So, yesterday, Jessica Jones at How About Orange blogged about a marker she’d used to draw on some coffee mugs. I was all ready to run out and buy one of the markers but then, when I re-read the post today, she’d discovered that she’d used the wrong one!

Thanks to Mr. Google however, I did find these markers (probably what was used) from Pebeo:

Porcelaine 150, a marker for use with porcelain and ceramic

Vitrea 160, a marker for use with glass and crystal

I can’t draw freehand worth shit but I KNOW I could figure out a way to use these…

Just a reminder to everyone that Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday…

For those of us with unconventional <cough> mothers, this design of mine might be just the ticket:

Available in my Etsy shop…

Everyone wants their house guests to feel comfortable during their visit but this can be a little harder to achieve if you don’t actually have a proper room to put them up in. Like a number of people, the bedrooms in our home are full. That means when we have house guests (as I will later this week), they get to sleep on the couch. Luckily, we have a few of those for them to choose from.

This is where my guests get to stay: our sitting room.

Those chesterfields are remarkably comfortable when the throw cushions are removed but, since it’s still not a proper bedroom, I like to do a few things to make it a little more special.

Today, I laundered a set of sheets and hung them out to dry. There’s nothing quite like line-dried sheets, is there? One improvement on that freshly laundered scent comes through the use of linen water…

(Photo: Fruits & Passion)

Now, normally, I’m philosophically opposed to ironing anything but just a few spritzes of linen water on the sheets before you iron them will make them smell absolutely heavenly. The traditional scent for linen water is lavendar but, as I cannot stand the smell of lavendar, I went with Fruits & Passion’s tulip-scented linen water. It’s a very mild and fresh-smelling scent.

If you’re sensitive to scents as I am, you can check Fruits & Passions line out in person at Cost Plus World Market.

Or, if you would like to make linen water with your own favourite scent, you can even make your own!

Single-use soaps for the bathroom are another little treat for house guests.

(Photo: A Breath of French Air)

These sweet little things from A Breath of French Air’s Etsy shop are just the thing.

If you’re feeling a little crafty, you can try making your own soaps using silk or fresh flowers.

Other ideas to make your guests feel at home?

• A reading lamp by their “bed” can help. In the dark, it can be hard to navigate new surroundings.
• Outfit your guest or main bathroom with things like shampoo, conditioner, and even hair spray. In these days of air travel restrictions, something as simple as hair care products can make your guest’s travel a lot easier.

Above all, enjoy your guest’s visit…that’s why you invited them, right?

Have a good weekend, everybody!

Next week, I hope to get some design work done (finally!), specifically design based on negative space. I’m also having a houseguest later in the week so will probably be looking at visitor-related ideas.

See you later!

No mincing words around here…it’s “fake chenille”, not “faux chenille”.

The appearance of chenille on various design blogs recently got me thinking about all things chenille: “how is it made?” being chief among my wonderings. A little research led me to discover that chenille is not really a DIY-type of craft but fake chenille most definitely is!

And so, over the course of the week (and in between my glass etching adventures), I tried out a prototype of fake chenille. Ideally (in my world), this would make a great dog bed cover. I was a little pressed for time this week (just got back from a week in Oregon, need to prepare for the race meet, blah blah blah) so I didn’t do a full on dog bed. Instead, I made what is essentially a pillow case into which I will put a cheap pillow and let the dogs have.

To start, you need 3 yards of fabric. Apparently not just any fabric will do; you need one that will “bloom”. Natural fibers are supposed to be better for this and, as luck would have it, I just happened to have a bunch of medium-weight cotton canvas stashed away.

On the left is the fabric I used; it’s a home decorating cotton from Waverley that I picked up for $1.00/yard on sale. There are two yards of the lighter fabric and one yard of the dark stripe. After being cut to size (36″ x 22″), the fabric pieces are stacked on top of one another, right sides up. You can’t see it too well because I used the same fabric but that’s the picture on the right.

The stack is basted all around and then sewn along the bias using a small zigzag stitch in 3/4″ increments. Each stitch line is made in a different direction, to avoid stretching the fabric. I marked the first stitch line with a pencil and then just eyeballed it from there. I wouldn’t do that again as my eyeballs were variable in their measurements.

After all the stitching is done, the fabric is cut between the stitch lines through all layers except the bottom one. Then you just need to pop the piece in the washer and then the dryer et voila!

(You can see I didn’t stitch all the way across the piece of fabric. I was very tired and convinced myself that a wee triangle of base fabric in the corner of the bed would look oh-so-artistic.)

