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Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope your new year started with a bang! Mine started kind of mellow, but I did have a very fun day. I am so positive for this year. I see a lot of fun things in my future. I plan to come back here and blog again as well as doing other doll and craft related things. I can't wait to share my recent purchases and tell you what things I have been up to. More coming soon to this very spot. Stay tuned. :-)

And on that note I am going to go for now guys and gals. I didn't sleep much  last night and I am thinking bed time is coming soon. So I will be back soon to tell you about the Christmas gifts I gave my mom and my sister, and yes the wardrobes were part of that. That is a while crazy story in itself. LOL! Take care until next time guys. Bye for now. :-)

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Needle Felting Experiment 1

kit2

So, I thought it was time I got to my first experiences with needle felting. I admit, I am kind of bummed with how things turned out, but I know that eventually my work will get to a level I like. While I do like what I’ve created, I didn’t like that they didn’t turn out how the picture on the kits said they should. I have always had a problem following patterns to create something the way someone else says it should look. So I think from now on my felting adventures will be more from my creative eye and less from somebody else’s. I may still get a kit every now and again, but I want to try seeing what I can come up with on my own. Once again, I blame Maqaroon for giving me the needle felting bug. I really love her channel and videos. She inspires me in my future goals in where I’d like to take my hobbies.

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So after getting bit with the needle felting bug I jumped onto Amazon and found some kits for relatively cheap to play with. The first kit I picked out was Dimensions Needlecraft Feltworks Complete Beginner Kit. This kit has everything to get you started needle crafting. Well, almost everything. I say this because, when I opened the kit to make it, I tried using the needle that they include in the kit and found it almost impossible to use. I stabbed at the wool lightly, hard, and somewhere in between but it wouldn’t felt together. I then took a needle from a needle felting supply kit I bought from a Chinese seller on Amazon, and it worked instantly. So if you do buy a kit, you may want to have some other trustworthy needles to actually put it together with or risk sitting there a long time stabbing at the wool hoping it will felt, see the needles below I got from the kit. They are very small and don’t have a lot of “barbs” on the end.

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Once I got the right needle, the felting part went relatively smooth. I read the directions, put on my needle felting thimbles, and started. After a few minutes of stabbing, I got into the flow of things. However, being new at needle felting, I wasn’t sure how much pressure to put on the needle and how to angle it, even after reading the instructions, still found myself having to stab at weird angles to get the look I was going for. So I wasn’t too shocked when about a forth of the way through I felt a snap, heard a metallic click, and noticed my needle was no longer pointy. I looked at my project and noticed the blunt end of the needle poking out from the wool. I carefully pulled it out, replaced the needle, and took it much gentler with the stabbing. So from what I understand, when you needle felt, go directly up and down so you go strictly in and out. This means no stabbing from funky angles, at least not when you are a beginner. And don’t be to aggressive with your needles or they will snap. You can see my blunted needle and the underside of my work below. That pointy bit on the right part of the picture is the other half of my needle.

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Once I thought I was done, I simply pulled the project up from the mat. Do this carefully and slow. I don’t know why the whole process of pulling the wool out from the foam mat gave me shivers. To me it was the equivalent of finding a plant growing from the rug, it was just unnatural to me. LOL! So I tried to pull up as quickly and as slowly as I could go. LOL! I took a quick video of me pulling up to show you what I mean.

As you can see, I like to watch, or rather listen, to things while I craft. That day I was catching up some on the Shaytards. I am still behind on videos with them. I need to have another crafty day and soon. Also, you could see that after I pulled the project up there were a lot of gaps I didn’t see while working on it. All I did was put it back on the mat and work on it some more. What you didn’t get to see was when I started working on the center of the flower I started putting the black in the wrong place, placed it where the white dots are instead of the surrounding area, and had to pull them out, pull the fibers free as best as I could, and then put them where they were suppose to go. Needle felting can be very forgiving on your mistakes.

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So, what do you do with your appliqué after you are done? Well you can either cut close around it and attach it things like clothing or bags, you can frame it, or you can get another felt item like a little purse or bag and needle felt it onto that. The possibilities are endless, just use your crafty imagination. What am I going to do with mine? I think I may frame it to remind me of my first attempt at needle felting.

supplies

thimbles

So what do I think about needle felting? I like it. I want to try it some more, try different felting fibers, try different needles, try different mats, and just see what I prefer to create with. As with any new craft I start, I went the cheap route in case I didn’t like the craft. I got a cheap supplies set that ended up working way better than the stuff that came with the kits; take a look at the first picture above, I got 5 kits to make, and I got some thimbles/ finger guards to get me started; take a look at the second picture above. Can I just say I LOVE the thimbles I bought. They are silicone and have saved my fingers many times already. I got some leather ones in the cheap supply set I bought, but they are a tight fit for me and I’d rather be comfortable, and part of me believes they won’t protect me as well as the silicone ones will. However I will give them a try again, after I get better at needle felting, and will report back to you on how well they are. Also, the mat that I got in the cheap set, although it worked better than the mats I got in some of the sets I got, it is still super cheap and after a few uses it becomes useless. So I want to invest in a better mat that will last me longer than the “packaging foam” mat I got in the kit. Seriously, if you are in a bind for a mat, the one I have is just like the foam you’d find in boxes that hold electronics. So if you have some laying around, BAM!, there you go, instant mat.

