on hiatus

official hiatus with no guilt

thing.a.day 12 & 13

day 12 & day 13 i made more foundation pieced postcards. i’ve decided once i have a nice big stack of them then i will pull out the serger and finish the edges on them all. making these cards isn’t helping downsize my fabric stash at all! didn’t even make a dent in the bag of scraps. thanks to kelly @ mysimplewalk.com for the tutorial on paper piecing!

i also finally got some of the paper ornaments strung as a garland. it’s very pretty marbled paper, but i don’t know who would use it or for what purpose. the garland made sense to me when i was making valentine ornaments, it’s holiday decor. but this… xmas tree garland? idk. i just thought it was pretty & now i don’t know what to do with it.

day 13 i also made up a batch of waxing sugar.  it’s time to do some grooming and get of rid of my winter fur since valentines is tomorrow.  yesterday i heated up my sugar in the microwave and carried it to the bathroom, set it on the counter. partially, at the edge of the counter, so it flipped over and landed upside down on the bathroom rug. hence, the need to make more today.  i cleaned splattered sugar off the cabinets, floor, walls, door, and rug. that’s one of the things i love about sugaring versus wax, if it gets somewhere you don’t want it to be, sugar is much easier to clean up. i’ve been sugaring for about a year, and i have a lot of tips and stories i could share but as far as “how-to”, nina @ redfootwalking probably has the most thorough directions with endless tips and help.

cooking sugar

while in the kitchen cooking sugar, i came across a couple bottles of powdered vitamin supplements that had gotten some moisture in them & hardened. i can’t bare to throw things away. i had to poke, jab & shake the hardened powder out and i poured hot water in the bottles to dissolve the rest. the first bottle i put the lid back on and started shaking it up with the hot water but then it exploded all over the kitchen. all over. so i didn’t try capping & shaking the second bottle. i got a few quilting squares – didn’t wash them or use any kind of fixative first, i just put them in the water & supplement mixtures and let them soak while i went to the studio for the afternoon. the vitamin C yellow squares aren’t that great but the ones dyed with the supplement containing grape seed & red wine extracts came out very pretty. don’t know if it will hold up to washing so maybe i’ll make yoyos out of them (and put on something not to be washed).

vitadye

vitadye bubbles

vitadye splatters

vitadyed!

the sugar is ready but i still haven’t used it. i don’t have anything made or even planned for my sweetie tomorrow. crud.

happy valentine’s day!!

thing.a.days 7-11

thing 7 : quilted postcard. foundation pieced (aka paper piecing) on interfacing with backing. i have more pieces already cut and ironed, ready to be sewn. (i’ve figured out that’s one of my “time-eaters”; i prep to do multitudes of something, not just one. and when trying to get things made by a daily deadline, prepping for multiples doesn’t leave time to make any more than one.) i have to do a bit of rearranging & space-making so i’m not getting up and walking to the other room in between every piece to trim, iron and pin. that took up too too much time. i’d really like to just serge the edges on these postcards, but at the moment my serger’s on a shelf and there’s not a good usable space for it to move to today. perhaps i will try bias tape around the edges. my sewing machine isn’t set up in it’s normal spot. if i got really motivated i could work to get all craft room, office, guest room & living room items back to their permanent homes, but… just not feelin’ it. and where the machine is now, i can watch tv.

thing 8: i claimed the sandwich i made for lunch as my thing that day, i was frustrated and ready for bed. i scribbled out my nightly to-do list when i got home from work and did a really great job getting things marked off, but making my “thing” was near the end of the list. i feverishly gathered papers, made patterns and cut hearts (and more hearts and more hearts) to take to work with me the next day for a couple 2 year olds to make valentines. then near 11, i sat down to make heart yoyos. i’d never made a yoyo before and didn’t have directions, but i got one done, it looked right, i carefully scrunched it all around, tied off the thread – and pop! broke the thread and it all started coming undone.  so, my ham & cheese sandwich it was.

thing 9: kids valentines. so i know there’s a difference in making something myself and supervising children making things. but if you do crafts with kids you know that you are very much involved. the kids glued together layers of the hearts i cut the night before and decorated the backs with markers and stickers.  along with the craft supplies i toted to work with me for the kids wednesday and thursday (yeah, i could’ve used the kids’ work again for my day 10 thing-a-day) i also lugged around paper, punches, glue, clips, fabric, yoyo makers, needles & thread in hopes of having time to make ornaments or yoyos during the day. but i didn’t, i just carried it all back and forth with me.

