starlight, starbright

It's the holiday season again. Which means it's time to pull out the glue guns, knitting needles, and crayons, because it's crafting time.

Most recently I've been frantically folding, making tons of annekata's paper stars.

I'm using up some tiny origami paper that I have hanging around.

I've been adapting the project just a bit too.

Instead of Elmer's Glue, I'm using a glue stick for the stars points. (On the small one's I use a toothpick to spread the glue on evenly.)

It's much faster.

  The small stars, I've been playing around with.

I've managed to fasten one to a small hair clip.

And another to a safety pin, so I can wear it as a brooch.

I'm really enjoying them so far! (I have to be careful not to squish them though.)

I think I might string some together into a garland. Right now though, I have all the stars sitting in a bowl. That looks really great too! It might make a nice centerpiece for your holiday table.

I love how cheerful the little stars are. :)

The Quick Explorer's Rucksack

While browsing Etsy today, I came across an article in which they there was a tutorial for making your own sandals. I found it fascinating so I followed the link at the bottom to annekata. Wow! Um… how did I not know about this blog before? It’s awesome! Still browsing I came to the DIY section. I found this neat no-sew bag project. I thought I’d take a whack at it. It’s the Japanese art of folding called, “furoshiki”. I looked through my fabric bin, and found a piece that I’ve had for years. I picked it up at a thrift store. It’s got lots of wild animals on it, and the words “wild territory”.

 

This is the perfect explorer rucksack. Easily and quickly wrap up your gear so you can dash off to… explore!

It holds so much, I started with just a few things and then kept adding more to show you how much it really can hold. Here it’s holding some laundry (including a pair of jeans).

 Annekata says she uses hers for summer picnics, which is a brilliant idea. I think this one might be a holiday gift for my brother. I need to make one for my own! What a great project this would be for kids, super easy, no sewing or gluing, and a really nice, really handy finished product.

Time for a Shake Up

I'm feeling that it's time to brush off the cobwebs and start anew. I'm going to be shaking up some of the things on this blog, and I really want to start hand-crafting more. So what I'm going to try to do is work on something, doesn't matter what, at least once a week. I was going to say once a day but I think that's a recipe for trouble. Knitting is not very active right now in the 90+ heat, so I'm thinking...

 cooking, sewing, paper arts, jewelry, and photography.

Yeah, I think I can do that once a week.
Stay tuned.

Pure

Lovely things.

The Cherry Orchard

My cherry isn't quite ready yet, but soon.