Many of you know I am editing video tutorials for DIY Lounge these days and  I’ve decided that editing film is like complex math.  In math, you must learn all the basic math and be pretty good at it to be able to execute complex math problems.  Video editing is the same.  I took a Final Cut class at PCM last year.  The class covered all the basics in terms of the editing software itself, but we never imported film or cataloged the videos, so as I’ve been editing videos, I keep running into the brick wall of how to capture and manage the video in the first place.  Last week I got a lesson in how to do this.  It was so obvious once I was shown, but totally impossible prior to the lesson.  Math used to have this same affect on me.

When I was younger obstacles like not understanding how to import and manage video content would have been a deal breaker.  I would have given up and thrown in the towel, but as I’ve grown older I have become aware of my own impatience with myself and the act of learning something new.  I hate to be a beginner, yet as I am growing older I see that if you are going to continue to learn you must be a novice, no matter how uncomfortable it is.

“Man arrives as a novice at each age of his life.”  Chamfort

This quote is a good reminder to me that we’re all novices throughout our lives. I just recently turned 40, which I’m liking so far.  As you age you get less focused on what others think and live your life for yourself.  I was always my own person.  Meaning, I really always knew who I was on many levels.  I always wanted to be a mom, craft business person and a witch.  OK, I’m not a witch, but I do wear a lot of black with wild black hair and pale skin, which is sorta witchy.  It’s pretty awesome to be able to go after what you want and not care who is looking and judging, that is, if anyone is a all.  Confidence and self-assuredness comes with age . . . now back to video editing.

This cake was made for my husband and me for our 40th Birthdays by our friend Jocelyn of Bakery Bar.

by: jen

It’s the first work day of the new year and I thought a great way to start would be to print out a free calendar.  I have been wanting to find the time to print out this calendar, from Owl Barn, which is so cool.  It features many artist’s work, along with a free calendar.   I looked at the template and realized that it wouldn’t work for me as it was.  I need a calendar that I can write in and the way this one is design it isn’t possible to do this.  So I decided to download all of the images they have available and then plug them into a calendar that was more suited to my needs.  I found this free calendar online, which is the type that you can write in.   Owl Barn actually offers something like 30 cool owl images so, I was able to pick and choose the ones that I liked best. I uploaded each of the images into the free calendar template that I liked and selected each month, which then created pdfs.  I printed each month out and then bound together with my Zutter, but you could easily create another binding mechanism with a hole punch and twine or a binding ring.

Day 3: Free Art Calendar

Now all I need to do is write all of my family’s upcoming events on the calendar and hang it on the wall.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.  I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

I started my first small business 9 years ago called, Knot Ugly Designs and then DIY Lounge, 6 years ago.  Both businesses came out of a need for me to share my creativity or support other people’s creativity.  Long before I was a professional artist/crafter I was a super crafty kid.  I was the type who always received craft kits for every Birthday and Christmas.  I rarely followed the instructions or patterns.  I regularly skipped school to sew on my mother’s sewing machine, while she was at work and I was a self taught knitter and crocheter by the age of 8 years old.  My creativity was always a source of fulfillment, excitement and at particular times in my life it’s been very grounding to me.

Ironically, I spend very little time making things that aren’t for work these days.  I was thinking about this for a good portion of last year, “Why don’t I make more things for myself and for my family anymore?”  I have the skills, but lack the time as well as not seeing creating for myself as a priority. This is why I am doing this project.  For the month of January I am “sticking with the one who brung me” (an old saying my Grandpa used to say).    31 days of crafting, stories and solutions.

Why crafting stories and solutions?  Well, when I think of the root or the beginning of my sense of myself as a creative person I think of my Grandmother.  She always supported my creativity.  When I was 9 I started making these dolls and stuffed animals with clothing, painted eyes, hand stitched noses and generally they were very detailed.  My Grandmother would freak out about my skills and creative ideas, as no two creations were the same.  She would even pay me to make dolls and would give them to friends, family, etc.  She loved to tell stories and to this day I think she is one of the best story tellers I’ve ever heard – funny, dramatic, expressive and totally entertaining.  When I think of my youth, I think of making things with and for my Grandmother, while she told stories.  Those were good times.

