How I Chose to Simplify My Crafts

I love to make stuff. Constantly. That is not the best fit for someone who doesn’t want to have a lot of stuff. I also like to be as friendly to the planet as possible. The perfect outlet for this combination was to make really cool stuff out of trash then give it away or sell it. So that’s just what I’ve been doing until recently.

All of my family were great at saving the really good trash for me. I was having fun coming up with ideas for it all. Then the trash started rolling in faster than I could create with it. A lot faster. I found I was putting pressure on myself to make it into something awesome. Somehow I went from reusing stuff for fun to making myself personally responsible to eliminate all waste from everyone I know. As I was taking loads of stuff out of our house to simplify life, I was also bringing in loads of others’ trash. Not the best path to a simple life. My crafting had to be simplified.

After a much reflection, I identified my two favorite things to make:

1. anything knit
2. blank books

I can sit and knit for hours. Rarely using patterns or making the same thing twice. Each creation is truly my own. So I decided that I’ll spend more time on my knitting and also start writing my patterns down. (I hope to get my first pattern finalized and up for sale by the end of the year.)  

My other favorite item to make is blank journals and notebooks. This is a great way to use reclaimed materials, so I still get to redirect a little from the waste stream. My whole life, I’ve loved blank books. I would buy them almost compulsively. Imagine my joy when I first realized that I could make really great ones myself! There are so many uses for a blank book, who doesn’t have a use for at least one? In the past if I had a really great book I wouldn’t want to ruin it by writing in it! That is crazy, I know. Considering my new minimalist ways, I always use my blank books now.

With this narrowed focus, simplifying was easy. Boxes and boxes of craft supplies were given to better homes. The act of getting the unused supplies out of my house refreshed my creativity. I now feel free to come up with ideas based on my imagination instead of what supplies I need to use up. The two types of craft I decided to continue are different enough from each other to keep me from burning out and neither one requires me to keep a lot of bulky equipment or supplies around. Now that we’re so close to achieving our idea of minimalism at home, I have more free time to dedicate to my crafts as well.

Having less inventory of supplies has helped me enjoy my creativity more. Do you like to make stuff? How much do you hang on to that you know you’ll never get around to creating with? Try clearing out some of your unused supplies to make room for renewed creativity!

I've posted this on my other blog Life on Our Terms

Coming Soon- Americana Bottle Caps

Recycled bottle caps +





Recycled fabric=





Cool Americana pins/brooches!

Today I'll start assembling these. I got a little excited with the camera and started taking photos before they were done! There will be necklaces too, without the fabric yo-yos. Stay tuned...

birthday socks!

I bought this beautiful yarn for myself as a birthday present in December. I bought it from the fearless knitter on etsy and I absolutely love it! This will be the second pair of socks I've knit, both for myself. There are plans to knit socks as gifts, some yarn has been purchased. We'll see how long it takes for that to become a reality!

As usual, I've been busy making cool stuff. Lots of my newest stuff can be seen over on my facebook page. Go check it out and become a fan while you're there! I usually post my initial photos over there or on flickr before I get the perfect photos to list in the shop.

March 20th is my next craft show (details coming soon), so I'm busy making inventory. I also need to make some changes/ improvements to my display before then. Sounds like I need to get busy!

Tons of new stuff coming...

I haven't been turning the computer on much lately, every spare moment has been spent making stuff! I can keep an eye on the etsy shop and stay on top of my email with my blackberry, which can be a good thing or not. It is good that I haven't neglected my email, but I have pretty much neglected everything else I need to do online. I'll try harder.

What I've been working on:

Mini notebooks with cardboard covers repurposed from food packaging and 100% post-consumer recycled pages. All hand-sewn.

Repurposed bottlecaps into pins, magnets, ornaments. Super cute.

Card holder/ wallet from repurposed coffee bags.

Pocket shrines. Just wait and see, they're awesome.

Christmas ornaments from jar lids.

Bathmats crocheted from sheets.

Do you see a theme here? I've also started knitting socks in my spare time. I will put down the crafting supplies soon and pick up the camera!

Five Little Monsters

Here are five little monsters from my fall and winter line. Each is one of a kind with a hand knit body and embroidered face. They are knit with various yarns, mostly natural fibers and recycled-content. I just finished stuffing them. I just love getting out my big box of organic cotton stuffing, if only I could curl up inside it!

Our computer should be back tonight. Finally, I can upload pictures from my camera instead of these fuzzy blackberry ones!

There are a couple of bug jars in the works right now. My first one is in the Geek Chic gift guide over at etsy.

Now I must get back to making!

