CactusHead Studio

Year End Clearance!

2011-12-29T11:23:00.000-08:00

I have a few lovely aprons left in my shop, and if you buy them between now and Jan. 2nd, you can get 25% off using the coupon code "byebye2011"!

Check them out here.

Happy New Year!

Free Shipping

2011-11-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

Free shipping in my etsy shop with the coupon code "freeshipping" through the end of the weekend!

First New Item in the Shop!

2011-11-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

The first new item is in the shop, and it is this smart (if I do say so myself) knitting needle roll!

I made myself a needle roll (finally) a few months ago, and then made one for my Ravelry fiber friend, and have had so much fun making them I decided to make a few for the shop. What do you think?

The shop is back in action!

2011-11-15T07:25:00.000-08:00

The holidays are coming, and the CactusHead Studio Etsy shop is getting back in action! Keep an eye out for new listings of aprons, bags, other sewn items, sculptures, some supplies as I destash the studio, and other surprises! The new items will start popping up in the next week, but there are some nice things in the shop already. Have your eye on something already in the shop? Use coupon code oldfriend15 at checkout to get 15% off now through Thanksgiving.

Socks!

2011-06-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

It has been a wonderful crafty month so far, and I am sad to see June coming to an end. I have worked on a lot of different projects that I will share soon, but today is all about socks!

I finally finished up the first sock for my year of sock knitting. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, it is a little big, but better too big than too small. I haven't started the second one yet, because I jumped right into my Ravenclaw socks with high hopes of getting them done in time to wear to the movie opening. That is right, I am that cool.

As you can see, they are off to a good start!

Its the crafty time of year!

2011-05-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

For me at least. My regular school year classes are ending, my summer hours and classes don't start until July, and so I have some time on my hands! I have puppets to make for our next show, but I am going to spend some of my time at home making things just for fun.
I finally picked up my shrug again this week, and it was much easier to get started again than I feared. I am knitting away, finishing up the ribbed border, and should have finished pictures to show soon!I joined a sock knitting group on ravelry with the goal of knitting a pair of socks per month too. I am sure I won't be able to keep up with that pace, but hopefully it will encourage me anyway!
I am also going to several weddings this summer, so I need to make some gifts. I am not sure what those will be exactly, but I have a little time to figure it out. Any suggestions, what do you like to give/get as a handmade wedding gift?

Oh!!! The garden needs to be started too! I planted peas already, but haven't done anything else yet, so more on that to come.

Happy New Year! (a little bit late)

2011-01-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

The holidays have come and gone, and we are now well into the new year and back to regular life. I hope your holidays were lovely, and 2011 has been good so far. Do you make resolutions for the new year? I don't really like resolutions, because I never really seem to stick to them for long, but for the last couple years I have made a list of 10-20 things that I hope to accomplish during the year. Some of the things I put on the list are serious, like paying off debt, some are craft or career related, and some are just fun, like finally going sledding or seeing more live theater. I like the lists because I don't have to do everything, and it gives me a lot of different options of things to try and feel like I accomplished something.

Some of the craft related things on my list this year are:
-Finish knitting my shrug- I am nervous about this, its been 8 months since I last worked on it! Not sure if I can figure out where I was in the pattern.
-Knit lots of socks- I have tons of sock yarn stashed, and I just ordered yarn for these Ravenclaw socks!
-Sew myself an item of clothing.
- Make or buy some new accessorizes and accessorize better.

Hopefully all will go well, and I will have lots post of my progress to share. Best of luck in your new adventures this year!

Chronicle Books Haul-idays!

2010-12-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, Chronicle Books is having a really great give away right now, and they have so many great crafting, art and other DIY books that I couldn't not enter! The basics of the give away is this:
Post a list of Chronicle Books valued at up to $500 that you’d like to haul in, and you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing to WIN your list of books! And, one of your readers who comments on the post will win the list too!

Awesome right?

So here is my list of books, and if you leave a comment here you could win it too!

Blackbird Bakery Gluten-Free

Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Living

Ramayana

Garden Anywhere

DIY Fashion

Witch Craft

America's Doll House

Let's Bring Back

Lost States

Fast, Fresh & Green

I Love Macarons

Tea & Crumpets

Picture Perfect Knits

Holiday Knits

Soil Mates

Weekends for Two in New England

IDEO Eyes Open: London

MoMA Make Art/Make Mistakes

Eco Fashion

The Map as Art

Lists

You can find out more about the giveaway here.

Gnome Costumes!

