crafts – Page 3 – Rae Nudson

S. (embroidery no. 20)

Jen and Eric of S. have no problem writing in the margins–this is one of the only things I’m certain of after reading S., J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst’s mysterious book.

S. tells many stories, within the text, in the margins, and on the web. Jen, a senior undergrad, finds the book the Ship of Theseus after grad student Eric leaves it on a table. She takes a peek, likes what she reads, and writes a note to him in the front cover. When Eric writes back it kicks off love letters, research, mysteries, arson, threats, secret codes, and more. The book within a book structure is similar to House of Leaves (which I wasn’t crazy about) and reminiscent of The Princess Bride (which I am completely crazy about).

I was always a bit more interested in what was going on with Eric and Jen than what was going on in the text of the Ship of Theseus, but both the story and the marginalia are really fun to read.

And they were both fun to investigate. Jen and Eric are researching the author of the Ship of Theseus, a man called Straka. But no one knows who Straka really is, and he could be anything from an assassin, a 20-year-old man who committed suicide, a group of writers, a man who keeps reincarnating, or, I don’t know, even a monkey.

As Jen an Eric keep investigating, their secrets also spill into the margins. There are secrets on secrets on secrets, and it is so fun to snoop.

And since it’s J.J. Abrams, the mystery isn’t contained inside the book. There’s even websites that are all a part of the game–with hidden messages, no less. All you have to do is start researching like Jen and Eric did to find some.

House of Leaves felt like work to me, but S. felt like play. And like sneaking on someone’s love letters, but minus the guilt. I have a lot of theories (most of them having to do with the number 19), so did you guys read it?! Hit me up! And check out Word bookstore’s Q&A with the writer!

I am working on a project to sew some of my favorite quotes and images. You can see the other pieces of my embroidery project here:

(I read S. on my own, but the link to buy is affiliate.)

project life: a new niece

My Project Life catch up is continuing in the cutest way possible. We were lucky enough to welcome a beautiful baby girl to our family in November. My niece Dylan Henly Nudson was born Nov. 27, and these pages are all for her.

I particularly like how groups of photos and project life cards are paired together and play off each other. My brother’s hand is the same shape of his arms holding her, and her sweet smile is mirrored on the top.

I will never get tired of looking at this sweet little face. Look how cute she is!

You can see my other project life updates here:

trying out sketching

I am into words. I am an editor, I love to read, and I believe you need to write clearly to convey your ideas even if you’re not a writer or an editor.

But words aren’t the only way to share your story. As I’ve seen with The Sandman and all the other graphic novels I’ve recently started to read–not to mention every museum, photograph, or artwork everywhere–pictures and images are just as valuable storytelling devices.

I want to use images to tell my stories, too. So I’ve been checking out sketching and fashion illustration, and this weekend I got to play around with watercolors. I started with this really cool sketchbook that has all the figures already on the page. It’s called The Fashion Sketchpad, and I saw it first on this post by A Beautiful Mess that talks about fashion sketching. I’d like to keep practicing and draw the figures on my own, but for now it’s a great way to get started. I started by sketching some looks from the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. (Please forgive my weird mannequins, I’m working faces/hair/etc. Well, I’m working on all of it.)

I also tried some looks from Fashion Week. Here’s some from Kate Spade and Prabal Gurung.

I sketched directly on top of The Fashion Sketchpad’s figures, but I’d like to experiment more with using actual watercolor paper. I also love this idea for drawing interiors.

I have a lot more practicing to do, but I am excited about what sketching and painting can do!

beyonce (embroidery nos. 18-19)

Going to the Beyonce concert this year with my friend Laura was one of the best things that ever happened to me–no lie. We love Bey (but who doesn’t?), and it was so fun to see her sing. So as a gift for Laura before she moved into her new apartment, I stitched some Beyonce lyrics for her to put on her walls.

The best part of making these was that “Crazy in Love” and “Love on Top” were stuck in my head the whole time. I love having handmade things in my home, but I love even more sharing them with friends.

I am working on a project to sew some of my favorite quotes and images. You can see the other pieces of my embroidery project here:

project life: october/november

I was lucky enough to get two–TWO–project life kits for Christmas: the midnight edition and the honey edition. And it has made catching up on Project LIfe so much fun.

I’m working on the end of the year and doing roughly a month or event per spread. Obvs, the birth of my adorable niece will get a whole two pages. Here’s the pages I have for the second half of October and first weekend of November.

As I look through my whole album, there are some pages I really like and some I don’t, of course. But either way I’m glad I’m recording these pictures. I still have a few events left in 2013 to get into this album, and then it’s onto this new year. At least I’m not too far behind.

