new blog

I have a new blog/website for all things crafty. Actually the main difference will be that the new blog will have tutorials, and most of the crafts will have to do with repurposing, responsible travel and the like. I would love for you to visit!
www.clevercoco.wordpress.com or just www.clevercoco.com (it will redirect you).
The first tutorial is on how to make a duvet cover.

The gloves are off

I got back from Costa Rica on Tuesday, left for the in-laws on Thursday and got back home Sunday. That is my excuse for not blogging or making anything until now. Tan-ta-da-duuuum... my latest and greatest...gloves
I made some last year but got bogged down with school and life so I hadn't made any since, until I got an email from a wonderful lady in Texas that bought two pairs last year for Christmas asking if I had made any this year. So I made some. I don't know how to get the color on the camera or the computer right, so maybe I won't be able to sell any of them, but I had fun making them at least. If I don't sell any you can be sure you will be getting all rejects for birthdays, barmitzvahs (what?) and just because. Good news is, everyone that reads this lives somewhere cold.

Now what?

I am not sure I will keep this blog, as you (and by you I mean the only person that visits this blog, ever. You know who you are.) may have noticed I don't update it very often-as in every 6 months. Yet Christmas '10 brought me a lot of gifts or rather really significant gifts: I finished school. For.E.Ver. And as a combination Christmas-graduation-I can never hope for another ever again present my wonderful in-laws and husband bought me a Bernina 350 sewing machine. It is amazing. I think the only thing it doesn't do is enrich uranium and give birth to babies or puppies, or at least I haven't gotten to that part in the manual. I will keep you updated.

So what now? I have run out of excuses, mostly, for not making things or getting a job. I just finished the book "The Art of Non-Conformity-set your own rules, live the life you want and change the world" by Chris Guillebeau. I know long title, but an interesting read. So now that I don't have school and I can't seem to find a job that I would enjoy that I am qualified for I figure I should be a non-conformist, at least until something else happens.

Here we go...

Summer break

Finally done with school, at least for the summer, so now I have all the time in the world...except for regular mommy duties and trying to take advantage of free air travel. Still it is part of my goals for the summer to blog more, especially about the stuff I make/fix/remake, in part to motivate me to do it. I also want to take more pictures and involve the kids. Oh and I want to figure out a way to fund trips to places like Europe and Asia and Latin America and even the US, with the kids. Any ideas?

more stuff from Chicago

thrifted stuff from Chicago

thrifted bliss...

The reddish dress is actually more of a peach color, but it is 100% silk, as is the red jumpsuit and the turquoise skirt. The maroon dress is a polyester but the print is really pretty and it is see through so one would need a slip underneath anyway.

thrifted stuff...

Dollhouse with lights and sounds $3
vintage patterns for spring/summer frolicking $3 for all 8

Couch

Pluses: it is longer than the old couch so two can relax on it with their feet up. Wider so two can snuggle together to watch a movie. The print is really retro. It is soft but not sagging. The square-ness of it makes it easier to sew a cover for it for protection and if I ever get bored with the print/colors.
Minuses: It does not have a hide a bed in its depths. I am fiercely protective of my new couch so rambunctious children get screamed at for wanting to play on or near it. Nothing looks good with our orange-brown carpet. I posted the two photos one with compensation for the orange day light and one with the daylight.

On a side note, we need to figure out something for all the tall bare walls.

Hopefully soon I will post pictures of all of the cool retro clothes I have acquired lately.

Shag rag rug

I love 99 cent days at Savers, they are awesome. For instance I purchased a king size flat sheet for 99 cents and ripped it into strips then cut those strips into 4 inches and then sewed those strips onto a rectangular piece of burlap to make a shag rag rug for the kitchen. It was a little time consuming but really not as bad as it would have been to thread the strips onto the burlap and then tie a knot as I saw in some books. I think to be able to do a larger one I would do manageable sized squares or rectangles and then sew those together. The picture of Colette is just an image from the local zoo that I touched up a bit with just the few tools that come with iphoto.

Not much...

Lilli kissing 'Wilson'. (Wilson the baby/volleyball under my shirt).
Some cuter shoes.
These are peacock feather strands with a lone small black feather wrapped together.
The day they ALL went to school.

Here are some of the things I've been working on;

growing a baby with 4 kids to distract me

making baby shoes and of course, jewelry.

I would like some inspiration but looking at stuff is always fun too- Hello Etsy!

My Zumba fitness practice is going slow but I think it will be fun soon enough.

