Hello! You are reading pearls of wisdom and rick-rackery by run-on sentence maker Sarah Neuburger who runs this online shop called The Small Object. The Steno Pad is the blog for The Small Object and is essentially a great word for an otherwise very guttural word. You are welcome to use photos on your blog/website if you credit and link back to The Small Object and you don't have to ask first. I also try to answer all questions back at the original post. Read even more about this steno pad here. Below are links to embarrassing podcasts and answers to things you might now be thinking.
Sharing is good. Here are a few things you can download and print out as often as you like until your heart's content and you never have to pay me a dime. Seriously, it's all free. Just scroll down on the link below to find the one you want.
These are the things you folks seemed to really get a kick out of making and doing. For all you folks who are just joining us, here's the best of what you missed in the step-by-step and holiday category. Hop on board!
The fall craft shows are here! Which means that soon after the holiday craft shows start. Holy cow! Craft shows are awesome and are the perfect places to find tons of amazing wares by tons of talented folks. I think you should come. Save on shipping by hauling it off yourself. So far, the agenda this fall includes the following shows. We're practically neighbors now, you gotta come.
People can say very nice things about us and it makes me most happy. Sometimes, they even include us in their books. You can view the list of all the major mentions (click here), cause that makes me even happier. :) The list includes links to download Adobe pdf versions of the articles. You can also find most of the online mentions by searching for "press" (click here). I try to make it comprehensive but frankly, sometimes I miss a mention or two, or three or four. Who knows. I try.
I’m feeling a little disconnected this week with lots of projects going on so here’s a bit of this and that since I don’t feel capable of getting together one cohesive post on one single subject.
Headless Horsemen
Exciting news for Fred Flare! They are opening a brick + mortar store at 131 Meserole Avenue in Greenpoint, Booklyn so I’ve been busting my gut to make a bunch of custom hangers for them.
How great do they look in the shop! This photo is from their first photo shoot.
Sky Flakes + Feta
Cheese and crackers are a delicious snack, no doubt. But my favorite cracker of all-time are Sky Flakes. You can find them locally at Nam-Chau Oriental Food Market which is at 5817 Waters at about the corner of DeRenne. I take some feta, crumble it and mix in a tablespoon of your favorite italian dressing and mix. I mix up a bowl of it and keep it in the fridge so it’s ready to put a little on a Sky Flake and eat!
Printer sharing between a PC and a Mac
We have both a PC and a Mac in this household and we have one printer connected to the PC. (Actually, we have two printers connected to the PC but after a paper jam one doesn’t work, only the scanner part works, and one just prints. Thrilled.) And it’s been a big pain to have to carry the Mac over to the printer, disconnect the USB and plug it in. And after the brilliant idea to get an Airport Extreme (which a family member had to give us unbelievably) to share the printer on the network, it was discovered that the Airport Extreme does not support our printer. Double thrilled. What worked? This tutorial. We now share a printer connected to a PC with a Mac. (After trying out this easier option, which did not work.) We did have to download Gutenprint for our print driver but it was super easy. I don’t understand everything about CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) nor do I know precisely why this works but I can only thank the shiny stars that it went seamlessly and actually does work. Plus, it only took a few hours. Awesome.
The No Shampoo = Mop Shampoo We stopped the no shampoo bit after about 7 weeks of it. As much as I wanted this to happen, our water in this house is extremely hard so my hair beame extremely dry and brittle and I was never able to balance it out. The vinegar rinse would help but not enough. After that, we tried castille soap and eventually, at my wits end, I decided to try a new option: a sulfate-free shampoo. The shampoo is the Mop c-system hydrating shampoo, and while pricey at $12-15/bottle, it works awesome for me. I don’t even need to condition every time I shampoo anymore.
After reading around as to why you would want to consider a no shampoo alternative, I found there were two reasons why I wanted to try it. First, for the past year the commercial shampoos I had been using (with this new hard water) were drying my hair out immensely and then the second major factor were the chemicals, and namely, the sulfates found in them. Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) are detergents and surfactants that give you the foam and bubbles that make you think you’re getting it clean. (There is also much discussion as to what level of a health risk they pose so do an internet search to decide for yourself before freaking out over the shampoo in your shower.) But what I really like most about the Mop shampoo is it works! And after using it for 8 weeks, it still works. (I would typically have to rotate shampoo/conditioners as they started to build up in my hair.) My hair feels the best it has since moving here and is finally no longer dry or oily. Awesome.
Google Alerts
This is probably old news to most of you, but I still love having these daily emails come to my inbox. Sign up for alerts on new search results of any phrase or website address of your choice. Basically, this means you can find out when someone posts/blogs/links to you, your shop or your store name. Catches stuff I don’t even notice on my web statistics tally.
Grapefruit in a Jar
We love grapefruit but it’s a whole lot easier to eat in the morning and as a snack when it’s peeled and ready to eat. I buy a few grapefruits and spend about 15 minutes peeling and cutting them up just once. Stick them all in a jar and the juices keep them moist and ready for eating.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
We tried the supposed be-all-end-all Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from the New York Times after their quest for the perfect cookie. They were good, I wasn’t blown away but they were very good. Just not quite the transcendental experience I imaginged I might have. But, I confess, chocolate chip cookies aren’t my favorite. But no doubt, this is a good solid cookie.
