Hoop Dancing?

Have you ever heard of hoop dancing? If not, I am more than happy to introduce you to it.

I was introduced to this particular type of dance through a friend. I had been part of a gymnastics team when I was young and danced the whole way through high school so this “hoop dancing” seemed pretty appealing to me. I remember hula hooping as a kid and loved it then. I am sure I would love it now, even if the hoop weighs more.  This dance is also used for relaxation and weight loss. Don’t believe me? Google it!

This video is of an 18 year old girl (at the time) named Rachel Frantz. She has been my inspiration for getting into it. The first 30 seconds or so is just her dancing but the hooping does come in shortly after. I hope you like it! I plan on getting, or making one a hoop of my own. Maybe it will be a craft in Make Something Mondays!

 

If you watch Ellen much you may have seen Rachel on her show as well.

 

For more of Rae’s videos visit PARISFRANTZ!

Easy DIY Bookmarks!

I love to read and I do it frequently. You can only imagine how many bookmarks I have gone through in my life. The paper ones tear, the metal ones discolor the pages, the wooden ones break… I had to come up with a better idea because these are just not working out for me.  So, I’ve seen people make magnets using this same technique and I decided I could use it to make bookmarks.  It is super easy and only takes a few minutes (excluding the time you are waiting for the glue to dry.)

 

 

 

 

Things You Will Need:

A pattern or design: I made mine with Photoshop but you can search the internet to find some cute ones to print out. I’ve also seen people use scrapbook paper.

Scissors

Glass tiles: I found mine on Amazon but I am sure you could find them at a craft store. You can get whatever shape you prefer.

Large paper clips: You can find these at any store that sells office supplies.

Diamond Glaze (water-based, dimensional adhesive): Again, I found this on Amazon but I’m sure your local craft store will carries it. By the way, I have also seen people use Mod Podge for this technique but I haven’t tried it yet.

Hot melt glue (optional): I used this to glue on the paper clip but I’m sure you could use the Diamond Glaze if you had a prop.

 

 

Step 1:

First, you are going to need a pattern or design. Cut out the design. Make your edges are neatly trimmed and that it does not extend the edges of your glass tile.

 

Step 2:

This is the hardest step but it is not difficult. Flip your tile over so that the round side is on the flat surface. Add a small dot of glue on the back side of the tile and press the design against the back. Make sure the glue makes its way to the edges.  Then, add a thick amount of glue on the back of the design like in the picture above. Make sure you cover the entire surface so that the design does not lift.

 

Step 3:

Wait for the glue on the back of the tile to dry. This can take anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours depending on the glue you’ve chosen. Mine took about 30 minutes. At this point you can use a prop and lay the large paper clip in the glue and wait or you can wait until the next step to glue on the paper clip.

 

Step 4:

At this point you glue should be dry. When you flip over the tile it should look something like this. If the design exceeds the edges of the tile this is the point where you will want to cut around it and clean up the appearance.

 

Step 5:

If you haven’t added the paper clip already we will do that here. Get some hot melt glue and adhere the two together. At this point, I am regretting not adding the paper clip in the last step because the hot melt glue is looking pretty messy. Note to self.

 

The finished product looks cute and functions the way I want it to.

 

I really enjoyed making these and the results make me happy as well. The one on the far left is my favorite!  I am sure you will see plenty more of my crafts using this technique. If you decide to make any of these I would love to see them! Please tag me if you post them.

Hobbit House

I found this article with pictures at Mail One. Amazing! I love it and wanted to share it.

Thus guy is my hero! Creative and ambitious!

Simon Dale: How I built my hobbit house in Wales for just £3,000 | Mail Online

Our £3,000 Hobbit house: The family home dug from a hillside and built with scraps scavenged from skips

Fed up with huge mortgage payments, Simon Dale decided to take matters into his own hands – literally.

Armed with only a chisel, a chainsaw and a hammer, the 32-year-old moved his family to a hillside in Wales and started digging.

The result is a wooden eco-home – constructed in four months and costing  just £3,000 or roughly $3966.00 – which would look perfectly at ease alongside the Hobbit houses in The Lord Of The Rings.