2010-10-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

It may come as no surprise that I love costumes. Not only do I enjoy making them, but I really love wearing them too. Wearing a costume just gives you a little different outlook on the world, and a peak into what it would be like to be a different person. I also really like to do my costumes right. No store bought costumes or slapdash things thrown together at the last minute for me. The problem with that is that every year when Halloween rolls around, I am very busy and only get a few hours to actually sit down and make my costume.
This year my husband and I decided to be garden gnomes, because, not only are they awesome, we knew we already had the big clothing pieces we would need for the costumes. We made the hats, apron, beard and belt, but everything else came from our closets. I was very pleased with results (especially for how easy it was), and now I have a great gnome outfit should I ever need one again!

The wedding dress!

2010-10-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

So, remember how I posted about making a wedding for a friend several months ago? Well, due to some delays in getting the fabric and my busy schedule, I ended up doing all the sewing about two weeks before the wedding. I was in such a hurry to get it done that I didn't take any process pictures, but I finished it with time to spare and it came out beautifully if I do say so myself!

Here are some pictures of the dress on the day of the wedding.

This one is a little blurry, but it seems to be the only picture I got of the dress from front.

I am back!

2010-08-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Whew! Life has been busy, but good since I last posted. I got a new (to me) car, lots of family came to visit, and the biggest event of my summer- my puppet show of the Pied Piper of Hamelin! The show was very well received, and we are looking forward to performing it again soon.

Here is one picture of the puppets from the show. Please do check out our puppet blog too. It is all set up now, and I posted pictures of the whole puppet making process!

Now that the show is complete and I have had a little bit of time to relax, I am getting really excited about fall. I still have a few weeks until I start back up teaching this fall, though, which is good news since I still have a wedding dress to make! I will be going fabric shopping later this week, so look for my first dress making post sometime next week. Hopefully I will have some garden update pictures too, we got several tomatoes already, but there are lots of green ones still!

Garden Update

2010-07-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hello! It seems to me that I am overdue for an update on the garden. I am very pleased to say that between what we learned from experience last year, and the better weather this year, the garden is doing pretty well. I haven't picked anything yet, but I have lots of photos to share.

Here is the view from one corner of the garden- you can see a little bit of most everything.

Pea plants and a pretty pea blossom. There are a few pea pods almost ready to pick, I think I will go back for them and a few other things this weekend.

Radishes! They don't look ready yet, but seem to be better this year since we spaced them a little farther apart.

Cucumbers- the plants are still a little small, but seem healthy. We probably won't have cucumbers until August.

Mixed greens lettuces- I am definitely picking these this weekend and making a salad. I also plan to plant more seeds afterward so we can get a second crop.

Green beans- these are also basically ready to pick!

Green Peppers- as you can see we have a blossom on one of the pepper plants, and they both look healthy.

Chamomile- It is growing! I was not sure it would there for awhile. Now I just need to find out how to make it into tea . . .

The tomatoes- Four of the five plants are doing wonderfully. The small plant in the second cage there has some wilting and yellowing leaves. I really hope it is not blight. It may just be over watering- it doesn't really look like blight yet. I am giving it until this weekend to get better, but if it doesn't I might have to get rid of it so the others don't get infected. There are lots of green tomatoes that need protecting!

Last but not least Zucchini- The plants are looking good, and there are some blossoms. I just hope we actually get some zucchini this year, last year we had tons of blossoms but none ever fruited.

Ribbon Bags Ahoy!

2010-06-23T04:45:00.000-07:00

I finished the ribbon bags last night, and I am pleased with the way they turned out. It also means I have completed two big projects this week, and have a nice feeling of accomplishment.

Clean Studio!

2010-06-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

Hooray! I finished cleaning and organizing the studio yesterday morning, and wanted to share pictures of the results. It is kind of a tour of the space as you walk in to the room and turn around clockwise.

After the cleaning was done, I spent the rest of the day working on the ribbon bags, drinking tea, and enjoying the room.

In the Works . . .

2010-06-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

School is out! June 11th was my last day teaching after-school classes for the year, and as much as I enjoy teaching, I am really excited to have a little more time and not have to spend my evenings planning for the next class. It has only been a little over a week so far, but here are the projects I have been working on:

I have an order of several ribbon bags for a wedding party. I have finished weaving the ribbons and am now working on the bag construction. Here are a few in process photos.

The puppet show is my biggest project of the summer. I don't have any exciting pictures yet, but I did get the puppet blog all set up and ready to go. You can check out the design now, and I will let you know when the first post goes up.

The other thing I am working on is FINALLY getting our little studio all unpacked and organized. The story here is that we had a HUGE studio space before, but we moved out in Dec. because the building needed lots of repair that the landlord couldn't/wouldn't take care of. We decided the best choice for now was to move our studio into our spare room, which is pretty small. Lot of stuff + small space + no free time = still not all unpacked. I am determined to get it done in the next few days though.

Here is a picture of the room at the start of the day yesterday. I should have thought to take a picture at the beginning of the week so you could see how disorganized it was to start.

