Vegcraft's Blog

Mexican rose mandala

vegcraft — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:28:24 +0000

I drew this today. Feeling very inspired by mandalas, again. Why not combine 2 if my favorite arts: mandalas and Mexican folk art (el Dia de la Muerta) style.

Wood Burning

vegcraft — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:17:48 +0000

Last night I went to one of Chicago’s annual epic punk shows, Ian’s Party. This place was packed with sweaty friends, art, wood, music, and a lot to draw inspiration from. I met a young woman who’s been selling her art under “This Is Hush: Process and Create”, and we had a good heart to heart about art and Etsy. Surprising enough, she does not yet have an Etsy! I think she would make BANK on Etsy. Her stuff is great. She draws on planks of wood, sometimes reusing old skateboards, and turns these things into hangable art. Her images capture the scene, and often feature people meandering around with the bands! I bought a piece from her of a female singer/guitar player, and also am having her commission another piece in similar fashion of the Sass Dragons (one of Chicago’s most fun punk bands), who I’ve seen play many many times.

Upon awakening this morning I was inspired to dig out my wood burning tool and some stencil projects. I found some cuts of cedar (which smells amazing, even when burning) and pine, and went to work tracing scenes and mandalas. I came out of my art haze with a few finished pieces. All they need is either A) a magnet glued to the back, B) a hole drilled in top for string hanging (ideal for windows/suction cup hooks, or for hanging from a planter for decoration), C) wall hangers hammered in the backs of them for hanging on walls! I’m super excited for this project. Again, Any special requests can be managed and burned into wood.

I’ll be listing what I made so far on Etsy (my store is Compassionate Crafts), and be making and posting more as things progress! I’m so excited! Enjoy!

Productivity in the new year!

vegcraft — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:56:18 +0000

Happy new year, all! I’ve been keeping myself busy and crafty. I tend to get overwhelmed with ideas and start one thing before finishing another. This year I’ve resolved to take one step at a time, and to better manage my projects. (well, that was one of many resolutions for this year). So, I was given a task of making a tip jar for our short bus. My Boyfriend asked me to make one for him while he carts the drunks around from bar to bar and show to show. I GLADLY accepted. I don’t think he’s ever asked me to do something crafty or arty for him in 5 years! I got really excited about it and cranked one out while I was watching the hilarious tv show “Raising Hope”. I got a glue stick, yellow construction paper, a cardboard based lidded container, Sharpies, and went to work! I cut a hole in the top of the lid for the deposits, wrote the word “tips” in the shape of the bus (kinda), and used my artists eye for color to give it some pop! Whoo! Tip jars were never as cool as this one!

Best of all, I can put a big check in a box labeled DONE next to this project! WEEEE!

Christmas cards

vegcraft — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:36:01 +0000

It’s that time of year, and per usual for me, I’m cooking up some christmas cards. Handmade is always the best, right? Right.

This years cards are pretty basic. I was going for a whole handmade simple/chic thing. Card stock, ribbon, and scrapbook paper + Glue and a hole punch = Simple holiday card elegance!

I hope you are all having a happy crafting holiday season, and look forward to seeing all the wonderful things that you all made!!!!

A work of art for your tongue

vegcraft — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:38:42 +0000

Hey! It’s been quite a while since my last post – sorry for the irregularity. Don’t go thinking that I’ve lost my creativity! It’s been focused in a different room other than my craft space. Yes, I’m talking about the kitchen. Who knew that throwing heat around from the stove during the summer heat could be so satisfying. I’ve actually bought a new cookbook, and been trying out a few of the recipies – most have been of Asian flair so far. They’re fantastic.

Yesterday I made a special point of making a “romantic” dinner for 2.

I’m going to put this out there before I continue to explain why I post about my dinners here. I view the preperation of a meal as an artform. It’s the one thing you can do to involve all of your (and your audience’s) sences. The atmosphere and arangements stimulate sight and sound and smell. Eating it brings in touch and taste – best of all taste. How many times have you considered putting a piece of artwork in your mouth?!

Anyways – back to the dinner. I pulled out all the cheesy stops – Good jazz playing softly in the background, a couple of unscented vegan tea lights on the table, wine glasses with ice water, fresh green tea, matching plates, folded napkins, and good conversation ready on my tongue! That’s just the start of it! The food…. Oh, the food was so good. I’m not tooting my own horn here – I was following someone else’s recepie. It was a Thai dish (I think) – Basil Eggplant dish with rice. It was so so so good.

