Getting back on the horse

Trying desperately to get back into the habit of making things. I used to have unlimited time, now I have VERY limited time. And in that time I normally feel too exhausted to do anything, but I miss crafting so much. I'm trying to get back into embroidery which is very new to me. I used to do a little bit with my plushes, but now I'm trying to just straight-up embroider.

I'm apparently ok at it, based on the birthday present I posted before, but I'm not so ok at coming up with patterns on my own. Drawing has become a sore subject for me that last few years.

Here's hoping!

I'm so good at birthdays!

Haven't had a chance to mail this off yet. Thought the dog card would be a nice touch. Need to find a nice padded shipping envelope big enough for this embroidery hoop.

People should send me presents like this. I'd be such a happy girl.

Make It Work!

Yesterday was a friend's birthday so I spent most of the day making this for him.

He's always on about getting a tattoo of Tim Gunn and I saw this several months ago and thought of him. After realizing it was his birthday I decided to whip this up to mail to him.

I miss having any-time access to this blog. I have to wait until I'm using someone else's computer. I even left a post on the forum and no one offered me any help so I guess I'm SOL til I get a new computer.

"Luckily" I never having anything to post these days. I miss endless days of crafting and watching Doctor Who and Northern Exposure.

Harry Potter Embroidery Pt. 2

I had originally wanted to make a "Weasley is Our King!!" one and we really excited to see that Kim included one in her bonus patterns, but chose to redraw it because her design wasn't working for me.

I didn't follow her patterns exactly on a lot of these, but I don't think what I paid to use her patterns was an unfair price to be inspired!

I'll post the finished product probably after Harry Potter tonight! :)

Harry Potter and the Hoops of Embroidery

I bought some Harry Potter patterns from Kim Smith to make embroidered badges to wear to Deathly Hallows tomorrow. I know most people are trying to get into midnight showings, but it's a tradition for my sister and I to go the day it officially opens to the latest show. We got our tickets yesterday afternoon. Going Friday night, however, gives me time to finish these up and get the badges assembled. I am pretty excited!

Productive Day At Work

Searching the internet at work for yarn pictures for ideas for an ad. Came up with a whole lot of great stuff I can't use, but is fun to look at!

Alas these images remind me of how undproductive I'm being in my own crafting life. I have about a month to secure my booth for the craft fair and about the same amount of time to produce ALL of my inventory. I just want to curl up like the kitten in the last picture!

For the rest of the week I need to focus on making 16 calaveras. (That's just this week's task)

Crafting update 2

I managed to get the rest done today. I don't know about the one in front though. I've been having a tough time with embroidering the Ziggy Stardust ones. The one I made for this customer came out terrible, so I made one with felt lightning but I don't know if I can sell the customer on it. Hope so. Much cleaner-looking. For the most part they look better than some of my old ones, but it's been so long since I've sewn any. Now I have to figure out how much merchandise to make for the art fair.

Crafting update.

I got my first sort-of complaint on etsy yesterday. I had some customers order some things a few weeks ago and I haven't had the time or energy to get them out. I now know why I've been so exhausted the past few months, but it's still going to be a few more days before I can get in to see a doctor and get things straightened out, but I've had a wee bit more energy since I found out and have been trying to do my best to eat right. Still tired but I don't want to lose customers over it. I've got 3 of 7 done so far.

I also just went through my embroidery floss for the first time in months because it was a huge mess and I couldn't find half of the colors I needed. Looks like a lot but I'm still missing a few colors, or at least running low on some. Going to have to take a trip to the craft store on pay day.

WTF SHOULD I DO WITH MY LIFE?

I think this website is adorable, but I had to click "hell no!" like 4billion times to get this one.

Craftastrophe

I feel like it's been months since I've been able to sit down and craft. While that's not entirely true, it's somewhat accurate. I started my job in July and since then I haven't really had a whole lot of time, or energy, to sit down and sew.

I have something like 20 orders to fill, or at least 20 or so items to make, plus I have goodness knows how much to get done for the county fair and for the arts and crafts fair I'm selling at in October. Deadline for the fair is the end of September, and I'm only submitting a few things, but I will need to restock completely on merchandise for the arts and crafts thing in October which will take me pretty much the whole month of September if not longer.

NOW my boss is thinking about trying to get me to work full-time a loooot sooner than she had originally planned. When-oh-when will I fit all of this into my life? Why can't I make enough from sewing to quit my job?!

More foam crafting.

Yesterday I made this little bird and 4 more cheeto pins. I was pleasantly surprised about the bird, because I can't even draw one.

Dangerously Cheesy Jewelry.

My friend Jazzy said she wanted a Cheeto pin and when I inquired as to if she meant a pin that looked like a Cheeto she said yes, and that Jason Schwartzman had one, and said for me to make her one.

I agreed and went to the craft store directly after work. It's made of a foam egg that I sculpted with my fingernail in the car and some orange paints, glossy glaze, hot glue (that I had to melt with a candle because I can't find my gun) and a pin-back. I wanted to use a tie pin, but the store didn't have any.

Faren Makes...Tissue Paper

I have no packaging for large items, like pillows, so I went ahead and printed some tissue paper to wrap them in because the USPS mailers are not very fancy and definitely not Faren Makes Art-istic.

The Craft Barn

I went to the craft store I grew up going to for the first time in years to see if they had some tiny safety eyes that I was using for my bats that the big craft store no longer sells. When I was looking around the store I found some wooden mustaches and a 99 cent bear head.

The store smelled like my grandmother and my childhood, which was awesome and a giant bummer all at once.

Cabin Fever? Stir Crazy?

Nope. None of the above. In reality I'm suffering from a little PMS, boredom, and the frustration that comes from a whole city with not one single copy of Northern Exposure season 5.

Quite possibly my favorite TV show of all-time. Every few years I go through a big Northern Exposure phase where I become deeply addicted to the show and start wishing the town was real and frozen in time and start longing to run away to Alaska (even though the show was filmed in Washington... which I also love, so I could deal with that). The Hallmark Channel played reruns when I was in high school, I would watch it every night, remembering bits and pieces from when I was a kid and it was still on the air. When Hallmark got rid of it, I bought the first two seasons on DVD. Then several months ago I re-watched them and bought the next two. I'm currently on the last disc of season 4 and before I go into my own proverbial hibernation and start sewing for 2 weeks, I thought I'd grab season 5.

No such luck, I'm afraid. After transferring $43 from paypal to my bank account to run to town and buy season 5, I was left disappointed. First of all, my cash is stuck in limbo for a few days, and to top it off, there are 0 copies of any season in town now. So I opted to order it, but my money is still stuck neither here nor there and overstock.com takes paypal but my paypal money is now on its way to my bank account and goodness knows when it will arrive. Then I have to wait 2-15 days before I get the DVDs and by then I'll be at least half-way through my sewing and completely done with season 4.

Oh well!

More Tinks

Trink the Magical Tree Tink.


And two tinks I guess I never posted from May. That gold and maroon one is my favorite (as you can see I copied his face on the tree tink) but I can't find him anywhere...so I made a backup until I find this one.

Famous Tinks Throughout History

Who could forget Tinkey Tink, Hello Tinky, and Termit the Tink?

Death by pillow

Stayed up til about 10:00 am working on the first pillow prototype. I really need to use the sewing machine for these next time.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

This plus Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the equivalent of my Sunday!
Happy Memorial Day! ♥