A Little Fiber Play

It's been a while since I posted,  but I have been busy being creative.  My latest creative fun has been playing with fabric and fibers and dyeing liquid.  I then went on to play a little with drop spindle spinning. I have been having a ton of fun playing,  I just wish I had more time to play and an actual studio to play in. This was the outcome of my latest play session.

Oh, and I've sent off my LOL application. Now the wait to find out that I can test!   Positive thoughts needed!

Amy

Handmade Valentines

I decided to make handmade Valentines this year!  I still need to make ones for Michael's specialists and I just got more classmates for Michael.  I also have to make another one for my husband.  Our budget isn't going to afford us to be able to get each other expensive gifts, but I can certainly make something from the heart and hopes that he likes it (I'm sure that he will).

For Michael's classmates, I just cut out 2 paper hearts and sewed them together and added pencils.

This happens to be for my daughter's teacher, but Michael's Valentines are the same

For his teachers, I made a fabric book that I will have Michael help me decorate and add things to the pockets.

Outside covers

Inside pages with pockets that I think we will add bookmarks to(there are 2 other blank pages to decorate)

For the specialists and my daughter's speech teacher, I am going to make fabric postcards like these.  I need to make 3 more.

Front side

Back side with Eva Rose tracing her name and rubber stamping decorations

I have really enjoyed making these different projects the last couple of days.  I just wish it didn't hurt my sciatica so much/.  I can't wait to feel better so I can handle creating more things!

I love my new sewing machine.  It's amazing how good a good quality sewing machine is.  Too bad I had to spend the money on it, but I have really enjoyed having it!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!  What are you crafting?

Amy

At My Sewing Machine Again

Finally, I took the plunge at attempted to sit at my sewing machine after a couple of months of sciatica.  I was able to get a couple of small projects sewn, but it was tough.

I get e-mails every time Crafty Gemini has a new post.  This was was a giveaway for a slice cutting machine.  I would love a cutting machine and if I won this, I would be ecstatic!  The project that she showed in the video for the slice cutter was for a fabric Valentine's Day Card.  I thought this would be a nice easy way for me to get back at my sewing machine and it was, except I did get a little sore.  I made 2 fabric cards and would love to make 1 maybe 2 more.  you can check out the project and the giveaway at http://craftygemini.blogspot.com/2013/02/valentines-day-fabric-gift-book.html.

Here are my attempts at the project.  I still need to embellish them and am hoping to have the kids help me.

Here are the outside covers of the 2 that I made today.  One is planned for My daughter's speech teacher, and one is planned for one of my oldest son's teachers.  I still need to make one more for his other teacher. 

Outside again

Inside of card

Close up of the outside of the first card

Inside of the first card (close up)

This project was a lot of fun and I will definitely be making again for many other holidays, not just Valentine's Day!

Hope you all check out Crafty Gemini as she has a bunch of fun tutorials,

Amy

History

If you can't tell, I love to create!  I also love to know the history behind things I create!  I have friends/acquaintances, more friends/acquaintances than I realized, who like to make hand made items too.  The funny thing is, I don't know if any of them are as interested in the history of the things they create as I am.  I am also more of a traditionalist when it comes to creating things.  I can certainly appreciate more modern patterns, but when it comes to things that I love, I am much more traditional and classic in my taste.

I would love to teach the history of hand crafted items.  I've already read a little about civil war quilting, but no where near enough to know really anything.  I recently started looking at english paper piecing and the history behind it.  It's actually kind of funny how little info I am finding on the history.  The one fun fact that I found is; early on, women would use old letters or newspapers as the paper pieces and use old scraps of material to make their paper pieced quilts.  The other fun fact is that this allowed people to date these quilts, as women would often leave the paper pieces in the quilts for extra warmth.

I'm looking forward to reading more about quilting history, and can't wait to learn more about the history of other crafts that I enjoy.  I'm going to start reading http://www.womenfolk.com and see what kind of information I can learn.  Personally, I can't wait to the how the things I enjoy came about.  Maybe I can, in time, become someone who teaches the history as well as someone who can teach how to make traditional projects.

I have a ton on my plate right now, with the kids, work, husband, and household stuff.  I am contemplating not putting my twins in preschool and doing some homeschool stuff with them and use the money that I would spend on preschool on other types of learning activities that will hopefully teach them and allow them to have fun and learn at the same time.  I am also hoping to add in some learning about hands on activities not just phonics, spelling, math (all of which are important, but I believe there needs to be a balance of hands on learning too).

