It's been a relatively quiet week here in the Webb household. With no specific places to be, we've been putzing around the house and walking the pups around the neighborhood. I'm going to be in my very first 5K race in November, so we've been walking about 2 miles a day every day for the past 2 weeks. I'm trying to work my way up to walking 3 miles and then I'll start wogging (one of my favorite words ever) and then jogging. It's a bit daunting to think that I could possibly run for 3 miles straight. But my viewpoint is that you never know unless you try and as long as I can cross the finish line (and shed a few pounds along the way), I will have accomplished something awesome.
This weekend will be pretty quiet as well. Kev and I just purchased tickets to a ghost tour pub crawl in downtown Durham for tomorrow night. I had to promise to hold his hand throughout the entire night, but I figure it will be worth it ;) Hopefully we won't have any actual paranormal encounters and we'll just have a great time listening to some spooky ghost stories while we drink beer (Kevin) and wine (me)! Other than that, there could possibly be a trip to the library. And maybe dinner out at a restaurant. And then reading those library books. I know. The excitement is almost too much to handle. Contain yourselves, madams and sirs.
In the crafting arena (Sidenote: how amazing would an actual Crafting Arena be???), I've been a wee bit slack. I made a wreath....I mean, that's something, right? And I've made several lace necklaces while watching season 7 of Bones. So I've accomplished a small amount. I'm going to blame it on all the exercise we've been getting. And our extraordinarily comfy couch. They say that exercise is supposed to be energizing, but it's been kicking my butt. I guess I'm just the anomaly that proves the scientific theory? Man, it's tough being the anomaly.
Aaaaand back to crafting.....I'm excited about a new lace necklace that I made last night. I don't use patterns, I just sort of figure it out as I go along. I know the basics of crochet and I think about what I want something to look like and then try to make it happen. Sometimes it doesn't happen. Like, it reeeeeally doesn't happen and it looks like a bunch of tangled thread that no one would even imagine wearing around their neck ("Oh. That's a necklace? It looks more like a hairball...."). So when something actually works out, it's pretty fricking exciting for me. And as I was brainstorming this afternoon (actually, I was falling asleep on the couch - don't judge.), I had another idea for a necklace. It would be kind of like a multistrand necklace. But lace. No clue how the mechanics of it would work, but that's why the good Lord thought up trial and error.
So next week will be more experiments in lace. And sewing. I went to Joann last Sunday and bought some beautiful fabric that is just aching to be made into embroidered and appliqued pillow covers. Alas, it sits on its shelf gazing at me forlornly, weeping quietly, and occasionally sighing. Yes, my fabric supply weeps at me. Again, don't judge. I figure next week will be soon enough to put it out of its misery. As for now, I'm going to go make myself a drizzly Friday afternoon mimosa. And then I'll make chicken enchiladas. And then I'll attempt to make a multistrand lace necklace that will hopefully not look like a kindergardner's interpretation of string theory. I'm sure the mimosa will help with that...
Love and hugs!
Ru
Friday, August 10, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Indian Summer
Hey all :) It's been a somewhat busy week in the craft studio. I've been experimenting a bit with pendants for the crocheted lace necklaces and completely ruined 2 attempts because I have a tendency to be impatient. I want to look and see and make sure that everything looks like it should. Sigh. You'd think I'd learn on the first mangled one....yeah...not so much with the learning. But the good news is that I hadn't spent 6 hours on them or anything. Chalking this one up to a lesson entitled "Patience is a Virtue". I think I also need to learn the one about "Cleanliness next to Godliness" since the craft room is completely destroyed right now. Utterly ransacked. Totally in shambles. Maybe I'll make an attempt at cleaning it before we settle in to watch Bones on Netflix tonight. Kev and I are addicted to it. We started at the very beginning of the series maybe a month ago (ish?) and we are now in the middle of season 6. It's like crack cocaine. Or something.
I've been spending most of my time making wreaths and crocheted bits and bobbles and I think I'm getting a little tired of those 2 things. Time to break out the sewing machine and the embroidery hoop and get going on pillowcases and throw pillow covers. And maybe toss in some paper crafting. I feel like I'm way behind on the list of items that I'd like to have complete by the end of August and the opening of the shop. But hand-making everything takes quite a bit of time. And I know this, but I still want to see lots of little checkmarks beside all these different items so that I know that I'm ready. So I may or may not be freaking out a little on the inside. And I think that all new business owners are pretty much in a constant state of freak-out. We go around muttering to ourselves about how we gotta go faster and what if no one buys anything and where can I find cheaper materials and how am I going to get all of this done and WHERE DID MY SCISSORS GO??? Okay, that last one is really just me, not all business owners. I guess I'm just going to have to learn to live with the freak-out. I'm sure that eventually it will become background noise that will continue to fade away.
Meanwhile, back in the Land Where People Do Not Digress So Freaking Much (or LWPDNDSFM, as I like to call it), I finished my first felt flower wreath for my Mom. She wanted one of the burlap-wrapped wreaths (from the Burlapulous Line by Whifferdill - thank you Jason Hill for naming it with such an unusual and fun-to-say moniker!) with late-summer-colored flowers. And so I sat down with my massive stack of felt from Prairie Point Junction and thought about late summer. Thunderstorms. Hazy light. Everything looks a little washed out, a little dry around the edges. A bit greyer than the insane color explosion of spring and early summer. Everything gets drowsy and droopy and just holds its breath until the heat finally breaks. I'm digressing again. Long story short, here's the finished product...
