v.2

Thursday night was the CD mixer and it was the best turnout we had in a long time! Woohoo! With 2 newbies too! We went to Jake’s Saloon on 23rd street and even exchanged CDs! (Granted I only made 6 copies and there were about 13 people but some people had uploaded their mix.) I kind of cheated with my mix and used one I made recently for a swap on swap-bot. Here’s my mix:

1. Play Your Part (Pt. 1)    Girl Talk
2. Paper Planes (Starters Remix)    M.I.A.
3. We Want Your Kids (Starters Mash-Up)     MGMT vs. Adam Freeland
4. Lights Out    Santogold
5. 5 Years Time (Sun Sun Sun)    Noah and the Whale
6. Beware Our Nubile Miscreants    Of Montreal
7. Valerie Plame    The Decemberists
8. Let’s Call It Off (Girl Talk Remix)    Peter Bjorn and John
9. Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenocerous  Flight Of The Conchords
10. Singer Songwriter    Okkervil River
11. Campus    Vampire Weekend
12. Acid Tongue    Jenny Lewis
13. Black Hole    She & Him
14. Every Valley Is Not A Lake    Cold War Kids
15. Fix It    Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
16. Suspended In Gaffa    Ra Ra Riot

Hopefully the CDMOM momentum will keep up! I uploaded my mix online as well so if you are interested in downloading it, leave me a comment!

Comments(0)

Here are some recent carvings I did for a carve swap on swap-bot I mentioned in an earlier post. The requirements were to do 2 stamps, something from your partner’s profile and a background stamp. A heart will be earned if you carve a heart as well!

I started with this carving first, since it was the simpliest in design. I guess I used too much pressure in cleaning it between carvings as the last heart got a nick in it. I decided just to replicate the nick on the other side!

This was the second one I did and probably a bit more ambitious on my part. I’m relatively happy with it. It’s not perfect but I’m trying not to stare too hard at it!

This was the last one I did. My partner is really into Asian design so I thought she would like this chinese motif. I thought it would be the easiest of them all but it proved to be more difficult than I thought. I thought it would be easier because of the straight lines but that made it harder!

Here is another carviing I did before the above carvings for the Unbirthday swap I was in. I realized I did a DOY on this swap. You were required to send 3 items from their list of 10 items for this swap. I actually sent all ten items on my partner’s list and then some! DOY! I didn’t mind as I made most of the items and did not spend much on the other items. I’m just annoyed because the postage was more than I wanted it to be but mostly because that means I won’t be getting 10 items from my partner! GRRRR!

On the swapping note, I think I need to stop joining so many swaps. There have been a couple of swaps that have bummed me out. I’m still waiting to get rated on quite a few swaps I’ve sent in the last few weeks, 2 of my send to partners have gotten suspended on swap-bot so I won’t get ratings from them and there was one particular swap where I really put some thought into what I sent and I feel I didn’t get the same treatment from the person that sent me the same swap. Sigh…I guess my expectations have gotten too high!

Comments(2)

My craft has been off the last week so I thought I would post some of the things I made in the beginning of the month when my craft was on. I was in a swap for 10 surprise items, could be store bought or hand made and I did a combination of both for my partner based on her profile. Some of the things she likes is chickens/roosters and the Old West. I knew right away I wanted to crochet a chicken potholder for her and was one of the first things I started back in December. Glad I did as I left plenty to do last minute! I decided to practice my carving and made her a name stamp with a chicken. I’m pretty proud of how it turned out! And just so everything wasn’t going to be fowl related, I made some “Old West” magnets with images from my clip art book.

The work in progress. I had a temporary brain fart and thought I needed the image to be reverse (top right). Good thing I realized I was wrong before I started carving.

I think it came out well so even joined a carving swap. Yikes!

I used Diamond Glaze on a couple of them and 3D Crystal Lacquer on the others. Definitely like 3D better for this (no air bubbles!)

I gave the chicken green eyes! ha!

So now I have become obsessed with making these glass pendants. I discovered these glass pendant kits from Annie Howes’ Etsy shop back in August and practically harassed Annie about when she was going to ship them to me. The kit comes with pretty papers to use under the glass but I knew I was going to use my own photos. Well, I finally got motivated to make one earlier this month (part of the delay was finding just the right photo!)

I loved how they turned out and made a few for some friends with pics of their newborns. I’m seriously considering selling these and also selling some using some of my holga shots. We’ll see!