Here is a picture now- it is getting better everyday. I will post again when it is all done and beautiful, and maybe have a little party for myself when it is finished!

First Strawberries of the Season

2010-06-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

Here they are- the first ripe berries of the season and the first thing to come from the garden this year!

Cactus News!

2010-06-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

So, this is my last week of teaching for the school year and I am really excited because that means I am going to have a lot more time to devote to my big summer project- a puppet show! My husband and I are putting on a puppet production of The Pied Piper of Hamelin in August, and it is our first full scale we are doing all ourselves as CactusHead Puppets. I will finally be getting my puppet blog up and going soon, and I will share pictures of the puppet building process and anything else related to the show there.

In other cactus related news, I went to a good friend's bridal shower last weekend and made her this knit cactus as a gift. I have a few I made for myself, and they are a lot of fun to knit, and of course very low maintenance house plants.

The garden is planted! (finally)

2010-06-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hooray! My garden is planted and that means (to me) that it is officially summer. This year I did things a little differently and did not start any of the seeds inside, because lots of the plants seemed to struggle after being transplanted last year. This year it was all seeds straight in the ground or older seedlings from the nursery. I also planted more of each kind of seed but fewer different kinds. I had hoped to plant a couple weeks ago, but every time I was free to plant it poured rain. Hopefully all the plants will do well despite the delay.

The strawberries I planted last year are doing better this year, and it looks like we will actually have some to eat! I also sprinkled a few zinnia seeds in the corners of the strawberry bed, after the strawberries are done for the season I will have big bright zinnias to enjoy.

These are my tomato plants. I have three varieties of regular tomatoes and then a Roma tomato and grape tomato plant. I love grape and Roma tomatoes, so I am hoping for tons of tomatoes in a few months.

I bought two pepper plants this year, since last year's peppers that I started from seed never really went anywhere. The bigger one is a yellow bell pepper (it already has a bloom!) and the
other is a bell pepper that is supposed to grow both red and green peppers.

I planted a whole row of peas this year, and they are already up! My nephew helped plant these and there is a random mix of regular and sugar peas.

The other seeds aren't up yet, but I planted a row of radishes, a row of romaine lettuce, a row of green beans, two rows of loose leaf lettuce, a row of cucumber hills, one watermelon hill, a row of zucchini, some chamomile, some aster seeds, and cilantro, chives and catnip planted in pots. I can't wait to post pictures of everything as it comes up!

Spring!

2010-05-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring everyone! I have today off, and I am going to go out and finally get my garden planted and enjoy the weather, but first I wanted to catch up posting my projects here!

This is the knitting package I sent my penpal Mercy for March/April. (I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it, so I used the one she took.) The theme of the package was a place you want to visit, and I chose England and included some crumpets and lemon curd along with the things in the picture. The teapot towel is double knit, so it is reversible. It was my first time doing double knit, and I liked the finished product, but it took me awhile to really get a hang of the technique.

This is the package Mercy sent me. It is spring themed, and I love how it all coordinates. The little knit bag is great, and I have been using the project bag to carry my knitting around with me. The little bundle tied with the ribbon is stitch markers, and I am very excited to have real stitch markers! I have been using paper clips, which works fine, but these are much nicer.

Finally I wanted to share a great recipe I made today. It is for homemade ginger beer, and it is amazing! I love ginger, and highly recommend it if you do too. I found it on the blog Lottie and Doof, which I also recommend. Everything I have tried from there has been excellent, and the photography of the food is beautiful.

My ginger beer and some fresh spring flowers-

I hope to have garden pics to share soon!

March- the washcloth month

2010-03-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hello,

March has been a busy, but good month around here. Spring is finally here, and while I miss the prospect of having the unexpected day off for snow, I am very excited to get out in my garden soon!

This month has been spent knitting washcloths for my soon to be sister in-law's wedding shower. It was actually the first time I have made washcloths, and I was surprised at how fun it was. It is a great quick project to try out new stitch patterns.

I made these pig washcloths (she likes pigs)-

and these three with a tweed stitch pattern.

I found both patterns on Ravelry, and am looking forward to trying out some other patterns washcloth patterns they have in the future. For April though, I think I am going to make it my goal to finally finish that shrug!

Felted Flowers for February

2010-02-27T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, the title of this post is a little silly, but I love alliterations, and I couldn't resist! Sorry I missed posting last week, but I've been working on my first package for my Ravelry penpal and I didn't want to post pictures until she got it so it would be a surprise. I decided to knit flowers for her, and I used this pattern for the flowers, but I didn't like the leaves it made very much. So, I used this pattern for the leaves.

Here are the leaves all felted and ready to go. I did all the felting by hand rather than in the washing machine, because I just find it easier.