You can see my other project life updates here:

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goldie the gargoyle (embroidery no. 17)

It kills me when adorable things show up in comic books. Here I am, reading about a nightmare/King of Dreams/contract killers/reimagined biblical characters and WHAM, something cute drops in the frame.

I’ve been reading through The Sandman–the first issue is just a little younger than I am–and though it took me 25 years to catch on, I’m finally getting up to speed and loving every minute. Along with Death, one of the most fun characters I’ve ever met, I’ve also enjoyed spending time with Dream and his other siblings. And mixed in with the twisting, dark, interesting story lines are hilarious moments of fun. Like a super cute gargoyle called Goldie (aka Irving).

I’ve been thinking of a way to incorporate Sandman into my project of embroidering books and quotes that I enjoy, and Goldie is a perfect representation of what I love about this series: unexpected fun.

You can’t see dark without the light, or cruelty without kindness, and this epic storyline that takes us in and out of worlds and dreams is all the stronger by including some (adorable) levity.

As you can see on my to-read list, I’m just through volume 7, so if anything terrible happens to Goldie in volumes 8-10, don’t tell me.

I am working on a project to sew some of my favorite quotes and images from books. You can see the other pieces of my embroidery project here:

(I bought this comic book on my own and am not being paid to write about it. I just like it!)

baby blanket (finished)

After a marathon knitting session the past week, I finished the baby blanket. (I used a pattern from the Purl Bee for the chevron baby blanket.) A lot of other things got put on hold so that it would be ready by the time I left town for Christmas because I didn’t want to mail something so precious (read: sort of expensive and time consuming).

Now that it’s over, I can’t believe I made it. I mean, I know I did because I spent many hours knitting it and I ran out of yarn six rows too soon two days before my trip and the nice people at Purl Soho made a skein of yarn materialize out of nowhere to help me and I sent out text updates like “10 rows left!” to anyone who would listen. But when I look at it now, I don’t think about that. I think, wow, that’s beautiful. And it’s even more beautiful wrapped around my perfect, perfect niece.

I’m not a very experienced knitter. Before this blanket I think I just knew how to knit and purl. I could knit or purl two together, and I could maybe increase a stitch or two after looking up how to do it on youtube. But for this baby blanket I learned two new stitches (kfb and ssk). And that was all it took to make a chevron stripe and the biggest thing I’ve ever knitted.

This is why I love taking risks on bigger projects. When I started, it seemed impossible. I messed up a few times, and just kept going. And going, and going, and going. And when it seemed like I would be doing these two stitches for the rest of my days, suddenly I was done.

And now I’m ready to move on to a bigger blanket, or a few new stitches. Who knows where it will take me or what I can make next. I wasn’t even sure I could do this one.

But now that I’m one blanket smarter, I would do a few things differently the next time around. It turns out I knit looser than this pattern really intended. This means that I ran out of yarn faster (I used Purl Soho’s super soft marino), and because this pattern used a whole skein for each color of stripes, I ran out of yarn before I was finished with each section. After this happened the first time, I left out a garter row of my last stripe for every color. This kept me from running out of yarn, but it means that my stripes are of varying sizes. As I’ve said before, I’m no perfectionist, so this was ok by me.

But if I were to make this blanket again, I’d make each color stripe only three garter rows instead of four, and I’d go ahead and buy an extra skein of white yarn from the get-go. So if you’re a loose knitter (which I know now that I am), I’d recommend those modifications. Another thing I learned about knitting loosely is that you’ll end up with a slightly bigger blanket than the pattern indicates. So if you leave out some rows, that would make up some of the difference.

But even with uneven stripes, I think it’s about one of the best things I’ve made. If only because I made it for my brand new niece.

You can see previous progress on the blanket at baby blanket, baby blanket progress (4 inches), baby blanket progress (a note to baby girl), baby blanket progress (11 inches), and baby blanket (a lot of inches).

(I chose this project and paid for the yarn on my own. I’m not affiliated with Purl Soho–I’m just a fan.)

top 10 crafts of 2013

This year has been a wonderfully crafty year. I’ve tried new things and made some I am really proud of. Out of a lot of crafty posts, here are my top 10 favorites.

Screen printed cards. This was a really fun project. I used my at-home screen printing kit to make some fun, punctuation inspired note cards. I definitely want to do more screen printing in 2014.

Mischief managed embroidery. I have loved starting embroidery this year. I am so happy to have made them and have them hanging up on my wall. I definitely plan to keep embroidering next year. One of my favorites is one of my first, “mischief managed.”

And of course, Lying Cat embroidery is another favorite. I totally enjoyed reading Saga this year and Lying Cat is a star. Plus, sharing this with the illustrator Fiona Staples over Twitter was super cool.

Walter White embroidery. Breaking Bad was another story I spent a lot of time with this year. My friends and I would obsessively email after every episode, and I just loved it. This tiny tribute to Walter White is a perfect memorial for me.

