For years I have admired Tramp Art, produced after the Civil War through the 1930s. The techniques are much older, originating in Germany and Scandinavia. I am especially fond of the frames. Their eccentric, geometric forms dazzle and hypnotize, creating graphic alters around whatever is placed within them. Often they are quite expensive at flea …

About five years ago I developed this project, which I still really love. It’s very simple. Water-based enamel paint is poured into glass vessels and swirled around to coat the inside. The magic part is that the white sets off the various blue and green tints in the glass (a surprisingly common characteristic, check your …

For my niece’s 8th birthday we decided to customize a pair of Converse sneakers for her. Converse has a great website that allows you to choose almost every detail of the shoes, right down to the color of the stitching and embroidering your name. For Molly, it was all about neon and as much color …

Crafters often have a collection of “UFOs”—UnFinished Objects. Some, like me, amass about as many of these as they do completed projects. Maybe more. Sometimes I give up on a project that’s too complicated or time-consuming; other times I get sick of the technique/material. But most of the time I just find something more fun …

Remember when I said I couldn’t wait to make a baby doll for my cousin!? Well, Ronja was just born, and I’m so happy for her sweet parents (and now I have a reason to make another doll). I made a baby doll with a bunting body rather than with legs. It is pretty much the …

It’s back-to-school time and in celebration of this yearly event, I thought I would share a simple and eco-conscious way to cover all those textbooks. When I was a high-schooler, it was always one of my least favorite things to do (I actually got detention once for failing to cover my geometry textbook by the …

“The results are in! And the winning school supply is… All of them—well, almost all of them. We were so excited about the challenge that we decided to do more than just one revamp. Here are some ways to spice up back-to-school supplies! Why search for the perfect notebook when you can make one on …

I love crafting with materials from hardware stores. There’s something exciting about turning a typically utilitarian product into something beautiful and unexpected—don’t you think? In the August issue of Living we featured some rope-craft “Good Things.” Rope is such a fun material because there are so many colors, textures, and widths available. But that’s not …