Here is the flower all knit, but not rolled up or felted yet.

The flowers are rolled and ready to felt here.

The flowers after felting.

Here is everything all ready to assemble. I knit I-cord to cover dowel rods for the stems, instead of using knitting needles like the pattern calls for.

Penguin supervised the assembly, as she does with any projects that involves yarn and thread.

Complete!

Not much else to report. The shrug is coming along well. I am almost done with the chevron and ready to move into the second ribbing section, but I won't get it done this month like I hoped. Oh well. The next project I have lined up is knitting fun washcloths to use as wedding shower gifts, and I will post those as soon as I get started.

No Snow Here . . .

2010-02-08T08:27:00.001-08:00

There has been very little snow in my corner of New England this year. While it has been nice not to have to dig the car out and worry about slippery roads, I have really been missing my snow days! I love having a surprise day off work with nothing planned, and I hope I get at least a couple before the winter is over. I did have last Sunday off work, and even though it was a planned day off the only thing I planned to do was knit, watch mysteries on DVD, and snack on this lovely spread of Wensleydale cheese, hazelnut chocolate, and red wine.

The perfect day off!

I have gotten quite a bit of knitting done lately. I finished the lace scarf I was knitting, or more accurately I run out of yarn. It is not long enough to make the scarflette/neck warmer I was planning, so I think I am going to sew a lining and make it into a little clutch. I am pretty pleased with the way it came out anyway for my first try at lace, and look forward to making more lace projects.

My shrug is coming along quickly too. I am really enjoying knitting the chevron pattern too. It is simple enough I can chat or watch tv while I knit, but not so boring I am tired of it. I am hoping I will have this finished by the end of the month.

Hello Again!

2010-01-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

Hello! I've been away from this blog for quite a long time, but I am ready to start up again finally. So here is the plan- I am going to jump back into blogging about my various arts and crafts and creative endeavors, but I am not going to focus on my shop much at all any more. It will be active and I will add things occasionally, but I don't have enough time to really make it a good business. Instead I am going to share projects I am working on for fun, or creative work I am doing for others jobs that seems to fit here.

So, here we go!

I am on a knitting kick lately. I knit hats for three people for Christmas this year, and was pleased really pleased with how well they came out. That got me wanting to knit something for myself. Then I joined a local knitting circle and they got me to sign up for Ravelry and now I am hooked. I want to knit everything! Right now I am working on two projects. I knitting my first lace item with some yarn I had stashed for years. I am pleased wiht it for my first try at lace, but I don't know what excatly it will end up as, since I don't think I have enough yarn to make the neckwarmer I had planned. Here it is in progress:

I am also knitting my first big project. I am making myself this great shrug. This is what it will (hopefully) look like when I am done.

I am about to finish the collar ribbing and start on the chevron pattern. Here is mine in progress:

That is all for now, but I do plan on posting weekly again, so I will see you soon!

My Garden!

2009-05-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

So, my little break was a little longer than I planned, but hey, that's life right? I did get a lot of stuff done while I wasn't blogging though, including planting my garden! I planted everything on Saturday, plants and seeds alike. I know I should have gotten the seeds planted a little earlier, but there was just too much to do getting the ground ready this first year. So, here are a bunch of pictures of my garden taken on Saturday. The only things you can't see are the recently planted seeds (of course), but planted carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach and arugula seeds. Hopefully a few will be popping up today when I go check on everything.

Here it is- My Garden! Up at the top in the small section I planted 6 strawberry plants and all my zinnia seedlings and the big area has all the rest of the veggies as well as the three little poppy plants that came up.

A couple little critters I found crawling around.

My strawberry plants! I bought these and the tomato plants and I am so excited about fresh strawberries.

This is the one bean plant that I didn't break while transplanting, so I planted a few more bean seeds in hopes to make up for that.

Green pepper and Jalapeno plants.

Eggplant!

Peas plants, I have some of both sugar peas and regular peas.

Watermelon. I have never successfully grown a regular watermelon, so I planted the small personal sized variety in hopes that will be easier.

Cucumbers

Honeydew melon.

Tomato plant. I planted 5 tomato plants, 2 of which are cherry tomatoes and the other 3 are of the regular variety.

Zucchini

Yay plants! I finished my sock too last week, and I will post about it and any exciting garden progress soon.

Working the Week Away

2009-04-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today to apologize for the lack of posts this week. I am working a bunch of extra hours this week, and I just haven't gotten a chance to sit down and do my regular posts. I'll be back next week when things are back to normal. I can't wait to post pictures of the seedlings- they are starting to grow new leaves!