No pillow to go inside it yet but Streaka already approves:

Of course, having a Tighe Pillow (TM) for her head probably facilitates her enjoyment…

Things I would do differently next time:

• For an indoor bed, I’d use flannel. The canvas is great for an outdoor bed but it shrank something terrible. I think I lost around 4″ in length and 2″ in width.
• I’d mark all the stitch lines with pencil. It wouldn’t take much time and would result in a better end product.
• I’d be tempted to make these square, rather than rectangular.

I’d love to hear from anyone if they try this!

When the Spouse bought his bead blaster, one of the “selling points” in his pitch to me was “you can use it to etch glass for prizes”. I think he may have regretted that yesterday as I had him conscripted into helping me etch 54 pieces of glass as prizes for this weekend’s race meet.

I adapted a 1912 Ludwig Hohlwein design for the vinyl cutter; this meant a fair amount of detail had to be removed and some of the angularity softened. Once the vinyl had been cut, the actual design was weeded, leaving a negative image. The remaining vinyl was applied to the glass, the piece was masked, and off it went to the garage to get blasted!

And the results:

In total, thirty glass plates, sixteen 6″ rectangular vases, four 9″ rectangular vases, and four 7″ large vases were etched. All the glass came from IKEA so this ended up being a pretty cost-effective load of prizes.

More importantly for me, etching these pieces gave me some ideas for other “negative image” pieces I might do in the future. (And I’m sure the Spouse will be glad to hear that they DON’T involve the bead blaster!)

After etching glass for hours today (FIFTY-FOUR pieces!), I needed something to brighten my day. Following a tip from Apartment Therapy, I took a break from my clean-up and washed the windows in my office/den, inside and out. What a difference! It really does brighten things up!

I hope to have photos of the glass etchings for tomorrow. Right now, half the glass is still in the dishwasher and the other half is sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting to go in the dishwasher.

I’ve also been working on some real “creature comforts“…more on that tomorrow too!

Now that the nicer weather is here, I hate using the dryer and would much rather hang my clothes out to dry. There’s nothing better than the smell of line-dried clothing or linens. There isn’t really a suitable place for a clothesline in my garden and so I use a clotheshorse from Target instead. If I can find a spot for it, I will add a retractable clothesline (also from Target) to my life as well…

Of course, I like to overthink things and, as I was hanging my clothes out yesterday, I started wondering about line-drying clothes vs. drying them in a clothes dryer. I never see clotheslines in people’s yards but I can’t be the only one that likes to line-dry laundry, can I?

A little googling assured me that I’m not. LaundryList.org is an advocacy group promoting the use of clotheslines. For those a little less politically-minded, the BBC website has online tips for maximising your line-drying experience; I wish they’d included a photo of their towel hanging technique. That is the main complaint I hear around the house about my spring and summer laundry habits…the towels aren’t soft enough.

And for those with an artistic bent, there are many shows, installations, and pieces celebrating this most mundane of household tasks.

It’s no secret that lifestyle trends follow the economy. In times of plenty, we see new! and exciting! designs and crazy-ass food creations. Similarly, when the economy slows down, we see a resurgence of old-style “comfort” items, both for the home and for the table.

I can only guess that is why I’m seeing chenille just about everywhere. So far it’s been mostly vintage bedspreads hitting the design blogs around the world. Can it be long before textile designers start rethinking chenille-based designs and putting a new spin on them?

I sure hope not!

Vintage Chenille Bedspread from Cat Nap Cottage on Etsy, found via How About Orange.

One of my favourite travel rituals is packing my “trip bag”.

What goes in a “trip bag”? Well, anything you think you might need on the road! This road trip is relatively short as far as drive-time is concerned so I didn’t bother packing some longer trip essentials like my well-worn copy of The Next Exit or my Motel 6 booklet (hey, when you’re travelling with dogs, you stay where they let you!). Trip bag contents for overseas trips usually include language dictionaries, airport maps, and vital phone numbers. What I did make sure made it into the bag this time around were directions to the wonderful Valley River Inn, the latest issue of Dwell, the new DWR catalogue, and my cell phone charger.

A dear friend gave me my current trip bag, a Hound in the Round tote bag from the William Wegman Collection for Crypton Fabrics:

It’s roomy enough for all my bits of collected flotsam and it’s made of virtually indestructible fabric.

Crypton Fabric has really expanded their consumer product line in the last few years, now offering kids’ furniture along with their bags and pet beds. I’m currently torn between the Wegman Pet Twin Bed and the Outdoor Pet Bed. If only those dot.com days were back again…

Crypton Fabrics’ Website