Finished article: Simon Dale’s family home which he built in four months for a cost of £3,000

Nestled: The moon rises on the house which is roofed with grass and blends in to its woodland surroundings

Cosy home: The house is heated by a wood burner and a solar panel provides power

Mr Dale, who has no experience in
carpentry or architecture, created his sustainable family home using
scrap wood for floors, materials scavenged from skips and by diverting
water from a nearby spring.

 

And while he was doing the building
work, his wife Jasmine Saville and their two toddler children camped in
the nearby countryside.

 

He said: ‘Being your own have-a-go
architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something
which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a
mass-produced box designed for maximum profit and the convenience of the
construction industry.

 

‘Building from natural materials does
away with producers’ profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons
that fill most modern buildings.’

 

Sustainable: Simon Dale, who had no experience as a carpenter or architect when he started the project, used lime plaster and wood from the surrounding area

Woodland view: Mr Dale put the timber frame up first, then the roof, so his family could be sheltered while he carried out the rest of the work

Hobbit house: The finished article sits in the Welsh hillside and is almost hidden from view

The family struck lucky searching for
a site for their dream project. In return for looking after the area,
the owner of the woods gave them their plot for free.

 

After digging into the hillside, Mr
Dale – with the help of his father-in-law, a builder – first constructed
the building’s timber frame.

 

The roof, which came next, has a
layer of straw bales for insulation and is covered  with sheets of
plastic to make it waterproof.

 

Finally it is covered with a layer of earth, which ensures the house blends perfectly into its surroundings.

Woodland home: Simon Dale, with wife Jasmine Saville and their two children outside their home, just four months after starting work

Once the outer shell was complete, the family made an interior wall from straw bales stacked on dry-stone walling and staked together with hazel sticks.

Once the walls were up a sub-floor made from pallets was laid, with floorboards put down on top.

Miss Saville, writing on her husband’s website, said: ‘Some past experience, lots of reading and self-belief gave  us the courage of our conviction that we wanted to build our own home in natural surroundings.

‘For us, one choice led to another and each time we  took the plunge events conspired to assist us in our mission. There were times of stress and exhaustion, but  definitely no regrets and plenty of satisfaction.’

Window on the woods: The cosy sitting room looks out through the conservatory to the surrounding woodland

From scratch: Simon Dale building his ‘hobbit house’

Before and after:  View from the unfinished window (left) and piles of stones on the house site

Foundations: The house takes shape with palettes laid as a sub floor, ready for floor boards

Helping hand: Simon Dale’s son helps out gathering wood

Family task: Simon Dale moved his family to Wales and started building

As well as being made from sustainable
material the Hobbit house, as it is dubbed by locals, has lime plaster
on its walls instead of cement, a compost toilet, a fridge cooled by air
from beneath the foundations and solar panels for power.

Mr Dale said: ‘This sort of  life is
about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing
things simply and using appropriate levels of technology.’

Since building his house, Mr Dale is
following the design to construct the first home in the Lammas Village,
Wales’s first eco-development.

For more information on building low impact homes, visit www.simondale.net

Plans: Drawings for the hobbit house

Insulation: Straw, membrane and earth make up the walls

Graffiti Fever

I really enjoy looking at street art, and judging from your feedback on my previous posts, so do you. Therefore, I will share my findings of street art with you on a semi-regular basis. If you find anything good in the meantime, I would LOVE to hear about it!

If you are interested in reading a short article you should take a look at THIS one on how street art is dying in the UK.

Agata Olek

Amose & Erone

Banksy

BLU

David Walker

DALeast

Dispatch work

Dolk

Eduardo Relero

El Mac

El niño de las pinturas

Eyesaw

Evol

Faith47

Felice Varini

Fin DAC

Herakut

Hyuro

Juliana Santacruz

Oakoak

Pablo

Pavel Puhov

Rainbow Warrior

ROA

Roadsworth

Shida

Slinkachu

SmugOne

Space Invader

Zevs

Vhils

The Best Eleven First Impressions

In my post yesterday, I talked about how business cards can be a great source of inspiration. Today, I’m going to show you how. Business cards are an organization’s first impression on you so it has to be good, especially in a creative field. There are some pretty nifty cards out there so keep your eyes open!