Friday Favorites

2009-04-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hello all. This week's Friday Favorites theme is cars. Why cars you may ask. The answer is that for the past month or so I have just had one car problem after another, and it seems that all of my time (and money!) has been spent dealing with the less than wonderful parts of owning a car. I am hoping that my current problem can be fixed by just getting a new battery, but we will see. I hope you enjoy these lovely, and low maintenance, car items I found on Etsy this week.

A Drive in the Country Clutch by sakizome.

Small Green Car by smalltowntoys.

Ok, not really a car, but I couldn't resist. Pink Scooter/Vespa by LeahSutton.

Matchbox cars case print by amandakindregan.

Traffic note set by cricicis.

Happy weekend!

Seedling Update

2009-04-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry I skipped Friday Favorites last week. I ran out of time before heading out for my Easter weekend. I hope you had a great weekend whatever you did. I had a great time relaxing with family, and I finally got a chance to work on digging and preparing the ground for the garden. It is almost ready, just needs to be worked a little more and I need to add some organic fertilizer too. I did a soil test and the nitrogen and potassium levels are pretty low right now. Luckily the weather this coming weekend is supposed to be absolutly amazing, so I can get out and finish that stuff up.

The seedling are coming along very well as you can see!

Today is day 10 that they have been in the ground, and the only things that haven't come up yet are the jalapenos, green peppers and rosemary- which are all supposed to take at least 10-14 days. I am really impressed by how quickly everything is growing, and I am actually a little worried that they might out grow their little seedling pots before it is time to put in them in the ground. 4/29 is supposedly the magic date when it is safe to transplant seedling outside, so hopefully they can make it two more weeks.

Seedlings!

2009-04-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday was pretty gray and drizzly, so I didn't get outside to work on my garden. I did however start my seedlings inside, and today I noticed I already have some Zinnias sprouting!

Here is my whole set up. I started some peppers, water melon, honeydew, peas, beans, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, zinnias, poppies, lavender and rosemary.

Now I just have to wait and see what else comes up.

Friday Favorites

2009-04-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

Time for Friday Favorites again, and this week I have gardening on the brain. As I mentioned in my last post, I am very excited about my new vegetable garden this year. There are a lot of lovely plants and seeds listed on Etsy, but I was having a really hard time picking just five, so I picked picked five great non-plant things I would love to have for my garden.

PS. Please forgive the funny font sizing. Everything looks right in edit mode, but for some reason it changes after I hit post.

Beautiful and Biodegradable!

20 Recycled Biodegradable Seedling Starter Newspaper Pots by RushofWings.

Attractive plant labels.
Plant Markers by dbabcock.

A very lucky bird will get to call this home.

Primitive Birdhouse Yellow Cabin Charming Rustic Folk Art by birdhouseaccents.

Worms help make a healthy garden, and this one can water for you.

Worm and Bird Plant Tender or Water System in Pistachio by LeaningOaksCeramics.

and who can resist a garden gnome?
Garden Gnome Note Card by creativeapples.

I am really hoping for good weather tomorrow so I can start preparing the soil!

My First Sock!

2009-03-31T06:25:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that after a few months of starting, getting frustrated, and putting it a away for a couple weeks, I have successfully started knitting my first sock. Tada!

It is a great project to have right now since classes have started up again and I no longer have free day. It is so small I can easily take it with me and just work on it when I have a few free minutes.
In other exciting news, I am going to have a vegetable garden at my husband's parents' house this year (we have a great apartment, but no yard). I am going to start some seedlings inside soon, and hopefully the weather will be good this weekend so I can start getting the land ready. I can't wait for fresh vegetables!

Friday Favorites

2009-03-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

Oops! I am a little late this week with my Friday Favorites post, sorry about that. This week's theme is picnicking. It is a beautiful day here today, and even if I can't spend the day outside, I can live vicariously through these lovely picnic items.

Very fun, and perfect for a picnic for one.
Harold the Lunch Monster- Green by OnesandZerosFashions

A great set- I especially love the thermos!
Picnic Set- Strawberries and Plaid by homespunheart

Every picnic needs these nice utensils.
Eco Friendly Flatware Set for Two by ponyup

Custom Oilcloth Picnic Set by chalkydoodles

and this wonderful print,
rabbit sandwiches with fancy mustard print by missbrigette

Friday Favorites

2009-03-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Sorry I missed my usual Monday post, but I was sick with the flu and stuck in bed the first half of the week. I am feeling much better now though, and very excited about this week's Friday Favorites theme: Sasquatch!

I am fascinated by all sorts of myths, folktales and urban legends, and I am currently in the very early planning stages of a silly puppet show about Sasquatch and other cryptids. I have been doing a lot of reading about Sasquatch lately to get ideas, and while I am not quite a believer I do think it is the most likely of the crytpids, and is definitely my favorite. I was also very pleased to find a bunch of great Sasquatch inspired items on Etsy.

