Lost Project Day

I am really getting buried under unfinished fiber arts projects, so I just dragged several bags of them out to the patio to sort.

One was a scarf that was already done. I thought I still had to sew the ends in, but it's fringe, not loose threads. So I got that up and listed on Etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/50546967/neon-confetti-skinny-knitted-fashion

Next I have two knitted hats to finish. I wish I could sell them but they are from a copyrighted pattern on Knitty.com. So one is for my boyfriend and one is for me.

Then there was the pumpkin hat I started for my grandson while I was traveling, but as most trips go, I didn't have time to finish knitting it.

And I'm working on a geometric knitting pattern that was for an afghan but I plan to use the shapes for hats, vests, and a jacket. So that is on the table too.

I'll add photos of the scarf.

New Line of Greeting Cards

I got some of my new greeting cards listed today. I put them in my shop http://www.cherrymoondrops.etsy.com. I haven't done much with that shop up till now so I rewrote the profile and hope to have not just cards, but ACEO's listed there soon.

Before I got all the cards listed, I got a chance to go to a tool store. I've been looking for a set of metal letter stamps, to stamp on metal labels. Then I can make custom greeting cards with any name or word someone might want. Tomorrow we are going to a hobby store that should carry thin sheets of metal for stamping on. I can't wait to try it.

But I best get some sleep. It's 4 AM. What is it with me and these late nights?

Win Custom Earrings By Fayme Harper

To thank my readers, my commentors, and my followers, I've decided to give away ten pairs of my original right angle weave earrings, one pair to each winner. If you win you will get to pick the colors and silver-toned or gold-toned earwires. There is no charge to you, I even pay the shipping.

U.S.A. addresses only please.

How to win:
Leave a comment on this post. That will automatically put your name into the hat. One entry per person please, though you can comment as often as you like. On August 2, 2010, I will draw the winners from the names on the list. Then I will announce where those are going to. No need to send your address yet, until I announce if you've won. Follow this blog to keep up with what's going on.

And good luck on winning. You have a pretty good chance since I'm giving away TEN pairs, ONE pair to each winner.

About the photos:
The earrings are for sale in my shop right now. They are not the prizes but are shown here to give you an idea of what your earrings could look like if you win.

Hand Dyed Paper

Today I got some of the greeting cards finished and added photos to the previous post. And now I have a good supply of hand-dyed papers for other projects. I can use it for mixed-media, scrapbooking, art journals, collages, and so on. I got to use some of the inchie art I made for a tutorial a while back.

It got dark out before I finished the 8 cards I was working on. Hopefully I'll get the rest done tomorrow.

Making Charms For Greeting Cards Plus Hand Dyed Paper

I'm getting ready to make a series of greeting cards. So today I'm dyeing papertowels out on the patio. After they dry I'm going to spray them with some gold webbing spray. I keep running across projects that require 'chipboard'. That's the stuff cereal boxes are made out of. So I need to start collecting some of those. Then I will glue the dyed paper over the chipboard shapes and glue that all down onto the card.

I have in mind to make a boxful of cards for everything from birthdays to sympathy cards. I think as an artist, it says more when I make the card rather than just buying one at the store. I've believed this for years but can't ever seem to find the time and table space to sit down and make the cards. So I'm glad I've finally getting my act together. I have all kinds of cool things I've made to dangle from the cards like woodburned gourd pieces, all that inchie art I'm always talking about, beads, buttons, hand dyed yarn and so on. I can't wait to see it all come together.

Two Projects Gourd Charms and Knitting Ponchini

I was reading a library book on making greeting cards, and though I didn't have quite the supplies listed in the book, I got an idea of doing some woodburning on a thin shelled gourd that I got from Michael's when I worked there. I knew it was broken and too fragile for jewelry so it kinda kicked around here for a while. But I broke it into irregular shapes and woodburned designs onto each bit. They are very light weight. So now I'll use them like charms, either attaching them to things with string or wire or wrapping them onto the cardboard that is used to embellish the greeting cards. See the photo. I'll keep you posted on how that project turns out.

I also worked on my pyrography gourd and added another lizard and 3 horses to it. I may make a video with some of the video clips I shot today.

Then tonight I started knitting a ponchini (capelet) out of some Homespun I got at the All Things String party last weekend. I'm almost done with it but it's 2 AM and I didn't want to risk making a mess out of it because of my tiredness. I'm not sure why I'm making warm clothes just as summer had started, but since when are my craft urges ever logical?

