Check It.

New posts on I Make Stuff. I was a busy little bee last week.

FYI

new posts on the projects blog. Check it out.

New Blogs I Luuuuurve.

I've been enjoying new sites as of late (thanks to Google Reader, which I also love) many of which have to do with creative things. Here's a look.

Tangled and True. By far one of my new all time favorite sites. LOVE IT. Go and look and fall in love like me. Some examples:

Adorable. Tasty. Trendy. Helpful. Autobiographical.

Kirtsy. Previously another site - from the mind behind Design Mom (and partners). I don't even know how to go about sharing any of it with you...its amazing. Just go and look and be sucked in by the amazingness. Seriously. Just like the button says, they find all the best stuff FOR you. You go to one place and BAM you're done.

Design Mom. Very good. Fun ideas and the provider of Kirtsy. Love her ideas and love her posts.

Etsy. This one goes without explanation. All my crafting needs in one easy location. I could search it all day long and be happy as a clam. In fact, I have and I was.

check it out

http://lspcreations.blogspot.com/

updates to the Projects blog. tutus, capes and lockers. enjoy!

Bloggy Blog Blog

So I started another blog that just focuses on the projects I am working on and the projects I have completed in the past. I wanted to separate that stuff out from my general posts.

My Projects.

(there is also a link to the left)

A quilt for Rocket Man

When Monkey was born, I decided to make him a quilt. He now calls it his "Zizi Blankie". I went with a loose "jungle" theme, mostly because I was already calling him Monkey and decided to embroider monkeys on some of the patches. So the corresponding fabric had to have an animal vibe. I went with very soft, fluffy green for the back of the quilt (which you can kind of see in the corner there) and an array of orange, yellow, green and blue for the front patches. I was also trying to match a lot of the stuff Lauren had already purchased for him - lots of green, blue and orange. It was successful and I was happy with the outcome, not to mention the adorable baby boy who was wrapped up warmly in it.

Now I have to make a quilt for J 2.0, who will be arriving pretty darn soon in terms of quilt-making time. I decided to go with a rocket theme for Baby J (who very well could end up being my little Rocket Man...only time will tell). I wasn't sure about colors - Mom's crocheted blanket is brown and blue and I like the combination, but I wasn't going to really try to make the two match. However, I went to JoAnn's and found this:

It's the same fluffy, very soft fabric that I used on Monkey's blanket. I looked for this first and was going to pick a solid (thinking I would go with a similar blanket "pattern") but this just jumped out at me. It's fun and it's very much a boy pattern and incorporating the green will help it match the stuff in the boy's room.

So then I went a little crazy and just walked around looking for fabric to coordinate. The patterns had to be somewhat subtle since the main design of the blanket will be the rockets that I embroider. I found fun green dots (which will be used the most) and some other more plain green swatches and then a few blue and orange (I will post pictures of those soon). It will be interesting to see how this all goes together.

The embroidery patterns I use are from Sublime Stitching.

I love this site. They are iron on patterns and are incredibly easy to use and very unique. I used the veggie ones to make a couple of aprons for Crinners and Jer when they were married.


I will be using this Atom-ique pattern for Baby J's blanket.
This pattern, unfortunately, gives me fewer options than the monkey pattern since I won't be using the space ladies or the alien head, but it will still be fun...and it is the most appropriate. Although, at this point in time, Lauren cannot have another boy because I have no idea what other pattern I would use to make a blanket (that is unless Lauren is a fan of Lucha Libre! or Tattoos - he would definitely be the toughest kid on the block). She can have a girl because there is this incredibly cute pattern that I am dying to use.

So this is what I will be working on for the next few weeks (that is in addition to the project I have for Joshie's birthday on Feb. 15th). Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed that the fabric cooperates!

Things to consider...

As most of you know, I make a lot of things. I have a lot of hobbies and I have often been described as a "crafty" person. Not crafty as in scheming, but crafty as in I'm good at craft-like projects. Every once in a while I make something that I really enjoy making - I come up with reasons to make several of those things, usually just giving them as gifts. Sometimes people suggest I should make and sell things, sometimes I think, there must be a way to make money off of my extra talents. This is not for the express purpose of making money (although that's a happy side effect), it's more because I am having fun being creative and using my time to make something rather than just sitting around watching tv and surfing the internet. Speaking of which, with the internet a whole new world of possibilities are open to me...a huge market to sell to without the hassle of paying for a table at a craft fair and such.

I suppose I just want some input (and I ask you to be as critical of my work as possible). Many of you have seen my handiwork or received gifts from me. My major doubts when I consider starting something like this is the time most of these projects take, the money I need to have in the first place to buy supplies and whether or not my technical skill (or workmanship) is good enough to encourage people to buy something I've made. I am a perfectionist, although I realize my limits and can only expect perfection to go so far.

Ideally I would love to be able to turn an idea like this into something I could do to help other people. Like choose a charity or organization for the money I make to go to or use that money to be able to do something extra special for those in need during the holidays. I've been feeling the need/desire to find a way to reach out, especially during the holidays. With all that I have, I should be able to figure out my own way to provide help and kindness to those who need it.

Right now, there are two things that I think would be relatively low-cost and easy to make. The first being tutus. I made two this Christmas and I really just had a fun time making them. Frankly, I think they are cuter than a lot of the ones I have seen out there. I would have to perfect the style and experiment with fabric, but they are very very easy to make (one small tutu takes about two hours from start to finish - including measuring, cutting, gathering, and sewing the final product together). Of course, I don't really know that there are a lot of people in the market for tutus. haha. You never know, though, right?

The second is embrodiery. Onesies, towels, pillowcases, bags, etc. The major glitch here is that I would want to create my own designs and not use purchased ones (for artistic integrity and copyright reasons). I can draw, but I don't always like what I draw so I would have to get past that mental block. The cost to make these things would be higher (making the selling price higher) than the tutus simply because the base materials (onesies, bags, etc.) are more expensive. The sewing of these usually takes more time as well so I would probably start creating the products until I had a good base to offer people.

Okay, so this post is a lot longer than I intended, but this is what I've been thinking about and that's what blogging is for. Now, if you have any input, any suggestions, any cautions, etc. feel free to share - that's also what blogging is for and the reason I am explaining all of this.