Apron Thrift Girl

Tapigami - Maker Faire

Keiran and I went to the Maker Faire last Sunday. One of our favorite sights at the faire was the Tapigami exhibit.

It was created by a Northern California artist Danny Scheible. Now being a fan of Washi Tape it didn't take much convincing for me to fall in love with this form of tape art.

I especially loved the colorful background of fabric covered metal hangers. #hangerswoon

Tape creations are finished with an acrylic coating. You can see this in this art piece above.

If you want to learn how to make this yourself, a book is available from the author.

Here you can kind of see that the word Tapigami is part of the sculpture display.

I'm going to try my hand at making some of these fabric covered hangers. It might make an interesting headboard for my bed.

Keiran was as interested in this art as I was and he and I were taking photos side by side. It warmed my heart.

You can follow Tapigami on Facebook here.

who designed this fabric?

Mod Vintage Fabric

I found this fabric at the fabulous estate sale last weekend. I see lots of funky mod faces in the fabric. Do you or am I just seeing things?

Does anyone recognize this fabric or designer? It doesn't have any markings or information at all. I'd love to know who this is.

Congratulations to Adriann Humphrey for winning the Shabby Apple Apron on Wednesday. Adriann, if you could please send me your shipping details I'll pass them along to Shabby Apple so that they can mail you your brand new fab apron.

Is everyone ready for Christmas? For me, this was the least stressful Christmas ever. The pressure to buy, buy, buy was complete gone this year. I don't know whether my children want less or that I feel more inspired to save money than to get caught up in the buying frenzy that many people suffer from every December. I did go to Target on Tuesday and I swear people were just tossing anything that looked appealing in their cart. I was nearly sucked into the "need" to buy but shook myself and reminded me that I don't need to buy more than what was on my list.

Merry Christmas my thrifty friends.

a steampunk car

As we were leaving the Fair Grounds of the Maker Faire to head back to our free parking spot, we saw this incredible work of art: a steampunk car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The owner of this Art Car had a helpful Questions & Answers displayed on the dashboard. Love that it's in a vintage frame. To see more cars like this you can attend an Artcar Fest.

 

I adore the creativity and passion that went into this car. Imagine working 1400 hours on a project like this? Makes my 20 minute crafts pale in comparison.  Seeing a car like this that probably started out as an merely an idea instills hope that you can really create anything that you put your mind to. I hope that this summer will be one of creation for me, Cerys and Keiran.

What do you want to create?

Make Share - Heath Tile Art

Make Share - Heath Tile Art

Back in November we took my mother-in-law Elsie to Sausalito for an outing. I especially wanted to show her the Heath Ceramics Factory & Store. Elsie and I both adore pottery and dishes. She influenced me when I met her for the first time by showing me her own collection of at least 6 or 7 different dish collections. She mostly collects Denby and from that day forward, so did I. I started collecting Heath once we moved to California and I couldn't wait to visit the store.

It took me all of about 2 minutes to realize that the store was way outside of my budget. Many of the 2nds were not as expensive but they had flaws like small cracks. I wandered around the shop three times before I realized that I could buy tile samples for $1.00 each. They did limit you to one color but I didn't mind that at all.

I picked out my 4 favorites and decided that I would make a small wall hanging.

Last week I came across a teak frame without the glass that I thrifted for 50¢. I gathered my 4 tiles, a piece of light blue scrapbook paper, my frame and some superglue.

The total cost for my Heath Tile Art was $5.11. Total Project Time 15 minutes.

The look is very simple and should go well in my Mid Century Modern styled living room. Maybe I won't ever spend the money to tile a shower using Heath Ceramics but I'll be able to look at my Thrifty art every time I walk into the living room and remember our day in Sausalito. I still adore Heath and love coming across plates and bowls at estate sales. A La Modern has a lovely collection of vintage Heath for sale at the moment. I think this color of Heath dishes is fabulous.

Here are some other ideas for Thrifty Art using a frame, a piece of paper, Superglue and...

• watch movements - a bit Steampunk
• buttons
• mosaic using scraps of paper from magazines
• vintage fabric squares
• vintage sewing bobbins (with our without thread
• old metal letters - spell out anything that creates conversation
• vintage Little People - create a family tree

Do you have any ideas for creating hanging art from 2nd hand supplies?

