Check This Out!!

A really cool giveaway from Colorsofmyworld!

http://trutdelamode.blogspot.com/2010/10/give-away-win-little-altered-art.html

Go on over to her site

For My Swap Partners

I totally "stole" this idea from someone on my favorite sites, Craftster. When I find out who it is, I will update this post. This is so my swap partners know a little more about me.

About me!

I'm im my mid 30s. Born November 1974, do the math lol. I'm happily married to my wonderful husband for 12 years now. We have 6 cats (yeah I'm the Crazy Cat Lady) No kids, but we are working on that. I have a degree in graphic design, but I currently work as a receptionist at a hair salon (best job ever!!!)

Ethical preferences: I'm an animal lover (obviously) but I'm not a crazy PETA type.

My favourite colours: I love blues and jewel tones. Charcoal gray is one of my favorite colors. I likeearth tones too. Not a big fan of pastels tho. I also have to watch what green and yellow tones I wear. My hair is dark brown, almost black,and I have a reddish cast to my skin (Cherokee Indian)

Fabrics I like: I love Indian textiles, richly embellished embroidery, Oriental or Asian fabrics. I like batik prints and nature inspired prints. I'm not too keen on granny floral or gingham type stuff. I probably lean towards the more gothic style, so skulls would be a winner too! I also love stripes.

Yarns I like: Hand-spun wool, stuff I can felt, or really interesting knobbly stuff. I love space-dyed multi-coloured yarn, yarn with sparkly bits in, mixed fibres, Indian sari silks, novelty yarns, anything really.

Jewelery: I like any metals, but I'm not a big fan of  gold. I especially like old, antiqued metals. I like muti-strand necklaces and charms. Glass beads and any gemstone is a good thing.

Scents I like: I really like earthy smells. I  also like floral smells, but not overpowering flower smells.

Crafts I do: I really enjoy sewing. I really like to make sock animals. I make organza, satin and silk flower clips. I also just started getting into paper crafting. I draw and paint. (I have a degree in art/graphic design) I haven't done cross stitch in years but I want to get back to it. I am also re-learning to crochet. I use to make jewelry too, but haven't done that in years, altho I have a ton of supplies.


Crafts I would like to try: Needle felting, knitting. Journals and bookbinding. Quilting. I think thats about it

Things I would like to receive: Anything like the stuff on my Wists, handmade journals, hand knitted socks, cloth menstrual pads, big messenger type bags with lots of pockets, hand made pottery. I love almost all hand made items! I am open to new experiences.


Craft Books: I have a quite a few craft  books. I would really like some on little crotched animals, and felting

Other things I do: I like to read. I watch ALOT of tv. I really enjoy playing Rockband on the Wii. I alsolike Hidden Object games. The hubby and I just started playing tennis. I enjoy playing and spending time with my cats. I LOVE the beach, we just live to far away to go more then once a year. (or 2 years) I love NYC and have been there 5 times. I love audiobooks, I listen to them at night to help me sleep.

Books I read: My all time favorite book is To Kill A Mockingbird, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, Stephen King, Stephanie Meyer. I like Sci-fi and fantasy books. Love the Harry Potter series. James Patterson. A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Eragon Series.

Films I like: LOTR,  Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Edward Scissorhands, any film by Tim Burton (add Johnny Depp to that and WOW) The Color Purple (I love films that take place  in that time period) To Kill a Mockingbird

Favourite styles: Art Nouveau, Gothic-ish, Steampunk. Not keen on country cutesy stuff. I like that Tim Burton style: dark and kind of creepy lol. But I'm open to many different styles.

Favourite themes: Nature, cats, dragons, mushrooms, animals, owls, fantasy, sci-fi, Gothic fairies, the ocean, sunsets, elves,Halloween, Tim Burton

Favourite music: I listen to a  little of everything. I prefer Metal/Rock. I also like Classic Rock. Anything that I can dance to lol
My house is full of color, I'm not afraid of it! And rich warm woods. I love growing flowers in my garden.  I can't have any plants in the house because the cats eat them and then yack them up. I have several old quilts that my great aunt made on my bed, I love them. I love stuffed animals, I still have a bunch from when I was a kid.

Shrinky Dink Hell

This year, my hubby and I are going on another beach trip with our good friends Steve and CW. I wanted to do a craft while at the beach and started searching sites for a really fun and easy craft. I came across Shrinky Dinks. I thought to myself, this should be tons of fun! We can take the supplies with us, they won't take up much space while traveling (12 hour drive ugh), and they give almost instant gratification. Besides, who doesn't remember (those of us of a certain age) watching the little buggers shrink up in the oven?

I shot CW a message on facebook and she sounded stoked to try them too!! So the next day, I trecked out to look for the supplies I would need to create my very own charms (thats what I was planning on using them for) When I got to the store, I saw that they now have Shrinky Dinks that can be printed from your computer printer! I was totally stoked! This gave me endless possibilites for creativeness! lol.

Long story short, I got my first batch of charms with my initial on it, cut them out, and put them into my little toaster oven. They didn't turn out like I expected them to. I then tried another batch, this time a larger design... Yeah... total disappointment...

Burned and crinkled.

Crinkled.

This is the only one that came out decent.

So I guess its a big N-O on the Shrinky Dinks. I checked out many websites for troubleshooting and did as instructed. The ones that burnt was because I kept putting them in the oven to get them hot to try to flatten them out. (and I did forget about one set lol)

Oh well, Epic Fail!! Lesson learned.

MOAR FLOWERS!!

I've been working on more flowers. What can I say? I'm totally hooked on these little buggers.

This is my new favorite. Its lime green satin with white tulle and a pretty flower bead in the center.

And what would a day of crafting be without a cat "helping" me?

Poo looks a little funny because he's only about half shaved. He only lets me shave a little at a time so he looks really bad for a few weeks. I'm afraid to take him to a groomer because he has these little twitchy moments (vet said they were little seizures) So he gets to look like crap for a little while lol.

Take Care All!!

P.S. Pics are taken with my new camera!! Don't they look great!

New Camera!!

I got a new camera! I got a new camera!!! *does happy dance*

Its a Samsung TL220. It is an early anniversary gift from my hubby. I think he just got tired of me bitching about how crappy the other camera was lol. The old one was one of the first digital cameras, so we got a long run with it. I will be posting new pics with it soon.

What a long strange trip it's been...

... or maybe it's just been a long cold winter. Yeah, I think that's more like it. I had the winter blues pretty bad this year. Managed to get a few crafts finished, but I didn't do much.

One of the funnest (most fun?) things I have started is organza flowers. I found a really great tute HERE. And I quickly became addicted to creating this little beauties.

Here are some closeups of my faves...

Please excuse the crappy pics. My camera sucks and Im hoping to save up for a new one.

The white one I gave to my friend Marketta

The pink went to my friend Liz's little girl

The above one is my fave so far. I use satin and organza to create the petals. I also used a blue bead that has a purple hole in it. I wish the pics weren't so ugly...

Thanks all!! Happy crafting!

Not Much

Not much going on. Started a few things but haven't finished them. It's too damn cold. I'm cold all the time and I'm getting sick of it. Can't wait until spring...