things 10 & 11 : more paper ornaments like day 6. i do it with everything, but these ornaments are another prime example where i cut out enough to make 100 instead of just making one at a time from start to finish. i’ll post a photo of a finished garland in my next entry.  i was working on valentines appropriate ones too but v-day is 2 days away, so while cleaning today i just went ahead and put them away. i wanted to sell them. maybe next year. day 10 i also made more valentines with the kids. i painted from their thumbs up their index fingers (palm side) and had them put thumbs and index fingers together (like a triangle) and press on paper, then i tried to scrunch their little thumbs down to help form more of a heart shape. i think they turned out adorable. they also got to do free finger painting and more gluing of left over hearts from the day before.

thing.a.day 5 & 6

my official thing-a-day post for day 5 is sort of a repeat of day 4 except i was only the “helper” & no pet rocks.

crafty girls

we had 11 kids for a birthday slumber party and they made bottle cap necklaces, which i’m waiting to receive a picture of them with the finished products (i did the resin late last night before i headed home) and feather pens.  they were super excited that they were allowed to use the glue guns and the grown-up scissors. only one kid got burned, unfortunately it was the birthday girl. but i didn’t have much sympathy for her because she wasn’t listening to me and stuck her finger directly in a puddle of hot glue that had just dripped out of my gun. lesson learned.  they all had a lot of fun doing the crafts and wanted to make more more more!  you could tell how proud of themselves they were with what they had made.

before i went to the party i made paper ornaments, which i intended to post as my “day 5″  but i didn’t take pictures before leaving the house and i didn’t get back home ’til 2:30 in the morning. i was amazed there were still girls awake and giggling and gabbing away when i left around 2. it was waay past my bedtime.

without further ado, here’s my thing 6:  paper ornaments.  
there are many more to be made and some of them will be strung as garland.  i learned not to watch tv while doing these, i’d watch tv for a second and the glue would dry before i had the paper arranged just right. no one else would notice the little wompy parts but i’m a bit of a perfectionist sometimes.

i almost got my “day 6″ posted to my blog ON Day 6. almost.

thing.a.day 3 & 4

day 3 - i made pet rocks

i know, i know, day 3 was pitiful. i glued wiggly eyes onto some rocks. it was for my own well-being, i had to get some sleep. and you know, i went to bed pleased with myself because i made & posted *something*. the comical part about it is that while trying to think up something super quick and easy i walked in the dining room and opened one drawer in the credenza and found the supplies. the eyes were on top of the credenza (i’m putting together an arts & crafts kit for the kid i take care of). most people don’t keep rocks and wiggly eyes in their dining room credenzas. well i found it humorous anyways. they got their cool ‘dos the next day. maybe they’ll acquire new parts all month.

ribbon & feather pens

the originally planned projects for days 4 and 5 (today) have switched places. yesterday i made samples of the crafts i’ll be helping kids make today at a party, feathery ribbon wrapped pens and bottle cap necklaces. i’m so easily distracted, i moved from one craft to another and never made it back to my main project. i was gluing feathers on pens and decided my rocks needed hair. i was choosing ribbon for necklaces and got sidetracked making a wreath. i was clear coating bottle caps and really wanted to spray paint some cans for an upcoming thing but caught myself from wandering on that one. that’s just how i am, self diagnosed ADD.

thing one & thing two

thing one

yesterday, for day 1 of my thing-a-day challenge (and only 2 days in, it IS a challenge) i made a heating pad cover/case.

i’ve been planning to make it for a few weeks so i should be happy it’s off my to-make list now. but because i rushed through it trying to make it and get it posted online before midnight last night i think there’s a do-over on my list. i measured or cut the fabric wrong and didn’t allow enough to do a french seam like i planned or to attach velcro fasteners to the open end. but it does fit nice and snug so maybe it won’t need closures.  i’d like to (oohh… i’m not supposed to do that, am i? start declaring all that i’d LIKE to do. shoot!) i’ll just say there may be another, better heating pad cover in the near future.

