The following is a guest post by Danielle of Art Room Meloday.

Chicago hosted its 9^th Annual Renegade Craft Fair in early September, and I was there to enjoy the crafty festivities. After checking into my Chicago hotel and taking in a couple of the local sights, I made my way to Division Street in Wicker Park, and enjoyed a weekend of crafting workshops and handmade delights. Read on for descriptions of some of my favorite vendors.

Alternate Histories

This vendor was one of the most creative that I found during my visit. Alternate Histories brings the past to life by refashioning archival images with anachronistic monsters and science fiction elements.  Matthew Buchholz uses digital pictures and prints the finished product on recycled paper, making these environmentally responsible as well. There were many prints from which to choose, and I ended up buying Floating Saucer Crafts and the Chicago Fire, a rendition of a lithograph of the true cause of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871; I will give it to my UFO-crazy brother for Christmas.

AD LOVE

I have seen Angel D’Amico-Bauer‘s work before, but never had the opportunity to browse and purchase until this weekend. Angel (aka AD LOVE) is a freelance illustrator and designer who creates one-of-a-kind hand screen-printed clothing. I bought a super-comfy teal tank with her rendition of the Brooklyn Bridge and plan on gifting it to a New York-native friend. She is sure to love it!

Girls Rock! Chicago

Girls Rock! Chicago had a booth at the Renegade Craft Fair this year, and I was super excited to see them there. This nonprofit organization gives girls ages 8-16 an outlet for creative expression through music education programs, because they “believe that girls are rarely encouraged to explore self-expressive creative outlets and are less likely to be given access to musical and technical instruction or equipment” otherwise. In addition to information about their motivational week-long summer camp, they offered button-making, which brought out the artist in everyone.

For Strange Women

As someone who has frequently been labeled as strange, I was drawn to this booth like the proverbial moth to a flame. Jill owns and operates For Strange Women, and offers unique perfumes and concoctions that are sure to tickle your fancy. I bought a tin of Absinthe Lips, made from all-natural ingredients and flavored like Absinthe prepared with sugar; and a vintage-style solid perfume locket in Patchouli. When I got home, I realized that these would make an awesome gift for my mom, so I visited Jill’s website and ordered more for her.

Hello Wars

For all of you Hello Kitty and Star Wars lovers out there, Hello Wars is pure Nirvana. By cleverly blending these two childhood icons into characters such as Darth Vader Kitty, Chew Kitty, and C3KO (among others), this vendor has created a line of merchandise that is at once creative and eye-catching. My niece happens to be a fan of both of these, so I bought her a Storm Kitty shirt that she’s sure to love.

For those of you who missed out on the Renegade Craft Fair this year, don’t fret! The 6^th Annual Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market in Chicago will be held December 3 and 4 at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, and you will be able to do all of your last-minute holiday shopping then. See you there!

Too many people assume that hobbies are for folks with too much time on their hands.

Nothing could be further from the truth, though. The famous actress and comedienne Lilly Tomlin gave us some good advice when she said, “For fast acting relief, try slowing down.” The fact is, the busier we are, the more we need a way to relax and refresh ourselves, and the best way to do that is to get a hobby.

A hobby is something that engages your brain, preferably involves your body, and has no object beyond your own enjoyment. Hobbies usually involve collecting, crafting, or some kind of sport, although some folks consider certain types of research or experimentation as a hobby.

Some folks are lucky enough to have shared a hobby with a parent or other relative while growing up, and in that event they can be said to have had their hobbies given to them. Other folks stumble upon new hobbies at county fairs or friend’s houses.

Then there are people like me, who realize that we need a hobby, but aren’t sure how to find a good one. I guess the difficulty here comes from having to define a “good” hobby for my situation.
Setting Priorities

After a little thought and a lot of discussion with my long-suffering husband, I decided that a “good” hobby for me would have to meet three criteria;

• It would have to be affordable
• It would have to be convenient – something I can do at home
• It should not have deadlines or inflexible schedules that will interfere with my family time

Of course, any new hobbies I consider should also be interesting enough that I would stick with them, so with these priorities in place, I was able to narrow my choices down to three; scrapbooking, gardening and playing the piano.

