Crazy Thrift Shopping...

I am fortunate enough to have children who like thrift store shopping with me. You never know what cheap treasures you'll find...A perfect relaxing day off for me is taking my time shuffling through the knickknack shelves. More recently though, I'm in search for fun colorful bed sheets (Project coming soon) & old cable knit sweaters (revamping into throw pillows)....
The kiddos and I had a crazy day of thrift store shopping just recently. This was prompted by Sam's spirit day at school "Crazy/ Ugly Holiday Sweater Day".
Although we didn't find anything aside from a $20 cardigan at a nearby Goodwill, we did find a couple laughs along the way.

Evil Demon Squirrel needlework

Is it a bear? Is it a moose? you tell me.

Sammie ended up buying a crazed snowflake turtle neck that she's wearing with a crazy green Christmas tie.
(pic coming soon)

We're gonna make her a sweater when the Christmas crazy dies down & the tacky appliques are on clearance.
I'll let you know how that goes..

shen

garland fetish?!?!

Ever since my hubs FINALLY put up my huge mirror in the dining room, I've been obsessed with decorating it with whatever holiday season it happens to be.

Although I have plans for a few more garlands to hang about this holiday season, here is one I finished...

The garland of snowy evergreens & pine cones I bought at Michael's on sale for $6.99 (Regular price $12.99). I bought two so that it would be long enough to go across the mirror...

Then I bought a couple cheapy sprigs of berries (also on sale for 69¢).

With Anthony's help we dismantled them on a cold evening...

When I asked him to help me do this, there was no hesitation.

When pulling the berries apart, I had to be gentle & make sure we didn't rip the wire out from the berry. We only had one casualty which could easily be fixed with a lil bit of glue & popped back on, but Anthony wanted to play with it...so he kept it.

We then grouped them in couples & threesomes, and kept some singles & placed them randomly throughout the garland.

Yes, yes... I realize pine cones and berries don't grow together in nature, but you know what, they do in my fantasy world!

And here we go!

I used white on white wire LED lights in the back for that nice glow at night.

Happy Holiday Decorating!

Christmas is gonna barf all over the house this up coming week!

shen

Doing things differently...

Inspired by A.steed's life's blog Dated Design Wall Art (pictured above), where she goes into a photoshop tutorial to get your numbers to the correct size to fit your frame..(Don't worry if you aren't into playing around with photoshop, she has a few versions available on zazzle. Just check out her links!)...   I set out to make our own version.

I debated whether or not I should put Sam's B-day before or after, consulted with the BFF Linda, and with her convincing, and calling it a "modern timeline" I went forward...
After all, we all do things differently...
Armed with a ruler, measured my frame, determined what size numbers I needed, and  used my cricut to cut out the numbers & a nice linen fabric for my background. My pink little hearts were paper punched from a paint chip.
  

I think it was good use of an empty large frame. I'm still a little weary about having my age out there, but eh... I'll get over it.

shen

Quick Halloween floral arrangement tutorial!

You can use this tutorial for any holiday flower arrangement, but I was inspired by a ready made one at Michael's. I liked it so much that I actually was considering buying it for their price... $49.99... Oh boy that would have been buyer's remorse BIG TIME! So after pushing it around in the cart & carefully inspecting it, I figured out what I needed to make my own.

A craft pumpkin in your color choice... scalped.

I usually am very anal about perfect straight cuts, etc, but I was pressed for time. So I used a butter knife stabbed it around as much as I could, then ripped the rest of it off.

You won't see the edge after all the flowers are in it.

A stereofoam ball big enough to fit into your pumpkin.

I found this to be very light & if you have a top heavy floral arrangement, well, you're gonna need more weight in the base. So I suggest getting rocks or sand, putting that at the bottom, and then squeezing your ball or putting a half ball into your base...

Again, I was so pressed for time, so I just popped this sucker in there & went on sticking my floral pieces in there. I'll probably undo it & weigh it down next Halloween, but for now it's staying packed in the containers in the garage AS IS.