Cross-stitch pillow. I have loved having handmade items in my home. It’s so personal and fun, and I like that my house has original things you can’t find anywhere else. This pillow turned out great, if I do say so myself.

Comic book sweatshirt. I have gotten into comic books this year, and it’s seeping out of my reading and onto my clothing. This sweatshirt was so fun to make and it’s super cute to wear when I need a superhero boost.

Wedding project life. This was the year of project life for me. It’s helped me document wonderful moments like the wedding of my best friend. I love looking at the pages!

Embroidered hand towels. And my wedding gift was another one of my favorite crafts. Such a nice way to give someone something personal. Especially if that someone likes to be in the kitchen.

Ugly sweater ornaments. There’s still time to make these before Christmas! Grab some felt and my template and you’re just about good to go. They are so cute on my tree!

And of course the baby blanket. I’m still working on this one, but I bet it will be one of my favorite projects for a very long time. I can’t wait to wrap up my baby niece in it when it’s done!

baby blanket (a lot of inches)

We are two weeks until Christmas, and my niece is already born. I need to kick it up a notch.

I’m into the third section of this blanket, and it’s going pretty well. I’ve knitted past the ruler, so I’d guess I’m at maybe 21 inches or so?

I think I knit looser than the pattern, so I run out of yarn faster. This can be an issue because the instructions use up a whole skein for each color of stripes. So, I cheated. In the last stripe for the red, I left out two rows. It’s a little bit of a bummer because it’s such a nice big project and I of course want it to be just right–but also, probably, no one will notice but me. And it would also be a bummer to have to buy three to four new skeins of yarn just to finish one or two rows. So here we are. I bet the baby won’t mind. I’ll see how it goes for the rest of the colors, but I’ll probably do the same thing. If I had planned on it, I would make the middle stripe of each color the one that was a little bit too skinny.

I’ve been trying to knit a row here and there when I have time, but my favorite way to knit is to settle in with a TV show or movie and get to it for while. I was watching Orphan Black, and that was the only time I really messed up a row. I think I was paying a lot of attention to the show (it’s really cool!) and definitely not enough to counting stitches. To fix that row, I cast stitches on until I had the right amount again. And then I just kept going. And no I won’t tell you what color it’s in, so hopefully no one can find it.

Alright. Gotta get back to work.

You can see previous progress on the blanket at baby blanket, baby blanket progress (4 inches), baby blanket progress (a note to baby girl), and baby blanket progress (11 inches).

ugly sweater ornaments

For a tiny apartment with a tiny Christmas tree, I sure do have a lot of ornaments. I can’t stop! They are miniature works of art and I love to look at them on my tree and in every holiday store or catalog. But good ornaments don’t just have to be professionally done. The best part of some trees is the handmade touches from ornaments you can make yourself. So let’s get to making some. And let’s make them ugly.

Ugly sweaters are one of the best parts of holiday fashion, right? People are even throwing ugly sweater parties. And if you’re a little unsure of your crafting abilities, what better way to hide any mistakes than by making something that should be purposefully ugly. Your first step for your ugly sweater ornaments is gathering materials.

I started with a rainbow of wool felt. I like this felt from Purl Soho because it’s high quality wool and comes in really gorgeous colors, but I think any felt would do. Print and use the Rae’s Days Ugly Sweater Template to cut out the shape of the sweaters.

After you have a few blank sweaters, use any materials you’d like to decorate them. I used felt to cut out shapes and hot glue them on. I wanted to use materials I had on hand, but if I had any sequins, you can bet they’d be all over these.

After that, step back and admire your work.

I am no perfectionist, and these sweaters are no exception. I didn’t measure, and I didn’t worry about getting everything perfect. These are *ugly* sweaters, remember? But I have to say, they look pretty cute in the end. One of my favorites is the Santa sweater. If you wanted, you could use this same template to make Santa ornaments instead. All you need is some white felt for the accents, and some black buttons (I used my hole punch again to make the little felt circles). Once you’re happy with your collection, you need to add some string or yarn so you can get them on your tree.

I used some gray yarn I had on hand, and I cut it six inches long. On the template, there is a six-inch ruler you can use to measure your string. Then I made a loop with the yarn and hot glued it into the back of my ornament. The easiest way for me to do this was to use a spare piece of felt and glue that to the back to hold the string in the right place.

You could use any spare piece of material you have. I cut some into circles because I thought it looked like buttons on the back. Then, hang it on your tree!

Pick up the Rae’s Days Ugly Sweater Template here, and get started! If you make any, I’d love to see them. Please share on Instagram (I’m raenudson) or Twitter (rclnudson) with the hashtag #raesdays!

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