DIY Life

Embroidery hoops become inexpensive wall frames. Yes, really. But instead of holding family snaps, they look super-stylish holding fabric swatches. Use them just for decoration or as message boards. Clever idea, yes? – Shelter Pop

Love your cat? Hate to scoop? Toilet training your kitty can be done. It does take patience and just the right technique, though. Are you up for it? Check out this step-by-step kitty potty training guide. -- karawynn

Say "sayonora" to that ugly view. Learn how to sew Japanese tissue paper into "noren" or paper curtains. The tissues have a fabric-like durability, yet possess a delicate beauty. Finished curtains may be used to cover windows or doorways. – The Paper Place

I love strawberries, both as a food and as a motif.

Recently, two separate summery strawberry stitching projects were posted over at WhipUp within a couple of days of each other: a pattern and tutorial for felt strawberries from Mr. Monkeysuit, and a felt jam-jar topper with a strawberry applique by Amy at Lucykate Crafts.

Even though they aren't by the same person, they seem like a perfect pair to me! You'll find further suggestions for this adorable project, including links to supplies, after the break.

Father's Day is a special day for all dads who get to spend one day doing whatever they wish, even if that is nothing. Dads need to know that they are just as wonderful as moms, so it is important to give them a special gift that comes straight from the heart, and I don't mean a duct tape wallet.

Sometimes guys don't like to dress up, but you can make it easier for them with the perfect Father's Day gift. Monogrammed cuff links are sure to be a big hit with Dad, so head over to the purl bee to find Molly's awesome tutorial, complete with step by step pictures of the cutest handcrafted cuff links.

Molly found her cuff links on sale for under $20. At that price, you may want to get a few pair to make dad some extra special gifts throughout the year.

(Don't forget: the perfect tie for Father's Day could be monogrammed, too.)

When "Partners in Crime," the first official episode of Doctor Who's current season, aired in the UK back in early April, a friend suggested to me that crafty types would soon be all over the alien of the week. Because they're made primarily from human fat, the Adipose are a bit icky in concept. In action, though, they're adorable: little white globules with limbs, quirky smiles, and sweet dispositions.

Erika, of My Imaginary Boyfriend, engineered a great Adipose sewing pattern, and she's offering it for free; detailed instructions for making it up can be found on the Livejournal community Crafty TARDIS. The pattern calls for white polar-fleece (1/2 yard makes several dolls), stuffing, an iron-on transfer pen, black and white embroidery floss for the face, and a few other supplies.

We've written about Doctor Who-related crafts before, but this is much cuter than a crocheted Dalek. Still, I wonder how long it will last, given the news that the BBC is sending trademark-related take-down notices to some people who post free knitting patterns based on the show. You might want to grab it while you can, if you're interested.

(Also, see CraftyCrafty's take on the controversy.)

[via Jenny at Craft.]

The Summer (Beltane) 2008 issue of The AntiCraft hit the Internet this week, and this time, it's all about bacon. Yes, you read right. Bacon.

The AntiCraft has made a name for itself as a nifty, slightly edgy craft site, geared towards people who like the darker things in life. So what, then, can you expect from the bacon issue? Something different, that's for sure.

For one thing, there's much more food than usual: Baconhenge (it's exactly what it sounds like), a gingerbread house with bacon shingles on the roof, and several types of bacon-infused sweets. Only two or three items really qualify as crafts... an embroidered, bookmark-like "Bacon of Hate," and a knitted scarf that looks like it's made of bacon (but isn't).

Finally, there's the issue's most dangerous project, a tiara made of bacon; it's dangerous because a protein-bonding enzyme is used to fuse it together. (Humans? Also made of protein.) Any project requiring that much safety gear probably shouldn't be done outside of a lab. Still, overall, this issue is an interesting experiment... in deliciousness!

Posie Gets Cozy is definitely one of our favorite crafty blogs, so we were pleased when CRAFT noted that its proprietor, Alicia Paulson, had posted some pretty days-of-the-week Pleasant Kitchen towel embroidery patterns. You can download them for free.

The patterns have a vintage feel and include designs like an egg cup, a Pyrex serving bowl, a "cheese lady," and an old-fashioned espresso pot. Alicia used relatively low-quality kitchen towels and added contrast fabric binding to their edges, but she suggests that you try Flour Sack Towels from P.O.S.H. if you'd like a nicer base.

There's a trick to getting this particular set of designs onto the fabric so that you can stitch them; I'll discuss it more after the break. It may not be what you think.

Welcome back! In yesterday's Let's get "LOST", we discussed ideas for a themed Lost party. One of the best ideas is to create faux DHARMA Initiative ration labels for party food; today, we'll look at ways to do that. We'll also take a gander at some other cool Lost crafts from around the web, including some genius home-brewed t-shirts.

Creating DHARMA food labels

Image editing programs like Adobe's Photoshop are indeed the way to go if you want to create DHARMA labels for your party food (or your office supplies and toiletries, depending on the level of your fandom). The DHARMA logo itself is a modified feng shui ba-gua.

