Working my Fingers to the Bone

Things have been insane at work. October 15th was a tough deadline with 150 returns to finish and get out the door. Which has meant this past week has been met with long hours and non-stop work. I got through it though, exhausting yes, but done with a smile non the less.

I was even able to relax a little at home and get some crocheting done. I am working on getting my inventory up for the annual High School craft bazaar.

I have definitely come to the conclusion, even though I love doing all different kinds of crafts my favorite by far is crochet.

Craft Shows

When you are walking thru a craft fair what items catch your eye?

The holiday season is approaching and that means holiday craft fairs by the dozen. I am ready to jump in with both feet and have ideas as to what I want to sell but need input from my fellow readers.

What crochet items are you more likely to buy?
Would you spend $15 - $20 on a handmade journal?

Email or leave a comment here.....all will be appreciated. Peace.

New Tattoo Warmers

Because Tattoos need to stay warm too....

I am slowly building my collection of handmade Wrist Warmers for my professional dress code. BLOGGED HERE.

Ooooo So Good! And I made it all by myself!

I am not sure I could pin point what I love most about Salmonberry Jelly.

Gathering is so much fun. I usually try to go in the evening when it isn't so hot and it tends to be quieter. Tromping thru the bushes, dodging spiders, filling up buckets with berries and even munching on a few. I have found the last two years the best place to go is the same place I got married, which makes the picking of the berries that much more special.

Making the Jelly....the kitchen turns into a huge production line. All the berries get smooshed, and smashed until there is nothing left of them except seeds and juice. I never quite know how much juice I will get. Measure this, measure that, boil then add that, it's like a science experiment, that your not sure you did it right till the end.

The final product....all I can say is........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Who Wants Cake?

I truly believe that a person should eat a piece of cake everyday of their life, because no matter what kind of cake it is, it gives you a sense of celebration...and in life everyday should be a celebration! And of course cake is just yummy! For my hubby's birthday I wanted to make the cake. I had in my mind an idea for a cake that was two playing cards, since he was playing a game of cards with his buddies during his party.



The cake.....
Two boxes of vanilla cake mix.
Two Cream Cheese frosting.
One Red frosting for decorating.
One Black frosting for decorating.
Candles.

Nothing to it...a piece of cake!

I Know I'm a Slacker

So it's been over a week which means I should have tons of projects to post right? Wrong. It is that time of year again where work is busy busy busy (corporate tax deadline).

This is our new gate for the dogs. Why do we have a gate you may ask...well last Monday when I got home after work, I let the dogs out in the backyard to go potty. I then left them alone so I could put my stuff down and go potty myself. In that two minutes Spade (the one on the left) disappeared.

Some may say oh no big deal, my dog gets out all the time and comes back a little while later. For Spade, it is a big deal. She never travels far from her chair and even needs coxing to go outside to go potty. When we travel to the beach she keeps a small distance between me and her, about 3 feet. She is 11 years old and doesn't move that fast. So for her to run away, it is a big deal. As soon as I noticed she wasn't in the back yard, I circled the house...no Spade, I looked under the porch...no Spade, I looked up and down the street...no Spade. At this time my husband got home and I told him what was going on. For the next 5 hours I walked and walked and drove around the neighborhood. She didn't come home that night and I did not find her anywhere.

The next morning I got ready for work with 3 hours sleep and holding tears back thinking we weren't going to find her. I couldn't stop thinking about her and decided to call in to work. The search began again....Animal Shelter, Animal Control, Vets office, radio station, newspaper and every stop sign I could get to got a poster. At 3 pm while I am walking around the neighborhood knocking on doors, Animal control calls.....

"Someone called about a black dog in their back yard since last night. I think it may be Spade. Go check it out and let me know if it is her."

I ran to that house, and the owner was out front. "Do you have a dark brown dog around here?" We walked to the back of the house and she opened her entry way...no Spade. My heart sank. Another dead end. Then there was movement to my left in the yard...it was Spade!!!

We now have a gate! Built out of some frames and fencing left by the old owner.

A Break From Crafts...or not!

The hubby and I took a drive out the road to one of the State Parks on the island. We wanted to let the dogs run around and I wanted to pick Salmonberries and Russian Berries.

After a while searching for something else, I found some yarn in the van and decided to search the forest for "knitting needles" aka sticks that were the same size. I used my husbands knife to trim down the nubs and create a point at the tip and a rock to smooth things out. Piece of cake and they work great too!



Spade didn't do much running around, mainly just slept in the van. Her age is really showing these days.

Of course crazy man Kane ran around the entire time we were there. He had so much fun, that his muscles were actually sore the next day.

All Dressed Up...And Can't Go Anywhere

There she is...Sexy Sadie in her very first handmade piece of clothing! It is not done, not even close, but I am so giddy over being able to work with a dress form. I can't even explain how it feels. I can pin the fabric directly on the model, nip here...tuck there.

The flowers on the fabric are my pounded flowers. I decided that if I hand wash in cold with mild detergent, it shouldn't fade that much.

Is that really me?

