Thanks!

For all the nice comments and support on that last post. You're all the best!

Spent most of the day at Ikea today (man. . . I love Ikea. . .) but I have been crafting. I might not have something finished but I've been working. I'll post pics soon and show you what I've been up to but I just wanted to let you know I appreciate you.

Thanks!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 19 & 20, wherein Erika loses it. . .

Sorry folks. . . Nothing new made yesterday. . . made a log for someone from Etsy, but that's not new, and to top that, I forgot to take a picture before I packed it up for it's new home in Seattle. Oops.

To make things worse it's quickly becoming apparent that nothing will be made today either. I had a plan to revisit my old friend polymer clay but things just haven't worked out. My mind was so set that I can't think of another, quick, craft.

Sigh.

I've been having one of those low self-esteem kind of days. Questioning all my choices. . . so it's no surprise that I can't figure out one stupid, stinking craft. I'd go on, but this isn't that kind of blog, and I wouldn't want you all to call the men in the white coats on me. So I'll shut it with a promise that tomorrow will be the start of bigger and better things.

Sorry.

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 16, 17 & 18

These 3 crafts took all 3 days thanks to the time killer that is drying paint. I love painting but man oh man do I get antsy waiting for it to dry. I think that's why I like stitching. Anyway. . . I started the third project while waiting for the paint on the other two. So I guess these are sort of a roundabout approach to the craft a day.

First 2 new banners for my show booth. I only need one but I wanted to give myself options. Which do we like better?

OR

I think I know the answer. . . I think it's the birds. It seems more striking, no? What do you think?

And whilst waiting for paint I started on a project I've wanted to do for ages but never seemed to have the time. My very own sign for credit cards! Now I know I could have gotten one from my card processor or that I could have just gotten copies of the logos online, but where's the fun in that!?! What I needed, what I wanted was one made of felt! And now I've got it. Yea!!!


Well, that's all for now!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 15, Gugh-gugh-duh-gugh-gugh-duh

Day fifteen is pillow day! Yippy!

Boy it's been hard to motivate myself these last couple of days. I've been feeling 10 kinds of gross since Tuesday and the dreary weather here isn't helping. Still I must keep the crafts going! Thanks to all who have commented. . . it really does keep me motivated to keep on keeping on.

Today's craft is a pillow out of the cute French shop fabric accented with a sweet black ruffle. It's got a zipper and it's fully lined (because I'm fully nutty!).


I'm really happy with how this turned out. It will be a hard one to part with!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 12, 13, & 14: 2 Ties, a Bag, and a Pizza Place

Okay. . . well, no pizza place. . . those things are a bitch to craft!

Sorry I've been remiss in posting but I swear I've still been crafting! Our internet's been all loopy and out of wack and every time I've tried to post I just couldn't connect. . . Story of my life. . . anyway, that's a HUGE sidetrack, another story for another blog. . . so. . . ON WITH THE CRAFTS!

Monday I made a tie. A pretty, pretty blue corduroy tie with yellow lining. I like it quite a bit.


Tuesday I made another tie! Out of my lovely brown and blue pinstripe. I added a spacey lining because the pinstripe reminds me of Doctor Who which is very, very spacey.



Wednesday it's a bag, a lovely shopper tote made from my lovely Paris shops fabric. Super cool!


Hearts and puppies!
erika

Craft a day - 11

Yea! Gocco-riffic!





Don't have much to say today. . . maybe later. . .

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 9 & 10, wherein Erika bends the rules a bit.

So I know that when I first began this venture I said that I'd make one thing a day and today's (well, today's and yesterday's) craft has taken me at least 4 but I needed to get a move on with this commission so I work on it all day yesterday and today. It's the first portrait in a 6 portrait commission. I'm happy with how it turned out but it was touch and go there for a while. I had to redo the mouth 4 times. See. . . men's portraits are sooo much harder, especially around the mouth, because if you use the wrong color it automatically looks like lipstick (which is what went wrong the first 2 times). After finally finding the right color I then stitched his lips WAY too big. It looked like he'd gone the scary starlet route and gotten massive amounts of collagen injected in them. Not a good look for a boy. Anyway. . . 4th time's a charm and I finally got it right! Have a look:

That's a sugar glider in his pocket, by the way.