We Thrift - We Craft - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Make Share:

• Your Make Share project should include at least one item that is 2nd hand. A part of the Make Share intention is recycling.
• Take your Make Share item and create a blog post with photos.
• Link your Make Share post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Make Share post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz. There will be inlinkz on every Make Share post so that you can add your photo and link back to your blog.
• If you participate with Make Share regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Make Share Community.

Make Share Button

Thanks for being part of our community in recycling, crafting, creating and sharing.

Make Share - Crafting Deer

  Buck (before) purchased from estate sale for $3

Has the Deer craze got a hold of you yet? Every direction I turn this Christmas I am seeing deer and antlers. And I must confess I am starting to feel drawn to them. Head over heels. I'm so utterly gullible. Even Martha has joined the trend with her Woodland Park Collection. Last Friday I purchased the little bronze buck at an estate sale. After bringing him home my resistance to the deer craze was hopeless. I was hooked and headed to the craft room.

Buck (After)

Cathe Holden turned me onto Sterling Silver Spray Paint after I saw this photo of hers. Now I'm spraying everything that isn't nailed down.

Deer on Christmas Mantel

Felt Deer

I found a silhouette of a deer in a magazine, enlarged it on my printer and used it for the felt deer and paper deer project. I reversed it on the felt deer so that it would be the same but facing a different direction. 

It was the first time that I had felted on burlap. It was so different than working on a wool base but I actually found it quite easy. The burlap was a thrifted napkin 25¢, the embroidery hoop was 25¢ from the Legacy Thrift Store and the wool was a gift from Dave for my birthday.

     Paper Deer Silhoette on Canvas

My last deer project was using the same silhouette and tracing around it on a bit of text from a damaged book that I use for various projects. I was planning to paint the canvas (50¢ yard sale) but couldn't locate my paints anywhere.  I found a bit of scrapbook paper and used that for the background instead.

I did all three crafts in one day and it probably took me an hour and thirty minutes to complete them all. My head is spinning with other Deer craft ideas. Do you have any to share or suggest?

Have you been crafting and want to take part in Make Share? It's very similar to Thrift Share where I begin a post with sharing something that I made and you all get to finish the post by linking up and sharing what you have made. There's a few guidelines -

• at least one item used in your project should to be 2nd hand.
• Link your Make Share post back to ATG.
• Post a Make Share item that you made on your blog or website.
• Link to your individual post on the item that you made using inlinkz below.
• If you participate with Make Share regularly, I'd love it if you'd add this button to your side bar

Make Share - Halloween Felt Owl Ornament

Make Share - Halloween Felt Owl Ornament

Keiran and I found this sweet, little feathered Halloween Tree at TJ Maxx last week.

We went to the most horrible store a couple weeks ago that consisted of the most frightening, nightmare inducing decor ever. Heads hanging by hooks in tongues and little zombie babies. We left as quickly as possible and I spent an hour trying to get the images out of my head. Keiran of course was entranced and didn't understand why his mother kept putting her hand over his eyes. I'll never return there again, ever. Finding this tree reminded me that there are decorations out there to celebrate the coming of Autumn and not just to highlight the insanely scary and gruesome.

The tree was $7.99 and it was the only one we saw in the store. I had to have it.

I'm planning to make felt ornaments over the next couple of weeks leading up to Halloween. I want to make some ravens, a crescent moon, a cat and some more owls to decorate the tree. Maybe I'll sneak in a Jack Skellington face.

Did you make something this week to share?

Make Share is very similar to Thrift Share where I begin a post with sharing something that I made and you all get to finish the post by linking up and sharing what you have made. There's a few guidelines -

• at least one item used in your project should to be 2nd hand.
• Link your Make Share post back to ATG.
• Post a Make Share item that you made on your blog or website.
• Link to your individual post on the item that you made using inlinkz below.
• If you participate with Make Share regularly, I'd love it if you'd add this button to your side bar

Make Share - Handcrafted Camera Strap

Handcrafted Camera Strap

If I lived in an ideal organized life, this handcrafted camera strap would have been with me when I went to the Blogher Conference. Instead my friend Holly, the talented woman behind the Sono-Ma website, and I got together for our Altered Craft Party on Columbus Day.

