Fabric Flowers Inspired by Roesen Painting

Severin Roesen (1815 or 1816—after 1872)
Still Life of Flowers and Fruit with a River Landscape in the Distance, 1867
oil on canvas; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Earlier this week Beth A & our fab new assistant, Marley, came over for a make day in preparation of our upcoming demo at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. We were invited to present a few handmade projects inspired by works in the museum's collection as part of their Crafting from the Collection series. We'll be road-tripping up to Ft. Worth for this funtastic event on February 3!

At the Carter Museum, we'll be demonstrating how to make pretty flowers from upcycled t-shirts, as inspired by the abundance of flowers in this gorgeous painting from the collection. We'll have 3 different types to show the museum guests who want to get crafty with us.




One type is made from stacking layers of clover-shaped fabric, resulting in a sweet flower with big, floppy petals. Marley models one she made, showing how cute it would be as an embellishment on her beret.

Another, slightly more involved, type is a really full flower made from circles of fabric that are first folded into wedges & strung together, then fluffed & sewn in place & fluffed some more until you get it just right.
 



The last type of flower we made was a super-simple rolled one. It works great with the hem of a shirt, especially if it has some fancy trim or stitching.



Here's all of our finished little pretties ready to be placed in an arrangement. I'll be attaching them to stems of some sort & arranging in a vase for their big debut in Ft. Worth.

We have two more art-inspired project examples we'll be taking with us to Ft. Worth as well. Stay tuned to see those in future posts!

Photo Essay: Scenes from a Make Day

Today all of us WonderCraft gals got together at Kim's for a crafty Make Day! We each worked on our own projects while catching up on what's going on in each other's lives... oh yeah, and watched some old episodes of "21 Jump Street." Good times, for sure!


Kim had a pretty plate full of Mexican pastries for us. So delicious.


I stuffed toys until my hands were tired.


Jen worked on some vinyl jewelry made from old records.


Beth A screen-printed tees to prep for a crafty bachelorette party we're throwing tomorrow night.


And Kim created some new looks with her stash of colorful beads & gold chain.

It's so much fun to get together to craft, and we all had a super-productive day! We're all working on some great new stuff for our upcoming events, so be sure to check the calendar on our website or follow us on facebook to find out what we're up to. Hope to see you soon!

Craftastic Movies!

We here at The WonderCraft loooove watching movies, especially the artsy ones! So, inspired by Photojojo's Ultimate Photo Movie Roundup, I thought I'd make my own list of fave movies that feature awesome handmade sets & props. This is just a short list, and I know I've probably left out lots of craftacular flicks, so please leave a note in the comments about others we should all check out.

1. Adventures of Prince Achmed, directed by Lotte Reiniger (1926)

I recently had a very enjoyable evening with friends watching Prince Achmed at the Alamo Drafthouse with a live musical score. This movie is simply stunning! It's the oldest surviving animated film, yet it looks as if it could have been created today. The film is a beautiful feast for the eyes in silhouette style; all of the characters were made of cardboard cut-outs. You can see snippets of Prince Achmed on YouTube, but if a theater in your area screens this film, don't miss it!

2. Coraline, written & directed by Henry Selick (2009)

Coraline, another animated film, is a must-see for makers, filled with crafty goodness in every scene. The entire set, plus all of the characters & props are all totally handmade! The number of tiny details in this film is astounding, too. Itty-bitty sweaters were knit for the characters by Althea Crome - you've got to see this to believe it! Craft did a great write-up about the craftiness of Coraline when the movie came out, which includes a video of Crome knitting those crazy-small sweaters.

 3. The Science of Sleep, written & directed by Michel Gondry (2006, French)

This is a movie that I really, really loved, for so many reasons (one of which is that I have a bigtime crush on the star, Gael García Bernal). But aside from the hunk factor, it's just such a cool little love story & a visually arresting film. Bernal's character, Stéphane, is a total dreamer, super-creative & so in touch with his imaginative side that he often confuses it with reality. There are a lot of surreal touches in the film, such as a scene where Stéphane drives a cardboard car. There are also many interesting & unique handmade objects created by Stéphane & his love interest, Stéphanie. These include a little white boat that contains a forest inside, an animatronic horse & a "one-second time machine." Check this wonderful little movie out - I think you'll like the story & all of the unusual handmade props.

4. Fantastic Mr. Fox, directed by Wes Anderson (2009)

Fantastic Mr. Fox is based on the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, which tells the story of a band of clever animals who raid the nearby large-scale farms. This film is an adorable and funny film that employs stop-motion animation of fabulous handmade puppets. Similarly to Coraline, the filmmakers behind Fantastic Mr. Fox created an amazingly detailed miniature world that is a real treat for the eyes. Take a look behind-the-scenes to see how this fun movie was made in the "Cutting-Edge Fox" video on MakingOf.com.