Dutch Country Soft Pretzels
My sister gave us a bag of this soft pretzel mix (also available in whole wheat) since soft pretzels are my most favorite. (She picked it up at Willams-Sonoma but it’s cheaper to buy direct through them online.) And after trying out the two other recipes, I dare say these are even better! They are a bit sweet but not too sweet and are soft and delicious. The dough mixed up super easy and wasn’t too sticky and they rolled out perfectly. I think they might just be worth buying the mix for these.
I’ve been looking for a brownie recipe that I really liked. And I’m not super into the brownies disguised as fudge or the ones that are so sweet you need to down a drink to rinse out your mouth. I found this recipe from the October 2003 edition of Gourmet online here and was very happy with it.
I promptly copied the recipe down with the new recipe stamps.
You can view it larger here. I liked this recipe because it was all done mixing by hand which is wonderful. And you melted the butter + chocolate together the mixed with the sugar and eggs so I feel like you got a really nice crust on top. (I even melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave! The audacity–but it was so nice to only have to clean up two bowls.)
This weekend, I realized that craft shows are coming around again and that Renegade in Chicago is two weekends away! I’m going totally insane this time and driving the 14+ hours to Chicago by myself this time. I may never do it again. I figure I’ll give myself enough time that if I need to stop I will. I can do the New York drive of 12+ hours without any trouble, it’s just the mountains in the drive from Savannah to Chicago that kill me. I need to try and find a new route. This means when I was making a couple commissioned wedding toppers this weekend, I also made a few more for the shop. And really so I had a nice mix to take to Renegade. And then two weeks after that to Crafty Bastards in D.C.
Since craft shows are back and holidays are coming and wholesale orders get crazy, custom wedding pieces will only be available after September 10th as my schedule allows. (I’m not entirely sure how many that will be so if you need one before December, send me an email and I’ll start a waiting list.) But I did have this idea for a maypole/merry go round Everyday Cake that I finished up this weekend, too and I think it’s the sweetest! Reminds me of skipping around the blacktop.
When we were at the beach this year, my nephew made this drawing of himself singing. I flipped my lid and tried to keep my cool when he showed it to me hoping he had made this drawing for me. Though I didn’t want to let on since it could have easily been for Nana or Poppa or even his other Aunt. But no, he handed it to me and I went through the roof. I was so stoked.
It is hands down one of my absolute favorites he has made at this size. I needed to turn it into a pillow. I had made a drawing my niece made into a pillow for my sister and then an even earlier drawing of hers that was of her and her dad into a pillowcase so he was due for a pillow. But this one is a bit different since it isn’t just a line drawing.
So far so good! To enlarge and transfer the design, I took the drawing to my local copy shop and enlarged it in four sections until I had it about the size of the pillow form I was going to use. I taped the section togethers and hung it on the window so I could trace it on the fabric using a disappearing ink. Hanging it on the window is like a lightbox for free. The disappearing ink is totally fun cause then I have to work fast on the embroidery work since the ink is fading away. Of course, you could use a light pencil or water soluble fabric ink so you didn’t have the threat of invisibility working against you.
I decided to embroider using a chain stitch for the lines. The eyes are a satin stitch as will be the musical notes.
For the color fields, I decided to applique them on using a zigzag stitch. Then I used a light interfacing on the back of the heavyweight wonder under before stitching down. The shirt and arm sleeves have this great block pattern which I piece together like a quilt square.
Given the amount of rain we are getting, I’m thinking one more day of this weather and we’ll be done with the front at least. he’ll be absolutely beside himself when he sees this done.
I have always wanted to make a pinch pouch and I finally did. Here is an illustrated tutorial on how I made my pouch using a flexible pinch frame. (Though here is another tutorial for how to sew a pouch using this kind of frame.) They are easy enough to make though maybe not as a first project kind of easy.
Essentially, to make this pinch pouch, you sew up the bottom part so it is the width of the frame you are using. Then you add on a front casing, and back casing so the frame slips through it at either end. It’s a bit like making an elastic channel but with two openings, on both sides of the pouch. My frame was 4.5″ wide so I was still able to sew the casing using my machine but any smaller and it would needed to be hand sewn.
I have made a few of these now and they work better when the fabric “channel” that that frame itself slips into is not too thick. In the pouch above, there is only one layer of quilting cotton and the pouch itself was not quilted with batting so it worked great. I found what worked best was using a lightweight interfacing rather than batting between my two cotton fabrics. When the purse or the channel was too bulky the frame did not close as nicely. This pouch is super fantastic and I’ve been using it for pencils, scissors–you name it. I’m digging on the pinch purse frame idea.
Here is the image of the directions that come with the frame so you can see how they work. The frame I used measures 4.5″ wide.
I bought my frames from alittlegoodness’ Etsy shop and she has another set here. I have also found some suppliers in the U.S. that carry them though I have not personally bought from them and they all seem a bit smaller.
Persnickety Patterns carries a 2.5″ frame and a 3.5″ frame here. (scroll down)
Ah Kwok Buckles carries larger quantities of the 3.5″ frames here in case you get carried away though they are based in Hong Kong. (They also sell them through Ebay here.)
Fabrics used are a cotton/linen blend from namolio’s Etsy shop pictured here and a vintage thrifted piece pictured here.
I have the new stamps in the shop! This update includes the new fill-in-the-blank stamps just in time for Back to School day planning and to do list organizing. I’m so into them.
I spent the weekend mounting them and now I can’t wait to get started using them. Here are the links busy people…