And that’s about it for my first try at needle felting. I enjoyed the motion of felting and no sooner I finished this I decided to jump into my next project right away, a felted bunny. Now that was a whole new adventure. Felting flat and felting round, though very similar, takes forming a new tactic on doing. You’ll see that blog post really soon. :-) And on that note, I will talk to you lovelies later. Until next time. Take care. Bye for now. :-)

Friday, May 17, 2013

Hey guys and dolls!

Hey guys! So it's been a while. I've been wanting to come blog, I still have tons of back blogs that most are outdated by now, but I just haven't had the motivation to post them. I've been pretty active over on Tumblr because it's so simple to blog there, but this blog is where my heart is at. I just feel that since I'm not doing anything in the doll hobby right no I don't have much to share right now. I can't get motivated and I was wondering why that was. Last night I found out that might be an issue with my thyroid disease. *rolls eyes* Great. Yeah, I have been stressing over that lately and some other stuff, but today I decided that I have got this disease for life and I need to either learn how to work with it or just give up on all my hobbies, and that is no bueno.

See here lately I've been having a foggy brain. It literally feels there is a gauzy curtain right in front of my "mind's eye" and I am almost at a point of eureka but I can't get there because of this curtain or brain fog. I have trouble concentrating as well, and this is all due to my thyroid issue. It's been frustrating, and then I add my stomach issues on top of that, and well I've been plain depressed and throwing the most epic of epic pity party on the block. Sorry I didn't send you guys invites, this was more a party of one. And I didn't even have cupcakes. Lame.

So after having a good sob over "woe is me", I've decided to just suck it up and move on. This is with me for life and I have to many plans in mind to let it get me down. So I am going to come back to blogging, post those backlog posts I have for you, update my layout, and become a part of the community again, because I miss doll talk, I miss being excited over your excitement, and I just plain miss blogging. It'll take some time to whip this bad boy...girl...thing into shape, but I will. Until then, feel free to watch me on Tumblr. I post reblog doll stuff, craft stuff, funny stuff, random stuff, fandom stuff...Supernatural *raises the roof*, and just whatever I find interesting. It's my way of staying connected to the community for now and it's been making me happy, for now. I have some stuff to share with you all and can't wait to post about it. Look forward to some big bulk posts from me and then I will return to regular posting once I've updated with backlogs. This is bound to be fun. :-)

Ok I will talk to you lovely people later. I hope all is well and I hope you are all having dollie fun! :-) Bye for now.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

My Dream Craft Room

Picture By Just Claire
What would your dream craft room be like? I've often stopped to think about this, and have come to some conclusions about my dream craft room. First of all, it would have to have either laminated, tiled, or wood flooring. Hell, even cement flooring would be fine. I don't like carpet flooring, and I hate it even more in a craft area. Crafting is a messy job and I want to be able to clean up quickly and not have to pull out the vacuum cleaner, or get on my hands and knees to pick up threads or paper that have fallen onto the floor. I think I would prefer a wooden floor the most, in a light sandy stain.

Now with these lightly stained floors I would want white walls or pastel painted walls. I want something pale and calming because crafting can be stressful so I need something relaxing surrounding me. Crafting is my “me time”, so I want to be as relaxed as I possibly can be. I'd also like to have on the walls some unique pictures I've collected over the years, maybe some vintage prints, some crafts I have done or will do, and an inspiration board that is part white board or chalkboard and part magnetic to attach inspiring things to it with magnets, that I of course made.

Next I would focus on storage. That is my main problem, no storage, so my craft area can look chaotic at times. I'd love bookcases for fabric and supplies, displays for things like ribbons and scissors, maybe a craft table that has storage in it as well. And perhaps some things to make organized storage in the closet.

Once storage is taken care of, I would then focus on filling the space with crafty yumminess like colorful paints and ribbons, folded and color-coordinated stacks of fabric, odds and ends of various degrees, a space for my computer and a tv and radio, and a comfy chair or even a daybed to relax on to do handcrafts or sketch or relax after a stressful craft failure or read up on my new crafting adventure.

I think this would all be the perfect makings for my perfect craft room. I don't need much, just a place for everything, a place to sit and craft, and a calming atmosphere. Now I ask you, is that too much to ask for? :-) So tell me, what's your craft room dream? Tell me in the comments below.