Well, back to crafting!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 3 revisited

Yea! Delivery confirmed! Day three's craft was. . .


Mushroom thank you card for Ms. Jenny Ryan! I noticed she loved of the mushrooms so I took my cue! Yea!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 7 (sort of) and 8

So for the second day in a row I met with a day full of blech. Lord knows I tried but every idea I had fell flatter than a souffle in a drum circle. To be perfectly honest with you, I gave up.

Sorry.

But I made up for it today! I woke up early and got to work! This is what I wanted to make yesterday, don't know why it didn't work for me, but it did work right away today. Thank God!
Check it out!

And from above:


I'm so happy this worked. If it didn't I think I might have given up on this whole venture. . .

Spurred on by my early morning success I felt capable of working on that clutch that's vexed me so these past few days. And yea! It worked out and looks just like it looked in my mind (I love it when that happens!). Here it is, I call it the Lucky Clutch:

Looks nice, right? It's pretty for sure, but what makes it so lucky, Erika?
Well, this!

And this!


It's soooo fun! Makes me wish I had a date with a cute boy lined up so that I could use it. Alas. . . we all know I'm a bit of a shut in these days so I'll have to leave the dating to it's lucky buyer.

This success has refreshed me and I can wait to figure out tomorrow's craft.

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 6, wherein Erika has one of those days. . .

My oh my oh my. . .

I'm sure that every crafter can tell you that there are just as many craftastrophies (coined!) as there are craftcesses (okay. . . that one doesn't work quite as well. . .) and today was FULL of craftastrophies!

It started out fine, I finished the log order and then set to work on today's craft. I had fully intended on finishing the bag I mentioned yesterday but while pressing out the first piece managed to stain the vintage fabric with my leaky iron. Boo. . . no big. . . I can cut another piece but that does mean that I'm not really going to have the time to make the bag today. So I must, once again, put it off another day (perhaps I'm procraftinating).

Then I thought I'd make a brooch embroidered with a clipper ship and studded with beads. I have a ship pattern I made a while back that I thought would be perfect. I scanned the pattern and shrunk it down to size, but managed to destroy my printer trying to get it to print out. I also managed to get printer ink all over me and all over my wall.

Okay. . . so the big ideas weren't working for me, maybe a small idea. . . I've always wanted to try making fabric buttons with my Badge-a-minit. I've seen them before and it always seems like such a fun idea. Perhaps I was working on the wrong kind of surface (a board on my carpeted floor) but I couldn't get it to work out at all. I couldn't even get traditional paper to work properly. After wasting 5 pin fronts and backs I gave up on that too.

Now I had only half an hour before midnight. . . What to do!?!? I broke out the beads and created tonight's cop-out craft of the day:

2 Pairs of beaded earrings. And I JUST realized I managed to get the pink beads all flip flopped about.

Sigh. . . sometimes a girl can't get anything right. . .

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - Episode 5

I fully intended on making a new bag, had the pieces cut out last night and everything, and let me tell you. . . if it works out it will be FIERCE! Anyway. . . that was the plan, but I ended up a bit sidetracked by a big log order and had to get to work. So, as you can guess. . . today's craft. . . logs!

A finished log:


And the beauty shot:


And more logs waiting to be sewn and stuffed (once the paint dries):


Logs!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 4

Still chugging along. . . barely. . .
Today's craft:

Bike bag! A shopper tote made with the bike fabric I printed last week.

The inside:


I guess that's it, I don't really have much to say today and I'm awfully tired.

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - 3 (it's a magic number)

So. . . I actually can't share today's craft. . . it's for someone who reads this li'l ol' blog and I wouldn't want to mess up the surprise. When I know it's delivered, then I'll share it!

But to tide you photo-phiends over I took pictures of my big (slightly early) spring cleaning and closet purge. Today I gave up the ghost of my skinny clothes. It was hard and I now, quite literally, have nothing to wear, though, honestly even when my closet was full I still had nothing because none of it f-ing fit! Sigh. . . Mind you giving up the clothes does not mean I'm giving up the battle against my ever expanding behind, it just means that I finally realized that once I can fit into those size 7 skinny jeans, I won't want to wear them!