I've been spending most of my time making wreaths and crocheted bits and bobbles and I think I'm getting a little tired of those 2 things. Time to break out the sewing machine and the embroidery hoop and get going on pillowcases and throw pillow covers. And maybe toss in some paper crafting. I feel like I'm way behind on the list of items that I'd like to have complete by the end of August and the opening of the shop. But hand-making everything takes quite a bit of time. And I know this, but I still want to see lots of little checkmarks beside all these different items so that I know that I'm ready. So I may or may not be freaking out a little on the inside. And I think that all new business owners are pretty much in a constant state of freak-out. We go around muttering to ourselves about how we gotta go faster and what if no one buys anything and where can I find cheaper materials and how am I going to get all of this done and WHERE DID MY SCISSORS GO??? Okay, that last one is really just me, not all business owners. I guess I'm just going to have to learn to live with the freak-out. I'm sure that eventually it will become background noise that will continue to fade away.
Meanwhile, back in the Land Where People Do Not Digress So Freaking Much (or LWPDNDSFM, as I like to call it), I finished my first felt flower wreath for my Mom. She wanted one of the burlap-wrapped wreaths (from the Burlapulous Line by Whifferdill - thank you Jason Hill for naming it with such an unusual and fun-to-say moniker!) with late-summer-colored flowers. And so I sat down with my massive stack of felt from Prairie Point Junction and thought about late summer. Thunderstorms. Hazy light. Everything looks a little washed out, a little dry around the edges. A bit greyer than the insane color explosion of spring and early summer. Everything gets drowsy and droopy and just holds its breath until the heat finally breaks. I'm digressing again. Long story short, here's the finished product...
I'm proud of this one. Making the felt flowers took quite a bit of time, but it was definitely worth it. Hopefully Mom (and Gran!) will like it!
Okay. Time to shut it down for the evening and go make some dinner. And then watch 8 episodes of Bones back-to-back because that's how we roll...
Love and hugs!
Ru
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Buttons and the Olympics
So here I am (I wonder how many blogs are started with this sentence...). Writing a blog. A business-related blog, no less. If you had told me 3 years ago that I would own my own craft business, I would've scoffed. Like, snorted reeeeeally loudly. Embarrassingly loud. But here I sit. On my couch. Next to my hubby with the largest of our three dogs flailing about on her back trying to scratch an itch (and making quite a bit of noise while she's at it). And just one room over is my craft studio and office filled with all kinds of supplies and materials. Like fabric and felt, straw wreath forms, paints, glitter, all manner of glue, teeny crochet hooks, quilling tools, and embroidery floss. It's kind of a trip when I sit and think about it.
I'm giving myself the month of August to make several items before opening up my Etsy shop. A month to figure out some processes, the fastest way to make things, how to price stuff, figure out shipping, and define my brand. There's quite a bit to learn. Some of it is really daunting. But most of it is just plain exciting. The old grey cells have been working overtime dreaming up things I would enjoy making. I fall asleep every night to the thought "What if I could do __________???" And that is deeply satisfying.
We took a drive up 501 today into Roxboro (one of my favorite drives) so I could take a look at an antiques shop that I called yesterday to see if they had vintage buttons and brooches (which they did!). Karen (the shop owner) and her father James are some amazingly nice people. They are in the midst of moving and I was happy to hear that they'll be even closer to me by September. They had a great selection of all sorts of stuff - including a stash of buttons that I raided in preparation for making a TON of felt flowers in the next couple of weeks. I know I could've gone to Joann or Hancock Fabric. But there's something to me about vintage buttons. They're so....charming. Each one has its own little face and personality. Looking forward to playing around with them!
As for the rest of the weekend, I think we'll be staying in and watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics. I'm not usually a sports kind of person. I don't normally watch any kind of sport. But it's just so awesome to watch all of these nations come together to compete in all sorts of sport. And it's not all about winning gold (even though that's awesome). There are some amazing stories of amazing people from all over the world. I think that's what gets me. Oh, and gymnastics. Amazing stories and gymnastics. Yep. Good stuff.
I'm giving myself the month of August to make several items before opening up my Etsy shop. A month to figure out some processes, the fastest way to make things, how to price stuff, figure out shipping, and define my brand. There's quite a bit to learn. Some of it is really daunting. But most of it is just plain exciting. The old grey cells have been working overtime dreaming up things I would enjoy making. I fall asleep every night to the thought "What if I could do __________???" And that is deeply satisfying.
We took a drive up 501 today into Roxboro (one of my favorite drives) so I could take a look at an antiques shop that I called yesterday to see if they had vintage buttons and brooches (which they did!). Karen (the shop owner) and her father James are some amazingly nice people. They are in the midst of moving and I was happy to hear that they'll be even closer to me by September. They had a great selection of all sorts of stuff - including a stash of buttons that I raided in preparation for making a TON of felt flowers in the next couple of weeks. I know I could've gone to Joann or Hancock Fabric. But there's something to me about vintage buttons. They're so....charming. Each one has its own little face and personality. Looking forward to playing around with them!
As for the rest of the weekend, I think we'll be staying in and watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics. I'm not usually a sports kind of person. I don't normally watch any kind of sport. But it's just so awesome to watch all of these nations come together to compete in all sorts of sport. And it's not all about winning gold (even though that's awesome). There are some amazing stories of amazing people from all over the world. I think that's what gets me. Oh, and gymnastics. Amazing stories and gymnastics. Yep. Good stuff.
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