Considering the Options

I already know that I like scrapbooking because I’ve had some experience with it. Having put together a few family books, I am aware of the advantages of this pastime;

• It’s a relaxing activity which will also result in my big box of photos being organized
• It’s relatively easy to do, and if I keep the materials properly stored, it won’t take up much space
• I get to decide how much to spend on my materials, and I can make up for a paucity of pennies with a profusion of panache.

I don’t have much experience with gardening, but I have plenty with yard work. I’ll assume that gardening is much more interesting that mowing or raking, and I anticipate other advantages to gardening, as well;

• It will be a great reason to be out in the fresh air and sunshine
• I’ll be able to decide whether my plants will require a lot of nurturing or just a little water
• I could either save money by growing plants from seed or I could choose to have fun while shopping for plants at my local nursery.

Piano playing seems the most problematic of these hobbies, but I think I’ve found a way to simplify it.

You see, I tried to learn the piano in high school, but soon gave up. Not because I disliked the instrument, mind you, but because the process of learning it was so troublesome. I seemed to be constantly rearranging my schedule to accommodate lessons, practices and recitals.

Fortunately, I now have an option that simply didn’t exist when I was in high school; I can now learn to play the piano online. This option offers me several benefits what might make this a “good” hobby for me;

• I’ll be able to make the lessons and practices fit my schedule, not the other way around.
• I’ll be able to work at my own pace, and decide how far I want to take this talent
• I could either learn piano sheet music by rote or learn piano chords and playing “by ear”.
• I’ll be able to decide when and if I perform, so there’ll be no scheduled recitals to worry about

Perhaps if these options had been available when I was in high school, I would now know how to play the piano properly.

Choosing My New Hobbies

After much analyzing, the obvious has finally occurred to me; I’ve been over-thinking this whole process. Why is it so important to find one “perfect” hobby, or even a “good“ one? I could have three hobbies as easily as one, so long as I don’t attempt to do each of them every day.

For instance, gardening is a warm-weather hobby, while scrapbooking can be saved for the cold, wet days when going outside is not fun. Once I’ve actually learned the piano, I won’t be playing it every day, or even every week. It will be a nice skill to have when we have company over or when I just feel like playing it.

So, if you’re compiling a list of hobby tips, you may want to add the idea that if you can’t find the perfect hobby for yourself, the answer may be to find two or three hobbies instead. It’s nice to have options, isn’t it?

Do you have a hobby that you might recommend to other readers? Do you have an interesting story about how you picked up that particular hobby? I’d love to read your responses!

About the Author

Melissa Cameron is a busy wife, mother and freelance writer who likes to research complicated topics and simplify them for the average reader. She makes her home in Austin, Texas with her husband and two daughters.

Some of the fabrics I voted for in the recent butterfly-themed fabric design contest on Spoonflwer

If you have any aspirations of becoming a fabric designer, you should try designing fabric for the Spoonflower design contest. There is a new contest every week, with a prize of $100 in Spoonflower credit, which you can use to buy fabric printed with your own designs or other fabric offered in the Spoonflower marketplace. Even if you don’t win, you’re sure to benefit from the practice!

I’ve only entered once so far, but I’m seriously thinking about trying to come up with a design for the upcoming coffee-themed contest. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the submissions in the contests overall, but of course there is a wide range of submissions from people of all skill levels. However, there are a few things I’ve noticed (as a voter, rather than a designer) that might help you if you have aspirations to win this contest.

Make Your Entries Professional

Seriously, there are some top-notch fabric designs in every contest. Take a look at your design and ask yourself if you can picture it on the shelf at your favorite fabric shop. If not, go back and revise your design until it represents your absolute best effort.

Don’t Use a White Background

Are you a quilter? Quick, go to your fabric stash and check to see what the predominant colors are in your fabrics. How many of them have white backgrounds? Not many, if you’re like most of us. Keep this in mind when designing.