Milk Carton Gift Box

I have been saving garbage and recyclables for a while now. We go through a lot of milk and I haven't had a great use for the cartons. Here's a little gift box I came up with. Pardon the photo quality, my computer is broken so I'm coming at you with my Blackberry. I think I'll experiment with painting or papering it, then tie it with a pretty ribbon.

Recent Projects

A gift for Narboo.

Megan's birthday gifts. She really wanted me to knit gifts for her, but in the end they were no match for the store-bought gifts. Oh well, she's 5 so I'll try not to take it too personally.

A baby shower gift. I didn't get a single decent photo of this matching hat and doll. Maybe I'll get a picture of the little guy with them after he's born!

My contribution to the National Gallery of Australia.

Found on the Oregon Coast

We spent last weekend at the Oregon Coast. I found some great stuff!

I found these market bags at the Sunday Market in Astoria. I bought the pink one first and couldn't stop thinking about the orange so I ran back and got that too! My photo is no good, you really should check out her etsy shop to see all their glory!

While in Astoria, we also found the Lunar Boy Gallery. If my kids were somewhere else, I could have spent hours here. This is where I discovered the Girl Band. Unfortunately we were on our way home and the spending spree was officially over. I must get one ASAP.

I picked up a few yarns at Creative Beginnings in Seaside and Coastal Yarns in Cannon Beach.

We arrived Thursday afternoon, my 5 year old broke her arm Friday morning. She is very brave and we still managed to have a nice trip.

Links

Today is my oldest daughter's 5th birthday, so here is a picture of her with a jaguar!


Here are some links I have been saving. I figured why save them if I'm not going to share them? Mostly family-related, not knitting or crafting, but interesting.



I love the concept of paperless mail.



Any ideas I can use to move toward a simpler and more sustainable lifestyle are welcome!



This tiny kitchen is amazing.



Two pieces on parenting, here and here.



That's all I've got!

Guerilla Knitting & New Monster

My first time out guerilla knitting was so fun! I hope people enjoy seeing the cozies around Greenlake. To see all the pictures, go here. I have lots of acrylic yarn in my stash that has been given to me from various friends cleaning out closets, this is going to be the perfect use for it!



This monster has been done for a few weeks, with all the computer drama I haven't been taking many photos. She still needs a good photo shoot for the shop, this is just a little preview. I haven't measured her yet, but she's pretty tall. Maybe around 15 inches?

I have a couple of cute ideas rolling around my head for some novelty items. This week is dedicated to knitting up some gifts so the new stuff will have to wait until next week.

Relay for Life & NGA

Tomorrow I'm going to be at the Greenlake Relay for Life in Seattle from 2 to 8 pm. I'll have all my current creations with me, including some brand new pieces! Stop by and say hi!

Here is the piece I'm working on for the National Gallery of Australia. I need to finish up embroidering my name on it this weekend so I can send it off. I hope that I can identify it in photos of the finished project.

Recently, I lost everything on my computer. It has been a major pain getting up and running again. I am hoping for sun today so I can take new photos of all my creations, I have lots that I haven't shared yet. Fingers crossed that the ongoing computer problems come to an end soon and I can begin posting regularly!

Stay tuned for pictures from tomorrow's event!

Technorati Profile

Rosie

I just listed my little flower girl in the shop. She has been done for weeks and I finally got some pictures! My biggest challenge right now is finding a routine where I can be everywhere I want to be online without ignoring my adorable children! So, here is Rosie:

And here are two of my adorable children:

Now I must go change a diaper, switch the laundry, and try to get some knitting done!

Progress Report 4/21/09 and Excitement!

These are tiny little cozies I made for fun. I have a whole list of little things you could keep in them. They will probably be a little novelty item I include in orders, my mini business card fits nicely inside. Actually, a whole stack of them fits and I have one in my purse full of cards right now!
I especially like this little flower girl. What started out to be a monster body somehow turned into this! I love when it happens that way and the yarn just turns into what it is meant to be. Those items are always the best.

These little monsters are much smaller than my others. I think they'll be cute, I can't wait to get them done!

And now for my excitement... In a period of 8 days, my items were featured in 3 treasuries on Etsy! One of them was even on the front page! I guess my photos have improved. My other exciting news is that I am going to be at a local event. My first one! Details to follow.

Darn it! The bigs just woke up the baby. I guess my internet time is up for today.

New Items Listed in the Shop!

Please head over to the shop to see the new items I listed today! I'm still working on my photos and the look of my shop (I know I need a better banner!). After you check it out, please come back here and leave any feedback or advice in the comments of this post. Thank you for your help!

I am still not a photographer!

