AIM BEHIND THE SCENES: Creative Blog Hop

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From 2014-2016 I chronicled my crafty endeavors on the site Adventures-in-Making. I’ve selected a few of those DIY’s, Recipes, and other posts to share on the site.

We were invited to participate in the Creative Blog Hop by Lindsay at A Wooden Nest, and I thought I (Alison) would take a swing at the hop.

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Late on the holiday designs, as usual. Somehow I can’t seem to come up with anything when it’s 70 degrees and sunny.

What am I working on?

I split my time between running the So There shop in Issaquah and working on my own line of paper goods. I have to be very careful to give myself time to work on creative things, and sometimes I can get spread a little thin.

I’ve been a little more focused this week, because I sprained my ankle and have to do seated tasks. That means more drawing and painting and inking. I’ve finally been working on my holiday cards (if they’re too late, I’ll use them next year!) and trying to add a few more card designs to my line.

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I was trying to be clever with this left-handed journal.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I always have the same goals on repeat in my head while I work. I like to think that if you look at my work as a whole it represents those goals… I hope it does, anyways.
• Make it useful & clever. Let it solve a problem.
• Make it funny, even if its audience is limited.
• Make it pretty, but not cute.
• Make it unique.
• Let it be imperfect, because no matter what you do, it will never be perfect. Ever.

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I love to come up with ways of reusing materials in my work. These card catalog pieces took a long time to find a function on lampshades.

Why do I write/create what I do?

I’m coming to grips with the fact that I have a couple of creative motivations– that are sometimes at odds with each other.

One  is all about problem solving. I like to make products that serve some purpose bigger than aesthetics. Some of my favorite products have come about this way, the FlipOver Planners and Delicious Recipe books for example. Other times the problem I’m trying to solve is more about using or reusing materials instead of throwing them away. That’s where the Library Card Lamps, Doodle Jars, and handmade paper cards come in.

The other thing that drives me is a need to draw, and write, and express myself however I can. There’s a weird kind of connection that comes with a stranger appreciating my work. It’s not so much a “look at me and how awesome I am” but more of a quiet need to be understood, and to know other brains work like mine does. I guess that’s my artist side.

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This is one of my more obvious sketches, but only I know what I am really up to.

How does my writing/illustration/creative process work?

Because my work is all over the place, the development takes a lot of different forms. The beginning step is the same for almost everything. I usually start with a really basic sketch on with whatever is conveniently close. The sketch is often peppered with descriptive words, and would mean nothing to a casual bystander.

If I’m doing a drawing I’ll typically move to a piece of card stock with a pencil to capture the energy of the idea as fast as I can, and that’s that.

If I’m working on something that’s more of a product, sometimes I let the idea rest there for a bit, until I’ve flushed it out a bit more in my head. I’m likely to start experimenting with materials next– building “dummies” out of paper, or string, or other things that are close to what I’m planning to use in the end. I like to work with scale and shape before settling on a style for the graphics or art. (Form and function and all that.) After that it’s a process of perfecting my method for production, making the product and the art harmonious, and making sure that it’s going to work.

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These “dummies” are helping me figure out the form of the new FlipOver planning system. I’m making them the same shape, and with the same types of paper so I can see how everything will work.

Well, I think that’s about it. I want to thank Lindsay for inviting us to the hop!

*You can find some of my work in my etsy shop but everything shows up first at the So, There store in Issaquah– especially one of a kind pieces.

AIM DIY: Woven Paper Gift Basket

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From 2014-2016 I chronicled my crafty endeavors on the site Adventures-in-Making. I’ve selected a few of those DIY’s, Recipes, and other posts to share on the site.

After my experiment with the rolled paper gift basket, I decided that I needed a quicker version that I wouldn’t feel bad about parting with as a gift basket. (The rolled paper version was lovely, but it took so much time that it was more like a gift in itself.)

Using similar methods, and the same materials, I came up with a very simple woven basket that could easily be sized to fit different gifts.