I've been without a strap since the day my Nikon D60 arrived in the mail from Amazon. Okay so this sounds silly but I couldn't quickly figure out how to get the strap on, found the big yellow letters on the strap somewhat unattractive and so I stuck it in a drawer for the next few years. (including a move from Washington to California)

When I went on the Media Tour through the new Whole Foods Market in Santa Rosa I realized quickly that I didn't have enough hands. I was awkwardly juggling camera, notebook, pen and food samples. I can't imagine how professional that looked. Two days later at the grand opening I spied a young woman who looked like a journalist, posed and who knew what she was doing. She had a camera strap and could balance everything including her mega lens and coffee. I knew I had to get a strap.

Back side of Camera Strap with Cotton Fleece

I found a camera strap tutorial from Michelle My Belle that interested me immediately. It was fun, whimsical and very much me. Plus it looked rather simple which is what I require in a craft project.

Kitschy fabric squares

The main use of my camera outside of the house is most likely going to be for my food blog Flavorstitch so that was my inspiration for the colors and design. It feels a bit like betrayal to admit this but at the moment I'm so into teal. I swore in the 90's that I would leave the memories of teal behind from the 80's but somehow years later it was reappeared and I'm drawn to it more than ever. Remember teal mascara?

I found some kitschy fabric in my collection. Rather than use circles like Michelle My Belle has done, I cut out squares from the fabric and sewed around them at the edges.

It was an easy pattern to follow and quick from start to finish. And note to self, don't put the handcrafted camera strap on the camera before you take your photos. I tried to do a nice little photo with it around my neck like Michelle did but it wasn't very pretty.

Did you make something this week to share?

Make Share is very similar to Thrift Share where I begin a post with sharing something that I made and you all get to finish the post by linking up and sharing what you have made. There's a few guidelines -

• at least one item used in your project should to be 2nd hand.
• Link your Make Share post back to ATG.
• Post a Make Share item that you made on your blog or website.
• Link to your individual post on the item that you made using inlinkz below.
• If you participate with Make Share regularly, I'd love it if you'd add this button to your side bar

an Altered Clothing Craft Party

Sutter VNA Hospice Thrift Store in Santa Rosa always has a color of tag that is half off. At the end of the month it drops to 75% off and that's when I shop for clothing that I can use for crafting. I look for striped wool sweaters to felt, vintage clothing and any items that are are a bit unique. Over the last year my pile of craft clothing has grown. Finally on Labor Day I had an excuse to use them at an Altered Clothing Craft Party.

The dining table quickly became full of sewing machines, fabric, magazines full of inspiration, boxes and bottles of buttons and of course a few bags of cotton candy. The party consisted of my friend Amy, Holly of Sono-Ma, Holly's son and my two children. 

Holly brought over supplies so that the children could make some simple hats from the magazine Living Crafts. Cerys made a sweet gnome hat for her doll and Keiran made one for himself. He wore it to school yesterday so proud. Amy worked on so many projects that I lost count but some of them included cloth napkins, a gorgeous fox stuffie, an altered top and a baby gnome hat. Holly made the most incredible hat out of some delicious felted blue and black wool.

I worked on my vintage Anthro-Style coat, sprucing it up a little with some thrifted buttons.

 

If you remember this post, I had mentioned that I didn't fancy the 3/4 length sleeves. I found an Eileen Fisher sweater vest in my altered clothing collection that was perfect for this project. This wool is incredibly soft and will keep my arms warm on cold mornings. I took advantage of the hem from the sweater vest and used that for the hem of the sleeves. I added some buttons to give it an alternative look.

Holly has written a fabulous article on her site: Out of the Closet - Crafty Tricks for Bringing New Life into Discarded Items. You will find more photos of our party as well as some great ideas of what to do with unwanted items from your closet.

Have you altered any items in your closet? What did you create?

How to Make a Jewelry Letterpress Box

Yesterday was our last day of summer. Today the children begin 5th and 2nd grade and our carefree days of summer are over. Wanting to squeeze in one last craft we began to work on my $5 thrifted Letterpress Box. Remember this post where I had asked your advice?

I did decide to make a Jewelry Box out of this amazing wooden Letterpress Box. I really needed one as my jewelry tends to become a heaped up mess on a built-in desk in our bedroom. I wanted this jewelery holder not only to be functional but to display my jewelry in an artistic way.

I began by making patterns of the little inner dividers.

Using a Fiskars Paper Trimmer I quickly cut paper rectangles to fit in the dividers. I chose three different patters of paper from the Dill Blossom Paper pack by S.E.I.

I was originally going to use vintage wrapping paper but the patterns of this paper pack were too hard to resist. This is one of my favorite paper collection that I have yet to come across.

