhance the cinnamon.

Carrot Cake Recipe

Mix the following together:

3 cups of grated carrot

4 unbeated eggs

2 cups of sugar

1 1/2 cups of oil

Combine the following dry ingredients together then add to the wet ingredients above:

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

2 tsp of cinnamon

optional I add 1/4 tsp of nutmeg and cloves

2 cups of flour

Stir in 1/2 cup of ground walnuts

Oil and flour two round cake pans or a 9" x 14" brownie pan

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 mins, add 10-15 minutes for the brownie pan.

Frosting

Combine 8 oz of cream cheese with a 1/4 pound of margarine, add powdered sugar until the frosting has a nice thick but easily spreadable consistancy. Frost the cooled cake and then scatter chopped walnuts on top. Double the frosting recipe for the double layer cake so that you have enough frosting to spread between the layers.

The Ukrainian Egg Decorating Workshop at Art Mind and Soul was a huge success. A wonderful creative group of women took part in the class.  It was a delightful quiet afternoon with the smell of beeswax filling the air. I was thrilled with the rich colors of the dyes, and how quickly everyone grasped the process.

Deb Merrill working on her beautiful chick egg. She came with lovely eggs that her chickens had laid and a wealth of experience of batik and fabric dying.

Joy's lovely red and white eggs with Erin Vazdauskas in the background using iconic Easter imagery.

Patty Sullivan made a pair of delightful eggs in two different colorways. Beth Carr, the owner of the Studios, joined us and decorated an enormous goose egg that challenged our small dye containers. Patricia Boissevain was holding a jewelry class in the adjoining studio, it was a treat to take breaks and see what they were creating.

My husband Jon saved the day by blowing out the eggs out in the morning, what a horrendous task! The resulting eggs inspired exquisite German pancakes. Topped with butter and maple syrup the were a delicious breakfast treat, this recipe comes from an old issue of Yankee Magazine.

In the midst of mixing up the dyes he started the dough for these beautiful loaves of Challah bread that greeted me when I returned home. The smell of fresh bread trumped the beeswax but only by a small margin.

This Saturday I'm bring the dyes and tools along with another cake up to Sweetland Retreat in Manchester, Maine to teach workshop again to a whole new group. Please let me know if you're interested in joining us.

Blooming Bracelet - Free tutorial

I've been intending to make my mum a bracelet since before Christmas. She is the biggest fan of my jewelry creations, and wears my designs more often than I do. I'm always crafting on a deadline for work and seldom get to take time out to make gifts. Work and band commitments took away two of our children for the day leaving us with just a little girl at home. She adores her dad and was thrilled to have him to herself while I focused on bead work.

The plans for this gift started when I potted rooted cuttings from my Cape Angel plant. My favorite houseplant, it blooms sweet purple flowers all year round and despite the shade from our Hemlock woods. The color of the blooms is the same as the polished stone beads, a color that also works well with my mums wardrobe. I poured through the rest of my bead stash this morning to find the leaf, flower, and freshwater pearls to accompany the stones. I used the limited color palette as a device to tie together the different bead styles and shapes. Despite it's intriguing appearance this bracelet uses very simple beginner beading techniques.

I'm grateful for a day of personal crafting: a quiet afternoon of bead stringing for someone very special. Here's hoping this spring offers you moments of solace and creativity.

Finished size: 7'1/2"

Materials:

9" section of 19 strand .015 copper colored Stringing wire - Beadalon

Antique gold lobster clasp - Blue Moon Beads

5 12mm antique gold jump rings - Blue Moon Beads

2 antique gold crimp beads - Blue Moon Beads

1 antique gold head pin - Blue Moon Beads

18 Semi precious stone beads 'Enchanted Planet' - Blue Moon Beads

12 4mm violet blue freshwater pearls

5 glass flower beads - purple

5 glass leaf beads 'Color Coordinates' - Blue Moon Beads

1 16mm glass flower bead

Tools:

Round nose pliers

Chain nose pliers

Flush cutters

Clear tape

*please note all supplies were provided by the manufacturers

1. Fold tape over the end of your bead strand and begin stringing the first part of the sequence, three stone beads.

2. String the second part of the sequence: freshwater pearl, leaf bead, freshwater pearl.

3. Use your chain nose pliers to open a jump ring laterally and then slide a glass flower bead onto the ring. Carefully close the ring and string it onto the wire to complete the sequence.

