Saturday, July 28, 2012

The Queen is my Hero

Queen Elizabeth proved to the world that she does indeed have a keen sense of humor when she "dropped in" to the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony by parachute!

Here are a few Her Majesty-inspired picks from Etsy Dallas:

Retro Floral Envelope Clutch by K8Made

Keep Calm and Carry On Notebook by MadeByRori

Shade of Purple Bunting by Three Yellow Starfish
Dainty Lace Cuff by estieMade

Crochet Teacup Ornament by Sheepish Knit Crochet

Vintage Scarf Pillow by Butter Design Lab

Be Courageous Letterpress Art Print by Honeycomb Print Shop
Three Cheers for the Queen!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Give your Summer an Eco-Friendly Spin


It’s the summer travel season -- where will you travel or not travel this summer?
Either way, here are a few tips on keeping your traveling and adventures green:
Carry your own stainless steel reusable water bottle to avoid BPA and wasteful plastic. You can refill it pretty much anywhere and not using plastic is more eco-friendly than recycling plastic.
Eat locally and sustainably whenever you can. The Eat Well Guide is a great place to see what might be along your travel path or in your local area as well as Local Harvest is a great resource to find Farmer’s Markets in any given area by zip code.
Do your homework before you travel. Consider staying somewhere green like an ecolodge or campground. Or if you’re staying in a hotel, you have the option to have your sheets and towels changed each day or not at all during your stay. Not changing them each day saves water and energy.
Consider Eco-friendly activities like a national park, beaches or trying out eco tourism.
Before a road trip, make sure you have your car checked out for proper maintenance. Accurately inflated tires, topped off fluid levels and a full gas tank will be sure to get your road trip off to a good green start.
Consider a staycation. Staying in your own city this summer and doing fun things you never do could save tons of money on gas, lodging and food while allowing you to enjoy your city in a whole new way close to home.

Have a great summer! 

Posted by Alicia of La Alicia

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Craft Blast from the Past: Sculpey Doily Bowls

Hello! it's Esther from estieMade, with the third installment of Craft Blast from the Past. This series is all about taking an old school craft and using it in a new and modern way.

Today, we focus on Sculpey. It's a bake-able polymer clay that you can buy at your local craft store. Some of y'all may have used this to make your own beads for necklaces growing up. Or maybe you made a 'plate' with an imprint of your hand on it to give to your Mom for Mother's Day in second grade. Fast forward a bunch of years, and this is what you can do with Sculpey now: make a little bowl for your jewelry. The inspiration for this came from this tutorial from Sodapop design. It’s in German, but the pics are pretty self explanatory. I translated the text using Google translator, and came up with this adapted tutorial. To start, I gathered my materials: bowling3-Sculpey clay (I got this at JoAnn Fabrics)
-lace to make your design (a paper doily works fine too)
-a cookie cutter (a cup works fine too)
-rolling pin
-either wax paper or a silipat to roll the clay on
-acrylic paint (optional)

Steps First, roll out the Sculpey onto the Silipat (or wax paper). Make sure you roll the clay out evenly, so that the entire piece is the same depth (about .25"). (By the way, don’t roll your clay out directly on the counter, or you will have to restart. I made that mistake, and couldn’t scrape the clay off the counter without ruining the design.) bowling4
 Then roll the lace into the clay. bowling5
 Carefully peel back the lace. bowling6
 Use your cookie cutter to cut the clay into a circle. bowling7
Next, peel the clay circle off the Silipat, and put it into a oven-safe bowl. I didn’t want the finished bowl to be too deep, so I used a shallow one. bowling 11
The oven-safe bowls went on a cookiesheet, and were baked. I just followed the baking instructions on the Sculpey packaging. After they were done baking, Let the clay cool in the bowls. bowling12
Now for the finishing touches. I ended up making a little birdie to perch on the lip of one of the bowls. To make it easier to glue the bird to the bowl, I cut out a little triangle of clay from the bottom of the bird. This was baked standing up, at the same time as the bowls. bowling9
I attached the little bird I made to the lip of one clay bowl.bowling1 bowling13
On another bowl, painted it with two coats of gold acrylic. Had to use a small brush to do this, for more precise painting. bowling14 bowling15
I ended up using this as my business card holder at last year's Handmade Bash. bowling16
These bowls are pretty versatile – and they look pretty good, for being made out of Sculpey!
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