Procrastination

This is not what procrastination looks like for me!  ;-)

Procrastination from ism studios on Vimeo.

Confessions

Confession time.  I usually try to leave this kind of stuff off the blog because it's supposed to be a fun place to share my creative adventure with you.  But, since this is a part of that creative adventure I'm going for it.  You can read it or skip it.  It's up to you.  I'll have more fun and happy posts this weekend.  :-) 

As you may have noticed my blog posts haven't been as regular as they used to be for a while now.  Well, here's why.  I have been working hard getting ready for the holiday show and it is consuming most (ALL) of my time.  When I do have time to blog it's at 5:00 in the morning or 11:00 at night and I'm too tired to even think about writing anything.  I have fun ideas but no energy to write about them.

Don't get me wrong.  I love what I'm doing.  This post may not make it seem that way, but I do.  Being creative and making things is what I want to do.  I just wasn't prepared for all that goes into it.  I have about a month and a half left and I'm way behind where I would like to be.  I know that things will be better once I get through my first show but right now I am stressed.

I don't know how much to make, I have to buy everything and time is going way too fast.  All of my money is spent on supplies and displays.  I'm starting with no inventory and no displays.  Since I'm so busy preparing I can't take the time to sell at any smaller markets so everything is coming from me and money is tight!  Since I am so busy I don't have time for anything else and I'm pretty sure  most of my friends have forgotten that I exist.  It's kind of a lonely time but this is really the time I need a friend to talk to the most.

I have so many new product ideas but no time to work on them.  After the holiday show I'm going to work on Christmas orders that I have already received (YAY!) and then I'm going to focus on new products.  I can't wait!  I love making the products I have now but I am ready to get creative and experiment with new things.  I do have a couple of new things I'm working on for the holiday show so I'm excited about that.  :-)

When I get really down I try to remind myself that I'm doing what I love and that makes it worth all the stress.  I think this is the first time I have ever been really sure about something.  This is what I want to do.  My hope is to work on growing my business enough to do this full time in the next few years.  I know it's going to take a lot of work and I'm going to fail and make mistakes and have to try new things to figure out what products work and how to run a business so I have to be patient.  That is easier said than done.  ;-)

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It feels good to get that all out.  It really does relieve the stress a little bit to vent about it.  Hopefully I can move on and finish preparing for the show.  If you survived this post and decide to come back I will have a new zipper pouch design to show you this weekend.  It's my new favorite!

What have you been up to lately?  I'm so behind on blogs.  I miss you guys!

Percy

I have been working on new mini plushies to add for the holiday show.  I like to try to have a mini version of the bigger plushies so I decided it was time to make a mini penguin to go with Penny.

Meet Percy.  He's a cute mini felt penguin.

What do you think?  I really love this one.  It took me a while to decide on a size but now I'm really happy with it.  

My favorite part is his tiny feet!

 

I will be making a few of these to take to the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show in November.  For now you can find Percy at Dreaming in Craft.  :-)

Happy Birthday, Jim Henson

Today is Jim Henson's 75th birthday!

Did you see the Google Doodle today?  Someone made these videos of it.  It's pretty funny.  :-)

Okay, I'm off to start my crazy day.  So far I have been cutting out zipper pouches and getting my coupons ready for a big craft supply shopping trip to Joann's today.  I have to go to my consignment stores and see what I need to restock and go to Stitch Lab to buy felt, too.  I'm almost out of everything!  

That's just the errands I have to run today.  This afternoon I'm going to see Rain!!!  I'm so excited!

What are you up to today?

Ladder Stitch

Don't you love learning new things?  When I started this blog I barely knew how to sew.  Sure, I could sew straight lines on my sewing machine thanks to the two quilt classes I had taken but that was about it.  I was totally intimidated by the thought of ever hand sewing anything.  I am happy to say that I have learned a lot since then.  But, I also have a lot left to learn.

