Adventures in DIY

Today I had a 3 hour shift filling in at Capitol Hill. I took it as an excuse for an adventure and I took the bus and got to the Hill about an hour before the shift started. I wandered down Broadway from Olive to Mercer. A lot has changed since I lived in the 'hood about 4 years ago. New buildings have gone up, businesses have moved or been replaced, but the people are the same and so are many other things. I stopped in at Crossroads, Urban Outfitters and QFC, then made my way upstairs in the Broadway Market to check on whether the photo booth is still there. Score! It is and it has color photos. Oddly enough, it only takes credit cards, but that is ok too.

Which comes to my big plan for holiday cards. I wanted to do this last year, but couldn't get the boys to take me seriously and we ran out of time. This year, I am just dragging them to do it--and I already got them both to agree. What they don't know is that I intend to take them to Hana for sushi afterwards. Of course, that is as much a treat for me as it is for them.

Oh yeah, so the holiday cards. I want all three of us to cram into a photo booth and take 3 silly pictures and one "serious" or "normal" one. Then I want to scan these 4 pictures in to the computer in a square. Either I will get them printed at Costco or on my own printer, which doesn't do a bad job if I have the right paper, and put them on some cards I am making. I will be sure to post photo's when I am done.

I have been doing some crafting lately, making notepads for xmas presents. I took a book binding class at the Zine Unconference back in March, and I was pleasantly surprised that I remembered how to do it. I even modified it a bit to work with a wrap around cover.

The blue cover is one that I made in the class. I made the two smaller ones today. My tools are behind them--I never knew how useful an awl was before I bought this one. It has really made my life easy in a lot of ways. And I love this paper cutter. I got it for less than $30 at Costco a while back. It has a blunt edge cutter on the right and a wheel cutter on the left. The blunt cutter is better than the "real" paper cutter we have at work. I hope it lasts.

I have also been experimenting with simple screen printing, using an embroidery hoop, some fine mesh curtain fabric and acrylic paint. It is definitely possible, but I need to find the right kind of paper to use for the stencils. Newsprint get ink on the paper and bleeds, and paper bag is too thick. Maybe magazine paper...

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The reward for my Broadway adventure? A hecka lot of rain and a bus that just never came on the way home. I was soaked. But it was totally worth it.