I've decided to stop trying to get the tannin out of the acorns. (Read that post here.) It was taking way too long! I'm also not using my own kitchen or kitchen tools and I don't want to inadvertently ruin them. The tannin is sort of staining the bowl and the pot I was using. I soaked them in hot water, scrubbed them, then put comet on the stains for a while, scrubbed them again and most of it came off. Which is, you know, good.
I've been trying really hard to throw an awesome party, but one thing that I was REALLY excited about suddenly might not happen. I bought some lace to make everyone garters. I thought the lace was measured in yards, but they are measured in feet. 4 feet is not 4 yards. I.... Am sad about that. However, there are these stretchy headbands at craft stores that are cheap (hopefully as cheap as I'm thinking they are) that will work just fine. Maybe it won't be as pretty, but I'm adding ribbon to them all anyways. I might even try to make garters out of just ribbon. IT WILL WORK. Somehow. I'm making some damn garters!
I also thought I'd be making headway into my xmas craft load. Well, I've started knitting one scarf so far. I have fabric and yarn for several more presents, so at least I've made some progress. I've realized that when I decide to start working on xmas in July, it means I'm going to spend a couple of months looking up online what I should mass produce for everyone. Except that this year I can't find anything that I can make for everyone. I'm going to spend a lot of time crafting...
In fact, the reason I haven't been posting very often recently is more because I've been spending a lot of time looking up what I SHOULD be crafting, instead of actually making stuff. Or looking up how to eat acorns and wasting my time with that. Speaking of which, I've decided I want to look for some good pine trees and try to collect pine nuts next. There's no leaching acid out of pine nuts, so why not? I want to gather food off the ground!!! It seems to be some survival instinct coming out. Not sure why, but there's no reason to not feed this desire of learning what natural things I can eat that I didn't have to grow myself...
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Showing posts with label Life Lesson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life Lesson. Show all posts
Oct 6, 2013
Aug 18, 2013
Ideas and Inspirations
So I thought I was over my "crafting block"... I think I'm just too exhausted recently to do any creative thinking to get me back INTO crafting. Sure, I made a couple of tentacles and a pig, yeah I made myself a purse and a skirt, but these were now several days ago and all I have to show for the past week is about 2-3 inches of a knit hat.
Oh, and why haven't I posted any pictures of these things?
I've come to realize that my camera didn't come with a cord to download pictures onto a computer. However, I had to send it in for repairs because I was taking the memory card out of it in order to upload the pictures. So. I have to find a cord... A lot of cell phone chargers work great, except that all the ones I have don't have USB plug ins for a computer. This camera is proving to be a LOT of trouble!
I've made these cool little Wallet Gloves, that you can keep money in at events when you don't want to carry a bag around. I showed them to people, who then complained that you can't fit an I.D. in the pocket. Well, of course not... You can't fit an I.D. on the top of your hand.
Oh, and why haven't I posted any pictures of these things?
I've come to realize that my camera didn't come with a cord to download pictures onto a computer. However, I had to send it in for repairs because I was taking the memory card out of it in order to upload the pictures. So. I have to find a cord... A lot of cell phone chargers work great, except that all the ones I have don't have USB plug ins for a computer. This camera is proving to be a LOT of trouble!
I've made these cool little Wallet Gloves, that you can keep money in at events when you don't want to carry a bag around. I showed them to people, who then complained that you can't fit an I.D. in the pocket. Well, of course not... You can't fit an I.D. on the top of your hand.
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| My Wallet Glove |
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| Friends Wallet Glove |
However, a friend had the idea that I could make arm bands that wrap around your upper arm, and put pockets on those! Well! Lots of people's arms are big enough for I.D.s! I'm definitely going to work on making up a prototype, but my problem is, arms are so different for so many people. I'll just have to find measurements online and make up a bunch of these... Wallet arm bands? In all sizes. Maybe I'll have a naming competition and send someone a free one.
I'm also thinking that I might as well sell Wallet Gloves in pairs. Everyone wants one for both hands, so why not make it easier to do that? I also need to work on making the pocket itself more FINISHED. All I ever do is cut a straight line, sew some trim to the bottom of it, then sew the top of the line to the back of the glove. So the top starts fraying. However, sewing trim all the way around seems very tedious to me. I think I'll just have to get over it. People want nice things and I'll have to give it to them!
On to the inspiration part of the post. I want to get better at making things. I also want to make useful things. So how do I inspire myself to do better? Looking at other peoples things that are much more professional looking and "finished" than mine. Example. I make clay cthulhus, this woman makes realistic looking faces on her beautiful faeries.
Jealous. Example of USEFUL things. I would love to make up furniture that suits specific needs, as I recently read about in a magazine. This woman had a chance to convert a room into her craft room. Since I can't remember what magazine this was I can't try to find the article online, but she knew exactly what she wanted for her sewing table: Lots of storage space. She knew that she would stand at the table, so instead of having a table that she could sit at and have her legs under, she used the entire thing as storage space. The closest I have gotten to making customized furniture is putting blocks of wood underneath the legs of the table I am sitting at now, to make it high enough for my legs to be underneath it comfortably.
I'm also thinking that I might as well sell Wallet Gloves in pairs. Everyone wants one for both hands, so why not make it easier to do that? I also need to work on making the pocket itself more FINISHED. All I ever do is cut a straight line, sew some trim to the bottom of it, then sew the top of the line to the back of the glove. So the top starts fraying. However, sewing trim all the way around seems very tedious to me. I think I'll just have to get over it. People want nice things and I'll have to give it to them!
