Back At It...

So, it's been a minute...sorry about that...

Things have been busier than normal around here lately.  I got moved off the checkout and to the receiving area at the store I work at, and now when I come home I don't have the energy to move, let alone search for any of my current craft projects.  I do occasionally go into the spare bedroom and move things around, throw things into the donation pile...things like that.  I do have a new obsession, though.  Extreme Couponing.  I'm not even really sure how I got into this thing LOL.  But it's fun, and it's saving us money, so my boyfriend doesn't even get upset when I've got the bed covered in newspapers for twelve hours every Sunday LOL!

So, give me a few days to get things squared away, I'll at least get my haul's posted :-)

Nothing big today...baby-sitting my parents dogs, so I haven't been able to really work on anything craft wise, unless I want to cart around all my crafting supplies.  And I don't.  I did start taking pictures of all the beads I plan on selling.  Next stop, Etsy!  I'm excited about this.  Hopefully it really is as easy as everyone seems to say it is.  I love reading their "Quit Your Day Job" series, there's lots of helpful tips from people who made it work. Which is encouraging, considering all the friggin' rules I found on their policy page...and then there's the Do's and Don't's page! Oi!

Anyway, I haven't been updating this much, but now that we have Internet back in our house, my only hang-ups are having something to write about and not using the time to write for video gaming instead!  I promised I'd do this blog and the challenge attached, though, and so I will do it!

So until next time... ;-)

February…Hearts, 58 degrees, and beadsbeadsbeads…

Oh the beads…

But first…

I’ve been working on two projects these last few weeks since I posted, and I’m kinda stuck.  Well, not so much stuck as paranoid.  The first project is using that cute gray tablecloth, the gray fabric I posted at the bottom of the last post:  

 I have this idea in my head to make a cute apron out of it, but I’m too chicken to cut the fabric.  I don’t want to mess it up and then not be able to use it.  The problem is really that I don’t have an actual “pattern”, per se.  I’ve been looking for a book that shows how to make your own patterns for months now, and right after the New Year I was cruising through my local Joann Fabrics for inspiration and came across the perfect book, Patternmaking For A Perfect Fit by Steffani Lincecum ($24.99, Watson-GuptillPublications).  The best part was it was buried on the bottom shelf of the clearance aisle with a $3.97 sticker on it!  Waaay better than any price I’d get on the same or similar book at Half Price Books (trust me, I’ve looked!).  Anyway, this book teaches the “rub-off method”, and I tried using it on an apron my mom made me when I was a wee one.  It’s a fairly easy method, but again, I don’t want to cut up the tablecloth unless I’m positive I’m not going to screw it up…

 While I'm thinking of it, any suggestions?  I can't decide if I want to make a full apron that covers the chest, or just a waist apron.  Here's what the tablecloth looks like folded up...

 

And here is the apron Mom made me (way back in 1994, she thinks).  The next picture is of the pinpricks in the paper where I mapped out the edge of my "pattern".  This is the short version of how they do the rub-off method.  The book describes laying a blouse or skirt out and poking through the seams with a pin onto paper, or laying the paper over the item (say, a purse) and tracing the pattern out with a pencil.  Apparently this is something that a lot, if not all, designers use at some point in their lives.  This is also a good way to get something that fits better than using predetermined paper pattern sizes. 

 

 The second project is a serving tray that I bought for some specific reason and it became a coupon catch-all that only holds expired coupons I’ve forgotten about.  I’ve already put two coats of cream-colored paint on it, from my stash of Lowe’s $0.50 mistint samples.  Which hasn’t made as much of a dent as I was hoping…I don’t think I used even a third of that little eight ounce container.  That’s ok though, I was thinking of using that color to repaint our coffee table later this year (I’m keeping the table though!).  Anyhoo, I found out that you can use Elmer’s glue to make a crackle finish with paint, so I’m going to attempt either that or the antiqued, rubbed-edge look with a dark gray or black paint over the cream.  I was also thinking about painting a picture of something on a separate paper and gluing that to the middle of the tray with the crackle paint as a border, but I’m stuck on what to paint.

So, I decided to take a break from all that, pop in one of my Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks, and type this up.  I was originally going to spend the few hours before I have to go to my real job (ick.) taking pictures of the beads I plan on selling, but I got…sidetracked…with typing…yeah…not procrastinating anything AT ALL…I have about a 100 "lots" of beads set aside, all bagged and ready to be photographed, I even have a swatch of black velvet to use as a background...

This is going to be a loooong year.

On the bright side, the last few days of January and the first few of February were GORGEOUS!!  We had all the windows open the other day until we went to bed.  Nothing like a beautiful, spring-like day in the middle of winter to get you moving!  Of course, now it's February 9 and frigid again, just like it's supposed to be (again, ick.)