Supplies I used

• A medium sized stapled catalog
• Elmer’s Glue-All
• A dowel for rolling strips
• Clothes pins
• Scissors
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My first step was to remove the staples that bound the catalog, and to cut it length-wised into 5″ pieces.

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I took each piece and quickly rolled it around a wooden dowel, starting at the corner. I then secured the other corner with a drop of glue, and carefully  slid the paper tube off of the dowel. I then flattened it with my fingernail into a long strip of paper.

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I estimate how many strips of paper I wanted in the width and length of my basket (in this case it was 3 pieces by 5 pieces), and started weaving the base pieces together- alternating “over” and “under”. Every once in a while I added glue between pieces of paper to ensure that things wouldn’t slide around while I was working (a little bit goes a long way.)

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Once I had my base woven I used a straight edge to fold all of the woven strips to the center. This made it easier to begin the sides of my basket.

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Using a similar “over and under” method, I wove strips through the existing strips. I secured each piece with a tiny drop of glue, and clipped the pieces together with clothes pins. When I got to the end of a side, I made a fold in the strip I was working with, and began weaving it into the next side. When I reached the end of my weaving strip, I attached it to another loose strip with a drop of glue, then continued weaving until I made it all the way around the basket.

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I repeated this with another strip of paper, weaving in and out along every side of the basket, and securing with glue and clothes pins. Once everything felt dry and stable, I simply trimmed the strips at the top of the weaving, and voila…

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a super simple gift basket made out of recycled materials- sure to brighten someone’s day.

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I have to say I don’t love the look of this basket as much as the rolled paper version- but it took significantly less time, and I think with a little experimentation I could (or you could) make it into something really special.

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Things to try

• Using more, smaller strips of paper for a more intricate texture.
• Using brown kraft paper for a simpler look.
• Weaving at a 45 degree angle, like this project from {nifty thrifty things}
• Finishing the top of the basket a little cleaner, either by covering them with a strip, or by rounding them off.
• Using stitched paper.
• Coming up with some sort of nifty handle.
• Making a lid so it can close like a box.
• Making a huge version that could be used as a fruit basket.

AIM DIY: Rolled Paper Gift Basket

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From 2014-2016 I chronicled my crafty endeavors on the site Adventures-in-Making. I’ve selected a few of those DIY’s, Recipes, and other posts to share on the site.

Sometimes the best gift is a collection of small things. I love to put together little sets at the store, and I’ve been looking for a awesome little gift basket that would be special enough to keep.

Since it’s the season of unrequested catalogs, I thought I would use this abundant (and colorful) resource as the primary material for my project. I was inspired by photos of a Mark Montano project to roll the pieces and form the basket out of little paper donuts.

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Supplies I used

• Glossy lightweight catalog pages
• A scrap 1/8 inch strip of chipboard (from a cereal box)
• A pen, and a dowel of two different diameters
• Glue – I used Elmer’s Glue-All for the majority of my gluing, but did have to use some E6000 to repair weak spots in my basket at the end.
• A bowl to use as a template shape for my gift basket

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To begin, I cut the catalog pages into 3 inch and 5 inch strips.

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I wrapped each piece of paper around my chipboard strip, starting at the corner.

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Once I had the strip almost completely rolled up, I applied glue to the last corner, and smoothed it down. Then I pulled the chipboard strip out, and flattened the rolled strip with my fingernail.

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I tried to roll each sheet so that as much solid color as possible showed on the final piece. (A fun puzzle.)

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Once I had a nice stack of rolled pieces, I began making my final donut shaped pieces. I started wrapping the strip around a pen, or dowel; applying a drop of glue near the beginning…

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and a drop at the end to secure the donut. I then smoothed down the tail end, held it closed for a few seconds, and gently slid it off of the pen.

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Using a couple of different widths of paper strip, and a couple of different sized dowels/pens meant that after several rounds of donut rolling I had a nice selection of building blocks for my final basket.


