Giveaways!

Giveaway- ends 2/3/10- offered by Jabba's Design Hut
Being new to Etsy, I was wondering how to promote my shop. I noticed some other sellers were managing to get a whole lot of store traffic. According to the community blog, they said they actually made enough sales to quit their day jobs and do their crafts fulltime; my lifelong dream! I am learning their is a lot more you can do that beats the daylights out of sitting around and waiting for someone to stumble upon you among thousands of other vendors; one of the best things is to sponsor a contest giveaway. There's even a blog dedicated to the practice. It's not Etsy run, but it's something some other sellers put together to market their shops. Very cleaver!

There are so many giveways, there's sure to be something for everyone. (Gosh, I hate that cliche, but I said it anyway because it says it the best). It's a great place to look around and see all the handcrafts being offered. I was, as always, impressed with the talent and creativitiy of some people. It's so inspiring to see what other people do.

So I Sew

I do appreciate all forms of crafts and will enthusiastically research, discuss, and carry out many types of projects. However, as most of us who craft know, there is usually one type of crafting that pulls us a little harder. For me, it’s sewing. I don’t think there’s anything better than going into a fabric store and walking through the aisles of fabric bolts and imagining what I would make with this or that fabric. I like to flip through patterns catalogs and magazines, and will do so tirelessly, for hours. I love to sew.
This past week I have been busy working on my handbag designs for my Etsy and putting together some semblance of a business and marketing plan. That’s a lot of work all in itself! I do make other things and don’t want to be known just for dolls, so I am working hard on that right now by developing other products. I have been spending less time with the weaving, or really any other crafting at this time, but that’s okay because sewing is my first love.
I would like to comment on the generosity of kindred crafters: it happened to me twice recently, in fact, one on each of my last two trips to Jo Ann Fabrics store; and that was women who gave me their unused coupons thereby saving me a bundle. I mean, you’re talking 50% off the highest regular price! Things like that rarely ever happen to me in any other stores. Those who craft know what I am talking about.
Oh, and heads up for the pattern sale at Vogue. They hardly ever get a good sale going, but now on their website they have many styles on sale for $3.99 each. Great deal!





P.S. Love these purses!

Creative Brain Gas

This was one of those weekends when you start off anxious to get to work on all the great things you were thinking about doing all week but didn't have time until the weekend. Then... the weekend gets here and your mind draws a total blank and you find that not only are you incredibly uncreative, but your technical skills are lacking, too.
I think part of the problem was I wanted to try too many new things. Take the pin weaving, for instance. I have weaved before, actually quite well, but this picture represents my first attempt at pin weaving. First, I found I had the pins too close together for the materials I was using. I used 1/4" increments, but found that 1/2" worked better so I ended up skipping every other pin when I threaded my loom. Second, the materials I was using are a little overwhelming for such a delicate weaving loom. The pins moved and pulled out, I lost my place and ended up going over or under more than one thread, I messed up the top rows when I took the work off the loom because I didn't secure it first. I know that pin weaving will work fine for yarn and ribbon, but not thick fabric. For fabric, a handmade loom using a wood frame and headless nails will work better. Live and learn, so it wasn't time lost. I did learn what to do next time, and there will be a next time, because I like weaving.
There's lots you can do with weaving. It doesn't have to be a big undertaking with tons of needles and cutting fabric strips. Here's a picture for a tutorial of a Christmas stocking by Wrights using bias tape pin weaving...



And a picture for a tutorial by Ben Franklin Stores for a pin woven Valentine card using ribbon...

















They didn't use a threaded loom, but still the look is stunning. So...After the pin weaving, I spent a considerable amount of time making a handbag that didn't turn out only because I tried to get too creative. Sometimes simple is best.

Until next time...

Why Am I So Excited About Weaving?

Well, for one thing, without weaving there would be no clothing. That's a pretty good reason all in itself. But even more, there would be no upholstery, no curtains, no bath towels, no baskets, no fabrics for anything; including doll dresses or sewing projects like yo yos and handbags.