Michelle

Friday, January 4, 2013

43 Things – Hobby Version

So there is a website called 43Things, where you make a list, of 43 things, and you try to complete that list. You complete the list on your own time, and you can either set up certain times to do things by or just do them on your own. I loved this concept and of course signed up...and then did nothing about the list except for one thing that I then turned around and stopped doing all over again. LOL! But I thought about my list and returned to it and wow, that's a lot of stuff I want to do. It would be over my lifetime that I would do it, so no rush to finish it, but I want to knock some stuff off it this year for sure.

This got me to thinking about the doll goals I have in mind for myself, and I thought to myself, why don't I make a 43Things list for my doll and craft hobby. Granted on my original list there are some doll and craft related things, of course, but this will be a fresh list to focus on along with my other list. So here goes, 43Things, the hobby edition.

  1. First and foremost, finish those Christmas gifts. I've been putting them off for WAY to long.
  2. Crochet a yarn wig. I just want to try it.
  3. Crochet some fingerless gloves for Midori. I want to just try this one also.
  4. Clean my craft area.
  5. Practice face-ups on dolls.
  6. Learn how to draw.
  7. Work more on learning how to sew, knit, and crochet.
  8. Do something doll clothing swap related I meant to do a couple of years ago.
  9. Work on my shop logo.
  10. Work on my shop layout.
  11. Work on my blog layout.
  12. Start blogging more.
  13. Open my shop finally.
  14. Do some tutorials.
  15. Start visiting doll blogs again and commenting.
  16. Start visiting craft blogs again and commenting.
  17. Finish my first doll photostory.
  18. Sell off photostory props I know longer need.
  19. Do something about old doll magazines I no longer need.
  20. Start new doll photostory/webcomic
  21. Start visiting doll forums again and getting more involved.
  22. Start visiting craft forums again and getting more involved.
  23. Clean up my email so I can use it to stay in touch better.
  24. Root my sister's Obitsus
  25. Finish rooting Liv doll wigs.
  26. Sew a wig for Midori.
  27. Find new elastic and restring Midori and Christmas Noel
  28. Give a face up to Disco
  29. Finish up old sewing projects.
  30. Start designing clothing I want to sell.
  31. Build up a shop inventory.
  32. Find out about SP, this is a more personal thing but it does deal with my shop so I will list it.
  33. Write more doll articles. Love writing about doll stuff, I'll have to post some stuff here.
  34. Clean up LJ blog to x-post in Google-friendly way.
  35. Take better pictures.
  36. Do my videos for my Youtube channel.
  37. Work on my Tumblr blog layout.
  38. Work on my website layout, it's been the same since 2008.
  39. Start working on creating patterns, it's been a passion of mine.
  40. Work out shipping for shop, I would prefer flat rate to keep shipping simple. Hummm.
  41. Expand my doll collection. Once I sell off a lot of my props from old story I can do that.
  42. Start working on my Dds, more on that when I get to it.
  43. Start using Twitter more, I am still a noob with Twitter and I've been on it for years. :-(
  44. Go to a doll meet.
  45. Buy my mom a bjd. I know she'd like one and I'd love to buy her one.

So I add two more because I was on a roll, and they are all a jumble. I won't be doing them in any order, but these are some things I want to take care of when it comes to my doll and craft hobbies. A lot of this I can do this year, but some may have to be pushed to early next year. But I will bust butt to get most of the list done this year and will update you as I complete things. On my original 43Things list, I replaced an item I did with something else so I was always striving for something new to do, but I think with this list I will just mark things off and when I complete everything that is when I will start a new list. Consider starting your own 43Things list, it may help you get more productive and help you see a goal you have in mind. It doesn't have to be doll related either. You could always make a list on the website, which is cool because you can see how many other people have that goal and it makes you feel less alone on your journey. I'm excited to get started on my list. I started on one item already that I will talk about in my next post. I want to take some pictures and explain what I am doing exactly.

And on that lovely note, I am off peeps. I want to get started on my list and share the one thing that I did start on. I want to try working on it a bit more before sharing, but I will do so in a day or two, promise. I hope everyone is having a great day and I hope you all have an awesome weekend. Take care and bye for now.

Feeling inspired,
Michelle 

Images From 43Things

Saturday, April 7, 2012

My Froggy Stuff

So if you’ve been busy crafting for or playing with your dolls, you may have missed out on the crafty sensation called My Froggy Stuff.  I first learned about My Froggy Stuff through YouTube. The channel is run by a mom who loves to create awesome doll crafts for her children.  My Froggy Stuff is centered more around doll crafts and the doll story she does with her children called “The Darbie Show”.  She also has a blog you can follow that has additional tutorials. If you have Facebook or Twitter, she’s got you covered there too. But perhaps you don’t have a crafty bone in your body, which really wouldn’t matter because she has simple steps in all her tutorials that she walks you through the whole way, but just in case you don’t do the craft thing she has you covered also.  She will on occasion pop up some of her creations in her Etsy shop, no crafting needed.  Winking smile  Also, if you are a Pinterest fan, like myself, you can also add My Froggy Stuff on there as well. I’m always looking for new stuff to pin from others on the net and My Froggy Stuff has some neat crafts she finds on the net and pins. Most of these are non-doll related, but if you are a crafty person in general you may want to check it out.

