Name: Stephanie White (and Alex Svetlovsky)

Location: Ottawa, ON

Title: Blogger at Two Zero One

Website: www.twozeroone.ca

Twitter handle: Blog_TwoZeroOne

How did you get into crafting/DIY?
Ever since I was a child I have been artistic and spent most of my free time working on drawings or craft projects with my family. The passion for expressing my creativity never dwindled. Later I obtained my Bachelor of Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Education and worked as an art and crafts teacher for seven years. After buying my first home, I found Alex and myself were always on Pinterest or planning our next DIY project for my home.

Why did you decide to start your own website?
I created my blog Two Zero One, with my spouse Alex Svetlovsky, as a way to share our passion for DIY projects, which is a something we enjoy doing in our free time.

What’s your favorite part about what you do?
I enjoy the small moments of teaching and interacting with those who read my blog, in particular when people comment expressing how I helped to inspire them to be creative in their own DIY project.

What are some of your favourite craft/DIY websites?
I’m a big fan of couples who blog together such as Sherry and John from Young House Love and these fellow Ottawa DIY blogs: The Sweetest Digs and Dans le Townhouse.

What was your first craft/DIY?
The first DIY project on our blog was our dramatic black and white chevron accent wall with a painted red mirror on our main floor bathroom.

What is your favorite project?
It would have to be a tie between two projects that are next to each other in my living room; our Instagram photo frame with hundreds of photos as it makes a huge impact in my living room, or our hidden 55 inch TV project that uses a curtain and extendable wall mount to completely conceal the TV by giving the illusion we have a larger window.

What is your worst craft/DIY fail?
No huge DIY fails yet since we started our blog, but I’m sure in time there will be some to laugh about and challenge our creativity on how to fix the problem.

Overall words of wisdom?
Don’t be afraid to try a DIY project just because you don’t think you aren’t creative or handy, even if the project doesn’t turn out at first, the process of working of being creative is fun in itself.

Stephanie and Alex made an Instagram photo frame tutorial, that’s a great way to display your memories in your home.

Name: Lauren Leggatt

Location: Vancouver, B.C.

Title: Graphic Designer & Blogger at The Perfect Pear

Website: theperfectpear.squarespace.com

Twitter handle: @ThePerfectPear_

How did you get into crafting?
I’ve been into crafting since as long as I can remember. I was always crafting as a kid, making jewelry, papier-mâché or little houses for my “pet bugs,” being creative and making crafts has always been a big part of my life and it runs through my blood!

Why did you decide to start your own site?
I was inspired to start my own blog after I watched the movie Julie and Julia. I loved the sense of community and connections with people from around the world, that I knew it was something I wanted to do. I dove into the blogging world two months later with my first project, lemon infused ice cubes! I’ve been blogging for a little over three years now and The Perfect Pear is still the place where my love for crafts and do it yourself projects come together.

What’s your favourite part about what you do?
Hearing that I’ve inspired someone to make a craft or to start a blog is one of the most rewarding feelings in the world. Being a blog designer for other bloggers is also so rewarding especially when I’m able to capture my clients personality and unique style to create a design they love.

What are some of the challenges?
As far as blogging goes, the biggest challenge is always coming up with new posts and do-it-yourself projects. I find that it’s so important to stay inspired and motivated by things you love. Another big challenge that I think all bloggers go through every so often is comparing themselves to other “bigger” bloggers without thinking about what goes on behind the scenes, like how many people they have working for them, the time and cost they put into it. It’s easy to start comparing your blogging progress to others!

What are some of your favourite craft/DIY websites?
I have so many but here are a few! Sincerely Kinsey, Oh Happy Day!, Craftgawker, Oh Joy!

What was your first craft?
My first craft I believe was making sea glass jewelry! My mom and I would wrap wire around pieces of sea glass and then add them to necklaces, I even still have a few today!

What was your favourite project?
This is such a hard question, I have so many projects that I love! Two of my favourites are my Drink Swizzle Sticks and making Christmas Gift Tags 3 Ways! They both have really happy memories attached, both full of friends and family!

Overall words of wisdom?
Stay inspired and doing what you love! Don’t be afraid to try new things, new ideas, new projects, even if they don’t turn out so well, you’ll have something to look back on and laugh at. The biggest thing I think a crafter can do is to make the things you love and are inspired by, surround yourself in what you adore and every day will be a creative one!

Check out Lauren’s silver leaf place holders, perfect for a wedding or an elegant dinner party.

I absolutely love decorating with mason jars—my room and work cubicle have a pretty mason jar on every available service. Mason jars have become my decorating staple because they’re so inexpensive. I buy a jar of pasta sauce, wash it out and then let my creative juices flow. Since it’s a cheap craft, I love to experiment with bold colour pairings—I figure if I get sick of the colours, I can just paint another jar.