I bought myself this stencil book for Christmas and made this shirt for Sienna. I bought this stuff to add to acrylic paint to make it fabric paint (altho I do have fabric paint for the Gocco and some leftover from my silkscreen class). It’s already been thru a few washes and still looks good! Wooo!! fun!

I tried to take a photo of us with me wearing the pendant and Sienna wearing her shirt. We look cute but you can’t really see us sporting my creations!

Comments(2)

I realize I’ve been bad at posting the pics of the swaps I’ve received. So here are some of the latest!

The Amigurumi Food swap, my partner is from Costa Rica! (I hosted on swap-bot!)

The grocery tote bag swap (the bag I made is here)

My partner did such a nice job and I hope to be able to sew as well one day! The inside has 2 pockets. She even included this cute sour cream container pouch.

Tawashi Swap, my partner is from the UK (I haven’t even done mine yet!)

Comments(0)

 

I came across this blog on the swap-bot forums while looking for ways to promote my Mix CD Release Project (more on that in a minute). This thoughtful and creative person will be giving away gifts for 29 days! Go check it out!

Art by Chrysti 29 Days of Giveaways!

My Mix CD Release Project is sorta on the same lines as the 29 days of giveaways but not as nice and I’m doing it to get rid of stuff without throwing it away. If you don’t know, I started organizing a montly gathering to exchange CD mixes originally started via snail mail by Josh Benton after he had a reunion in NYC during the summer of 2004. I was tipsy on alcohol when I announced how much fun it was to do it in person and we should do it on a monthly basis! It was really going strong the first few years with always at least 10 people showing up monthly. That means you were getting at least 10 different mixes a month! The excitement of the group has waned within the last year and while we still get together, it’s not about the mixes anymore but the friendships that developed. Now there might be an occasional physical mix exchanged but more likely mixes uploaded online. And we would be lucky that 10 people can make it! Anyway, I don’t mean to digress. You can imagine how many mixes I have in my binder as I keep every one of them after listening to them. If I like the mix, I put it on my Ipod but I don’t access the actual CD anymore and it’s just collecting dust on my shelf. I thought it would be fun to give them new light again. So, my Mix CD Release Project is about people sending me a stamped, self-addressed bubble wrap envelope and I will fill it with as many CDs as the postage allows and you get back some surprise mixes! It sounds like a good idea to me but I don’t know if people will be willing to go through the effort. What do you think?

Comments(0)

Here are 2 dishcloths I crocheted for a swap on swap-bot. The pattern for the yellow one is here and the pattern the blue one I can’t find right now!

For the ornament swap, we had 3 different partners and you’re supposed to make 3 different ornaments. I had fun making a gingerbread man, reindeer and snowflake. I used fabric paint to decorate the gingerbread man and reindeer. I forgot to take photos of the ornaments I got in return but there were an ball ornament, butterfly and 2 bells with real bells!

Sorry the photos of the ornaments didn’t come out so great. I get so impatient!

Comments(0)

Even with everything that was going on with Sienna, I was able to collate all the Gocco swap cards, pack them up and mail them out. I’m glad because that would have been weighing on my mind until they were gone. Most everyone received or will receive their cards any day now so I feel safe to show the 2 I did. I wasn’t terribly happy with the first card I did. It didn’t come out as I had envisioned. I brayed the background with a fall color rainbow pad and I guess the colors I chose to gocco print with got a bit lost on it. I even added some Jacquard Pearl Ex to one of the colors and didn’t notice much of a difference. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t put enough or just chose the wrong color to mix it in since it was similiar. Oh well, at least I tried!

I used an old plate of Sienna’s for mixing the Pearl Ex in the ink.

I knew all along that I wanted to do 2 cards. I like how the 2nd card came out a lot better than the first. I got the image printed out at Staples so was a little disappointed that the size wasn’t exact. My files were 4 x 6 and they were about 1/8 inch off. I don’t know why. I tried to fix one of the swirls with the Riso carbon pen but it didn’t work! I don’t know if maybe I didn’t let it dry long enough before working on it? Hmmmm! I don’t know why I had to be complicated and pick 2 designs that go off the edge!

Check out the flickr group here for everyone else’s cards!

