Want to join ping.fm too? Go to http://www.ping.fm.Use the code 'legendofping' and you could have the luxury of posting to all your blogs in one fell swoop like I do. Way more efficient than doing it one by one.

I'm not sure what 'ping my default' means but I guess I'll find out when I hit send.

Crafting for ME

Crafting for others is fine, but Etsy is so slow lately that I'm taking time off from Etsy to just make things for myself. Things like costumes to perform in, Steampunk goggles and gloves, juggling props, and an outfit for hooping. Etsy is kind of losing my respect as artists desperate to make sales are now selling for less than the cost of their projects. I just can't hang with that anymore. At least when I use my items myself I can appreciate all the time and effort that went into them.

The week sure went by quick. I had a lot more planned but didn't have the energy to do it. My hands are still sore from woodcarving, and so I've had to lay off the knitting and crocheting. I'm looking forward to the weekend. My daughter may visit. We'll see.

I Am Sacred

I've been working on my art journal, which I see as a meditation and a chance to keep in touch with myself and how I change from day to day yet stay the same. In an effort to embrace imperfection I won't be tearing any pages out. It's not about pleasing others or being perfect. It's just admitting that not every art project is or should be a masterpiece. It's the process not the destination. Sometimes I find I am impatient with the process. Like today I'm just too tired and wound up. I haven't been sleeping well, and that leaves my nerves on edge. Anyway, here's the page before I get too far off the track.

Come view my Flickr photo stream. Over 3000 photos I've taken are waiting there for your pleasure. http://ping.fm/3TTAi

I just signed up for Ping.fm to make social networking more effiecient.

My inner child loves my art journal

I put together a new art journal yesterday and I started working on the first two pages today. The glue is drying right now. I got to play in the crayons and glitter. Our new neighbors wake me up constantly so I've been feeling like a zombie a lot. Sure makes being creative difficult. Last night they had a toddler crying on their patio at 1 AM and then it sounded like they dropped a bag of glass bottles on the patio at 5 AM. So that means I got 4 hours of sleep between those two bursts of noise.
Before you say I should just sleep during the day, they are twice as noisy in the daytime.

Two handles

First I carved a practice dagger handle out of rosewood. Then today I carved the 'official' handle out of ebony. It's coming out pretty well. But I have to let my hands rest. I was starting to get blisters.

David Brunetta Studios

I spent today at the David Brunetta Studio learning to carve a dagger handle with fluting and a spiral wire inlay. He invited me to come back tomorrow and work on it some more. My hands are really tired but after a good night's sleep I'll be ready to give it another go. Photos soon I promise. The prototype is rosewood, but the final will be in ebony. How cool is that?

My Summer Craftmania

I just wrote an article on my summer Craftmania.

It basically sums up what I've been doing this summer.

Hanging shelves

So many great ideas here, I don't know which one to do first.

Hanging shelves

So many great ideas here, I don't know which one to do first.

Star Felt Pin

I just finished a little felt star pin with 3 buttons on it. It is tan on one side and blue on the other with orange embroidery stitches.

Felt pins

Today I taught someone to make a scotty pin out of felt. She didn't have any sewing experience and I think she really enjoyed herself. Her's was black and tan and mine was pink and purple. Then after she was done I went on to make a skull and crossbone booch.
I worked on my circular knitted scarf as well. Some of the archers thought it would make a very colorful bowsock. But if you've ever dropped a ball of yarn into a pile of dead leaves and grasses, you will realize that yarn is not a good fiber to make a bowsock out of unless you want to take park souvenirs home with you.

Knitting, loom beading, and so on

Last night I stayed up way too late on line. Why do I do that?
Anyway, before my eyes got too tired, I got a bit of knitting done on a circular scarf. So far it's light purple, yellow, aqua, blue, gold and red. I love making multicolored knitting.

I also made the Scotty Dog in the previous post. I want to make another one now that I understand how the pattern goes together. The pattern didn't come with any directions.

I also bought some trimmings to make an off-white doll out of. Can't wait to get going on that. I haven't made an art doll in quite a while.

