Sequins and Self Discovery

So I have a whole bunch of these star shaped sequins.
What can I do with them?
I even google searched it and only found a craft project to make a sequin necklace.
I could just string them up, and use it as trim on my altered projects. Perhaps.
What else? I'm making some new items for the shop also! Some cool altered journals for you to write in.
Some new stamps.
I'm opening a new shop just for my knitwear and accessories. It's called Sweet Buddha Knits. I'm currently working on the logo and stuff, and I'll be launching the site tonite. That will be your source for knit and crochet wear, and hand made accessories.
I'm keeping Sweet Buddha Designs for my paper endeavors.
What else?
I've been thinking also lately, about bad moods. I feel like sometime we just let little things in our life control our emotions.
Living in the city is tough, anyone can tell you that. You're surrounded by people all the time, and yet, you are the most alone when you live here. This may be for various reasons, but that's not what I'm thinking about.
Living with the hustle and bustle is tough. Everyone scurries to and fro, always expecting something from you. It's hard to not let this life get to you.
This is why I continue to realize how important it is to surround yourself with positive people, people who will encourage you and uplift you. It's hard for me to be that way sometimes, but I turn to those who love me, those who are there for me when I need them. Those are the people that matter. Those are the ones that you keep in your life. I for one, do not need instability in my life. Being a saggitarius, I have quite enough of that already in me. So I want to surround myself with a constant realness. A constant truth. What is truth in my life? No one can answer that but me.
The truth in my life is my family-my husband, my daughter, and the few select friends who take out the time to return my calls and emails.
This is truth.
The best way to combat this sometimes dark and dreary city, is to realize the truth in your life. The good things you have. Gratefulness and an attitude of grattitude works wonders.
I have so much to be grateful for, don't you?

Transformation

In attempts to win a contest at Modcloth, I'm writing today about my biggest transformation.
I wasn't always the positive, spiritual person I am today. A lot of trials and tribulations where handed to me in my life to get me to the point I am at today.
I never thought that I would be sitting here, writing about how I've changed, or looking at a picture of my husband and daughter. I used to be a faithless person with no drive and lots of dreams.
I never realized that you have to work for what you want. Life is hard, things are tough, and you go through things that you'd probably never want to, or that you'd not wish on an enemy. But these dark moments in life can empower you and strengthen you, if you choose it to.
So what magical moment occurred in my life to make me the way I am now?
I became a wife and a mother. Now, I'm not saying that my husband is this hero that saved me. I did it myself. I worked at my own transformation. But it was his love and support and it was my art and my creativity that brought me to the path of transformation and healing.
My biggest transformation was when I looked in the mirror and loved who I saw. It was when I became who I wanted to be.
Art truly heals.

June Cleaver and Lousy Moods

I've been in a lousy mood lately. The changing of the moon phases seem to affect me quite a bit, and I end up on the receiving end of a lot of emotional drama.
I decided that today was the day when I would renounce all that, dammit! I'm not perfect, and I'm not June Cleaver. I never claimed to be. I'm just a regular person.
I decided to practice my spiritual faith, and then go out into the world. Nature has such an amazing effect on a person's mood. I went to the gardens, and made some new friends while I was there.
I loved it. I came home, and read an article that really made me think. I started to think about how we can be toxic to our own self. I was my own toxic person!
My concluding thought? I wish I had some wise words to share, but truly the best advice I can give you is this: detach yourself from those bad vibes, man. Just get into your art, and appreciate the world around you. I'm not asking you to be June Cleaver, because lord knows we don't need that.
I went to my craft table and started a new project. My etsy shop is going to be going through some major changes this week, and it involves my long forgotten love of mixed media altered art. Plus I'm writing a book. So I worked on that. Very productive! I decided not to feel sorry for myself and instead look ahead and work ahead!



Now I'm smiling from ear to ear. For reals yo.

Owlishly Crafty

This week's tutorial round up was inspired by my love of owls and owl objects. I love owls! Owls are cute, and in shaman spirit medicine represent wisdom and clairvoyance (among other things). Owls have great intuition and follow their instincts, and never doubt themselves. Owls are carnivores, which means that they can put up a good fight, if necessary. That's why I love owls. I try to surround myself with them as much as I can.
Here's some fun owl crafts for you!


