e-t-s-y

My etsy store, glitzed, is back with a vengeance. Oh, and I design knitting patterns now. Say what?

Yep it's true. It all started when I decided to dress up as The Bus for Halloween (he is sitting on my lap as I type this). I made up my own pattern for a kitty ear hat and paw-like fingerless mitts. One of my co-workers who runs Knit Picks IDP program loved my costume and asked if I wanted to publish it. I was beyond flattered.

You can download that pattern here for $1.99.

My next foray into pattern designing was inspired by November Pain. When I heard there was a little Pain on the way, I knew she desperately needed her own little jammer and pivot caps to keep her toasty.

I published these on Knit Picks too (after I knit a custom set in Heather's colors for Tequilya to give Ruby Bruiseday), and I decided while I was at it, I'd use it as an opportunity to resurrect my etsy shop too. It's been so much fun getting reacquainted with etsy. It seems so much more interactive now, and I've gotten an amazing response to my stuff. Of course, I haven't actually sold any yet, but Derby Little Secrets loved my patterns and contacted me to see if I'd sell them whole sale. Heck yeah, I will! They're up there now.

I was also contacted by Derby Girls Blog about an interview and a blog giveaway, that should be going up soon.

And my Madonna painting was included in the "Feeling the 80's Blues" treasury by TheMuppettoy.

Thanks for all the etsy love everybody! And stay tuned to glitzed for more items soon, I'm having so much fun with it that I keep coming up for new ideas for projects and patterns I want to offer!

Summit of Awesome

If you visit my etsy shop right now, you may notice it's empty. After a lot of soul searching, I've come to the conclusion that the kinds of crafts I like to make aren't the kinds of crafts that there is a big commercial demand for or that make sense to sell online. I like knitting and other projects that take hours and hours of work. To pay myself a decent wage, even $10/hr, I'd have to charge a lot for my work. I don't want to charge a lot, and I don't think there's a huge market for expensive glitter paintings.

My bearing rings were selling well, but I was having issues with the bearings breaking off, and I was getting tired of dealing with complaints and driving to the post office every other day. I am planning to make a tutorial soon for how to make your own bearing ring, but I don't have plans to make more to sell.

So if my etsy store is empty, why did I go to the Summit of Awesome last Thursday? Well, I still want to be involved in the PDX craft community, but I'm not sure how I fit yet. I went to meet new people, reconnect with people I've met before and haven't seen in awhile, and see what I can contribute.

I left with a million business ideas, and now I'm trying to sort through what my next steps should be. Social media consulting for craft businesses? Maybe... Craft Bar? A possibility (especially if I find an investor or win the lottery!) E-books about marketing for crafters? Probably not, it seemed like a good idea before the conference, but there appears to already be a lot out great material out there and many people are already doing this really well... Teaching an art class for kids as a volunteer? I hope so!

I left the summit feeling really inspired. I'm excited for what might come next. We'll have to wait and see what that might be!

sparkliest knitting needles ever!

My co-worker knew I would be powerless to resist these gorgeous, glittery knitting needles. Look how pretty!

They're handmade by a lady who was kind enough to share her secrets here on Craftster, but she'll also sell them to you on etsy for $25-$35. I have only recently started experimenting with cast resin and can't really imagine pulling these off without creating a huge, toxic, sticky mess!

She also makes these really cool, jumbo-size 19 needles with yarn actually embedded in them. So rad!

She sands the points by hand, so each needle really is a work of art in it's own right. Visit her etsy shop at www.OntheNeedle.etsy.com.

cookie decorating

Check cookie decorating off my winter to-do list! Done and done. We decorated sugar cookies as part of our office holiday party today.

This was my entry.

I hope it's self explanatory, but just in case, that's a roller derby girl smoking a cigarette and a ref sending her to the penalty box. I started with the fishnets and mini-skirt and my co-worker asked me if I was making a slut cookie. Hee hee.The chocolate chips were supposed to be elbow and knee pads, but I don't think they'd do her much good. No wonder she has a big bruise on her arm!

They got beat out by this pretty amazing mitten. Fair enough.

