Ike-a-saurus update & Thank you!

WOW! The response to last week's post about Baby Ike was incredible. I've had loads of emails offering donations and support, and offering items for our silent auction. There have also been lots of fantastic items posted on Etsy with proceeds going to Ike-a-saurus. If you are wanting to donate to baby Ike, this is a great way to do it. You get to send funds to Ike, show support to the crafters who are donating to Ike, and get a litte something special for yourself. You can't lose! I'll be posting a final update of all the crafty donations once they are all in, but for now I'd like to post a shout out to folks who have offered items on Etsy for Ike. Please check them out, support them, and tell them "thanks" for helping sweet Ike.

Susan Beal - West Coast Crafty
Susan immediately stepped up to the plate for Ike and offered *all* the items in her Etsy shop for the Ike-a-saurus fund. Amazing! She's already sold tons of her Bead Simple jewlery kits, but there are a couple left if you want to grab one while you can. While you're there, be sure to check out info on Susan's new book, Button it Up, and tell her thanks for being so generous!

Andreanna - Glamasaurus
What a perfect name for a business helping out Ike-a-saurus! Andreanna has donated the sale of these super cute dinosaur hair clips for Baby Ike! And it appears Ike's cause has gone global: Adreanna is in Lenzburg, Switzerland! Wowza!

Timary Peterson - TimaryArt
Timary is an Austin crafter and makes beautiful crocheted items. Her crocheted, felted, nesting bowls were a huge hit with Diane when I visited her in Portland last summer. She's designated five items in her Etsy shop (including some nesting bowls!) for Baby Ike. They are bright and colorful and super cheery - be sure to check them out!


Tina Lindquist - Craftiness
Tina is also right here in Austin, and she and her husband, Dave, are incredibly creative and talented. They've offered up two items in their Etsy shop for Baby Ike. They are beautiful pieces that are hand crafted and lathe turned. Gorgeous!

FaerieRebecca - FaerieRebecca's Workbench
FaerieRebecca has offered a gorgeous Waldorf doll in Ike's name. Her dolls look gorgeous and cozy and would be well-loved by any child.

There have also been loads of people who have blogged about sweet Ike and have helped spread the word. Here's a list I have going so far (from my crafty peeps) - if you've blogged about Ike and I've missed your post, please shoot me an email at averagejanecrafter[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll get it listed as soon as I can.

Diane at CraftyPod
Vickie Howell
Mama Sings the Blues
Slow Family Living
Marsbars Designs

Thank you so much to all the people who have offered up their Etsy items for Ike and who have blogged about the cause. I can't tell you how much every tiny bit helps. It's been amazing to see so many "tiny bits" come together to forge a great big huge helpful lot for this sweet family.

Stay tuned for more shout outs as items come in for our big silent auction, and stay tuned for more information about a local crafty event I'm trying to put together for next month. Thanks again for all this support. Please keep spreading the word, and keep up with the Ike-a-saurus cause on Ike's web site, and with Kari's updates about Ike's condition on her blog.

Step up, Crafters, to help Baby Ike!

By now, many of you have heard about Baby Ike here in Austin who is currently in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Dell Children's Hospital, sedated, on paralytic medications and recovering from an operation in which he received a tracheostomy. Ike's mom, Kari Anne Roy , is a brilliantly hilarious writer and a beloved member of the Austin community. She and her sweet family (husband, Steven , Maker-in-the-making son, Sam, and tenaciously adorable daughter, Georgia) have been put through the ringer this year. You can read their full story on the Ike-a-saurus web site , and be sure to check out how the "Ike-a-saurus " name came to be.

There has been an amazing community effort to help out the Roy family. In less than one day, Ike's web site was created (by Austin web rock star, Jenny Medford *) and a community of mamas joined forces to organize several fund raising events . Donation buttons were displayed and dispersed through social networks, and by day's end, we'd raised enough money to cover Ike's Cobra insurance for February and March. It's been the most beautiful example of community outreach I have ever experienced.

But there is still more to be done. Along with bake sales, rummage sales and big family-friendly events , we are looking for fun ways to help raise money for Ike-a-saurus and to help promote the generous businesses and supporters who are lending a hand.

This is where you come in!

I am constantly in awe of how generous the crafting community is. I would love to give you the opportunity to extend your generosity and be a part of this incredible outreach experience by helping out in one of the following ways:
1. Blog about the cause. You can pull all the information you need from the Ike-a-saurus web site , and Jenny has even provided HTML to add a "Donate to Ike-a-Saurus" button to your web site (scroll to bottom of page). Post the info to Facebook, Twitter - any social network you can think of - and ask friends to repost.

2. If you have an Etsy shop: Designate one or more items in your shop as "Ike Items" and donate all proceeds from those items to the cause (email me at averagejanecrafter[at]gmail[dot]com for info on how/where to donate the funds) If you do this, please blog about it and please send the info and your shop links to me so I can post them on my blog, on the Ike-a-saurus web site and to all my social networks.

