Ho hum.... and on and on.

So the last craft show I did was an absolute flop.  FLOP I say!  I did not sell one item.  NOT ONE!  And yes, I cried in the car on the way home.  I'm over it though.  I figured it was a fluke and things can only get better from here. So I'm not gonna quit. No, I'm gonna enter more shows, carry more stuff and keep trying because this truly is what I love to do.   That being said, I helped my mom at her most recent quilt show in Puyallup last weekend (she let me have a table for just my stuff) and not only did my stuff sell, but I got some fan-fricken-tastic ideas for some pretty awesome resin buttons. So onward and upward.  We are moving back to California in a month and I am already scouting out farmers markets, street fairs and kids/baby expos. So here's to the end of my first year of selling my work and a big ol' cheers to finding my niche and loving what I do.... finally.

Oh, the smell of a glue gun in the morning.

It's before 8:00am and I am crafting.  My first show went well.  I say well because my items were well received and I got a ton of great new ideas.  I also say well, because while I saw people taking things from my table to buy, I have no idea how I did yet because all purchases were made at a separate check-out counter. I am waiting the approximate 10 days to receive my check and see how I really did.  But it was a great experience and I am gearing up for my next show this Saturday.  I almost sold completely out of my ladybug hair clips and had a few requests for bumblebee clips so that is what I am working on this morning.

I wrote down tons of ideas for not only items to sell, but also booth design and marketing.  I have been looking into what shows I will do for the year 2013 in.... California.  Yes, for those of you who don't know, we are moving back to Cali in December.  And while I am not thirilled it does open up a whole new door of outdoor street fairs, farmers markets and other local events.  And... the husband said I could have an entire room for my crafts in the new house!

So today I craft.  Today I bump up my inventory and burn my fingers on hot glue and cover my kitchen counters in glitter. 

Here's to finally finding something I love to do and hoping my A.D.D doesn't ruin this for me.

My First Show!

I have a terrible cold right now.  Which wouldn't be that big of a deal if I did't have my first craft show in 2 days.  I have been preparing for the past week and I think I may just have everything ready.  Except this cold.  Just will it away right?  I think I can, I think I can.  Anyway, I am pretty excited since this will be the first show that I am doing on my own.  Meaning, I'm not selling buttons in my mom's booth at quilting and sewing shows, I have my own "booth" (table).  Then I'm gonna double whammy myself and do another one next Saturday. 

Here is a picture of what I am hoping my table will look like.  I say hoping because they have 6 and 8 foot tables but have not told me what I will have.... fingers crossed for 8 even though my table cloth fits a 6. 

See the cute little banner I have on the front that says, what else but... All Things Sweet. I made that for almost nothing.  How, you ask?  Well, I will tell you.

I made a trip last week to Creation Station.  If you live in the Seattle area and are a crafter of any kind, you must visit the Creation Station in Lynnwood.  I could blog a whole page on them, but I will let you discover them for yourself.  So I scored a book of Satin Fabric Samples for $.75... SEVENTY FIVE CENTS!  So, the great thing about the fabric sample books is that the edges have been cut with a pinking shear finish... know what I mean?  I don't have pinking shears and good ones can be pretty expensive so it was nice that they already came that way. I picked up a few extra books including one that was samples of velvet! Ok, back on track...

 

Then I chose the colors I wanted in my banner.  I knew I wanted to separate each word with a heart and have a heart at the beginning and one at the end.

 

 

I then printed out the letters on plain paper in the size font I needed.  I would have loved to use a larger font, but I was having a moment and couldnt figure it out. 

 

I then traced each letter onto it's own rectangle of freezer paper and proceeded to carefully cut out each letter with a very sharp exacto knife.

 

Once the letters were cut, I ironed them onto the fabric.  I actually did this after each letter I cut so that I didn't lose things like the insides of the lower case e's and such.  Make sure your edges get sealed since the freezer paper is going to act as your stencil.

 

*Here is where I did things a little differently than you might.  I have a Yudu machine... a screen printer.  So I arranged my wax papered fabric pieces under the screen and masked out, with masking tape,  any fabric that showed through besides what was being printed.  Meaning, if I didn't want ink to go there, I covered it with tape. 

If you do not have access to a screen printer as most don't, you can, at this point just paint inside your wax paper stencil with the color of your choice.  I suggest using a sponge and stipple method rather than a paint brush to keep any paint from creeping under your stencil edges.

 

After the fabric was dry I laid all the letters out with the proper spacings inbetween and cut an appropriate length of ribbon to hang.   *I am a bone head and actually had the entire banner glued together and then realized I had done the whole thing backwards.  So that being said, make sure your banner will read correctly and using a hot glue gun, place a line of glue across the back of your fabric, place the ribbon on the glue, do another line of glue on the side of the ribbon that is facing up and fold over the fabric to secure it.  Be sure to evenly space your letters.

 

After you are finished hang it up, stand back and feel a deep seeded sense of accomplishment. 

I'll Crochet That!

I taught myself to crochet a little over a month ago.  Well, Google and YouTube taught me.  I have been having so much fun with it.  I know that when I see something I like... I can make it.  Now knitting was fun...is fun, but crochet is soooo easy!  Here are a few samples of the things I have made.