Gourd Pyrography

Today I've been happily burning little designs onto a gourd. So far I have bees, mice, kokopellis, a flower, some meandering circle shapes, triangles, cross-stitching, and some fat round goats. Oh, and a lizard. But it was getting dark outside where I was working, so I'm done for the night. Plus my hand is tired, and I don't want to push my luck. I kind of changed horses in mid-stream and switched from folk art designs to those with a Southwestern theme. So I'm thinking I should do another gourd with the Southwestern motifs.

Recovering From A Fun Weekend

After a long dry spell, I sold something over the weekend on Etsy. So I've been floating on a cloud of optimism all day. I just hope the post office delivers, and the buyer loves it, and we all live happily ever after.

I'm so tired from the weekend. I went to World Juggling Day/World Knit in Public Day on Sat. and our monthly Pasadena archery gathering on Sunday. I juggled, did atlatl, hula hooped, hiked to and from the truck about 99 times and generally didn't sit still for the whole weekend. Today I'm stiff, tired and a bit spacey. Somehow I took my bow and arrows both days and never managed to shoot a single arrow. I won some cotton yarn in the raffle on Sat. and also got some free yarn, needles and a knitting magazine. I was in the pictionary style contest and the card I drew was virgin wool. Good luck on drawing that! After much drawing and redrawing one guy finally got it! Not a woman, but a guy!

Yesterday I tried to make a five ball juggling video, but all I did was wear myself out, and then I was too tired to practice juggling today at all. I think I'll put in a good solid two weeks of five ball practice and then try again to make a video.

World Juggling Day, Knitting and Etsy Party

To read about the knitting, archery juggling event today go here: KAJ I'm headed off to bed but will post photos tomorrow. Great weather, mostly happy times.

Followers, World Juggling Day 2010, Earrings

It would be so cool to have one blog follower that read every post, commented on some of them, and participated in my life. Is that what celebrities feel like? They know if they put a photo or a paragraph someone will hop over and share it with their friends and leave comments and have conversations.

I still get those bizarre Chinese comments after every post, which you never see because I delete them. That almost makes it worse than no comments at all.

I got some of the earrings I made mailed off to my younger daughter today. I don't want to post a photo of them until after she has them because it would be just my luck she'd read my blog today, although I don't think she ever reads it.

After dinner I think I'll spend the rest of the evening knitting. And packing for a World Juggling Day event tomorrow.

Finished Bow Bench

Bowyer's Bench


Here is how the bow bench came out. Guy got to use it at the Gyldenholt Anniversary last Sat. Many people stopped to ask about it and to see what he was making. I love the color of the finish. It comes apart for traveling and for storage.

Our friend Mike liked it too and went home and built another one. I hope he brings it to the archery meeting on Sunday so I can see it.

My Etsy Craft Party

Join me at El Dorado Park archery range in Long Beach this Sat. from 10 AM to 5 PM for an Etsy Craft Party in conjunction with World Juggling Day and World Knit in Public Day. It's a potluck. Entrance to the Regional Park is $8 so carpooling is a good idea.

Sewing an Elephant

Yay I got the elephant cut out and I started sewing it. The fabric is a purple print. I forgot to take a photo so you could see the fabric. About all you can see is the pattern. But when I finish it I'm sure I'll post more photos. I set aside one hour for sewing, and at least half of that was spent moving stuff so I could reach the sewing machine. I always have more stuff than space. I'm just a nester I guess.

I'm supposed to crochet for 30 minutes today and I can't find a crochet hook to save my life. I'm sure there are 20 or 30 in this apt. Where have they all gotten off to?

Earrings

I got over to Michael's today to get some more beads and yarn. My friend Karen was working the register. She got hired the same day I did, but I quit years ago. I said to her, "You must get along well with people." And she said, "I bite my tongue a lot." When we got hired, she told them, "I'm willing to do anything but work the register." So of course they put her on register about 2 days into it. Too bad she didn't say, "I am willing to do anything but sit in the snack room and watch TV all day."

Anyway, here are some of the earrings I made this week. Still haven't posted any of them on Etsy. I must have listing phobia.

Right Angle Weave Earrings

I've been busy making new earrings today with the right angle weave method. It's been a lot of fun. I'm using beads in sizes I don't normally get to work with. I've made some in all black that I'm calling 'LBD Earrings'. LBD stands for 'little black dress.' So they are the perfect earrings to wear with your LBD to cocktail parties and fund raisers.