Too much to think about right now.  I just want to keep learning about the things that I create and teach my children to appreciate handmade things.

Amy

Trying to Find My Niche

So, I've changed the name of my handcrafting blog with the hopes of starting to sell.  At this point, I haven't actually made anything that I can post on an etsy.com page.  I am trying to figure out what I want my first piece to be.  I've been trying to figure out my niche.  I can't say that I like a certain type of handcrafting.  I love sewing, knitting, paper crafts, jewelry, clay, etc.  Pretty much anything I can make, I love!

If there is one thing that I would say is my niche, it would be creating small, simple items.  Partly because I love to be able to finish something fairly quickly.  I love the sense of completion and satisfaction I have when I complete a project I have been working on.  What I don't like is a project that takes forever to complete.  Some people have no problem working on a large complex project.  I, on the other hand, don't have the patience or the attention span to work on projects that are large and complex.

The other niche I have been thinking about is making sure that each piece I create has something more handmade than just supplies bought at a craft store.  I've been thinking that all the things that I am interested in can help play a role in this.  For example, I want to learn to make my own glass beads.  I can put some handmade beads into a jewelry creation along with beads that I have bought at a store.  I can see my own fabric and add that to a project that uses both store bought fabric and fabric that I have dyed myself.  These are just some of the things that I have been thinking about.  There are many different things that I can make to add to store bought supplies.  I can potentially dye yarn, make clay pendants, make handmade paper, and I'm sure many other things.

These are just some of my thoughts.  We'll see how it goes. Right now, I'm off to collect things to make  thank you cards for my twins birthday.  While I make the cards, I plan to let the kids rubber stamp their own pictures.  Maybe I'll even create my own paper with the kids.

Happy Creating,
Amy

Trying To Be Productive

It's amazing how little time you have when your kids get to be preschool age.  When they were babies, I had the luxury of naps.  Now, naps are few and far between and I never have all 3 kids occupied where I can spend time and create.  Of course, as usual, there are also good points to the kids getting older.  Now that they no longer nap, life is a little easier to plan or not plan and just go and do.  We can do so much more with them now.  We may have less free time on our hands, but I wouldn't change a thing.

That being said, I still try to find time to be creative and maybe even blog about my creative projects.  It may not be as often as I want or as complex as I want.  My blog posts may not be as intellectually stimulating as I would like.  But, I am finding time to create and some how, some way, journal about it; and that is what is really important to me.

Since my last post, I have done a decent amount of projects.  I have also treated myself to a new sewing machine.  I decided that my cheap $100 Joann Fabrics Singer, was just too frustrating for me to actually use.  I loved having a more portable machine than my Baby Lock Ellageo embroidery machine, but the Singer was just not a good quality machine.  At first I didn't understand the negative comments, but then After just a couple of uses, I realized how right all those reviews were.  I love my Ellageo, it's just not really portable.  I was looking at a Janome QDC3160 and a Baby Lock Grace.  I ended up at "Nashua Sewing and Vac" on Black Friday and ended up getting a Baby Lock Sofia2 for what I was quoted the Grace to be at another store.  I had heard really good things about Nashua Sewing and Vac and felt really good about trying out sewing machine and buying there.  There is nothing wrong with the Janome.  I know a few people who love the Janome and they all have different Janome machines.  One of them is not a Baby Lock fan.  I decided that it must be ike buying a Nikon vs a Canon.  I have always used a Canon, but I know that Nikon is just as good, just personal preference.  I wish I had more time to devote to my sewing!

What I've been up to:

English Paper Piecing Diamonds

Ballet Slipper Ornaments

Thanksgiving Skirt

Matching Thanksgiving Tie

My New Sofia2!

Embroidery On My Sofia2

Embroidery On My Sofia2

Embroidery On My Sofia2

Sewing On My Sofia2 With A Stitch Sampler

Cookie Plate for Santa

Cinnamon Ornaments

Now if I could just make sure that I continue to be creative both by myself and with the kids, I would be a very happyMommy!  I can't wait to sew more often.  We are in the process of decorating for Christmas and then cleaning up after that!  Right now, Creativity is going to be limited.  I am trying to make sure that I ambling creative with the kids so that they get to be creative as well as me.  Some days are better than others, but often as things are with kids, they don't go as planned, but we are still making memories and that is what is most important!

Happy Holidays to All!

Amy