When I make a big plushie I hand sew all of the details, machine sew it together and hand stitch it closed after stuffing it.  Since I had limited knowledge on sewing I always used the whip stitch (well, my version of it because I really don't know how to do it) to close the plushies.  It worked fine and looked okay, too.  But, in the back of my mind I really wanted to learn how people closed their plushies so it didn't show at all.  Last week a friend sent me a link to a tutorial for the ladder stitch that she found on Fern & Freckle.  This is what I had been looking for!  I just didn't know what it was called so I couldn't look for it.  :-)  I was so excited! 

Last weekend while I was working on plushies for the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show I decided to give it a try.  The tutorial was awesome, but I was still having a little trouble figuring out from the photos where the thread went into the fabric.  So, my hunt for the perfect video tutorial began...

It didn't take long to find it.  This tutorial is awesome!  She explains it well and demonstrates it perfectly.  I love that it's really close up.

That little trick at the end for the knot (that most people probably already know) is so awesome!  Seriously, I geeked out a little too much over that.  ;-)

Since learning how to use the ladder stitch I have made two and they look awesome!  I am so excited to work on some more this weekend when I get some more felt.

Have you learned any new crafty things lately?

 

Music Monday - Bob Schneider

Today's music monday is another Austin favorite of mine, Bob Schneider.  He has a newish record out (it came out in April) and the latest song to be played on the radio from it is Honeypot.

I would have posted the actual video but they don't allow embedding.  Grr...argh!

I love the chorus.

Got a heart lost in kindness
A mind that's mostly mindless
I can hold you up for air
I won't let you down I swear

I have burnt down my past
I'm lost, I'm built to last
I'm built to break, but that's okay

I first heard this song at a show last November and it became one of my favorites.  I bought the recording of the show and listened over and over again.  I was so happy to hear it on the radio recently.  But, there really is something about hearing a song live.  It's always so much better.  I really miss getting out to shows.  It's my favorite thing to do but I never really get to go.  Hopefully soon I'll have time to go have some fun.  :-)

 Are there any songs you have been listening to a lot lately?  I love new music suggestions.

Have a great Monday! 

Busy Bee

Hi!  How is your weekend going?  I'm busy working on plushies for the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show, but I wanted to stop by and show you some pictures of the owl plushies I made last weekend.

I made two large owl plushies

and one mini owl plushie.

These plushies are available at Dreaming in Craft.  You can save 15% through September 30th by using coupon code SUMMER11 at check out.  

Okay, I'm off to make some more plushies.  I'm working on a penguin right now.  :-)

Have a great weekend! 

Dreaming in Craft Sale

I have some fun news to share with you.  If you received the newsletter on September 1st then you already know...

Dreaming in Craft if having a sale!!!

To wish Summer a fond farewell (even though it's still HOT here) and get you started on your holiday shopping early I'm having a sale from September 16-30.  That's two whole weeks of savings!  Just use coupon code SUMMER11 when you check out at the Etsy shop and you can save 15%!  

I added a few new items last week and I plan to add more throughout the sale so be sure to check back often.  :-)

Mahna Mahna

Sometimes when I'm sad I like to watch this video. It always makes me smile. :-)

Are there any videos you like to watch to help cheer you up when you're sad?

Crafted Magazine

A while ago I posted a blog telling you that my fish bowl embroidery hoop was going to be in the very first issue of Crafted Magazine. 

The magazine came out this week!  

I am so excited!  You can download it here for free.  Definitely download it.  It is so good!

Dom did such an amazing job on the magazine.  I am so thankful that she chose to include some of my work in the first issue.  I feel kind of weird having something I made in there with all of those really talented people.  Thanks, Dom!  :-)

Fabric Button Hair Pins

I mentioned on Tuesday that I made 100 fabric buttons that later became 50 pairs of fabric button hair pins.   My poor little fingers are still in shock from all that button making!  ;-)  I decided to list 10 pairs at  

Dreaming in Craft.

