Home for the Holidays

With Christmas and New Years just days away and my vacation starting tomorrow. WOOHOO!

I did start on hat #3 and I just have to finish it off and I'm done. Honestly, I don't like it. I thought the yarn would be pretty but nooooooooo. Don't get me wrong, the yarn is pretty just not for this project and it's to delicate to painstakingly take it apart. I have decided that i'm going to give it to my youngest brothers baby's mama. MUWAHAHAHAHA!

I bought more yarn, something even more fun than the yarn I had picked out for my 5yr old niece. I also pulled out this ohhhh so extremely soft yarn by phentex that I got from the Big Lots store for a buck that I'm going to turn into a skinny scarf. Sometimes I can find good yarn cheap there, like the bulky black chenille I made my 1st hat from. I also bought myself another kniffty knitter loom (flower loom) and a kniffty knitter loom project book. I had a few coupons so I took advantage of them.


I won't be back until after the holidays and I really hope I have more projects to share. It's been so long that I've actually made more than a few things and still desiring to make more. It feels good but I just don't seem to have enough time in a day. I will over the holidays because this year, sadly, won't be driving to see family. My car is not in any condition to make the 3hr drive and I really don't want to risk it and plus, don't have the funds for gas and stuff. So, we are going to have a belated christmas (income tax) gathering. LOL! I will be at MY home for the holidays this year instead of at family.

Down to the Wire

Thanksgiving is the week and Christmas is just around the corner. No lack of ideas but still in the energy slump. I have one present done, one I'm thinking about doing but not sure yet and no real idea for any others. My 15yr old daughter wants to make some tube scarves and we just bought a knitting ring to do that. No lack of yarn that's for sure. LOL!

Yesterday I sat down and was doodling with a skirt design for belly dance stuff. The design is fairly simple using a stretch fabric. I have some fabric I bought some time ago, just for that and didn't get around to it then. I seriously need to make myself a duct tape dummy or buy a dress dummy and soon. I have ideas busting out of my ears for sewing and plenty of fabric and even new attachments to make my sewing eaiser.

I think other than not really having the room, I don't want to upset the SO. I just need to tell them to kiss my butt, I'm going to do what makes me happy. I'm so worried about causing friction at home in our cramped apartment that i'm not helping myself and my current blues. I think that will all change this weekend because i'm going to get some durn sewing in or something. I need to get out of this slump. I keep buying material for the ideas but not doing anything with them.

Having Christmas just around the corner isn't helping any cause i'm broke and have made so many thing over the years for my family that i'm kinda lost as in what to make now. I have a few ideas but i'm limited because of space, time and money. So very frustrating.

Just around the Corner

HI! Just another week and Christmas will be here, YEAH! I've gotten almost all of my Christmas shopping done and went way over my budget, oops! I still have a few things to make, just need the motivation. I got some of the supplies I have been waiting on and now just need to find a bit of time to finish up the earrings to go with a necklace. I also need to finish the scarf i'm working on for my grandmother. I can't wait till next week because i'm OFF, OFF, OFF! 9 day vacation, WOOHOO! I'm excited but I'm not, cause probably half of that is going to be sent traveling from one place to another. Honestly, I'd rather just stay home but I can't cause I miss my family too and it's hard to go and see them and this time of year is when I get my vacation so I gotta go.

Creatively speaking, I have earrings to finish and I need to finish up on a prototype ring design. I haven't come across a ring like this yet but doesn't mean that someone hasn't already done it or something very similar. So after the holidays look for my new design (to me anyways).

