Space vs stuff

My place isn't cluttered. It's just not big enough for all my stuff.

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Woven heart pockets

[edited to add: Welcome ParentHacks readers and thanks for the link Asha!]

Materials:

• Pattern (download the PDF pattern*)
• use this legend to decipher the folding symbols
• coloured paper (contrasting colours)
• scissors
• paper-clips
  
• should you wish, materials for decorating your heart (eg. stickers, glitter and glue)

Instructions:

1. print out the pattern (PDF file*) and transfer the pattern to your desired material or print it out as a practice run (be sure to check the specifications of your printer before printing on unusual media -- using "out of spec" materials can cause permanent damage to your printing hardware)


2. I've chosen to use one white sheet and one red sheet. Shown is the pattern printed on the white sheet.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


3. Fold the sheet with the pattern on it in half, length-wise. Orient the paper with the pattern facing up.
   
   
   







4. Cut along the longest vertical lines.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


5. Should you find that the paper spreads when you cut it as described in step 4, either use the paper clips to keep the paper in place or begin cutting from the "open end" of the fold.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


6. Trim the rounded edges of the paper. Again, if the paper doesn't stay in place, use paper clips to keep the paper steady.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


7. Decide how many strips you want to weave. For the purposes of these instructions, we'll be making a simple two strip pocket. (Cut along the middle dotted line and ignore the first and third dotted lines.)
   
   If you're using a thick material, cut a little longer than the dotted line shown to give you room to work.
   
   To make a four strip pocket, cut along all three dotted lines.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Repeat the above steps with the a sheet of contrasting colour.
   
   
9. Orient the pieces at approximately 90 degrees, with the rounded edges pointing up and to the right respectively.
   
   


10. Take the right most strip of the red piece and push it in between the topmost strip of the white piece.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    


11. Take the bottommost white strip and insert it in between the rightmost red strip.
    
    (I'm not sure what happened with the photography here. Apologies for the glare.)
    
    
    


12. Pull the bottommost white strip all the way through.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    


13. Insert the left-most red strip through the bottommost white strip that was pulled through in the previous step.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    


14. Straighten the pieces and voila!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Heart pockets can be used as "envelopes" when giving out Valentines cards (or candy). They can also be used as bags to hold Valentines received.

[Cross-posted at Craft Day.]

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(*) When printing out PDF documents, be sure to set "Page Scaling" to "none" (you'll want the document to print at 100%). You may need to adjust the template on your paper depending on your printer's "offset" settings.

Family Literacy Day

As January 27th marks the 10th anniversary of Family Literacy Day, I'm rerunning two of my favourite reading related doodles!

Reading is fun! [colouring sheet] ~ [Download the PDF]
[originally published 2007-05-24]





If you're happy and you know it, read a book!
[originally published 2007-02-12]

As documented in ...

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Congratulations Dani!

Congratulations to Dani of Postcards from the Mothership for making it into the top five blogs in the category of "Best Family Blog" in the Canadian Blog awards!

Don't forget to vote for her in round two!

15 minutes of free time

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Test the Nation: Bloggers rule!

CBC aired Test the Nation ~ Trivia tonight. Out of a possible 60 correct answers, here are the team scores:

Cab drivers: 35
Chefs: 37
Celebrity Look-Alikes: 39
Flight crews: 41
Backpackers: >41 and <50;

and <drumroll>..... </drumroll>

Bloggers: 50

Congratulations to Kate Trgovac, John Martz and the other awesome Canadians on Team Bloggers!

The Week The Women Went

Last week, while watching "The Border," there was a promo for a new Canadian reality show airing next Monday, called "The Week The Women Went." From the CBC website:

A new reality series that chronicles all the drama, humour and calamities as they unfold when the women of a small oil town in Alberta leave for a week-long vacation with little to no contact with their families. The men stay behind to deal with the challenges of housework, childcare and other family responsibilities.

I'm not embarassed to say that I'm going to tune in on Monday! (And of course, I'm going to stay tuned to CBC to catch the first episode of The Border that Denis wrote.)

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Downloadable Figure Drawing Books (For Free)

Over at Diary of a Process Junkie they've posted a number of free downloadable figure drawing books.



[h/t: Neatorama]

Vector Magic

From the Vector Magic website:

"This site converts bitmap images to vector images - it's an online auto-tracer.
Just upload your image and we will vectorize it for you. "

Hrm. Maybe I'll never have to master Adobe Illustrator!

[h/t: BoingBoing]

Voting, round one

The Canadian Blog Awards (previously mentioned) are open to first round voting! (The first round will pick the top five blogs in the category. The second round will choose the winners. You can only vote once per category during each entire round of voting.)

Of note, I voted for

• Andrea McDowell's post Deserving (category: Best Blog Post)
• Denis McGrath's blog Dead Things ON Sticks (category: Best Entertainment/Cultural Blog)
• DaniGirl's Postcards from the Mothership (category: Best Family Blog)

Go ahead, it's your turn to vote!

[h/t: Dani]

Anagram

I just may be the last Dr. Who fan out there to make the connection between the parent show name and the name of the spin-off, Torchwood.

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Michael J. Fox on happiness

Based on part of "What I've Learned: Michael J. Fox."
[h/t: Joey deVilla]

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Awesome Canadian Television

If you missed the six part mini-series, Across The River To Motor City (co-created by Toronto writer Denis McGrath) in the Fall, a repeat cycle begins tonight at 10pm with Episode One. Here's the trailer:


THE BORDER, another show with McGrath prose, premieres January 7th on CBC Television. Here's it's trailer:

reference: Adobe Illustrator

Two Adobe Illustrator tutorials by Brian Romero:

• Digital Inking Basics
• Coloring Process and More!