The solutions piece has been a mainstay throughout my life.  I have always needed creative solutions.  My family was extremely poor when I was a child.  We didn’t own a car.  I didn’t always get new school clothes or other essentials.  If I needed something I made it myself or made something to sell and bought it myself.   When I was 12 and my best friend got a new bedroom set: blanket, sheets, curtains and fancy pillows.  I wanted one too so I asked for 3 flat sheets and one fitted sheet for my Birthday.  I made an entire bedroom set out of these, recovering my own blanket and it turned out beautiful.  I didn’t have batting for the decorative pillows so my Grandmother, who was a product of the depression, gave me the cotton from hundreds of pill bottles that she had saved for years.  Sure, the pillows were a little bumpy, but I had something I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Fast forward to now, I have these skills that I have had for most of my life, which I’m not using in my personal life anymore, so for this month I will be making 1 thing per day that is a creative solution in my life, taking a picture of it, talking about it, telling a story if I have one and living inside my crafting rather than putting my crafting outside of my personal life only using it for work.  There are so many projects that I have been wanting to sink my teeth into and now, finally I am making the time.  Some projects will be straight up craft projects and others will be more in the vein of creative organization solutions.

I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

January 1st, 2010: Image Transfer Cards

Here are some cards that I made that I can give to friends and family on upcoming Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc.  It’s a photo transfer process that you can make with your home inkjet printer, inkjet transparencies, gel medium and a brayer.  There are tons of other transfer processes out there, but I like this one for it’s antiqued look.

by: jen

This week I’m working on a small-scale upholstery project, which is what I’m calling it when part of a piece of furniture needs to be reupholstered but not the entire piece is damaged.  I will show you in a later post next week that it is possible to reupholster part of a piece of furniture with very little cost, a small amount of time and materials that are easy to work with, but the results are BIG.  Super stylish, custom furniture!  I need to do some measuring and draft a pattern (don’t be intimidated by this. I’ll show you just how simple it really is).  While I’m working out the details and getting the project together for my upholstery post for next week let’s make some cocktails!

You know that Beastie Boys song called Brass Monkey?  It’s always been one of my favorites tunes by the BBoys.  Here is the recipe for the cocktail that this song is named after:

Brass Monkey
1/2 oz rum
1/2 oz vodka
4 oz orange juice

In case you didn’t already know the two things that DIY Lounge is working on right now are:
1. A craft culture TV show with Richard Fox and Patrick Cummings
2. Affordable online video tutorials with Jenni Brand

So this week I’m putting the final touches on the DIY Lounge video tutorial set.  I’m really excited to be working with Jenni Brand on this project.  She will be the camera person/co-director for this project, which I think is pretty cool.  One reason I am so excited about working with Jenni – in addition to her talent and humor – is that we will be an all female video production team!

Here is a picture of the set at this point.  There is still more to go, but we are getting there.

In case you wondered . . . this is what hope and optimism look like when painted on a wall.

by Jen

We are beyond pleased to announce that, Mark Montano, author of “The Big-Ass Book of Crafts”, Dollar Store Decor: 100 Projects for Lush Living That Won’t Break the Bank, and many more, will be appearing at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale. Mark is also the star of many TV projects including: WeTV’s She’s Moving In, and TLC’s While You Were Out and many of you will recognize him as the face of the Yudu.  He will be on hand to sign his brand new book, The Big-Ass Book of Home Decor: More than 100 Inventive Projects for Cool Homes Like Yours.  Mark will also be doing a Make and Take and generally spreading his crafty goodness around Portland.

DIY Lounge will be interviewing him for the upcoming Pilot Episode in our booth so come by and say hi.  It will be so nice to introduce him to the amazingly creative denizens that call Portland home.

See You All There!

