Embellish

Meet our first Renegade Crafts Fair artisan, Alison Tauber. She’s a textile and surface designer based in Brooklyn, N.Y. who graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City in 2007. Before starting her own line of screen-printed clothing and housewares in the spring of 2008, she worked as both a designer and stylist for various companies. Alison “strives to create art that is beautiful, comfortable and usable,” and she’s provided you with a step-by-step tutorial on creating a felt bird ornament. Enjoy!

The felt bird ornament uses four embroidery stitches: detached-chain stitch, back stitch, satin stitch and blanket stitch.

What you’ll need:
Felt square (about 7 inches)
Embroidery floss
Needle
Poly-fil (or whatever you wish to stuff the bird with)

To begin, cut out two bird shapes.

Five detached chain stitches will form the petals of the flower. (I don’t use any pattern, I just eyeball where I want things to go. If you did want to mark your fabric you could use a very soft lead pencil (like a 6B) or disappearing ink pen but marking on felt can be tricky due to the texture.)

To start the detached chain stitch, bring your needle to the front. Then very close to that bring your needle to the back making sure to leave a loop of thread on the front side of the felt. Hold that loop down with your thumb and bring the needle back up through to the front again above and centered. To anchor the loop down you’ll make one very small stitch.

That is one completed detached chain stitch. Repeat this four more times around to create the flower petals.

Now take a different colored floss (I’ve chosen blue) and make satin stitches in the center of the petals to create the flower center. Bring your needle to the front and then to the back directly across from that. Then bring your needle back up to the front directly below where your first stitch began and then to the back again directly below where your first stitch ended. You’ll keep repeating this until you have enough stitches to fill in the center of your flower.

Using the same color floss outline the flower using back stitch. Pick a starting point along the flower and bring your needle to the front and then to the back making one small stitch. Bring your needled to the front again about one stitch length away, following along the line of the flower. When you bring your needle to the back do so in the same hole as where the first stitch ends.

Once you have that completed it’s time to join the two pieces of felt. Start with your thread sandwiched between the two pieces and bring your needle to the front. Then loop the thread over and bring your needled through BOTH pieces. Once the needle has reemerged at the front bring the needle underneath your original stitch and give a gentle tug. Loop the thread around to the back of the second piece and keep repeating until you’ve made your way around the bird.

Once you are close to finished fill your bird with polyfil, old fabric scraps, or whatever else you please.

Continue with the blanket stitches until you get to the end. For the very last stitch rather than inserting your needle through the back you’ll bring the needle to the front and put it under the very first stitch you made. Bring the needle up and to the back one last time to complete.

Use extra embroidery floss (or ribbon) and sew into stitches to create a loop for hanging.

To learn more about Alison and her crafts visit Alisontauber.com.

-Taniesha Robinson

Vine-ripe tomatoes are not only delectable; they’re decorative. Author and Westchester, N.Y.-based lifestyle expert Colleen Mullaney shows you how to create a ripe and respected work of art for an intimate outdoor gathering this summer.

Materials:

40 cherry tomatoes

1 large green cabbage

12” topiary form

6” clay pot and saucer

green moss

raffia

hot-glue gun and glue sticks

How to:
1. Cut bottom of topiary form to fit pot. Glue to secure. Cover foam at top of pot with moss and glue in place. Start gluing tomatoes to form, placing them close together, alternating with top and bottoms showing. Continue until form is completely covered.

2. Using the points of a pair of scissors, fill in small gaps between tomatoes with moss. Glue in place.

3. Cut large cabbage leaves and place on sides of pot. Trim bottoms of leaves so tops just graze rim of clay pot. Fold bottoms under pot and glue leaves in place.

4. To finish, wrap several strands of raffia around pot and tie knot.

To make votives:

1. Cut smaller leaves from cabbage head.

2. Wrap around votive, trimming bottoms so that tops leaves graze rims of votives. Fold bottoms under votive and glue in place.

3. To finish, wrap several strands of raffia around votive and tie knot.

Tip: Other possible fruits and vegetables for topiary (all with the same round shape) are lemons, limes, small peaches and apples or any large berry.

Mullaney is the author of several crafts books, including Crafting On the Go: Shells, Crafting On the Go: Felt, Faux Fabulous Florals (Sixth&Spring Books) and One-of-a-Kind Weddings (Creative Publishing). Check out her blog!