I often read how people wish they had known of My Froggy Stuff when they were a kid, and I’m one of those people as well. I’m often wondering how she came up with her creations by just looking at some beads, and coffee stirrer, and come fabric. For those of you “old” enough to get this, she’s like the MacGyver of doll crafts. LOL! For those of you who aren’t old enough to know what I am talking about, let me Google that for you. Smile You’re welcome. Winking smile

My Froggy Stuff is just evidence of how the internet can be used to share thoughts and ideas and helping educate people on things they may not have known about.  I’ve gained so much knowledge from her videos about things I can try for my own photostories and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.  If you haven’t checked out My Froggy Stuff yet, you have been missing out. Go now and enjoy it, you can thank me later.  Winking smile

In other news, I am finally catching up on things so I can finally get back to blogging more. Checking emails today so you should hear from me this weekend if you sent me one. Also I need to finally go through my comments. I checked on one the other day and it was spam and now I am curious how much lovely spam I have. Yay for spammy spam!  Woot!  Oh and now my computer is acting normal. Odd right? It still gets warmish where it didn’t before and vibrates too, but not as bad as the other day. I don’t know what they did, I still feel they put it back together wrong, but its not dying on me so I will just go with the flow for now.  And on that note I’m off.  Talk to you lovely folks soon.  Be good until then.  Bye for now.  Smile

Suddenly feeling the urge to make colors pencils and notebooks for her dolls thanks to My Froggy Stuff,

Michelle

Thursday, April 21, 2011

What have I been up to lately?

So my sister bought some doll heads for her Volks and Obitsu dolls and as a trade I volunteered to root some of her heads.  One is done as of today.  Going to start on the next one in the next couple of days.  I want to work on a Liv doll wig I started a couple of weeks ago.    But here are some pictures of the doll head I completed.

Hair Rooting Full Shot



Hair Rooting Close-up



Sorry for the crap pictures.  My camera seems to be slowly dying a slow painful death.  But until I can get a new one I’ll have to make do.  So the colors here are like a neon orange and blue color mix.  Did you know orange and blue are complimentary colors?  My sister has originally started the rooting of this doll, but then the Volks body she was working with broke.  Well I have figured out how to fix it, so hopefully there will be a finished picture of this gal soon.

But that’s all I’ve been working on as of late.  I have been wanting to work on amigurumi patterns, but I can’t figure out how to make what I want to make.  I have an idea, but then I will have a problem when it comes to the eyes.  I might have to crochet them too since I don’t have safe eyes and I want to make my stuff kid safe from toddler on up.  But since I won’t be selling the actual items but the patterns then I guess I could just get some eyes for the pattern as a suggestion.  I’ll have to look into that.  I want to get some Suncatcher Eyes so badly.  I think a purchase from them is in my near future.  And I’m also thinking about making some sewn stuffed animal patterns as well.  I have some ideas in mind for special animals and items.  Stay tuned for that.  Smile  Still working on some stuff to get things organized and sorted, but it’s coming along.  I have two more doll posts coming this week and then I may go quite again for a while as I continue to organize.  Man I wish I could sort out my camera issues.  That would make me so happy.  This pictures were taken on the quick so I knew they’d basically suck, but my camera is just having issues with normal zoom pictures.  Maybe I need to tinker with the settings.  It’s getting testy in it’s old age.  I hope to be able to buy a new one soon.  I don’t know if I could ever go as far as a Nikon although they are mighty beautiful.  Maybe one day.  Hey, a girl can dream.  Red heart  Bye for now kids.  Smile

Loves ya,
Mouse

Monday, March 21, 2011

Matting my matte spray.

So I think I may have found a solution to my matte spray glossiness.  Still in the middle of my face-up, but once I am done I will see how my idea works and if it does work I’ll let you in on my secret.  It would be nice if I did solve this issue.  Fingers crossed tight.  Smile  Talk to you all later today and I hope to have pictures for you.  Smile

Loves ya,
Mouse

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Matte spray is not created equal.

So I am working on a face-up of a doll started back in during Dizzy’s Place days.  It’s a My Scene Chelsea and well, it’s going ok-ish except for one problem, the matte spray I am using is more satin than matte.  Sad smile  If you are going to sell a matte spray then make sure it’s matte.