This is a pillow that I just HAD to make.  It aslo counts as my lovely mom-in-laws birthday present.

Whipped up this adorable accessory bag in a few hours.  Love it!

A friend of mine is having a baby so I made a pair of these.... dont know if its a boy yet, but now I know I can make em so I can do a pair in pink if needed.

Made these beauties for my little stinker.... she adores them.

And a little knitting project I did for my dad.

Can you say Slacker? .... I knew you could.

Shame on me.  Neglectful blogger.  I must say though, while I have been cranking out some creations lately, I've just been too lazy to crack open the ol' laptop to blog.  So whats been on my creative list these days?  I have been making polymer clay buttons like crazy lately and selling them in my mom's vendor booth 'The Quilted Trillium' at quilting shows and sewing expos.  I have also started the ball rolling for my own business named,  wait for it.... All Things Sweet.  I procured my business license and a website (although not up and running yet) and I even have business cards!  I feel official.  Now, if only I could just sit down and work on my website and then market myself.  Anyhow, button making is fun.  I have found a love for many things like knitting, painting, sewing, bla bla bla.... but what I am noticing is that when a project takes longer than a few hours my A.D.D kicks in full swing.  Buttons take a few minutes each and I can crank out a couple dozen unique pieces in just a hour or so.  So anyway here are a few of my buttons that I have created over the last couple months.  Enjoy.

 I also knitted this amazing pair of fingerless gloves/armwarmers that I ended up giving to my niece.  She is sooo lucky. They are made of baby alpaca and are so super soft.

A couple weeks ago I made this cake for my cousin's baby shower.  She didn't have twins, the shower was shared with her best friend who also had a baby recently.

And here are some random things that I have done in the past... ok, it's mainly cakes, paint and hair, but it's all me.

Fun with.... Bleach?

I am a pig.  I stain things.  Pretty much everything I own has some kind of greasy food stain on it.  I wish things were different.   Sometimes I actually get to wear a shirt 2 or 3 times before the stain takes place.  These are happy times.  I have found a solution.  Now, I am not going to claim that I came up with this one on my own... my brain isn't that crafty.  But this has kept me from tossing out perfectly fixable clothes.

Step one:  Buy a bleach pen.  Yes, a plain ol' laundry stain getter outter bleach pen.  Gel bleach, of course.

Step two: Put a few layers of magazines, newspapers, plastic placemats.... anything really inbetween the shirt layers so the bleach doesn't soak through to the other side.

Step three:  Get creative.  Being sure to cover your stains with the bleach, draw a pattern, design, picture of something cuter than a stain. 

Step four:  Let the bleach sit for 10 to 20 minutes..... Ok it probably doesn't take that long, but the longer you let it sit, the more saturated your color will be.... plus, it will give you time to do step 5.

Step five:  Have  a glass of wine while you wait for step four to be over.

Step six:  Take your beautiful creation over to the sink and wash away the remaining bleach gel.  I did this with the spray nozzle on my kitchen sink. 

Step seven: Toss that bad boy in the wash to get out the bleach smell and to be sure you got all the gel out.


Step eight:  Once the item has been laundered, put it on. Marvel at how fantastic you look and how truly clever you are.

Happy New Year! Happy Warm Neck!

I have been stumbling a lot lately.  That's not to say I've been drinking heavily.... no, I'm addicted to stumble.com.  If you haven't checked it out yet, you need to, but prepare to form your own addiction.   Anyway, my husband bought me a Kindle Fire for Christmas and I have been stumbling everywhere... all the time lately.  I have found so many wonderful sites and fun things that I would have never found were it not for Stumble.  I ran across this amazing knitted scarf tutorial a few weeks back... you can find it here www.ezisus.blogspot.com/2008/12/lamar.html .  I am not an amazing knitter.  I have found that knitting requires me to pay attention to what I am doing and I find this really hard to do.  So I have never managed to knit anything beyond a straight scarf or something off my round knitting loom.... and that something always ends up being a cylindrical neck warmer, not all that exciting.  So anyway, when I found this tutorial I just knew I had to figure out a way to conquer my knitting demons and make it.   As it turns out, after I paid a little attention and used my noggin and started over about 9 times, it wasn't actually that challenging.

Managed to mess up yet again and had to start over.

Why did I have to start over so many times?  I will blame a couple of those times on an adorable 3 year old, a few on my husband... because hey, why not, and well the rest were either me not paying attention to the pattern or losing count in my rows.... this is a BIG one.   So I developed my own system for remembering what row I was on since I am no good at just figuring that out by looking at my work.  I have two small bowls of different colors and in one bowl I have 6 pieces of anything (I used Mike and Ikes and had to will myself not to eat them).  You can use rocks, dried beans, legos or whatever else is lying around the house.  Once I finish a row I take a candy from one bowl and put it in the other. Then when all my candies are in the other bowl I know its time to start my pattern over. 

High Tech... I know.

I did not end up making a scarf as the pattern calls for. Instead I turned mine into a cowl, by adding some buttons that I made out of polymer clay.

 It snowed all week here in the Seattle area so I was able to get this bad boy finished in 3 days for just a couple hours here and there.

The view from my knitting chair.

 I adore it!   It is so warm and soft.  My toddler now wants mommy to make her one ad I think I just might.