Now for the part I didn't show you... I did this a few weeks before the actual arrangement making. Got a few dollar store floral sprigs (your choice) & spray painted them black. It doesn't have to be completely coated. It actually gives them a neat look when some of the color still shows through the black...

In this photo you can see, some of the orange parts I missed.

 All I did was spread out the sprigs as much as possible, put them out on my very abused dropped cloth & sprayed away. Flipped it over and sprayed some more.

 I use to be very shy when it came to spray painting things... Now, not so much! Let me at it!!! :::evil grin:::

 

 

I did buy a few "pricier" pieces for my arrangement though. These were found in the christmas holiday section of my craft store. They were fun and glittery & acted as "focal points" to my otherwise black arangement.

And ta-dah!

 I have a nice halloween foral arrangement.
This project cost me about $13.

Instead of the crazy price they were asking at the craft store. I am going to revamp it a little more next year. Maybe add a spider or two, some purple.. But there you have it.

I wrapped some cute glittery fabric around the pumpkin & put in on the coffee table & called it a day! :)

Let me know if you have any questions!

I'm thinking of making one for Thanksgiving, possibly going for the rustic w/ vintage lace vibe.
 In any case, I'll let you know!

Thanks for stopping by!

shen

Halloween tour VIDEO!

I decided to make a video/ slideshow tour of all Halloween things around the house instead of the same ho-hum entry with picture after picture. I'm starting to finally work on new projects, both personal projects for home, and for the etsy shop. I'm scheduled to reopen the shop by this coming Sunday November 20th, but I'm not too sure yet. I'm kind of liking taking it easy.

I'm definitely enjoying being home, crafting, cooking, cleaning and resting when I need to. I've been able to just focus on family & household things and it's really really nice.

The capelet was definitely fun to make. I'm considering making more next Halloween to put up in the etsy shop. I tweaked the pattern a lil bit but I got the pattern from: http://www.fleecefun.com/red-riding-hood-cape-pattern.html

It's a easy pattern to follow.


You can use any material with this pattern. I used a really thick silk material when originally I wanted a very soft flowy satin, and only found it when I already got my fabric cut. DOH! (Tip: always take the time to look for exactly what you want or just ask.. Yes, I know I could have easily abandoned my cut fabric, but I'm not a douche!) Anyways, I'm thinking a fleece one is in order. It would be nice a cozy.
This whole red riding hood thing, now has me in search of the perfect red pea coat. I HAVE to have one!
Anyways, here's the video! I'll have a Halloween flower arrangement tutorial coming up next. So.....  ENJOY!



Demo video of Tony's mask....





shen 

Halloween!!!

October has been such a busy month. Today marks the one week countdown til my surgery. I’m nervous, but we’re preparing. The etsy shop will be “on vacation”  by the time I re-open I’ll have an action plan for the holiday rush.  I told myself I wasn’t going to decorate much because of the upcoming events but of course I didn’t listen to myself & decorated the house for Halloween. I do need to give myself credit though. I didn’t put out my Nightmare before Christmas village, I’m bummed but at the same time it would have been more work to put out & put back.  So I get points for that right???

So I just wanted to do a quick update.  It’s Halloween weekend, and with all the costume making and decorating, I didn’t blog AT ALL this month til now. I’ll be sure to make up for it, with  lots of pictures and descriptions in the next entry. I am so excited about this Halloween, because although I love Halloween, I haven’t dressed up in such a long time.  I’ve always focused on decorations. This year I have four costumes to make and only one done.  So I’m really pressed for time. Even right now as  I type this out I only have one done, and that’s only because today is Halloween dress up day for the school. We’ve got a few parties to get to over the weekend, so tonight & tomorrow is basically all I’ve got to finish the other three.

Wish me luck! Can’t wait to give you a “tour” blog-wise of the festivities of Halloween. Next year we’re throwing a party!  

shen 

Getting Legit..