I'm a vendor at the Hip Happening craft sale tomorrow

I haven't done a craft show since right after I made fresh meat, but now I'm ganging up with some of my crafty derby cohorts to set up shop at Hip Happening in Sellwood, near the hangar where we practice.

Skinned Knee Lauper, Mick, Scrappy, and I will be selling paintings, prints, jewelry, and other odds and ends tomorrow afternoon. Skinned Knee Lauper has these great wine charm/bracelet sets for any one who has ever had one too many and forgotten which charm is theirs. So clever!

Hip Happening
Historic Sellwood Masonic Lodge
7126 SE Milwaukie Ave.
Saturday, Dec. 13th, 11am-6pm

Just look for the Rose City Rollers signs at our booth. Or you can follow the trail of glitter. I was working on a custom painting last night, and even though I took a shower and changed my clothes, I'm still finding glitter on my face and arms today.

I designed a tote for Connecting Threads.

A few months ago, some of my co-workers and I got together to brainstorm about introducing some new, more contemporary projects to Connecting Threads, our online quilt shop. We each came up with a project to design and offer on the site as a free pattern, and mine's finally up! It's so neat, it's the first thing I've ever designed that someone else has made.

Cute As A Cupcake tote

My projects were designed to show ways to use applique.

Fly-a-way tote

In addition to drawing up the patterns for the actual applique and writing the pattern, I also sewed an applique example so that the test sewer and the person sewing the photo samples would know how I wanted the applique to look.

Before I worked on this project, I'd never done a blanket stitch, but it was pretty easy and gave me the look I wanted.

See how it turned out?

Tulip Tote
I had LOTS of help writing the patterns, and they've been tested twice, so the instructions are clear and easy to use, even for a beginner like me. You can see them up on the web here along with the quilts, coasters, and pillows my co-workers designed.

I'm so excited!!

the perfect tofurky day

Vixen and I worked diligently on our mini-pumpkin turkeys while we watched the parade and the learned about all the new boy bands lip-synching from the floats.

Of course, I couldn't resist the glittery version of foam core at the craft store, so our turkeys were a little sparklier than the originals.

We started by gluing pom poms onto the pumpkins (and some little orange curry squashes Johnny grew in the back yard.

We couldn't get the tail feathers to stick, so we used a knife to carve little holes in the pumpkins and then inserted match sticks to help support the feathers.

Here you can see the rear view of a finished turkey.

We opted for pretty traditional turkeys for our first round, but we got more creative as the mimosas flowed. Vixen made a punk rock turkey and I made a drag queen. We also made a Lucy (Vixen's cat) and a Tonka (Johnny's dog) after we ran out of pom poms. Here's the whole family.

Our centerpieces were pretty fabulous, but Johnny's cooking really stole the show. We had a curried squash bisque as an appetizer, tofurky baked with parsnips, carrots, and potatoes, homemade stuffing, yams, roasted brussel sprouts, Silk Nog, mashed potatoes, and my favorite- cranberry sauce from scratch. Vixen and I contributed apple and pumpkin pies for dessert.

The cranberry sauce was so incredibly easy to make.
He put whole cranberries in a pot with orange juice, water, ginger, and 2 tablespoons of sugar, brought the whole thing to a boil, and then let it simmer, until the cranberries POPPED! When they popped they gave the mix a jelly like consistency. Amazing.

Hope you and yours had a Happy Thanksgiving too!!

Crash Course Quilting

Did you know bobbins come in different sizes? I didn't. The world of quilts is a strange and mysterious place indeed.

Last night Karen and Judy showed me how to wind a bobbin and thread the needle on my mom's Elna 1010 (it's mine now). So now I'm zipping along again on this t-shirt quilt I started over 4 years ago! It was inspired by Generation T, but I was sewing it by hand while I watched old episodes of Friends I hadn't seen yet. When I finished the series, the quilt got sidelined. But now it's back on the bench with only 3 rows to go.

Here's what I've got planned:


Today I edited a script about making your own binding for a video tutorial, so maybe by the time I finish the top, I'll know what to do next (or at least I can figure it out by watching YouTube!)