Oh the Dog Days of School

I'm going to be heading to my second day of class in about 15 mins here. I think I need to wake up earlier. I got up about an hour ago and have been packing up orders and letters and answering email.

I love making that personal connection to the Craft Leftovers readers, but I've been spending about 3-4 hours on average answering emails... too much.... I want to make stuff. So I'm going to try to be a bit more concise which is so hard for me. Because as all of you know, I love to ramble.

Anyway, other things:
My prof is trying to get me a residency for the Junk Mail Project. We were looking at ThreeWalls, but the deadline was in May (I just really started looking into it). I'm going to chat some more with her and another prof to see if they know of an appropriate space. I've also thought about pitching the proposal to Mess Hall. I would have talked to them first, but I think they have already had a project there dealing with recycling paper into art, which is too close to what I'm doing. I might just try to find a vacant store front and see if they will let me use the space for a month or two. A residency would be best/super fun.

I'm getting a huge sweet studio space that will be in the corner so I have two walls. I think it's about 12 x 12, maybe a little smaller, but if it gives you an idea, the one I have now is only 8 x 8. Also, it locks. Mine is just marked off by tape in the main open studio space, lame. I get a key to the building and the room. It's a lot more private.

We are doing a studio clean up tonight because the people last year left everything trashed. Hopefully some free stuff will come my way. That's the best thing about clean up. Everything from the previous year is up for grabs.

Oh one last thing, I almost forgot!

I started a Craft Leftovers subscription. It's on sale in the shop starting yesterday until Monday (the 3rd) or it sells out, ha! like that's going to happen! edited in: okay so it's almost sold out, that is so awesome/amazing. I'm shocked, flattered, can't believe it. You can get all the details on Craft Leftovers.

My favorite part is that you get a little Craft Leftovers Monthly zine! Woot! It's got a little project, tips for stress free crafting and living, little handmade and reclaimed goodies. The whole subscription is for a kit, the zine, reclaimed goodies, and a little handmade fun.

Oh and just getting back from school now, i had to cut it off before posting....

There is only one subscription left! Wowwy!

I feel falsely rich... I'm going to keep it all in my paypal account for now and use it to make purchases for the Handmade Market and of course shipping and handling. What great timing, I was just about to go to the thrift shop/antique shop looking for stuff for displays.

Anyway, I have to head back to class again. See you all later!

Stuff I want

I've been going through a fashion crisis lately. I'm at a point where I don't really enjoy many of my clothes and never really feel swanky anymore. So I've been drooling over so many cute things that have been coming out lately. I feel like the clothes that have been coming out are the things that I would actually make, things I've made in the past. But I can't make all my clothes.... well, I suppose I could, but then I wouldn't have time to write 2+ patterns a week and go to school and work and cook all my meals so I don't waste money on eating out... oh yeah... and sleep!

Like this from Urban Outfitters:
I would so wear it as a dress and a shirt.
Or this:


I've been in an I want mode in general it seems.... like I want this:


I was thinking it would be really nice to put my yarn into for shows and such... but too expensive. I found it on ebay, but still too much.

This may not look so great, but imagine it filled with these:



And other reclaimed little goodies.

I have a couple things for display, mainly cardboard, which can be shaped and then covered in fabric. I have a neat-o Take and Read rack that I will use... and my red dish drain. I'm going to go to Lavish Thrift tomorrow and see if I can find something for the yarn and some of the hand made stuff. I only have a 6 foot spot, so I want some "shelves" so to speak that I can put towards the back of the table and then stuff in the front of that....

I'm obsessing... but that's what I do...

Good random news. I just heard from the head of the fiber arts department that I can continue work on my weaving... even though I am not enrolled in any fiber arts classes... and am not in the department because "The work is strong and I'd like to see you finish the series w/o rushing." She actually said that I could continue working on the loom until the end of the school year because she is not teaching beginning weaving again until next spring... woot.

I think I'm going to incorporate it into my sculpture class. I'm thinking... more wire.... large.... hmm.... crochet... wire crocheted forms................ okay I need to go get my sketch book, see you all later!

Woot WIP's

This is little guy will be tomorrow morning's pattern, go check it out over at Craft Leftovers to see the finished version and get your hands on the pattern.

Now I'm not going to tell you what this one will be, but this is pretty much the last, and least favorite part. It's going to be super awesome!

Oh and cool thing happened last night, I received an order over at Green Prairie Fibers! Woot to that too! I have this feeling that if people only knew the yarn was there they would buy it up like there is no tomorrow, but alas, I have a feeling I get lost in all the hand dyed yarn, even though mine is the best, hehe, well, maybe not the best, but really good.

This is what she bought:

I really like the tags because they go around the hank, and then when I wind it, it slides right over the little center pull cake. Oh and she also got a little free handmade stitch holder. It's just a little fancier than the ones I made for Craft Leftovers.