Use a Patterned Background

I’ve noticed that many of the fabrics with patterned backgrounds look more professional than those with solid-colored backgrounds. Of course, you have to make sure that your background complements the design and does not overpower it. This is something that may be tricky to get right, but if you do, it can make a world of difference.

Learn to Tile Your Designs

The best designs almost always those that are tiled without looking like they are. You need to learn this skill if you want to be a fashion designer. It is something that takes some practice, but the last thing you want is to submit a design that has an unsightly line in it because it doesn’t tile properly.

More Information on Spoonflower Design Contests

If you are interested in entering Spoonflower’s fabric design contest, check out the upcoming themes and start designing. I look forward to seeing your entries.

Start by buying some 14 gauge wire. If you want to save even more money, grab some coupons to your local craft store. You’ll also need to pick up some needle nose pliers and wire cutters if you don’t already own them. Run by the craft store and search for some pretty ribbon that you’ll tie around the wire hanger’s top.

When you first lay out your wire, leave about 75 inches from where you begin to form the letters. For shorter names, you can get by with less. Don’t forget to leave a significant space straight across the bottom so your letters don’t encroach on your garment’s space.

Set it next to a regular hanger, and begin about a third of the way in. Realizing that you only have about a third of the hanger to form your letters, measure out your remaining space and divide it by the number of letters in the name. While you don’t have to exactly measure each letter’s size, keep the general size in mind when forming them. Some letters will take more space than others, but be consistent in your approach.

If you’re making a hanger for a baby shower, use a small hanger as your guide. If you bought the expectant mother a set of baby clothes, you can also use those as a guide to the size.

Take a minute to write down all the letters of the name or word you’re spelling. It seems obvious how to spell “Katherine” now, but after you’ve spent awhile forming letters you can sometimes forget one.

When forming the words, use a small shot glass or toothpick holder to make perfect circles. You can also use a rolled up wash cloth to make less-than-perfect circles with an adjustable size. Twist the words using your needle nose pliers to get more exact shapes.

Once your word or name has been crafted, bring up the other two-thirds of the wire and make a triangle with it. About halfway up the sides, create a small indent with the wire that’s large enough to catch the garment’s shoulders and hold it in place.

At the tip of the triangle, bring one side of the wire up and wrap the other side around it four times. Clip the end of the twisted piece with your wire cutters.

Bring the remaining wire up and form a question mark shape. Cut it slightly longer than you would want it, and bring the end piece back up to avoid having an exposed sharp edge on your personalized wire hanger.

To add a little more personality, consider adding a bow. If the personalized hanger is for baby clothes, use ribbon that complements the colors in the outfit. If it’s for a wedding or shower present, use the bride’s wedding colors if possible or a cream color.

Verdigris finishes are a wonderful way to make new furniture, flower pots, centerpieces, and other objects look like cherished antiques. This type of finish replicates the green patina that copper exhibits after it is outdoors for some time (remember how the Statue of Liberty used to be copper in color? Its green color is caused by verdigris.) Verdigris finishes add a touch of glass to garden items, and are also used to add an air of elegant age to a space.

Instructions:

To begin, thoroughly clean/degrease the object that you’ll be painting. If your object is metal, sand it with fine sandpaper and prime it first—this will help the paint to stick.

Apply a coat of metallic paint (copper or gold are good choices); it’s okay to be a little imprecise and have obvious brush strokes if they occur. Let this coat dry, and then lightly sponge on a coat of dark green paint. You want the base color to show through here, so don’t be too thorough.

Let the green paint dry, and then sponge on a coat of light green paint. The principle of imprecision applies here, too—you want the other colors to show through beneath it. Let the light green paint dry and have a look at the object. You can adjust the look by dabbing on some more of any color you’ve used.

After you’re pleased with the results, apply a coat of watered down blue-grey latex paint; while still wet, blot this coat with a paper towel. Once the paint is entirely dry, spray it once or twice with a coat of clear acrylic finish to seal the job.

