Croq Zine - The Blog

Attorney Sarah Feingold is the in-house lawyer at Etsy.com and has agreed to write a regular column for the print CROQ! We are super excited to bring you more info to help you run your indie business. In honor, we asked Sarah a few questions to get to know her better. You can read more of her writing at The Storque, Etsy’s online magazine.

You’re the in-house attorney for Etsy.com. What does your day look like?

What’s the number one most important legal issue crafters should be aware of?

You wrote a book about copyright called Copyright for Artists, specifically directed at the Etsy community of artists. What inspired you to write it?

I became an attorney because of my fascination with art and my desire to help artists. I wrote my book because I realized that although there are dozens of copyright books out there, most books were really long and written in crazy legalese. My book contains the necessary information concerning copyright law in an understandable format tailored to the artistic community (my book also contains many visuals, like cartoons). And so far so good. I received some amazing feedback. My book is primarily sold at www.attorneysarah.etsy.com as an ebook so I can keep improving the content, keep the price down, and save trees.

Hi friends!

The CROQ stores (croq.etsy.com and Buy CROQ) are closed from now through the first two weeks of September for vacation! We’ll reopen when we get back!

Technorati Profile

hotdogtapus guarding treasure

Kellie of For the Love creates fun lunchtime fare for her kids and posts the results on her blog. I have been enjoying her creations so much that I wanted to ask her more about them and share my findings with you.

What inspired you to start presenting your kids’ lunchtime fare in such fun ways?
My girls were bored with the basic sandwich, hotdog, corndog, quesadilla, or whatever I gave them for lunch. It started with cutting up a bunch of things and letting them “play” and make faces or designs with their food. I started getting involved with “playing” with their food and it was really fun!! I also found that the kids ate more with a “hands on” approach.

Where do you get your inspiration for your creations?
I love gourmet food and especially the presentation. I guess it comes down to the presentation for kids. What would they like to eat?!? They always go for the fun smily faces on menues, why not give them that option at home?!? It’s a whole lot cheaper for me to make my own smily face on a pancake then to order one at IHOP. It just makes sense.

Ever serve your kids a plain, boring meal?
ABSOLUTELY!!! They had a peanut butter sandwhich and popcorn today for lunch. Nothing special to it, just put it on the plate and gave it to them. Some days I feel like doing something special, and other days it’s whatever I give them. Somedays they ask for something that they can play with, which is less work for me, and other days they may ask for me to create something. It all depends on the day.

Favorite ingredients?
I am trying to add more things to the pantry. Grocery shopping has become…”Oh, I can make something with this.” It’s like the grocery store has become my craft store!! It’s kind of fun. I use peanut butter a LOT, probably an unhealthy amount, but it’s great for glue. Pretzel sticks are amazing for holding olives, grapes, raisins, marshmallows, or whatever you would use a toothpick for. I seem to make sandwhiches a lot and use cookie cutters (or a tin can) to cut out shapes and then use that as a foundation piece. Whatever I have in the cupboard is what I use!!! All my creations seemingly have the same ingredients though!!! I haven’t gotten to any fancy stuff yet…I am trying to expand my culinary skills.

a creation by Kellie's 5 year-old

Do your kids have a favorite creation? Do you ever make the same one again another time?
Right now, the kids keep asking for “Squidward”, who is a wonderfully crafted hotdog octopus. I cut the ends off of raisins and use the sticky side to make eyes. So yes, I do create the same thing twice, but I always change something about it. I served the Hotdogtopus with a graham cracker treasure chest filled with marshmallows and raisins, and the next time I served him with homemade cheesy garlic tortillas chips. I like to have variety, but I am sure the kids could care less.

Have any tips for others who want to have more fun with their food?
Oh my goodness….just PLAY with your food!! Skip manners and etiquite and just get in there and be creative!!

You also let your kids create their own food sculptures sometimes. Can you give us a quick overview on how you’d set a project like that up for them?
I choose a random variety of food with different color, texture, and size and put it all on a plate. I usually give them a big plate to create their food sculptures. For example, I would put celery, cut into little pieces, apple wedges, miniature marshmallows, a cookie cuttered sandwhich, grapes and or raisins, cheetos, olives, and a handful of cereal all on a plate and let them play to their little hearts desire!! Whatever you have, use it!!! As far as a time allotment, lunchtime at my house goes from 12-1. That’s it. They have to create and have it all consumed by 1:00pm. I don’t make anything that will be completely time consuming. With 3 kids, I don’t have time for it!!!