So cute!



It's a scarflette! Adorable! You could easily crochet the edges too, if you wanted to. You could probably make it as a headband also. Nice!
The next one makes me want to dust of my broken sewing machine! I WANT it! Who's going to make this one for me, hm? Anyone?



I want it. Now.

Another love of mine. How cute!


This one is so cute! I myself am a card maker, so I had to throw in a card tutorial or two. I love this one! You can recycle old CDs with it!



I also love how this person's blog banner is handmade by paper! How cool is that!

This next one is so cool! It's a little book!

Cute, cute!

And if you are lacking inspiration, mosey over to Createforless or Etsy to check out their selection of owl themed craft supplies!
My personal favorite was this item from Etsy seller Nakpunar. I love this.

The Importance of a good friend

I see this video and I think about how important it is to have a good friend. As a mom, and artist, and a wife, I often have so much going on, that I end up in "hibernation" as it were. Living in the city, it can be easy to just put yourself in a rut. We get so involved in our families.
I think about the book "Crafternoon" by Maura Madden. What a great book, illustrating the importance in a good craft community. It's empowering and inspirational and motivating when I get together with my knitting friends at the Park Slope Knitting Circle, or when I meet up with my friends, or with my meetup group.
A meeting with a friend today gave me an idea for which direction I want my art to go in. How empowering and inspiring it can be to get together with crafty friends! For this reason, countless craft groups have been formed!
So surround yourself with positive creative people! Don't get stuck in the everydayness of life. Get out there, and get crafty with others. You won't be sorry.

Flea Markets & Yard Sales

It's summertime. You know what that means, don't you? It's flea market time! I personally looooove flea markets and yard sales. I do call myself the Craftaholic because I love crafts, but I love love love yard sales and flea markets! Why, you ask?

Well first of all, flea markets and yard sales are the best place to stock up on art and craft supplies!

Weather you do mosaic tile art, altered books, jewelry, sewing, knitting, or even paper crafting...all these things can be fed at flea markets and yard sales. Take for example Jennifer Perkins, of "The Naughty Secretary Club". She built her empire on her love of vintage.

So I thought I would give you some ideas on what you can find at a yard sale or flea market, to use for making art or décor for your home.

The first and most obvious to me, would be picture frames. Picture frames are great. The more gaudy the better. Buy a can of spray paint in your favorite colors. I suggest the obvious, which is to keep it in theme with your home. The best colors are pastels pink, blue, and also red and yellow. You can even decide to go a little further, and cover your frame with glitter, jewels, or decorative paper. You can use decoupage and collage some newspaper onto your new found frame.

Even big art frames are fun. You can use them simply as is if you want. My husband has one in our home with a mandolin inside, so it looks like the mandolin is in a frame.

The next thing is clothing. If you are a sewer, you can keep your eye out for clothing with great design patterns. A dress that may not fit you, may make a fabulous dress! A shirt that may not fit you, could be altered so that it may! There are sites like craftster.org or Burdastyle, where you can look up altered clothing, and get inspiration. You can also use the clothing you find to cut up into fat quarters for quilting! You can make waldorf dolls too.

So what do you do if you don't sew? You can still use fabric! If you're a knitter, you can cut up the fabric to use as yarn for knitting or crochet!

Also, keep your eye out for frilly lace. Lace has endless uses! From cards and paper items, to sewing, there are a ton of things you can do with lace. You could find a dress with lace trim, that you can cut and use for your next project!

Then, there are books. You can of course read a book. You can also make an altered book, which is a kind of journal keeping that incorporates art. Altered books are amazing and fun! You can find out about this on craftster.org as well.

You can also get old children's books and use the artwork in your collage work. You could get some fun paper punches, and punch out shapes from sheets in a book.

Vintage music sheets have endless uses as well. This is a fun item to use in various paper crafts, especially collage work.