The spray I am using is the Krylon Matte Finish spray.  It dries quickly, outside you don’t smell the odor when you spray, and it has it’s own built in way of keeping the nozzle clean.  You can start working on it again after about 10 minutes of drying and depending on if you followed the directions there is minimal to zero tackiness.  It’s awesome except for the fact that it makes it look like the doll is sweating like crazy.  Sad smile  I am hoping that maybe it just needs to dry fully over night, but something tells me that isn’t the case.  I settled on that one because everything else was glossy at the store I was buying it from.  I might have to try Hobby Lobby for another spray.  I was looking for the ones suggested in the Monster High tutorial I showed you guys a few posts back.  I didn’t want to get MSC since I’d have to wait on shipping and I wanted to try some stuff now.  Sad smile  Oh well, I will see how it looks in the morning and decide what to do then.  The layers are helping with the face up, but she looks like summer is here and thriving and I don’t like that.  I’ll update you on her look tomorrow.

Also I am working on rerooting a Liv doll wig.  I cut out the hair, which had to be the easiest hair to remove.  Since it’s done with the loop rooting method, all you have to do is loosen up and pull out a root or two from the part or thatch and then cut the hair short as possible the you can pull out each row easily from the inside of the wig to remove the little bits.  I flipped the cap inside out and just scratched the little hairs off with my nail.  Was done in no time.  So now I have a cap ready to go.  I also decided to prep my hair by cutting it into the length I wanted.  I’ve had this pink Volks hair I won off of Ebay for years now and decided it was time to use it.  It was so hard to make that first cut but once I did the rest went smoothly and now I have 4 bunches of hair ready to be rooted.  Can’t wait to get started on that tomorrow too.  It feels nice to be crafting with dolls again.  I missed it.  I’ll have pictures tomorrow for you to see of my current status.  Until then be good. Smile  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse

Sunday, March 6, 2011

The most awesome customizing tutorial.

{source}

Hey guys, so while surfing the web in the wee hours of the morning, I decided to look at the Monster High community on Livejournal and one of the recent post in the community was from a member sharing how she customizes her dolls.  She used to customize Pullips and used this technique and when she switched to MH dolls she just decided to use the same technique and it worked.  I honestly can’t wait to try it out.

 

Chelle!!! What have you been up to?!?

Hey guys!  I know, blogging has still been sparse as of late, but I am still taking care of my health.  Goodness I can’t remember how much I have updated you guys here since I haven’t been focusing on blogging as of late.  I believe I told you that I have an underactive thyroid right?  Well since starting the pills, knock on wood, I’m already feeling a tiny bit better.  I was feeling exhausted and ready to go to bed ALL day long. Now I don’t feel that so much.  Yesterday I got on my exercise bike to try doing one mile, but when I looked up after reading for a while I saw I was almost at 5 miles so I did 5 miles and called it day.  Going to shoot for a mile to five miles each day and see how I feel.  Since going off the Prilosec I THINK I am noticing more stomach upset.  I THINK.  I’m not really sure if there is actually a difference.  But besides a little panic here and there I’m doing fine with it.  The windedness is easing up some.  I still think it is greatly attached to my stomach issues, but probably also my thyroid issue as well.  Hoping that will clear up soon too.  The only down side is trying to remember to take all my pills and when to take them.

 

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Projects anyone?

So I’ve been trying to think of a way to kick start my year, and it hit me that I should try to strive to do monthly projects.  Just something to help get the creative juices flowing.  So I’ve come up with several projects I’d like to attempt.  I know they won’t all be done this month, but I have them ready to go for future months.  Here are some of the projects I want to work on.

 

Monday, November 8, 2010

Etsy or Artfire? You help me decide.

Hey guys, I don’t really have much of a blog for you today.  I’ve been busy sleeping, making horrible smelling gluten-free cupcakes and frosting from the package, and making a new shop logo I am actually happy with for once.  Now I just need to update some things in my policies, take some pictures, upload descriptions, and I’m in business baby!  I hope to have more details on that very soon.  But I do have two things for you lovely peeps.  First an awesomely done stop motion doll video with my fave cover of Raidohead’s “Creep”.  Have a look.

Creep (Radiohead) - Scala & Kolacny Brothers from Alex Heller on Vimeo.

One lonely doll's desperate attempt to be accepted.

Next up is a poll.  If you want to just skip the lengthy babble that follows and just vote in the poll, feel free to.  It’s pretty self explanatory.  All others interested in what I have to say please continue to read.  Smile  I’ve been hesitating putting this poll up for one reason or another, but I really want to know what you guys think.  I have accounts made on both Etsy and Artfire, but I don’t know which to open shop up at.  I know Etsy has the traffic and Artfire is SLOWLY up and coming.  But either way I’d have to market myself to get any traffic at my shop, so it’s not really a traffic thing for me when it comes to the doll items.  But I also want to make human items too.  In this case I think the traffic Etsy has would play a big part in me selling those items.  I’ve been checking both sites’ page rankings and while Etsy is 100 something Artfire is like 1000 something I believe.  Not really good when trying to sell in a big market.

