Kickstartin'

Here's the latest cool thing I've Kickstarted. Watch the video, it's soooo cool. I have tons of ideas of things to make for fun and profit with this. It's already funded, so it's just buying in and getting the tool at this point.

Next

Stamp kit found at the thrift store for under $3!

In thinking about what kind of a business card I might want, I knew it would need to be something different, a little weird, memorable, something to represent me, my ideas, my art, my photographs. Something that the card itself will remind you of me.
One of my favorite ideas was to use something upcycled as the card itself, and collecting old board game bits led to the idea of using board game money.
Eventually, I will have a customized rubber stamp made to look like a business card, with my blog address, and store(s), stamp it on the back of old board game money, and cute, unique business card.
But until I actually have all the addresses, and get all my stuff figured out, I'm not going to NOT hand out cards, right?
I found this rubber stamp kit at one of my favorite thrift stores for $2.98! It seems to have come from a set, everything goes together, though there was no box or instructions, and it appears to be almost complete. There are two trays with lids with two font sets, one all caps; two rounded and two rectangular stamps to put the letters in; a stamp pad and a plastic tweezers thing.
Until I get the letters sorted out and the stamp made, I've hand written a few business cards. So...
NEXT is sorting out a bunch of tiny, tiny letters. Good thing I have a good light!

Museum Pieces

Mother & Child

Family vacation in the summer of 2012 took us to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was awesome!
Too much to see, pennies to smash, cousins to keep up with, I only had time for a few photos. Most were of this wonderful artwork.

The sign says:

Junk Art Figure of Mother & Child

Created by renowned "junk" artist Leo Sewell of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Believe It or Not!, these people are made from common kitchen utensils, plumbing supplies, auto parts, toys and rubbish.

Spoiler: I believe it.

  

"Child" has a Fisher Price mom in his face

Show & Tell @ Work Day

Evidently it is. Happy Friday.

On my desk

Thought it was time again to share what's on my desk at work.
I have a nice desk job, where I get to leave right at 5, and not worry about work until I'm back in the morning. (and lucky to be close enough to go home for lunch) I'm very thankful to have a nice desk job, even tho sure, I do sometimes complain about something or another. But hey, who else gets Arbor Day off as a holiday?
Anyway. We also get the standard two 15 minute breaks each day. So I use my time creatively. If it's a full work week, that's a whole two and a half hours of creative work I can get done.
I've mostly been making lots of little felt pieces; pins, magnets, key chains, and different kinds of hair thingies. But I was inspired to try a huge felt piece. I'm thinking to use one felt sheet as the background, the ones I get are just a few smidges bigger than an 8 x 10 sheet of paper, so I'm thinking when it's done, I can crop it to fit a regular picture frame.
So what is it?

Needles!!

I put a thin magnet in the bottom, to hold the needles in place. The magnet probably came off the back of a free calendar or advertisement, meant to be stuck to your fridge. There was a bit of adhesive left, but since I was putting it into a metal tin, it didn't matter if it stuck through adhesive or magnatism. ;p
The magnet holds the needles in place and you can arrange them by height or use and they will stay how you arranged them.
One tip I learned: I put the opening of the sliding tin so that the eyes of the needles are at the top, easier to get them out, not so many pointy sharpnesses when I reach in.

Idea...

I collect tins, especially candy/mint tins and lunch box tins, and I don't just collect them, I use them. Most of my tins have supplies or a project inside. This tiny tin was full of tiny mints in a con package a while back. I anticipated some great project would come out of this.

 

I covered the top (and bottom, but that didn't stick) with polymer clay to cover the advertising and to make it my own. This poly clay is the cane I made back in November, smooshed together and run through the pasta machine.
So what would I put in something so small??
Now I realize that I should have put something in the pictures for reference. Again, silly me.
It's about two inches long, and about one inch wide, and just under 1/2 inch tall, by my guessing without it close to me at this moment.
So with those measurements, what project or supply could I possibly put into this tiny tin??