4. Repeat the bead sequence in steps 1-3 four times, ending with three additional stone beads.

5. Check the length around your wrist, if necessary string a fresh water pearl to either end. To make the flower dangle first string the glass flower onto a head pin. Use round nose pliers to shape the end of the pin into a loop, wrap the wire end around the base of the loop and trim away the excess wire.

 6. String the flower dangle onto one end of the bracelet, follow it with a crimp bead and one part of the clasp. String the wire back through the crimp bead and then use chain nose pliers to squeeze the crimp flat, trim the wire end with flush cutters. String the second crimp bead and other part of the clasp onto the other side of the bracelet. String the wire back through the crimp, be sure to remove any slack from the wire before squeezing the crimp flat and trimming the end.

Spring Tease?

I was supposed to spend the weekend working on a new book proposal but the unseasonably warm temperatures and bright sunshine made it impossible to stay inside. 50 degrees might seem a regular winter day in other parts of the country but to Mainers that much warmth in March is a dream. We're usually mired in feet of snow, that slowly melts and gives way to enormous puddles and an endless mud season. 

To celebrate we visited to two different beaches over the weekend, Popham in Midcoast Maine close to our home and York beach an hour away in Southern Maine along the border of New Hampshire.

We were thrilled that Elliot came along for the trip, these days he sometimes chooses to skip 'family' adventures. He took the photos in this post except for the one of him demonstrating his mad juggling skills with beach rocks. 

There's nothing like a dog running the length of the beach and into the surf, Maizy was in doggy heaven.

After a romp and wet feet at York beach we stopped at Jon's favorite dining establishment Bob's Clamhut in Kittery. We feasted on fried seafood on a picnic bench in the sunshine. 

I did squeeze in an important stop into the Portsmouth Fabric Company, to pick up fabrics for the sample book projects. They carry a wonderful selection of high end printed cottons, embellishments and trims in a historic downtown storefront. Jon and I longed to meander through the streets of Portsmouth but after a visit to G.Willikers toy store Celia was ready to leave. Hopefully one day Jon and I will return and take time to enjoy a great restaurant and some window shopping. For now I'm thankful the early taste of spring, and a bag full of fabric that should help me settle down to work.

Ukrainian Easter Eggs and Family Stuffed Sock Bunny Workshops

I took a late afternoon walk around our neighborhood yesterday with my daughter Celia and our wheaten terrier Maizy. It was so pleasant to have the sun shining on us in the late afternoon. The streams were rushing with the water from the weekend storms, providing  plenty of mud and puddles for the girl and dog to explore. There was an abundance of downed sticks and branches on the ground to poke into the mud and instigate a game of tug of war with the pup. Nature had created the perfect playground for my companions. I relished their happiness and started to believe that spring is slowly creeping it's way to Maine. 

I'll be giving my first Pysanky egg decorating class at Art Mind and Soul studios on March 28, 2-4pm. I was captivated by this technique as a child in Canada, a very kind neighbor spent an entire afternoon teaching me the craft. Although my designs are not authentic, the process is true to it's origins. If you become a committed follower of Ukrainian eggs there's an entire alphabet of authentic symbols to memorize and master. I love how easily this craft can be  modernized to suit your own creative style, in many ways it's similar to batik. A small stylus is used to heat beeswax over a candle flame enabling you to draw the wax directly onto an egg. The egg is repeatedly dipped in dye and more wax is applied after each immersion. The dramatic finish happens when the egg is heated over the flame and the built up wax is wiped away to reveal the colors and designs.

It might be because Easter falls close to my birthday but I've always loved this season of renewal! To celebrate I'm offering another spring workshop for parents and their children to enjoy together on Saturday March 27, 1-3 pm also at Art Mind and Soul Studios. We'll be cutting up socks, stuffing and stitching them together to make adorable stuffed bunnies.

Mark your calendars, and send me an e-mail I'd love to have you join in the creative fun!