DuhBe.com

I haven’t blinded you with science in so long.

I know the regular readers tune out these posts.  That’s OK.  It doesn’t even hurt my feelings when nobody comments on my science posts.  At some point,  somebody will get a little more educated on modern science. Mission accomplished.

Here’s a pretty digital collage I whipped up, maybe that will hold your interest while I blab about the moon being wet behind the ears again.  We already know the moon has H₂O.  I’m starting to wonder if they are trying to test our memory with these stories in the news.

National Geographic ran a new blog story this week about water found in moon rocks 40 years ago.  This time I was amused.  Didn’t I blog that 6 months ago?

(speaking is my bestest know-it-all voice)  Why yes, I think I did.  It’s right here:  water on the moon, blah, blah, blah

The best part is that National Geographic was my source 6 months ago.  Do they even read their own stories?  Too cute.

Oh well, that spur-of-the-moment digital collage turned out nicely, didn’t it?   I just love Ruth St. Dennis riding the aqua paisley waves through the purple galaxy.  (There’s a flaw I was too lazy to fix, can you find it?)

I’m in the process of listing 2 dozen fabric brooches in my Etsy shop that I crafted over the weekend.  For the first time in a long time, I wanted some creative playtime with no boundaries.  So I played around with various materials and techniques that wound up as 24 brooches.  Each one is different than the next.  All of them are made from bits and pieces from my stash.

I made several in aqua and teal shades…

Some turned out pretty pink…

And of course there are some darker ones in red, black or grey tones…

I’ll have them all listed in the DuhBe Etsy shop by this weekend.

I’ll get to the Japenese sewing in a bit, but let me start at the beginning…

It all started with Martha Stewert and the guy cooking the Japanese hot pots.  Then, by chance, I found that Japanese Hot Pots cookbook in the library so I used it to make the yummiest beef sukiyaki I’ve ever had.  (Which I had to rename “Sukiyaki Western Django” because I liked that movie so much-especially the costumes.)

I was so enamored with the Japanese hot pots, that I decided to stop at the huge Japanese supermarket Mitsuwa in the Chicago suburbs this weekend and purchase the hard to find ingredients for more hot pots.  Then on the way out, we stopped by the Japanese bookstore and I bought 2 Japanese sewing magazines. (Y’all know I’m addicted to magazines, right?)

I think my life may have just shifted a little bit.

I’ve been in love with Japanese food since I was introduced to it 14 years ago while I was pregnant.  We frequently went to the Japanese market for food.  I’ve even seen Japanese Zakka sewing projects and loved them. 

But this was different.  These are MaGaZINeS full of Zakka sewing.

May I introduce to you my new pals, Cotton Friend and Cotton Time…

(I feel a little bad showing photos of the magazines which have their own copyright, but since you can’t easily get them in the USA, and because these photos are less revealing than you flipping through the magazine at the newstand, I don’t feel too badly.)

These are not just magazines.  They are full of projects complete with full size patterns, step by step instructions and full color photos of the assembly process.  Many craft and fashion magazines had freebies inside them.    Cotton time included a bit of fabric so you can make the project on the front cover.  (how cool is that???)

Let me start with Cotton Friend which is geared towards clothing. I really like the simple style of these clothes in linen.

There is a big, fold-out sheet with all the patterns for all the clothes in the magazine (in one size). But all the pieces are printed all over each other. You might need a degree in cartography to figure these out. Reading Japanese would also help.

The Cotton Friend magazine is more geared towards sewing crafts and smaller projects.  Look at this embroidery & applique pattern on the very first page…it is so adorable.  They include the stitch diagram too.  Loving this.

Even though I don’t speak or read Japanese, their photos are enough to catch on and figure out the steps for most projects.

This page below made me think of Charissa’s gift wrap blog which is often inspired by Asian aesthetics.

Oh deer, what a cute satchel you have there.

The two photos below look like they could be straight out of Country Living Magazine or something, except for all the Japanese writing all over the place.

Here’s another freebie stuck in the Cotton Friend magazine.  It’s full of tools and techniques for crafting children’s food.  Have you ever seen food look this cute?

You paper junkies will love this.  Want to know how they get the faces on those rice balls?  They have craft punches and they use it on a sheet of nori, which is a dried kelp used to wrap sushi.  It comes in sheets like paper, so they punch designs and decorate the food.  Upon further research, there is a whole flickr group for bento boxes if you want to see more like this and source the face punches.

That’s enough photos for now.  I’m in love with these magazines even though I can’t even read them!

Before I go, I’ll leave you with this little earworm.  It’s been singing in my head for days – so maybe passing it to you will help me shed the Vapors one-hit-wonder from 1980.

(Tip – play the song while you go check out the photos of zakka sewing from google images and bento boxes on flickr.

I’m really going to talk your ears off this week.  I have Kane County flea market goodies to show off today.  Then Thursday I’ll be posting about some Japanese sewing (and food) that I’ve gone gaga over.  For Friday I’ll show you the 2 dozen fabric brooches I made up while playing around over the weekend with tips on how ot make them, and I’m also writing a post on some yarn fabric creations I’m playing around with.  And as SOON as Wisconsin gives me some sunshine, I’ll photo shoot the new studio since it’s looking pretty good these days.  (Even the husband came in last night to gush on how well the room is turning out)

I just love scary baby dolls. There’s something poignant about them.

But on with today’s post…The Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, Illinois is said to be one of the larger flea markets that still specializes in antiques and collectibles.  I’ve been staying away from thrift stores just to save my money for Kane County.  They are open once a month from March through December, so this was the first market of the year.