So here I am. It’s already mid-September & the numerous incomplete blog entries are just sitting there waiting to be completed and posted. Oh, well…

I figured I’d have plenty of time when I’m on medical leave in November to do all the miscellaneous interwebbing task I’d like to catch up on. Read other blogs, put up some entries of my own, upload a ton of pictures on flickr… facebook…

I’ll stay busy.

So for now I’ll share what some of the main goals I’m trying to accomplish by the end of 2011. I’m going legit. Sellers permit, business license, and fictitious name papers will all be filed by hopefully October, but if it stretches out until November/December I won’t mind.

Why the push? Well, I want to be ready to sell & have a booth/ table.

I’m starting to be more confident of the items I make, and I’m ready to put myself out there a lot more. 

I recently attended (with the hubby & kiddos) the San Pedro Square Sign lighting ceremony, in beautiful downtown San Jose. We were able to do a walk- through of the whole floor plan, and I can honestly say I’m very excited about the vision the higher-ups have for this place.

If you’re interested here is their website.  http://www.sanpedrosquaremarket.com/

Well during our walk-through, I noticed a “rental table section- $20 a day” which got me very animated about the whole idea.  So excited that when I got home that night, I emailed to get more information.  So now I’m preparing…Sellers permit, I figured was the easiest, because that’s what everyone else wants you to turn in when you are doing a booth at a festival. Now I will have one of my very own.  Yay!

I also went out and got a PO Box for Girly Spazms. I figured with Christmas coming & the busy times I had last year, I’d like to mail things out from the new PO instead.  

So if anyone comes across this & feels the need to send some snail mail, send it on over.  I’d love some.

Girly Spazms P.O. Box 59661 San Jose, CA 95159

I have new business cards designed and ready to go, but I’ve placed them on hold until I get down to at least half of my other supply of the old cards.

I’ve been busy making lunch napkins & I am planning to add bento box sets to sell on my etsy shop as well as the table later.

I have my little brainstorming book that I carry around with me.  As much as I love my ipad, there is nothing like being able to write w/ good old paper and pen.

My cute little idea notebook.

 Quick update on Sam's elections. She didn't win, but to reward her for her bravery, we went out for some awesome udon & sushi dinner. We had a great time & over-all I think she's coping well with not wining. 

Now the kiddos (+ her bff) are asking for Halloween costumes & I'm slowly designing them.

Oh! Halloween is coming! My favorite! 

I also started commissioning Sammie (aka meowstachio) to start doing my graphic work on photoshop since she's such a whiz kid at it.

So that's it... 

I made another entry! yay me!!!

shen 

Learn to laugh at yourself..

Sometimes you just have to learn to totally laugh at yourself.

So with the kiddos back in school.(I still can't believe I have kids in high school and junior high) we're back to making lunches, (happy that my kiddos love bringing lunches to school) I had this wonderful idea of making cute little cotton napkins for their lunches. Reusable, washable, and did I mention CUTE! oh yes, I did... 

Well, I've made quite a few. Some for the kiddos (if you haven't noticed by now, I am keen on the word "KIDDO"), some for the etsy shop. Quite excited with my stack of cute little napkins, I decide to do a search today on etsy, and the number of hits sent my head spinning. Yes, I know, I know... Napkins isn't exactly an innovative idea, but I just thought this was an awesome idea. Turns out I'm not as genius as I thought.  It's okay though, the practice was good for my sewing skills, and now I'm on a search to find the perfect fabric to make into our dining napkins. So what can you do... Just laugh. I'm still going to put up my little sets in my shop. Why not right? I mean it's something else to add to my endless growing number to the shop.

In etsy shop news, I can't believe it's already September. One more month, and October will be a full year since I opened my shop. I'm excited!

Latest & greatest: Sam is running for Freshman VP, so she put her crafty mama to work & this is the results of that. Elections are today & she finds out next week...

380 mustaches to hand out

handcut

holes punched & turned into necklaces to handout

Silkscreened Sam's shirt for election day

 After I had been cutting out about a hundred, the hubby comes in & cuts 2 & says "out of all the machines you have, none of them can cut this?" So now I'm looking into either the "sure cuts a lot" program or cricut software as a gift for myself in the near future...