Creative Hands

Creative Hands Vol. 1 cover
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

I thrifted this book Friday evening, when Artist Extreeme (sometimes also known as The One Who Can Not Make A Decision) and I went on a multi-stop adventure.
I didn't realize until I got home and really got to looking at it that it is Volume 1. It gives a little taste of a lot of hand work, so it seems that it could be complete with those little bits. But I guess it's a 22 volume set. I hadn't decided if I might take it apart, for collaging or whatever, but if it's a set, maybe I'll keep watch for the rest of the set instead of ripping this one up. We'll see.
Flipping through it while AE was looking through the clothes, I found some cool things, and a couple parts that kinda offended me, in that this-ain't-the-stone-age kind of pro-chick kind of way. But it was originally published in 1966, so we'll forgive the stupid parts, and relish in the nostalgia. One page had photos of a few of the contributors. Funny, they all had the same haircut my mom had in the 70's, but I guess all brunette mom-ish crafty women had the same haircut in the 70's.
I scanned a few choice pages (hopefully without stepping on any copywritten toes), click on the pix to jump to my flickr to see the other scans.

One of my favorite pages is below. It's showing an example of how to find a group of colors to use together. The smaller photos are of a harbor, and the large photo shows the afghan that was inspired by the colors of that harbor. Cool idea!

My Crochet Eureka

My Crochet Eureka
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

This is the result of my little Eureka! moment I had a few weeks ago about crocheting. When I was sitting at work, thinking about how I'd really love to learn to knit or crochet, and I was thinking that I knew what crochet was supposed to look like, the basic steps, had a 'I taught myself' kit, and I could find plenty of help online. So why didn't I just teach myself, like do what I want to do instead of trying to learn from a book, like my son taught himself the guitar, I wanted to teach myself to crochet by ear...or rather by eye. So I grabbed a ribbon and a hook (that I just happened to have at work), and started playing.
Not much yet, but it definitely make me think I could figure it out.

Mini Review

Since I mentioned the felt kit that My Guy got me, I thought I should give a little review in case any of ya'll might be interested.
The best part of this kit, is that all the patterns come from crafters across the web-o-verse. The websites of the pattern makers are all listed in the back of the little book. The worst part of the kit is that the book is really stiff and hard to deal with as an instruction book, I had to kinda break the spine, and I still had to use a stickie note to hold the pages open.
I didn't mean to spoil a gift by finding out how much it cost, but when I saw the price when I looked up the link, I thought that it was just about right. There are nice supplies, and the book has some good patterns, and some not-so-good, like any pattern-type book.
This is a super kit for someone who's interested in working with felt and has never tried it. Because of it's inexpensive-ness, and cool patterns collected from web crafters, it's also a great kit for someone who already works with felt.

Light!

So if I've never mentioned it before, My Guy is a bit of a Media Head. A Bit. The list of movies he's seen would fill a book, and do not ask him how many songs are in his iTunes unless you really want to know. Before he moved here, he got himself a projector tv, which moved in with him, along with the TiVo and surround sound. That was a while back, and that projector served him and us well until recently, when it became clear that it was time for the projector to move out to pasture. (It had developed this nasty loud sound, which was something inside grinding, and wasn't going to last very long.) So through the magic of a great sale, price matching, good credit, and some gift card money, he got a new one last week.
Turns out, like every other electronic product, projectors have been getting better, as in more sophisticated, with better features. The old projector was pretty dark, and the room had to be really dark to see it well. It was like always being in a theatre, literally. The new one is soooo bright, you can even have the overhead light on, and still see it, like it was a regular television.
This is very, very exciting to me. Why? you may ask, go ahead, ask.
Because now, it might actually be possible for me to do something while watching! I just may finally learn how to knit!! I'm so excited!