A sweet and kinda dopey stuffed Sasquatch by katiekylie.

Bigfoot in Space Pin by PearsonMaron, which is a great shop full of cryptids!
Pillows by brokesy.

I actually own and love this shirt by timberps, and love the rest of the shop too.

Very cute pin by LowmanJLL.

Friday Favorites

2009-03-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

This is the first post in my new series: Friday Favorites. Every Friday I am going to share five of my favorite items on Etsy that fit a certain theme I pick for the day.

This week it feels like spring is finally coming, and I have spent a lot of time day dreaming of warmer weather and light airy dresses- my favorite spring wardrobe choice. These five dresses are from some of my favorite Etsy shops, and are exactly what I want to be wearing this spring.

I love the neckline and pleated skirt on this dress from Omtagning. Too bad it is not my size.

I have had my eye on this one from niceface for a loooooong time. It looks like the perfect everyday dress, and it comes in lots of colors too!

I love pretty much everything in her shop, but this dress by missbrache is the one that feels most like spring to me.

I admit it, I love tutus. They are so much fun to wear. This dress by ouma is my new dream tutu.

This dress by janebonbon might be my favorite of all. The craftsmanship looks amazing, and I love that she makes such a wide range of sizes.

Snowy Monday 2

2009-03-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Ugh. This Monday was pretty much the opposite of last Monday in every way. Unlike last week, yesterday's snow was mostly slushy sleet and freezing rain. I also didn't actually have the day off, because I had to go into work for First Aid training. The instructor was confusing, intimidating, and gave lot of extraneous information, which made the whole experience pretty awful. Luckily it was just a refresher course, because I don't think I would have gotten anything if I didn't have some prior knowledge. Then I also had to run errands in the slush after work. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.

Anyway, even though yesterday was a let down, I do have some stuff to share that I have been working on through out the week. I have been experimenting with different kid safe ways to dye wool for my felting class, and I made a couple of natural food based dyes to test. Basically I boiled the food or spice to get the color, added vinegar and a little salt, and then let the wool sit over night in the dye.

Red Cabbage

Beets

Paprika

Tea

I have tea dyed before, and liked the way it worked with the wool. I also got good results with the beet dye and paprika, but couldn't get the red cabbage dye to penetrate the wool. It just kept washing out when I rinsed it. Not sure what I did wrong, or if maybe red cabbage just doesn't work well without a mordant to set it. Oh well.

I brought the dyes I made (minus the cabbage) into class, and had the kids make some kool-aid and vinegar dyes. The kool-aid dyes were nice because they were something that could be totally made in class even though we don't have a stove, and you can make nice vibrant colors. Here is all the dyed wool drying.

And here are my dryed felt bowls from last week, all ready to be decorated with the new colored wool!

A Snowy Monday

2009-03-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I woke up to about 8 inches of snow on the ground, which caused quite a bit of shifting around of travel and work schedules and such. So, to make a long story short I stayed home yesterday instead of going to my studio to make things simpler. I did get lots of great creative stuff done at home though, and thoroughly enjoyed my snowy day off.

First of all, I made nice leisurely breakfast, which I think is truly the best part of a day off. I made scrambled eggs with onion and spinach, and then mixed it together with some rice for a sort of breakfast, faux fried rice thing. It was very tasty.

My big project of the day was to make my first ever wet felted bowl. One of the new classes I am teaching is a felting class, and while I have done lots of needle felting I have only done small wet felting projects and wanted to try a few things out to use in my class. I have looked at several books about wet felting, and also watched this tutorial for making felted slippers online yesterday before I started. The tutorial is a little long, but it was great to actually see the process in action. I used basically the same technique as in the tutorial, but made this round template instead of the slipper shape.

Here is my felt covered template after rubbing it between the bubble wrap.

And this is the hole I cut to make the opening of the bowl and allow the template to be removed.

I then took it over to the sink and felted it to the fulling stage. I didn't have a wash board or anything, so I just rubbed in my hands with some textured rubber gloves. It did come out a little lumpy as you can see, I think my layers of wool were not as even as they could have been, but not bad for a first try. Let me know if you have any other tips on making my next one smoother.

I then stuffed it with plastic bags to hold its shape while it drys.

I think I will decorate it with needle felting too, to show how the two techniques can be used together. I am really enjoying that teaching this class gives me a reason to try some new things that I wouldn't always have time for otherwise.

I also got a chance yesterday to give my orchid a nice soak (which is how I learned they like to be watered). My husband got it for me for Valentines Day, and it is beautiful. I love plants, but I can be a forgetful waterer, so I pretty proud it is still alive and doing so well.

Where Have I Been?