I find we often take for granted the things we see every day in our lives, so I wanted to explore this craft a little deeper before telling you what I found. True, you can't weave straw into gold. But you can make gold by weaving fiber into fabric and turning fabric into things people need.

Weaving has been around since the New Stone Age. It is one of the red letter inventions as crucial to man of the modern world as was the wheel and the discovery that fire could be good. It is thought that weaving was discovered when man (or most likely woman) started twisting branches together to form containers to carry food home to their respective caves. Eventually they discovered that if they twisted some flax plant leaves, they could make strings, and so on and so forth to the invention of cloth.

Without weaving... how would Aladin ever have taken Jasmine on the world tour without the magic carpet? ....

I used to work for a non-profit organization that had a giant weaving loom. It went floor to almost ceiling and had what looked like hundreds of strings coming out of it. I made rugs there for the Rags to Rugs project that they sold at the craft fairs in the area. It was so much fun to see what I could create with strips of fabric and cut up clothing. I've always wanted my own loom, but frankly, could never afford one and cold not spare a place to put one.
This is what's exciting to me; because this is something new and undiscovered for me. So, without further ado, what I wanted to share about weaving is what inspired from the March 2010 issue of Threads. An article in this magazine written by a talented weaver, Shirley Adams, describes a process called pin weaving. You can use the same fabric, or mix it up for abstract work, or plan and work a design. Basically, pin weaving is a crude weaving application using cardboard and straight pins.

How you do it...

You just cut a piece of interfacing as big as you want the woven piece to be and lay it on the cardboard. From there, you line straight pins top and bottom about 1/4" apart (depends on what fiber you are weaving) across the length of the interfacing. Get some embroidery floss and tie it to one end straight pin, and then zig zag your way up and down until you get tp the final pin and tie it off again. This is your strung loom.
Now, you can choose some thin fabric strips, pieces of yarn, scraps, selvages, papers, lace- or whatever you want that can be woven- and begin to weave it in and out of the strings. (My recommendation is to use a wide tooth comb to 'comb' the work to keep the project woven tight).

Here some examples of Shirley's work from her website:



When I saw this, I thought "How fantastic is this? I make handbags. I make doll clothes. I have lots and lots of scraps of fabric not big enough for anything else. Why not make abstract woven embellishments for the purses? I mean, after all, if I am going to make handbags, I don't want to make one you can get anywhere. That kind of defeats the thought of OOAK. Besides, it's a green project. And I like giving back to the enviroment. This is the best of all possible worlds! It is so simple to please me!

It is done

They're done!
After three arduous days, I am proud to say Etsy is up with 21 items so far. I worked all day Sunday and Monday getting this done. It took a lot of trial and error trying to get the grove back that I had going on so good when I was on eBay, but I am picking their listing process right up. Still lots to learn about selling with them.
I was able to locate some little dresses I sewed for Bratz some time ago so I put them on, too. I was happy about that because I had forgotten about them. I designed and fit the dress pattern myself, so this dress was a real first for me as a designer. It's simple, but very cute. Cloe makes such a great model. My observation on taking pictures of these dolls is that Bratz dolls are extraordinarily photogenic. You simply can't mess up taking a picture of them if you take the shot at a downward angle.
I have some more doll dresses I want to do and the ideas just keep coming; but after those are done, I want to make some other things. I have a nice apron pattern and tons of purse ideas. As much as I love dolls, I don't want to burn out on designing for them.