It was SUPER crowded when we got there around 1:00 PM (an hour after they opened).  Shoulder to shoulder people.  It’s like those termite swarms in cartoons!!  They come in, buy all the good stuff, then they’re gone a couple hours later and the place is empty.  So I couldn’t take many photos because of the crowds.  I managed to get a few booths and their displays.

Vintage purses and home decorating…

I liked these wooden table legs on the ground, but they were $15 each!  Crazy high prices for junk.

Of course there are booths where people fix up vintage and junk, then sell it all pretty and shabby chic like this booth…(that’s me wearing the hat in the mirror taking the photo, kinda neat how that turned out.)

Here’s an old spinning wheel which I think was marked at $65, so you could haggle it cheaper.  I want to learn spinning fibers like my sister Lynda.  Or I would like to have this just sitting around, looking cool in my house.  Then I could say “why yes, I am a fiber artist” and people would be all “wow, that’s so cool”

There was really only one booth that snagged my attention and I bought most of my stuff from her.  She had vintage sewing items, linens, and other girly home economics things (like vintage tupperware).

So let’s finally get to the part about what I bought to take home with me.  There are about 9 yards of lace and trim here, along with a rhinestone buckle (maybe for that rhinestone cowgirl outfit I dream of?)

More wooden spools that I like to display in jars around my studio.  I think I’m done collecting these now.  I have enough.

I loved this metal belt and thought it would be better taken apart so I can use the links for other projects.

More vintage buttons, this time with some rhinestones and some rust.  Those rusty buttons are very crusty curmudgeons.  You should hear the things they said to me when I took this photo.  Curmudgeons, indeed.

And of course I bought some fabric-y stuff.  A little bit of vintage pink cottons…

A couple of flour sacks and a salt sack.  In all my thrifting I never find this stuff, but have always wanted to play with these textiles in a fabric collage or incorporate them into a larger project.

Speaking of kitchen things, my last 2 treasures were vintage aprons.  There is a sheer white, dainty one…

And this purple, white and green apron with these ladies printed on it.  The ladies caught my eye and I knew I needed this for something, someday.

And that winds down my treasure hunting at the Kane County Flea Market.  I spent around $40 on merchandise which seemed a little higher than what I usually pay at thrift stores and antique malls,  but it was also stuff I don’t usually find very easily.

After we left the flea market, my daughter and I stopped at the Mitsuwa Japanese mega-market in Arlington Height, IL for some exotic groceries.  I got more than groceries, I discovered Japanese sewing magazines!  But you’ll have to check back tomorrow for that blog post.  (I’m so excited about the Japanese stuff!  My voice gets all high pitched when I talk about it and the dog comes running like I’ve turned into some high pitch dog whistle or something.  My family is making fun of me.)

Since I haven’t seen the other crafty sites talking about this, I’ll fill you in.

Costume designer Colleen Atwood talks about the costuming for Alice in Wonderland which comes out this Friday, March 5th.

And here’s another bit of Tim Burton trivia for you.  He has already teamed up to direct the movie version of this book which just came out this week.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter sounds pretty interesting.  Even though we’re all sick of vampires (those of us who started with Anne Rice have been through enough, haven’t we?)  This one peaks my interest anyway.

Now if I can just find that book used or handmade, so I don’t have to cheat on my Dottie Angel challenge.

Today I’ve decided to share a list of 11 different tutorials for making and crafting roses from various materials.  Read on to see links and photos off all the lovely roses you can make… Read more…

Toot, toot!  (that’s the sound of my own horn I’m tooting on)

The screenshot below is the front page of Etsy from last Thursday.  See the 3rd column, 2nd row?  That’s my neck ruff perched upon my daughter’s neck.

After selling on Etsy for over a year, it’s still nice to finally get some front page love.  I gave up on it a long time ago.  So the reward is even sweeter now.  (I’m feeling like Sally Field with her “you like me, you really like me” speech.  Maybe because the Oscars are next week?)

My lips are getting numb, so I’ll stop tooting that horn now.

The dining room to studio transformation is nearing the end. The walls and ceiling are freshly painted, the baseboards are refinished, there is a new light fixture and new electrical outlets,  as well as new cabinets and shelves.  This weekend the furniture was moved in.  Now the real work begins.

Read more…

There were so many entries for the “One World, One Heart” giveaway that I decided to choose 2nd and 3rd place winners on top of the 1st place winner.  So here are the 3 commenters chosen by the random number generator…

#123 – winner of 10 roses – Gina from Threads of a Tatting Goddess blog

#51 – winner of 5 roses – Lorri from Artivity blog

#195 – winner of 3 roses – Amanda from the Amanda’s Thirty-one blog

I’ll send an email to each of the winners tonight asking for color choice and mailing address.

Thank you to everybody who stopped by these past few weeks on your magic carpets.  What a whirlwind of a ride!  Hopefully some of you will come again and play for a while.  I’m now subscribed to dozens more blogs and regret I couldn’t visit all of the 1088 participants this year.

And for those who didn’t win my giveaway, there is always the free tutorial to make roses of your own, or stop by my Etsy shop and I’ll do the work for you.

Whether you have an Etsy shop or dream of having one someday, perhaps you should check out Gary’s fine jewelry and Stuff on Etsy to see how things should (or shouldn’t) be done.  He gets the most points for originality on Etsy, that’s fer sure.

He seems pretty touchy about his images so I won’t post any here.  (I don’t want to aggravate his rampant alcoholism or smoking habit)   Just go to his shop, read the shop announcement and look at his items.  His attention to detail is awesome – even his tags and materials are well thought out.  When life gives you lemons – make lemonade, then make a necklace out the empty lemonade can like Gary did.

Gary’s fine jewelry and stuff on Etsy

(Best laugh I’ve had all day – Thanks to the Plumb Pretty blog for pointing this out!)