2009-02-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Where have I been you may be asking. (Although, I am pretty sure there is nobody who reads this often enough yet to really ask that.) I am still here, I assure you!

I have been really really busy lately (so busy I started writing this post about 2 weeks ago and just now got around to finishing it), and it seems I have had a hard time juggling all my new projects. So the bad news here is that I don't have anything new for my Etsy shop, or any new crafty stuff in general. The good news though, is that my classes and all that stuff I have been doing are going well, and I have been very creativly productive in those veins. The other good news is that one of my classes is now on break, so I have every Monday until March 30th off!!! That is right, a whole day off every week, just for me. I am so excited!

I want to take the opportunity to make Monday my day to work on things for my shop, for my own new puppet show I am planning, or any of the many things I have been meaning to make for myself that have pushed to the back burner. My hope is that if I make it a habit now, I will be able to continue at least having half a day for this stuff after my class starts up again.

So, my plan is to sleep in a little on Monday (cause everybody needs a day for that) and then get to my studio and spend the day there. I also am going to take picutres, no matter how much or little I get accomplished, and post here Monday evening. Does that sound like good plan? What helps keep you motivated and in the habit of crafting & blogging? Any suggestions would be appriciated. See you Monday!

Free Shipping Sale!

2009-01-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick post to announce that I am offering free shipping on everything in my shop from 1/11 - 1/25. Check it out!

New Year & New Furniture

2009-01-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

It is 2009, and I am back from my little break! I hope that everyone had good holidays, mine were great and it was nice to have a little break from normal life. As promised, here is a picture of the girl's apron I made for a custom order.

I think it turned out nicely, and the customer seemed pleased with it. I don't have anything new to list in my shop yet though, because I ended up giving away the new bags I made as Christmas gifts. I will just have to get started on some more new stuff!

A big project I am taking on for the new year is redecorating my living room. I got married right after college, and when we moved into our apartment we didn't have much furniture at all. We found some nice used stuff for other rooms, but the living room ended up being a collection of not so great used stuff we got for free from relatives and really really cheap stuff from Target that is now falling apart after a few years of use. The bookshelves were the worst, and over the weekend we put up new ones from Ikea to replace them. The new bookshelves are awesome, and the next thing on the list is to replace the tv stand. The one we have now is ok looking, but not really designed to hold the weight of a tv, and I want to replace it with something that isn't going to eventully break under the weight. Here is a picture of the new bookshelves with the old tv stand.

And here are some things I am considering to replace it.

This one might be too big- I need to measure.

I would cut the flat screen pannel off this one.

Any opinions? I can't decide yet. I am also open to other options, but I want to get the new one in the next week or so. After that is done the other things on the list are to refinish the coffee table, get curtains, fix or get new couches, and get a couple more pieces of art to hang in there. I am really excited to see it improve through out the year!

Falling Behind

2008-12-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

That is what it feels like I am doing this week. I have two special order Christmas presents that aren't finished yet (luckily they are for local people), I haven't gotten my new stuff up in my shop, and I have tons of personal Christmas related stuff that needs to get done, not to mention all my other regular work.

The good news is that this is the last week for my after school classes before Christmas, so after Thursday night I won't have to worry about any teaching related stuff until January 6! I have also decided not to worry about putting new things in my shop until after Christmas. It is really almost too late for to get things shipped to people in time anyway, and as much as I want to keep my shop active, I don't think I will lose out much taking some time away now. Blogging is the other thing I am going to take some time away from until I am caught up on everything. I am not sure exactly when I will post again here, definitely by New Year's, but hopefully sooner. When I am back I will have lots of pictures of finished Christmas gifts and new Etsy stuff to share!

Hope everyone has happy holidays, see you soon!

Another Busy Week

2008-12-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

This week is another pretty busy one for me, although I ended up taking Monday and Tuesday off from teaching because I had a really sore throat. I am feeling much better now, and am almost caught up from what I missed those days.

The new thing going on this week is that I am going to exhibit & sell some puppets in Holyoke, MA on Saturday to benefit Doctors Without Boarders. It sounds like a great event for a great cause, and you can find out more about it here http://www.yippeeskippy.com/gonzo/?page_id=469.

This weekend's craft fair in Otis was kind of a mixed bag . Not many people came, so we didn't sell too much, but my husband met a lot of really great artists and crafters there, and had a good time all around. One of the people he met was Janna of Capture Our Moments, and she took these pictures of some of the puppets for us!

The other new thing is that I finally have business cards! They were designed by the awesome Ironcladdesigns who also designed my banner. I think he did a great job I am very glad to have something so nice to hand out to people.

I also have the two new ribbon bags just about ready to list in my shop! I hope to get that done on Saturday, as well as start on a couple special orders that I need to get done before Christmas. I will post again on Saturday with pictures of the bags and maybe the special orders in progress!