So, I’m going to shamelessly promote this new cookbook that I got because it’s made me a very happy gal these past few days.

It’s called The Vegan Table, by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. She’s also the host of a podcast that I adore called, “Vegetarian Food for Thought,” which I listen to religously. I also highly recommend that.

As far as what else has been taking up my time… I’ve been brainstorming and writing a lot. I’ve had crazy urges to be writing lately, and I should be posting some of those on my writing blog over at livejournal.com/grassroots26. Feel free to stop by and read some of the experiments that are already posted. I’m not afraid of criticism either, so feel free to leave comments – I’d LOVE to hear what you think about anything on any of my blogs. Thanks again for reading! Talk at you soon!

Burn, burn, burn!

vegcraft — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:48:11 +0000

I’m experimenting with a new wood burning tool I got for really cheap at the craft store. DAMN those craft stores and their placement of things in the check-out isle!!!

So, I have this new toy. To be honest, It’s been sitting in it’s original packaging in my craft room for at least 7 months. I felt a change in the wind, so I unwrapped it and gave it a try. So, did the easiest thing I could think of – script.

I wanted to do something that meant something to me, so I burned in one of my favorite Gandhi quotes, but shortened it.

“Be the change you want to see in this world”…. but I could only fit up to the “see”. I think I may prefer it this way.

Well, here’s the first attempt, and I’ll keep working on different techniques, and such. Should be a riot, and hopefully I don’t burn my house down in the process! Wish me luck!

The making of an adventure

vegcraft — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:07:50 +0000

When flying by the seat of your pants just seams like the only way to go, and you’ve got nothing better going on…..Take yourself, and maybe a friend or 2 on an ADVENTURE!

What constitutes an Adventure? Anything that you don’t normally do. I made some great advances this week in my own Adventure territory! I expanded my Adventure territory! I crossed the state border into Indiana to get some fireworks, and eat a shitty burrito. I went and hung out doing various things in the city of Chicago – Saw friends I don’t normally visit, went to the Art Institute, explored, drove around, ate, and partied! I had a fantastic week so far! My Boyfriend, Pat, was with me the whole time, and I am so happy to have had him at my side to experience everything with me. We saw Millenium Park, and some gardens, went to the famous “Taste of Chicago”, but didn’t eat there (too expensive, and not enough vegan options – not to mention how very very crowded it was). We ended up having dinner at a little place called “The Handlebar”, which is a bicycle gear head bar – with a LOT of vegan options. It was so good! I had a posta dish with swiss chard, asparagus, portabellas, baby tomatos, and garlic sauce. Just what I needed after a long long day!

Oh, and of course it’s always fun to have pics to show for your adventure to maybe make an “Adventure Album” from them. The cheesier the pics the better, I say! So, I will be posting some of my adventure pics here, and If I get around to making it into a tangable album, I will be sure to post some details about that as well!

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE! WHOOOOO!!!!!

One of the displays in Millenium Park

Summer Spinach and Asparagus Soup

vegcraft — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:09:02 +0000

I’ve been eating a lot of soup lately, which seems strange because of the sweltering heatwave that’s been hitting the midwest lately. I’m craving the stuff none the less. Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables, and it’s the season to be getting the good stuff. This was a super simple and really tasty way of getting my share of different veggies, and making a meal of it to last a couple days.

Ingredients:

1 chopped medium onion, 2 tbs Olive oil, 1 lb of Asparagus (fresh or frozen), 1 lb frozen chopped spinach, 4 cups of Vegetable Broth, 1 tsp of Italian herb dried mix, Juice from 1/2 a lemon, 1 tsp lemon zest, 1 tsp garlic powder, Salt and Pepper to taste.

Instructions:

Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat and add onions – saute 5-7 mins until soft. Remove the onioin from the heat, and put into a blender or food processor. Add the thawed asparagus and spinach and puree until mostly smooth.

Add the puree to the pot where the onions were cooked, and add the veggie broth – stir and heat to a boil. Add Lemon juice, zest, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and Italian herbs – stir. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 25-30 mins, stirring occasionally. Let rest for 5-10 mins before serving.