3. If you don't have an Etsy shop, but have items you have made that you would like to donate to be sold for the cause, let me know. I can arrange for you to send them to me where they can be included in a silent auction we are organizing. I'm also researching the possibility of setting up an Etsy shop for the cause, but am not 100% sure if I'll be able to go through with that.

4. If you don't have any handmade items to sell, but have craft books, kits, gift certificates, fabric, supplies or other items that you think would be useful in the silent auction, let me know. Everything is appreciated!

5. If you are local to Austin and would like to participate in a screen printing party for Ike, please let me know. This is still in the works, but if you'd like to be added to the list of possible volunteers/donors, that would be great.

Please spread the word far and wide - Ike and the Roy family need our help! Be a part of this awesome outreach experience - every little bit helps, and the Roy family is overwhelmed with gratitude.

If you have any other questions or suggestions, please let me know. If it takes a day or two to get back with you, don't fret - I'm just swamped in emails and replying as quickly as I can! Feel free to pass this post on to crafty friends whom you think would like to participate. I'll be including a list of supporting crafters and their blogs/Etsy shops/books, etc. on the Ike-a-saurus web site and on my blog.

Finally, if anything - please spare a prayer, thought, vibe, anything you can for Ike and his family. Every little thing counts.

Thanks so much!
Rachel

* Jenny is the creative mind behind Vickie Howell's Web site, the Future Craft Collective Web site, the Ramonsterwear web site, Jennifer Perkins' blog and more!

And you thought butter was all ... innocent

This post is a little .... crass-ty.

(har)

I can't help it, though. Ever since I brought a box of Land O Lakes butter home last week, I haven't been able to open the fridge without snickering when I see it.

I fully blame my father.

What you should know about my father first is that he's an incredible dad, he's beyond brilliant and this craft in no way reflects on his level of maturity.

That said, I think it's hilarious that he showed me this particular "craft" when I was a kid. I can't remember exactly when, but I'm sure it was jr. high or younger at least. Apparently it was something he and his high school buddies did for laughs, and I have to admit that it made me laugh hysterically the first time I saw it and just the idea of it still sends me into fits of giggles. Call me immature. Call me low-brow. I don't care.

I now give you the turning-a-butter-box-into-a-nudie-joke.

Step one, use a craft knife to cut around three sides of the butter that's in her hands. I also used a dull edge to lightly score the top of the butter to make it fold up neatly.


Now cut the box just under her knees (save that part that says "butter" - it's a great typeface and will come in handy in collages and stuff)


Next fold the box up once and then once again - you see where I'm going with this, right ...


Now enjoy lifting up the butter and getting a peep at the knee-boobs!


I miscalculated the cutting/folding part a bit and it looks like she's got green fringe coming out of her "boobs" here and the box ripped a little at the fold. But you get the idea...

Now, before anyone starts commenting about offensive, immature, pointless crafts: Yeah, this isn't some high-brow, high-skill craft. I use the term "craft" lightly here, but since I did use a craft knife and a cutting pad ... Mostly, this particular project just brings back memories of my dad sharing a little bit of his childhood with me when I was a kid myself.

So I guess the question now, is .... when can I show this to my kids?

A special little treat from doe-c-doe

OOoooooooOoooh y'all. I got the most awesome thing in the mail this week. Straight from doe-c-doe herself, it's one of her gorgeously hand-embroidered quilt pieces. And it. is. s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g.

Here's a little back story: I've followed doe-c-doe's blog for ages. I can't remember exactly when I stumbled upon it, but I'm thinking it was from one of her projects she posted in the Flickr embroidery group. I've been absolutely hooked ever since, and she is at the top of my must-read blog list. Her photography is gorgeous, her projects are pristine and her aesthetic is just ... peachy keen. I'm consistenly floored by her perfect stictches (which, let me tell you - having seen them up close now ... holy smokes are they perfect!) and I've loved watching her projects evolve on her blog.

Some of my favorite doe-c-doe projects are the following:

Tree of Life

Doilie-turned-snowflake necklace

Your A Doll

Embroidered Insects

I Love Lucy Pillow

She also has the most incredible luck with thrifting that I've ever seen, and her dog is insanely cute (and appreantly very tolerant of being made to wear things like bonnets, aprons and ... mustaches?)

But more than anything, I've found that in my occasional correspondence with "g" (as she signs all her emails) is that she is incredibly sweet, kind and very sincere - some of my favorite qualities in a person.

A few months ago, she announced that some of her fabric/paper/embroidery vintage sewing pattern collages were being made available in her etsy shop. About 30 seconds after reading that post, I forwarded the link for the collage I coveted to my husband with a not-so-subtle "Gee, I'd *love* this for Christmas" message. A few days later, I noticed the collage had sold, and thought he'd taken the hint.

Sigh.

He hadn't - someone else had purchased the piece.

Later, after I commented on Niku's picture of her doe-c-doe purchase, apparently Niku tipped doe-c-doe off to my coveting of her work. The next thing I know, I have a very sweet Flickr mail from doe-c-doe requesting my choice of emrboidered image and my shipping address so she could send me something. I sent a picture of my favorite embroidery scissors and - viola! - soon arrived a gorgeous quilt circle with the scissors perfectly stitched right in the middle.