 

1: Linsey Casabella

 

 

2: Mais Pilates

 

 

3: IGS

 

4: Nation Builder

 

5: Mario Rayz

 

6: Intersection

 

7: Cloak

 

8: Cocotte

 

9: Paul C Redrup

 

10: Ninja BTL

 

11: Yoga One

A Major Cable Network is Seeking America's Most Talented Crafters

Reblogged from Artist Marketing Resources:

For You Lovely Crafters Out There!

Inspire Me… Inspire You

Sometimes it is hard to find inspiration. Believe me, I know. You are feeling creative and really want to just throw some paint on a canvas but you sit there staring at your paints and fiddling with your paintbrush because you have no idea what to make. You could do the Jackson Pollock thing and just splatter it, but will that get it all of  your emotion on to the canvas? Maybe some days.

I like to search new places to find inspiration. Here are some of my newest methods.

 

1: A New Era

We all have our preference of art genre or time period. Try looking at something new. Do you like Abstract? Try checking out something contemporary. You might not particularly like what you see but it might give you some ideas. Who knows, maybe you will come across a painting that you find so hideous that your brain with automatically start coming up with ways to distort it. That is the best.

 

2: Take It All In

Go for a walk. I know you have heard this before and are thinking this is nothing new. It can be a new experience every time. When I say go for a walk I mean in new places. Don’t walk around your house every time. There is only so much in that area. Go explore a park, walk past some tennis courts or drive a few miles away and walk around. There is so much in the world and you may think that nature doesn’t have the answers to what you are looking for… It just might.

Giving nature a different perspective is pretty helpful as well. Instead of looking at a duck pond from the bridge, may try getting in it. Maybe you are not adventurous enough for that… Who knows. It is a thought.

 

3: Stumble Upon

Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the same thing twice while stumbling. There is always a new article to read, artist to explore or video to watch. There are some amazing people out there and just typing in “artist” in google is not going to introduce you to them.

 

4: Color Palette

Have you ever looked at www.Colorlovers.com? It is a pretty neat site. You can view other users’ color palettes or make you own and some of them are pretty creative. Colors you never thought would go together mesh so well it will have  you scratching your head. You can search/create colors, patterns, shapes, occasions (weddings) and trends. I recommend it.

 

5: Children’s Book Illustrations

When was the last time you read a Dr. Seuss book? I can confidently say that Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite authors, hands down. His ideas and drawings are awesome! It takes me back to my childhood. When you are a kid your mind is open; you are a free-thinker. You aren’t being judged because you drew a pink elephant with purple polka dots sitting on a yellow cow in orange grass. It was a good time!

Oh The Places You’ll Go in books like these.

 

6: Promotion

Have you seen modern business cards? (I should make a new post on business cards… maybe tomorrow.) They are so creative! No longer are they a small piece of paper that fits in your wallet but they are advanced methods of design and self promotion.

 

7: Last Resort Library

This isn’t so helpful at this particular moment but it will be useful in the long-term. Whenever I am looking through a magazine or a book and I find an advertisement, photo shoot image, etc I cut it out of the book and put it in a folder. Something about that page I ripped out of GQ 5 years ago may inspire me now because of something I haven’t thought about in years. The same goes for objects in a store. If I am walking through Wal-Mart and I see a LEGO tower and I enjoy it, I take a picture of it. Anything I like, strongly dislike, or something useful goes into my folder. I don’t get it out frequently, but when I do there is a bevy of inspiration for me to feed off of.

10 BANNED BOOKS

Is it just me or is the fact that they have been outlawed make you want to read them more? I have read most of them but now I want to read the rest.

The most infamously outlawed novels

 

Throughout history, fiction has always rattled the cages of the censors. Whether it be themes of politics, religion, or it just has a lot of sex in it, people the world over have shook their fists at an author at one time or another. But, in today’s book friendly society (thanks Steve Jobs!) we can now read about complex themes of heavy handed governments, violence, and drugs without the fear of being tapped on the shoulder by “the man”. To celebrate this fact, we’ve collected our ten favourite books, that have been hauled off the shelves in favour of something more wholesome.