Serve with Herb Croutons on top, and a dollop of non-dairy sour cream (optional) – soup is best warm or at room temperature.

prettied up and ready to be eaten

Shrinky Dinks – with style

vegcraft — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:32:55 +0000

Feeling a lack of creativity, and need something fast and simple to jump start your go go juice? This is my quick fix to getting back into the swing of things. SHRINKY DINKS!!!! (remember those?!)

Shrinky Dinks were very popular when I was a kid back in the 1980′s. They were sheets of plastic with designs (Care Bears, My Little Pony, etc.) printed on them. You were supposed to color them in, cut them out, and then have your parent put them in the oven for the designated time (while you watched with wonder and amazement as these plastic color book like cheractors transformed into small, hard, plastic figures!). I admit, I never got over staring at my shrinky dink while it shrinks down in the oven, and get just as much pleasure from it now as I did then. That’s part of what makes this craft so fun.

Now a days, you can buy this “shrinkable plastic” in sheets at some craft stores or online, and you make your OWN designs, cut, color, bake, and VIOLA! You’ve just made a pendant, charm, dog tag, broach, ring, earings, or whatever else you can think to do with them!

The first step is your design – make sure it is not something too cluttered or complicated or detailed – a lot of those details get lost in the shrinkage if they’re too close together or small. Be careful not to draw something too big. Good rule of thumb is to not make your design bigger than the palm of your hand – otherwise you’ll be dealing with some uneven shrinkage, and your design may become distorted in the oven.

Once you figure out what you’re design is going to be, draw it on the ROUGH side of the plastic sheet. Color it in however you see fit (I find Sharpee’s and good quality colored pencils work best, but I’ve also used acrylic paints to make some really pretty ones). Be careful not to color it in too dark, or it will get darker as it shrinks, and you may find you’ve lost some of details in the process.

cut and colored

Once you’ve done that, cut out your design in the desired shape, and try to leave a millimeter diameter around your design (more is ok, too). Now it’s time to BAKE!! This is a very critical step with lots of important hints you need to know…

1) Always follow the directions for whatever kind of shrink material you’re buying – they will tell you what to set your oven to, and how long it should take for it to shrink. 2) DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM YOUR OVEN!!! Shrinks tend to shrink in a matter of 20-40 seconds, and you don’t want your beautiful design to burn! 3) Don’t freak out when your shrink curls up – it’s supposed to do that. It will flatten it’s self back out, and that’s when you know it’s done!

Shrinking and curling - it's natural

When the shrink has flattened itself out, count to 20, and remove it from the oven. Let it sit to cool for about 30 secs to a min before you touch it – you don’t want to burn your finger off or distort your design (the plastic may bend if still too hot).

Once it’s shrunk, and you can touch it – get some sealer for the back of the design – this will ensure that your design won’t rub off under normal wearing conditions, in water, or smear. I use Modge Podge because it makes a nice coating and dries clear. You may want to paint the back side of your piece before this step if you’d like a background color. Once it’s dry, use it however you’d like~ Attach a magnet and smack in to your fridge, or hot glue a pin on it, and wear it with pride (chin up and chest out!!!).

Shrunk, painted, and sealed

Be careful! These little things are a VERY addictive sort of craft to start. The instant gratification is SO worth it, though!

Happy Making!

~Jamie

http://CompassionateCrafts.Etsy.com

An awesome place I found…

vegcraft — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:55:25 +0000

So, I was meandering around the Downtown Naperville area during lunch hours with my beau, and we noticed a little shop that had just opened called “Savvy”. We walked inside to check it all out, and everything they buy and sell is made from earth friendly and recycled materials! It’s awesome they had everything from pencils made from recycled denim, paper, and plastics to bags made from recycled billboard advertisements! It was very cool. Some things in there were well known “earth friendly” brands such as Pangea bath and body care products, and some things were hand made – like the sea glass jewelry. It’s worth your time to check them out and promote the happy new “Green” shop. True to their nature of staying Green, they do not ship orders – to ship an order would require fuel costs to get it to you. This is one place you have to visit in person to buy. It’s worth it just to meet the people who run it. Check it out. I’ll provide the link.

http://savvygreenshop.com