In the years I ran the DIY Lounge classroom spaces I always found that this time of year – January through early April – is the busy time for art and craft classes.  This year I have decided that it’s my turn to learn some new things . . . I have been sewing since I was 7 years old and designing reconstructed, knit and crocheted clothes for 7 years now, under the label Knot Ugly Designs.  For those who don’t know what reconstructed clothing is, it’s a style of clothing construction where you take an already existing garment that isn’t spectacular and reconstruct it into another garment.  I mostly work with high quality natural fiber, recycled sweaters, which is a great way to keep these items out of the landfills and a way to make something weird into something lovable.  Almost every thing I know about apparel design is self taught so this year I have decided that it’s time to learn some new things.  I became fascinated with knit fabrics years ago, probably because that is what I like to wear (a little stretch is a good thing), but working with knit fabrics can be very tricky.  I have all sorts of tricks that I have developed over the years for working with knits and now I am ready to learn all of the “official” techniques to sewing with knit fabrics.  I recently purchased Sew U Home Stretch which is part of the Built by Wendy book series.  I am very impressed with this book.  Such clear instructions and patterns.  I am not a beginning sewer so some of the techniques I already know, but it’s still good to see all of the little details laid out so clearly.  I am definitely picking up some new techniques.  I like it when a book can be useful to a wide range of skill levels and I would definitely say this is one of those books.  I highly recommend checking this book out.  More than anything this book is giving me inspiration.  I feel a knit dress in my future . . .
by: Jen Neitzel

According to the Chinese Five Elements Astrology Calendar, 2010 is the Year of the White (Metal) Tiger. The color White is used to represent Metal in Chinese Astrology and often Gold is used as a related symbol as well.

The metal year should bode well for new financial endeavors and a rise in personal fortune but the White Tiger isn’t all fun and games. Many Chinese believe the White Tiger to be a symbol of the jinx and predict it to be a poor year for those born in the Year of the Tiger. It does look as though it’s going to be an especially fruitful year for those born in the Year of the Horse and Dragon, close friends of the Tiger.

In order to make this year as fruitful as possible you have to be vigilant and keep your temper to a minimum. Realize that this year is going to be full of unpredictability but I’ve always said, what’s wrong with that? Amazing things often come when you are least expecting them.

I am personally taking this opportunity to expand my endeavors and work hard on new projects. With a keen eye and direct focus we should be able to leave the toil of the Year of the Ox (2009) far behind us.

It’s a great time to blow the dust off those knitting needles, replace that dry bottle of glue or post some new items to Etsy. Who knows, maybe that White Tiger will roar some of that good gold luck in your direction.

Yours in Crafty Goodness,

Richard

Most of the time when you make a Valentine it ends up in a drawer some where.  I really like functional, useful art/crafts, so when I decided to make something for my son for Valentine’s Day, I decided I would like to make him heart shaped tacks for his bulletin board and a name plate to put on his bulletin board.  I chose this simple fast project, since Valentines day is only a few days away!

Below you will find step by step instructions with images of how I made this.

Here’s are the supplies I used:

wool felt
tacks (with a flat head)
fabric glue
card stock
felt marker
old small paint brush
scissors
corrugated cardboard
black thick marker

Cut out small heart shapes that are slightly larger than the size of the tack. Cut 5 small hearts. This is will be used inside the fabric heart to stabilize it.  Cut out a slightly larger shaped heart (maybe a ¼ to a 1/16 of an inch wider all the way around.) Cut one to use as a template for felt.

Trace larger heart onto felt fabric with a felt marker. Cut out 10 felt hearts or twice as many hearts as the number of felt tacks you want.

Push one of the small sized hearts onto the tack. Then put fabric glue on the back of the felt heart. Now push the tack through the felt heart with the glue side up.  Next take another felt heart and place it on top of the glued heart. Then trim up the two glued together hearts. Make 5 felt heart tacks or as many pins as you would to make.

Now using a piece of corrugated cardboard, cut out a rectangular piece to use as a name plate. Write a name in black marker. Then use felt hearts to embellish.  Here is the completed project in my son’s room.  I used one of the heart tacks to hang up a piece of his art work.

by: Jen Neitzel