Oh I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but Sandi (the owner of the yarn shop I work at) has agreed to sell my stitch holders on a trial basis. We are going to see how well they sell and then she will/or will not order more... here is to hoping they sell well!

Anyway, I'm beat, long day, just finished up the pattern for tomorrow morning and I still need to do the dishes, so I will bid you goodnight!

MacBook Loving

I posted about it on Craft Leftovers, but neglected, I'm going to say out of grief, to post about it here. My little ferret baby Sloane decided it would be a good idea to figure out how to climb up onto my bed, where I happened to have left my ibook and tea while I got up to go grab something or other, and play in my tea, on my keyboard, shorting the logic board, killing all ports. Sigh. I naively thought it may have a chance of being fixed. I was right.. but for around 750... another sigh.... another big purchase... and now! volia!

I am the proud owner of a new macbook and it has a fancy little remote. Which I'm not really sure that I need as I am always within hand reach of my computer.

It was an hour and a half trek to the closest apple store... an hour wait to see a "genius"... 5 mins of him looking at it to tell me I am f-ed... 20 mins in line because the lady in front of me was annnnoying.... 10 mins checking out because the guy was nice and went through everything with me and asked me questions and told me about this:

So now I am a proud owner of one of these babies:


For Free!

I got the green one, to which the guy checking me out said: "oh, good choice, green is nice." So I guess I made good choices. It was fun because I without knowing it really stroked my ibook which was in my tote and he said "it will be okay, let it go, your macbook will be good to you" hehe... I am grieving big time for my lost ibook. Not just all the data, but also just the physical item. I have become attached to it. The macbook seems so large in comparison. I just had the 12 inch, which was actually 11.5 inches.... this one is 13 inches. It's nice though and I'm sure it will work well for, well, work!

In other news, I'm am officially going to be at the Saturday, October 13th Handmade Market in Chicago from noon to 4:30. I will have a table there for Craft Leftovers and a basket for Green Prairie Fibers.


Oh! I also just did an interview with Jennifer of the Craft Sanity Podcast last Sunday and Sister Diane of the CraftyPod emailed me on Monday oddly enough to set up an interview for her podcasts! Things have been nuts around here since the conference. It's like everything has started to really take off.

In other Craft Leftovers news, I'm going to do a huge revamping to the etsy shop, mainly to the kits. As of the Sept 1stish update they will include alllllll needed supplies including needles and hooks and and and, well, you know, whatever they may need, except a sewing machine, because that would be rediculous-o. So the prices will be going up a bit. The handmade stuff, other than the catnip and lavender pillows and the reusable tea bags, will either go up in price or out of the shop. I haven't decided yet.

I'm hoping to also have some new kits when the shop reopens, but we will see how that goes.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll try to get some shots of some works in progress tomorrow. Oh and I start school on Monday..... blark!

Have a good week everyone!

Update time!

Hey kiddos! How's it hanging? I'm pretty good over here in the big DK... haha, yeah, big if you count all the corn as citizens! We are gearing up for Corn Fest at the consignment shop, marking tons of stuff to a dollar and thank goodness. We are running out of space and it's getting cramped in here. The dollar sale always cleans the place out!

Kind of a hectic rush before school starts again. I've been trying to get my apartment in order and unload tons of stuff to the Salvation Army. I have 4 bags packed up and ready to go, but I'm thinking that everyone else has the same idea or something because when I went to drop them off, the bins were packed, there was stuff piled around them, and it was rainin... well, no thanks. I'll wait instead of letting everything get rained on so they are chilling in my car until they can be dropped.

I'm also working hard to get Craft Leftovers 2 months ahead in the pattern cycle before school starts. I wrote 4 patterns this weekend so I'm getting closer. Only three more to go! My pattern testers are great and are working hard to proof everything for me. I send them kits in return so it's not completely a one sided thing. With the last pattern I sent them some little fancy soaps too, so they get more than just yarn and fabric.

BlogHer was great, I did a full write up over on Craft Leftovers sense that was the reason I was invited. It's been great! I've had several orders from the shop since I've been back... am I using since and sense right? what's the difference in the spelling, someone totally needs to fill me in, I've never been able to get it straight, anyway... and a huge increase in visitors and comments on Craft Leftovers. It was so much fun, it is so much fun. I did exceed my bandwidth, again, which is kind of neat because that means people have been downloading the patterns.

I got a second opinion on Beuler and he does have a mass and only has maybe a month or so to live, maybe less, maybe more, it's hard to tell without knowing what it is. Even the doctor said that it was a pretty hopeless case because of how big and where it was. Sigh... $500 in vet bills only to be told he's dying. It is a relief to know one way or the other.

I know I've been really absent lately, which is unfortunate because I think writing about my day to day helps to keep track of things, think about stuff in different ways, get feedback, and chart progress. So. I'm going to try to post a bit more often about stuff that's going on with pictures and stories and whatnot. Let's see if that happens.

Best wishes everyone!