A Christmas Story . . . With Geeks

I've been away from the computer for a few weeks, just enjoying spending time with friends and family and enjoying the holidays. But something really wonderful happened over Christmas that I wanted to share with you - it is both crafty and geeky, and as such, is a perfect addition to this blog.

My sweetie, Darren, and I celebrated Christmas a few days early at his parent's house in Estacada, OR, as both his brother and his dad had to work Christmas eve. His dad was handing out presents, when, towards the end of the evening, Sweetie approaches me with a little scroll of paper sealed with a bow.

He says to me, "Now, a gift like this is a huge commitment, so I wanted you to have the choice to accept it or not." At this point his mother and his sister are looking at us, and I'm thinking, "Dang, did he get me a puppy?"

I unroll the scroll and start reading. My eyes get really wide and . . . and I blurt out, "OMG, you got me flesh-eating beetles!" My eyes teared up, I covered him with kisses and his mother and sister realized that no, in fact, he was not proposing.

It is, flat out, the most romantic gift I have ever gotten.

I don't know if anyone remembers this post where I talked about preparing bones to use in my art . . . but flesh-eating beetles, or dermestids, are one way that labs, museum curators, taxidermists, and other professionals clean bones. It would be super-cool to have my own colony to prepare lots of skulls and stuff, so that I could use really pristine - and delicate - bones in my art.

But Darren's right - being responsible for the health and well-being of a colony of of flesh-eating beetles is a huge responsibility, one that I'm frankly not sure I'm ready for. Who would take care of my flesh-eating beetles during the weeks I travel? Would I take the tank with me on the plane, or would I ask a friend to come and feed roadkill to my beetles? Speakign of which, where would I get enough carcasses to keep them fed? Though, apparently, if you don't have animal carcasses to feed them, you can give them hot dogs. Hmm. Hot dogs.

Anyway, that's the coolest thing - he knew the beetles would be the perfect gift, and he knew, too, that I might not be ready for such an amazing gift. And that's why he's the Sweetie.

That's why I bought this t-shirt from ThinkGeek:

Snow Daze.

When Portland gets snow it usually lasts a day, throws the whole city into a tizzy, and then leaves in a little moist whiff leaving barely a memory of itself behind. Not so this time. The snow has been here for over a week, and it's just getting deeper!


Here's the drift in my backyard. It has made exiting through the rear sliding glass doors almost impossible. Darren, however, did make it up the drift to refill the bird feeders.


Which I must say is very good for this guy! I love how when it gets cold, the birds all fluff up their under feathers. It makes them look so sweet and round . . . like Japanese brush drawings.



I was beginning to get a bit of cabin fever, but then I remembered . . . I have snowshoes! Darren got a few shots of me frolicking in the front yard before we trekked down to the grocery store.

So here's me making crazy deep footprints in my front yard yesterday with my big foot snowshoes.

And here's the front yard this morning. As pristine as if I'd never walked on it at all! The snow just doesn't seem to be going away . . .

So, when life gives you snow, make snow angels!

DEMO! Matchbox Ornament

If the Portland Saturday Market can have a Festival of the Last Minute, so can I! So here goes the first Ornament Demo of this year's Festival, for all my fellow decorating procrastinators and snowbound crafters!


For the big Cake and Pie Ornament Swap, I turned matchboxes into little birdhouses . . . and here's the Demo to prove it . . .

1. Start with matchboxes - and open up the outer part. Punch a 7/8" hole in the front, and gesso those babies! My 7/8" punch was so big that I had to open them up to punch them - but you may not have to open them up with a smaller punch . . .

2. Put two layers of gesso on . . .

3. Now glue the outsides back together - I used Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue, but Aleene's Tacky Glue would also work well. I used paper clips to hold the parts together while they were drying.

Ok, I love this paperclip shot,so you get a little extra.

4. Get some green acrylic paint, and paint the outside.

5. I gessoed the interior boxes, but you don't really need to. I do, however, recommend taking your 1/16" hole punch and punching holes in one end . . .

6. This will make it easier to poke the brads through, making a little drawer pull for the box.

7. Because I was doing multiples, I made one collage with some hand drawn birds and photocopied it. I starting by making a little template based on the inside of the matchbox. Then, I blew it up 200%, made my drawing/collage (I used shredded paper to make the nest), and then photocopied it again at 49%!

8. I used the template to trim the image to the perfect size, and folded it so it would fit.

9. I coated the inside of the box with matte medium . . .

10. And pressed the paper in. I used extra matte medium where the brad was so that the paper would adhere properly.

11. Next, it was time for the little surprise! I had also photocopied little gifts. I cut out tiny bits of foam core . . .

12. . . . And glued it down. I used Beacon's 3-in-1 just because it was handy, and it comes out of the bottle easily. You could use any craft glue.

13. Then, another dab of glue, and the little present is right there in 3D!

14. I made a little roof template and traced it out on some red posterboard I had.

Action shot!

15. Here you can see how it folds to make a little roof!

16. Where the roof tab overlaps, I slipped in a bit of ribbon to create a hanger. I used Ultimate Glue to secure it . . .

17. . . . And a paperclip to hold it while it dried.


18. I applied glue to the back of the roof piece . . .

19. I slipped it inside the exterior cover and held it in place while it set.

20. Poof! It's a little birdhouse, with a birds and nest inside! I also painted the top of the interior box red to match the roof, cause I was just being, well, you know, like that.

21. And still, it seemed like it needed a little more . . . so I added some Elmer's . . .

22. And some antique style mica glitter. You can also add a little on the roof for an extra accent.

And you're done!

Hope you're having a great holiday season.

Walking in a Crafty Wonderland . . .

Part of why I love Portland, Oregon is that for 11 months out of the year, the temperature hovers between 50 and 80 degrees. Warm enough for sandals and sundresses in the summer; cool enough for boots and sweaters in the winter. Only rarely do we swelter, and only rarely do we get snow or below freezing temperatures.

Rarely.

Which is not the same as never.

This year, one of our allotted two weeks of real winter weather just happened to coincide with the big holiday Crafty Wonderland event. And I have to say, people of Portland, I am impressed. In spite of a strong discomfort with icky weather, about 3000 people wandered through the event at the Oregon Convention Center . . .and some of them even bought stuff from me! Cool! Er, below freezing, really.


Here's my silly display of buttons and bauble rings . . .



It was a good day. Loading up to go home, I noticed my tire was a little low. I still managed to get my chains on - a very proud moment for me!

And the next day, it was almost completely flat. It's still kind of a cool picture, though, eh?

The Crafting Frenzy . . .

Most of the week has been spent making jewelry for Crafty Wonderland on Sunday . . .


Like these memory jewelry pendants with bird collages . . . I still need to add beads on some of them.


And these recycled rubber bicycle inner tube bracelets . . . a few of them are printed with my own designs like an octopus . . . and another with a tree . . . I've been doing some of my own drawings and getting rubber stamps made of them. I'm also using a few stamps from angel companies - those that allow you to hand-stamp items using their images and sell them. I think a few of these may need some metal studs to finish them out.

I'm excited to see what kind of response I get - it's been a long time since I've done a big craft show! Cross your fingers for me!