when i try to fly through projects it always winds up taking longer than it would have just to slow down and do it right the first time. i made a 10 minute fleece hat for someone last month but because i was trying to get it done in a hurry i didn’t measure or cut accurately and it was too small. so i quickly whipped out another one… that was too big. but the third one was just right. just took 3 times longer than it should have.

and today, for day two of my thing-a-day challenge i made

glow snow

more of the floating glow in the dark snowflake garlands that i made last week. it is made with glow in the dark and glitter three dimensional paint designs on overhead transparency paper, cut out, threaded & knotted on fishing line.  personally, i think they’re brilliant. they’re not obtrusive or obnoxious as decor, they’re see-through. this is a quick and simple design but you could do anything. and they kind of whisper to you when they whirl in the wind (i’ve had the ceiling fans on high. they weren’t whispering, they were going “WWHHEEEEEE!”). i have heart garland strung in front of the bathroom mirror which may seem like a silly place but it’s an unexpected smile every time i flip on the bathroom light and see hearts floating in the air.  part of tonight’s crafting was just making big tangled messes of fishing line and cutting it apart. this isn’t a sitting craft. and when you stand up, hang onto the line through the needle as you thread the transparencies. i lost it. a lot of times.

so those are my first 2 “official” things for the month. it was pointed out to me after writing last night’s blog that i actually do intentionally create things all the time. today i built a whole post office. everyday i’m dabbling or scribbling or flirting with ideas. it would be easy to just choose something i did during my day to claim as my thing per day but i like the idea of putting extra effort into a specific project.  unfortunately, i don’t think this month-long sprint will turn out much high quality work when i’m squeezing it into a couple hours and trying to finish before falling asleep each night.  i see a very fortunate angle to this though that could help me work through my perfectionist hang-ups and perhaps i’ll finally be able to make it from idea all the way through final production.

kids handprint gift and my new special ‘nana puddin’

it’s tuesday again? how did that happen so fast?! and it’s not just any old tuesday – it’s tuesday february 1st – the first day of the thing-a-day project. almost 10 pm and i’ve yet to do any intentionally creative thing. i’ve cleaned up arts & crafts stuff  out of the living room tonight, i’m going to write this, then i’ll be making something. maybe i’ll have it worked out by the time i get to the end of this entry.

quick recap of my past week’s work:

handprint pen can

wednesday i prepped for thursday’s project, a pen can for a two-year old to make as a birthday gift for his dad. i pre-cut the paper to fit the can and let him put his handprints on it and some glitter paint, then after the paint dried we glued the paper to the can and bias tape to the top edge. in retrospect, the easier thing to do with a child this young would have been to go ahead and cover the can myself, then let him pick up the paper covered can with paint-y hands.

friday i went out of my comfort zone and into the kitchen. a friend was having a birthday dinner so i made banana puddin’ to take. i tried to follow paula deen’s recipe but there was a really long period of stirring and stirring (maybe i had the heat too low), i got bored and started adding a dash of this and a dash of that. i tried to refrain because i know that’s why nothing i cook comes out right, but i felt compelled to add extras. it’s more fun that way. i know my friend likes blue bird brand banana pudding cupcakes so i added jell-o banana

banana puddin'

cream pudding for the top layer to give that imitation banana flavor like the cupcakes have. it turned out a little thin i think and the meringue a little too browned compared to the picture next to paula’s recipe but it tasted SO good. i was very proud of myself for it to be my first attempt at banana puddin’.

saturday and sunday i prepped for upcoming projects. at home i played spin art  which will be worked into a collage or card maybe,  i cut bookoos of paper circles to make ornaments or garlands or something out of. at the studio, i painted bottle caps and gathered supplies for a 10-year old’s crafting birthday party next saturday. we’ll be helping the girls make ribbon & feather pens and bottle cap necklaces.

i’ve got to go make something, anything,  and figure out how i’m going to get myself to sit down at a computer every day for the next month.

bottle caps

paper circles

mini spin art fun!

salad stamp & reclaimed snowflakes

this weekend i made….  salad.

i actually made more than just salad everyday this past weekend, but i didn’t make time to sit down at the computer to share any of my goings-on. so here are a couple things i did this weekend…

i did make a salad and before i threw the stalk end in the compost bucket i whipped out some paint and used it to stamp a few mailers and some black cotton paper. the paper will get incorporated into something i make in the next month. this is a fun technique to add interesting texture to your painting or for kids to stamp their art.

