paint cut paste

oh my, this was a risky gift for me to create in my attempt to go handmade for the holidays. i am a verrry beginning seamstress, as you know, but i must say that i’m trusting that my friends are kind and forgiving, or at the very least – polite. i sewed up these cute little heart-shaped handwarmers to warm their hearts (and hands) for the holidays.

such a simple idea – saw it on pinterest, of course. all you need is:

• flannel (or another soft, natural fiber. synthetics can burn when microwaved!)
• thread
• rice
• a funnel would make life easier
• gift tag & ribbon

first, fold your fabric in half, and then in half again. cut some heart shapes on the edge — two at a time (so you have a pair that is the same size.)

match them up, and sew them together. (um, it is not that easy to sew curves, if you’re green like me, but i am patting myself on the back for giving it a go.) i left about a 1/4″ edge around them, and left a tiny pocket open so i could fill them.

i used a little funnel (that came with my spice rack) to pour white rice inside. then i sewed that little part up with the machine.

voila – super cute! (and visibly handmade… hey, it adds charm, right?)

then just find a pretty ribbon to attach a note with instructions that say to microwave them for 2 minutes (or under, if tiny) and put one in each pocket. i gifted these to some of my girlfriends who live in pretty cold climates.

also a fun gift for your sweetie or friends on valentine’s day!

this is just a little quickie i figured i should share… almost 2 years ago i posted the photo below on the wall of my facebook page of my non-tangled iphone cord, all dolled up in raspberry yarn.

january 2010

i just wanted to share this idea again, on the blog proper, as i have just  created a new set. while the other wrapping actually stood the test of time, the rubber on the ear pieces did not. so i’m cozy-ing up my new buds like this:

select a type of yarn that you’re okay living with and looking at for quite some time.

can you tell i couldn't choose a color? i went with variegated rainbow yarn.

tie a knot around the bottom of the earbud wire, and begin to knot your way down the wire, friendship-bracelet style. (tip: i secure my friendship bracelets and earbuds with a clipboard while i’m working on them.) when you get to the fork in the road (where the wire splits for two ears,) select one path and continue to knot to where the ear bud is. then go back and do the other segment with a new strand of yarn.

then be super happy that your phone cord won’t be a knotted mess when you try to answer a call, and it’s all stylie now!

oh how i love a good ombre!

i know you’ll get lots of comments and compliments — i’ve serioulsy taught a number of fellow whole foods shoppers how to do this while grocery shopping over the past coupla years. enjoy!

*consider purchasing new earbuds for friends and family and create these as custom holiday gifts, too!

i am so honored to have the opportunity to interview the amazing lisa whitesell, of the awesome 5 orange potatoes blog! her nature-loving, creative blog has been one of my favorite sources of earthy, artsy ideas. lisa was kind enough to answer some of my questions about her life, work, and inspiration AND to give away one of her adorable owl pillows to one of my lucky readers!!! enjoy her story below and enter for your chance to win at the bottom of this post.

lisa & her creations at her 5 orange potatoes "craftin' outlaws" booth

jen:  your 5 orange potatoes blog has long been a source of inspiration for me. i am so very drawn to the way you incorporate the spirit of the earth in each of your creations — from herbal remedies to nature art activities to upcycling sweaters into the most amazing plush creatures. can you tell us a bit about what most inspires you and the work you so beautifully offer to the world?

lisa: I’m just your basic natural earthy girl that loves the Earth and prefers natural to artificial- from the food we eat, the medicines we use, the art supplies we use, and the clothing we wear.  I have Appalachia roots and my granny is always comparing me to my great grandmother and the way she lived her life. I’m sure I was a peasant witchy woman in another life, a bit of a recluse, with a large herb garden making concoctions for the village people and what ails them -OR- maybe it’s because I was born on the very first Earth Day (April 22, 1970)! I can’t pinpoint what exactly drives me, it’s just something in me, seems to run in my veins!

lisa's acorn jewelry

jen:  you and i are kindred spirits in experimenting with medicinal herbs. i especially adore all of your posts on lavender, dandelions, and those honey herbal coughdrops! (the soothing gremlin softie is one of my favorite ideas of yours, as it blends your offerings of herbal remedies with your talent for creating such fun characters.) how did you first begin your love of herbology? can you share with us some of your favorite resources for learning about herbs and teaching your children about their healing properties?

lisa: Being raised in the country, with parents that always sent my sisters and me outside, and working in nature, with youth camps, really sparked my love of nature and herbology. My first taste of chicory coffee made from fresh chicory roots and a fresh salad made from wild edibles, sent me over the roof, really connected me to the wonderful bounty that Nature provides. Forget the man-made and artificial junk! Hildegard of Bingen, Juliette De Bairacli Levy, Rosemary Gladstar, Michael Tierra, Maud Grieve, and Jeanne Rose are some of my favorite go to herbalists. These amazing herbalists have fantastic books that make up a large part of my herbal library.