Rather than using glue I decided to keep it really neat and tidy but using a Creative Memory Tape Runner. I still have a large stash of these from when I used to sell CM just after Keiran was born. I placed the double sided tape runner on each edge. Each rectangle fit perfectly in the divider. I pressed the area with the tape down around the edges.

Following your advice I only filled some of the spaces with paper while leaving others empty. I chose a random pattern.

I grabbed my box of vintage nails (some complete with a little authentic rust) and began to nail them gently into the backing of the Letterpress. It is rather thin so I was very careful just to tap the nail a little bit to hold but not so much that it would poke through to the other side. I used a ball-peen hammer in order to hammer inside the very small dividers.

A necklace from the Farm Chicks Antique show that I attended in Washington.

A Cath Kidston pin that I received as a gift from my family in England. A vintage pocket watch from England.

A Lucky Brand ring that was bought at a silly and fabulous sale price from Macys. It's very large and although I love the design it's not very convenient to wear while thrifting. I'm looking forward to being able to see it prominently in my Jewelry Letterpress Box.

A Thimbleberry Design piece by my friend Nancy Travis up on Bainbridge Island.

 

While I was carefully placing my jewelry into this box I realized that I am drawn to jewelry as if it were art. I love design, color and something that gives it an alternative edge.
While my Letterpress Box is being filled, it's far from being finished. I'm going to slowly add my favorite pieces over the next few months. Each piece will represent a memory or something that means something to me. This project took about 3 hours in between having lunch and working with the children.

Total Cost:

• Letterpress Box $5
• 3 Sheets of Scrapbook Paper (purchased on sale from Michael's) $1.65
• Box of vintage nails 25¢

Crafting - The Legacy Thrift Store

Sebastopol, California is home to one of my favorite thrift stores in the country: The Legacy. It's a thrift store unlike any other that you've probably been to. You will not find garish Christmas sweater or scratched Teflon pans for sale. Instead you will find every craft supply imaginable.

Bins full of Markers, Sequins, Beads, Findings and more.

Every space is filled neatly in this craft Thrift Store.

Cerys goes straight for the embroidery hoops to look for the perfect ones for her dream catchers. Small ones start at around 25¢.

Vintage Aprons line the wall in one corner of the store. 

Some of the worse thrift stores are those that are a mess. The volunteers work so hard at The Legacy organizing the donations and making it very easy to find what you are looking for. I found some vintage Strawberry Shortcake material in the "pink" bin that I had to take home with me.

This store has shelves and shelves of material which they sell it by the pound.

This is a just a small sample of their large selection of buttons. When I was making my button art, I came here in search of the colored buttons that I needed to complete my project. And if you adore buttons, One Gal's Trash is giving away some fabulous buttons on her blog. 

They even went so far as to divide the patterns up by sizes. Where have you ever seen that in a thrift store?

Their selection of yarn is incredible. I adore that they separate the wool from the acrylics. I tend to buy only natural fibers so this makes it very easy to find the wool. I don't have to put every skein up to my cheek to see if it is scratchy or not. I've certainly received some seriously strange glances from shoppers when I've done this in the past. This is also a good test for blankets at estate sales and garage sales.

Needlepoint yarn in bins separated by colors.

This store isn't very big, but it is so well organized that you can literally spend hours here. I had the two children with me who were a bit naughty so I had to quickly take photos, buy our craft supplies and escape before too much havoc occurred in this sweet little shop. The opposite wall to this one is also filled with books.

They have miles and miles of ribbon, lace, cord and rickrack.

On the 2nd Friday of each month, all regularly priced items are 50% off. If you love crafting and live in the Bay Area or you are planning to visit the Bay Area, this store should definitely be on your to-do-list.

Outside in front of the store they usually have at least one box of free fabric. Some are just scraps but enough to make something especially if you have a project in mind. I picked up these pieces of fabric and was so surprised that they were free. The one in the middle I think is raw silk.

The Legacy is open Monday - Saturday from 10am-4pm. They stay open until 6pm on Thursdays. They are always accepting craft donations which are of course tax deductible. They even offer you the option to sell your handmade items on consignment. All profit from the shop goes to the Sebastopol Area Senior Center. They have a blog although it hasn't been updated in awhile. It does include a lot of information about the store.

If anyone does take a trip to visit The Legacy, let me know and I'll show you around Sebastopol.

Do you have a favorite Thrift Store? Why is it your favorite?