Size DOES Matter

Purse size, that is.
So a few months ago, I decided I was tired of carrying around a twenty pound purse, and shrunk my bag down to mini-sized. This has been working great for most things, I got all the essentials to fit in a glorified wallet with a long handle. And a small purse can only hold so much, I can't keep shoving more crap into it like I did with all the big purses I have owned. But one thing I do not have room for is my camera! I used to carry my camera with me all the time, except that block run to the grocery store. So any time and every time I saw a great shot that needed to be taken, I always had it with me.
I've been compromising by carrying my camera with me in my bag o' crafty crap that I haul to work with me. I leave it at my desk during the week, and home on the weekends to download any crafty shots, and restock my supplies. So my camera ends up being where I am not more than 50% of the time. Not good.
Today, I saw a great natural photoshoot on my way from the parking lot to the job. Not really enough time to run in and get the camera and run back out, the lighting would have changed, and there would have been too many people around by then. But the photos are burning in my imagination! I have to rethink the tiny purse, or get a spy camera. Something so I will not be missing my camera when the perfect photo hits me in my face!

My Runway Project

Looking for more info on Project Runway, I found their cool site with games and junk. Here is where you can create your own design. (and vote for mine!!)
This little outfit I made really needs a sweater or jacket kind of thing over the tank, probably in the maroon color that the boots and hat are in, or is that too much?

Project Runway

Another item in the category of sometimes-I-do-what-the-voices-in-my-head-tell-me-to (those voices being the wonderful podcasters of the creative podcasts I listen to), I started watching Project Runway this season. I don't watch a ton of reality television, and I guess I always thought that since I'm not much into 'fashion' the show wouldn't appeal to me much. But it's more than 'fashion', it's creativity in it's purest raw form. It's being inspired by seeing others working their passion. And I love the fact that the contestants are so varied in age (one is actually older than even me)! It's so cool to watch them deal with the challenges they are faced with.
I was terribly distraught the last couple of weeks when I thought the TiVo was plotting against me, and not recording it, but realized they were just on holiday like the rest of us. And last night, the newest episode recorded, so I love it (the TiVo) again.
Last night's episode was so inventive! They went to the Hershey's store, and had to make their outfits out of whatever they could grab in the store. The absolute cutest Kiss dress, pop art brown wrapper top, and licorice-used-as-food outfit ever! So neat to see how different they all thought through the same challenge.
So I was thinking about finding or making some similar sort of challenge. What if there was a group where we all had to use candy wrappers to make an outfit for a doll?? That gets my creative juices flowing! Maybe I'll just have to do it myself!

Photogamer Game

After not being around for a while, Photogamer is hosting a new game for the month of January. There will be a new prompt for every day of the month.
I had fun with the couple of Photogamer Games I played last year, and I think I will play this one, just not necessarily on the exact date.
(Knowing my procrastination, I'll probably take 31 photos on the last day of the month) ;p
And of course, ANY prompts could be used for ANY art medium. Hmmmmmm...maybe I'll take photos for each prompt, and then draw from the photo into my Art Journal??

And The Beginning of 2008

My Goals for 2008
Creative:

• Continue to research and create things for selling on Etsy. If it comes slowly, there's a reason. Enjoy the trip.
  
• Work on Art Scout projects!
  
• Really start the 'retro craft project'! A little at a time is fine.
  
• Keep exploring, looking for inspiration, trying new things, and write about it. Don't be afraid to make mistakes!

Bloggerific:

• Be a better blogger, so I can has cookie! IE: Blog more often, with more photos! And stop writing blog posts in my head, and forget to actually post them!!
  
• Show appreciation for the podcasts I listen to and blogs I read by leaving comments!
  
• Continue to improve my sidebar, my 'about me' pages, and other little projects that will make my blog more fun to read.

Personal:

• Work on first step of going back to vegetarianism: Reduce red meat intake.
  
• Move my body more, maybe belly dancing?
  
• Be more social!