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I am going to admit something here. Since I usually jump into projects without sufficient direction, I have a lot of false starts. It took me way too long to figure out that I should work on the inside of a bowl. Live and learn, and let gravity help.

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This bowl turned out to be the perfect size for the small collection of items I wanted to basket.

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Starting from the bottom, I applied small drops of glue to the edges of my donuts, and began laying them in a single layer in the bowl.

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I started with the whiter donuts, working towards more saturated pieces as I went up.

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Does this make anyone else crave Froot Loops?

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I made sure to put enough glue to hold the pieces together once I removed it from the jig. Once all of my pieces were in place, I let the whole thing dry overnight. Once it was dry, I held the bowl upside-down, gently twisted the inside form to loosen it, and let it fall into my other hand.

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The glue did a relatively good job of holding things together, but there were definitely a couple of weak spots that I had to repair with the heavier duty E6000.

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I love the way the basket looks…but….

It is extremely time consuming, with every little piece requiring multiple steps to form. The end product is worth it, but I was inspired to make a much quicker basket out of the same materials. (I’ll share that with you soon.)

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Things to try

• Making Christmas ornaments out of the donuts.
• Try newspaper, tissue paper, and other materials.
• Try painting or dyeing the final basket.

What would you try?

AIM DIY: Herb and Spice Gift Wrap

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From 2014-2016 I chronicled my crafty endeavors on the site Adventures-in-Making. I’ve selected a few of those DIY’s, Recipes, and other posts to share on the site.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about my lettering, and a few poor souls have even asked if I teach a class (HA!). I tell everyone the same thing– my lettering has improved over the past year because I’ve been practicing. I know, that sounds like a cop-out, but it’s true! I’ve been making signs and chalkboards for the store, lettering in my prints, and wearing through Prismacolors like nobody’s business.

The key, for me, if to cut myself some slack while I’m practicing. Doodling letters is swell, and I take any opportunity to write words in weird ways.

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This wrapping paper is a perfect example. I wanted to come up with a simple way to wrap a couple of small gifts, and went to the (very soggy) garden for inspiration. The remaining herbs were so pungent and gorgeous that I decided to use them as accents on a basic brown paper wrapping.

The whole thing’s pretty simple, and I’m sure you could come up with something even more special. The point is, I was able to mess around with letters and words without feeling too self-conscious. It’s just wrapping paper, and the herbs take center stage.

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For the second gift, I made a tall bag with a few materials, and I thought I’d share my process.

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Supplies I Used

• Plain brown kraft paper – you could also repurpose a grocery bag.
• Fresh herbs from the garden
• White Prismacolor Pencil
• Flour & water to form a paste. You can also use glue, of course!
• Scissors
• Pencil
• A can of spray paint as a base form

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First I traced the base of the can to form the bottom of my bag…

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and cut out the circle, about 1/4 inch inside my line.

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I then measured the can and cut out a piece of paper for the main part of the bag, leaving myself about 2 inches of extra height to wrap along the bottom and enough width to cover the whole can with a little overlap.

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I made a fold at that 2 inch mark, and cut a little fringe into that end (the bottom.) You’ll see why in a second.

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I used my trusty white pencil to doodle words all over the paper.

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I’ve started using a flour paste for a lot of paper projects, lately. Here I used about equal parts water and flour, mixed well, and applied with a cheap paintbrush.

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I wrapped the paper around my spray paint can and painted both edges with my paste…

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then began folding the fringe pieces down. Once those were down I painted them, and the round bottom piece with paste…

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applied like so, and left to dry.

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After it was completely dry (a few hours later) I trimmed the top of the bag, and filled it with my gift, and a little tissue paper.

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Simple directions for a unique bag- and a great way to work on those lettering skills.

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Are you inspired by herbs, like I am? Don’t forget to share you spice & herb work with us for our November DIY Challenge! We’d love to see what you think up.

(You know, keep life spicy.)