I have finally made my very own dress form, using the duct tape method. Now I didn't go as far down as they did mainly because I did it myself. After asking my husband to help me for the last decade, ok maybe not that long, I decided to just try and do it myself.


I grabbed my rolls of duct tape, put on an old t-shirt and stood in front of my sliding mirror closet doors. All by myself I wrapped the duct tape around my midsection and up my torso. I flung the tape over my shoulders, reached and grabbed and wrapped and taped myself up. This was no easy task, I highly recommend getting someone to help you with the duct taping of yourself!

The finished product...I cut off my duct tape mold, reinforced everywhere it needed it and stuffed it with shredded paper I grabbed from work, and ta da....Sexy Sadie is born.

Now looking at Sexy Sadie, she is not sexy, but magnificent none the less, (I definitely need to start working out), and she will make designing and sewing my clothes much easier.

How dare you steal my bed!

Chevy (the cat) has had a bed of his own next to my side of the bed for a long time. During the move his "Kitty Cube" aka bed, turned into a dog toy box. Their old toy box was the bottom of his kennel and I needed that to move him from trailer to house. Unfortunately for Chevy, I like the "Kitty Cube" as a Dog toy box...they can't dump all their toys out easily, it is foam so they can't hurt it and it is the perfect size. Don't worry about Chevy though, because he is well taken care of. Instead of his "Kitty Cube", he now has a deluxe Chevy Bed........

Here is Chevy checking it out, before I put the final reinforcements and cushion on it...

Looks like he approved.

Steps:

1) Cut Cardboard to form a cube.

2) Cut fabric to cover Cardboard.

3) Hot glue fabric to cardboard.

4) Hot glue cube pieces together.

5) Reinforce corners...drill some holes and use yarn to tie them together.

Cushion was made with an old tee shirt and stuffed will scrap fabric and old batting.

Final product...approved by Chevy. (I think he likes it, although I did rub fresh Cat Nip on the cushion)

Make it Fabulous

The old owners of our house left two old ugly matching seventies looking lamps. I generally love old vintage style, but these look like they wouldn't of been in style even back then. Here's the lamp...
I like the shape of these lamps and the holes. Also they are big lamps, they sit about 3 feet tall. I decided to give them an updated makeover. All I needed was some spray paint, foil and masking tape.

My first step was masking off the area for the green. I used foil, because it molds to the surface which makes it easier to block off the area. The blue tape is just painter edging tape. Then spray away!

For the black, I did not mask off the area. Instead I wanted the black to blend into the green.

And here is the final product!!!!!!

Sitting in "MY" Craft Room

The craft room open for business. All boxes have been emptied and placed on shelves or in drawers. Organizing all the supplies is the next step, which may not be for a little while. This last Monday, for the first time since the move, I finally sat down in the craft room, gathered supplies and started crafting. It felt great!!

This is just a quick project to announce to family and friends our new address. The picture isn't the greatest, doesn't show the texture or dimension of the paper. Hooray for Craft Rooms!

A Photo Safari

Last Saturday, two good friends and I woke up early, guzzled down espresso and with cameras in toe, headed off on a "Photo Safari". All of us will be working on a craft project called "Photograph your City/Town". We traveled around town, hiked up trails and even saw things we haven't seen before. Here are a few photos of our trip...

We will be doing this again!!

Just Couldn't Resist

The weather for the past week has been in the low 70's. You must believe me when I say that 70 degrees in Alaska is like 90 degrees elsewhere. The reason, well could be a combination of a few things...being in the Northern Hemisphere means we are closer to the sun...our sky is very clear...who knows the exact reason but the sun is defiantly hotter!

So the other night I am sitting with my husband watching TV, talking and trying to cool down when I hear the most beautiful music, the ice cream lady. "Do you have any cash? Where is she? I hear her!" We paused the TV, sat very quiet, and tried to figure out what street she was on. I step out on the porch to look for her. Unfortunately the sound disappeared. She went down a different street. I grabbed $10 and sat it on the coffee table just in case she came back.

About 5 minutes later I hear her, in the time it takes me to grab my money and open my front door there she is. I ran out and flagged her down! She stops, gets out, looks at me and giggles to herself (and continues to giggle at me). She laughs at me for wanting ice cream!

I get inside the house with my two $4.50 (each) ice cream cookie sandwiches. Look at my husband and start laughing uncontrollably. "She was laughing at me....I feel so ashamed." Is it wrong for a 29 year old to run after the ice cream lady on a hot day??

Don't Judge Me

So the June art show is over, summer solstice has come and gone and we are losing a little daylight each and every day. A friend of mine picked up my art and delivered ALL of my art pieces to me...you guessed it I sold nothing! I shouldn't care, art is subjective, not everyone will like what you make, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. I worked very hard on my pieces and thought they were unique, interesting and cool. I even kept the price reasonable. Some of the other art pieces were priced up to $75 or more. I feel a little set back and this will surely not help with my crafting self esteem.

The goal is to start making money selling crafts, but at this rate I will never get up off the ground.