Sunday, March 27, 2011

I am addicted

 Hello, my name is Tanya and I am addicted to fabric. I can't stop buying it. Even if I have no use for it. I went 3 times this weekend. I am learning though. And to be fair, I have a ton of ideas so I am sure none will go unused. Here is what I got this weekend.


Randomness-
The wonderful boyfriend has recently paid for me to attend a couple sewing classes. I am in the third class now and we have a new sewing machine on lay-a-way for me. He is super nice and I am way lucky to have him:)
To be fair, I almost did not go yesterday because my lovely sister shown above was coming over to clean my house help me organize everything. This is not very relevant but she thinks I should be on the show Hoarders. I have not seen that show we don't have TV but she thought is was funny enough to share with at least one of her friends on Facebook. All is good though. My sister and my man encouraged me to get out of the house with my bff (who is supposed to share on this blog btw). When I came home 5 hours later my living room and kitchen were super clean.
I would not have gone a second time but the same sister (who I love dearly) wanted me to drop her off somewhere, near JoAnns, and we had 30 minutes before they closed. I managed to find so many cute fabrics. I did have a coupon.
This morning I decided to make some mini wallet thingys that I saw here and I found I needed a pencil. My sister was kind enough to go with me and, well, there was so much to choose from and the sales were really good. And, since I was sewing something I might need more fabric to sew something else..
Here are the wallet things
  There is one more mushroom one but it is already in my purse holding change, since they are too small to hold much else. I must have miss measured or something. Being new to this I will forgive myself. I do like them and I think my sister likes hers.

Last night I was working on these:
The plan is to get them into my brand spankin new Etsy shop this week. I am planning on putting a lot of other awesome things in there too. In case you could not see the above link this is very blatant advertising I am afraid , here is another one: CraftyFraulein

I have been collecting things to do that cool metal stamping for a few months and thought tonight would be the night. I don't know if you can see the picture well enough, I am a terrible photographer with a not so good camera and crappy lighting, but here it is:
 It is my first initial and my man's first initial. The middle is our anniversary and one side says 'love', the other 'wish'. Wish is kinda our thing.

So, that is my confession. Do any of you have a huge stash of something or buy a ton of one thing even if you don't have a use for it?

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Pay it forward

I have recently been noticing more talk about 'paying it forward'. This is something I have done before. I have paid tolls for the people behind me on the Tacoma Narrows and I have paid for the coffee of the person behind me at coffee shops. 
Well, here is something that I can do here on my blog. I was over at 20 Something when I saw this post. 
I followed her link to the blog where she saw it and found out there is a blog event called "Pay it Forward 2011"
Ok, who does not like getting something in the mail that is hand crafted. I love things that are hand made and I love getting little things in the mail. So, the first 5 people who leave me a comment will get something handmade by me. Who would not want one of these on a fabulous keychain?
In return for a gift from me you must write a blog post explaining Pay It Forward 2001 (email me the link to said post) and send your first 5 commenters a gift handmade by you.
I think this will be super fun. This can be a fun way to meet other bloggers and see some nifty crafts that you might not otherwise get to see.
So, let's see what you guys can do.
I do not currently have a ton of people over here, I am still new. I understand that some people who read this (ie my sister and M.I.L) might not have an actual blog to share this on. For that I think if you wrote me in the comments something that you did to 'pay it forward' would be ok. Try and keep it going:) 

Tomorrow I will be posting about my new addiction. There will be pictures. Stay tuned. 

Thursday, March 24, 2011

How to make clay mushrooms


Sorry for my lack of posting. Had a busy couple days. 

One of the many crafts I have been liking is working with Fimo clay. You can make anything with that stuff. Over the weekend my daughter and I made some Mario Bros mushrooms and those were super fun. I wanted some more realistic looking mushrooms. And if they aren't realistic at least they remind me of vintagy (is that a word?) pictures that I like.

First thing is to get out all your supplies. I swear I had a picture of this but it is not on my camera now. Maybe I deleted it. I don't know. So I will let you enjoy this pic of my kiddos a couple years ago.


 I know, super cute.

Here are the things you will need:
  • Clay
  • knife ( I use an old paring knife)
  • eye pins
  • cookie sheet (for baking the mushrooms on)
First thing you need to do is condition the clay, or soften it. You can't do anything with it before cause it will probably crack and it is super hard. Cut a few smallish pieces of the white clay and squeeze them to make them warm up. Once that is done roll them into a tootsie roll type shape. Take another small bit of white and roll it into a super skinny snake. This picture is from above so you can't really see how tall but I would say about 1 1/2 inches.