I have been working on photos of my work all day. This latest batch is okay, but not perfect. I still don't know if they will be the right size to use in the shop. Here is a little robot, his face and control panel are embroidered on pieces from a pair of baby jeans that both of my girls wore.

This little bird is tiny. I haven't measured him yet, I think he's about 1.5 inches tall.

This little girl is going to be so cute when she's done. I may keep her for myself!

Here are Maddy's birthday presents. A baby doll and a Christmas stocking.

Here is my second toy Blackberry. I like this one better. The seam at the bottom is very nice on this version.

I will keep working on my photography skills, it would be nice if the sun would come out. Maybe I'll have to look into making a light box. My next order of business is to find somewhere locally to buy my organic cotton stuffing. The stuffing is quite heavy and the cost of the shipping is almost as much as the product itself. Well, now that the pictures are done I have to get all this new stuff into the shop. My kids have seen enough of me at the computer for one day though, so check the shop tomorrow!

Easter Cuties!

Here are the finished cupcakes:

And the bunnies:

I forgot again to take pictures of the last two pieces I finished, my baby's birthday gifts. I do have a cool robot in progress so I will try to get pictures of the birthday stuff when I snap some photos of him!

Progress Report 3/18/09

So, I've hardly gotten any knitting done this week. We have been busy with our Big Clean. Pretty much packed everything up, cleaned, moved back in. There was simply too much stuff in our house and a bunch of it had to go! I did make this prototype of a plush Blackberry baby toy:

Here is an example of why we needed to do the Big Clean. This was under the couch:

Clearly, I never clean under there. It looks great now, though! We also celebrated Maddy's first birthday.

I did finish her stocking and a baby doll, but I haven't photographed them yet. I am much closer to finishing the spring cupcakes and easter egg bunnies and hope to finish them in the next two days. Now if I could just get myself to work on my photography I could get some new items in the shop!

Progress Report

This will be the first weekly progress report at PinkAndGreenChick. I plan on posting my progress on all works-in-progress each week so you can see what is coming up in the shop and also to keep myself accountable. The first photo is a little guy I've been working on off and on for a couple of weeks, I finished him a few days ago.

Clockwise from the top: Easter egg shaped bunnies, spring cupcakes, Christmas stocking for baby's birthday. I also made these gift tags from cereal boxes. They are a little thank-you gift to put in with my orders.

Also this week, I assembled a doll I've been working on for Megan. This one definitely falls under the category of "not fit for the shop" but that was kind of on purpose and she loves it. Eventually this doll will have fuzzy pink hair (Megan's choice) and some clothes. This doll is an example of how much better my items are when I create them from my imagination instead of from a pattern. (this was a pattern)

Next week I'd like to finish the bunnies, cupcakes, and stocking as well as a different type of baby doll for Maddy's birthday. The fun part is seeing what I make that I hadn't planned on. It is usually a surprise to me too!

Christmas Stockings for Birthdays

This is a stocking my mom crocheted probably 30 years ago. There are four of these, she made them for our family before my younger sister was born. There are now thirteen of us. Right before Christmas my older sister and I both had the same idea: we should all have crocheted stockings just like the ones mom made. Being the only person in the family who can crochet (it was a one-time deal for mom), it is my job to make it happen.

I decided to make each person's stocking for their birthday gift this year so we'll each have one by next Christmas and so I don't have to make 13 stockings in a row. I am also making them a little more personal by making them in colors that I think each person will like, not just Christmas colors. The first birthday was my mom's on December 28th. When I started mom's stocking I figured there would be no harm in telling her what was going on, since she was sitting right there seeing me work on it. Well, mom loved the yarn I picked and thought she'd rather have a scarf from it. She is my mom and can have what ever she wants - so she now has a lovely granny square scarf and no stocking! My younger sister's birthday is at the beginning of February. Here is what I made for her.

The toe is a little square but I think it will be fine. Next up is my baby's first birthday on March 14th. I will make hers in shades of pink with a little lavender. After mom's scarf, I decided to make the stockings in plain acrylic so no one will think it is too soft/beautiful to be a stocking and wish theirs was something else.

Here's the rest of my year in stockings: May 1, June 2, July 3, August 2, October 1, December 2 (mom has to wait until December, but she made that choice!) Those are quantities, not dates, you can see how Christmas-y my summer will be. Most of those birthdays also involve knitting another gift that is a bit more fun than a stocking. My baby will be getting a knit baby doll with her stocking. My older sister (May birthday) is getting something so awesome with hers, but I'm afraid she'll see this so I can't say what it is! Stay tuned for pictures of it at the end of May!