In Focus: How to use "Furoshiki" [MOE]

No Sew Purse! - Meet Furoshiki Hi there friends! I can't wait to show you what I've recently learned. Have you heard of Furoshiki? I hadn't until a week a go, and I'm in love. Furoshiki is a Japanese technique, like origami, but for fabric! Isn't that cute? What you'll need: - any square piece of fabric (yes, it must be a square) Mine is 1.25 yards -Flower for embellishment Here we go: Step 1: Lay down your fabric with right side facing up. Step 2: Fold it into a triangle, wrong side out. Step 3: Take the right hand corner, and bring it up to meet the center of your triangle, bunch it together to make a roll. Step 4: Tie a knot at the base. Step 5: Do the same to the left side. Step 6: Take the top of your triangle and open it up. Step 7: Flip the whole thing over, wrong side up. Step 8: Tuck your knots and straps into the middle. Step 9: Pick up both ends and put them together, your knots are inside now. Step 10: Turn the bag over so the knots become front and back of your purse. I added a flower to mine, just for some fun.

36 Green Gift Wrapping Ideas Wise Bread Picks Most wrapping paper hits the trash or recycle bin as soon as the gifts are opened. But, you can avoid throwing your hard earned dollars along with the wrapping paper in the trash this holiday season by using a few clever alternatives. Here are several ways to save on holiday gift wrap, while still making your gifts look great. (See also: Reusable Gift Wrapping Ideas) 1. Why not make the wrapping part of the gift by using a decorative dish towel? 2. Rolls of brown postage paper can be used to make some decorative holiday gift wrap for a lot less than a regular roll of wrapping paper. 3. These days, dollar stores have a host of gift bags and decent quality wraps, and it's hard to tell that some of these items only cost a buck. 4. You can upcycle medium and large-sized glass jars, or buy some cheap mason jars to gift all sorts of items. 5. Only Martha Stewart could come up with potato-chip bag gift wrap, which is not only clever and festive, but eco-friendly. 6. 7. 8. 9.

{macramé: half knot spiral} washer & wingnut bracelet By Kate on October 25, 2011 Hello there! I finally got around to posting after a hectic few weeks. I’ve been working on a big project which is all done and dusted now so I will be making more frequent updates between now and Christmas…phew! I’m hoping to post another Halloween craft in the next day or so. It’s comprised of a’half knot spiral’ (and is even easier than the square knot bracelet I showed you previously). A few people left comments about the last bracelet saying it looked like it may take too long to make. By the way thanks to all you lovely people who ‘liked’ my facebook page. Full tutorial after the jump! How-to Please note: I have used different colored cord in the tutorial so that it’s easier for you to figure out whats going on! 1. 2. 3. Note: You fasten this bracelet as you would a friendship bracelet.

How To Clean Your House in 20 Minutes a Day for 30 Days | Apartment Therapy Chicago When I first learned to clean my own place, I thought Saturday had to be an all day clean-a-thon. I didn't really have a concept of how to balance the work load during the week so weekends could be reserved for larger projects or even you know…fun! Now I clean in 20 minutes a day — every day — and things just seem to take care of themselves. No one said you had to do everything at once and even when time seems short, if you can manage one task a day, things should start to work themselves out. 1) Dealing With What Comes Through The Door Set up a small area by the front door to act as a "landing strip" for incoming items to your home. 2) Do Your Dishes After Every Meal This will help you stay on top of your kitchen instead of having it turn into a monster! 3) Laundry If you have a washer and dryer at home, do a little bit each day. 5) Set a Timer Most items on the list below should take no more than 20 minutes total. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

Mommy Cooks: Furoshiki I've been doing a lot of crafts lately, especially fabric-related things, it seems -- don't worry, we're still eating. I've been in a bit of a slump, cooking-wise, it seems, and anyway the weather has been so dreary for the past few weeks that photographing it would be next-to-impossible. ("No, honey, you can't eat it yet. I'm waiting for the sun to come out.") This morning I made a furoshiki, the Japanese cloth wrap originally used to carry bundles, tie up clothes, and whatnot, now used mainly as a way to wrap gifts. This fabric is a beautiful dahlia print by Kaffe Fassett called "Floating Flowers". The furoshiki can be made in pretty much any size to suit the particular gift, although different folding methods can be used to adapt a large cloth to a small package. Furoshiki (Wrapping Cloth) 1 yard of fabric, for a cloth approximately 35 inches square Launder and press the fabric according to the manufacturer's instructions. Fold the edges under 1/4 inch to the wrong side, and press.

Cheese Straws Recipe at Epicurious photo by Ditte Isager yield Makes about 2 dozen hors d'oeuvres active time 20 min total time 1 hr (includes cooling) Don't let the delicate look of these hors d'oeuvres fool you. A touch of cayenne gives them a hint of heat that makes them a tasty accompaniment to a pre-dinner cocktail—or even a cold beer. Preparation Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Pulse cheese, flour, butter, salt, and cayenne in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12- by 10-inch rectangle (1/8 inch thick). Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes. What to drink: Haggipavlu Nemea '04 Cooks' note: Cheese straws can be made 2 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

10 Affordable DIY Modern Wall Art Projects! & Curbly | DIY Design Community & Keywords: DIY, Craft, art, wall art Bare walls are the pits. Liven those bad boys up with some affordable modern art -- that you made yourself! Here are ten of our favorite DIY wall art projects to make this week. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Happy art-making! Tagged : Craft, art, wall art, decor, decorating, Inspiration, Roundup, curbly original, DIY Posie Gets Cozy Make your own Halloween spider web decoration for your home! | my untangled life My neighbors and friends keep stopping by to ask about our new pet…Charlotte. To be honest, I sort of winged the construction of this web when I started it on my porch last weekend. The whole time I was thinking, I should be taking pictures because I might want to blog about this…but I wasn’t even sure how it would turn out. Well, needless to say, we all LOVE her! And needless to say, I didn’t take any “how to” pics. Which really worked out for my friend, since her daughter begged her to make one at their house too. So here’s what you need. STEP 1: String one length of rope vertically, tying knots at both ends. Before you tie the knots, you’ll need to burn the rope once it’s cut to prevent fraying! STEP 2: Tie another length of rope horizontally tying a knot at the center point. STEP 3: With the remaining rope, tie another knot in the center and begin to tie tight knots as you circle around the horizontal and vertical ropes. STEP 4: Keep going and going and going! What’s happening?

Mythical Creatures List, Mythical Creatures A-Z - StumbleUpon not martha Edible Gifts for the Holidays - We're counting them down! | my untangled life One of the things I like to do for Christmas is to make treats for people as gifts. It started in part as necessity while I was in grad school–I couldn’t afford to give gifts to everyone I wanted to, but I could make treats. I’ve always made our traditional family Christmas cookies, but then started to want to give different kinds too. In some ways, I have been a victim of my own success. Now people are hoping for my baked goods each year. There are so many fun ways to package these as gifts. Happy Holidays from my kitchen (and Emma cat)! Nuts Both the Union Square Bar Nuts and the Cinnamon Toast Pecans are favorites. Union Square Bar NutsSugar and Spice Candied Nuts Cinnamon Toast Pecans Savory Treats My Mom used to make Chex Mix for my Grandfather for the holidays. Holiday Snack Mix Gruyere and Hazelnut Crackers Candy The Winter Bark has been a big hit when I’ve made it. Winter BarkSuper Crunchy Chocolate Peppermint Bark Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix with Mini Marshmallows Pumpkin Granola