Conquer Your Knitting Fear With Cool Whip

You what I can't believe? That I've spent my entire crafting life not knowing how to knit. There, I said it. I am knitting challenged. I just never learned. I don't remember it being a craft my mother did, either. She crocheted often, but never knitted.
Yesterday, a friend told me that the lovely knitted scarf she was wearing ( I am a scarf crazy girl) was her own creation that she made from a homemade cool whip knitting loom. It sounds crazy, but it's true. She told me to search you tube cool whip knitting, so I did. This is what come up, so be sure to check it out. Just click on the link. (I tried to get the video to embed, but it wouldn't.)
You Tube Cool Whip Knitting



Make sure you watch all 3 videos because you have to watch one to see how to cut the bowl, and these second to show you the stich, and the third for taking the project off the bowl.

This is really a crude version of knifty knitter. Crude, however, it is effective.
That's all I have today. My day job has been particularly cruel to me this week and I am pretty tired.

Valentine's day exploded in my living room

It looks like a Valentine's Day explosion in my living room. These are the dresses I found packed away. About half of them are finished, and the other half are all in varying degrees of completion. Oh, and one lone St. Patrick's Day dress on a Barbie doll.
I think the red dress right in the middle is probably my favorite. It is made from red satin and organza. I remember seeing it on a Barbie before and it is stunning. I think I made a similar one and sold it on eBay before and had decided to make another one and never got around to selling it.
So, my goal is to get these done and on Etsy. I have already set the shop up, but have not made a banner yet. My to-do list is long and arduous. But, in the famous words of Walt Disney:
"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

Barbie on the Brain

Well! If I didn't have to work so hard, I could craft all the time. I kind of feel the same about crafting as Bubba from the Forrest Gump movie felt about shrimping- we can just be crafting all the time! I am still working on the yo yo project, though true to my crafting A.D.D., lately I have became reinfatuated with the fashion doll after finding a pile of finished and semi finished Valentine dresses in my fabric stash. Now everything is all about Barbie.
So work did me in today and I am tired tonight. The good news is the fashion doll pattern CD came today. (Yea!) It might be OK, I've only had a chance to look at it briefly. It's more of a guide anyway, because the time has long past that Barbie is one size fits all, so some tweaking will need to be done.
I have been researching Barbie body styles and types and found that there are at least eight different body styles now; vintage, TNT, posable, Shani, belly button, silkstone, pivotal, and model muse. And that's not even counting Barbie friends. I have most of those body types with the exception of the pivotal. It's very new. I got my first Barbie Basic for Christmas with the model muse body style. It is the number 2 model with the Lara face mold (see photo). I have my eye on numbers 3, 4, and 12, too. These dolls are insanely skinny. I smell a highly collectible doll forming in these beauties. They're selling out like hotcakes. There are 12 of them with different face molds. They all wear a little black dress, and so far, I have not seen any outfits being released for them, just accessory packs.
Most sewing is done for vintage and TNT, and more recently the silkstone doll. Outfits for silkstone, if they're really well designed and expertly sewn, can fetch upwards of $100.00 or more per outfit. This price is actually down from a couple of years ago where I've seen some go for more than $500.00- depending on the label. It was rare, but I saw it.
As I learned in my last 2 1/2 years getting a Master's degree in marketing, the most important thing to do when starting a crafting business (or any business) is to decide on a brand name and logo. It is that important to your customers because the name is how the customer is able to identify your work and find you easily. A label also ensures you stand behind your work and are professional.
So I picked a brand name for the doll clothes line; Ella Rose Doll Fashions with a pink rose logo. I don't want to be strictly associated with Barbie-the Fashion Royalty line by Integrity toys is awesome, too. Why Ella Rose- I don't know. A rose is usually known as the most beautiful flower, and Ella reminds me of; 1. Eleanor Roosevelt; a strong and sophisticated woman, and 2. Ella Enchanted; a girl in a Cinderella princess movie. This combination reminds me of the type of doll designs I see when I clothes my eyes.
So right now I'm focused on Barbie and her need for wardrobe. I have a goal to make myself finish and post the Valentine dresses for sale by this weekend. My Etsy shop awaits an inventory- so I best get with it soon.

What Do You Love?