So. . . first. . . the closet!

and. . .


The desk!


And, saving the best for last. . . the bookcase! I moved and centralized my fabric and I love, love, love it!!!

and. . .


Yea for organization!

Yea for secret day 3 craft!

Be swift USPS! Be swift!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Craft a day - day 2!

Yeah! I'm so excited! I'm going to a fun crafty ladies night over at my friend Jenny Ryan's tonight so I decide that today's craft should be my hostess gift. Here it is!



Now. . . I didn't bake the cookies (currently without a working kitchen due to a remodel) but I did make that adorable bow. Crafty!

Craft a day! Day One!!!

So as soon as I wrote the last post I thought "What did I do!?!?" I told Opus about my fear and he said, "Yeah, I know what you're talking about." And I'm only doing it for a month! EEK!

But I've committed to this and I'm gonna do it!

Day One: I was going to make a tie. Apparently I picked out the wrong fabric, though, because even though I'd taken the same steps as I had the first time I made a tie a few weeks back, it did not turn out well. In fact I couldn't turn it out at all, my lining kept getting twisted. After having spend a good 4 hours on something that should have taken about 1 and ripping and resewing over and over again, I gave up. This is what it looked like when I finally let it die:



Sigh. . . I gave up at 10:30 pm and I needed to make something FAST! So I cheated a little. . . I had a few faux bois painted hearts waiting to be sewn into pillows but I'd yet to get around to cutting the backs. I quickly cut a few backs and then sat down to sew up a pillow. I sewed and stuffed frantically and with only 2 minutes to spare I had this:



Yea!

I also started work on a new portrait, but that's a craft that takes more than one day. . .
Here it is:



Can't wait to figure out what I'm gonna make tomorrow!

hearts and puppies,
erika

A craft a day!

So, some back story. . . Last year my friend Opus started a project, All New Year, where, starting on his birthday, he did one new thing a day for the whole year. The new things ranged from super exciting (sky diving!) to rather mundane (make a ringtone!) and every entry has been a super fun read. . . you should go right over there and start reading!

Wait! Go after you're done here.

Anyway. . . in honor of the final month of his new year he sent out this challenge:
"Today, I enter the final month, and I want to go out with a bang. So I ask you to join me, and not just on allnewyear.com. Let’s make this interactive. I’m sure there’s something you’ve always wanted to do, but never quite mustered up the balls. I’ll tell you what; I’ll lend you mine. After 11 months of new things, they’ve grown impressive."

So I'm accepting. . . in my way. For the next month I will be making one new thing a day and blogging about it! Plus, maybe this will get me out of my craft funk AND finally bulk up my Etsy shop. But I have to start tomorrow. . . today I have the flu. . . and the only thing I'm making is groany noises.

Hearts and puppies,
erika

Fun Fabric Finds!

Hee! I love me some alliteration! Anyway. . . Just wanted to finally share with you some of the fun fabrics I've found lately.


My finds from JoAnn's. I went there to find bike fabric. . . none to be found, walked out with all of this! I'm particularly fond of the space fabric. . . don't know what I'm going to do with it just yet but I had to have it!

Then there's the fabric from the wackiest fabric store around, F & M, a great local discount place that has a metric ton of the strangest fabrics you will ever find!

And this fabric that made my heart jump with glee!

When I say OOH you say LA LA! OOH! LA LA! OOH! LA LA!

Can't wait to show you what I make with all this goodness!

hearts and puppies,
erika

PS- OH! Speaking of puppies. . . Forget the Super Bowl. . . today it's all about PUPPY BOWL!!! Man, I love the Puppy Bowl. Puppies!

Bicycle race!

So about a few weeks back a lovely customer asked me to make a bag for her friend who loves bicycling and the outdoors. She wanted flowers on the exterior and bicycles on the lining. . . I actually suggested the bicycles. . . I could find bike patterned fabric in the store. . . No problem! Right? Um, well, apparently there is a problem. . . because I could find nothing I liked anywhere.