 Well, until next time!  And maybe then I will have Internet in my own house! :-D

 P.S. While my mom was proofreading this for me, she goes, "Oh! I have a pattern book with aprons in it!  I think I even bought it while shopping with you!"  And in it I found the perfect pattern to use with the tablecloth. :-D Yay!

Yay for Blog Number One!

Ok, yes, it's cheesy, but I needed something to get me started.  I haven't attempted to blog in probably 3 years!


Anyway, so, this is the blog for my 2012 challenge to myself.  Last year, there was a challenge posted on Facebook, requiring participants to hand-make an item for the first five people to comment when the challenge was posted.  Which, technically, I got done.  The last item, as of today, has not been shipped out.  Since some of the other people who did that challenge were a little late on shipping, though, I'm not too upset about it.  At least I made the item...right?


Moving on...


So, the challenge I gave myself for 2012 is for me to make or upcycle 12 items.  I wanted a bigger total, because five was so small that it got continuously postponed until the last few months of the year.  I figured 12 items and a blog about them would help keep me accountable. Sounds simple, right?  I LOVE crafting!...Here-in lies the problem.  Over the last I-don't-know-how-many-years, I have acquired by purchase/gifting/inheritance/etc. WAY TOO MUCH STUFF.  Some of the crafting supplies I've ended up with were from supply stashes that grand-relatives hoarded, so who really knows how many accumulative years of stuff I've actually got.  So late in December of 2011, I decided that the junk needed to go.  I realized that as much as I loved making things, part of the reason I'd kept postponing last year's challenge was I couldn't enjoy it, because I couldn't use the desk I'd christened my Designated Crafting Area.  My desk is a proverbial catching ground for bags of That's-so-neat-I-have-to-buy-it-even-if-I-don't-know-what-I'd-use-it-for supplies and junk mail.  Even the chair is a catch-all.  I have all manner of storage containers and racks and what-not, and those are overflowing with beads and fabric and yarn that were sort of sorted...at one point...

In fact...here's what it looks like...(If you can't laugh at yourself...)

So sprouted the idea that eventually became my challenge.  I get to craft new things, but the catch is, I can only use supplies that I already have.  Because, let's face it.  I don't need any more.  I can't buy anything new, aside from necessary things like sewing thread or glue.  No new fabric.  No more paint.  NO MORE BEADS!  At the end of the year (or sooner!), I intend on putting the items I make up for sale somewhere, hopefully in my brand new Etsy.com shop that I also plan on starting this year.  (My mom wanted me to make the Etsy shop my challenge, but my access to Internet right now is sporadic at best.  I thought I'd just start with something..."easy", instead.)  As an extra bonus, not only do I get rid of items that I've let sit for years by finally using them, I also can weed out the items that I know I won't ever use.  Those items will be sold off as well, in the same Etsy shop or another one just for supplies, hopefully to people who will actually use them.


I've come up with a list of items to make, and I bounced around the idea of posting the whole list, but I'm going to hold off, at least for now.  I don't think it would make much sense to people at this point.  I have my own version of shorthand writing, and I need to find a way to make it more...understandable.  Maybe next to the "descriptions", I could put pictures of the items I'm upcycling, or of patterns...or something like that.  I don't know.  This is far from fine tuned.  I posted the challenge a few weeks ago on my Facebook status and got a lot of suggestions on how to make it better.  The thing that got me the most flack from my mom and my boyfriend's mom.  The original plan was to give the items away, and they told me I needed to sell them, "or I wouldn't be able to fund future projects or get famous."  I also got "yelled at" for taking the advice of one oh-so-wonderful friend that is currently betting I don't finish this challenge.  Said friend stated that if I didn't finish, then I would owe her and whoever else was betting against me $20.  Each.  She THEN told me that if I did finish, she and the betters should get first pick of the items.  I was told by The Mom's that giving people betting I'd fail first pick was stupid on my part.  So now the betters just owe me money, LOL.  No first pick, that's for sure.  (What was I thinking?!)


So that's it.  I have just under a year to finish this challenge.  I have to.  I'm looking at $20 easy money right now if I finish, $40 if you count the other friend who is betting I fail, but called me the other day to tell me about a typewriter key bracelet she saw and wants me to make her a bracelet as one of the items.  I told her a) she's not supposed to be helping me if she's betting against me, and b) if she wants it so bad she has to buy the keys.  I can't buy them, obviously...though I'm not opposed to handouts! ;-)  Although, wouldn't that go against the first pick rule?  Hmmm...I may have to withhold her item until next year!  Oh, I know!  How about if someone who's betting against me decides they want me to make them something, then they forfeit and owe me the $20 right then and there, plus the price of any items I needed to buy specifically for their project?  Sounds good to me!


On that note, I'm off.  Must get to work on my first project, and numerous chores around the house (ugh).  Until next time, I will leave you with a glimpse of what is to come...