Verdigris is just one of the many decorative interior painting techniques you can use to add elegance to your home. The best part? If your item gets a scratch or ding on it, you can simply add some more paint. You don’t even have to match the colors precisely, since a little shabbiness adds to the authentic aged look of the item.

Want to try your hand at other techniques? Learn how to faux paint with rags or check out these sponge painting tutorials.

A spin off on the popular Italian Charm Bracelets is one of the most popular photo jewelry items. These are known as Italian photo charms. Customers can create beautiful, long lasting piece of jewelry that they can wear when they add their own photos since these are sold as a blank bracelet.

A kit that includes everything needed to make a complete customized photo bracelet at home for than $20 can be purchase. Included in these kits is Easy Photo Resizer software and this can make the process fun and easy.

The photo charm is really becoming popular. Creating their own photo bracelets and are wearing them everyday are people from 8 to 80. They are not difficult to make. Coming in many different sizes and styles are photo charms. Photo charm necklaces, hearts, circles, large of mega charms, squares, etc. are such examples.

Here is a basic idea of how the photo charms are made:

Use easy photo charm resizer software to resize your photos.

Photos can be printed out on any color printer after you’ve read the easy to follow instructions on printing and resizing.

You will attach the pictures to the charms with bonding glue after cutting out your perfectly sized pictures. The charms you will be using are designed especially for making photo charms and they will have a raised frame.

Your next step would be to mix special coating in included cups and apply to the charm.

You can wear them and impress your friends in as little as 24 hours because they’ll be dry by then.

Once people get the hang of making Italian Photo Charms many of them buy bulk wholesale supplies and make the bracelets and individual photo charms to sell. This would be a great home business idea for people who want to make extra money selling custom made photo jewelry that they create and these people would include retirees, stay at home moms, college students, etc.

This could also be considered as an add on to a mall kiosk or existing photography business. These custom made photo charms are being sold by different people such as business people who go to pet shows and make custom photo jewelry for pet owners, baby photographers who sell the photo jewelry to proud new parents, etc.

Check out the world of photo jewelry making if you love scrapbooking.

Author bio: Elsie Barton is an author and party planning specialist. Celebrate the moments in your life with fashionable printable baby shower invitations and stylish personalized party invitations that will make a lasting impression.

Laundry Bag

Make your own laundry bag with just a yard of curtain fabric. Cut a 40” x 29” piece. Fold in half crosswise with outer sides facing each other and pin in place. Sew the side edges (1/2”) for seam allowance. With the seam allowances pressed open, fold the top edges about ¾” and press. Make another ¾” fold to create a pocket for the cord. Secure the fold with stitches close to the first folded edges and leave about a quarter of an inch open. Attach a safety pin to one end of a string and insert in the opening and work it through the piping. Knot both ends to secure it in place.

Image by daveboudreau via Flickr

Wall Art

A designer or vintage remnant fabric with a floral and woven pattern makes wonderful framed wall decor. Use the glass of your frame as a template and cut out a thin piece of cardboard the same size as the glass. Spread your ironed fabric on a work surface and find the main focal point. Place the glass of the frame over the fabric, over the part you want to frame, and draw a line on the perimeter of the fabric, about half an inch from the borders of the glass. Cut the fabric along the outline. On the back side of the fabric, apply double-sided tape on all corners about ½” inch from the borders and press fabric onto the cut board. Put the glass back in in the frame, followed by the mounted fabric and secure the back.

Fabric Wreath

For an easy wreath, you need a light wood circle, ribbon, glue and fabric (one or several different patterns).cut out a bunch of fabric leaf-shapes (from one fabric or several). Spray each leaf with a stiffener, such as Stiffen Stuff, and let dry. Once dry, start gluing them to the wood circle one by one, in an overlapping pattern. When the ring is full, simply put the ribbon through it, tie a big bow at the top and hang.