Comments(1)

 

I received the last of the packages for the Gocco Swap last week and I think it turned out great! I have to admit that I did expect some flakiness and/or no shows so it was a great surprise that everyone came through! One swapper had to drop out due to health reasons (hope things are improving you know who!) but I did have a back up swapper (he actually signed up too late but agreed to be a backup) and he pulled through with flying colors! I have to say, Gocco users rock! I haven’t shown my cards yet (I did 2) but will make a post after all the packages have gone out. I collated them Saturday night. It took me longer than I thought (3 hours! ok, maybe the tv might have distracted me for bits at a time) but I tried to keep it as organized as possible. Looking back, collating was the easiest part (once I figured out that dividing each set into twos helped speed it up instead of  laying them out into twos)! The packing of the packages is kind of a pain! I printed up all the labels and wanted to re-use all the envelopes they were sent in and tried to carefully take off any of the existing labels on them. But I still had to tape a scrap paper over the front anyway so as not to confuse the post office with any old addresses. And then trying to tape them all up and write out all the customs forms for the overseas packages all while Sienna wanted my attention because she was sick! It was still great fun receiving all the packages, seeing all the great talent and getting inspiration from everyone. Autumn Gocco Swap-Success!

Comments(9)

Currently I am addicted to Etsy, obtaining crochet patterns and swap-bot. I’ve been getting active again on swap-bot as it helps me keep creative juices flowing. I find myself looking for swaps to join and even started my own swap for Amigurumi food, my first hosting on swap-bot. And then found another Amigurumi swap with an Autumn theme, a knit/crochet dishcloth swap, and a knit/crochet Christmas ornament swap! That’s how I became obsessed with looking for crochet patterns. There are tons of free ones on the internet! Then I joined an Etsy favorites swap where your partner will buy you a small priced item from your Etsy favorites list (feel free to buy me something too! HA!). I debated joining this swap because 1. I could just buy it myself! and 2. I didn’t have an Etsy favorites list. Well, I decided it would be a nice surprise to see which item my partner would pick and then became obsessed with finding things to put on my list. Then I found this cute bunny pod pattern that I couldn’t resist and am currently working on. I figured that I got lots of free patterns, it’s ok to buy one here or there. And then last night found this cute pattern that I just couldn’t resist (again)! Crochet Dim Sum! I really just wanted to make the egg custard and am not clever enough to figure it out on my own but some of the other items are cool too. The great thing is that these patterns get e-mailed to you so that’s instant gratification!

Here is the top part of the bunny pod or the head. It doesn’t look as nice as the picture from the pattern. It’s funny how the shaping of the snout could really alter the look! I’m not crazy about my shaping of the snout but am too lazy to fix it. It’s got character!

And via Celestina’s blog, I discovered etsy seller onefourzero and got my own personal stamp with the bunny logo and my signature and e-mail/website, which I love. I e-mailed her my design on Sunday and it was in my mailbox on Wednesday! From the UK!! I love Etsy!!

After making this skullholder from the Happy Hooker book, I had such fun that I went on the prowl for more potholders and found this adorable fish! (I also want to make that cute chicken in her banner, which is from this book that I will probably end up buying but am trying to resist)

I already finished the dishcloth for the swap with the same color yarn as this fish. I might include this fish too, if I could part with it! When I told Yves I bought a pattern for the bunny pod, he asked if we were keeping that one because I seem to be swapping away everything I’m working on! HA! I told you I’m addicted!

Comments(1)

I am really enjoying getting back into swapping on swap-bot. It really gets my creative butt moving and this past week I’ve really been on a roll and trying to be more creative while Sienna naps instead of getting lost on the internet. Here are some of the swaps I’ve been in or currently in.

Fall Coaster Swap-when I signed up for this swap, I had the perfect fall color fabric in mind as seen here. The tutorial for this is found here. But I did not count on my partner hating the colors orange and brown! DOH! So I had to scramble for another idea and came up with these:

It’s a reverse applique coaster! I was so happy I came up with this idea but wasn’t sure how much my partner would like it as my seams are not perfect. (She ended up loving it and gave me a 5 rating and a heart!) Whew! Following a line was actually harder than I thought. I tried 2 with the free motion foot but found it was easier using the regular foot. Here is what my partner sent me:

She spoiled me (she is swappinLady on swap-bot)!! Not only did she make CD coasters, she made mug charms and a wine bag (without the wine, I just put something in there to make it stand!) and orange hot chocolate! YUM! That was so nice of her!

I also joined the zipper pouch and candy swap. I won’t mention who my swap partner is or what candy I sent her as she did not receive it yet. I hadn’t made one of these pouches in awhile and it was fun! I hope my partner likes it, the swap had a fish theme!

Close up of fish applique

the back

blurry inside (I love the color!)

Comments(1)