Now my reason for wanting to use Artfire is because listing is free.  I’d kind of like to make some money before trying out Etsy.  But if the traffic isn’t there then I won’t make money anyway.  However, on Etsy to keep being seen you have to constantly relist or just list every day an item or two.  I could do the daily listing but I don’t want to do the relisting.  That is just to expensive for me in the end.  I’m willing to put a few bucks investment into Etsy to try it out.  I know my products will stay listed for 4 months and that’s plenty of time to promote and have deals to sell.  I just worry if I don’t make any money on what I am trying to sell that my shop will flop, but I guess that’s the risk you take when you attempt this kind of thing.  I honestly thought I had everything figured out, but after certain things I’ve read about both places I’m still up in the air.  *sigh*

When I think of Etsy and Artfire I see Artfire as being Myspace and Etsy as being Facebook.  For those of you who don’t understand, Artfire allows you to make your own shop up and use colors and backgrounds and you can even have a music player with your own music playing on your shop page.  You can have pictures of your dog, cat, Aunt Mae in your shop as well on your bio.  Now this is just all gaudy to me.  Really gaudy and not professional at all, kind of like Myspace that let’s you put up any backgrounds, music, pictures, etc. that you want…one of the reasons I closed mine.  Now Etsy on the other hand is all business all the way.  Same uniformed look for the most part, allowing you some customization in the forum of a profile picture and banner.  Very similar to Facebook.  I like the organized look of it and the cleanness of it.  I truthfully like everything about Etsy, except a few things.

Your items aren’t listed in search engines, you have to do it yourself from what I read.  Now here’s the thing, I don’t tend to use search engines to shop for handmade.  I tend to go to Etsy and sometimes Artfire directly and search for items that way.  So does SEO really matter in this count?  Do a lot of people search through Google for a handmade Blythe dress or fingerless gloves?  The way people talk it seems so, but I just don’t feel that’s the case.  Artfire does list items in search engines, even for basic accounts, but of course pro accounts get more acknowledgement.  Etsy doesn’t do that at all, so it makes me wonder if that would affect my sales.

Another thing that bothers me about Etsy is lack of customer support.  I’ve heard it can take days to weeks for you to hear back from Etsy when you have a problem.  I don’t like that.  I want help when a problem arises, not when it’s convenient to Etsy.  I mean you are giving them a cut of your sales so they should be very forthcoming with the help.  I’ve even heard cases where you won’t get a response at all.  Ummm…how is this good business?

Another thing about Etsy is they are seriously lacking in the sellers tools that Artfire and other sites already have.  That doesn’t work for me.  I like the things that Artfire has to offer for sellers, but of course that is if you become pro.  At this point both sites are even for me on that case, and I did think about becoming pro, but I just don’t like their attitude that if you are basic you are not considered one of the team really, and more of just a moocher.  Which makes me like Etsy more on that count again because no matter what, if you sell or buy on there you can participate on everything the site has to offer.  It makes for a nicer community to me.  So I am on the fence about which to go to.  I know I should just do both, which I was thinking do Artfire first and then slowly move to Etsy and then decide.  But then again I could just bit the bullet and jump into Etsy feet first and just really promote and work up my shop there.  So that is where you come in lovely readers.  If you have gotten this far, thankies for reading or just jumping ahead to take my poll.  Smile

Looking For Suggestions
Which site would you suggest I sell on?
Etsy
Artfire

I like the poll.  It’s kind of cute.  I may try more interesting polls in the future.  But back on topic now.  Taking any and all suggestions or stories of experience if you’d like to share.  Thankies in advance and I will talk to you all soon.  Having a bad tummy day so I want to lay down and ride it out.  *sigh*  I need to get out of this house and have some fun, maybe that will get me out of my funk.  Bye for now peeps, and have a great start to a wonderful week!  Smile

Loves ya,
Mouse

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Wasted!

No, not me, my fabric.  I wasted a good hunk of fabric because I didn’t read some directions before I started cutting the fabric for the dresses.  Ugh!!!  Now I am waiting for Fray Check to dry because I had to cut out new pieces of fabric in the right size.  Ughhhh!!!  Oh well.  Hopefully it should be dried soon.  I’m off to see if it’s done.  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Complete chaotic clutter!!!

Hey guys.  So last night I jumped in shocked when I realized it had been a few days since I checked my email.  Now, the reason I was in shock was not because I wanted to read the email, but because my email was thisclose to being a full capacity.  Well when I checked my email, yep, full capacity.  My mom’s email got bounced from me.  LOL!  It’s any wonder who else got bounced.  It was then I decided I need to get organized and decluttered.  I mean, come on, I had over 1000 emails in my inbox.  I have cut it down to 62 emails I want to actually read, and some of these are back from May!  So if you sent me an email and I haven’t gotten back to you, I’m super duper sorry and I will be going through those and responding.

See, this is why I have not opened my shop yet because I can’t go into it being cluttered and disorganized.  That picture up above, yeah I feel sometimes it fits me perfectly.  Things everywhere, plants dying, that pair of panties I can’t find…yeah I put them in a safe place I just can’t remember where that is exactly.  *sigh*  I am the kind of person that likes to be organized and likes to have a place for everything, but with lack of storage that just isn’t happening right now, so I have to make do with what I have.