Pictured above is one of the mason jars I created—in my current favourite colour pairing of turquoise and burgundy. It sits on my desk and is full of all my pens and highlighters. Here’s how to make it.

What you’ll need
-mason jar
-paint in the colour of your choice
-paintbrush
-ribbon in colour/pattern of your choice

Step 1: Wash and clean out a jar of pasta, paying special attention to the top of the jar, which tends to have lots of dried sauce in the ridges.

Step 2: Let the jar dry completely before you begin painting. Paint the outside of the jar—I did three coats, but this can vary depending on what colour you use.

Step 3: Wait an hour for the paint to dry and then go back and fix any spots that need re-touching.

Step 4: Using the ribbon, tie on a bow.

Step 5: Fill the jar with pens, pencils and highlighters. Now enjoy your pretty pencil holder.

What’s your decorating staple? Also check out these adorable mason jar labels, perfect to put on edible Christmas gifts. 

All crafters try to hide the fact that some of their crafts end tragically—we try to focus on the crafts that turn out beautifully. So this week in the craft blog we thought we’d discuss our biggest sewing fails. Mine is a pair of cut-off shorts I made from a pair of jeans.

I’ve never tackled making my own clothing so I was very nervous about this project—even just cutting the legs off my jeans seemed like a scary task. But I successfully did it and then got a little cocky.

I wanted a hippie vibe so I sewed on some patches to the back pockets of the shorts. But apparently in my infinite wisdom I sewed the pockets shut when I put the patches on.

I tried to comfort myself by saying I never used the back pockets anyways, but really I’m just a rookie sewer.

We asked some of our craft bloggers to share their biggest sewing fails. And here are some of our favourite responses.

Melissa Lowry of Milo & Ben

My worst craft fail was a recent attempt to sew. I started a new line of dolls and I wanted to make clothes for them. I was a little rusty when I started but I decided to try anyway. I went and bought the sewing machine and all the fabric and materials. I made my own pattern and through a bunch of trial and error, I finally made it the right size. I printed it, ironed it and pinned it.

When I sewed it together it was the most frustrating experience. The seams were so tiny I couldn’t stitch them properly. The final dress ended up being all crooked and too small! It didn’t fit properly and I had no idea how to make it better.

I had to spend some time researching and looking up doll patterns. I finally found one that would work and modified it to suit my needs. It took about two tries to get the hang of it, it still needs work but it’s getting there!

Andrea Sabean of Artisan in the Woods

When I was first getting into sewing my own clothes I was really excited to sew myself this “simple” summer top.  The pattern was from Ottobre magazine and I painstakingly copied out the pattern pieces in the correct size, added the seam allowances, followed the (minimal) directions and I couldn’t wait to try on my new top!

Alas, the top in the magazine was made from a soft, flowy, fabric and I had used something more like a quilting cotton.  Since there was no shaping to the top, and it was actually long enough to be a dress, I looked a lot like the paper bag princess—only in black.

For a while I tried to convince myself that I could wear it if I tied a bow around the top to give it an empire waist feel, and I think I might have even worn it that way once or twice. But eventually it got relegated to the sewing room closet and last year I cut it up and turned it into something else.

Lauren Leggatt of The Perfect Pair

The biggest one I can think of was when I thought I could just pick up sewing in a day and sew my own shirt. It turned out miserably, I couldn’t even get my head through the neck hole and I accidentally sewed up one of the armholes. It was a mess!

I somehow had the idea that I was good at sewing without even trying it and instead of starting off small I decided to jump in and try to sew my own shirt. Now that I think about it, it’s pretty funny, and I really don’t know what I was thinking.

Have you ever had a sewing fail? Check back next week for some crafting fails!

 Photo courtesy of Melissa Lowry

Last week we discussed our biggest sewing fails and this week I thought we’d discuss our crafting fails.

I’ve been a relatively lucky crafter because none of my crafts have ended in disaster. BUT, I always struggle with crafting because hot glue and I do not get along. It’s a love/hate relationship—meaning I love using hot glue, but it hates me.

Most of my craft projects involve hot glue—like this leather collar necklace, pictured above, that I was in the beginning stages of making. Every time I pull out the hot glue I say, “Okay hot glue, this time we’re going to get along. There will be no 2nd degree burns, you hear me.”

But the hot glue, not surprisingly, doesn’t hear me and I always end up with a burn. Plus, hot glue ends up everywhere. I usually spend a solid hour with tweezers, pulling off the tiny strings of hot glue that end up all over my project.

Maybe hot glue and I need to break-up, it’s becoming a toxic relationship.

