Pack Rat Magazine: 1984 Winter Olympics Gold Medalist in crafts

Good afternoon friends. So glad you could join me here at the Pack Rat Corral, where we rope up the best darn D.I.Y. finds this side of the Mississippi (and across it, too). Today’s great find is about Geekware, a line of recycled tech crafts made by Acorn Studios and more specifically artist Nicola. Fun treasures range from circuit board earrings, keyboard key rings, and (my favorite) the CD clocks. She also has a fantastic blog about recycled craft and techy-nerdy craft which I found to be completely addictive. And, a fun projects page with recycle d.i.y. ideas like a tie coin purse, or an empty CD tower bagel carrier (just take a look below). This is a terrific stop to get inspired.

Pack Rat Magazine: the queen bean.

So I came across this site for a store (?) called Jill Killjoy. They make all sorts of colorful, playful stuff, upcycled out of thrift store finds and other detritus. Most of their stuff has a David the Gnome type feel to it…in a good way. The only thing I can’t wrap my head around is whether or not their products are actually for sale. The site tells you what each project is made of, and it lists the sizes available, but none of the projects have a price and no where on the site are the instructions if you are wishing to purchase any of their fine goods. The Jill Killjoy team does, however, seem to attend craft shows. It’s a mystery. If you’d like to get to the bottom of it, or you’re just looking for some good upcycle inspiration, check out some of my favorite projects below, including the Pi Pouch.

Pack Rat Magazine will make you dance till you can’t dance, can’t dance, can’t dance no more.

Today’s freebie pattern comes from Fable, a funky online boutique that sells crocheted handmade goods. She has a few stylish crochet patterns for free (her bobble hat and bag are both adorable), but my favorite was for the large passion flower, which could adorn roadkill and make it look fancy. Download the free pdf of instructions.

Roses are red, violets are blue, READ PACK RAT MAGAZINE!!

I don’t have too much to say for this post.  I think the ceramic work by Lei Xue speaks for itself.

“Rhett, Rhett, Where shall I go? What shall I do?”

“Frankly my dear, I think you should read Pack Rat Magazine.”

Today is a day for craft tutorials.  It’s raining/snowing where I am and what better way to enjoy the gray weather then to say indoors with a project?  An extra way to cheer up a gray day would be to paint an old pair of night stands or chests a bright lime green?  If you agree, check out this fun tutorial from J. Caroline Creative.  I completely adore the graphic fabric decoupage.  It’s so…va-va-voom.

Pack Rat Magazine, we will dance, dance to the revolution.

Hiya. Here’s a project for all you seamstresses and seamstressers out there who love to look and something cute and say “awwwwww.” Go ahead a make yourself one of these adorable little mice from Sewing Stars creator, Teresa Levy.  They just look so squeezable!

Pack Rat Magazine. Yeah, we said it. Now what?

Here’s a quick tip for all of you crocheters out there. Check out MYpicot. I am by no means a master crocheter, but good gravy after seeing some of their patterns I want to be one. Their stuff is beatiful, like the flowers and butterfly below. They have a library of free patterns as well as patterns and yarn for sale. And, some of their customers have sent them pictures of crochet pieces they have found at thrift stores, and the gurus at MYpicot have been able to recreate the patterns and make them available to the rest of us to follow. Plus, they have a blog. What more could you possible want?

Pack Rat Magazine: we have THE secret.

Came across wikiHow the other day and at first was really excited.  This wiki claims to have 32,888 how-to articles in about a bazillion different subjects.  When I first thought about it, I said to myself how great an idea– to have a wiki for how-to projects.  It makes sense that it would be helpful, right? Since everyone has their niche area of expertise, then if we all contribute what we know to a collective wiki then the amount of useful information should be endless, right?  Well, you be the judge.  My first five “random articles” that I hit on were How-To:

* Survive in the woods

* Do a Step Ball Change Leap

* Make Nacho Snacks

* Seduce Someone with Only Your Eyes

* Understand Philosophical Determinism

I also came across articles that I couldn’t find any conceivable reason for their existence.  For example: How To Choose a Book.  And there was a sad amount of “How To Act Like (insert anime character’s name).”  There were also some things that bordered on totally immoral. Things like “How To Act Sober (Around Parents and Teachers)” and “How To Deal with a Married Boyfriend.”  Most articles don’t include pictures (or at least, helpful ones) so your left with only the writing to follow and it is TERRIBLE as most people don’t have the first clue on how to write step by step instructions.

There were a few neat crafting articles, which is why I even bothered to bring it up here. Someone posted tutorials on how to make bottle cap earrings and a corderoy pants purse, both pretty cool with good instructions and step-by-step pictures.  And there seem to be quite a few helpful guides on how to do certain tech things, like use photoshop applications and what not. But I guess in the end, the utopian dream of people sharing their knowledge is stunted by the fact that most people are intersted in pretty useless shit (myself included).

Pack Rat Magazine, always the bride’s maid, never the bride

We’re still a few months out until the wedding season is in full swing, but here’s a fantastic contest that will inspire any crafter, regardless of maritial intentions.  Cheap Chic Weddings has sponsored a contest for the last three years, asking contestants to make a wedding dress out of toilet paper.  The most original design wins $500 and is manufactured (with fabric, of course) by one of the website’s sponsors.  This last year’s winner, Hannah Kim, blew me away! Look at the detailing she did.  How did she not tear everything to shreds, let alone make pleats?  Here are some of the top contenders for you to ohh and ahh over.

1st place

2nd Place

Honorable Mentions

Read Pack Rat Magazine, for suffering sucatash.

Now this is just fun.  Surfing around the internet (does anyone even use that terminology any more?  It’s so 1997) I came across this art exhibit that has come and gone from Arario Gallery in Seoul.  It’s a larger than life recreation of famous cartoon’s skeletons.  I don’t know what it is about this that is so very appealing, maybe its a little bit tongue-in-cheek morbid (Bugs Bunny looks like the freaky rabbit from Donnie Darko), maybe because it takes our favorite characters out of fantasy land and turns them into reality. Or maybe it’s just funny to see museum-sized skeletons for something goofy like cartoons instead of typical dinosaur bones.  Who knows!  All I know is I’ve been coming back to this site to look these sculptures over for about a week now.   My favorite, Tom and Jerry, are shown below.