I have a beef with an artist even though I don't know where this lady is from, just somewhere near El Campo TX., I think. My great Aunt T ordered a couple of floral paperweights for my grandmother. My grandmother wanted red roses and the date of birth and death of my grandfather. When my grandmother recieved the items she told me that she almost started crying and was just going to throw them in the trash. First, they weren't even red roses, they were a reddish carnation and a yellow carnation. Second, they weren't even the same sizes. The reddish carnation is probably the better of the two but not by to much. The yellow carnation one, it's like the lady just decided to hurry up and since she didn't seem to have enough resin to make it the same size the carnation looks squished.The yellow one, it's just horrible, I was upset that this artist actually let that one leave to a customer. They both have knicks like they were cut by something. The bottoms were painted with a crappy green paint that didn't even get into all the cracks and crevices. The bottom was covered with green felt and it was a sloppy job on cutting it to fit the bottoms. The yellow one actually had scraps of green felt stuck to the bottom. As an artist, selling a product, I would never have let those leave my home much less expect the customer to pay for them. It's things like this that give crafter/artists a bad name and make consumers continue to see our creations as "garage sale" type products. Grrr, just thinking about it makes me mad and I have those horrible pieces at my house right now. About the only decent thing I can say about them, the person did a decent job on keeping the air bubbles out. I'm going to have to get pictures so that everyone can see. I just haven't had time yet.

Hang around Creativity!

I know I haven't posted in a bit and I haven't been keeping this up to date as well as I should but I haven't been doing much, so I haven't posted. Well, the past few days have been interesting though. I have had a few ideas, started a few new pieces last night and i'm almost done with one of them. I've been seriously procrastinating on taking some pictures for Etsy. It's jewelry I've made but previous pictures just didn't do them justice and I really need to relist them, just with better pictures. I'm really hoping that my creative spark hangs around a little longer this time. Usually about this time of year, even in my dry spells, I get a little bit of a creative boost to make stuff so that I have gifts to give at Christmas.

I have 1 belly dancing necklace that is almost finished.
I have 1 pair of belly dancing earrings to finish, just need a few supplies.
I started a red knitted scarf for my grandmother, which I'm planning on starting over.
I need to finish 1 helm maille bracelet, need to add clasp and beads.
I need to cut rings to make my mom a helm maille jewelry set for christmas.
I need to finish stringing the beads for my grandmothers gambling bracelet.
I need to attach lobster clasp to my grandmothers gambling zipper pull.
Try out the fleece hat pattern I came across.

I have a few ideas swirling around for some polymer clay christmas ornaments. These ornaments will not be covered ornaments though. I guess I'll see how that turns out. I also have a few ideas for some scrap material that I'd like to make into either hippie bags or some grocery bags. This idea will take some doing, because the pieces are just strips of different sizes and designs.

I have a 5 day weekend, WOOHOO! I'm crossing fingers that I get to atleast half of the stuff I want to do. I'm hoping to do a bit of spring cleaning and dispensing with some creative supplies. I really need to pair down my collection and at the same time I need to come up with some extra cash to get some car repairs done before Christmas, hence the pairing down of supplies.

Just the thought of having to get rid of something makes me feel sick to my stomach. It seems like I have a lot of stuff and compaired to the amount of space I have to work with, I do. In reality however, I have a moderate selection of supplies, it's just unorganized. I think the biggest part of my whole collection is fabric, then yarn, then magazine/books and then so on. My hubby just doesn't seem to understand and it is really frustrating. He thinks if I haven't used it in 5yrs then it needs to go, except that the right idea just hasn't come along yet or I just haven't had the time to really spend on it. Sewing, my biggest collection of stuff and the least amount worked on. I have the patterns, the ideas just not the time or space as of yet. I need the space to cut out patterns, which I don't have. I'd do a lot more sewing then.

My carpel tunnel is acting up so I can't really do any crocheting or knitting for long or short periods for that matter. My hands, especially my fingers start going numb. In fact my middle and ring finger on my right hand are tingling as I type this. I just have to work through it I guess. I'm hoping soon that things will start to turn around and I can have it taken care of and ease things up so I can really sit down and work on stuff. I think that is also part of the problem lately with my creative slump. Why start something if my hands are just going to go numb. I use my hands to see what I'm making or working on.

I should have some stuff to post about next week.