Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Gloomy wednesday
It was a gloomy day, rain hanging over us waiting to come down and finally did late today, I have been busy with my new web site which will be ready to roll any day now. I'm awaiting my Your Story from Provo craft, I'm excited to use it and the first book or album I intend to make is one for my grandson Chaluim who was just here. It will be a little book with pictures of things he did while he was here..I'll let you all know how I feel about this new machine after I've played with it a bit. I'm thinking it will be a neat thing to have for making different gifts for people, like a small album for the Bride to be at her shower. I watched a bit the on going tree cutting down that they are doing next door to me, its a huge old tree, very,very tall, took my breath away watching the young man climb the limbs of that tree today, but then my crafting mind started to work, and I was wondering what (things) I could make with the many small branches that were falling down on my deck? I've used little branches as handles on a couple of boxes, but heck with free branches, must be something I can use them for besides for the fireplace?
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
A sunny tuesday
I am encouraged by many who have stopped by and taken a look at my blog, now if they would just sign in and even on occasion make a comment or ask a question, I will be really happy. Need to go out today so don't know how much I can get done or how much time I will be spending in my craft room. Soon I will be putting some pictures in here of my craft room and also a few examples of my work. Its not easy learning your way around here, so be easy on me...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Another monday
I was busy last week, and it was a nice kind of busy, our kids where in from Dallas. We had a great time. And today starts a new week and new fun and the mundane to get into. I am starting a hand painted bangle today, they are made of wood and I really enjoy painting them.After I paint them I add a few jewels and then they are ready for the gloss coat. Is anyone doing anything of interest you can share on here? If so please leave a message telling us all about it.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tuesday and still gray and rainy.
I am so busy today, have a bit to finish on painting doors and then upward and onward. I don't think I will get any crafting done today and maybe not even this week? We are excited here at my house, because we will be seeing Tim and Wendy and Chalium our grandson next week, They are coming for a spring visit and I'm just thrilled.
Yesterday, I was talking about the expense of being a crafter and there is a huge expense involved. I registered my business with the state of IL. a couple of years ago, and so now I have to save all my receipts from purchases, and I have a drawer full of them. I amaze myself when I open it,most are for beads, I try to buy good beads meaning real stones, for my projects and I also really love crystal beads, Swarovski as they are really the prettiest, I have a collection of their crystal, its their collection items each year and they are so beautiful, cut to profection, as are their beads. I do have other beads, some wood that I hand paint, and some funky ones for braclets, but I really like beading with the nicer beads. I also buy a ton of Jacquard Lumiere and textile paints, they are my favorite for many years now, I use their silk paints also and a few others and have always bought these products from Dharma, they have a wonderful site and I have been a long time buyer there.Their prices are usually the best around,and they give you lots of information, if you are looking for it. I also use Copic Markers and Paintstiks, and Stadedtler colored pens and watercolor crayons, these are considered the best and so far, I have to agreed with this, I know there are many others, which I have not tried, that are probably good also, but so far haven't seen anyone giving me a better recomendation. There are a few other products, that I use in painting but can't think of the names right now, except for a newbie for me, which is the Viva's Precious Metal Colours and I loved them right away, especially for painting on wood beads and polymer beads, that I make. One gets choosy about paints because you want them to last, on the item you are creating and for textile painting you, want somthing that will stand up to being washed. You also want good results with deep colors and clear colors, without hurting the item or paper you are using. Enough of my thoughts for today, got to get busy with other important thoughts. Till tomorrow.
Yesterday, I was talking about the expense of being a crafter and there is a huge expense involved. I registered my business with the state of IL. a couple of years ago, and so now I have to save all my receipts from purchases, and I have a drawer full of them. I amaze myself when I open it,most are for beads, I try to buy good beads meaning real stones, for my projects and I also really love crystal beads, Swarovski as they are really the prettiest, I have a collection of their crystal, its their collection items each year and they are so beautiful, cut to profection, as are their beads. I do have other beads, some wood that I hand paint, and some funky ones for braclets, but I really like beading with the nicer beads. I also buy a ton of Jacquard Lumiere and textile paints, they are my favorite for many years now, I use their silk paints also and a few others and have always bought these products from Dharma, they have a wonderful site and I have been a long time buyer there.Their prices are usually the best around,and they give you lots of information, if you are looking for it. I also use Copic Markers and Paintstiks, and Stadedtler colored pens and watercolor crayons, these are considered the best and so far, I have to agreed with this, I know there are many others, which I have not tried, that are probably good also, but so far haven't seen anyone giving me a better recomendation. There are a few other products, that I use in painting but can't think of the names right now, except for a newbie for me, which is the Viva's Precious Metal Colours and I loved them right away, especially for painting on wood beads and polymer beads, that I make. One gets choosy about paints because you want them to last, on the item you are creating and for textile painting you, want somthing that will stand up to being washed. You also want good results with deep colors and clear colors, without hurting the item or paper you are using. Enough of my thoughts for today, got to get busy with other important thoughts. Till tomorrow.