CHECK OUT THE FAVOURITE BOOKS OF FAMOUS PEOPLE

 

 

1. BRAVE NEW WORLD BY ALDOUS HUXLEY (1932)

The gist: Written in 1931 and published a year later, Huxley’s parody of H. G. Wells’ utopian future in his novel, Men Like Gods isn’t wholly dissimilar to George Orwell’s 1984. Addressing the period’s core theme of industrialisation, Huxley explored the loss of identity and increasing dividision of society to devastating effect.

Why was it banned? Initially, Ireland pulled it off the shelves for its controversial themes on child birth, before several states in the US tried to have it removed from school curriculums due to its “themes on negativity.”

 

 

2. THE GRAPES OF WRATH BY JOHN STEINBECK (1939)

The gist: Steinbeck’s Pullitzer Prize winning novel, released in 1939, told the all too familiar story of the effects of the Great Depression on the rural poor. Focusing on a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, and changes in the agriculture industry. With nowhere left to turn, they set out for California along with thousands of other “Okies” in search of land, jobs and dignity.

Why was it banned? Despite the book being championed by the literary elite, it was publicly banned in the US and burned en masse by the general population. People were shocked by its description of the poor, which Steinbeck later admitted was a sanitised version of what was really going on in these remote communities.

 

 

3. TROPIC OF CANCER BY HENRY MILLER (1934)

The gist: Set in France during the 1930s, the book follows the life of its author, Miller, who at the time was a struggling writer. Written in the first person, he wrote about his sexual encounters with friends and colleagues, it was an expose on the lives of American expats living abroad.

Why was it banned? Almost as soon as it was released, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Musmanno wrote Cancer is, “not a book. It is a cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human depravity.” As you can imagine, people weren’t ready for what George Orwell would later call “the most important book of the mid-1930s”.

 

 

4. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE BY KURT VONNEGUT (1969)

The gist: Billy Pilgrim, a disoriented, and ill-trained American soldier, is captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and taken prisoner in Dresden. Housed in a disused slaughterhouse, known as “Slaughterhouse number 5″, he and the other POWs and German guards alike hide in a deep cellar; sheltering from the firestorm during the Bombing of Dresden in World War II. During this period, time begins to warp, and Pilgrim starts to see visions of the future and the past, including his death.

Why was it banned? The good old USA thought better than to let its children be exposed to such themes, residing it to the ranks of the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged books.

 

 

5. THE SATANIC VERSES BY SALMAN RUSHDIE (1988)

The gist: Rushdie’s book tells the story of an Indian expat living in modern day England. After surviving a plane crash, Gibreel Farishta, a Bollywood superstar is left to rebuild his life, while the other survivor, the emigrant Saladin Chamcha has his life torn apart.

Why was it banned? Many in the Islamic community saw Rushdie’s take on Islam to be blasphemous. In Venezuela, you would be imprisoned for 15 months if caught reading the book, while Japan issued fines for people who sold the English-language edition. Even in the US, two major bookshops refused to sell the book after death threats were received.

 

 

6. THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER BY STEPHEN CHOBSKY (1999)

The gist: Inspired by the late J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the book, published in 1999, tells the story of a teenager, “Charlie” who writes a series of letters to an anonymous friend. Being a teenager, Charlie goes to great lengths to describe his introversion, teenage sexuality, abuse, and his drug use.

Why was it banned? Its explicit sexual content, particularly the homosexual aspects, has led it to be withdrawn from libraries across the US, and it regularly makes the American Library Association’s top 10 most challenged books list.

 

 

7. THINGS FALL APART BY CHINUA ACHEBE (1958)

The gist: One of the most celebrated pieces of African literature, Achebe’s story of Okonkwo, a leader and local wrestling champion in Umofia – a fictional group of nine villages in Nigeria – recalls the influences of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on his traditional Igbo community during an unspecified time period in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

Why was it banned? Reportedly banned in Malaysia, it is critical of colonialism and its consequences.