So what are your favorite craftacular movies? Know of some others that showcase handmade artistry? Please share in the comments!

Wedding Bonanza

Beth A here, writing from California. I'm out here for the first two of 6 weddings I'm attending this summer. Two of my friends were married last weekend and two more this weekend, and so inspired by all these weddings I thought I'd post about some of my favorite DIY wedding crafts and tips.


First, an easy and great way to add color and flowers without the cost of real flowers, tissue paper flowers add a great pop to any celebration. We even used these to decorate our booth at the Renegade Craft Fair. The how-to is available from the Martha Stewart Weddings DIY blog here.I'm also really inspired by this wedding blog called Once Wed and their DIY projects, especially this cute centerpiece idea:

What WonderCraft DIY day would be complete without a t-shirt craft? Here are some beautiful flowers made from old t-shirts, tutorial and kit available from Alabama Chanin. This is the next craft I'm going to try out for sure! We've still got so many scraps to get through...

Green Crafts to Honor Earth Day's 40th Anniversary

Happy Earth Day, everyone! What are you doing to celebrate? I've rounded up some awesome green crafting ideas from the blogosphere to share with you. I hope you find them inspiring!

First up, my absolute favorite idea: Jessica Wilson's Garden to Go tutorial, which she shared on the Craft blog. She made pretty little gift jars full of seeds from her garden, complete with costume jewelry-topped lids, to give to friends.

What a wonderful way to share plants & spread the gardening love! As an avid gardener myself, I'd love to receive a gift like this. I'm now thinking of which of my plants I can collect seeds from to make my own jars to give...

Another awesome garden-sharing idea is making your own seed tape. Amber of Giver's Log has put together a fab DIY seed tape tutorial (thanks to Rachel for sharing it on Craft!). Amber's how-to explains how to make the seed tape as well as how to turn it into a super-cute gift.

Seed tape helps a lot when planting those extremely tiny little seeds. It allows you to create nice rows with the seeds evenly spaced. And what a great way to share the bounty of your garden & inspire others to grow their own!

Along with tending the earth in the form of gardening, being a good steward of our planet includes the three R's of course! This next idea helps you reduce the amount of plastic you send to the landfill: reusable food storage bags. Bells and Unicorns, a great Etsy shop with an even better name, stocks their shop with a plethora of reusable bags in lots of sizes & pretty fabrics. They have Velcro closures & a water-resistant nylon lining for easy cleanup. How cute is this "Give a Hoot" bag?!

There are also lots of opportunities to reduce & reuse in the ways we clean our homes. One of my favorite tools is my Swiffer, but I don't like the throw-away nature of the cloths. So I was super-excited to find The Quilting Mama, an Etsy shop that offers reusable cloth Swiffer covers (among lots of other great earth-friendly products).

I bought a set of these covers & I looooove them - I highly recommend them! You just throw 'em in your washer & they're good to go for tons more uses. Here's a tip, though: give them a quick rinse under the tap to remove major dust bunnies before throwing in the laundry; they'll come out of your washing machine a lot cleaner.

Etsy has tons of awesome, earth-friendly products, of course; way too many to list here. A search for "eco friendly" comes up with over 51,000 results!

And now for the grand finale, a masterpiece of recycling (or upcycling may be the more accurate term for these): reclaimed plastic horse sculptures by Sayaka Ganz (via Craft again).

Wowee-wow-wow! I can't get over these. So beautiful, and made from discarded spatulas & the like!

I hope these craftacular ideas inspire you to come up with your own ways of honoring Mother Nature today. Please leave any awesome green crafting ideas or links of your own in the comments - thanks for reading!

Rockstar Sponsor: The Cupcake Bar

Get this guys: we've got not one, but TWO amazing local bakeries sponsoring our Grand Opening! Trust me, you don't want to miss out on all this deliciousness! In addition to those amazing bourbon bites from Blue Note Bakery, we'll also have a gorgeous spread of mini-cupcakes from The Cupcake Bar.

The Cupcake Bar is a full-service cupcake catering company that's always a hit at parties. They're a new fave of ours since meeting them a couple of weeks ago when we hosted an Austin Cupcake Meetup. It was so much fun! Jackie, the fearless leader of the cupcake meetups, wanted to combine cupcakes & crafting. What could be better?



So we led the guests in a cupcake-themed sponge-painting craft, and Rachel from The Cupcake Bar was our fabulous bartender. She was so sweet & helpful & the cupcakes were super-tasty. You can see all of the pics from this event in our Cupcake Meetup set on Flickr.



