the etsy shop is up and running!

Hello all! Big news! I officially have an Etsy shop. Visit it here and check out the goodness!

I've also had a few recent acquisitions that will mean that I will have some new categories. Keep checking back to see what I'm working on. Here's a sneak peek photo, can you guess what all this will become?


This and so much more came from a pretty darn neat shop in Santa Barbara called Art from Scrap. They take donations from the community and supply teachers, artists, and fellow community members 'art supplies' from their stockpiles. Teachers get a discount and even can pick up free stuff from the bulk bins! They have so many interesting piles of fun stuff that I spent two hours browsing while I was there. I picked up a whole box of otherwise discarded stuff for what would have cost me at least $100 at a normal craft store for less than a tenth of the cost! Not to mention that they embody exactly what I want to do with my creations, which is to upcycle and keep reusable stuff out of the landfill! I highly suggest stopping by if you're ever in Santa Barbara, and make sure to say hi to my Aunt Ryse who works there and introduced me to the place.

In other news, that is certainly less exciting, I have really been doing a good job on finishing the projects that I start rather than just starting something new and exciting. A pair of house socks that I'm making for my boss (that were supposed to be her Christmas present, whoops) is now well on its way to being an actual pair, there was a lonely solo sock floating around my 'in progress' bin for quite a while. I've been dying to cast on a big project like a blanket or sweater, but I haven't found the right pattern or inexpensive enough yarn. Good yarn is darn expensive!

What inspires me?

I thought, as a kind of get-to-know-me kind of post, I would talk about what makes me tick when it comes to making things.

1) Color. Oh how I love colors. Just like words, they seem to have mental connotations. One shade of yellow makes me think of dusty corn fields, but another shade is bright like a sunflower. They also have flavors, and when the right colors come together, it just looks scrumptious! I like to come up with color combinations or mini palettes when I'm feeling particularly inspired. Lately my favorite colors have been bright yellow and robins egg blue. there is a really awesome website that I just found that posts a picture, and then extracts some of the main colors from the picture to use in coordination with each other in whatever you want. I could look at this site for hours!

2) New supplies.
When I have this much yarn <- why buy more? Who knows, but I do...

I have a problem with buying too many new supplies. I am taking the first step toward fixing this problem by acknowledging it, so I'm working on solving it. There is something about walking into a craft store and seeing all the raw materials - I start thinking of all the different ways things can be used and then my mind goes into overdrive! I especially have a hard time with sales. If something is on sale I feel like I am doing a disservice to myself not to pick it up. I buy things I know I don't have a use for (yet) and I have even bought items whose identity and purpose were not clear to me just because they were 50-70% off. What makes it even harder, is that I do end up saving the day for myself on occasion when one of these sale binges pays off and I have just the right stamp/yarn/cardstock/ribbon to finish a project that I wouldn't have had if it weren't for my obsessive shopping... So in the end, it's a work in progress.

3) Pinterest. For those of you who haven't checked it out, Pinterest is a site that allows you to bookmark (pin) cool internet finds via images onto virtual pin-boards that can be categorized however you want. I both love and hate pinterest. I love how many awesome ideas there are and how easy they are to browse and then tuck away for drooling over later. I love that the links are imbedded in the pictures so there's no messy copy/pasting to deal with, and I love that it's all through images. However, I have been known to spend whole afternoons browsing pinterest and therefore being much less productive than I should have been. I have also been slightly deceived by both myself and the pinterest community - into thinking that I am an all powerful craft-ess. I have taken on projects with such magnitude and variety that I have simply gotten lost in them. It has taken a great deal of will power to limit myself to projects that are familiar and easy enough to actually accomplish, while still fulfilling my craft-devil-ess's needs to challenge myself.

Grand Opening

Hello Internet! Pictured above are some of my mini succulent gardens that I plant in recycled containers. One of my favorites is old/mismatched teacups. One of these can be a showpiece in a small space, or several can make an eclectic medley across your windowscape (yes I just made that word up. Get used to it)

Succulents are remarkably easy to take care of, since they require only very infrequent watering. If you tend to neglect more fragile plants, then maybe succulents are the plants for you! They also come in myriad varieties - some that look like coral, some that look like they are straight out of the little shop of horrors.

Join me at the Avila Bay Athletic Club for their Craft Faire on December 11th (Saturday) from 11-4 to check out these little beauties and many other ponderous creations.