This method/kit just struck me as a really genius way to make a difficult task very easy. Three difficult tasks, in fact, because -- Stretching canvas evenly is hard -- it puckers -- Wrapping canvas around corners is hard -- you get those annoying thick wodgy triangles of fabric, and your nice neat corners suddenly... Continue Reading →
A quick New Year’s how-to: Convert pierced earrings to clip
Ladies like me who don't have pierced ears but occasionally like to wear big sparkly earrings, I am about to share something I wish I'd known 20 years ago. Look at the earrings you're thinking of buying. If the main part of the earring dangles from a small ring, you're in business. Like these dime-store... Continue Reading →
Extra ‘hands’ to help you install chair rail
When I went loopy and redid our two front rooms, I foolishly did all the chair rail part by myself. The real problem was trying to miter the joints with a cheap plastic miter box and a hand saw -- I thought going slowly would allow me more precision, but it didn't work like that. Precisely... Continue Reading →
Sewing in a straight line from 43,000 BC to the iPad
Sewing is, by some estimates, 45,000 years old. Sewing is older than cloth, but not as old as clothes: First we wrapped ourselves in hides, then we tied the hides around ourselves with cords or sinews, and eventually we poked holes in the hides and started running cords through to hold the pieces together. After another... Continue Reading →
For the discriminating egg painter
When I was a kid, we had plastic items called Decoreggers that held an Easter egg securely while you painted or drew on it. Last year, my family went on a major hunt for Decoreggers and couldn't find any in local stores. This year, I got out my saw and improvised. With a saw, a... Continue Reading →
Magical thinking: Hallway becomes library
If I ever get to design a house for myself, or just remodel a hallway, I'm totally doing this: Brilliant use of space in this very wide hall gave the owners their own mini-library. It even has a sliding-ladder contraption, a thing I have coveted for years, as I am teensy. Big bookcases can really... Continue Reading →
Slice through plastic packaging with tin snips
A great tool for cutting through plastic packaging and also for cutting up credit cards: ordinary tin snips.
Squee! Sold my first pair of earrings!
I've been making earrings as a hobby for about a year now, and this week I built an online store using eCrater and also put one pair of earrings up for auction on eBay -- the red roses at left, packaged in a red velvet bag for Valentine's gift-giving. (Because I've been a journalist too... Continue Reading →
Mahogany gameboard is a winner
As I'm wrapping up my Christmas shopping for this year, I wanted to share a photo of a gift I made last year: an Othello game board for my Dad. Isn't this a pretty piece of African mahogany? (It cost $8!) Dad taught me to play Othello when I was a little girl and I... Continue Reading →
A bracelet worthy of a beautiful fall day
It's been a lovely Thanksgiving Day here, and to celebrate, here's a little tribute to a beautiful bracelet design by Shanna Steele of Auntie's Beads in Southlake. It uses Czech pressed-glass beads shaped like leaves, with rich colors and coppery highlights. Following her great instructions, which include a video on the weaving technique, I made... Continue Reading →