Again you just laugh...

It's finally the weekend! Happy Labor Day everyone! 

shen 

Scrapbook Expo- My First time

I've got a few blog entries saved that should have been posted over the course of the summer. Did that happen? Nope. So I figured I'd be able to get this one done quickly.

So I'm sitting in my craft room on my last day of my four day weekend, the kiddos are still at school. It's their first day, and to keep me busy I've got a long To-do list to keep me distracted.
So far so good, because when I sit to really think about it my stomach starts to hurt. It's a new school for both of them, oh well I'll find out in a few hours how it went.

To start off my first day of my four day weekend, I went to my first scrapbook expo held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. My co-worker (who has become what I consider a really good friend) took me. She has gone consecutively for 5-6 years now, and lemme tell you. I had so much fun.

So much to see, so much excitement. I even won a door prize of $10 to one of the booths at the expo.

Alright, here's my confession. I do not scrapbook. Yes, I shall repeat. I DO NOT SCRAPBOOK!

At least not yet. I just looked through the papers I have and whoa...baby. I need to stop getting some for a bit. I use the patterned paper as backdrops in my etsy shop photos. I just have a lot more than I need.

 I came out of the expo with a few cute sheets of patterned paper, some stamps, stickers, and a huge regret of not buying a pillow box die cut from a particular booth. But it's fine, I was able to look up the expo map layout & flip through the few business cards I took & ordered what I wanted online. So it'll be on it's way. Next year... My motto "JUST GET IT!"

Along with a nice lunch, and great company, I totally had a good time, and can't wait to go again next year. 

A blurry iphone pic of just some of the things I came home with.  From Left to right. 1. cute birthday clear stamp set, 2-3-4 things I found at the booth I won a gift certificate from.

.

 Yay! I finally was able to finish an entry!

shen 

A tid bit of my crafting history.

I love that my daughter & I are connecting in so many different levels as she gets older & older. I shared this story with her on a quiet afternoon after school while I prepared dinner & the kids finished up their homework. I thought it would be a nice story to share on here too, since it’s been a while.

 Although I opened my etsy shop just 6 months ago & started bringing in some cash for my crafty creations, I actually started way back in high school.  I had a jewelry making class during my senior year. (So although my crafts are all over the place, it all actually started with jewelry, and although I rarely do jewelry pieces now, it's always nice when I am able to put something together.) 
I was allowed to take a few more electives because I had met the requirements to graduate already thanks to the private school I had transferred from.  I was excited because I had always been interested but never had the chance to get my hand on jewelry making. When I was younger, my mom considered all my craft things “junk” so it was really hard to do things, I mainly stuck to drawing & sketching. It was the easiest to hide & avoid criticism from my mom.

Anyways, this class was so much fun! I made jewelry, and got A+++ on projects from my teacher who was so encouraging &  supportive. I’m ashamed to admit it but I can’t remember the name of my art teacher, yet it has been a while so I shouldn't. I started with a B... can I get some points for that at least? ;)
All I remember is that she was a small petite blonde lady, maybe in her mid-30s, who was completely insane about George Clooney. She put together an art show for an upcoming open house that year & asked me to sell my pieces. They all sold that night! AND it was enough to pay for my equipment fee for the class (I think it was about $25) & go towards buying more materials for me.  I was ecstatic that people actually bought my earrings, and necklaces that I had designed. ME!?! A measly little high school senior.

So I started buying my own materials.  See, the reason why I had transferred from private school was because there was a change in household, and I was now living with my dad for a brief time until I eventually rented a room a little later with Tony (my boyfriend back then, my husband now), so I was able to start my little supply of materials without someone coming in & throwing everything out or ransacking my room. I started making more and more jewelry, and started selling at school. I had price tags on each piece, and took cash. I sold out of my backpack during break & lunch. On occasion I would sell in class because the teacher was very lenient & allowed me to. There was even a teacher who asked for custom made pieces.  It was a lot of fun. It made some extra lunch money, and it kept me busy.

