I had a lot of fun putting together a set of embroidery designs this week! I started out with this illustration and decided it would be really fun to do a set of embroidery patterns. They are now available in the Kro Studio shop! I’m looking for printer that will make some high quality prints of the Crafty Buddies series. I think they would be so much fun hung in a sewing studio or just around

And here is a freebie pattern to get you started stitching!

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I used some doll rod scraps from another project to make some charcoal for myself. I haven’t drawn with it yet though, but my test marks seem very nice.

I also used a reject whittled crochet hook too – the funnest piece of charcoal ever!

And then here is some more – skewers and sticks:

I’ll be adding a tutorial on how to make your own charcoal as well as some instructions on drawing with charcoal in the August issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly. It’s going to be a great issue all about drawing – my favorite thing ever!

And speaking of drawing and loving it – I’ll be back tomorrow morning with a drawing daily post. Last week was an insanely irregular waking up schedule and I’m hopeful that I will be back to my regular routine starting tomorrow morning.

Oh and some random good news – I have my first Ames area show of paintings semi scheduled for October! I’ve started stretching canvas and finished gessoing my first. I’m going to work on the under drawing tonight so I’ll have pictures of that in the morning too.

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And in other news, I just rerelased the springy crochet headwrap on Craft Leftovers Today:

Hello there! Don’t I feel fancy. You can check out the post here and download the full pattern for free. There is a $1 suggested donation if you make it and love it.

See you all in the morning! Have a great night!

Kristin

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This is my pattern right here on page 21 (I misspoke earlier when I said page 20); it’s the blue knit/crochet hat.

I’m so proud in fact, that I want to share it with you – I may be proud, but that doesn’t mean I’m selfish – So much so that I’m giving away a free issue and making it really super easy too!

Anyway, so all you have to do is:

Leave a comment On This Post by Friday, January 23rd and donate a bit for postage.

Please make sure to use an email address that you check frequently when you leave your comment.

I’ll post the winner and contact them on Saturday to make arrangements and it will go out in the mail on Monday.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!
++Kristin++

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I often feel like most of the opportunities that I am given are by no effort of my own. For instance, today I received an email that this photo above was shortlisted to be included in the 2009 Chicago Schmap – digital online city guides, I just had to say “yes, that’s okay that you use my photo”.  It’s just kind of fun the way things like that work now because of the internet. The do a flickr search, find our picture, and all of a sudden it’s in a city guide. That wouldn’t have been possible even 15 years ago.

Right now I’m working on my third tutorial for publication, it will be in Craft Vol 11, and all that started when I met Natalie (senior editor of Craft) at the BlogHer conference, which I was invited to speak at because the moderator came across Craft Leftovers and thought I had something to contribute, which I originally started on a whim and now has over 1400 readers – every day! It’s just an amazing road I’ve been riding down these last three years.

Which leads me to my next point – My top secret project from back in June is finally published! Last June I finished up and sent in a hat pattern to Knit Scene that I was contracted for and the issue it is in just came out! You can pick up the latest issue of KnitScene at any local book store or your local yarn shop. My pattern is the blue knit/crochet hat on page 20. And I’m going to give away one issue of the Winter/Spring KnitScene issue, but I’m going to put that in a separate post later today. So check back in the pm for your chance to win a free copy!

See you all later!
Kristin

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Do you see that? That’s like 2 dozen story time media sets! And I picked them all up for free! It was just sitting in this box with a sign “free” on it when I just happened to be walking out of the library! Sweeeeeet!

I thought Jason was going to be ticked that I brought home another box of finds – but to my delight, he is just as excited about it as I am!

The hanging bag, the book for the reader, the film reel, and the cassette tape!

Oh the inspirational fodder!

Now how can I make this digital and put it into a slide show with audio and put it on on a website dedicated to my childhood library story time?

…for each cat thought itself the prettiest…

This is the film strip that they put up while the librarian reads or the tape plays. It is changed manually by pushing a button. Kind of like the turn the page chimes, but this way a whole group of kids could see the pages.

I really want to protect this, maybe put it into slide holders or something like that. Any suggestions?

I haven’t read through this one yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be a classic. Oh Library Story Time – it’s all coming back to me!

I’m really serious about wanting to digitally archive these somehow, any suggestions? What would be a good way to preserve the film? Should I mount them like slides? It’s not like they need the motion of film.

And what about the audio cassette tape? Aren’t digital recorders for cassette tapes kind of pricey. I wonder if I could somehow use one at the university or something. Hmm.

I already have about a million ideas of what I could do with these both as far as the preserved set and a copy set for working into art pieces…. ohhh… I can’t wait.

Speaking of art, I’ve been drawing again. Here are two sketches (on is a paint sketch) last night:

I have to admit, I’ve had a strange obsession with donut shops for a long time. Maybe it came from my childhood desire to eat every donut I could and not being allowed (thank goodness). Maybe it came from the quirkiness of each shop as it’s own little social mecca that I had no idea about until recently. I’m not exactly sure, but I can tell you there will be more donut drawings, paintings and maybe a few patterns to come.

I have a much larger plan, but that won’t be revealed until much later. For now you just get to see all the small pieces.

