make: a printed pouch

The hardest course I took in my college career was Introduction to Printmaking. First semester freshman year. It was taught by an MFA student. Let me state for the record: There were no prerequisites. For the sake of all future students, I do hope the university has added to their course catalog, "Thick skin required." Like brick thick. I think you see where I'm going with this. There were tears involved. But, somehow, I still managed to come through the experience with a love for printmaking. I especially love printing by hand. In the privacy of my home. I carve linoleum or rubber and work with water soluble inks. I've found Speedball Fabric and Paper Block Printing Ink to hold up well on fabric and last through washing. So, I've been testing out a few designs. The zippered pouch above is a recent make. Here is the tutorial I used, with the addition of boxed corners. I've learned hand printing through trial and error. I know there are a lot of great resources out there, including Lena Corwin, if you're looking for some step-by-step instructions.

I'm not the world's greatest artist, but I'm proud that I came out of a really rough experience with my desire to create things still intact.

and do: read a book

Let's chat about one of my stand-bys when it comes to doing. I’ve been a reader since I was little. I recorded how many minutes I read each day on my wall calendar. There was a pause in reading by choice that comes with all high school experiences. The only exception being Harry Potter. I mean, does that even have to be clarified? Anyways, I started reading again for pleasure freshman year of college. Yes, I know, I know. Who has time to read for pleasure in college? Let’s not get into that now. Let’s just say, I fell back into books. When you read a book you don’t get any sort of final product. No Homemade Granola. No Sea Salt Challah. But if you’re living a life of make and do reading totally counts. It’s something. Something to get lost in. Something to spark your own creativity. (I have a stock pile of quotes I swear I’m going to work into a project someday.) And it doesn’t come with the guilt that surfing the internet or watching Keeping up with the Kardashians comes with. So it totally counts as a do. (Just an FYI – watching the Ks is something I totally do. It’s just something I will try to avoid writing a whole post about. So don’t panic. Come back again. Please.)

I wouldn't say my taste in books is hugely varied. Primarily contemporary. I love a good sweeping family saga. Barbara Kingsolver is a favorite. But I try to mix it up with fiction and non-fiction. I also love a good memoir. I'm currently reading Adam Johnson's The Orphan Master's Son. It was probably a bit of a heavy choice for summertime reading. I'm really looking forward to the latest from Jhumpa Lahiri -- The Lowland. I loved her first two short story collections. I'll need something to tide me over until Sept. 24. Any recommendations?

Image: Read Me Classics Set from Juniper Books.

make: do

The title of this blog sums up I commitment I've made to myself. That is to make or do something everyday. We all make or do something everyday. But having a conscience of awareness of trying new things or appreciating the everyday is often absent. So it's about awareness too. Which is where a bit of word play comes. (And I do love word play.) There's make and there's do. But there's also just make do. I think the expression "make do" can come with negative connotations. We don't tend to want to just "make do." There's a perception that making do is what we do when we can't do more. When our hopes and dreams seem too far out of reach. Or that it implies an unwanted struggle. Thinking about this reminded me of these words of Dellarobia Turnbow's from Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior:

"There is no life raft; you're just freaking swimming all the time."

Admittedly, lots of things remind me of this quote. It's frequently at the forefront of my mind. It can read of despair. But I understand it in multiple ways. We have to put effort in to get something out. I'll be the first to own up to being impatient with all that effort. Swimming all the time is freaking exhausting. But we have to keep going. Keep swimming. Keep making do. I've got to believe there can be real contentment in making do. In just living your life the best you can. I imagine it similar to the feeling of swimming. There may be no life raft, but there's a whole pool (or ocean) of water enveloping you and, if you use the right muscles, holding you up.

Photo by Irene Suchocki

pinning for friday

It's Friday! As a sort of recap for the week, I thought I would use this loveliest of days to share with you what I've been Pinning over the last five days. If you want to follow along throughout the week, you can follow me on Pinterest. Have a beautiful weekend!



1. Genesis Elements - Water by Janis Alamanou via Saatchi Online
2. Mango, Black Bean, and Avocado Salad via A House in the Hills (had this for lunch on Wednesday!)
3. Warm Ivory Open Ankle Boot discovered via Fieldguided
4. Upstate Dress via Unruly Things

and do: get dressed

When I entered this period of unemployment I made a very important promise to myself: I would continue to get up at the same time every morning. I'm a morning person (please don't hate me). Understand that really by what I mean by "morning person" is that I am not an evening person. If left to remain accountable to an evening exercise schedule, you would promptly see my love for ice cream manifesting itself on my poor body. But seriously, I love working out in the morning. So, I made this promise to myself. A promise that I did not make, however, was: To get dressed everyday. Obviously since I wake up, put on workout clothes and get my sweat on, I am changing out of my pjs. But in reality, if I don't have an interview, I'm changing into another pair of yoga pants.

I would like to begin a new promise to myself: To get dressed. Like everyday. At least for part of the day. (See how I'm trying to make it easy on myself.) Anyways, I'd like to make this a regular series here on makeanddo. And because my own closet often feels quite boring, I'm going to share with you what I would be getting dressed into should the power to make dream closets a reality ever become mine.

Today, I'm wishing I were perfectly styling the sneakers and dress look. How cool does the girl above look?

Image via Creators of Desire

make: homemade granola

I like sugar as much as the next girl. Which is to say, I like sugar too much. Sugar doesn’t like me. I crash. Hard. Exhibit A: NYC brunch equals a time to just go for it. Go for the decadent French toast. Two hours later become a whiny, agitated child. Embarrass yourself terribly. Remember why you don’t eat sugar at breakfast. I also love granola. But all granola has added sugar. I’m looking at you agave and honey. You count too. The only solution is to make your own. My recipe isn’t much of one, but here it is:

1.     Combine oats, walnuts, hazelnuts, unsweetened dried coconut flakes, and freshly ground sea salt.

2.     In a separate bowl, combine about ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp peanut butter.

3.     Mix applesauce mix into the oat mix.

4.     Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Take out of oven, stir around, and bake for another 15-20.

5.     Let cool, then add in dried goji berries.

Note: When assembling ingredients for an attempt at a pretty before shot remember to then set the goji berries aside and not bake with the granola. This will make for blackened goji berries and the after shot will not be speckled with vibrant red prettiness. See above.

and do: go to a museum on a Tuesday

2100° / 451° from Etsuko Ichikawa on Vimeo.

No one else will be there. Most likely. You will have the gallery to yourself. You can be totally mesmerized by a video of an artist painting on paper with glass. You will be tempted to touch the art. Especially if you have a thing for paper and are viewing an exhibit on artists working with paper. Signs will warn you that the gallery is being video monitored. Besides you are a respectful young adult with a degree in art history and plenty of museum volunteer experience. You know not to touch the art. Even when there is an installation and you are walking under paper just an inch above your head. And it looks like damn fine paper.

*Note: Paper Unbound at the Wing Luke Museum, about which I wrote this post, is now closed. But I also highly recommend Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion now on view at the Seattle Art Museum. Oh, and if I had a travel machine that transported me to museums, I would totally hop in it to go to Pasión Popular: Spanish and Latin American Folk Art from the Cecere Collection before it closes at the end of the week!