It’s grey and rainy outside today. A perfect backdrop for some comfort food!

We went berry picking last week and came back with a bucket of boysenberries. I also have some bread rolls that have been sitting on my counter in a bag for a week or so. Too long to use them for their original purpose, but perfect to use in a bread pudding!

I didn’t measure my amounts, but used approximately:

4-6 cups of cubed bread
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 cups sugar
2 cups assorted berries and their juices
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Put the butter in the pan you intend to use (I used a 9″ round cake pan) and let it melt and brown while the oven heats (just remember to remove it before it gets too brown!).

Cube or tear day-old or stale bread. I used King’s Hawaiian rolls. Mix in large mixing bowl with berries.

Whip eggs, combine with milk, sugar, and vanilla.

Pour egg mixture over bread. Gently mix to soak bread. You want to maintain the shape of the bread cubes as well as the individual berries as much as possible. Optional: allow to sit for awhile to allow bread to further soak in egg mixture.

Pour egg-bread mixture into prepared (browned butter!) pan. Finish with raw sugar, if desired.

Bake 30-50 minutes. (I used my toaster oven, so it took longer). Insert a toothpick or skewer to the center to gauge how done it is!

Denise at Knitting Without Needles posted this great idea and tutorial for DIY knitting looms made from junk you can find around your house.

Check it out!

fish made with glam paper scraps

Materials:
cheap acrylic paint
a sponge or rag, paper towels, etc.
cardstock (or regular paper)

Lay down some newspaper to protect your work surface.

glam paper atc

Take some acrylic paint (the cheap 44-cent a bottle kind is great, and make sure to splurge on a bottle of metallic, too), squeeze a dab onto a paper plate (or a piece of cardboard, or whatever) — maybe two colors next to each other, get a sponge damp and squeeze as much excess water out as possible, and then sponge the paint onto the paper.

Do not be alarmed by the words “sponge” and “painting” being used in the same sentence. This is not fuddy-duddy stuff. This is highly glam. Trust me. Especially with the aforerecommended metallic paint.

Experiment with just sponging lightly, more heavily, with smearing, with smearing in a circle (to make “rosettes”), with streaking, with layering of color, with adding metallic paint after the first round of paint has dried (or not). You can’t fail this project, so just try whatever you want.

Once you’re done, you’ll have sheets of unique fancy paper. You might have to iron it after you’re done and the paper is dry but sort of curled (just iron on a low setting and use a paper towel over the painted part of the paper to keep paint from getting anywhere). You can then use this paper for anything — making greeting cards, making Artist Trading Cards (cut it in 2.5×3.5″ rectangles), scrapbooking, embellishments for any kind of paper art. Oh, and don’t forget to check the scrap paper you used to protect the counter — it can be very cool too. I made this fish here with the scrap paper left over from my project.

Sheets of this unique paper would make a FAB gift for anyone who likes paper crafting, and this also makes a great project for

even more fish

kids.

kiddie sculpture

I actually kind of like this as a sculpture!

A couple years ago, I found myself without a full-time job. I lived in a house without a television, and this was before the advent of web TV (or even Youtube type stuff). I had an entire room in my house devoted to my own personal crafting, and a desk that had layers of projects on it, so that the untrained eye (that’s anyone but me!) couldn’t tell where one project ended and the next one began.

I spent hours every day crafting, sewing, painting, and generally craftin’ it up. People frequently pegged me as “so creative!” in astonishment. I modestly (and truthfully) pointed out that instead of having children, a job or watching TV, I did crafts. I believed (and still do) that “being creative” is equal to just sitting down and doing something–anything.

And, when I wasn’t being craftastic, I blogged about my projects, read about other people’s projects, and engaged in the online crafty community. I think we were all doing that back then - back in the innocent days of the old Glitter boards (back when it was the old Getcrafty, before Supernaturale was born) and the young upstart days when you could navigate Craftster without getting instantly overwhelmed. Back then we were all still trying to figure out who “we” were as a crafty community.