Sam smiled as I told her this.  I’m guessing she likes hearing the history of my crafting since she has only seen the recent. I hope you enjoyed this little story as well. 
Quick update on the etsy-business... 

I recently installed the Square app on my phone, and was sent a credit card reader that attaches to the jack of my phone. This will allow me to accept credit cards when I finally set up a booth at a art show/ festival. I also plan to use it at the Pride Parade this year, as I sell some cute rainbow flowers out of my backpack.  Ironically enough, just like high school.
I am also planning on opening a booth at local farmers markets & festivals soon. I'll keep you updated, as for now I'm building up inventory. I have multiple projects going on everyday. The studio is a disaster, and on top of it I'm still filling orders on etsy. 
Life is good. Busy, but good. And the weather has been amazing. I'm hoping it stays like this now. Love the hot sunny weather. Can't get enough of it.

shen 

Upcycled VHS drawers...

A few weeks ago, I posted on freecycle (an online community of people who freecycle- a beautiful think BTW) that I was interested in VHS drawers. VHS?!? You know the old  movie tapes from the 80s &90s.Before CD, DVDS, and blueray!!! Well I was able to track one down & although I want more here is what I did with it. I am quite happy with the results, and I look forward to upcycling more. What do you think?

For a better look click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shen_nanigans/5572950918/

shen 

Music Moment...

If you know me, you know I'm picky when it comes to chick singers...
Here's a good one, I'd like to share....

The Joy Formidable- Whirring 

This much delight

Fills columns to new heights

All these things about me you never can tell

Colors burn bright

They burn pictures so bright

All these things about me you never can tell

Make me sleep so badly

Turn the dial on my words

I can feel them fall short

Turn the dial try my love, try my love

Wash these hands

Turn the dial on my words

Love can't stay here

These steps shadow

Life's will gone shallow

All these things about me you never can tell

Make me sleep so badly visible friend (X2)

Turn the dial on my words

I can feel them fall short

Turn the dial shine the light, shine the light

Watch these hands move apart

Turn the dial on my words

Love can't stay here

shen 

champagne & sorbet....

If you've never had some, you are sooooo missing out.

Even with the cheapest champagne & the bucket of sorbet, you have an instant party guaranteed....And with that said, today I'm feel pretty social, and would like to plan a little get-together/ party sometime soon.....

LONG WEEKEND ALERT!!!!

Is it bad that I’m looking forward to getting home & cleaning the house??? I love cleaning. I love cleaning so much that sometimes I take pictures after I've cleaned like a crazy mad woman. You don't believe me? I have pics of the fridge after I've bleach cleaned that sucker.. I DO! 

Anyways, on to the weekend.

TO-DO-LIST for Presidents weekend:

Thursday afternoon:

·         ~Clean up the house

·         ~Try out the gocco print

As much as it pains me, and linda has given me her blessings to try it out & make sure it all works, I feel guilty, but I think it is really necessary to try it out.

·         ~Prepare screen for 2^nd gen sriracha shirt

Let’s hope that this one will work out & I’ve got my new screen.

·         ~Make new pincushion.

That stupid tomato is looking pretty scraggly,  so possibly a cupcake pincushion. Not sure yet.

·         ~Cut out sam’s mustache pillow & pin

·         ~Play with paper punches

Friday:

·         ~Gym & shower

·         ~Get lisa & hit up Beverly’s

She’s buying felt. I forgot what I was suppose to look at aside from EVERYTHING… maybe we can hit up RAFT too!

·         ~Then spending most of the day hitting up thrift shops. Savers, GoodWill, Salvation Army, look out!

I’m actually looking for some glass containers, hoping to make more terrariums, since my previous terrarium projects have been doing well.