A while back, InsanelyGreatTees offered printable DHARMA food labels for you to download, but Disney, ABC's parent company, asked them to stop. The PDF has been removed, but you can still take a look at the labels themselves, and be amused by the official-looking stamp on them: "Download removed at the request of the Hanso Foundation". This will give you a good idea of what you're trying to create.

You may also take a look at this photo taken on the set of Lost, where you can clearly see plenty of DHARMA rations; there are further photos in that series. Some good home-made rations can be seen in a photo by Flickr's Sahba, "Sheyda's Dharma Initiative food labels" (and a second, close up photo with the same title).

To go about making your own DHARMA labels, you probably don't need exact duplicates of the labels on food on the show: go for reasonable facsimiles. All labels should be black print on a white ground, with a DHARMA logo and sans-serif text. This is an easy task if you use the right fonts. The rest is just the correct label shape (like a hanging tag, with the corners clipped off the top end) and black lines and outlines (which can be done with pens and a straight edge, if you are unable to draw them in an image editor).

To use a dingbat or symbol font as clip art in an image editing program, simply use characters from the font the way you would use any other text, but change the size. A standard size for text is around 10-14; to change a font to clip art, you can start with 200 or 300, which you'll have to type into the "text size" box (it won't be on your drop-down menu, if there is one). Adjust the size from there until you're satisfied with it. (This process was also described back in my Print Gocco Holiday Card tutorial.)

It turns out that a visible number of us on the writing staff here at DIY Life are obsessed with ABC's Lost: if any posts get written on Thursday nights in the next few months, between watching the show and hanging out on spoiler sites for crumbs of information about what might happen next week, it will be entirely coincidental.

OK, I'm joking... a little. The point is that I don't know anyone who feels lukewarm about the show: it's either devoted love, a combative relationship ("They're driving me crazy! Why do they keep introducing more mysteries?!"), or complete disinterest.

It seems like this anecdotal observation also plays out in a few other places, like in the Craftster community. Please join us after the break for a look at plenty of mostly-recent Lost projects from Craftster and a few other places, with spoilers through Season Three. We have fish biscuits and DHARMA Initiative soda -- don't miss out!

Christmas is in less than a week: is all of your shopping done? It's getting a bit late to order anything (especially if you don't want to pony up for pricey overnight shipping), but if you're shopping for crafty friends, there's probably a lot available in your own town.

However, bead, paint, and yarn choices are completely subjective, you may not know what tools your loved ones need (beading loom? spinning wheel? umbrella swift? easel?), kits can be hit-or-miss, and I'm not sure anyone needs craft-themed sweatshirts. (Ever.) Have major advances in the world of crochet hooks or embroidery hoops really been made in the past year? Probably not. So when I thought about what makes a great holiday gift in the DIY realm, I kept coming back to one thing....

Please join us after the break to find the best of the latest craft books! There's certainly something here to please almost every creative person on your list: beaders and jewelry makers, people straddling the mixed-media art/craft divide, knitters, crocheters, scrapbookers, and anyone else who likes to learn how to make interesting things with their hands.

(Even better, you shouldn't have any problem finding most of these books at 4:00 in the afternoon on December 24th.)

Sublime Stitching was founded in 2001 by Austin, TX's Jenny Hart. She had an artistic background, and had become interested in embroidery, but was generally disappointed with the patterns that were available to purchase in most stores. Not only had vintage patterns mostly faded out of stores by then, there wasn't much that was hip and modern.

What would a DIY'er do when faced with these circumstances? Start her own company, of course! (...With a small loan from her dad. DIY'ers also know when to ask for help!)

Six years later, Sublime Stitching is well-known in the indie craft world, but instead of resting on her laurels, Jenny continues to put out interesting patterns. Aside from classics like Cat-A-Rama, Tattoo Your Towels, and Unicorn Believer, you'll see the new "Artist Series" (with adorable designs from Kurt Halsey and pure pin-up pulp from Mitch O'Connell), and new patterns from Jenny herself like Dress-Up ("girly" objects like a handbag and a diamond ring) and Gnomes & Fairies.

I think Sublime Stitching is great! There's much more info for you after the break.

For the whole month of August, I've been talking about amigurumi: a style of pointedly adorable crocheted or knitted toy, developed in Japan, that has become popular among English-speaking crafters. It could never have happened without two things: the availability of design-conscious Japanese craft books in other countries, and the Internet's ability to spread trends -- and make those books even more available.

Japanese craft books in general have become hot in the English-speaking craft scene. Until recently, translations were mostly limited to books that were released in the US by the publisher Ondori, usually about beading. Things are changing, as books like Fleece Dog and Sock and Glove (aka Sock Monkeys and Glove Dogs), and various offerings from Aranzi-Aronzo, have hit stores in the last few months. But there are still many cute, interesting books that will never be translated into English.

The good news is that, with only slightly more effort than buying them from your local bookstore or Amazon, you can get the best in Japanese craft books for yourself.

Find out how after the break! Don't worry: you don't need to be able to read or speak Japanese.