Less Crashing, More Crafting

Folks, it's been a crafty couple of weeks. Luckily I'm pulling out of my recent crash-and-burn and getting steady on my feet again. Having arts and crafts to work on was a pretty big part of helping me stabilize again. Managed to wrap up several projects (ME?! Actually finishing projects? I'm as surprised as you are!), and just went on a major supply run to get started on literally about twenty more projects. 

First on the list was making earrings to match the rainbow fringe necklace I posted last time:

The translucent white strands tend to rest either in front of or behind the rainbow strands instead of hanging directly between them, but it's not too noticeable so I left them as is. Surprisingly didn't turn out too heavy for being so long either. I still have a ton of the beads left over so I may make a some simpler pieces to throw into the shop as well.

As of this morning, I'm 90% done with the mauve scarf I'm making for someone's Christmas present. I used this tutorial from LoomaHat, but the loom I'm using is set to a different guage, and the yarn is quite a different size and stretchiness, so it came out a bit different. It's got some major curl on the outer edges, but that should clear up a lot once I steam block it. I made a similar one in a different color, but used wider stitches on the loom. It ended up being a bit of a pain to stretch the yarn to complete some of the stitches since this yarn has almost zero stretch to it, so this time I set the pegs at half the distance apart. It did make it easier to stitch, but it's taking SO much longer to finish this one! Once I add the last few inches, all that's left will be the fringe on the ends.

Also been doing a little DIY modifying. I bought this super cute mummy cat soap dispenser, totally forgetting I already had an awesome Jack-O-Lantern one. I had already thrown out the receipt and taken the price tag off by the time I realized I didn't need it, so I decided to keep it. I absolutely love Sphynx cats, and decided to repaint it to make it look like one. First layer of the acrylic paint stayed on well, so I'll be adding several more layers for even coverage, and then adding a bit of pink for the nose. I don't love the yellow eyes, but I don't think my painting skills are good enough to repaint them entirely, so they'll probably just stay. Sadly I realized later that the tube inside was broken, so until I replace that, it doesn't even function.   ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄

Bought some beads on sale to make something wintery for the holidays coming up. These are specifically going to be for the shop when I open it. I wanted to have the shop open by now, especially with the cool Christmas jewelry I've been making, but I've been drinking the procrastination juice a bit too much this year 😅 The glass actually has a nice iridescence, but it doesn't show up well in pictures. 

I found some adorable pearly pastel butterfly and flower beads, I just knew I had to make something with these! I listened to a couple of fairy-themed podcasts while playing around with them, it was the perfect thing to listen to. After chaining a few together to see how they looked, I got really strong 80s/90s vibes, so I may make several simple chains like this for the shop for all the people like me who are revisiting our favorite styles and fashions from back in the day. 

Yesterday while out running errands, I grabbed a bunch of floral supplies and nabbed some good clearance deals on silk flowers. I bought some fascinator hat bases, and I'm planning on using these flowers to make some spooky, yet tasteful, Halloween headwear. It definitely won't be ready by Halloween this year, but I plan on having a bunch of spooky stuff in the shop all year round anyway. Also planning out a few flower crowns and/or table decor pieces with some of the flowers and greenery. If nothing else, it'll make for some great spooky fun to make Halloween crafts during October this year!

Thanks for stopping in to see what I've got in the works this week. I'll be posting again as I start working on all these pieces. Something tells me I'm going to have to stage a massive decluttering and organization operation if I keep getting all these fun supplies! One day I'll have my own studio room with plenty of space for all the weird and wonderful supplies I find. Until then, happy spooky season everyone!