As for the baby, I keep wondering what I could make for him....

shoes, hats, clever titled onsies? How to do it? Trying to organize my craft room better because the baby will be staying in there for the first year or so.

I wish Nicolle was here to help me decorate it and make stuff!

renovations

Here is a picture of my craft room before organizing or painting and the second picture is of the partially completed paint job with the robin's egg blue/green.
The picture of the monkey is just for fun.

Help for Haiti

I think I will probably donate some things to sell to this place, since I can't afford to buy any of the lovely things that are for sale there. Anyway check it out, I think it is an awesome way to use craft skills to help people.

gloves and prints

These are the prints that I got at zims for between 1-2 cents each, since they are closing and everything is at least 70% off, at least until Friday when they close for good. Anyway I saw this picture of a wall where they covered it with prints like these, I thought it was beautiful and a brilliant way to temporarily redecorate. I think I need to get more of the prints for it to work, especially since they don't really go together. Then I also have been making a ton of gloves, actually most of them are gone, either as presents or sold, but I have a couple of kids mittens left that I made to match an adult pair. Here Colette is helping me model. I have gotten a few more sweaters that are going to be re-purposed, and I am itching to paint, at least the white stuff, but I have been told it is too cold for it to work, I may get to a point where I just try anyway, but until then I need to find one specific project to work on. I have this unexplainable desire to sew some fun clothes but I think I should probably try to sketch all my ideas before I start ruining things. I will post some of those sketches soon. Until then keep crafting.

christmas gifts for the kids

I of course can't prove it, but I had this idea long before I saw a store bought version...A tin lunchbox with magnets that you can play with on the outside...Anyway I made this elephant one for my little pachyderm-obsessed guy. So far he really enjoys it, and I have some magnet sheets left to keep adding to the box. The one thing I need to refine is the coating. You can probably see all the scratches and areas where the paint has come off. Until I can figure out a way to make it more permanent I will just use the bare areas as an excuse to paint new scenery for the elephants to explore. In any case I think it would be fun to make all kind of themed tin boxes, mostly of things that aren't already available. All in all I had fun making it and I hope I get to make some more soon.

quiet ramblings

I have made some new gloves with leather patches on the palms, I will post pictures later. Do you ever get so many ideas and inspirations that you can't get them out and done fast enough? That is what I am dealing with right now. I have let things that I want to do/make get so far behind, not to mention housework and interacting with the babies, that I don't know where to start and I don't know how I can possibly get any one thing done...
Just before bed time today we made the melted crazy crayons from here which Colette was really really excited about. Sometimes I feel simply horrible for not doing more things with them, especially Colette, since she is getting to that age that she wants to do things. Johnathan is also attention hungry, just wanting to be played with and noticed. I need to think up activities and crafts that I can do with them so that we can all be satisfied...

moderate success!

Although I am certain it is 90% attributable to last minute shoppers looking for something inexpensive and use-able, I have sold 4 pairs of gloves on etsy! This is by far the most success I have had, even though technically I have sold more buttons I usually lost money with those so the gloves are a HUGE step up. I am pretty sure that as soon as the holidays shopping is over I won't sell anything I am elated that three people have liked my stuff enough to shell out $17.50 for each pair! It almost makes me wonder what I could have done if I had put more effort in to it all. I will be crafting pretty much full time after my finals so check back for pics of the crazy things I come up with then...

pictures of gloves

These have been so much fun to make, especially since they are exceptionally useful. And I sold my first pair on etsy! So exciting for me! I can't even being to tell you how hard it is to not completely blow off school at this point and just make stuff until my back hurts and I get blisters on my hands...I was talking to Susan and we discovered that we both have the habit of having a hard time falling asleep because we are thinking about making stuff or decorating and what not. So it is official, I am a craft nerd. Seriously, Wednesday afternoon can not come soon enough..except that I need to study and write book reports and so on...

Days 2 and 3 of craft-a-day month

So I will have to add pictures later but for now let me just say I made mittens into fingered gloves and added the buttons and I also made some super sweet hats (I have to admit I got the main pattern from marthastewart.com, a place I have frequented lately for ideas)
Next big project that I really hope will work out...a shaggy recycled rag rug (say that three times fast!) I had been racking my overworked brain trying to figure out how to make this and a visit to etsy helped it all come it to focus..I will post pictures of how they turn out. I want to make a big one for the living room, and a couple of smaller ones for the kids room, my room and the kitchen.
I also still need to figure out how I am realistically going to decorate the apartment for Christmas. Especially when I am making so many gifts and things to attempt to sell...oh and finals, blah..