And I made a pair with freshwater pearl 'potato' beads. If I make some in all white maybe brides will be interested in wearing them with their wedding gown. I made four pairs today. But it's getting too dark to take decent photos and I haven't put the earwires on. I need to rest my eyes for now. Can't wait to show you, my avid readers.

About Boys

A panda stamp design I carved for my grandson

Today in the Etsy chatroom, a mother-to-be mentioned how vastly outnumbered girl's items are to boy's items on Etsy. And it's not the first time I've heard that. The other problem with boy's items is we seem to have a very narrow view of what kind of graphics are appropriate for boys. Most of them fall into the categories of sports, monsters, cars, dinosaurs, or robots. But why can't little boy's shirts have flowers or botanicals or music notes? Certainly not every boy is interested in sports. So I'm going to see what ideas I can come up with. I have a grandson and may have another one in December. Remember boys can be many things like teachers, or poets or dancers or tight rope walkers. They aren't all destined to be cowboys and astronauts.

Three Projects

Jumbo circular needles

Bowyer's Bench

When I had breaks today from working on this bowyer's bench, I worked on my chicken hat I'm crocheting and a shrug I am knitting. No time to get bored around here, that's for sure. I was mostly doing the photos and helping balance wood while sawing. Plus we went to the hardware store for a drill bit, some finish for the bench and other necessities. We grabbed a quick lunch at a hot dog place and then it was back to work.

I think my marigolds are sprouting. I like to work on projects outside on the patio if the neighbor's aren't being too noisy. Then I can watch the sparrows eat and look for hummingbirds.

Some of the reeds I used for the atlatl darts were too skimpy, but if I tie 3 of them together it makes a decent support for the tomatoes. Scrap lumber I use to prop things up in the garden. I try not to waste anything.

Knitted shrug

My first chicken hat

Elephant Fever

At the Stitch-n-Bitch today Doris brought these very cool stuffed elephants, cats and giraffes from Simplicity Pattern 1568. I have the same pattern so I hunted it down and cut out the elephant. Because after seeing the ones Doris had I now have elephant fever. I wish I'd taken my camera today. Marianne was showing us a real baby quail. And Amelia was working on some woodburning.

I knitted on my shrug a while then worked on my chicken hat and made 2 more bacon strips. Marianne was knitting a sock. The other ladies were working on beading some beads.

We talked about the Jareth ball, the Steampunk Con on the Queen Mary and other crafting opportunities. More opportunities than time or money allow I'm afraid. Can't go to everything.

Crochet Chicken Hat

I'm working on a chicken hat. If you look at the photo you can see my idea sketch in the background. It's crocheted in Red Heart acrylic yarn. If this turns out I'll try other color schemes. What is your favorite color of chicken? I seem to be on a barnyard theme what with the bacon, eggs, and chickens. And I should really make some more amigurumi pigs too. I'd like to try a paler pink than the last one, and maybe a smaller hook.

Bowyer's Bench, Knitting and Earrings

We were super busy today. Guy is making a bowyer's bench for making wooden bows. And he wanted me to help with the process as well as take photos. After over 2 hours of figuring out the plans, we gave it a rest for the day.

I also worked on a knitted wrap I am making on big circular needles.

I ordered some earrings from Karoger on Etsy. She recently had a heart transplant and is well enough to get her Etsy shop going again. So she made a custom pair of purple earrings for me.

I also bought some more earring supplies to make some earrings for sale or to wear. Not sure yet. If they come out really well I'll sell them. If they are just okay I'll wear them myself. I only want my best work on Etsy.

Vote For My Fabric on Spoonflower

Over on Spoonflower it's time to vote for your favorite Medieval fabric. If you are inclined to vote for mine it's labeled "Pigglewiggins' and features archery stamps. http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters/62417 You can vote for more than one. I can't tell you which page it's on because the pages show up randomly. There are some lovely designs and you could have entered  yours. But you can always enter the next one. If that link takes you astray just click on any page that says 'contests'. Have fun voting.

A High Fiber Breakfast

My cat checks out my new Fakon or crocheted fake bacon and egg sunny side up. This is for my new store on my Carpe Bacon website but I'll probably put some on Etsy too. So which do you like better, the bacon with the tan middle or the bacon with the white middle? Decisions, decisions. Meanwhile, I'm pondering how to make scrambled eggs.