 

 

8. AMERICAN PSYCHO BY BRETT EASTON ELLIS (1991)

The gist: Easton Ellis’s tale of serial killer and impeccable business man Patrick Bateman, starts off as merely the retelling of one man’s experiences living in an affluent part of New York city during the 1980s. As the book progresses however, the shiny veneer of Yuppie life soon reveals a far more sinister side.

Why is it banned? Anyone who has seen the film will know why. Germany deemed it harmful to minors when it first appeared in 1991, and restricted its sales. It was banned in Canada until very recently, and it’s banned in the Australian state of Queensland and is restricted to over 18s only in all other states.

 

 

9. THE METAMORPHOSIS BY FRANZ KAFKA (1915)

The gist: One day, Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman supporting his parents and sister, awakes to find he’s turned into a giant bug. Once the most beloved member of his family, so begins his estrangement from his beloved, and the rest of society, to the point where he is locked away in his room and plainly forgotten about.

Why was it banned? All of Kafka’s work was banned under the Nazi and Soviet regimes, and also in Czechoslovakia because he refused to write in Czech, using only German.

 

 

10. LOLITA BY VLADIMIR NABOKOV (1955)

The gist: Humbert Humbert, a scholar born in Paris, is obsessed with young women, or “nymphets” as he calls them. Moving to a small New England town, he comes obsessed with the 12-year-old daughter of Charlotte Haze, and secretly covets her, using his marriage to his mother as a ruse. Humbert and the girl abscond and begin hopping from town to town trying to conceal their true relationship.

Why was it banned? After being called ‘the filthiest book I have ever read’ by the editor of the Sunday Express, the Home Office seized all copies of the book in 1955 on the grounds that it was pornography. The French banned it the following year, but curiously, it was published without issue in the USA.

Why Buy A Recipe Box When I Can Make One Myself?

According to a poll I took a few weeks ago you, my readers, wanted a tutorial on how to make a recipe box. So here it is

Things You Will Need:

Ruler

Glue

Pencil

Magnent

Card stock paper

Scrapbook paper

Construction paper

Scissors or exato knife

Recipe cards (provided in the tutorial)

Step 1:

The first thing you are going to need is recipe cards. You can use what you have, make them yourself, or download them. I downloaded from Kerri Powell (and desaturated the colors) but there are several other sources. Type in “downloadable recipe cards” in your search engine of choice and you will get a variety of cards to choose from. Make sure you measure them once they are printed. You will need the measurements for the rest of the box.

Step 2:

After you have measured your recipe cards lay out your card stock to look something like this. Cut off the ends of the paper on the lines you’ve made.

Step 3:

Fold on the lines you’ve made. All of your folds should be made in the same direction.

Step 4:

Use your construction paper to make a fan shape like the above photo. You are going to want two pieces. These are going to fit inside the edges of your box so measure them accordingly.

Step  5:

Glue your fan shaped construction paper onto the inside edges of your soon-to-be box.

Step 6:

This part is optional.

Measure your construction paper to fit the box. Glue the construction paper to the outside of your box.

Step 7:

Print out a cute pattern, measure, cut it out and glue in to the front of your box.  Mine was scrapbook paper from Michael’s.

Step 8:

Measure and cut your card stock paper (or use blank notecards if you are feeling lazy) to create separators for your recipe cards.

Step 9:

Make a cute label

Step 10:

Cut your magnet into two small strips. Glue one to the inside of the top flat and one to the front close to the top. (I just cut up an old refrigerator magnet.)

There you have it, a home-made recipe box!

Artistically Preserving Memories

7 Crafty Ways to Preserve Your Memories

Are you looking for a unique way to share your photo(s)? Check out these ideas.

Photo in mason jar. This gives an antique effect. (via)

Vintage photo stones (via)

This is a class photo pot, but it works just well for putting together a family flower pot. (via)

Photo in bottle cap. What a great recycle craft idea. (via)

Personalized puzzle picture cube. By flipping the cube just so, all eight pictures are revealed. (via)

Photo Puzzle. This is a very amazing guest book for wedding, the guest can write at the back of each puzzle. (via)

Photo bubble necklace. (via)