A gray and damp Monday
Yes its a dark and gray day here, woke up this am to thick fog, but I won't let this day get me down or lazy, I have too many things to do. Does the weather effect you? Many tines it does me but not today. Time seems to fly away and I haven't gotten half of what I wanted to do, done. .
I mentioned in my opening post, that the crafting world really opened up, I'd say really opened up about 15 or 18 yrs ago. I am sure many could tell me what it was that caught on fire so, for the inventors of crafting tools etc. but I actually think it just may have started with the scrap booking wave, to tell you the truth, I thought it wouldn't last that long and we would be on to something new, boy was I wrong. Years ago when you went to a craft show, you saw isles and isles of hand painted wood items, and floral arrangements, a few felt items and quilts. Now you see everything, you name it or imagine it and you will see it. I started selling some items, mostly jewelry, at the shows when making earrings and such out of Friendly Plastic and heavy weight water color paper and material became popular, I made a ton of them, and did a good business at it. We used a product call Stiffy and it made the paper or material hard as a rock and just like plastic. By then the stamping world opened up, for scrap bookers, and soon we were busy buying every item and ink out there for stamping. Soon we were adding sparkle and pen colors and well you name it to our stamped items, and the little stamp stores were opening up everywhere. You don't even want to know how many stamps I have, and every gadget that went with it,and were stamping everything from cards to scrapbooks to clothing, stamping into clay and on glass and wood and on and on, but the scrap booking business was moving on also. Right next to the stamping isles in the craft stores, were paper isles and all kinds of different cutting tools to make the paper look different. Pretty soon you needed to learn about layouts and color combo's and before you knew it, there were isles just for embellishments. Now we have die cutting machines and book making machines and well who know what will be next? Isn't that exciting? It is to me,of course along with this, you have to have the budget to keep up with all the new items and toys for crafting. That is where the problem comes in for many of us, especially if you like to do more than one craft. When I go into a craft store or really when I visit one of my many online crafting companies, I'm like a kid being sent to the toy store or one who is reading, the Sears toy catalog at Christmas, I want it all. Many years ago, I have a little table in the corner of my family room where I made my items or painted, and I would drag out the containers with the paints etc. Then I added a big easel and soon a bigger container for paints alone. And before I knew it I had taken over a large part of one little room which was also the office, that too got way too small for my "stuff" because by then there were tons of new items for polymer claying, stamping, scraping, painting,and beading. I didn't know where to put anything anymore and many times this spoiled my creating side of crafting, along with the ton of books for every kind of crafting known to man. My hubby blames Carol Duvall for this. I guess someone has to take the credit? In the last year or so, the word Studio has become popular, that is because we crafters, the serious ones, have to have a place to put all of our "stuff" and still have room to craft in, ask any crafter about her studio, be it a bedroom taken over or a place in the basement or garage and they will tell you what they need the most, besides product, is ROOM...We never have enough room or storage. I've learned from other bloggers, secrets about storing and have invented a few of my own, its a big problem if you want to keep up and still create. Some people who craft can do so without being organized, not me, I can't function well if I don't know where things are that I need at a ready, right now I even have a place, for my sewing machine and material and I don't have to put them away, like I did before. Of course if I had my complete dream fulfilled, it would be to have a room about the size of a hall, with a sink and tons of cabinets built in all over and still be near my bedroom, because some nights when I wake up and can't sleep, I like to go in and make something. More tomorrow.
I mentioned in my opening post, that the crafting world really opened up, I'd say really opened up about 15 or 18 yrs ago. I am sure many could tell me what it was that caught on fire so, for the inventors of crafting tools etc. but I actually think it just may have started with the scrap booking wave, to tell you the truth, I thought it wouldn't last that long and we would be on to something new, boy was I wrong. Years ago when you went to a craft show, you saw isles and isles of hand painted wood items, and floral arrangements, a few felt items and quilts. Now you see everything, you name it or imagine it and you will see it. I started selling some items, mostly jewelry, at the shows when making earrings and such out of Friendly Plastic and heavy weight water color paper and material became popular, I made a ton of them, and did a good business at it. We used a product call Stiffy and it made the paper or material hard as a rock and just like plastic. By then the stamping world opened up, for scrap bookers, and soon we were busy buying every item and ink out there for stamping. Soon we were adding sparkle and pen colors and well you name it to our stamped items, and the little stamp stores were opening up everywhere. You don't even want to know how many stamps I have, and every gadget that went with it,and were stamping everything from cards to scrapbooks to clothing, stamping into clay and on glass and wood and on and on, but the scrap booking business was moving on also. Right next to the stamping isles in the craft stores, were paper isles and all kinds of different cutting tools to make the paper look different. Pretty soon you needed to learn about layouts and color combo's and before you knew it, there were isles just for embellishments. Now we have die cutting machines and book making machines and well who know what will be next? Isn't that exciting? It is to me,of course along with this, you have to have the budget to keep up with all the new items and toys for crafting. That is where the problem comes in for many of us, especially if you like to do more than one craft. When I go into a craft store or really when I visit one of my many online crafting companies, I'm like a kid being sent to the toy store or one who is reading, the