The End of 2007

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? I usually don't, the first day of a new year is pretty arbitrary, we can start good habits (or work on squelching bad ones) on any day. And there seems sometimes to be a pressure about making a resolution at the beginning of the year, pressure to make it last, make it work, too much pressure. I really prefer goals. And I can set a goal any time.
Last year I made a short list of crafty resolutions, with the best of intentions, but my creativity took me in different directions than where I thought I was headed on January 1, 2007. Two from that list have been in my mind all year, working towards one, trying to eek out time for the other.
One, Etsy, I've mentioned before that I am working on things to get started. I am still nervous about getting a shop set up, and am looking for more how-to help on the business part, I am so bad with the business part! On the making things part, I have several things ready, and have been working on lots of ideas, trying out lots of different ways to make a few things. Trying to decide which ones will be the most fun for me to make. Etsy is definitely one of my 2008 goals!
The other, my 'retro craft project' is one of those things that I think will need lots and lots of time dedicated to it, so as much as I want to do it and share it, I've felt overwhelmed with the amount of time it will take (or that I think it will take, anyway), and I've let that overwhelmed feeling freeze in my tracks like a deer in the headlights. So another goal for 2008 is to just do a little at a time, on anything, not let myself get overwhelmed and frozen. To get started on that goal, and the 'retro craft project', here is a photo to serve as a reminder to me, a teaser for you:

An Idea To Share & An Inside Joke

We had our gift exchange yesterday, and like every year for as long as I can remember, my Mom wrote down what everyone got and who it was from. I don't know where the idea first came from (maybe from my Dad's Mom, who kept meticulous scrapbook archives of every year, including all the news clippings from their small town paper that listed it as 'news' every time we came to visit). But every year when I was little, Mom would write everything down as we opened. When my own kids started opening also, Mom offered to continue the tradition. I like the idea that we will have these lists in her own handwriting, something so old fashioned in this modern age of computing.
A few years ago, after each year finding some paper, and trying to keep all the yearly lists together, I had one of those why-didn't-I-think-of-that-sooner ideas, I had her write the lists in a journal. It's just a composition book, not decorated (yet) but it now has several years in the same book, and it's much easier to keep track of that way. I'm sure other creative folks would have a wonderful time decorating the book before starting, I may still decorate it at some point. But a good idea to keep track of the celebrations and memories.
After all gifts had been opened, in that lazy afternoon time when everyone tries out their own and other peoples' gifts, I was showing my dad how I could see the flower photo he uploaded to flickr on my PSP, and from the other side of the couch, on their laptop, checking out this very site, my mom chuckled. She had gotten to the part in my post about my first art journal, where I had joked about the first pages being to wipe your hands on. This is a running joke in my family (one of many!).
When I was about first grade or so (and a very good and attentive student, who mostly only got in trouble for a messy desk), in a class about how to use the library, the teacher or librarian told us that the first couple pages of a book are left blank in case your hands were dirty, so you could wipe your hands on those pages. I SWEAR THAT IS WHAT SHE SAID! She added that we wouldn't ever actually want to do that, but if there was no restroom around, and you couldn't wait to get to reading, in a desperate situation, it would be all right. Now, I took those words to heart, mostly the part about not wanting to do it, I always made sure my hands were clean before picking up a book.
Fast forward a bit, and this subject came up somehow with my parents. And I proudly showed off my knowledge of what those pages were for. And it was very kindly explained to me that I must be mistaken. Of course, I must have misunderstood, but I'm sure my little toe-headed, freckle-faced self was indignant about being right, I'm sure it was adorable. And she laughed. And every time it has come up since then, she laughs. And I still swear that is what the librarian said.
But it was a nice bonus present yesterday, to be able to hear her laugh reading my little inside joke to her.

Art Scout

I was never in Girl Scouts, we did 4-H at our house. I learned a lot, and for a short time even had a boy in our club. I got to take cookies (well, OK a cake that had to be baked three different times) to the fair, not sell cookies. I was then and am even more so now glad that I was never indoctrinated into that cult. But I did envy the badges.
Now there is an artistic alternative! Art Scouts is an awesome on-line club for creative types. I am so going to join and I'm getting started on my first button, the Art Journaller button, because I've already been thinking about starting an art journal, so this is a great way to get started. I have to do nine of the sixteen items, but I just may do all of them!
Does anyone want to play along?

Plushie Software

You've probably already seen this if you read Boing Boing.
This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!! It's a program to design plushies! Go watch the video even if, like me, you're a mac user and can't actually try it! But the video is sooo cool. Link
If anyone tries it, please let me know!