I’m making an effort to really pick up drawing regularly again. I can’t believe I’m so out of practice. Drawing from life is not the same as drawing from the imagination.

To embarrass myself into getting better, I’ll be posting self portraits regularly. I should be a speedy process because that drawing is really creepy. It looks like I’m missing my top set of dentures, but then I have this huge toothy grin – yikes. Maybe I should go back to studying some skeleton structures first, it’s been too long since I’ve drawn people.

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Ever wonder what it looks like when I’m working on a pattern? Well, when it’s sewn, it’s about like this. The thing is, all these little piles of cloth were pitched when it finally clicked. It’s all kind of working things out visually in cloth and then finally having it make sense. Last night at about 2 am I finally figured out how to do what I wanted to do.

You can guess what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day – working on clm! That’s right that little pile of cloth, sketches, and thread will soon be the project for the center fold in the zine. A little CanHam in a Can, haha.

Oh and an update. I added a “Classes” page to the sidebar where I’ll have all my current and upcoming classes that I’m teaching. So if you live in the central iowa area, make sure to have a look.

See you all later!
Kristin

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I have been buying the majority of my spices and herbs from the bulk bins for quite awhile now. At least a few years actually. I tend to reuse the spice containers that I had on hand from the pre-bulk-bin-buying period in my life. I would just put the little sticker from that I used to label them at the health food store to the jar I filled it with. Well a few week ago it finally hit me, I could weigh the jars I reuse, make the weight on them, and just fill them directly instead of using the bags at the shop and transferring them when I get home.

So I asked about it and they said “yes! of course” and thought “of course yes, duh” and they would even let me use their scale to weigh it, so if you don’t have a scale at home you can do this too.

Oh and depending on where you shop, they will actually give you like a 5 cent discount for bringing in your own jars and containers to use for bulk. Or even if they don’t you are still saving money because the container isn’t getting priced as part of the weight. Like the little plastic containers will actually add like 30 to 50 cents just at the bulk price of the peanut butter you are weighing in it.

I cleaned out my cabinets after getting back from christmas with the folks and sorted out all my spices, here is the Huge-Mess-Neccessary-For-Deep-Cleaning (which I’m happy to say is now completely cleaned up and organized and put away):

So here are my spice jars, pretty silly looking huh? Hi Emeril… Bam!

Where’d Emeril go?

I made these labels to use on the spice jars so I would remember what’s in them and when they were bought. Perfect. I even left a spot where I can mark down the weight.

You can click on this image and download the labels for your own spice jar use – just right click and then “save image as”. You can print them for different sizes by reducing their size when printing. I used 100% for my big jars and 85% for the smaller ones. I’ve been wanting to make these all this past week, so I’m pretty excited to finally get them to you. And the best part, you can totally color them in. I’m going to have fun using some colored pencil to make them all colorful depending on the spice in them. I love coloring book kind of deals.

I’m sure I’ll make more and they will just be posted here on the Kro Studio blog. (I am double posting here and cl today). I actually want to do a bunch of fun label kind of deals – for peanut butter and tea and other things like that. And I want to make some coloring pages that you can print out and color in with a buddy or a kiddo, whichever. I still enjoy coloring so I’m just going to assume you do too, hehe.

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Here are the original illustrations for the spice jars too:

I received my new Wacom pen last night and downloaded a free trial of Corel PainterX – you can get it here, make sure to download the Mac version and not the window’s if you have a mac… cough – it was a lot of fun to play around with. I know that photoshop is kind of the equivilant, but honestly, Painter’s layer’s features suck and Photoshop’s brushes suck and don’t work like painters do.

The main issues I’ve had is loading time in photoshop. Like make a stroke, loading…. make a stroke… loading… you get the idea. It’s not really promoting that spontanous reactionary part of art making.

And the brushes don’t fade and blend as intuatively as Painter’s do. Honestly this could all be a setting issue, but for now, I really prefer Painter for “painting” and photoshop for working in layers, collaging, and altering through filters and etc. I’m hoping after the next month I’ll get more of a handle on both programs.

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Tonight I’m going to try to redo the banner here on the blog, work on getting clm polished up and ready to print – oh which today is the last day to get a full subscription, so make sure to check that out here in the Craft Leftovers Shop. I’m hoping to work in a little bit of playing around with Flash for the Kro Studio’s homepage, but we will see how that goes.

I’ll see you all later!
Kristin

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Country Living recently released a collection of profiles featuring women who have chosen to follow their passion to success. This collection of inspiring stories is called Country Living Crafting a Business: Make Money Doing What You Love by author Kathie Fitzgerald.

The book starts with a wonderful introduction about how the book came together; which leads nicely into the profiles. Each profile talks about where the artist is now, where they hope to be soon, and what led them to realizing their dreams. I really enjoyed that in each profile there is a list of the goals that each woman is currently working towards; whether it is getting a studio outside of their home or raising compassionate children.

