Homemade Holiday Gifts

There were a few handmade gifts in my pile of loot this year during the holidays. I made a few items myself, too, for my loved ones.

This is one of my favorite gifts, lovingly made and given to me by my little sister. She made a matching one in blue for our mom, too. I love that she used organic cotton yarn, (Mom and I are both sensitive to wool), and in such a beautiful neutral color.


I also made a gift for my friend, which I'm excited about. I think it turned out well. A while back, we had somehow ended up talking about an organizer for earrings made from a frame and screen material. I said they could easily be found on etsy-- I've seen many that I thought were nice. Well I'm hoping that she didn't order one from etsy, because I made her one. I used a vintage frame that I bought at a thrift store last year. (I knew it would come in handy sometime!)
I asked my girlfriend to bring me home some screen, knowing that they replace windows all the time at her job. She brought me a big clean piece, so I had plenty to work with. Busted out my trusty staple gun and stapled the screen to the frame. Then I glued black felt to the back of the screen, covering up some blemishes in the frame from past staples, and giving it a soft backing so it won't mark up their walls at all.

"Making Do" Sometimes Leads to Creative Moments

Making the switch between jobs seems to always put you in money-limbo for a while... During the time you're training on the new job, you're probably not making the full wages you will be making eventually. And meanwhile, you're also not working at your old job much or even at all, so that paycheck is also not going to provide enough.

That's the situation I'm in currently. Got my first paycheck from my new job, but it's smaller than the future ones will be and not enough to cover much more than the essential bills.

Combined with the fact that I'm moving from working most of my days in a serving uniform, to a job where I need to be dressed in business-casual attire everyday, means I'm quickly running through all of my clothes and accessories and would really like to shop!! I'm finding myself wearing old clothes left over from old jobs just because I need something to wear, but I'd really prefer to wear things that actually suit my taste now!

Looking at catalogs during this time has been a kind of torture, but while drooling and folding corners of pages, I actually found some inspiration for things that I could make out of clothes and even jewelry that I have already. One project is an embellished shirt that I plan to make out of a shirt whose bell-shape and puffy sleeves are no longer appealing to me. But that's a bigger project.

The other night, I took on something smaller. A necklace pieced together from some broken vintage pieces.
I have a box full of broken vintage jewelry, which I got while at an auction a couple years ago. Lots of chains, rhinestone pins, clip-on earring, pieces of bracelets... This necklace is made up of 2 pieces of some unidentifiable jewelry item. I used individual gold chain links to connect the 2 pieces together. I replaced a few missing rhinestones and then attached a chain and clasp.

It turned out cute, if I do say so myself! I wore it to work the next day and a customer complimented me on it. Not a huge step to a fantastic work wardrobe, but at least I have something cute to wear with all these bland old sweaters!

Thrifting Weekend With My Ma

Took a trip to Wisconsin this past weekend to spend some time with my mother. It seems we never get to hang out anymore-- every time I'm there it's because I have things to go to, and I'm busy the entire weekend. Well Mom and I were definitely busy, but this time with fun together stuff! Rummage sales, thrift shops, lots of photography, and cooking together.

Saturday was a dreary day. Very chilly for August, and the morning drizzle increased to rain by afternoon. But we were determined to go to lots of sales and find lots of cool vintage stuff!! I got a handful of records that I'm going to make into notebooks; a stack of vintage Life, Collier's, and McCall's sewing magazines-- they're heavy and they take up space, but I love them! A crazy orange plastic bathroom set that must have come out of the Brady girls' bathroom. Oh wait, the Brady girls shared with their brothers, so they probably didn't have final say over the decor... Laurie Partridge, then, maybe? Anyway, it's so gaudy it's adorable. Orange plastic in a pattern like cut crystal. It's hard to explain, I'll have to post pictures. Also, a worn deep-red hardcover book from1939 entitled "Tale Of The Witch Doll," some Fire King Azurite saucers and a creamer for my collection, some other miscellaneous fifties-looking saucers, and an aluminum cake-carrier for my best friend.

Also on Saturday, while driving all over town for rummage sales, I happened to spot an adorable old sign, through the rain. I really, really hoped to come back and photograph it. It's all alone in an area that has all either been redeveloped, or is just about to. I don't quite understand how this sign is still standing alone in the middle of all that, but I doubt it will be much longer. Well, on Sunday, the weather was just gorgeous-- blue sky, fluffy clouds, sun galore. My mom, sister and I were out doing various errands and they humored me by taking the drive back to the sign so I could take pictures of it. I think they were also curious to see what the hell the fuss was about! They agreed that it was a really cool find.



How cute is that?! It says Weddin on one side of the sign. Must have lost it's G sometime after the plexiglass got broken. Frickin' adorable. We were thinking there must have been a print shop there at some point... Maybe?

Etsy Store Progress and Pauses...

So, I've been trying to work very hard on my etsy store lately. Last week I went out with a friend and photographed her in all those tiny vintage clothes that I've been hanging on to for years, with the hopes of someday selling them. The pictures turned out fabulous, if I do say so myself!!

I got just about enough pictures to showcase the clothes themselves, but I do admit I got a little wrapped up in the arty aspects, as I tend to do, and got a few more artistic shots that I really love. Nothin' wrong with that, I suppose!

I've also been working on figuring out how to market my etsy store better. It's tricky!! There are thousands and thousands of fabulous stores on etsy, and that's a lot to compete with. Like, I just recently discovered the "Treasury" application, which is how those beautiful galleries end up on the front page of etsy. People take a lot of time and compile these gorgeous collections with the hopes that they'll be seen and promoted. But they're promoting other people's work, is the key! It's very collaborative.

Well, I've seen some of these Treasury collections that I feel my items/products could very well be a part of. Lists of cool "back to school" items -- my notebooks would be perfect in there. Lists of vintage items of particular colors -- I've got something that color! But how do I get my things seen?? I'm reading up on the forums more and more, and have also been renewing my items in my store in order to get them further in the front of search result lists.

Also, promoting on facebook, myspace, twitter... I keep hoping something will catch on! And I'll need to keep working on making more and better items, taking better pictures, maybe changing up my store banner and avatar... We'll see. Keep plugging away!!

Sweet Sock Monkeys

Yesterday I got to give my nieces the sock monkeys that I made for them!

Somehow a few weeks ago, I decided that's what the girls needed for their xmas presents and then I had to figure out how to make them... I found directions online, then found even better ones in a book I already had, SuperCrafty! They each took me a night, altho I'm sure that 2nd one took less total time, since I had a better idea of what I was doing. Instead of the typical (but classic) brown and red socks, I used striped socks from Target in the girls' favorite colors.

I think they really liked them! Of course, the monkeys were swung around by every limb within the first 3 minutes, testing the strength of my stitches. But that's how it should be with toys and the children who love them!

My girlfriend wants one made with Packer socks now. :)