And I need to see what kind of shape my beading loom is in because I may take it with me to the archery range tomorrow since my friend is also learning loom beading.

Scotty Dog

I've been wanting to make one for a while so when I found a free pattern I jumped on it. I still want to make my own pattern so I can sell some though. But I needed to practice my gussets and I can always put it in the gift pile.

Raven Haired Belly Dancer Folk Art

I painted her this afternoon. I'm not sure why I made her tilted. Must be a subliminal thing.

suziblu

I wrote an article on folk artist Suziblu today. http://hubpages.com/hub/I-love-Suziblutube It doesn't look like many have been by to read it yet though. I love her videos and her humanity that shines through.

Traveling crafts

Yesterday the lady on the bus in front of me was trying to work on a full size quilt. We got off the bus and onto the train. Most of the approximately 100 people all tried to get on the same 2 train cars, including the quilting lady. I walked all the way to the other end of the train and got on, and was able to snag a seat alone. About 20 minutes later the quilting lady showed up again. Evidently all the other cars were packed but a single seat was nowhere to be found. I saw her sit by someone skinny and start quilting again.

I did take some quilting small enough it fits in a baggie, but didn't want to risk losing the needle or sprawling too much. And sure enough the first thing the quilting lady did when she was on the bus is drop her thread and thimble which went rolling under someone else's seat.

I contented myself with knitting a circular scarf and taught another woman how to knit as well. She was making good progress on some garter stitch and I sent her home with the yarn and needles so she can keep practicing.

You can see in the photo the crowd of people all boarding the train in Santa Barbara. I've never seen it so crowded. Those are just the people to the right of me. There were more people to the left.

Pocket Monster Finger Puppet

Yesterday on the train/bus ride up to the central coast I crocheted and knitted up a storm. I made most of a freefrom crochet hat and started a knitted scarf. I also made a pocket monster finger puppet. He came out really cool. So I got supplies to make more.

gathering supplies

Went shopping at Michael's and Beverly's in San Luis Obispo, CA for stuff I wanted but did not need. Now that I have it all I'm too tired to make anything. If I wasn't even going to use it I could have waited until I got home on Tues. But no one ever accused me of being logical.

Featured Etsy Shop Cupcake Girls

I ran across this shop on Etsy today. http://www.etsy.com/profile.php?user_id=5171215
The Cupcake Girls. Cute and affordable little pieces of retro whimsy. Notecards, felt bunnies, girly gift items.

Love their little owls.

froggy backpacker

Working on another amigurumi frog now that I've got the bugs worked out. This time I remembered to use two shades of green too.

Little froggy

Today I crocheted myself a little froggy. But Blogger keeps telling me error when I try to add the photos so I'll try again later.

beading and loom knittng

Today I did some more freeform gourd stitch necklace making and also added a few rows to the beaded gourd before it got dark outside. Beading by candlelight didn't seem like such a great idea.

I'm so happy I found my camera. I was beginning to think it might have fallen in the trash can by accident. Turns out it was buried under a pile of yarn and shopping bags at the end of the couch. Whew, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

I'm writing an article for hubpages on 1000 things to doodle. I've listed about 4oo already. Proofreading it is going to be painful. I had hoped to finish it today, but with my boyfriend underfoot I ended up cooking and doing other mundane things.

Headwrap 2

Today I finished the first head wrap prototype on the Knifty Knitter. I figured out some ways to make it even better so I started a new one in shades of gray. The first one works perfectly fine, but if the front and the back have drawstrings, it can be worn with more hairstyles, dreads, ponytails, braids and so on.

Hair or Head Wrap

I've been wanting to make one of these for awhile, so yesterday I started one on my knitting loom. It's purple and pink with slubs of gray and so far so good. I don't have one of those cool hairstyles like dreads to wear it with, so I hope it looks okay on me. If it works out I'll make some for my Etsy shop at http://www.hypnotic.etsy.com. This one is acrylic, wool and silk yarn. I think its still too hot to wear it in CA so hopefully it will cool off by Dec.