The Cupcake Bar offers 12 delicious varieties of cake, fillings, icing and an array of toppings that is simply astounding, including cotton candy, Pop Rocks, mini Oreos, and even pretzel Goldfish for those who like a sweet-salty mix.



It's so fun to choose & create your own custom cupcake. I had the Tres Leches cake topped with Rice Krispie Treats & silver shimmer dust. Yum!



Don't miss your chance to sample the delights from The Cupcake Bar at our Grand Opening!

Not Your Average Neckwear!

Last night, The WonderCraft gals hosted a little party at our new space at The Art Pad as a trial-run for the fabulous Grand Opening celebration we're planning on Feb. 25th. Stay tuned for more details on that - you're gonna love it!

The theme of our GO party is "Tie One On" & we'll be doing techniques such as embroidery & screen-printing on thrifted, possibly super-ugly, neckties all night long. Here are some more pics from our experiments last night:

Our crafty pals from the EtsyAustin team, Samantha of Nepenthe's Bathtime, Cathie of Sweet Wolf & Camille of Diamonds and Guns, checking out the beautiful selection at Lapis Lane Beads.

Camille sported one of the pretty crystal-adorned fascinators she's making now - love it!





See all the pics from our pre-party in our Soft Grand Opening Flickr set. And be sure to mark your calendar for Thursday, February 25 so you can come out & embellish a necktie with us, enjoy fantastic local makers of handmade goods, tasty local food & drinks, plus lots more!

Gifts to Beat the Winter Blahs!

Here are a few inspiring gift ideas I've seen on the web recently. Any of these would be gifts I'd love to receive (hint, hint!) because they are all about making the cold days of winter more comfy-cozy. I've also put links to a few of the coolest gift guides I've found at the end of this post. Enjoy!

The Woodland Draft Buster from Betz White is so cute! You can find the pattern in her book, Sewing Green. The book itself would make a lovely gift for someone crafty, but if you have the time, why not buy the book as a gift to yourself & whip some draft dodgers up for your loved ones? Helping them stay warm & cozy this winter would be a wonderful gift.

















This next project is totally tempting me, because my skin gets horribly dry during the winter. I'm sure you have someone on your list who also suffers this winter affliction, so how about making them an indulgent brown sugar scrub?

Find the incredibly simple instructions on Craftzine and get to it! This is one that children will love making, too. Mix it up, put it in a jar & use fabric scraps & ribbon to pretty it up - so easy!



Lastly, a fashionable & functional classic: a pretty scarf. This scarf has a twist though: it's made from an old sweater (yay, upcycling!) & gathered using a long ribbon (clever!), so that it has a very ruffly look. How pretty is this? and it looks like it would keep your neck nice and warm (very important for short-haired girls like me)! This project is another one from the amazing folks at Craftzine. Check out the Sew a Ruffled Scarf post for a detailed how-to. Don't be scared; it actually seems very simple to make as long as you have basic sewing skills.

Wouldn't any of these make a fantastic, thoughtful gift? Sure wish I had started on them earlier... maybe I'll be able to make some gifts for Christmas 2010, if I start now! Oh well, if you're in a time crunch like me, you can still find tons of fabulous gifts online by checking out the gift guides below. Or better yet, shop at your local craft shows & support handmade! If you're in Austin, come out & see us at Cherrywood Art Fair this weekend!

Great Holiday Gift Guide Roundup 09:
- under $50 gift guide from design*sponge {they have many gift guides to browse; see their full list}
- Slow Holiday gift guide from Treehugger
- and of course, there's a plethora of gift guides on Etsy!

Happy shopping &/or making! Please leave links to your fave gift guides or DIY gift ideas in the comments!

Have you tasted the goodness of Blue Note Bakery?

We here at The WonderCraft love supporting our fellow local businesses, especially when they are this tasty! Blue Note's desserts are simply marvelous! Blue Note Bakery got its start in a small, shared catering kitchen back in 2004, and has grown steadily ever since. They now have their own shop located on South Congress. They can create a unique dessert or custom cake for any occasion. Check out the photos of their one-of-a-kind works of "edible art!"


If you come out to our Mix & Make Crafty Hour tonight you can taste Blue Note Bakery's delicious treats for yourself! You can also kick back with a glass of wine, make some fabulous wine glass charms to take home, mingle and shop our boutique of handmade items from local artists. In honor of the East Austin Studio Tour, our Crafty Hour is free tonight! Come on out & get crafty with us! Stella is parked outside of Creative Side Jewelry Academy for the duration of E.A.S.T. at 628 Allen Street, stop #45.