in all actuality, there was no “whipping out” of the paint. i had to tunnel my way in to dig it out of the sewing/craft room (formerly referred to as the office) closet. then i found that i only had 3 tubes of acrylic paint here, the rest is at the studio, which made me think gee, maybe i do need to do some preparation for next month’s thing-a-day sprint.

after stamping i went back to straighten up in the craft room since, as my beau so lovingly put it, “it looks like the closet threw up all over the office” and i found last year’s glow in the dark window cling snowflakes. what i’m referring to – one of my regular seasonal decorations is painting designs on the windows. generally snowflakes in winter, leaves in fall, last summer was big tropical flowers. spiderwebs for halloween are super quick and easy. so at the end of last winter instead of scraping the paint off i very gently peeled all the paint snowflakes off the glass and stuck them to plastic so i could re-use this year. well, they are stuck tight to the plastic. there was no way to get them back to windows without seriously mangling them. i couldn’t bear to throw them away. so i cut each one out and now have glow in the dark snowflake transparent garlands! they could use touching up, they had a lot of disconnected pieces that didn’t make the movefrom the windows since i didn’t paint them with the intention of saving them. but in the interest of completing projects, i just went ahead and strung them as-is. i have enough to make 2 more strands then i think they’ll move to the stairwell for the rest of the season.

so many ideas and possibilities for these that can range from toddler appropriate to as wildly creative and artistic as you can create. since i vowed not to blog my “to-do’s” i can’t tell my ideas that i plan to do, but i can’t wait to do them and show them off. i need a die cut machine to give them a nicer finished look. any ideas on the best way to store these so they aren’t a big tangled mess when i get them out next year?

more was done this weekend. i went to the studio, that could be a whole other blog entry in itself.  i think this is wordy enough so i’ll show the other projects later. i see the importance of posting one project or one day at a time instead of a whole weekend’s worth. and it’s already tuesday? i played with a spin art yesterday.

i made a mini heart garland before i went to work yesterday morning

i’ve been planning my “menu & ingredients” for next month’s projects  and i need to come up with a project for a little boy to make a birthday present for his dad this week.

melt and pour. recycled mold

yep. the title pretty much says it all. i melted the soap. i poured the soap.
then i ran down the hall & jumped in the shower because i was already running late getting ready for work this morning.

you may think this is lacking in creativity, but i told “my” little guy it was lightning mcqueen before he got his red paint job and he seemed to think that made good sense. (i get atleast one point for that don’t ya think?)  he had a lot of fun driving the soap all over his body to get clean in the bath.

for the mold, i used the plastic casing a toy car was packaged in. i was quite pleased with myself for this little idea. i happened to find the mold on the back porch hiding in a pile of snow & ice, i guess it fell out of the recycle bin, and immediately thought “soap mold!” i wish i had seen it sooner, i could’ve  salvaged the packages from the other 15 cars he got last week.  i may try to make a bar with all the features and colors filled in. it’ll be tough since there aren’t indentations on the mold to contain the soap designs and give them any depth. also, glycerin soap will melt away pretty quickly with a 2 year old playing with it underwater in long baths, so i don’t know if the time in it would really be worth it.

create *something* every day

i started flirting with the idea of this blog a couple weeks ago while considering a new years resolution to create something (specifically something creative, artistic & crafty) every day for a year. i decided against making that colossal commitment official. but everyday for a month (and the shortest month at that) i think i can handle… i hope.

every day in february i will be participating in this thing-a-day project.

that will temporarily change things up just a little from what my last post said this blog would be. my introductory month will probably be primarily “quick crafts” to churn out something new everyday and get an excellent jump start on blogging. i foresee quicky crafting not entailing a lot of history & behind the scenes accounts.  once march rolls around i’ll be back to the original plan with more detailed, time consuming, passionate work.

i don’t know the official thing-a-day.com rules for this activity but moonbeam’s rules govern my world and i say finishing things that were started previously will count as my thing for a day.  i intend to use only materials i already have on hand or at the least, i wont purchase anything new for any of my daily projects. i have two weeks to get soap stuff taken care of; i’m updating my etsy shop & listings this week. but i may have to “make” some lame things some days like ingredient labels or cigar bands. and if i get desperate or lazy, instant pudding is allowed to count as my thing for a day too.

taking care of routine tasks like packaging before february gets here!