But at least I’m attempting something.  My goal is to be fully organized by the end of the year.  I need another to-do list so bad.  I will work on one and post it here.  Hopefully it will keep me accountable.  I want to knock some of these things I’ve been trying to avoid because I don’t want to deal with it.  I’ve left some things so long that it will take DAYS to sort out.  I HATE that.  So I just keep pushing it back and hope the elephant standing in the room or sitting on my desktop doesn’t jump out at me at the most inopportune time and expect me to give it attention, because usually that doesn’t happen and then I get down about not giving it the attention it needs.  Anyone else have this?  I’m sure you do, I think we all do.  Just wish I could stop letting things get lax and stay on top of things.  I want to form the habit of it truthfully.  I know it’s possible.  I’m not giving up.

So to-do list coming soon along with some other stuff.  Gonna go watch Lawrence Welk if he’s on and try to do some sewing or at least pulling out some nice fabrics to use.  I want to use up the yard of Halloween fabric and pop those things into my shop.  I don’t want the season to pass and me not having done anything with the fabric.  I’ve cut myself off from buying any fabric until I use up the bulk of what I have which makes me a little sad.  I want new stuff but I didn’t use the old stuff yet.  :-)

Hey, speaking of which!  Question!  Does anyone have any crafty ideas for a yards worth of furry fabric?  One is really thick long fur and one is thinner shorter fur.  Each peace is about a yard each and I want to do something fun with them.  I was thinking of making pillow monsters our of them, but I wanted to know about some other ideas that I may like better.

Ok, I’m off now.  Gonna go free my poor fabric and pull out some items for dresses.  Bye for now and enjoy the rest of your Saturday!  :-)  Oh, and if you are curious about what it says on the computer screen in the image above, a piss-up, from what I read, is a drinking session and an insult that is said is a person who isn't organized couldn't be trusted to organize a piss-up in a brewery.  Funny?  I think yes.  :-D

Loves ya,
Mouse

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Rugs.

So I was trying to think of items to put into my shop, and thought about interior design for dolls.  I may not be able to make furniture like some of our lovely doll community members, but ready made stuff that I can paint and doctor up are possible thoughts, but I wanted to be more hands on with the complete look.  Then I thought, about trying to make some braided rugs and this is the first one that I created.

Doll Rug

It’s on the smallish side due to my skein of yarn being at it’s end.  I love the colors in this rug.  I feel this would be considered more of an accent rug than anything.

Now the next rug is a much fuller size one.  Here it is during the creative process in some water.

Doll Rug

I like these colors too.  The flash and water make them seem a little brighter than they actually are.  Here’s another picture of it of it slightly closer to the original colors.

Doll Rug

I’m super duper sorry I don’t have a better picture of the rug yet.  I need to iron it still and then put it in a picture with props and a doll to show the actual size of it.  This would make a great area rug.

Doll Rug

But as I said, this rug takes a good amount of time and so I’d have to price it higher to make up for the time I put into it.  It can take hours to knit up alone.  Then the extra steps to get it round and together.  I mean commissions I could consider, but then maybe I should just make a tutorial for it.  Just don’t know.  I guess I could try making one to sell and see if they would sell.  I know people would pay for more unique items for their dioramas.  I need to work on getting a better picture of both rugs so you can see it better.  I’ll work on that this week for you all.  But yeah, that what I was working on lately.  I have some other ideas bopping around my head as well that I hope to try in the near future.  More to come.  Bye for now, off to bed.  :-)

Loves ya,
Mouse

The most awesome entrance.

Hey all, I’m back, and I want to start off this post with the most awesome wedding entrance ever.  LOL!  Some people know how to have fun.  LOL!

Ok, now on to the rest of the post.  :-)  So I told you a couple of days ago I was working on pattern drafting.  Well one of the things I drafted was a blouse.  I kind of wanted a basic go-to bodice shape so this blouse is it

Handmade Blouse

I wish I didn’t use the fabric I used because it’s hard to see the detail on it, but I wanted to use fabric I wasn’t going to use much for anything.  Here is my Liv doll Carly sitting on my mini water fountain.  Yep, she’s bottomless, and she’s a doll, let’s move on.  :-)

Ok, so this next one is slightly blurry.

Handmade Blouse

You can see the overall shape of the blouse/bodice.  Not liking the sleeves, I plan to cut those off I think.  Still debating.  The neckline turned out nice.  I was going for a square neckline.  Not sure why really?  I just didn’t want to go for the same ol’ round neckline.  Oh, and yes I’m aware that I should not have sewn in white, but I placed the threads in the wrong locations not thinking and well…yeah.  But I figured it’s practice so it didn’t matter.  Ughhh, I hate those sleeves.