As easy as it was to be plugged in a few years ago, it’s exponentially easier now. In addition to bulletin boards and forums, we have sleek blogs that have topics and target audiences (complete with advertising opportunities), social networking of all flavors, micro-blogs like Twitter, podcasts, RSS feeds, and forty-five  other ways to get stuff from our brains directly uploaded to other people’s brains. You can’t even leave the house without your iPhone internet access anymore. People are constantly keeping each other informed on every aspect of their lives. If you are a crafter, you snap photos with your phone to upload to Flickr to stream on your blog that other people have feeds for, and then you announce the blog entry on Twitter and link to your Tumblr site.

It was amazing to have a year or so where all I did was craft and post my craftings online. It was amazing to be part of that online crafty circle. I have made some true friends - some of whom I’ve met in real life and some who are just ASCII comments and jpgs on the other side of the world to me, but who aren’t any less true friends. I value those friendships and connections!

These days, my crafty free time is taken up with creatively figuring out how to make yet another meal that doesn’t resemble yesterday’s dinner but still uses the same ingredients. I expend my crafty energy picking up tiny pieces of paper that my toddler just “learned” to cut up with his safety scissors. I don’t even have a free table in my house where it’s easy to sit down and create when the spirit moves.

What few unfettered minutes I steal, I waste away online, checking up with my crafty peeps who actually have time to get stuff done. I guess I need to unplug myself from all the tentacles of internet connectedness, and get my hands dirty (and by dirty, I mean covered in paint, adhesive, and glitter!)

yes, i really have 20 lbs of zippers in my garage

Ah, the old salad days of yore, when I spend who knows how much money adding to my crafty stash. I still have a garage full of stashtastic stuff that I have toted halfway across the country with me. I just can’t bear to part with the twenty pound bag of multicolored industrial zippers I got at a dorm garage sale in 2002. Of course, when a new project comes up, I just have to go to the craft store to pick up “one or two” things necessary for completing my new opus.

The last crafty things I purchased were for a holiday ornament project I have yet to do: white glitter, fabric stiffener, and balloons (can you figure out what my project was from that list?). You know how long ago the holidays were…

I have put a moratorium on purchasing any new supplies this year. My stash is too large already, and with two little ones, I’m lucky if I have time to eat dinner, let alone wax crafty.

That doesn’t mean I can’t add to my kiddie craft stash, though! I admit I’ve fallen prey to the siren song of the loss-leader school supply aisle. Washable crayons for a dollah? Let me stock up! My toddler has a full arsenal of washable art supplies, from markers to paints, as well as every type of art paper a 2 year-old could possibly need for his precious scribbles. He even has a pair of high tech safety scissors (they don’t look like they did when I was a kid! They’re now entirely made of plastic–safe enough for my seven month old to chew on, if they fall into his hands.) I vicariously craft through my toddler, who sits in his high chair long enough to paint a few strokes on one wooden figurine before he gets bored and wants to “run around like a crazy guy.”

I’m actually quite the eco-crafter, too. I find it hard to throw away a lot of my trash because it has potential to be used as a craft item. Egg cartons, colorful cereal boxes, used wrapping paper, twisty ties, bread tabs, cans, milk cartons. I have a major case of tightwad angst against throwing this stuff away. It’s good stuff! I’m sure the day after our recycling bin is picked up, I will NEED that huge olive can for something! Hey it would be great for potting geraniums!

As a stay at home mom, you would think I have time for all that crafting I wished I could do back when I was working. I feel guilty, though, even starting a craft project when I know there are seventy-three domestic tasks I have been putting off. I feel like I just have to do those (Item fifty-two: sew blackout curtains for my toddler’s room so he won’t keep getting up at 6:30 every morning!) before I can start anything that is just for fun.

So when I add to my craft stash (okay, okay, I admit it, I did buy a vintage sheet at Goodwill recently. It would make such adorable reusable grocery totes), what I’m really purchasing is the idea of crafting. It’s just not enough to purchase the materials, you have to actually use them. Otherwise, they become the fabric of just another crafty quilt dream.