Yay Sales!

2008-12-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

This week I am celebrating my first real sales in my etsy shop! I had a great trade with another seller, Lucy's Postcard Quilts, last week, and this week I have sold two of my aprons. It is really nice to not be waiting for my first sale anymore, and feels like the shop is real now. Huzzah!

Last night's craft fair went pretty well too. I wasn't sure about it since it was an evening weeknight event, but the turn out was good and a handful of puppets went home with happy kids. I am really excited about the fair in Otis on Saturday, though. Everything for sale from the snacks to crafts is going to be handmade, and there is supposed to even be some live music! I am a little bummed that I can't be there myself. I will be at a baby shower (which will also be a lot of fun), but my husband will be there running our booth. If you are in the area you should drop by and check it out!

Have a Happy Weekend!

Pile of Puppets

2008-12-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share some pictures of the hand puppets I am making for this week's craft fairs, especially since they are what is taking up most of my time this week. Here they all are lined up next to my sewing machine. I stayed up really late last night and got all of the bodies sewn, except for a couple orange ones on the end there. After that comes stuffing and attaching eyes and ears and such, which is really the fun part. I think this is a new record for the most puppets I have ever made at a time (31 in all), and I am excited about getting a picture of them all set up together when they are finished. For now though, I have scraps of fleece all over the place.

Bags + Busy, Busy

2008-12-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

Ooops! It has been a while since I updated. A big part of the reason it has been so long since my last post is that I have been really busy with lots of exciting things lately. So here is the quick run down of whats new.
I have starting teaching puppetry classes in after-school programs at two local schools. One is a high school, and the other is an elementary school. It is lot of fun to see the students learn and enjoy themselves, and it is also interesting to see how the different age groups work with some of the same materials.
I have been doing lots of craft fairs lately, and they have been going pretty well. The only downside to that is all the new stuff I have made has gone to the fairs and I haven't been able to add anything new to my etsy shop in awhile. The upsides are that I don't have to spend as much time on marketing when I sell at fairs, and I really like meeting the customers face to face and seeing them enjoy my work. I have two, count them, two fairs coming up this week. Here are the details, please stop by if you happen to be in the area.

Indian Orchard School
95 Milton St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
12/4 6pm-8pm

Farmington River School
555 N Main Rd
Otis, MA 01253
12/6 10am-4pm

The classes and fairs are taking up most of my time, but I am also still working on some other puppetry projects and hoping to make some Christmas gifts for friends and family. I also haven't been the best about taking pictures of what I am working on, but I do have these pictures of ribbon bags in process.

Blues and greens:And reds and browns:

I like the way they are coming along so far, and if they don't go at the craft fairs you can probably see them in my shop next week. I should get back to sewing, so that is all for now, but I will try and update again later this week.

The Great Scrap Question

2008-11-04T04:54:00.000-08:00

So my plans for today are to go vote first thing (don't forget!) and then head to my studio for the rest of the day to get some sewing done. Of course whenever I sew, I end up with lots of small scarps of fabric left over and I am always unsure of what to do with them. I hate to throw anything away, so I save my scraps hoping someday I will have a use for them.
One interesting thing I have found to do with small pieces of fabric that doesn't ravel or fray easily is to use a zigzag stitch to sew bits together in a crazy quilt-like design. Since the fabric doesn't fray you don't have to create a seam, just butt the two piece of fabric up against each other and use a wide zigzag stitch to sew along the line where the pieces meet.
The picture is what I made using pieces of felted wool sweaters this way. My plan is to keep adding to it as I find more felted sweaters until I have a nice big blanket. I also have a lot of fleece scraps, and today I want to try using those to make something smaller, maybe scarves?

Getting Started

2008-11-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

Yay for my first post! I have been wanting to start this blog for a while now, but I have been putting it off because I was not looking forward to doing all the set up stuff. It really wasn't bad though once I sat down and did it, and now I can move onto the fun stuff.

Like my profile says I am a puppeteer but I also like to take the time to make other things I enjoy. Part of the purpose of this blog is to help keep myself motivated to do that (since I seem to fall into creative slumps every few months) and give me a place to share what I am doing. I also plan to post other art/craft stuff that I find interesting or inspiring.

My new big project is the Etsy shop I opened a couple of weeks ago. You can check it out if you would like. So far I have several aprons and a woven ribbon bag listed, and a couple half done bags and aprons to be finished and listed later this week. I also started knitting a hat last night. I might list it when it is done or keep it for myself, depending on how it looks with my big hair. I will post some pictures of it in progress here later this week.

If you are interested in my puppet work, I am also working on getting a blog started for that too in the next week or so. For now here is one of my favorite pics of stuff in my shop.