Ceramics by Marcelle

Apparently I have an exceedingly crafty family, because my aunt has a new etsy shop! She has some lovely ceramics (very reasonably priced as well), and even a hint at her other craft of choice...

The son he never had...

Raising two girls must have been tough. But now my dad has a "son" to show the woodworking ropes. Over the holidays Mike and my dad went to the shop and made screens for silk screening. My dad, who just retired, had fun making something small and simple, and Mike had fun using all my dad's cool toys.



It was interesting to see that woodworking isn't all that different than sewing. Large pieces of wood getting cut into smaller pieces of wood, then put back together in a different way. I saw many similarities, from the edge-gluer/bias-tape-making-tool-looking thing (sorry dad, I butchered that one)...



To the chop saw/rotary cutter...



To the crazy stash my dad has (now I don't feel so bad about mine...)



And my mom showed off her skills, wielding the blow torch for a morning dessert.

I've got to say, I'm pretty lucky to have such cool parents.

Shop Update

My much neglected Etsy shop has been updated! I added a bunch of luggage tags that I've been selling at shows, and now that I don't have a show on the horizon, here they are on etsy. I don't think I'll be doing too many craft shows anymore. I have fits and spurts of mass production creativity, and it's too stressful to have to do it under a show deadline. I enjoy meeting other crafters at the shows, but I think I'll be concentrating more on etsy and online sales. So, hopefully that will mean you will see more frequent updates.

And this one will be heading to Mary Ann for an indie-pendence giveaway, so keep your eyes open for that too.

Monsters

Reading about the Ugly Sale reminded me that I never posted about the wonderful Ugly that I received. It is too cute, and inspired this early morning request...



Which was happily obliged and became this...





Not to be left out, this was then devised...



And then just as happily created...

Pretty soon, Mike is going to surpass me in sewing skills!

Feeling overdue

I'm so behind. I don't have particular deadlines I'm behind on, I just feel behind. Like, I'm not even done posting Christmas gift projects. But, after reading several of your lists of resolutions/plans, I wanted to put together a list of things too. You know, before July.

So in 2008, I would like to...

Start using my bento for lunches. Mike and I got a couple at Daiso quite a while ago and still haven't used them. I've found a couple sites with great tips on bento, and we may need to head to the city for some supplies. I may even start using them for the kids. They would love this. This would also mean that I would need to make lunch bags for Mike, the kids and I, which just might warrant the purchase of another craft book.

Silk screen like crazy. Mike got silk screening supplies from me for Christmas, and my dad helped us make a bunch of screens (which I need to post about - it was so much fun), we just need to start using them!

Organize my crafting closet. Anyone seen Mary Ann's avalanche? Well I have a whole closet like that, and I'm tired of it.

Re-cover my ironing board. There are two lovely tutorials on the subject, I just need to pick out the fabric.

Make a scrappy quilt to keep. I have way too many scraps. And now that I've learned to quilt in sections, I'm not afraid of making big quilts, and I think our bed needs a little something. I would love to have something handmade in the living room to snuggle under as well.

Make a purse with a metal frame. U-handblog has a great tutorial on how to do it, and this craft book has some lovely ideas. I just need to get over my fear of gluing fabric.

Knit the kids (and possible everyone I know) some hats. I made Mike a hat for Christmas and loved it. For me hats are a quick, yet challenging enough to be interesting knitting project. This style got the OK from Devin, the yarn is picked out, so I may just start on this one this weekend.

Make more clothes. It will be challenging because my body type requires lots of pattern alterations, but I would love to have well-fitting clothes. Specifically, I would like to try out some of the these patterns that have been collecting dust.

Start working on Christmas presents now! I (really this time) want this year to be different - no more stressful holidays!

Flannel Day

It's sunny outside, but I'm still deeming today flannel day...

My new shorty robe (from Simplicity 4748)...

Christmas pjs with VERY wide legs (from In Stitches)...

And new sheets (Martha Stewart, 70% off at Macys!)...

New to Me

I've been coming across some really fantastic new blogs, and as my list of Blogs I Read is becoming a bit unwieldy, I thought I would feature the new ones in a separate list (check it out on the left... right over there...). I will try to update the list periodically as I discover new inspirational gems.

Year in Review

Well, mostly... I didn't start blogging until March, and I wasn't nearly as diligent at documenting my work before that.


March

April

May

June
July

August

September

October

November

December

Craft distraction

When the kids should have been brushing their teeth, I was having them pick out fabrics for bags for their new iPod shuffles. They can't go back to their mom's without cozy iPods, right? And sorry about the severely photoshopped pics, but it's nighttime...

My favorite thing about these is that they are entirely designed by them, and they're so different! Usually Devin follows Ali's lead, but this time he had definite ideas about how he wanted his bag to be, including gnome placement and accessory flap. If I were to do this again I would try to fussy-cut the fish on the front of Devin's bag a bit, but we were working with scraps so that was the best I could do.