Heather Eddy Art

It's been very gray here in Bako for the past several days. We didn't let that get us down this weekend as we decided to go to the river together as a family and shoot things with beebee guns. Actually, the boys shot things. I looked for rocks. Did I spell beebee right? The river was really low and quiet. It wasn't that rushing torrential flood that we had most of the summer and was a welcome sight. I always get worried about losing my kids to the waters. This time the rocks were so far out of the water that we could nearly walk across in some spots. Still, with it cloudy, you never know if a sudden rain is going to change everything and kill your entire family in the process. Yes, I think thoughts like that. I found the neatest looking rocks. At first I thought it was a white-spotted red sock, but then I noticed that all the rocks had those polka dots on them. The granite is just really weird in this part of the river. I'll take pictures of the polka-dotted rocks

Here's a teaser look at next month's freebie tutorial... :)

Using the same shapes I wrote about in yesterday's tutorial , you can also make these brooches. I used about 21 circles for these brooches. Fold them all up into the single basic shape. I received an email from a friend today and she said it is called a preliminary base. I am taking her word for it because she is much more learned than I when it comes to origami. I don't know the words, I just fold.  Holding one shape closed, put a bead of hot glue along one folded edge. Put a second shape on top of the first one. Then glue the rest in the same manner.  After you've glued as many together as you like - I did 21 for the pink buttoned one - glue the ends together to make a hemisphere.  I have a badge maker that I bought last year to make badges for my Etsy shop (a goal for 2012?). Using that, I covered several badges with kraft paper and glued the hemisphere to the badge. Then I glued a button that matched the paper to cover the hole. A word of caution:

I've been up to many lovely things lately. Since I figured out how to make these paper balls, I've been obsessive about trying all sizes and styles of circles. The other day at the library, I used their large balloon die-cut to make big circles. That's what I used to make that huge paper ball in the above picture. It's about 7 inches (18cm) across and would make a very nice pumpkin-like decoration for a Thanksgiving table or Halloween next year... Here's how you make them: Materials: Paper (I used map paper from an old encyclopedia - it has a feel like glassine) Circle punch (I made several different sizes of circles for different-sized balls) String or ribbon to hang (if desired) Hot glue and glue gun Time: about an hour or so for your first one. Less on all the subsequent ones. The toughest part of this craft is the folding of the circles into the base shape. Once you get it down, it's soothing to make these while listening to a good book on

I am a big fan of bartering. There are times when handmade objects are worth more than money and they feel better when you trade for them. I am making this book for my friend, Julie, in return for the beautiful cake she made me last week for my son. I've learned how to make prettier letters (lower case) that wouldn't be hard to translate into a whole alphabet. Hmmm....

  Look what you can make with a bunch of paper circles while you watch three different Shakespearean plays! I've seen Phiona Richards at Rare Notions use these shapes to make jewelry. After the amount of time and effort it took me to make this ball, I'm leaving the rest of the making up to HER. I see why it's worth buying some things!

Happy November to you all. Here is a tutorial for all you book folders out there for an acorn. I hope you enjoy making it. It was a lot of fun (and hard work) to put it together. Hopefully this will get easier over time! I have to keep relearning things!

  This past weekend, Brian's eldest son turned fourteen. I have been around this kid for nearly seven years and it's been an interesting time. We're still getting to know each other and sometimes don't know what to make of the other. He's sooooo into sports and I could be happier scratching out my eyes than listening to endless rehashes of past sporting events. Still, I wanted him to have a happy birthday. A friend of mine from the library traded me a book for her mom (oops - I need to finish that!!!!) in exchange for the cake. I definitely came out the winner...   Here's the birthday boy in all his silliness. He looks a lot like Brian when he was fourteen. Except for the eyes - he has his mother's eyes. (ooh, how Harry Potter!) Here's the rest of the crew. Kenneth was keeping a steady eye on that cake. He wanted to eat one of the decorations very badly.

Here's a little peek at what is in store for all you book folders in the next few days... I finished folding up the prototype this morning and it turned out better than I'd hoped! Now I just need to fuss the pattern up and it will be ready to post... (December's is in the works, too!) Here's another sample of my crocheted stones. I am trying very hard to allow myself to use the types of rocks we have here in Bakersfield and not seek only for the smooth, flat river stones I've seen others use for this craft. The rocks here are rough and crystalline. They are also mostly browns in color. Isn't it hard to see how you slavishly copy others because that is "the right way to do something" and fail to do it either the way you have at hand or allow yourself to do it the way that is "you"? With that thought I asked myself why I was copying crochet patterns at all - why I was insisting on doing uniform rows or rounds. I prefer asymmetrical and

Don't fret - I haven't forgotten doing a free pattern for folded books this month. I just haven't been able to finish it yet to take a picture to give to you. Puh-ray for the Heather... to get her act together. In other news, I've been taking it easy in the evenings by working on crochet therapy. Here are a couple of lovelies that I've finished. The blue one is going off to a very sweet little girl who keeps taking her momma's rock for now...

October went out of my life very quietly. I was not feeling well for a couple of days and slept as much as I could. Alas! No art was finished! Still, the Eddys celebrated Halloween for the first time in their own neighborhood and we enjoyed watching the parade of trick-or-treaters all evening. Last year we weren't home for some reason and Kiff still didn't understand the concept of it all. The other two kids were a little old for trick-or-treating so we didn't encourage it for them - we'd had a church function where we let them gorge on candy. This year Kiff DID understand all the hoopla. For the last week, he's been asking how many more days until Halloween. He's been learning the days of the week and it's been fun to watch him do the weekday song and add in his own bits. Anyway, here are the Eddys celebrating in the ways they do best: Brian is so uncomfortable in front of the camera. He can't help striking a pose! Brian has a fog machine and