Then you will want to condition your red or whatever you decided on for the caps of the mushrooms. Form them into balls and flatten them out.

this shows what happens to your fingers. my advice is to go from lightest to darkest.
Now you get out your knife and start cutting super small bits of your snake. These will go on the caps. 
Roll these into tiny balls and press them at random into the mushroom caps.
When you have enough you will press the cap onto the white tootsie roll. Shape it how you like, realistic or funky.
The next step requires some small wire cutters or something to shorten the eye pins. Trim the eye pin to size and poke it in the top of the mushroom.
I should add that this step is only necessary if you are going to want to hang it on something. I am thinking about key chains maybe. So if you just want a little mushroom family you can skip this part. Just make sure the bottoms are flat so they can stand on their own.


Arrange your mushrooms on a cookie sheet so they are not touching and bake according the manufactures directions. Mine did not feel completely hard until they cooled off. 


Once that is done you can use them however you want. 
Some of the other ones I made at the same time.
This was super fun and easy peasy (sorry I really like saying that)

If you make any of these I would enjoy seeing pictures.

I am linking up to
The Little Birdie Blog: Tutorial Tuesday and
 

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Buy and Sell your creations without cash

I found this great site called whoopdwhoop where you can 'sell' your crafts and 'buy' from others with no money.
Here is the link to sign up: Here

Here are a few things you can get.
Owl hat
Who would not want that for a baby?
And wonderful photography like this:Redwood or this:Ladybug
There is so much talent here, I cannot wait to get some of my things on there (now that I have found my camera) When I signed up there was only a few creations, now there are over 1000! Check it out

A super awesome sunburst mirror

These are all the rage right now. I just had to have one. I am NOT going to spend $50 or $70 or $400 on one. So when I found this tutorial I knew I could make it myself.
http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2009/08/starburst-mirror/
I liked this one a lot but I changes some things up.
I used a wood base and spray pained it a silvery color. I used dowel rods of 2 different sizes instead of skewers and I painted those too.
I bought all but one package of small round mirrors at Jo-Anns. I used 3 different sizes, they were only about $.99 each.
I used hot glue because hot glue is cool. Hot when you touch it before it dries though. I randomly placed the mirrors and glued them down.
When I was done with all that I found a round wood disc that was super thin and glued that to the back and added a picture hanger thingy (yes that is the technical term), and hung it on the dining room wall so it would not break.
Originally I was going to hang this in our bedroom, then I thought it was super pretty so I would put it in the living room. After I saw it in the dining room we decided to keep it there. My house is small so it kind of makes it bigger.
So, if you have been thinking of making one and think it is too hard, try it. Easy peasy and cheap too. I think I got all I needed for under $20.
By the way, I used a 5 inch piece of round wood for the base and the finished mirror is about 26 inches.

I am linked up to Tatertots and Jello weekend wrapup party here
Tatertots and Jello

Hooks and such

One thing I like to do is find things at thrift stores and I like to reuse things. My key rack was just that. I bought that wood for less than a buck, the scrabble tiles I already had, the hooks came in a bag from the thrift store. It was super easy to make.
I painted the wood the color I wanted and when it was dry I added some brown and wiped it off. I used my glue gun for the letters and my dremel started the holes for the hooks.
If I was to do it again, and I have for gifts, I would use either a spray sealer or Mod Podge to seal it. You can se already where it has been scratched.
My other project was a place to hold the dog's leash. It has been hanging on the curtain rod forever. I originally saw this idea on a blog last week but I could not find the post again. The idea is not new. I bought a letter at Jo-Anns and modpodged some dog type paper to it. I did seal this one, three coats. Than I put a hook in the bottom. I did get a little to heavy with sanding the edges but overall I like it. My dog is named Ginger, by the way.
I love how it turned out.
And here is the two together by the front door.
Both were super easy to make and I will probably make some more for gifts.


By the way, I am linked up Tatertots and Jello

Post number 1

So here I am with my own blog. 
Now that I have one I am less sure what to say. 
This is my space that I am sharing with at least one friend where we can share all of the crafty things we do. 
I do not know what I am doing.
I will take any advice anyone has.
I have a bunch of crafts that I will be posting as soon as I figure this all out.
I am super excited!