I was floored! The piece is so gorgeous, and it was such a generous gift. I feel totally underserving and just hope that the good karma will go back to doe-c-doe ten fold. Head on over to her blog and let her know how utterly rad she is, and be sure to check her etsy shop for some additional priceless pieces. Tell her Average Jane sent you. :)

'Cause Sometimes Love is Lame

The first Valentine's Day between my husband and I came early in our relationship - just a month or so after we started dating. We were still deep in the giddy stage of things - enough so that he actually went to a florist to get bags of rose petals ("Careful, those can stain the bed sheets," the clerk warned him ... ) and he assembled a gorgeous basket with a dozen long-stem roses and a bottle of port hidden beneath the loose rose petals (sorry, clerk, we weren't to the "bedsheets" phase of our relationship yet)

As fabulous as that Valentine's Day was (along with the basket, he took me out for a fancy schmancy dinner) I have to admit it created a pretty tough act to follow. Subsequent Valentine's Days have been pretty low key, and honestly - I don't think we've even gotten cards for each other in years. (though he can make a mean chocolate-covered strawberry, my fave) I wouldn't say my heart has gone totally black on V-Day, but it is shriveling a little bit and I have a deep appreciation for crafts that celebrate the cynical side of this mass-commercialized love fest.

Which is why I'm thrilled to be one of the judges for the second annual Dabbled Black Heart Anti-Valentines Day Contest, hosted by Dot. (and my fellow hosts are the beyond awesome Diane and Alice - hurrah!)

Here's the low-down from her web site:

The Rules:
Quite Simple: The theme is anti-valentines. Something a bit darker/creepier than you average valentine project--or however you interpret "Anti-Valentine". Illustrations or any sort of food or craft project welcome. Tutorials and How-to's are encouraged! Simply create your offering, and either post the link to it as a comment on this post (if you don't mind others seeing it), or email it to me at holiday[at]Dabbled[dot]org (if you prefer secrecy!)- please put "Black Heart Contest" in the header of your email. And show off your stuff on flickr by adding it to the dabbled group pool.

You can enter more than once, but only 1 of your entries can win (i.e. the same person can't win 1st and 2nd place)

The Time Frame:
Entries must be received by 11:oo PM Eastern US time on Feb 12.

You can read about the prizes, and grab a cool graphic for your blog over on the Dabbled web site.

Also be sure to check out the gallery of last year's entries and winners. I particularly like this embroidered tea towel with a quote from Mae West from Peggradyart

But what about my street cred!?

You know I'm crafty, but did you know I'm hard-core crafty? I represent with the best of 'em. Put me in a crowd of crafters showing off their craft battle wounds and I'll rock hard. ("here's where I heat embossed my finger!" "this is where I jabbed a knitting needle into my thigh!" "this is from the time I snipped my plastic canvas and a piece flew into my eye!" )

A few years ago, a friend I don't get to see much was pregnant and we had a last-minute opportunity to go out to a movie with some friends. I decided to whip up a little customized burp cloth action that afternoon before we got together. As I was applique-ing a little birdie, my embroidery needle got stuck in the thick fabric. Being the hard-core crafter that I am, I grabbed that sucker with my front teeth and pulled like the dickens!

The needle finally gave and came through the fabric, but not before I'd chipped a chunk out of my front tooth. It looked wonky, but it became my greatest battle scar of all, and every time I'd run my tounge over the jagged spot, I was reminded of my undying dedication to craft.

I had my regular check up at the dentist yesterday, and though I've had this same tooth "injury" for years, they just now noticed it and before I could even think twice, the dentist had a drill-type tool in my mouth and was filing away at my precious war wound! Some smoky smell (yikes) and crunched facial expressions later, the notch in the tooth was all but gone. They offered to fill in the last bit with some kind of compoud something-or-other, but I declined.

Sigh.

Looks like I'll need to have a little "accident" with my woodburning tool this afternoon....

Oh how I heart you

(have you missed me?*)


Jennifer Perkins just tipped me off to a cool project from Fred Flare. Valentine's Day can be such a sore spot for folks, right? I mean, unless you are giddy-crazy-in-new-love Valentine's Day can be kind of a drag. (or is it just me?) This project will help pump some fun back into your Valentine's Day.

From Fred Flare:

Okay, so I had this weird idea?? I was thinking about how much I wish we had some rad handmade valentines to feature online & in our new store. And then I thought, well, I know SO many supertalentented people I’ll just ask you all to make something special for us!

And then I thought, how AMAZING would it be if we could get lots of people to handmake one-of-a-kind valentines & then donate the proceeds from the sales of these valentines to a good cause? Sounds like fun, right? I do hope you’ll join me in getting crafty to benefit Elder Craftsmen, an organization based here in NYC that brings craft workshops to local senior citizens.

Well that just sounds dandy to me! Head on over to their site for all the details on how to participate. Get a move on - the deadline is January 15!


Sorry for the unintended hiatus from posting. I've been getting all kinds of healthy over the last couple of months, and have been spending more time at the gym than on the computer. Never fear, now that the kids are back in school and I've got my gym routine down pat, things will be back to normal around here soon. :)