This is my contribution to the Margaret’s Hope Chest Hope Squared quilt drive to benefit homeless children living in the Grand Rapids Public School District this holiday season. I interviewed the charity organizers, Carin Vogelzang, and her mother, Carol Peters, for the podcast and my column and wanted to do more than encourage everyone else [...]

This is my first Day of the Dead paper cut banner, or “papel picado.” I LOVE paper cut art, so I had a great time cutting this design out of tissue paper with a craft knife. First, I drew the skeleton wearing a hat on a regular 8 1/2″ by 11″ piece of white paper. [...]

See anything unusual in the photo above? Like a table and two chairs waiting for some Greek gods to share a meal up on the bridge? No need to rub your eyes, the furniture set is real. I’m not that good at Photoshop, trust me. Unusal sightings like this are about to become the norm [...]

I cut my craft budget in July when I quit my day job as a newspaper reporter because I knew my new life as a podcasting, crafty freelance writer was not going to be as lucrative as getting a regular paycheck every week. And I thought I would miss having extra cash to spend on [...]

This is the “Headliner” newspaper dress that I made for last night’s “Recycled Runway” event at the UICA here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I’m pleased to report that I walked the runway and survived. Boy, I’m glad that’s over. I like the design and sewing part of fashion, but don’t really dig the runway bit.

I’ve been blog silent lately because I’ve been stitching like mad in preparation for tonight’s Recycled Runway event tonight at the UICA in Grand Rapids. I made a dress out of newspaper. It took way longer than I expected, but I actually made a dress which is kind of amazing since I don’t have much [...]

Today I showed Take Five viewers how to do some basic weaving on recycled cardboard. From cereal boxes to packaging from the mail, cardboard is readily available and ripe for free loom-making. While cardboard looms are great for introducing kids to weaving, this project is for people of all ages. I’ve been weaving for more [...]

I know better, but clearly I have not learned from past mistakes. And once again I stayed up until an ungodly hour the night before a live TV segment to make a new apron to wear for my weekly appearance on Take Five & Company here in Grand Rapids, Mich. I decided shortly before midnight [...]

This is West Michigan crafter Dulce VanDyken’s Michael Jackson tribute. She’s selling the King of Pop sock monkeys for $50. She’s also selling the outfit separately for $25. The set includes black pants, the red jacket and trademark glove and a hat with curly hair attached. I completely missed this sock monkey she’s calling “Monkey [...]

Wow, what a great day for an art show. The weather was beautiful here in West Michigan and the crowds came out for today’s Fulton Street Artisans Market. I can’t testify to how sales went, because I ran a giveaway booth. However, I can tell you that I saw plenty of smiling vendors after the [...]

Today more than 60 vendors will gather in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the opening day of the Fulton Street Artisans Market (FSAM). I’ll be there, too, hanging out in booth 22 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. My plan is to chat with people about CraftSanity, recruit new members for the Grand Rapids Craft Club, [...]

I’m working on a felt CraftSanity banner to decorate my “free” booth at the Fulton Street Artisans Market this Sunday in Grand Rapids. As you can see I have a bit of work to do. If you’re local, I hope you can stop by and say hello. I’ll be passing out goodies including free project [...]

Get the Mp3 player widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Rob Bliss bills himself as a just a regular guy. But his ability to use Facebook to mobilize people of all ages to participate in urban experiments is nothing short of intriguing. I met Bliss, a Grand Rapids Community College student, at [...]

I have several projects in the works, including this rag rug. It’s a sample for Friday’s TV craft segment. This segment was inspired by a wonderful handmade effort at St. Andrew’s School in Grand Rapids where parents and volunteers are crocheting rag rugs out of donated bed sheets to raise money for a school emergency [...]

Forest Hills Fashion Show I’ve been having a lot of fun checking out student fashion designs and wrote today’s column on the topic after attending a Re-Fashion Show at the Forest Hills Fine Art Center here in West Michigan. Check out the column and additional video footage to see what these budding re-fashion designers having [...]