Storage Boxes

Turn old shoe boxes into pretty storage containers using fabric and Mod Podge. Cut a piece of fabric large enough to cover all 4 sides of the box and a little extra so the tops can be folded over and secured on the inside. Start by applying Mod Podge on the bottom of the box and place it in the middle of the fabric. Smooth it out and apply more Mod Podge on 2 sides of the box. Fold the fabric up and smooth out again. Put Mod Podge on the inside of the box, just on the top, and fold the extra fabric over the edge. Do the same with all 4 sides and voila! If you have a lid, repeat the same procedure with that.

Gift Wrap

And, easiest of all, use fabric pieces in place of paper to wrap gifts. It is perfect for oddly shaped things.

Fabric crafts are so much fun, and there are tons of creative projects and uses for it, even for those of us who find sewing a challenge. The next time you’re tempted to throw an old curtain (or clothing for that matter) out, take another look at it and see if you can come up with an idea of how to give it a new life as something else.

An Intermediate-level Kirigami Project

For those creative types who love crafting and want to learn about different art forms from around the world, there is one great form of paper art that begins with a simple piece of paper and a cutting tool. Kirigami is the ancient Japanese art of paper cutting and has become a very popular art form in the crafting world today. Truly a wonderful creative technique, kirigami can be used to create any number of things including greeting cards, stationery, hanging mobiles, gift decorations and more. You’re probably already familiar with one popular form of kirigami—the snowflake.

For anyone who has never tried kirigami, start with a piece of paper (any size or shape), a pencil, and either a scalpel knife with a cutting mat or a sharp pair of scissors.

First, fold the paper in half and start drawing from the folded edge. Feel free to try a simple kirigami pattern or an outline of half an image. For a first try, it’s fun to try a heart, cloud or star shape.

Cut along the lines, making sure not to cut off the folded edge since this is what will keep both pieces together. When you’re done, open the kirigami and use it as a decorative item for anything you like. Paste it to a greeting card, attach it to gift wrap or string it up with other kirigami designs for a mobile.

When you become more comfortable with simple kirigami, feel free to try more intricate patterns and images like a group of flowers, butterflies, dragons and more.  Play around with the cutouts to see what looks best for you. Secure them to paper with contrasting colors, cut out textured paper, or even try it with fabric.  The whole point of this craft is to have fun and let your creative juices flow!

Miho likes to write about crafts, Tokyo life, and her pursuit of a more positive lifestyle. She regularly provides Japanese style crafts, sewing, and eco how-to projects through her blog at http://www.mihosuzuki.com.

Free Kirigami Patterns for Beginners:

Printable Kirigami Patterns for Children: You can find about 50 free kirigami patterns on this page that are designed for young children. These would make great projects to work on with a kindergarten to second grade student on a rainy day.

Free Kirigami Gift Pattern: This is a very simple gift pattern that is suitable for an adult who is beginning to learn kirigami.

Free Flower Garden Card Pattern: This kirigami flower card is a little more difficult because it has a lot of curves. It would make a good second project.

Free Kirigami Butterfly Pattern: Now that you’ve tried one of the easier patterns, you’re ready for a bit of a challenge. Try making this beautiful kirigami butterfly card.

More Kirigami Patterns:

Kirigami Menagerie: This book contains 38 different kirigami animal patterns to photocopy, cut out, and fold into cute little paper animals.

Kirigami: This book will provide a wonderful introduction to the art of kirigami paper cutting.

Snowflakes for all Seasons: This book contains 72 kirigami snowflake designs, including special designs for holidays not generally associated with snow, such as Valentine’s Day and Halloween.

My son, Josh, standing in front of my yarn stash and craft supplies

This morning as I was checking my Facebook account, I saw a post about compulsive hoarding that was published by the AARP. Now, like many crafters, I have a stash. You can see part of it in the picture of my teenage son above. The picture shows my yarn, a shelf full of craft pattern books and magazines, and out in the hallway, you can see some of my beads. Yes, a whole section of the hallway covered in beads. It’s a wonderful thing.

But am I just a crafter with a stash or a compulsive hoarder? If all of my craft supplies were confined to what you can see in the picture, I would certainly be justified in calling it a stash. After all, everything is neat and organized, I can find it easily, and I really will use it someday. At least some of it.