On to the inspiration part of the post. I want to get better at making things. I also want to make useful things. So how do I inspire myself to do better? Looking at other peoples things that are much more professional looking and "finished" than mine. Example. I make clay cthulhus, this woman makes realistic looking faces on her beautiful faeries.
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| You can find her profile here. |
Jealous. Example of USEFUL things. I would love to make up furniture that suits specific needs, as I recently read about in a magazine. This woman had a chance to convert a room into her craft room. Since I can't remember what magazine this was I can't try to find the article online, but she knew exactly what she wanted for her sewing table: Lots of storage space. She knew that she would stand at the table, so instead of having a table that she could sit at and have her legs under, she used the entire thing as storage space. The closest I have gotten to making customized furniture is putting blocks of wood underneath the legs of the table I am sitting at now, to make it high enough for my legs to be underneath it comfortably.
So I have a ways to go, but at least I've got plans for my future crafting abilities to be put to good use. For the longest time I made things that nobody wanted because it was useless. I'm trying to change that! Well, except for the clay things. Those are obviously just decoration, but they're just too fun to give up!
Jun 13, 2013
A very important life lesson!
I got on a tall ship yesterday! It was called the Hawaiian Chieften. She accompanies the Lady Washington on her trips around the U.S. that goes on all year long. I keep hearing people say that these two ships were used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but they are much too small. Unless they were ships that you saw from far away, because the main deck of both of these ships are just tiny. The 2 hour sail was crowded with about 40 people on the ship.
I was going to take pictures, but alas, my brand. New. $400. Camera. Is broken.
Yeah.
Camera's hate me, apparently. They don't want me to have an Etsy shop.
I was lamenting over the fact that we've had the camera for longer than the 30 day warranty, but this is not the case... The warranty is 90 days! So, we just have to send the thing back and they'll look at it. Then either fix it or provide us with a new one. A new one would be really nice if this camera was a few years old, but really... We've had it for like a month...
What happened was, I was uploading the pictures by taking the memory card out of the camera and putting it into my laptop, because the first time I uploaded pictures I had forgotten the USB cord. Now the camera refuses to read the memory cards. I hardly think that taking the memory card out about 4 times should BREAK the camera, as I know there are plenty of people who upload their pictures this way, as well as other people who have multiple memory cards because of how many pictures they take. I have 2 memory cards that I used and had files on from the camera and it was working fine, then it broke, then I went out and bought a brand new memory card that was the same brand as the camera and it also won't read that one.
I was reading up online how Sony evidently refuses to look at cameras with this error and says that there's nothing one can do to fix it. Other people just had to clean their memory cards with a pencil eraser, which I did several times. My boyfriend then made me call up Sony and told me if they wouldn't look at it, ask them what the warranty DID cover and then we would do that to the camera then call them back... Well I called them, and guess what? She not only tried helping me fix it myself, she told me to send the thing back in and that they would fix it.
This just means that I should really stop believing anyone on the internet. These people complaining about Sony not helping them probably finally convinced Sony to start helping out with this problem, or they never called Sony in the first freaking place... Which goes to show, if you cannot find a way to fix something off the internet, CALL THE PEOPLE YOU GOT IT FROM! It is worth a try no matter what the circumstances are! Even if you have had your item for longer than the warranty, they can and will try to help you fix it. It is their JOB! Just be polite. Unless the agent you are talking to pisses you off. If you go into the call blaming the agent for their companies product, they are not going to be happy with you, and you want them happy!
Follow us on our Facebook and check out my Etsy shop!
I was going to take pictures, but alas, my brand. New. $400. Camera. Is broken.
Yeah.
Camera's hate me, apparently. They don't want me to have an Etsy shop.
I was lamenting over the fact that we've had the camera for longer than the 30 day warranty, but this is not the case... The warranty is 90 days! So, we just have to send the thing back and they'll look at it. Then either fix it or provide us with a new one. A new one would be really nice if this camera was a few years old, but really... We've had it for like a month...
What happened was, I was uploading the pictures by taking the memory card out of the camera and putting it into my laptop, because the first time I uploaded pictures I had forgotten the USB cord. Now the camera refuses to read the memory cards. I hardly think that taking the memory card out about 4 times should BREAK the camera, as I know there are plenty of people who upload their pictures this way, as well as other people who have multiple memory cards because of how many pictures they take. I have 2 memory cards that I used and had files on from the camera and it was working fine, then it broke, then I went out and bought a brand new memory card that was the same brand as the camera and it also won't read that one.
I was reading up online how Sony evidently refuses to look at cameras with this error and says that there's nothing one can do to fix it. Other people just had to clean their memory cards with a pencil eraser, which I did several times. My boyfriend then made me call up Sony and told me if they wouldn't look at it, ask them what the warranty DID cover and then we would do that to the camera then call them back... Well I called them, and guess what? She not only tried helping me fix it myself, she told me to send the thing back in and that they would fix it.
This just means that I should really stop believing anyone on the internet. These people complaining about Sony not helping them probably finally convinced Sony to start helping out with this problem, or they never called Sony in the first freaking place... Which goes to show, if you cannot find a way to fix something off the internet, CALL THE PEOPLE YOU GOT IT FROM! It is worth a try no matter what the circumstances are! Even if you have had your item for longer than the warranty, they can and will try to help you fix it. It is their JOB! Just be polite. Unless the agent you are talking to pisses you off. If you go into the call blaming the agent for their companies product, they are not going to be happy with you, and you want them happy!
Follow us on our Facebook and check out my Etsy shop!
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