Saturday, September 17, 2011

etsy favorites of the day...items

Mod Blue Floral Tote Bag

Hopping Frogs Sweater


Absolutely darling purple flip flops

etsy favorites of the day...shops

Bates Mercantile Co

Pure Craft

Mitzy Edith's Etsy Shop

go go go ROBOT

Pretty Foldings

Kimberly Ann Marie's Etsy Shop

Holiday Decorations by Cereus Art

This and That Crafter

Paint Brushed Boutique

Paying it Forward

This past week I purchased two items from Etsy that were part of the "pay it forward" movement.
I debated for a few days what I would list as my PIF item. While organizing my supplies this week (and closet last week) I came across "L'Annuaire Francais" - The French Yellow Pages. I picked it up at my favorite French restaurant (they have a little shop as well), and recently decided it might be a great source for my collage work.

I selected two pages to list. And of course after photographing them, managed to get a drop of water on one. Fortunately there were plenty more to choose from, so I found another and re-did the pictures.

So here it is:

PIF item - Pages from L'Annuaire Francais

Thursday, September 15, 2011

newfound blogs

recent discoveries...

Sumo's Sweet Stuff
- http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/

Dittle Dattle - http://www.dittledattle.blogspot.com/

Making the World Cuter - http://makingtheworldcuter.com/

Thanks to Wandering Jeweler for leading me to these fantastic finds!

in search of a fall bag

earlier this summer...
the bag i loved at Gap lacked the pockets i needed. it wasn't going on sale. but at least some of my sundresses were red and would get along just fine with the (red) bag i'd been carrying all spring. then one day at Ross's...

the little brown leather Fossil bag was neutral, and had enough pockets despite the size. yet the Sak tote bag with adorable birds called my name as well. perhaps inspired by that 80's barbie whose work clothes transformed into something to wear to her 'date with dr. ken', i decided that the brown one would hold essentials and fit quite nicely in the bird bag, amongst all the other 'things'. when a smaller bag was needed, i could take the little one out of the big one, not not have the whole changing purse drama.

now these bags would be fine for fall. the bird bag is wounded, however. one of the straps is damaged, and a scrap from my ribbons-&-cords box is keeping it on my shoulder. the fabric store lacked the right trim to make new straps, yet had some wonderful vintage fabric for another project. and of course in my craftiness i feel the need to repair it myself as opposed to taking it to a shop for fixing. why deprive myself of a fun project?

but oh, the old call of back-to-school shopping is in the wind. the commercials, the fall fashion spilling out of magazines. living in a town where people actually wear the expensive things from the magazines. all of these elements swirl around in my head, creating a longing for an 'it' bag of my own...something unique, affordable, durable, and filled with pockets. and if it's older than me, even twice my age, that would be fabulous.

in the end, it's not really about the bag, but about the hunt. it need not be trendy, it need not be from a brand anyone's ever heard of. all it needs...pockets!

keeping up

so many possibilities, so little time and space.

not enough hours in the day, space on my hard drive, or free gigs or megabytes on my iphone (my iphone 4 with 32 gigs, that is). and too many pop ups from firefox saying a script is not responding-pop ups that take me away from the page i was on. i feel like this started two updates ago. maybe if i upgraded to the latest version of firefox it would stop. but i upgraded once, was unhappy, and proceeded to downgrade. and let's not forget non-digital space. there's only so many beads one can fit in a little bungalow. ;-)

maybe it's the ADHD, but sometimes I wonder why there isn't an app that helps creative people find the perfect balance of creating and promoting. perhaps the app does exist, but my phone is too full to download it.



monday...well, that seems like days ago, but from what i recall i was working on reorganizing my crafting stuff, moving it from the bedroom/under the bed into the breakfast nook.

tuesday i started research for an old project that never got off the ground-a database of antique pedal harps. and the afternoon was spent at the laundromat.

wednesday was spent creating a new website, www.zombieharpist.com, in order to promote myself as an award-winning, and quite possibly the only, zombie harpist. the evening was spent organizing and working on a job application.

today i've been focusing on organizing some of my firefox bookmarks and etsy stuff.

it's not that i feel old. or that i can't keep up with technology. i am quite adept with my iphone. if i had the money i would buy an ipad. i'd love a full version of photoshop, final draft, and final cut, but those are all quite pricey. and my hard drive is quite full. quite a bit of that is my photography, another chunk is from when i was cutting together a teaser trailer.


but hope is on the horizon. my husband agreed to let me use the breakfast nook as a craft room. the bedroom had worked for quite a few months, but in the last heatwave i discovered the kitchen and nook, lacking windows, was the coolest spot in the house. a recently transformed Anthropologie gift box serves as a home for our vintage map collection. i enjoyed the process of creating the storage container-getting organized is much more fun when there is craftiness involved.

well, enough rambling...back to crafting, organizing, and etsy-ing.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

crafty fun

Despite it being "too darn hot" (anyone know what that song is from?), I find myself at my laptop. The fan and frozen towel on my head do little to combat the near-90 temperatures that hover. I'm not sure what my roof is made of, but it feels as if it's drawing the heat right in.

So as a distraction, I have been hunting the web for some crafty inspirations. My mind has wandered away from jewelry making at the moment and instead stumbled back upon general craftiness and perhaps some mixed media projects as well.

Here are some of today's crafty link finds...

Via Craftgossip I found some fantastic recycling projects:
plastic bottle banks....original site, craftgossip article.

Emergency candles....craftgossip article


Storage from diaper boxes or try the craftgossip link


About.com has plenty of finds as well:
Film Container/Pill Bottle ideas.

Bubble necklace.

Duck finger puppet.

Finger puppet fun.


From elsewhere on the web...

Altered Playing Cards (APCs)

Trash to Treaure forum on Gardenweb

And also their Crafts and Decorations forum.

And a non-craft link...a cool vintage clothing shop:
Xtabay Vintage Clothing Boutique