Wherein I attempt to maintain two blogs

Ryder laughs at me every time I say this, but I have been feeling rather conflicted about this blog for a while. I like posting photos I’ve taken, which often are of my family or trips or just random things. But I also like posting crafts I’ve done, and want to have posts that are interesting to other blog-reading-crafters. So for a while this blog has served dual purposes, but I’ve felt weird about putting family photos up one day, then a post about how I made a clock, then photos from a wedding I attended. So, I’ve started writing about crafty things over at La Casa de Crafts. I’ve filled that blog with my posts from the now-mostly-defunct Winck N’ Crane blog so there are some things to browse through there.

Now we’ll see if I can manage to keep posting on two blogs…

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Action Clocks

I recently sold the two “action clocks” that Ryder and I designed. One sold at a craft fair our church hosted. A family bought it for the bedroom of their two oldest children, and at their request I added numbers to the face to help the kids learn to tell time:

Car Action Clock

The other sold on my etsy shop, as a baby gift.  I added the name & birthdate of the new little one to this kite clock:

Kite Action Clock

Ryder and I have tons of other ideas for this type of clock, with little objects on the ends of the hands – an outer-space themed clock, a frog pond, hot air balloons… Do you like these? I’d like to make some more now that these have found a home. I’m thinking the outer-space themed one will be next.

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2010 Christmas Crafts, part 2

We finally finished Christmas this past weekend with a lovely relaxing weekend with my parents & siblings. We also gave the last of our handmade gifts, which means I can finally share them with you all:

Cutesy Apron

Cutesy Apron: made of beautiful Anna Maria Horner fabric purchased from Whipstitch, my favorite local fabric shop. I sort of traced the outline from an apron in my kitchen, but altered the whole thing to be longer and to wrap around more. I also added a bright yellow pocket to hold wooden spoons, hot mitts, or just to look cute. For my sister, who requested a cute apron.

Most Useless Machine Ever

Most Useless Machine Ever, in action

Most Useless Machine Ever: Built from a cheapo wooden box from Michael’s and assorted switches and a motor. Ryder did almost all the work on this. I lettered the sign and helped paint. When you push the switch on the top of the box, the robot arm comes out and turns itself off. (Watch a similar box in action here.) For my dad, who thought it was absolutely hysterical (we did too).

Headbands

Headbands: Based on a pattern I saw over on homemade by jill, I made a pair of these from fabric bits and some elastic. One is reversible. For my brother’s girlfriend. I also made one for myself. To test the pattern, you know. I think I need to make more.

Cross-stitched night light cover

Cross-stitched night light cover: I cross-stitched a floral design based on another pattern I had. Ryder designed & cut the wooden frame pieces. We sandwiched the cross-stitch between the two frame pieces, then glued those to another wooden ring that fits around a standard night light that we got from Target. If we could figure out a better way to make the frame for the cross-stitch, I would make more. This one was for my mom.

Your Sock Toes Anger the Bears / October

Quirky calendar: This was pure design work – making wonky phrases for each month of the year. Printed & bound at Office Depot. Picked up from Office Depot in the midst of Snowpocalypse 2011. For my quirky brother.

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What to do when “snowed in”

2011 Snowpocalypse

1. Watch cars attempt to drive up our slightly inclined street. Listen to wheels spin.
2. Have friends over who can walk or arrive via public transportation. Eat pizza (the only dinner food we had left). Play games. Cheer for friends who live nearby.
3. Start a puzzle while listening for #1 above.

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2010 Christmas Crafts, part 1

We made almost all our Christmas gifts this year. That made posting any sort of photos of what I’ve been up to rather difficult for the past several weeks – and we’re not even done with our Christmassing yet. But here is part 1 of our handmade Christmas:

Elk Coasters

Elk Coasters: source photo by me in Colorado; wood-burned by my husband; cut, poly-acrylicked, and backed with cork. A gift for my momma-in-law.

Purple Shirt

Purple shirt: made of some shimmery-stretchy purple fabric. Loosely based off the 90 minute shirt. For my brother-in-law’s lovely girlfriend.

Growly Bookends

Growly Bookends: pipe fittings screwed into wood blocks; painted green with scroll-saw cut muscle arms. They strain to hold up books. For my brother-in-law.

BB Gun Rack

BB Gun Rack: cut on our scroll saw from 1″ thick wood; stained to a dark brown. Two separate pieces are screwed directly into the wall, for easy access to keep those deer out of the yard. For my father-in-law.

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