Wednesday, August 31, 2011

READERS I NEED YOUR HELP (contest)

I am going to do another craft show in the middle of November, hopefully its more sucessful than my last.
In order to be added to the Vendor list on their website, I need a business description.  I suck at writing business descriptions so I am asking for your help.
I am calling my business Crafty Joani Designs (like my Etsy store), and I will be selling my knitting and crocheting, some painted wooden boxes, and possibly some small polymer clay items.  I'm not allowed to sell my jewelry because they have too many jewelry vendors.

So write me a short business description in the comments.  The winner will get a ladybug magnet set  (pictured below).

Contest closes Saturday September 3rd.  I know that isn't very long, but I need the description ASAP.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Crocheted felted bear

Here is a crocheted bear I made.
The pattern is essentially the same as Hipster Bunny.  This 100% wool (Patons Brand). After I sewed him together, but before I stuffed him, I felted him. 

To felt a knitted or crocheted item made from wool, you simply put the item in a pillow case (tie it shut with a hair elastic) and wash it for 5-10 minutes in hot water with just a tiny bit of laundry detergent.  I also throw a couple pairs of jeans into the load, just so there is a little more friction.
This little guy didn't felt as nicely as I was hoping.  As you can see, the stitches are still clearly visible.  If the felting had worked properly they wouldn't be.  It did at least tighten the stitches up, and I think he turned out pretty good.  Although if you look carefully you will see that one of his arms is higher than the other, oops.

My favorite necklace ever and miscellaneous jewelry

I hate coming up with post titles... just thought you should know.
I finally took some pictures of the jewelry I finished recently, and by recently I mean a couple months ago.

Several months ago I purchased this pendant off of Esty.   I love it and the seller was great to work with.
This is the necklace I made with the pendant.

Just look at how awesome that pendant is.  In case you are wondering that is a picture of Sherlock Holmes from the story The Speckled Band

I recommend this seller, she was very easy to work with.  Here is a link to her Etsy store:

After I made the necklace, I had some leftover beads so I decided to make some earrings.



Then I decided to make some more jewelry with my leftover beads from other projects.
Here is a necklace and earring set I made.


These items are all for sale in my etsy store.  Except my Sherlock Holmes necklace.  You can have that when you pry it out of my cold dead hands.

Monday, August 15, 2011

A new addition to my craft room

I bought a used tv on Friday for my craft room.  It is a small tv with a built in VCR.  Yes I said VCR.  I have several old vhs movies that I like to watch (mostly old kids movies).  I am the kind of person who needs background noise when I am crafting so I often drag my craft stuff out to the living room, work on it, then drag it back to the craft room.  Which kind of defeats the purpose of a craft room.  So now that I have my tv.  I can craft in my craft room instead of driving my husband crazy.  Best $15.00 I ever spent.

Speaking of used items.  I recently purchased a Singer model631 sewing machine for $20.00.  It works great.  I am so glad I got it, I used to sew a lot in high school, I am looking forward to sewing up a storm.  I realize I may have already mentioned the sewing machine in a previous post, but I honestly don't remember.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

I swear I haven't abandoned this blog.

I know I haven't posted in awhile.  I actual have been busy working on several projects.  I just need to take the time to take pictures and post them.