It features profiles of:
Amy Butler, owner of Amy Butler Design
Anna Corba, owner of Found Cat Studio (home accessories)
Michelle Joy, owner of Primrose, a floral design and vintage shop
Marilyn Lysohir, owner of Cowgirl Chocolates
Lisa Norris, owner of Made by One Girl (handmade books)
Kate Shifrin Style Consultants Inc., Come Flea with Me
Jane Zaccaria, owner of Tiddlywinks and Scallywags, a child’s clothing store
And many more too.

Each section of the book is followed up with a summary of the different tips that the woman offered up; what they had learned on their journey. There is a nice intro to different aspects of running your own business and a helpful summary of resources bring this inspiring read to a close.

My favorite part of the book was the profile of Kaari Meng of French General. I really liked the way that even though she was successful with the one business, she made the decision to change it to more closely reflect what was important to her. It’s nice to know that just because other’s like what you do and think it’s ‘right’, it doesn’t mean it actually is the ‘right’ thing for you.

Overall it was very encouraging to read and had a nice overview on the technical aspects of running a business.

I think that if you are just getting your feet wet and starting to think about opening shop, this book is just what you need. That’s why I want to pass it on to someone who is thinking about starting their own business! Just leave a comment and email me at kristinmroach@gmail.com. Include in your comment as well as your email the answer to the following question:

-If you could craft your own business, what would you do?

-If you already have your own business, what goals are you working towards?

-If your idea is just so cool and is still top secret, just let me know that you would like this book for some extra encouragement to get you on your way.

Make sure to comment as well as email me your response. Please include your full name and address in your email. You can enter the drawing until 02/16/08 (next saturday) And I’ll announce the winners that same day.

I’m officially on spring break, so I’m going to be taking it “easy” the next few days at least. Well not really easy, more like working on taxes and some other stuff, catching up on things that need to get done.

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Yesterday I did a whole lot of recipe testing for this month’s clm, which is in the shop, btw. And the one (which i’m not talking about because it’s going into the zine was awesome) turned out so perfect and the other, yogurt, was a flop. I think I added the yogurt before the milk was cool enough, so nothing happened. Now I just have some yogurty smelling thick milk, yuck. I feel like it’s making fun of me, so, just to teach that yogurt from scratch who is boss, I’m going to try again today. I’m also going to try to make some egg nog. I really want some and of course you just can’t get the stuff anywhere anymore.

I did get yarn dyed up last week and it turned out really well. I’ll be getting that up into the shop today or tomorrow (depending on reskiening and etc). I have already sold 2 skeins in person and one skein was a birthday present to my friend Jess.

In the mood of getting things done, Craft Leftovers Monthly is in the shop. I really like this month’s cover:

This month is all about the sun coming back home. Even though it is totally snowy outside, I am so happy the sun is shining again. Ahhhh, so nice. I have a bunch of really great stuff set aside for this issue. I was on the ball this past month.

Back to studio practice, I had an interesting revelation about the painting I was working on. It was not something I would have liked to have hanging on my wall. It was too smooth. Too clean. Too proper. So I went about muddying it up a bit.

Here is the starting point:

Flickr is doing something kind of weird, it’s uploading my photos, they are showing up in my photo page, but then when you click on them, they aren’t there. So go here to see all the stages of the painting so far. It was better at this point (from a wip standpoint, not a finished piece), but I wasn’t sure where to take it next. So I set it down for a week. Then, of all days, Thursday I attacked it with furver and it turned out just perfect. I still have more to do (adding in the foreground for one thing), but I got it over that “this doesn’t really look like much” to the “wow, that’s a nice painting (pats self on back)”.

I’ll show you a new progress photo later tonight. I’m going into my studio today. First time since last Thursday. I have two stretcher bars finished, one has canvas stretched and the first coat of gesso on it. I’m all sorts of happy that I get to go in there today and get it finished up and start the next. I think i’ll be able to get the first of the series just about finished today, so I’ll start the second while I’m gessoing the third. I really need to step up the pace. I just got my Senior Show date finalized and it’s in three weeks! Yikes! Two of my friends in the painting program will be in it too, so, thankfully, not all me. But still. I want to get about 9 paintings done. And I want to have quite a few photos too. Plus a found object instillation. I’m going to electroplating found objects, casting them in luminecent beeswax, and making them into objects of art instead of ordinary “stuff”.

The other pictures that you saw on flickr? Well the honey bear is a still life I set up. I’m going to paint it several times using different techniques. The big mess picture? That is my at home fibers studio before I tackled cleaning it up.

I also just finished up this pattern on Monday:

Thanks Jill for the great name idea! Naming and titling my work is always my hardest task. Crazy how that works when it is such a small thing.

Well, I’m going to get back to work.

See you you all later tonight with new wip photos!

++Kristin Roach++

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First off, I wanted to let you know that I decided to go with Etsy for my shop. It’s sooo easy. So its up and you can check it out here: Kristin Roach: Shop.

I’m going to be adding some handmade note cards and other drawings over the next 3 days and then I will update the shop twice a week or more.

The new pattern is up over on Craft Leftovers and I must say, I really like it! It’s to help keep my tea warmer than it is already kept.

I’ve also been updating the Craft Leftovers Shop, so you should check that out too.

Well, I’m going to draw for a bit and then play wii!

++Kristin Roach++

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