Handmade Blouse

Here is the back.  It’s closed with a thin piece of hook and loop tape.  The back doesn’t look THAT bad.  I will admit it still needs some work, but not overly bad.  I had to expand the pattern some because the fabric did end up being a bit short, so I had to pull tight to get it closed, and as you can see it didn’t close completely.

Handmade Blouse

So, overall, not to bad.  I am wondering if I should shorten it for a small bodice?  I think so.  And perhaps I can avoid having to put darts into it.  Well might still need them on the side.  Hummm.  Tomorrow I want to spend a good amount of time sewing up another mock-up.

Handmade Blouse

Here you can see I was using a thimble of green thread for this, but I didn’t think and ended up sewing the colors on the wrong sides.  This thimble is full of sample thread so that is why I didn’t just use a big spool of the stuff, don’t have one.  But now I want to start collecting a ton of pretty colors, but wow thread is expensive.  And it’s so hard to pick the right ones.  Black and white I can do just fine but other colors I’m at a loss.  But I will have to try picking out some.  I wonder if clear thread would work?  Like nylon thread?  Until I figure out a good mix of colors to good.  Any suggestions?

And now, just for fun, here is a picture of something else I sewed.

Handmade Blouse

This is the empire dress I sewed for my Blythe dolls.  Of course it doesn’t close in back, but it’s a close.  I just wanted to get a picture of the one good dress I sewed since the other one is tucked away for a year.  This one was the best out of the two.  I was so happy when I finally got the pattern right, thanks to some helpful tutorials online about the pattern.  I’m going to try to make several of these this weekend.  Hopefully tons of pics to come.

Well I will close for now.  I have another post coming about something else I have been working on that I thought I could post in my shop but I think it would be to time consuming to make.  It takes several hours to several days to make one and while I love it, I don’t think they would sell well due to the price I’d have to put on them.  I was considering taking commissions on them instead if someone wanted one.  I was also considering making a free tutorial on how to make them instead and just offer up on my blog or website.  I’ll tell you more in the next post.  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse

Monday, July 26, 2010

Halloween Fabrics

Ok, so since the stores are so nicely telling us the end of the year is fast approaching…can you believe that…the fabric stores have been forming a love hate relationship with me.  Why?  Holiday fabrics of course.  And with Halloween coming up soon, I am on the hunt for some Halloween fabric, deals would be better, but I am willing to get some in scale fabric at full price and just get a 1/4th yard instead of full yard.

So I am haunting the Joann site, when did it just become Joann and instead of Joann Fabrics, and I found some nice Halloween themed ones.  Here are my picks for doll sewing.  Click here to be taken to the sale page on the Joann website if you are interested in purchasing  any of the fabric.  Oh and nope, don’t work for the place, just covet their fabric.  :-)

Ok, so I originally had 39 pieces picked out that I liked and I managed to cut those down to just 10 with one extra.  That was not an easy task.  So be sure to go to the sales page to see all the other nice Halloween fabrics they have for sale.   Here are the 10 I picked that I would love to make Blythe dresses with.

So of course we have pumpkins.  What is Halloween without them?

This fabric I really like with the trick-or-treaters and candy.  I think this would make a whimsical dress for Blythe.

Spiders that are cute and fabric that is pretty.  What’s not the love.

This one I really found interesting when I thought of it as a dress.  You’d have to really look at the dress to catch everything, maybe pull back some folds of skirt to get the full picture.  I like the idea of having to look at the dress to take it all in.

Boo…what else can I say?  It fits and it’s cute.

A colorful Boo.  Same reason as above.

Candy!  What is Halloween without some treats with our tricks.  I think this fabric is very pretty with it’s vintage feel.

I am currently loving spotted fabric, especially if the spots are colorful.

Classic dots in a Halloween theme.

Same as above only reversed.  I could see some great mixing and matching with these two.

And something just because.  This is way to off scale for a Blythe dress but I would love this for myself.  Not sure what I’d make with it, but do you see the little witch mouse there?  So cute!!!  I may actually hunt this fabric down and get a yard of it, but only after I figure out what to make with it.  I kind of want to make myself something with it, but I don’t know what.  Very cute.  The dog and cat are cute also but the mouse obviously caught my eyes first.  :-)

I know some of these fabrics seem out of scale for Blythe, but I am thinking with her big head that the scale would kind of balance out and look ok.  And when I think of Blythe I mostly think of her as being cute and young so oversized on cute and young isn’t all that odd really so it still kind of works.  Seeing these fabrics really to make me realize I need to hit the fabric stores and soon to try to get a deal.  Maybe just get a yard of one fabric and use a coupon to get something off of it.  Will have to see.  Found a 50% off coupon for AC Moore.  Might head there and look at their fat quarters.  Maybe they will have something Halloweenish.  I’ll update you if I find anything.  That’s all for now.  I’m off to bed now since it’s 4:44am and I have to get up in a few hours.  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse