Simply Crafting

It’s amazing how these things happen now isn’t it??   Yesterday I was cleaning out my room and I came across some of my plastic canvas supplies.  I haven’t made anything with plastic canvas in years, but when I did do them I really enjoyed creating things out of plastic canvas.  A couple of months ago I downloaded a couple of patterns for bath sets but kind of put them away and forgot about them.  But with finding all my supplies yesterday I have decided this is something that I want to do now.  It’s different then what I have been doing and it’s an easy craft to do.  So when I finally get these sets made I’ll post the pictures and they will be another thing to add to my selling inventory.

Yeah!  It didn’t take me six months to get me back in the groove.

As you all know I honestly do love to make crafts.  I love doing them so much that I have been trying to turn my hobby into a job.  But right now that’s not going too well.  One of the main reasons why this isn’t going the way I want it to is because I lack motivation.  Yeah, I know the more crafts I produce the better the opportunity will be for me to make some cash.  But even money doesn’t seem to be a huge motivator for me.  I don’t know if this is because it has started getting nicer out and I’d rather be outside than inside creating or if it’s because I’m getting bored with my current crafts and just don’t want to do them.

But have no fear I have been here before and eventually my motivation does come back.  I’m just hoping that it doesn’t take me six or seven months like it did last time.  But until the motivation returns there is really no point in worrying about it as worry won’t motivate me.

When your motivation bites the bullet what do you do to get it back?

As you know the other day I cleaned out my craft closet.  Oh…the goodies I found.  I found a lot of things that I had forgotten about especially a lot of my scrapbooking supplies.  So now I am in the mood to scrapbook.   This morning I started going through and sorting all my pictures.  I’m going to start the scrapbook I want to make of my husband’s pictures (I know, I know, I should probably finish the ones that I have started. lol).  I love looking at pictures and going through them.  But I get bored very quickly looking through the same ones.  That is why I’m going to start a new scrapbook.  New pictures, no boredom.

When I get a  few pages made up, I’ll post some pictures.  So I’m off to getting started on the scrapbook.  See ya!

Since Saturday we have been having some pretty crappy weather.  It has been raining non stop so going outdoors and getting some work done out there has not been an option.  So I have decided that it is a perfect time to clean out my craft closet.  My goodness I didn’t realize the amount of junk stuff that I have hoarded away.

This is just a little example of all the supplies I have on hand.  I have a closet full (sorry Daniel.  It’s my son’s closet) of fabric and yarn (and when I say full, I mean jam packed).  I have three, three drawer stands full of scrapbooking supplies, more fabric, more yarn, books, cross stitch supplies and plastic canvas supplies.  I also have three totes filled full of jewelry supplies.  And…can’t forget my sewing table full of sewing supplies (over 100 spools of thread).

So after checking out all the stash I have and realizing I can’t throw a thing away, I have decided that I really either need to get started on some serious crafting projects (to eliminate the junk stuff) or find another closet.  What do you all think??  Another closet??

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to put away the computer for the weekend and take my knitting with me when we went camping this past weekend.  Well guess what?!  No camping got done this weekend, so no knitting got done either.  We were totally rained out all weekend so we didn’t end up going.  But have no fear, I’m still going to try to test out my knitting and camping experiment the first time we are able to go.  Hopefully we will see nicer weather this coming weekend and be able to go for at least one night.  And, if this is possible, then it will be this coming weekend that I dig out the knitting and put away the computer.

And…how was your weekend??

Well this weekend I won’t be online very much.  We are planning our first camping trip of the season and where we go there is no Internet connection available.  So there is no real point in me packing my computer now is there?  But have no fear, I have decided to pack something else.  I will be taking my knitting needles and a bag of yarn on the trip.  I figure I can get quite a bit knitted after the kids have gone to bed and it’s just hubby and I sitting outdoors.  This may be the only way I get my daughter’s afghan completed.  When I’m home I’m either cleaning, on the computer or outside with the kids.  So not a whole lot of knitted has been getting done.  But if I take it with me I can get quite a bit accomplished in the evenings.

So, if I don’t talk to you soon, don’t worry it’s just that I’m not home.  But I will definitely catch up with you all the first of next week and let you all know how the camping trip as well as the knitting went.  If it works out for this trip, then I will probably take the knitting with me on other trips this summer.

One of the many projects I have on the go is right now I am in the middle of making three scrapbooks. I am trying to make one for each of the kids and then when I’m finished I will make one of my husband’s pictures as well as my own. None of these projects are completed as I seem to go in spurts with project and right now this project is not one of the things I’m focusing on right now. Maybe after I post this I will dig out my stuff? Who knows. But until I do, I thought I would share a couple of pages of my daughter’s scrapbook that I do have completed.

These two pages are quite dear to my heart as they are pictures of Kara as a baby with some people that are no longer with us. Hopefully when she gets a little older and starts looking back at all these pictures she will remember her grandparents and remember just how much she was loved. She lost both my parents, my grandfather and my husband’s mother at such a young age. She doesn’t have a lot of memories of my parents or my grandfather so I’m hoping these pictures may bring back a few memories.

I’m just learning this craft so my work is not extremely professional. It’s simple and basic. Just the way I like it. Please let me know what you all think.

A few months ago I was trying to decide what I would do with the tons and tons of little balls of yarn that I had left over from other projects. So I got this stupid brilliant idea to look on the Internet for a knitted afghan pattern that I could use to make an afghan for my daughter. At the time I thought that this was a brilliant idea. That was until I discovered how much work one of these things take. It has been about six months now and I’m still working on it. But since I have it over half done, I refuse to give up on it.

So I thought I would post a couple of pictures so you can see my progress so far. Like I said, it’s going really slowly at the moment. But eventually it will get done.

I hope you all enjoyed the view and I would really love to hear from you as to what you think about this afghan. As I stated, this particular piece is for my daughter, so it’s not for sale.

So although I do make crafts for sale, I also make crafts for pleasure.  Right now I have a lot of projects on the go and hopefully within the next couple of weeks I will have completed most of them.  I am currently working on a knitted afghan for my daughter that is three quarters of the way finished, three scrapbooks (for all the kids) and a quilt.  So before I start any new projects, I plan to finish what I have started.  I have a really bad habit of starting projects and then not completing them.  But I have made a deal with myself and if I stick to the deal, then I know I will finish these projects.

The deal I made was I will not purchase any more crafting supplies until I get all these projects completed.  I think by making myself complete these projects while knowing I can’t make any more purchases until I do, I will finish them.  I’ll let you all know how I make out and if I in fact do stick to my deal.

So as promised I have a few pieces of handcrafted jewelry already made and ready for sale. These items can be purchased separately or as a set. Both the necklace and bracelet are made with three strands of wire for extra durability.

The materials in these products include pink and white glass beads, other assorted metal and plastic beads, with gold plated joiners. The necklace measures 18″ long and bracelet is 10″ inches long.

The price for the bracelet is $15.00 and the necklace is $25.00. But, if you place an order for both the price combined price will be $35.00. The shipping costs for these products would be $5.00 to the USA and Canada.

If you would like to make a purchase of these items (only 1 in stock), just leave a comment on this post or you can contact me directly at kdarrell21@hotmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.