here be projects...lots of them

in my mind, i defend all the craft supplies by the fact that sometime in may, i'll be unemployed. and in my mind, between now and then, i'll spit out piles and piles of adorable felted dolls, embroidered hand towels  and etsy banner sets (graphics) to keep us afloat until the wits program picks up in the 2013 new school year. yeah, in my mind, my crafting can keep up my financial end from may through october. i'm funny, right?? at least i have that!

lately, as i mentioned earlier, i started needle felting. it's a lot of fun and really portable. i've made some mini houses, a couple fairies, a faceless cat, and a geisha doll. i have a few boxes of roving felt to keep me through the long spring (it's texas, i can't claim an endless winter like i could in alaska).

i also taught myself (and am in the middle of TEACHING myself) really basic graphic design. i love blogs and i love redesigning blogs and i'll be hammed (yes, i said hammed and not the other word...i'm improving myself, people!) if i want to keep paying people $40 a pop to do something i sorta half like but will redo in a few months anyway. the blog headers aren't as easy, though i'm getting better (this very blog header above was my first one..not TOO bad, right?)

but what i am pretty decent at is combining digital scrapbooking kits (way cheaper than their tangible counterparts) and making etsy shop banner sets. now those are super fun and super fast. i'm not the high art type...i'm pretty  much the classic cutesy, kawaii girl any day of the week, so that's what i've been working in.

this week i'm working on a new etsy shop, darjeeling's designs and as i get better at and bored with banner sets, i'll start tinkering with blog design. someday. ha!

not that i didn't love the mugs. and not that it didn't keep us afloat a couple times this winter. it's just that, well, i have a goldfish brain and i need new stimulus or i'll go crazy and chuck the plastic castle out of my bowl. oh, and shipping charges for those mugs was ba-nay-nays.

i also have MILLIONS of threads of embroidery floss and yarn. someday i'll work on my sketches for embroidery. and someday i'll teach myself to knit, but i wouldn't hold my breath on that one. my kids are WAY too interested in knitting needles and i see the way kenna eyes her brother sometimes...i'd hate to arm the violence with my bamboo knitters.

hope the week is awesome where you are!

needle felting and my bloody fingers

let's just say it's one step below the required dexterity and timing that operating a hot glue gun requires. i'm terrible with glue guns. my husband hates it when i have one fired up when the kids are awake because i  have a talent for getting the glue strings and third degree burns everywhere. eveeeeeerywhere.

and a tool with six sharp, tiny needles that requires you to stab a ball of roving wool over and over and over again into oblivion? well, let's just say i feel for diabetics who have to poke their fingers multiple times a day. it hurts! (and i've managed to ruin some light-colored wool with blood spots. awesome, right?)

today i worked on a cat for a fairy house my mom is building for my grandmother. she said she needed a cat for nanny's fairy. i remember pop's cat bg passed away this year and i'm pretty sure, if i remember correctly, bg was white. so white it is. this is the second bg i had to make because of the afore-mentioned blood splatters. that poor prototype looks like it didn't quite make it across the road to the other side. but THIS bg is pretty darn cute, even if he doesn't have eyes. i can't quite do eyes yet. they're hard.

and beside bg, i made a fairy of sorts. i love purple. it hides blood reeeeally well.

And just for fun, here's a picture of what kenna did in the short two minutes i was shooting the photos. nilla wafers and corn chips and a floor. glorious!