Spilt Martini » Craftyness

30 day photo challenge

Ali — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:25:02 +0000

Day 11: Something blue

I’ve been busy doodling up a storm over at Sketchy Medicine so I’ve been a little neglectful. However, if you look over to the side where my twitter feed is, you’ll notice that I’ve quietly been plugging away at a 30 day photo challenge.

I’m using the list I found by googling “photo challenge” which happened to be on White Peach. Here’s the list for your viewing pleasure:

Day 1: Self-portrait
Day 2: What you wore today
Day 3: Clouds
Day 4: Something green
Day 5: From a high angle
Day 6: From a low angle
Day 7: Fruit
Day 8: A bad habit
Day 9: Someone you love
Day 10: Childhood memory
Day 11: Something blue
Day 12: Sunset
Day 13: Yourself with 13 things
Day 14: Eyes
Day 15: Silhouette
Day 16: Long exposure
Day 17: Technology
Day 18: Your shoes
Day 19: Something orange
Day 20: Bokeh
Day 21: Faceless self-portrait
Day 22: Hands
Day 23: Sunflare
Day 24: Animal
Day 25: Something pink
Day 26: Close-up
Day 27: From a distance
Day 28: Flowers
Day 29: Black and white
Day 30: Self-portrait

I think when I’m done I’ll put them into a nicely laid out collage. I’ve also been trying to get some other people to join in. You should too.

Merry Festivus!

Ali — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 01:36:55 +0000

May it be full of bright lights

(this is 100% a personal photo of a house near by my parents’)

And everything else your heart desires

(like a bag full of bows)

Homemade scrub cap

Ali — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:33:40 +0000

This is my brand new polka dot scrub cap. It was very easy to sew, it took more time to draw the pattern and cut out the pieces. I was disappointed about the selection of fun fabrics, I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for interesting fabrics just in case.

Advent calendars

Ali — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:03:46 +0000

There are tons of different sorts of advent calendars out there. I grew up with a felt one my mom made where each day you would put an ornament on the tree. My brother and I both loved this one (in fact we now do it over Skype since neither of us live at home anymore) and oddly enough I don’t think either of us ever missed the chocolate ones.

This year however, in addition to my fabric tree (I’ve since made one for myself), I have a tea advent calendar!

Sure beats a tiny chocolate.

Don’t panic towel

Ali — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:19:04 +0000

Since I’m going on a wild and crazy adventure in a couple weeks, I thought a compact blanket/towel would be useful, as the countless benefits of towels are widely known. Mike then suggested that perhaps I embroider the towel with familiar words of encouragement. I’m quite happy with how it turned out, despite not considering myself much of a needlepointest. I think I originally aimed for it to be Gill Sans, but the nuances are perhaps lost (sorry typographers!)

And yes, I got Instagram. I know it might be ubiquitous with the youngins and their twitters, but darn it’s fun! (besides, sending film off to be processed takes a long time in this day and age and Instagram is instant)

DIY lotus lamp

Ali — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:49:59 +0000

I’ve wanted one of those Ikea Knappa lamps for a while. I realize they’re rather ubiquitous, but they have a neat look and the price is more than right. One issue: they’re not available at Ikea Canada. I’m not quite sure why there’s a discrepancy between the American and Canadian stores, but alas, the lamp and I were not meant to be

That is, until I found this instructable. With nothing more than a bunch of plastic file folders, scissors, a drill, some wire and a lot of patience, I now have one of my very own. I warn you that since I had to buy the ceiling fixture separate, the cost of the lamp is probably equal to that of the ikea one, but it’s still much cheaper than anything else that I was able to find.

One small warning about the instructable – it makes a very small lamp. I doubled the bigger template to get a lamp that is just over a foot in diameter.

Mini flash diffuser

Ali — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:37:06 +0000

Today I decided that I wanted to finish off the roll of film that had been sitting in my film SLR for, lets just say, too long. While waiting for my film to be developed, I was eyeing the flash diffusers and remembered that I should make one for my big flash. Then, while googling home made diffusers, I came across one for the built-in flashes on many DSLRs, using none other than a FILM CANISTER (and it just so happens that I have a bunch of those)

So I whipped out the exacto knife and and made one of these, and I must say, it works very well! I’m excited to get to play with it some more.

(photo from Photojojo.com)

The tutorial can be found here, courtesy of Photojojo.com (an awesome inspiration site in general)

Stockings

Ali — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 03:53:18 +0000

Part two of my sewing bender: stockings.

Again, I’m a little obsessive-compulsive about the traditions I grew up with, so when it came to making stockings, I wanted them flannel because mine growing up was (is) flannel.

Of course, these ones are different from mine back home, though they do have the added similarity of having the first initial on them.

Because Mike and I are big type font geeks, the letters are specific typefaces. Can you guess them? (scroll to the bottom for answer)

The trim around the top is actually the lining folded over.

Like the tree skirt, the pattern for the stockings was all in my head.

Name that font:
m: Bodoni std bold
a: Mr. Eaves xl sans heavy

Tree Skirt

Ali — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 03:48:41 +0000

I’ve been lucky enough to have a classmate lend me her sewing machine for a little bit so I’m on a Christmas sewing bender. Last weekend Mike and I went on a fabric reconnaissance mission and left with a good chunk of all sort of fabric (felt, flanel, oh so much patterned cotton twill).

My mission was simple:

Stockings for Mike and I
Tree skirt
Fabric advent calendar like the one I grew up with

One week later, I’ve almost completed all of these things. First up, tree skirt:

My modern aesthetic doesn’t extend to Christmas trees, I like them multicoloured

I didn’t have to do a whole lot for this one, cut out a circle using my awesome math skills and then pin all the bias tape around it (which took forever), then sew.

Nocturne

Ali — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:21:57 +0000

Mike and I went to Nocturne last night, it’s loosely based off Nuit Blanche, basically an evening of art and live performances at lots of different locations around the city. It was incredibly fun! There were lots of stations where you could make things or do things, plus some of the standard gallery-type ones.

One of my favourites was this moving sculpture called “Spinnekop” by Nicole LeBlanc & Melissa Schwegmann.

Spinnekop, or spider, is a kinetic sculpture designed to abstractly simulate an organism. The project was inspired by a common interest in biomimicry and kinetic architecture. Spinnekop evokes a living energy through fluid, rhythmical movement and subtle illumination. Starting as a collapsed form, numerous members unfurl as they twist and extend into a series of seemingly tangled legs. As the legs expand, a diaphanous membrane shifts to create a soft, flowing envelope, like a spider trapped in its own webbing. (Description from Nocturne Program)