People who love crafts usually love them all, but when given opportunity to choose a craft to do, they will lean toward a particular type as being their favorite. For me, it's sewing and dolls. As I said before, I used to sew Barbie Doll dresses for sale on eBay. It was probably one of my favorite times in life, but one I lost hold of as life demanded more of my attention.
It was around 2002 to 2003 that I was involved in doll dress design. Most of my dresses were the frilly ballgowns that were so popular for the time. How I longed to do something more contemporary, but there did not seem to be a market for the type of dresses that I wanted to do at the time. Unfortunately, I never got back to it when a market did grow for that style of dress. The Mattel Silkstone Barbie collector doll and the Integrity Fashion Royalty dolls were rapidly gaining popularity after I stopped sewing. Soon, one doll fashion designer began to stand out fr0m many others selling on eBay; a woman named Brenda from Canada (Sorry, I do not know her last name) who sews under her label, Matisse.




Her use of pattern and fabric are stunning in combination with her skill in sewing in miniature.Every detail is perfect, right down to buttons, linings, buckles, and handbags. Notice the fabric used in the brown jacket? It looks like leather, doesn't it? It is liquid knit, undoubtedly much easier to work with in miniature than leather. Each tiny outfit is perfectly accessorized,complete with belts, scraves, and jewelry. Her skills in sewing are as good as her skills in photo composition and marketing. I have been following her work for years, and quite possibly it was she who created the market by the beauty of her work and her stunning displays. Truly amazing.

I could just sit here all night and put pictures up for you to see- but just do your self a favor and visit her blog. She offers lots of information on sewing in miniature, as well as links to many other tutorial sites.
Lately, I have been reinspired to design for Barbie. I was going through my fabric stash and came across some dresses I had started before. Wouldn't you know it, there are several Valentine dresses that only need minor work to complete them. Just in time for Valentine's Day! (They are "frilly ballgowns" but I will finish them.)
I also just ordered a CD on eBay that is loaded with several of the vintage fashion doll patterns- quite a steal at $4.95. Such a steal that I don't mind not having the actual pattern and having to print out the pieces (transferring doll patterns to card stock works much better than the flimsy tissue paper paper, anyway.)
Soon, I'll be sewing away and selling on Etsy this time! My plans are to sell doll dresses, handbags, glamour aprons, miscellaneous accessories, and some supplies like fat quarters and bags of trims. My shop will be opening soon. Keep watching Etsy for Sunday Sewing Shoppe. That will be me!

Is it real? Or is it a babydoll?

It's a babydoll. Isn't she amazing? Reborn doll artists take an ordinary vinyl baby doll and turn it into a true to life replica of a real baby. Now, that's a lot of talent!I honestly can't tell the difference in some of them.

The process starts with choosing an appropiate doll to be "re-born". Because their dolls are made with more realistic features than other doll companies, Berenguer Dolls is the manufacturer of choice. Some people mold and sculpt their own dolls or purchase them from private artists.

Re-Born artist,Karen Whitmore described the process in detail. The doll must start out as a blank canvas- all factory paint must be removed. The ears and nostrals are opened and felted, and then the painsaking process of the painting begins. It normally takes many layers of various techniques to replicate the mottled skin look of a newborn. The hair is rooted in single strands, the eyes are set in if it's to be an open eye baby, the details are tended to, and the doll is put together and weighted to the approximate weight of a baby in that age range. Whew. That's a lot of work.

However, some people find them to be creepy because they look so real, and for that, they've made the news a few times. MSNBC and Dr. Phil both did shows on the Re-Born craze citing the realism of the dolls as a news worthy topic. So whether or not you'd like to own one of them, you must admit, the artistry that goes into these dolls is incredible. And yes, they are expensive. Depending on quality of work, you could expect to pay about $300.00 per doll and up.