But there is more. The clear, labeled boxes on the shelves in my room contain more craft supplies, unfinished projects, and even completed items. Now, I have tried to sell the completed items, and I might try again someday. But if I were honest with myself, I would admit that I am hoarding many of those completed items, such as the first rings I made, because I just can’t bring myself to get rid of them. If someone bought them, I could let them go. But to throw them away? I’m not sure I can even give them away.

The craft supplies, the ones that are organized that is, will probably get used someday. But what about the three large totes of miscellaneous supplies that are stacked along the wall because I ran out of space to organize things? And what about the other stuff? You know, the books I will never read again but can’t part with and the clothes that are several sizes too small? What about the four bags of plastic grocery bags in the hallway? My closet is packed so full that I can’t fit anything more into it. Yes, the Christmas tree and decorations are in there. They are at the front so that I can get them out once each year. The rest of the stuff in that closet has been in there since I first put it in there. And it has started to expand and take over the rest of the house.

I have a hard time getting rid of things, so it is hard to clean. What do you do with something you probably don’t need but can’t bring yourself to throw away? What I do is I put it in a box, and when the box gets full I put it in the closet. When the closet got full, I started putting boxes in my bedroom. They are stacked up against the wall along with those three big totes of craft supplies. At least I know which boxes have craft supplies in them. The rest of the boxes are just assorted stuff—miscellaneous items that I am hoarding and will probably never use.

So what do you do if you have a hoarding problem? Is there hoarding help available? According to the article by the AARP, there are therapists who deal with hoarder’s syndrome, but therapy is expensive and rarely works. It seems that those of us who compulsively cling to our possessions have a hard time letting go and decluttering our houses, and if someone else tries to help us declutter, things will start piling up again almost as soon as they are finished.

What are the characteristics of a person who has a hoarding disorder? The AARP article states that they “tend to be paralyzed by indecision, perfectionism and procrastination.” Well, that’s definitely me. In addition to those traits, the whole situation just feels so overwhelming. When your whole house is clutter, you know you need to do something about it, but you look at it and think, “Where do I even start?” Each task requires something else to be done before I can get to it. For example, in order to wash the dishes, I have to clean out the cupboards so I have a place to put them once they are clean.

So how does a hoarder go about getting rid of the clutter? I think it requires a significant shift in the way we think about our stuff. I have been working on this for the past few months, but I am far from cured. However, here are the steps I have taken to beat the hoarding habit.

1) Every time you leave a room, look around for things that are obviously junk. If you see empty envelopes or crumpled up pieces of paper, pick them up and throw them in the trash on the way to wherever you are going. This is a good first step for true hoarders. If you can’t get rid of the obvious trash, you’ll never be able to do step two.

2) Give stuff away. Don’t pack it up and save it for a yard sale. You’ll never sell it all, and you probably won’t get a lot for it anyhow. Just give it away. Get a box and start tossing stuff into it whenever you come across something you don’t need. Did you just wash a load of clothes and find a pair of pants that doesn’t fit anymore? Throw it in the box. Maybe you just realized you have three hammers and you really only need one. Put the extras in the giveaway box. Someone, somewhere can use them. Next time you go to town, throw the box in the car and drop it off at a thrift shop. I’m still working on this part. I have four giveaway boxes stacked in my son’s closet. That way, they won’t get mixed up with the other boxes—the ones in my room that I haven’t gone through yet.

Well, that’s it. Two steps. Did you think this was going to be one of those twelve step programs? Nope, this is all I can handle for now. Throw away the obvious trash and give away anything else I can bring myself to part with.

Now, how do you know if you have a problem with compulsive hoarding? For one thing, if you do, you’ll probably have trouble completing the two steps listed above. There is also a very good chance that you don’t ever let anyone come into your home. You might also “collect” things that are not worth collecting. Do you keep your old toilet paper rolls or the lint from the dryer? Sure, you might find a craft project that requires these items someday, but unless you have a specific use in mind for them, you’re probably just hoarding.