·         ~Depending on the outcome of yesterday’s screen, make some shirts

·         ~Design some gocco prints, and possibly a girly spazms shirt

·         ~Make some bike flowers & possibly some felt flowers (post on etsy)

Saturday:

·         Linda & I are having a gocco playdate!

She’s bringing champagne & sorbet. I’m thinking it is to celebrate the gocco awesomeness.

Sunday:

·         ~More crafting. Projects TBD

·         ~BOILING CRAB with the homies! Yay!!!!

Monday:

(depends on weather) if it’s raining, we’re probably staying home & I can do more crafts but if it’s nice & sunny. We’ll be out & about having some fun times with the kiddos.

Hope you all have a wonderful Presidents weekend! 

Have a great time with your lovies! I know I will. 

shen  

OCD: Obsessive Crafting Disorder

In all honesty, WTH is wrong with me? I find something I like & that's it. Head over heels I fall in love, and it becomes my obsession for however long. It can be months, it can be a few weeks, heck it can be a couple hours.
But I can never just like something, I go literally crazy like a drug addict.
Take for example just these passed couple months into the new year.. I have become over obsessed with the following:

1. paper punches- after years of avoiding these scrapbooking-type things I bought one heart paper punch, and suddenly within weeks I now have a collection. I've visited every craft store, looked online for hours on end, and gotten most of the paper punches I wanted. There is a pattern though. I love hearts, and so so far the majority has been heart-type ones. 

   

   the start of an addiction

2. gocco- if you aren't familiar with the Japanese screen printing system, well, you should be. I learned about this several months ago when an old h-school friend of the hubby, Jose, left a comment on my yudu pics on  Facebook, and mentioned he was interested in the yudu, but has a gocco.  Well, I did some research on it, and didn't touch the idea again, since I had my yudu, but for some reason the BFF, Linda brought up silk screening on paper & well... That sparked the interest again, and one thing led to another, the youtube videos sucked me and I BAM! endless searching for projects other people have done, finding supplies, etc etc.  Apparently Riso (the company that makes the printing system has discontinued this item, but there is a cult following online. This is a great site to go to for more info:  http://www.savegocco.com/what-is-gocco/ Of course, Linda & I are researching on how to "hack" the gocco.  Needless to say, Linda bought one & we were to share custody, and even planned a playdate, which I am very excited about. But to my surprise the hubby bought one for me as an early Valentine/Anniversary gift.  So now, the search for all things gocco continues. Just type in "gocco" in the search field on flickr, and you'll get a ton of images to comb through. I'm sure I'll blog about my gocco experiences at some point. 



stickers!!!!

3. stickers- I always loved stickers since I was a kid. I remember at recess & lunch sitting around with the other little girls with all our sticker books, trading this for that, and yada yada. I still have my sticker collection from those days! I should take some pictures to share. Well, I started to buy stickers again. I've managed to refrain from buying any random stickers,  and just get the ones that i absolutely adore!
4. paper- i've avoided all paper craziness for as long as I started crafting. That endless  isle of decorative paper in the local craft stores was always unvisited....until recently.  I started to buy papers because it was on sale. (tell me 6 sheets for 96 cents when the papers are usually 99 cents each isn't a good deal, and I'll slap you) now, it never fails I visit the paper isle as well, and if i think it's cute, or will make a good display background, it's mine. So so bad.  

Restraining myself is definitely something I need to work on.  I often joke around that I'm going to be the crazy homeless lady with a cart load of crafting items yelling at people to get the heck away from my things.... 
What helps me and this addictive behavior? Like the fabric, I take pictures, or print pictures out if I'm searching online.  That way it's something I "have", and I won't feel the need to actually buy it.


oh man, what am I going to do with myself...  this is insane.... I'm insane... I need to go to Crafters Anonymous.  Is there such a group? oh lord, we'd probably go on a crafting binge & buy out the entire store if possible... Wouldn't that be funny?


Ending for now. 
Happy Valentine's Day! <3 & Happy 11th Wedding Anniversary to my hubby!

shen  
 



I will be trying to blog more, as it is a form of therapy for me as well.