I looked online and in stores for weeks!

Finally I gave up and made some myself. Check it out!



Pretty sweet, no? I used my Print Gocco to burn the screen and then went to town! Man, I'm so glad they started making Gocco supplies again. . . I'm starting to burn through my stash of screens and bulbs. Here's a closer look at the burned screen:



And a closer look at the print:



This is the first time I tried the Gocco screen printing on a large piece of fabric. It's also the first time I tried it on a fabric that wasn't felt. Man is it easier to print on something smooth! I'm really happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to make more custom printed fabric.

Look at me! I'm a textile designer!!!

hearts and puppies,
erika

The epiphany and the branches

Back in June I participated in the Art Star Craft Bazaar. . . the show, it was not so good. . . the organizers were great and sweet but the sales, they were not there. It happens sometimes, there's really no one to blame. . . except for maybe God because the weather SUCKED! Anyway. . . enough with the memory lane. . . the point. . . one of the good things that happened that weekend is that I bought these amazing porcelain branches, one with a bird upon it. Now I couldn't really afford to buy anything. . . I ended the weekend with a $400 + deficit, I sold very little but I was smitten!

The artist, one Guy Michael Davis, makes these beautiful porcelain creations in his studio. If I could have bought all he had with him, I would have but all I could manage were 2 bare branches and one branch with a bird. I had no clue where I was going to put them, I was moving in 6 weeks, but I knew I had to have them!

Weeks passed. . . I moved. . . Months passed. . . they stayed wrapped up in a corner. . . and then, this past weekend. . . hooray! An idea that seemed so simple. . . why not just mount them on my bookcases! I got out the drill and went to town and I'm so happy I did. . . here's how it looks:

Here's a nice shot of all the branches (and my thread and DVD collections, hee). Now a close up on the birdy:

Seeing these every day makes me so happy! Thanks Guy!!!

Hearts and puppies,
erika

So much to blog about!

Firstly. . . my name is Erika and I'm a Rock Band-aholic. . . After watching my friends play Guitar Hero over and over and over and trying and failing miserably I begged them to get Rock Band.

You see, I suck at video games. . . just can't figure them and frankly most make me kinda nauseous with their movement. . . I get why others like them but I've never been all that into wasting my time on something for which I have no skill at all (same reason I avoid sports and heavy drinking). . . but man, I can sing! I have a degree in it! My vocal talent has never been in question, as one of my instructors at Conservatory once said, I was a waste of talent. . . my drive and ego were always in question but never my pipes. And with Rock Band you get to sing!

There was finally a video game I could play and not be lame! How awesome is that! Problem is. . . I became an addict immediately. . . We bought the game on Saturday, around noon, and over the 3 days I was visiting my friends I think I played it for nearly 30 hours!?!? We got take-out so we wouldn't have to leave. . . I learned the words to songs I never wanted to know just so I could advance on my solo tour. . . I learned the words to a Fallout Boys song for Christ's sake! I can never own this game! If I did I would never work, never leave the house (even less then I do now!), never do anything but rock (but not in the good way). . . This game is a danger to me and now I know. . . luckily my access is limited to my friend's house, 300 + miles away. I can visit Rock Band, but I can never, ever own it. . .

Now. . . onto what this blog is really about. . . making stuff and such. . . On that tip, I made a tie!

It's my first foray into guy things. I'm quite happy with it. Actually. . . it's my second tie. . . the first used a commercial pattern and it was quite ugly, but I was able to learn from it and adjust it using what I learned as the tie girl in the New York branch of a British men's shirt and tie shop to come up with a pattern that made me happy. Here's the back:

I ordered some tags and as soon as they come the ties will be in my Etsy shop. I'm very excited about what will happen with these. . . they feel very high-end and they're made from vintage fabric (well, the lining isn't but the exterior is. . .) so they will be very limited. I can't wait to see where the line goes. New things are so exciting!!!

I have more to say but I don't want to make this post too long, too cluttered. Just know that there are more posts to come tonight and in the following days! Yippy!

Hearts and puppies,
erika