The Best

by Tamara Shopsin, for The Curiosity Shoppe.

New Kitten

She was wandering around my driveway on Dec. 30th, which understandably cold in Athens, Ohio. She a very sweet kitten and has a fantastic wild cat-like face! She's our baby new year.

post-op kittay:

We've just been calling her Kitty because we can't come up with a name we love! Any suggestions?

Crocheted jellyfish

by Jessica Polka of Wunderkammer.

as seen on

The Curiosity Shoppe

Fa-la-la-la-la

Handstitched felt, free embroidery, fabric, & yarn. My mother bought me the tree for $5 at Five Below! (FiveBelow.com) The owl was very simple to whip up - I used a great pattern/tutorial that a user posted to Cut Out + Keep. It's simple and easy to do a whole family of owls at once!

Link to the tutorial!

Happy and safe holidays!

Banksy

The Sewing Republic by Bernina

The Sewing Republic offers downloadable PDF tutorials made by various crafters sought out by Bernina. There is a variety of tutorials, including wine totes, coasters, pillows, pin cushions, and more. Fashion designer Bob Martin is also featured on Sewing Republic. This month I plan to select my favorite tutorials from this website document my process and results. I hope to connect with other D.I.Y.er's in sharing each others documentation. If you would like to be featured on this blog with your results, you can share a link in the comments box, or email your pictures to elaine@aqualungdesign.com

The Sewing Republic

The Fixer's Collective

"Bring us your broken things, and we’ll help you fix them. Or just bring yourself, and help us fix other people’s stuff."

Today I learned about The Fixer's Collective, a group that meets in Brooklyn, NY. Each week, members of the collective meet and fix a variety of broken things. The Fixer's Collective emphasizes DIY culture, and serves as a reaction to the recession and our country's current economic crisis. Reading about this group will lead me to a lot of significant research, which will assist me in the realization of my BFA exhibition this coming June.

"THE FIXERS COLLECTIVE MISSION STATEMENT

The Fixers Collective is a social experiment in improvisational fixing and mending. Our goal is to increase material literacy in our community by fostering an ethic of creative caring toward the objects in our lives. The Fixers Collective seeks to displace cultural patterns that alienate us from our things, by collectively learning the skills and patience necessary to care for them. Intentionally aligning itself with forces generated in reaction to the current economic crisis, the Fixers Collective promotes a counter-ethos that values functionality, simplicity, and ingenuity and that respects age, persistence and adequacy. The Collective also encourages participants to take liberties with designated forms and purposes, resulting in mended objects that may exist both as art and within a more limited, utilitarian context."

- The Fixer's Collective, http://fixerscollective.org