Swappin' Fool!

Please excuse any typo's (well, more than are normally there). It is late and I have been in a crafty frenzy for the last couple of hours. Well, almost 5.

I was asked to send out to a second partner in round three of the Random Acts of Kindness swap. At first I was a little nervous. I am always a little nervous. The people over at craftsters.org are all awesome at what they do. I feel a little intimidated due to my kaoticness.

You know , "Jill of all trades, master of none," kinda thing. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but sometimes I can feel a little...less.

Today, when asked to provide for a second swap partner, I felt that same intimidation. Then I started looking through my partners posts, wist, etc. I started formulating an idea and then it just took off.

I went from no clue, to this:

After a bit more research and digging through my crafty stash, I came up with this:

My first mixed media piece. The tree is made from the inside of a security envelope, the left and right owls are fabric, the middle is fused plastic. They all have paper tummies and beaks. They have beads for eyes and metal feather beads for wings. The "leaves" on the tree are from a t-shirt. Oh, the pink on the canvas was painted by Emma a few months ago, so she gets credit for this art work as well!

My partner has three kids. I selected the colors of the owls based off of their birthstones. For their tummies, I added a little image of something they like (the owl on the left belongs to a 1yr old so her interests are hard to pin down through forum messages). 

Closeups of the owls:

(I wasn't patient enough to let the glue dry before taking pictures)

As I sat at my kitchen table looking from the pencil drawing to the finished piece, I realized I really liked the simplicity of the pencil drawing. So I grabbed a second canvas and came up with this:

Oil pastels

And now, I am not sure which one I like better. For that matter, I am not sure which one my  swap partner would like better...

I would love your thoughts! I don't have to mail it out of a while, so I would appreciate it if you let me know which one you like better and which one you think I should send out. 

Thanks and have a great day :)

Swap Updates (Mostly Photos)

Some photos of the fun stuff I have received or sent out for swaps.

Stuff I have sent out.

Inchies

 Clock Attempt #2 I couldn't see the hands so I tried to make them stand out (not photographed). I failed. 

 So clock #3 was born, packaged, and shipped. 

 Felt and denim coaster, cuff, flower, notebook.

Received:

My first inchies!

 Photo necklace

 Crocheted Pageboy Hat

Dragonfly Necklace

I think that brings you up to date!

Crafty Swapping

As if I haven't had enough on my plate, I went out and got hooked on crafty swapping. I am currently signed up for 4 different swaps over at Craftsters.org.

Sweat Shoppe Swap: Make 5-10 of the same item to swap.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=374066.0

Random Acts of Kindness: 3 different send outs, 3 different secret partners, 3 "unexpected" packages with fun surprises in them.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=374565.0

Clock Swap: Make a clock and swap it.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=375502.0

Inchie My Theme: Creating works of art 1sq in at a time.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=376070.0

I love them! I would sign up for more, but the shipping is costing me more then I figured and with Jared taking summer classes this summer, money will be pretty tight. So, I will finish up these swaps then take a break for a while.

Here are a few pictures from my swaps so far:

Sweat Shoppe Swap- I made felt flower and vinyl bowls/cups. 

Random Acts of Kindness- This swap is still in progress so I will show the first round of swapping that is finished. 

Round 1 items I sent out

Round 1 items I received 

Round 2 item I received

I love that we are getting so many fun horse items!

For the Clock Swap, I attempted to make a clock today, but my idea, though awesome looking, didn't work out. The hands of the clock wouldn't go around. The tree gets in the way. 

I do love the way it looks though. I am going to see if I can find a clock set up where the hands are higher up, but if I can't, it will make awesome art :)

Next are some of the inchies I am working on. I am new to making inchies, so bear with me. 

The color red, and cats where 2 of the themes to work with for this partner.

Butterflies and fairies for this partner.

Fairy Tales. 

Can you guess which fairy tale this is from?

After a bit I got side tracked by my 1sq" whole punch and my stack of magazines. Did you know that there are a lot of cool things that fit nicely in a 1" square? 

I sure do now!

Skulls

Bling

Flowers

Blingy flowers

Cool backgrounds

And lots of other fun stuff! Some of the coolest pictures came from junk mail, the other from my Fire Mountain Gems catalog that I keep meaning to cancel. 

That is about all that has been going on here. I am trying to get settled back into the rhythm of home, and so far so good. There is laundry to catch up on, dishes to do, but most importantly, family to love. We have been doing a lot of nothing, but we are enjoying doing it together :)

Printer Problems

So, I really wish money grew on trees, and it was earth friendly to go out and buy a new printer just because the one I currently have is being a pain in the @$$.

Once upon a time I was able to send cereal boxes and other thin cardboard through my printer. Now it wants nothing to do with the heavier stuff.

And I am extremely sad about it. I want to be able to print my own business/product cards using our recycled food boxes. It makes them recycled (which I am all about), cheap (which I am also all about), and fun (yup, all about that too).

Now I am not sure what to do. I could just print them on some old office paper/ junk mail then glue them onto the cardboard, but that seems a little waste full.

I could print them on just paper, but then they won't really hold up to anything.

I could hand write them, but then no one would be able to read them (and I don't have the patience to make out hundreds of cards - a girl can dream-).

My latest thought has been to get a stamp made. One with my name, brand, logo, and blog site on it. I love the idea of trying to make it myself, but no one around here seems to sell the stuff to do homemade stamps.

If I could somehow make one with the acrylic stuff, that would be even cooler! Then I can get Emma to help me stamp my cards.

I guess I should go look around on the web to see how much a personalized stamp costs...

If anyone would be willing to make me one in trade for some of my crafted goodies, I would be more then happy to do that!!

Here is what I want it to look like.

I realize that the image would need to be black in white, but if I could somehow get the recycle symbol and the flower outlined, I wouldn't mind adding the color in myself with markers.

Anyway, that is what I have been working/ thinking about for a few days now. But I am done trying to figure out the dang printer.

Destash Swaps and Giveaways!

I know I have been horrible at keeping up with my blog this summer. I have a good reason, I was busy having a blast with my family :)

I did manage to make a bunch of stuff as well, which is sitting around the house taking up all the extra space I have. In order to make more stuff, I need to find new homes for the stuff I currently have.

Most items I will be willing to swap, some items I am just happy to clear out so I can make more stuff :)

Each item will specify if it is a swap or give. For the swap items, I will list items I would like in return, but I will be willing to consider any offers.

Swaps and giveaways will be on a first come first serve basis.

Check back on Friday for the pictures and list of goodies :)

(A few ideas of what will be listed are: blankets, bags, pouches, vinyl bowls, postcards, handmade notebooks, and much, much, more)

See you soon!