We asked some of our craft bloggers to share their biggest crafting fails and they have some great stories of “creative” ideas gone awry.

Maggie Patterson of I Love Papercrafts

Sometimes I get these “creative” ideas, and usually they involve a trip to the hardware store and making a big mess. My husband has come to cringe when I ask to go to the hardware store as he knows I have some nutty idea in mind. My latest one involved a gutter guard and a spray ink technique. After hours of fussing with creating spray ink, and figuring out what I was doing I ended up with one very UGLY background for a card that I would never use.  Worst of all, every single one of my fingertips was dyed dark blue or purple for several days afterwards.

Virginia Fynes of Fynes Design
I was recently asked to try out a glass-etching medium. I had never tried this before and jumped right into a large project (go big, or go home right?). Turns out when etching cream touches glass or mirror it begins to work immediately (mask off the areas you don’t want etched, and be careful when washing). Not only did I ruin a large mirror, I was also working near our glass top stove, and got a bit on there too… not my brightest moment!

What’s your biggest crafting fail? And do you have any helpful tips for me on dealing with hot glue?

I know that most couples these days prefer an envelope full of cash as a wedding gift. And I’m not against doing that. But I’m a sentimental person, so I like to include a personal gift along with my envelope. I got the idea for this “Love” artwork from Pinterest and it became the perfect gift for my sister and her husband on their wedding day. It now hangs in their home and reminds them of their special day, and I like to think, of their lovely sister. Here’s how you can make your own “Love” artwork for a special couple in your life.

Materials you’ll need
-white canvas
-paint in two colours of your choice
-red buttons in a variety of sizes
-white glue
-ribbon (optional)
-staple gun (optional)

1. Measure the length of your canvas to figure out how wide your stripes should be. I made each stripe one inch wide. Use a ruler and pencil to mark out each stripe.

2. Decide what colours you want to use. I went with purple and turquoise, which are my sister’s wedding colours. Half the stripes you will leave white and the other half you will paint with one of your colours. I went with purple for the stripes since it’s my sister’s favourite colour and the colour of her bridesmaids’ dresses .

3. After the stripes have dried, take the first initial of the couple’s names, so A and E in my case. Use a pencil to sketch out “A + E =” in the bottom right corner of the canvas. Then paint over the pencil markings with your second paint colour, in my case it was turquoise.

4. Once your canvas is dry, use a pencil to sketch out a big heart in the centre of the canvas.

5. Starting from the bottom of the heart, glue on the buttons. It’s helpful to do small sections at a time, laying down the buttons first without gluing them, so you can figure out what size buttons will fit together. When working in small sections, glue the buttons around the edges first and then work your way into the centre.

6. To add a pretty touch, tie a ribbon into a bow. Then use a staple gun to staple the ends into the back of the canvas at the top. Now the couple just needs a nail and they can hang their “Love” art from the ribbon.

What personal touch do you add to wedding gifts?

If you’re like me, you’ve probably left your Christmas shopping to the last minute and now you’re panicking. But don’t worry I have found a great gift idea that you can whip up quickly, even on Christmas Eve just before you leave for a party.

I hate going to the malls at this time of year, it makes me anxious. So I tend to craft a lot of the gifts I give to friends and family. Plus, I think making gifts gives it a special touch.

This year I made my friends DIY Hot Chocolate Mix, which is a delicious recipe from the lovely Canadian Living Test Kitchen. If there’s one thing I’ve learned while working at Canadian Living, it’s that the Test Kitchen recipes are guaranteed crowd pleasures. 

Here’s how I adapted the CL recipe for my gift.

Instead of using a mason jar, I found these adorable plastic mugs with striped straws at Winners. I was actually given the mug as a gift and thought they were so cute that I had to hunt down some more for gifts. 

I cleaned out the mugs and got all my ingredients together. Since I put the mix in a mug, I knew it would be hard for people to mix the ingredients up before using it. So I had to adapt the CL recipe. You’ll notice in the CL recipe that they do three layers, one of cocoa, one of sugar and vanilla and one of chocolate chips. I decided to make thin layers of each ingredient, which would make mixing easier because you could stick a spoon in and get all the ingredients in one scoop.

It’s easiest if you separate the sugar and cocoa with a layer of chocolate chips so people can actually see all the different layers. I had a bit of extra space at the top of my mug so I put in some marshmallows. Then I added more marshmallows in a plastic Santa Claus bag because you can never have too many marshmallows.

Finally I added a gift tag with instructions. My colour printer wasn’t working otherwise I would have used these adorable mason jar labels.

Now I have gifts for everyone and my holiday panic is dissipating. Except now I have to make these amazing brownies for Christmas dessert. I’m not sure my baking skills are up for the task. Wish me luck.

What Christmas gifts have you made this year?