New Purse!

I know it's kinda hard to believe, but I made something else for myself! I'm just going crazy! What with the Scrabble bag a couple weeks ago, and now this? Mark this day on your calendars, folks.

So I'd been needing a new purse for a while. My old one was very... loved. Here's a picture of it when it was relatively new:

That was about 2 years ago. Its age, combined with the fact that I just don't give a crap if my bag matches my outfit, meant I needed a new one. But the old one was perfect -- just the right size, and it fit my body just right. So I took the old one apart and just used the pieces as a pattern. I had spent a couple months deciding what exactly I wanted the new one to look like. I entertained some ideas featuring corduroy (I do love corduroy), but I ultimately settled on this:


That band of embroidery is part of a tablecloth I found at an estate sale about a month and a half ago. I don't know what it is about it -- the fabric, the specific combination of colors, the shapes -- but this is one of the most gorgeous pieces of embroidery I've ever seen in my life. And what better way to appreciate it than to see it and use it every day?

New Scrabble Coasters!

I've made a new batch of Scrabble coasters! They're available now in my Etsy shop in sets of 4 or 5. These have brown around the edges instead a black -- I definitely prefer the brown. Thoughts?

Non-Permanent Vandalism, Part II

Guess what? Yep, we were back at the Hobby Lobby the other night. I wanted to pick up some block printing starter stuff (which I did, and which I will blog once I get around to using them, whether it's a success or not). So we were wandering around, and I thought (and consequently said out loud), "Oh! I know what we need to do!" So we went to check on our last piece of subversive art. It had been replaced by some lovely summery words (not sure why -- last I checked, it's still January), like "DIVE", "CAKE", "ANA" (whoever she is), etc. One of these times, I've got to remember to take a before picture. Anyway, we did some letter-borrowing from farther down the aisle and came up with this:


Yep. "Get the Diva a Pint." How can you argue with that?

As I was taking this picture, I had to endure the mocking tones of some passing punk -- "Ooo! That's illegal! I'm gonna tell!" Did you know that rearranging wooden letters in a retail environment is illegal? Neither did I.

You Need a Sewing Machine

No, really -- you do. And since that's the case, you need one of these:








(Psst! -- This one has a knee control instead of a pedal! Way cool!)

These are all available now from various Etsy sellers. Just click the photo and you're there. So if you're thinking of buying a new machine, don't. Buy a vintage one for the same price, and save yourself a lot of time, money, and hassle.

New Batch of Journals

(One of my favorites, for the cheesiness factor. You can't quite see it, but that girl is wearing leg warmers.)

This is what I've been working on all week-- journals. I finally got them all done today. That's eight of them, for those who are counting. Two are special orders (which I very much appreciate, you know who you are), the rest are stock for the shop. Now I don't have to make any again for at least two months, maybe. Yay! The hole-punching and the stitching gets old after awhile. Of course, I suppose I should wish that I have to make a new batch of eight every week. Hmm... Tempting...


Marking the pages before poking holes in them.


Pages and end papers are all glued in.


Tada! Bookmarks' glue is drying.

Scrabble Dabble

So, we were playing Scrabble the other night with some friends, and the gray, plastic, closureless bag that the tiles were in was just really offending my aesthetic sensibilities (this is code for "it's fugly"). So I started brainstorming a solution. A friend said something about a Crown Royal bag, but I don't have one of those, and I wasn't even sure I wanted a drawstring bag. I finally came up with a design, and Monday night, I implemented it! Mwahahahaha!


The old bag. Ewwww!


Oh yeah.


It's not lined, but we like it. As Norman said, "The inside should be fuzzy!" And so it is.


Snug in it's new home. (Yes, the box lid does, in fact, say 75 cents. Woot.)

I've already had one person (who I don't know) inquire as to whether or not I'll be selling these. I was thinking about it... Custom made; pick a letter? What do y'all think?


UPDATE: I do sell these! They're in my Etsy shop. Sold my first one in August 2008, and to date (March 2013), there are about 80 of them out there in the world!

"Of course! I'd be happy to!"

I imagine this is what I said to the wonderful lady at my church who asked if I would like to donate something to the silent auction/fund raiser she is doing for the Christian dance team she is involved with. I'm afraid it came out more like, "Um. Yeah. I can do that. Sure." Hmm.

Well, in any case, I am happy to, and I will be. She'll get one of these:


And one of these:


Oh, also, free publicity for me! Can't beat that.

Supply Shop!

I've opened a second Etsy shop. I'm in the process of moving all the supplies from my main shop to this secondary one. Also, I'm adding more supplies. Somehow I just acquire supplies that I don't need. People give them to me, or I buy them thinking I'll use them, or I buy them thinking I'll sell them. No matter -- my compulsion is your gain. So head on over there and check it out.

Rainbow of Books

Check out this Flickr group's photos: http://flickr.com/groups/96822943@N00/pool/

The group started as a way to showcase photos of a specific San Francisco bookstore-turned-art installment, but people have posted photos of their own rainbow'd bookshelves as well.

The organizer in me says, "What the crap?! How can you find anything??"

But the artist in me says, "Ooooo.... pretty!"

Cabled Goats?

Today's blog post has pretty much nothing to do with me or anything I do. Except laughing. Which is what I did when I saw this blog post by someone else. Typos are awesome.

Background info:
Cable-knit sweaters
"Ravelry"
Goats

Valentine's Day... already?

Yep, Valentine's Day's a-comin'. It will sneak up on you while you're relaxing in your post-Christmas glow. But not me! I am prepared... this year.