Wondering where the other 40 pairs are?  They're all going with me to the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show!  They may make an appearance here later on in a Holiday Show Sneak Peek post so stay tuned!  ;-)

Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show

I have been mentioning preparing for craft shows a lot lately so I thought I would fill you in on why I'm working so hard right now.  On November 12th & 13th I will be participating in the 4th annual Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show!

This is the first big craft show I have ever done.  I was so nervous about applying.  I applied with my friend Bridget from LPF Designs and we got accepted!  I can't wait to share a booth with her.  It's been fun planning what we want our booth to look like.  You should see her shop. She makes really beautiful stuff.

I'm a little worried about being ready in time since I have been busy working on consignment orders for two stores for the last couple of months but I think I'll have enough...I hope I'll have enough.  ;-)

I will be posting lots of sneak peeks of the fun things I'm making and all of my new displays as I get them ready.  Did you see the Dreaming in Craft sign I posted last weekend?

If you live in the Austin area you should come out and see us in November!

Holiday Weekend Crafting

Hello!  How was your long weekend?  I was busy!  My relaxing holiday weekend turned into a craft marathon.  First I made 100 fabric buttons and turned them into 50 pairs of hair pins.  Then I packaged all of those along with the felt flower accessories I have made.  I'm getting everything craft show ready.

I also spent some time getting dreaming in Craft ready for Halloween!  I made and listed two Halloween plushies in the shop.  If you have been reading my blog for a while you may recognize these little cuties.

Kandi

I didn't make any changes to this pattern but I could tell that my sewing skills have improved a lot since last year.  She came out so much more even.  :-)

 

Boo

I wanted to make some modifications to this pattern before I made it again.  Imagine my surprise when I went to get the pattern to work on it and it was gone!  I have no idea what happened to it!  I had to start from scratch.  Oh well.  It' a pretty simple pattern so it didn't take too long.  This year Boo is a little bit taller and wider.  Isn't he cute?

These plushies are now available at Dreaming in Craft.  This weekend I also listed three bunting and ten pairs of fabric button hair pins.  Come see!

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

As I mentioned before I have some things for sale at Atown here in Austin.  I needed to make some sort of display for the store but I could not think of anything.  I stressed about it until the very last minute.  My last resort was going to be to make a picture frame similar to my magnetic picture frame with my logo so I went ahead and tried to make that.  But then when I made it I loved it!  I think it's perfect!

I used an 11x14 silver picture frame and covered it with blue fabric.  I couldn't find the exact blue from  my logo so I had to use a different blue.  I actually like it that way more because the logo stands out more than if it matched exactly.  Then I printed my logo on cardstock and some white felt clouds that matched the cloud in my logo and attached them to the fabric.  Since the frame I bought was a hanging frame I bought a cute little silver stand for it and then I was done!

 

 After talking to my friend Renee we decided it might be a little too big for my display at Atown so I ended up making an 8x10 version from the silver frame I used to make my magnetic frame.

I'm secretly happy that the 11x14 frame was too big because I can use it for my booth at craft shows now.  :-)  Yay!

Do you have any fun display ideas? 

In Your Eyes - Cloud Illusions

Are you ready for the September theme of In Your Eyes?  I think this one is going to give us some really amazing pictures.

I have used this song in a post here before but I decided to use it again.  :-)

The theme for this month is clouds!  I love taking pictures of the sky.  It's so beautiful!  I especially love taking sunrise and sunset pictures.  They never come out quite as beautiful as real life but it's still pretty.  

I love the colors during sunrise and sunset.

It's so beautiful when the sun peaks out from behind the clouds.

To participate in this project all you have to do is take a picture of clouds and email it to me with a site to link back to you (i.e. your blog, flickr, online shop...whatever you want people to see) at dreamingincraft@gmail.com by Tuesday, September 27th.  I will post the pictures on Friday, September 30th.  Easy peasy.  Have fun!  I can't wait to see your pictures!