3 Hearts for Origami Birds

Today I awoke to the magical majestic freeze of a winter morn. Add a couple of inches of snow on top of the ice and it only meant one thing to me- snow day! At least for part of the day. I did manage to get off to work eventually.
One thing that snow days are good for is crafting. I played around with my yo yo projects for a while today and I think I am coming up with some good ideas. I can't wait to share them with you.
Another thing I wanted to do was to set a goal to find at least one project done by another crafter everyday and share it on my blog. So, without further ado- here's my pick of one thing that I love for today: A tiny Origami bird made out of part of a tea bag by Ken Murakami. No easy feat, I might add. I tried to make one with a 6" square sheet of paper and couldn't do it. Anyone have Origami tips for making a crane?

The creativity of people truly amazes me and puts my crafting A.D.D. brain in motion to want to make everything! Perhaps one day one I will learn to edit my desires, but for now, I want to make it all!



Happy crafting!!!

Yo Yo Crazy

One of my New Years resolutions is to find more ways to reduce waste and be more green. Not only is this good for the planet, it can be good for the wallet, too.

Crafting green is really pretty easy. Many crafts can be made from scraps and common household items that are normally destined for the trash. One such craft is making yo-yos. Yo-yos have been used for making quilts, pillows, and decorative pins for scarves, lapels, and purses. They are no more than a small piece of fabric cut into a circle and gathered around the edges with needle and thread. Simple, yes, but they can be used in so many beautiful ways.

The picture of the holiday pin came from the website of fabric and lifestyle designer, Heather Bailey. She has an excellent tutorial on making yo-yos. She shows photos of actual photos of the process, not just a drawing. Good pictures are great for people like me who need to see to learn.

So, it looks like yo-yos will be my project this week. I can't wait to see what I can some up with!

Happy crafting!

Ann

Happy New Year Crafters!

The beginning of a new year is always a time of reflection for me. I often take some time over the first few days to evaluate what happened over the past year and to plan for what I want to happen in the coming year. This blog is just part of that plan. I feel as though I am finally answering the call of what I should have been doing all along- getting myself more involved in something that I love.
As early as I can remember, I enjoyed crafting. My interest grew over the years by watching my mother. One month she would be quilting, the next month she crocheted, and the following month needle punch would be all the rage for her. She taught me how to make paper snowflakes, to embroider, and to sew at an early age.
She was first and foremost a utilitarian crafter, crafting more for what was needed before what she desired. She taught me that if you can’t afford something, see if you can figure out how to make it. Hence, I remember crafting a pair of Romper Stompers out of coffee cans and string at the tender age of 5. I fell off of them and nearly broke my neck and put out my eyes, but it was the start of something greater (Just kidding! But seriously, they didn’t work.)

These days I enjoy all crafting; designing, making, and sharing. Sharing, I believe, is one of the best parts of being a crafter. It is as much fun to see what others are doing as it is to do it for yourself. So, please feel free to share a craft or add some input to my ideas.

I am, therefore, I craft.

Happy crafting!

Poetic Confessions of A Craft Addict

Welcome to my blog! I wanted to start out with a bit of crafting humor that I hope you enjoyed. I have lots of plans for this blog; I plan to include information about the crafting world as well as links and tutorials for all types of crafts. Included, of course, will be my journey in learning right along with you.
Please join me for a fun adventure in the world of crafting!




Poetic Confessions of a Craft Addict

Crafts, crafts, everywhere
Not a wall or a shelf to spare
On the floor and on my bed
In my dreams and in my head

I troll the stores and search the books
For crafts of crafters to admire their looks
I share the tips and tricks of trade
And proudly display the things I’ve made

The dirty secret all crafters know
Is what to keep and what to throw
Because we always tend to buy
Supplies for every craft we plan to try

A.D.D. is what they say
Makes a person craft away
Because before my project can be done
I’ve moved on to other fun

My closets have started to overflow
With beads and paper and things to sew
Lord, help me find the focus again
To finish a craft from start to end


by Ann Cummings