lisa's jewelweed poison ivy remedy

jen:  my daughter is blessed to have a couple of your creations. her winking fox, who is now called nuki, has brought so much joy into our home. i admire how you use thrifted sweaters and vintage fabrics to create them, in true earth-loving fashion. each of your plush creatures has such personality – the ones created from the upcycled sweaters are my absolute favorite! how does the idea for the animals’ patterns and images come to you?

lisa: My girls’ drawings are what inspired me when I first started making plush, but now I simply look at an animal’s eyes and the inspiration will be there or not. The actual critter has to inspire me before I can create it, this makes it hard when a customer asks me to create an animal I haven’t made before. For example, I’ve been struggling with a turtle design for the past year, I would LOVE to make one, but the design just isn’t there yet!

an inspirational drawing from lisa's daughter

prim and proper

jen:  it seems that your way of creating has gracefully piqued your daughters’ curiosity about nature and art. it is so wonderful to see them concocting potions and sewing on your blog. can you offer any words of wisdom to us about your philosophy on how to inspire children to connect with the earth and to create with their hands?

lisa: That’s simple, if they see you doing it and making it part of everyday, they will follow. Get outside everyday with your child and explore together, not only will you influence them but they will see and point out things you’ve never seen before! I really believe that experiencing nature with a child is the best way to learn and discover.

exploring nature with children

jen:  what are you most passionate about creating about RIGHT NOW?

lisa: Our basement flooded last Spring and all of our holiday ornaments got ruined, so we will be working hard on creating new decorations for this holiday season.

lovely applesauce ornaments

jen:  i’m sure it’s not the first time you’ve been asked, but i’ve been curious: where did the name 5 orange potatoes come from?

lisa: I get this question all the time! I asked my girls to throw out some names, Araina (5yo at the time) said “5 orange potatoes,” I loved the corky sound to it and kept it. It really works for us too, being vegetarians we eat a lot of sweet potatoes and I have red hair that looks a little orange in the sun. I shared this story with a man at a recent show and he laughed because his 6yo nephew named his goldfish “Roastbeef,” you really can’t beat the creative power of a young mind!

sewing with children

and now for the giveaway… [CLOSED]

lisa is generous enough to offer one of her amazingly adorable owl pillows, hand sewn with love from vintage fabrics or upcycled sweaters, to one of my readers! that could be YOU!

to enter for your chance to win:

• first click here, which will open a new browser window where you will visit the 5 orange potatoes etsy shop to peruse the beautiful wares. choose which owl pillow is your favorite (that you’d like to win!) and come back here and let me know in the comments which owl you’d choose. *make sure your valid email address is attached to your entry so i can contact you if you win.*

you need to do the above entry to be entered, and for THREE MORE chances to win, you can do the following and leave an additional comment (read: entry into drawing) for each of these actions:

• like 5 orange potatoes on facebook
• follow 5 orange potatoes on twitter
• share a link to this blog post giveaway on your facebook page, your twitter account, and/or on your blog.

i will choose a winner using a random number generator this thursday night (november 10) at 9pm pacific/midnight eastern.

*CONGRATS TO WINNER, TARA C!*

and now for my unsolicited PSA: while you are on lisa’s 5 orange potatoes etsy shop, keep in mind that the holidays are fast approaching, and these make for amazing gifts for special people in your life. if you’d like to support artists and the idea of a handmade holiday (as opposed to store-bought, mass-produced goods,) please consider shopping on sites like etsy, at your local holiday faires, and, of course, making your own holiday gifts this year (and every year!) occupy the holidays!

*all images courtesy of 5 orange potatoes.

i hope everyone had a happy halloweeeeen! thought i’d share with you a little mother-daughter creation: N’s halloween costume!

by “mother-daughter,” this time i actually mean myself and my mom (N’s gwee!) N expressed that she wanted to be an owl this year for halloween… and that they are her new favorite animal now, trumping the fox?!? whaaa? of course, she does have owls all over her bedroom and her shower curtain and bathroom is covered in them, so this isn’t outta no where.

N's felt owl mask

i remembered how awesome all of my halloween costumes were as a kid because my mom made them all! i feel like such a loser that i usually go the pottery barn kids route each year, so when i realized that my mom was visiting us in cali a few weeks before halloween, i jumped on the opportunity to enlist her help with making this costume (and learning more about this sewing machine thing-a-ma-jig collecting dust in my guest room closet.) i was inspired by the artful parent’s post on making bird wings (which was inspired by ones she’d seen on prudent baby.) i figured these would work well for a little owlie girl on halloween night, right? so first, a trip to joann’s fabrics was in order so we could choose fabrics and a color scheme, based around N’s fav color (which is still purple, to my knowledge.)

then we measured N’s wingspan arm length, and i cut a pattern for the wings and “feathers.”

next my mom and i got down to business with a whole lot of tedious (but easy) tracing and cutting. (sorry for dark photos. most of this work was done at night after the little one was asleep.)

the sewing began. (and my mom showed me again how to wind my bobbin and thread my machine. somehow i do not retain this information, no matter how many times i’m told. probably because once it’s done, i don’t touch the machine for a year or more in between lessons.)

costume contains lots of love

the sewing continued and messes were made.

i created a mask out of felt while mom diligently sewed.

we also created an oval patch covered with the “feathers” that we tacked onto one of N’s shirts.

in the end, it was all worth it. my little lady was the cutest owl in town on halloween night!