Sears toy catalog at Christmas, I want it all. Many years ago, I have a little table in the corner of my family room where I made my items or painted, and I would drag out the containers with the paints etc. Then I added a big easel and soon a bigger container for paints alone. And before I knew it I had taken over a large part of one little room which was also the office, that too got way too small for my "stuff" because by then there were tons of new items for polymer claying, stamping, scraping, painting,and beading. I didn't know where to put anything anymore and many times this spoiled my creating side of crafting, along with the ton of books for every kind of crafting known to man. My hubby blames Carol Duvall for this. I guess someone has to take the credit? In the last year or so, the word Studio has become popular, that is because we crafters, the serious ones, have to have a place to put all of our "stuff" and still have room to craft in, ask any crafter about her studio, be it a bedroom taken over or a place in the basement or garage and they will tell you what they need the most, besides product, is ROOM...We never have enough room or storage. I've learned from other bloggers, secrets about storing and have invented a few of my own, its a big problem if you want to keep up and still create. Some people who craft can do so without being organized, not me, I can't function well if I don't know where things are that I need at a ready, right now I even have a place, for my sewing machine and material and I don't have to put them away, like I did before. Of course if I had my complete dream fulfilled, it would be to have a room about the size of a hall, with a sink and tons of cabinets built in all over and still be near my bedroom, because some nights when I wake up and can't sleep, I like to go in and make something. More tomorrow.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, ramblings
I waited for the end of the Oscars to come on the puter and I will just add, really didn't need to wait, I'm glad some people won, who I think deserved it but find the Oscars getting more boring each year. I don't know if its me or the show, but they seem to go on and really mostly seem to drag on anymore. Tonight, I like to mention the Kindle, you see advertised on my blog, both my husband and I got one for Christmas, from our Daughter in law and my step son. They are wonderful, I would tell anyone that they are really a great buy, we both love reading and they are so easy to put into a purse or as my hubby does, put them into his pocket and take it to work. The books are far cheaper when you have a Kindle, which I love, and some are even free, so if you have wanted to check out a new author, or book but didn't want to spend the money, its a great way to do it. The only problem, I am having so far, is with my beloved Crafting books, not much available yet. I love to read about how other artist and crafters, get inspired, and what helps them to do so. I'm also a person who follows many authors in novels,and mysteries and so I can go back and look for books on the Kindle that are long gone in most book stores, its fun to do that if you've missed a book from many years ago.Sometime in the future I want to recommend a book for anyone to read, its true story about a gal who grew up in England and you just won't believe what life was like for her, I sent the book back to my daughter in law so can't remember her name at this moment.
Back to crafting, I'd like to talk about the Cricut tonight too, I got one about a year ago, its fantastic if you are a scrapbooker and of course I do a bit of that too, started a scrap book/journal of my family, to give to my son and Grandkids one day, I started with my Mother and Father, and typed in whatever I know about their history and then gave my view of them as my parents, this way they will have actual facts to enjoy someday, but I have a long way to go with it and get caught up in other crafting projects. The cricut is good for making cards also and I use it for cutting out patterns for tee shirts too. I think I could have gone along with the original size of the Cricut but it was a birthday present so I enjoy the bigger one, unless your interested in making huge cutouts, I don't really think its the one for most. They are great to cut out stuff from material and I do that also. The cartridges are expensive so don't have many yet. Well enough for tonight.
Back to crafting, I'd like to talk about the Cricut tonight too, I got one about a year ago, its fantastic if you are a scrapbooker and of course I do a bit of that too, started a scrap book/journal of my family, to give to my son and Grandkids one day, I started with my Mother and Father, and typed in whatever I know about their history and then gave my view of them as my parents, this way they will have actual facts to enjoy someday, but I have a long way to go with it and get caught up in other crafting projects. The cricut is good for making cards also and I use it for cutting out patterns for tee shirts too. I think I could have gone along with the original size of the Cricut but it was a birthday present so I enjoy the bigger one, unless your interested in making huge cutouts, I don't really think its the one for most. They are great to cut out stuff from material and I do that also. The cartridges are expensive so don't have many yet. Well enough for tonight.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Getting stared all over again.
I started this blog way back two months ago and then got caught up in home decorating, I'm still decorating but at a slower pace now. I do want to start by discussing all of the many new products that I just love. I guess I should start with some of my favorite paints, which of course always start for me with,the new of this year Smooch Inks, they are great, give good detail if you want that on a item or just a bit of color if that is what you are looking for. They are great on wood or paper or just about anything including metal. So if you haven't tried them do so. I also have dabbled with Dip It Fantasy Film resin, you can make flowers and a few different things with them, I've made flowers for some of my beading projects it does take a bit of practice to do them right but well worth the try. Haven't tried it yet but have been interested in the new Yudu print machine for tee shirts, I do love my handpainting of the shirts but the Yudu looks intereting. If anyone has infor on this machine please let me know what you think. That is all for today, its sunny out and I'm feeling inspired to do a few things. So I will check back tomorrow.
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