There are so many things you can do with vintage and flea market finds! I hope this inspires you to get out there and really look!

Butterflies

So instead of cupcakes, I am this time in the mood for butterflies. I love butterflies!
So I thought it'd be nice to feature some butterfly crafts.
Butterflies are symbols of growth and change for the better. It's something that reminds you that although times are hard, there will be a time when you can spread your wings and fly-like a beautiful butterfly.
So the first tutorial was this beautiful mobile!
How cute is this, really?

Here's a link to the tutorial Part 1 and Part 2.
I love this mobile alot. It's nice because it doesn't just have to be for your child, you can totally make this for yourself. Of course, for a child, you could attach little jingle bells at the end, to add a little extra something for your little one.

Of course, you could make this beautiful mobile with a butterfly punch, courtesy of Martha Stewart, whom I love.

I love this little butterfly! How cute! It's a clothespin! What a fun project.

Then I found this oh so cute tutorial for a butterfly shaped cookie! It looks so amazing, I wouldn't want to eat it afterward! I'd just want to sit there, and admire my handiwork.

And how cute is this little beaded butterfly. You can use him to make all sorts of fun jewelry pieces!

And of course, I saved the best for last. How beautiful is this? It's a napkin ring! Beautiful! I am amazed! Wow. The artist who created this is Jerri Jimenez, and if you visit her blog, she has lots more fun projects that are mostly centered on her love of rubber stamping.
Hope you like my little weekly round up of tutorials! I had fun putting it together with you!

Purpose

What is our purpose in life? I've been thinking about this recently, after mourning the death of Mr. Michael Jackson. I was quite the fan.
Often we sit like a child in front of the massive ocean, just wondering what it is we are supposed to do with ourselves in life. It's hard to come to one conclusion sometimes.
We should take example from someone like Micheal Jackson, or Frida Kahlo, and think about what it is that we are to do in life. They did what came naturally to them. What comes naturally to you? Is it art? Think about what comes naturally to you. It may just be being a mother. Or a crafter. Or it could be a teacher.

Don't be afraid to get your feet wet, and truly discover yourself.
It takes a while, but while you knit, crochet, make cards and scrapbooks or sew, think about it. Create your legacy within your community and your world.
Soon you'll find yourself smiling in the sun.

Wish Box

Here's a wish box I recently made for a swap that I'm in. I took a box and covered it with some pretty handmade paper, and decorated it with sticky ribbon, and flocked the word Wish on it.
Also filled it with a few goodies.
So much fun!
A wish box is something fun to make for yourself or a friend. The idea is, that you take a box and make it a representation of yourself and your desires. Decorate it however you wish, and then fill it with things that represent what you want to attract to yourself.
Obviously, you can put a dollar bill in there. Or you can put an owl figure, to represent wisdom. If you want to buy a house, you can put a little monopoly house. A white tea candle can represent peace. Just fill it with what you want. Make it your box. Add a fortune from a fortune cookie. Add a picture of you and your loved one when you were happiest. A figure of a baby, if you're trying to have a baby. Then put the box in a special place. I put mine in the window sill, next to my saint Barbara and Saint Jude.
Every few months or so, clean out your box. You can keep a scrapbook, and scrap the things that you remove from your box.
Things change and desires change, so it's good to go through your box every couple months or so.
This is a fun crafty project that you can do, that incorporates healing and the law of attraction.

Recycled

I get so excited for recycled crafts. I love them of course, because it's so cheap. Plus it's good for the environment, which is always a plus.
I love this candy wrapper bracelet!
What a fun tutorial!

And of course, there is a tutorial on making your own candy wrapper purses! This gets me so giddy! There are whole businesses dedicated to making and selling these bags. So make your own!

And of course, I love love love this purse! What a fun idea, and a great way to recycle your soda cans! What a cool idea.




Oh my goodness, how cute is this? It's a bag made from a cassette tape! That is awesome! You can go to the thrift store and purchase those old kid's tapes! Awesome!


And this is really cool. How awesome would it be to make a purse like this?



I hope these tutorials inspire you to create something lovely and eco friendly!