-Taniesha Robinson

Photo by e-magic on Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Wouldn’t you love to call an expert in home improvement or remodeling projects free at anytime during your DIY endeavors for advice? Remember this number: 1-888-MONEYPIT. Dialing this toll free number at anytime to get your questions answered by how-to gurus Tom Kraeutler and Leslie Segrete. On their podcast radio show, this former home inspector and carpenter take calls from listeners all over the U.S. advising them on home improvement projects from roofing to flooring. You can even submit questions online at MoneyPit.com if you’re shy about picking up the phone. To get DIY tips at anytime, subscribe to their podcast on ITunes for free.

Kraeutler and Segrete aren’t the only ones streaming DIY tips at ITunes. The digital media player features an entire DIY section of free podcasts with video and audio streams full of step-by-step instructional guides, tips and ideas for décor and repairs. To subscribe to a free podcast visit the ITunes store. You’re sure to learn something new from One Minute How-To.com and Make magazine’s DIY technology projects. At the least, you’ll be entertained for a few minutes.

-Taniesha Robinson

Photo by boliston on Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Sure air conditioners get the job of cooling your home done, but it’s at the expensive price of carbon emission. Here are three energy-efficient home-cooling technologies you didn’t know about.

1. Absorption cooling
If you have a large residential home, absorption cooling may be for you. The cooling technique is essentially air conditioning driven by a heat source other than electricity i.e. natural gas, propane, solar-heated water, geothermal-heated water. Solar absorption cooling technologies can cut costs for cooling your home. However, most absorption cooling systems use natural gas and are more expensive to operate. Yet, the peace of mind you’ll receive from using renewable energy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions may be worth it.

2. Evaporative Cooling
For homes located in low-humidity areas, evaporative coolers can provide cheaper and energy-efficient cooling. They cost about one-half as much as central air-conditioning units to install and use about one-quarter as much energy. Coolers pass outdoor air over water-saturated pads, cooling the air with evaporated water and providing a continual flow of fresh air in the home. Although, they’re more efficient than air conditioners, they require more maintenance. You’ll save yourself more work and money, however, by draining and cleaning the cooler regularly.

3. Whole House Fan
For homes in humid areas where temperatures aren’t reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit every day, whole house fans are a great substitute for air conditioning. The fans pull in air from open windows and exhaust it through the attic. They can be noisy when ran at high speeds. It is possible to use heating and air-conditioning ducts to ventilate your entire home, also. You should check with a professional to see if this is a good option for cooling your home.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy

- Taniesha Robinson

Photo by karenwithak. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Have you ever marveled at perfectly creased napkins presented on dinner tables at fancy restaurants? Create those fancy folds for your table at home. Here are a few simple ideas to get you started.

Candle napkin fold

This napkin fold mimics a pillar candle. To get the look fold a square napkin - cloth works best - in half diagonally and fold the long side of the triangle up an inch and flatten. Tightly roll either end until the napkin becomes a cylinder and tuck the end into the base.

French napkin fold

What’s fancier than French? Fold a napkin in half diagonally and turn the fold vertical. Fold the far corner down diagonally to the right. Fold the farthest right corner toward you, pivoting at the same place as the last fold.

Find step-by-step photo guides to these napkin folds and others at www.napkinfoldingguide.com.

–Taniesha Robinson

See something wrong in the picture below?

Photo by mroczknj. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Some DIY projects just shouldn’t be. Check out Thereifixedit.com for more examples.

-Taniesha Robinson

Learn how to twist a lemon peel or fire up an orange for the perfect summer drink garnish.

Photo by Divine in the Daily. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Visit http://how2heroes.com/videos/beverages/citrus-garnishes for a video how-to. It features a detailed guide to get a perfectly curled peel and an easy way to do multiple twists at once. Dress up all the drinks at a summer get-together or make yourself smile at home.

-Taniesha Robinson

Sun catchers make great summer window treatments and fun crafts for kids that you won’t mind displaying in your home. You can get elaborate with this craft using stain glass or adding chimes, but for an easier way to catch the sun, grab a few CDs and string. Use a few old CDs that skip on your favorite parts – it’s time to upgrade to digital MP3s anyway – or find some in your junk mail.

The sleek shine and circular design of CDs provide a luminous, modern finishing touch to your window. Also, because they’re reflective, they’ll complement any room’s color scheme. You can even add a little paint for accents to further match the space. Here’s a link to a step-by-step guide for making a CD sun catcher from eHow.com.

Photo by Eternal*Voyageur. Licensed under Creative Commons.

A recycled-CD sun catcher is a great green design idea for any window at home, but for methods on creating sun catchers visit http://crafts.kaboose.com/how-to-make-suncatchers.html and http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/stainedglasssu_saih.htm

- Taniesha Robinson