What I made

I’m very excited by this craft project – mainly because it’s my first contribution to feature in MAKE: magazine (part of a new regular series) but also because I think it’s quite a neat project!

I made it during a snowy spell, after taking pity on a Robin that had taken residence in our garden (it’s funny how craft ideas often come from an actual need). I didn’t feel like braving the cold, so I made do with materials I found lying around the house – namely a few Coke cans and some disposable chopsticks (salvaged from a meal out to a Chinese restaurant). I was quite pleased with the result, I thought it looked fairly elegant, which was my initial goal.

Download project files›

Includes:
1) Collectable instructions – they look great stuck on the fridge!

While on the topic of bird feeders here’s some very cool ones made from traffic light lenses. If you know of any others made from unusual materials let me know, I couldn’t find many.

Now, you could vote for ‘What I Made’ this way.

Or you could do it the easy way, and vote online at the Webbys People’s Voice website (voting now closed).

Update: I’m very happy to announce that ‘What I Made’ won the 2011 Webby Award and Webby People’s Voice Award for best personal blog/website. Thank you to everyone who voted, or showed their support by leaving comments, emailing me, or liking one of my posts!

1) How could something so warped and twisted…

2) …be so cool?!

I love it when my boys draw, but I don’t love tidying up their felt-tip pens afterwards (most of which are normally on the floor). This week’s project, a rather funky looking pen tidy, will hopefully encourage them to tidy up their own pens – I can live in hope!

It is quite a simple one to make, most of the work went in to illustrating the label. I was trying to give the impression that the bottom of the pens had warped and twisted – I’m not sure how obvious that illusion is, but I think the design is still striking in its own right. If you’d like to make one, I have made the artwork available for download, all you’ll need to do is print it out and wrap it around an old tin can. You may want to add a false bottom to lift the pens a little higher, it helps with the illusion. Hope you like it!

Download project files›

Includes:
1) Collectable instructions – they are useful and they look good
2) Colour artwork – just print it out and stick it on
70 downloads so far, thanks everyone! (updated weekly)

I’d like to say a big thank you to Diane from Craftypod – she ran this very flattering post a few weeks ago. Diane has been a tremendous support over the last year, a sort of blogging mentor!