more swaps

Both of these are for private swaps. The first is a series of ATC cards on the four seasons. The second is the front and back of a simple book mark. The gigantic hounds tooth pattern reminded me of bats, so I punch some eye holes into a few of them and inked in some pupils.

My first bookmarks

I made these for a swap. The one on the left has cat paw prints punched into it with 2 different sized hole punches. I made a window using the window plastic from a bill I received, and put the feather behind it. On the back I wrote 'cat' here and there. The ribbon has a cat head bead on the end.

The other bookmark has a hole punched through the center of every fruit slice that had its center showing. I cut the margarita glass shape by hand and put the colored paper behind it. I put a round sticker in the glass to represent a cherry. On the back I stamped some of the different flavors of margaritas. The ribbon is hand stitched on the edges so it won't come off the card.

Fronts;

Backs;

Home goodness

So, I finally decided I needed something to put my crafts in. No matter how organized I kept them, it looked like a small, well organized explosion was constantly going off in 1/3 of my apartment. I found a cabinet at Home Depot that worked just perfectly. I had an employee there cut some wood to make extra shelves (which was much cheaper than buying the premade shelves for it), and wha-la! Problem solved! It feels so much nicer in here now. So, I am off to TSP my bathroom one more time. I hope to paint it this week so I can move my bathroom stuff back in.

Crafty home decor

My friend Emily took me to Fabric Depot a week or so ago. One of the finds I came home with was fabric to recover a chair I had purchased at a garage sale. However, I didn't get a wide enough piece, so Emily cut ithe length in half and sewed it together for me. That made it more than big enough, and today I finally recovered the boring seat with duck cloth that I will decorate by stamping a design on it. Not sure what yet.

Crafting really is theraputic

For me it seems to be. Especially this evening. I have been crafting with minimal thought, which I should do more often. I tend to over think the simplest craft until I freeze. My doodle ATCs have helped loosen me up, and tonight I made several bookmarks. Actually, only one is complete, but a second is close, and 2 others are 1/2 there. Glue does need some time to dry.

I also took a swatch of mexican print fabric and framed 3 pieces in these little 2.5x3 inch gold frames. Decorating on a budget. They will go in the bathroom when I am done with it.

I TSPed the last 2 walls, but they still stink of cigarette smoke. I think I will do them again before I paint. Can't hurt.Lady Mockingbird sent me a freaking hilarious mexican nativity set. It's hard to see, but man does baby Jesus look pissed off! This treasure cracks me up! Thanks LM!

The things I do when I am sick.

I have been home with a touch of the stomach flu both yesterday and today. Besides sleeping most of that time, catching up on my reading while in the bathroom, and feeling crappy in general (no pun intended), I have acomplished a few things that take minimum effort and have been on my plate for a long time.

I have caught up on journaling, emails and some reading. I also had plenty of time to stare at my ugly window with the card board in it and figure out what I wanted to do to change that. I am half way there.

When I first moved in, my neighbor, Jon, gave me a white twin bedsheet, all new and shiney in the package. He didn't want tit, and thought I could use it as a drop cloth while I painted the place.

I have made it into drape. I tacked it up with white tacks along the top of the window molding, put the pleats in it to pull up the eccess, andthen cut up to the top of the window in 2 places to divide it into 3 parts. A little Fray-Check, some ribbons, buttons and my mad sewing skills, and wha-la! Drapes that let in soft light but keep the people passing by from peeking in. I can open one section at time, or all of them. I waht to make 3 panels to hang over the top of these in a green to make the place darker if I need it to be. That is my next project. Maybe. I'll need to recruit my friend Emily, since she has a sewing machine and will be able to hem the edges of the dark fabric.

Latest completed swap

I am now involved in an ATC (artist trading card) swap. It is a 4 part swap. I will be making a card for each of the 4 elements and sending each one to a different swap partner. I mailed the first off yesterday. That was for the 'Fire' swap, and it looked like this;

Next one I have to make is for water. I plan on making all four in the same style, just for fun!

swap stuff

So, the 2 postcard swaps I have done have been themed. The first was a water theme; anything water related, like sea creatures, lakes, a fountain. The next was a red theme. I had 3 partners for this one, and was able to find 2 cards in my dwindling stash that met the requirements of the swap. However, I ended up making a postcard with my watercolor pencils and a permanent marker for the last of the 3 partners. He had a very interestingly written profile an I felt I had nothing to give him that matched. This is what I came up with;

I am pretty proud of it.

I joined an online community a few weeks ago called Swap-Bot. It is a refuge for those of us who like to get things in the mail. You participate in all sorts of swaps (trades) of your choosing. You join a swap, and then you are assigned some one to send the swap item or items to. You look at their profile and try to pick something they would enjoy. I have done 2 color swaps, 2 postcard swaps, and a coloring book swap. I have also just finished my first Artist trading Card (ATC) swap.This is a fun little site that is getting my creative juices flowing and getting my back into my crafts. I love knowing I am making someones day a little brighter, and I love getting things in the mail from around the world!

My first swap was a color swap. I was assigned a partner whose favorite color was purple. The parameters were that the package had to equal about 5$ in worth. It could consist of anything, as long as it was purple and seemed like something my partner would like, based on their profile.

This is what I sent.

There is hot chocolate, paper, a pen with a lily on the top, a bag with some buttons, glitter and ribbon in it, and 2 kits to make butterflies and flowers. My partner had a child and I thought it would be fun to send her something they could do together

My second swap was another color swap, and I put together a package in the color black for this partner.

This had fabric, a goodies bag with buttons, glitter and a few other crafty things, gum, fringe and a figurine of the witch from Snow white.

I included a postcard with greetings in each of the packages.

I went to the post office and mailed another swap today, and apparently I have gotten the 2 ladies who work the front counter addicted to Swap-Bot. Hahahaha! Looking forward to hearing about their adventures.

It has been way to hot to turn on my computer, so I have not been posting here, as I would have liked. However, now the weather has turned, and it is downright chilly. I think it’s in the 80s. I can run my computer with reckless abandon and not worry about the heat it is putting into my apartment. Ha!

It has been hard to do anything that last few weeks because of the hot weather. Yet, I know I have kept busy. I simply can’t remember all I have been doing with myself.
Other than sweating, that is.

I shall share what I can recall in my old age.

The chicks are all grown up and now in the chicken coop. They are being put in their place by the crankier of the 2 old hens. She was actually getting pretty violent with them, so she spent a few days outside the coop. She did not like being separated from her buddy, and seems to have mellowed a bit. We will see if it lasts.

Michael humored me by replacing his poor mailbox post with a newer one. Instead of using a wooden post, he used an old tractor tire. It turned out quite nice, and I love it. He did almost all of the work, but I took a ton of pictures, which I hope to get and post here soon. Until then, a picture of the final product will have to do.

I had a fabulous time visiting my Friend in New York State. She owns a very old but beautiful house in Rochester. I was there for 4 days and helped her glaze windows and paint window frames. I love doing that sort of thing, so it was a fun way to spend my vacation. We had much catching up to do, and I think we managed to get a lot of it done. She showed me around, and I wandered the town myself and took pictures. I’ll get some of them posted here soon. Was simply waiting for a break in the weather.

I saw lightening bugs, and I must say that was the best treat! It was like watching white Christmas lights flying around. What an amazing little bug! I don’t know that I could date someone whose butt lit up, but I guess girl lightening bugs find that very attractive.

I know I have done much more since I last posted, but I can't think of what those things are. I'll post a few more updates here and try and play catch up as my brain starts to function again..