N is making a lot of sweet new friends in waldorf kindergarten – friends who are great at handicrafts! a couple weeks ago, N received this adorable felt gnome gift from a friend in her class who sewed it just for her.

N was so impressed that her friend made this herself that she immediately asked me if she could learn how to sew, too. so, of course, i went to the waldorf school store to buy a couple pretty squares of felted wool (any felt will do for this.) i already had embroidery thread (thick enough to easily see,) a darning needle (blunt enough not to stab her,) and wool roving (fills without being poly-gross) at home, so i figured we had what we needed to create this gnome. the woman working in the school store asked me what my daughter would be sewing. when i mentioned the gnome to her, she said, “let me help you out with this pattern for that gnome.” ahhhh, awesome! i was (somewhat) prepared to totally wing it, but now i didn’t have to. and neither do you – i’ve scanned it below. (click to enlarge it to actual size.)

the bottom text was cut off on the original, but you get the idea...

at home, N chose to make the largest gnome, so i traced and cut that pattern out onto posterboard. i pinned it to the her chosen purple felt color and cut around it.

N decided to use green embroidery thread (from the basket of newly-wound embroidery threads – they’re like candy, i’m telling you!)

i demonstrated how to thread the needle. she tried until she got it on her own.

we pinned the felt together into the conical gnome shape, and the first stitches were sewn!

she was sooo psyched that this worked and that she was able to do it herself. i helped out when she got into a knotted jam or if she looped the thread around the gnomes head somehow. soon she was halfway there!

then she finished up stitching the front of the body.

next we tore off about a 7″ loaf of natural wool roving, and tied a knot in it. this knot serves as the rounded, harder part of the gnome face that peeks through the cloak. N stuffed it inside. then she set out to work on sewing the circle onto the bottom of the gnome, to hold the wool inside. at this point, she was a little tired and asked me to help with some of these stitches.

in the end, she had her own little hand sewn gnome, too! i am seeing more of these in our future… but i know that soon this particular little lady will figure out how to create animals!

do you ever pin like 3,000 things and wonder when you’ll ever get around to them? welcome to my pinteresting world! i was kinda psyched that i finally implemented two inventive and artful tips last week that i had pinned. both were great ideas so i wanted to share. i’m usually in this mode when i’m on pinterest:

(this is from a pin, too)

the first one i undertook was simple. i finally bought a date stamp (yep, like old school libraries used. it was about $7 at a mom & pop office supply store) and i am using it to stamp the date on art work. it’s great for me since N produces zillllllions of pieces and i get so overwhelmed by this task each week. (this idea was originally featured in the now-defunct cookie magazine. who else out there misses cookie?)

since this little artist cranks out about 30 pieces per day (and i’d say at least half are “keepers”) now i just need to figure out if i should stick with the large 3-ring binder method i began last year to hold these works or if i should just start a bin (with monthly separated tabs, maybe.) what do you do?

the other pin-tip i undertook was to wind my embroidery floss around clothes pins. (on pinterest this links back to heather’s life blog, but in her entry, she sites finding the idea on pinterest. the wheel keeps on turning and turning and turning…)

anyway, the idea is simple, cheap, and helps keep it from knotting up. i marked the clothes pin with the number of the DMC floss, to keep track of what i’m using for a project (since that paper tab will be tossed.)

it’s also colorful and cute.

and extremely satisfying to look at when finished.

what clever pins have you tried out in your home?

a couple weeks ago my mom (N calls her “gwee”) was visiting us on the left coast, and while my husband and i took a little date weekend away, gwee treated N to a new world of crafting for her — weaving potholders.

it was really cute – my mom sent an amazon box to us about a week before her visit and asked us not to open it, since it was to be a surprise for me and my husband. N was thrilled about the prospect of what she might make out of what was in that mystery box. once we were out of the house, i was told that N could not wait to get started.

inside was a potholder design kit with metal loom. gwee showed N how to go over and under (we’ve done some weaving before, but not yet on a loom) and she caught on and worked diligently on the potholders.

gwee reported that N loved coming up with the color order and combinations for the weavings. one of the potholders she designed was in ROY G BIV order, of course. my little rainbow lover. N was suuuper proud to show us her potholders when we returned home, and she was even more psyched when we used them a couple of days later, saying “they work!”