Showing posts with label tutorials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tutorials. Show all posts

July 15, 2009

Recycled Cardboard Cat Scratcher


Design*Sponge has a great tutorial on creating a cute round scratching pad for you cat out of recycled cardboard. I saw this when it was first published, and I immediately made one out of all the cardboard boxes I had laying around from the glassware we purchase.

Rupert loved it right away, but it was a lot of work to cut down some of the box parts to all be the same height. Also, I used duct tape, which just didn't stick to the cardboard very well.

Pint glasses come in a case of 24, and have these great dividers between them inside the box. After the first scratching pad project, I decided to save all the dividers to make a new one, which wouldn't require any cutting since all the pieces would start out the same height. I also used wide masking tape this time, which worked perfectly!

The d*s tutorial tells you to wrap the finished scratcher with decorative paper, but I'm just not fancy enough to have decorative paper laying around my house. I suppose I might have some holiday wrapping paper in a closet somewhere, but that just isn't my thing. Rupert gets the rustic look, and he seems to like it just fine.

This is a great afternoon project, and an inventive way to recycle some cardboard. Try it yourself!

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May 5, 2009

Getting Press for Your Online Business

I taught a little workshop last week on how to get press for your online shop by writing press releases. There was a lot of interest in the contents of this workshop from people who couldn't attend in person, since most people don't know how to contact media people with a modern press release.

I decided that instead of passing around the two pages of class notes that I had, I would turn them into a much longer document. This document will become a much more comprehensive ebook that I'll sell for less than $10 as a PDF file.

I thought I could get this put together in a day or two after the workshop (since I started out with about 7 pages of material!), but it's taking longer to flesh out all the ideas and add graphics. After I get it all together, I'll also need some friends to proof-read it for me before it's sale-worthy. I've already got some friends lined up to do my final editing, and I'll keep you all up to date on the status of the ebook as it gets closer to publication.

Once it's finished, I'm going to be giving away two copies for free! There will be instructions for entering the giveaway here on the blog, and also through Twitter. There's also a new widget on the sidebar you may have noticed, which publishes my Twitter feed here as well. Check back to get the rules for entry. If you have an online business, you'll definitely want to learn how to get free publicity for it!

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April 28, 2009

How-Tuesday: Brew Beer!


I like to brew my own mead, since it's so simple and yummy. Sean prefers to brew beer, which is also yummy! He finally got around to crafting up his first batch since we moved to Portland a year ago, and he decided to document the process! We put all the photos up on Flickr to create a little "How-to" series. Hopefully, this will make homebrewing a little less intimidating to those of you who've been wanting to make your own, or who just wondered how it's done.

You really don't need very much in the way of special equipment to make your first batch of beer, and the best part is that most recipes are ready to drink in 2 weeks! That's 5 whole gallons (or, about 54 standard 12oz bottles) of fresh, alcoholic goodness that you can make just how you like it.

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/breadnbadger/sets/72157617443894760/]

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November 6, 2008

Sandblasting: Day One


Newsflash: my husband, Sean, is now the first full-time employee of Bread and Badger (besides myself), and he's been helping me make our new sandblasting gear operational. Today was our first day of blasting (ever!!), and we had some great results!

We'll be switching over to mostly sandblasted products from now on, with hand-engraving options for one-of-a-kind pieces. There's a lot to do before the transition is complete, but we're working lots of overtime to make it happen.

Check out my Flickr photo set of the day's activities to see more of what went down. It was exciting!

On a side note, I got paid by Urban Outfitters today, so my glasses will be appearing in their stores very soon, if they haven't made it there already. Let me know if you spot them first!

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November 5, 2008

Rick Rolling with Cakes

Holy bejeebus! I just discovered a new way to Rick Roll someone: with a cake! This website has a small gallery with instructions for achieving the feat.

Basically, you decorate a cake with Rick Roll on it. Then, you take a round box (just larger than your real cake) and decorate that to look completely unassuming. After your victim blows out the candles on the fake cake, you get to Rick Roll them by removing the box! How awesome is that?!?

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August 25, 2008

Waste Not, Want Not

I just can't get over the crazy things you can make out of animal parts. I had no idea that you could make a doorbell (or "doe-bell", haha!) out of a deer butt, let alone alien faces. Check out this redneck art website for some useful "Redneck Factoids" and craft tips such as:

Deer butt alien head aficionado's recommend that you start with a fresh deer carcass, and this always makes it more fun and educational for the kids because they can share the joy of disemboweling Bambi, they get a lesson in anatomy and taxidermy, and they have the thrill of creating a one-of-a-kind work of art.
If you'd like to make your own deer butt alien head with your own real no-longer-alive deer butt, remember to "tie off the anus with a piece of string" lest your "treasure" becomes soiled with "deer doo-doo". Seriously. That would ruin your alien face.

If you're not feeling up to this extreme craft, you can purchase your own deer butt doorbell here, from the awesome full-time redneck, Travis Carter.

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July 18, 2008

Glass Etching Tutorial


I took some pictures while I made a batch of moustache pieces the other day, and created a tutorial on Flickr! If you've been wondering what my set-up looks like, and how I do my etching with a drill, then you should check it out.

These will be debuting as pins and magnets at the Summer Arts & Crafts Market this Saturday! Come see me (and other PDX Etsy members) at the south park blocks Farmer's Market.

(Sorry about all the watermarks, but I wanted to discourage anyone from stealing my photos without giving me credit.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/breadnbadger/sets/72157606207001058/

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