Whining and Blabbing

I am feeling really tired and my ankle is hurting today (can't wait for my surgery on Monday), so I don't really have the energy for crafting. I am still feeling craft obsessed, so I have been surfing some favorite blogs. I am happy to say that I have found a new one to follow.

Ok, I was just over visiting Crafty Maima Jama, catching up on some of her past blogs when I found myself relating completely to this particular post.

Well, I started to leave a comment, then realized I was writing a book. So, I decided to just write about my kaoticness, kinda let you know some of the crafts and projects I have tried in the past, and some that I am looking forward to trying in the near future.

I did sort of blog about this earlier, and you can read that here. But I hope to make this one a little different. As I mentioned, I am tired and hurting today, so it may just end up being a repeat.

Some current favorite materials to work with and projects to do:
paper making, wool sweater, needle felting, weaving, t-shirts, fabric flowers, little wool creatures, paper mache, and more then I can't think of.

So, if you read my post from last night (well, this morning actually), you would see that I have lately become obsessed with weaving. Not really sure why. I learned a long time ago it is just easier to go with my odd obsessions then to fight them.

Anyway, this morning Emma and I where coloring on newspaper (it is what she wanted to do) with some pastel chalks that Aunty Sara had given us. At first I stared to draw a tree (that and stick figures are about all I can do). Then I just stared scribbling and blending the colors together. I really like the green and the pink together, and decided to "weave" them.


As I got up to take pictures of the weaving, I found this project that I had started and plan to finish some day.

I am not entirely sure where I found this project... Basically what you do is roll up strips of magazines and then stack them together to make a container. I got some of them rolled and ready, then for some reason I lost interested, or got distracted by something shinny.

I also got super excited about freeform crochet, gave it a try for a while, then ended up moving onto something else. I do like it, and plan to do some more in the future, but for now, this is all I have managed.


My kaoticness is not limited to inside the house (or to crafting for that matter, check this out). Yesterday I started building Emma a play house. I would never claim to be a carpenter or an engineer, but I figure I can swing a hammer, work a tape measure, manage the power drill, and use my cordless saw to cut some wood (which we have had sitting around for almost 2 years now because I just knew I would be able to use if for something!). I have gotten some of the frame work done, but now I have to wait for the batteries to charge.


And like all things in my life (since this past October anyway), I don't strive for perfection. Life is too short and I hate the stress of trying to make things perfect. As long as what I make is safe, fun, and functional, I am more then happy!

After the batteries for the power drill died today (I managed to get one board added), Emma and I decided to make an addition to her "playground" as she calls it.


She had a blast, but I learned something very important, something that I kinda had an inkling on before, but I now know for sure. Emma hates to fail.

For some odd reason she thinks that she should be able to do something new perfectly the first time. I see us working on this in the future. How? I will make sure she sees that I sometimes get frustrated and struggle with the things I am trying (new or not), and also make sure she sees me trying over and over to get better at it.

Ok, so last night I decided to try out rug hooking. I saw it in a book, and I thought it looked cool. The directions called for t-shirt strips, and I just happened to have a bunch of those, so I sat down to give it a try. I really think it will be cool, but I don't think it will be something that I become obsessed with.


Ha! I was just now thinking about some of the other things I have tried from this particular book, "Craftcycle" by Heidi Boyd,, and I remembered that I used Jared's mountain dew boxes to weave a new box. I just realized that I can use the same technique from the box, to weave the t-shirt strips into a bag!! Might have to give that a try today (if I ever end up with any energy).

I did also manage to make Emma her own snuggle buddy this morning. She picked the colors and shape. Took me all of 30 minutes I think. Now our snuggle buddies have buddies :)


Let's see, some other craft/art projects I have tried in the past and didn't particularly like:
Soap Making
Candle Making
Scrapbooking (I do like to scrapbook, but it requires to much surface area and a lot of time per session)
Painting (I really don't have much of that type of artistic ability)
Knitting (I prefer crochet)
Jewelry Making

That is about all I can think of right now. I know there are more but I can't remember them (that's how much I liked them).

I do remember some of the crafts I did as a kid that I really liked; friend ship bracelets, beaded pins, gimp bracelets, drawing on clothes (he he).

Almost forgot to let you know about the things I am looking forward to try in the future:
freezer paper stencils, quilting, wet felting, rug braiding, more freeform crocheting, weaving a bag/ basket with t-shirts, and more that I can't remember.

I don't really have any witty or cool closing comments, so I will just leave you with a question. Can you see the squirrel that is watching me? (just click on the picture to make it bigger)