Thursday, January 19, 2012

Happy New Year!!

I can't believe we're already 3 weeks into the new year!!  I'm so excited!  It's starting to look like this year is going to be a fantastic year!  I'm in 2 swaps already, one is the 80s cartoon swap which I'm almost done with and the other is an anime/manga swap.  You can never have to many anime goodies! :)  Not to mention, I've already got my first few crafts underway!  It's been a little on the rainy side the last week (and snow too) so I haven't been able to work on the big projects I have for myself.  I bought some furniture with the goal of up-cycling it.  I have managed to get 1 piece almost all sanded down.  It's a small side table.  It was black to start off with, but when I'm done, I'm going to find a comic book, not sure which one yet, and cut it up and glue the papers to the top of the table.  Then I will seal it all with something.  I have to do more research into that part of it.  I thought doing resin would be good because it would seal the and protect the paper.  My first thought was to get the comic where superman died, and use the big pull out with Lois Lane holding superman in her arms.  that would be awesome!!  I still may do that.  I even thought about drawing some pictures to paste to the top of it, making it a more one of a kind piece.  But I'm still thinking.  There's not much I can do with it right now anyway with the weather the way it is.  I have some other pieces that I bought that also need to be refinished, so as soon as it warms up, and I don't freeze my fingers off outside, I can start working on those things next :)

I have also gotten my first few pendants made.  I did some jars and an altoid tin as well.  I decoden'd them.  Here's the pics.
altoid tin



jar, you can't see it in this pic, but I also used brown hot glue on this to make it look like dripping chocolate


Kawaii baby food jar

used to be a toothbrush holder, is now a decoden pencil/pen holder
so you can see the pink and brown glue I used to give it a kind of chocolate/strawberry feel :)

the kawaii/lolita pendants I made

a closeup of the pink kawaii/lolita pendant
  I also made some other jewelry.  I finished my first ever piece of steampunk jewelry!  A pin.  I really like the way it turned out.  I'd like to add more to it, but I'm having a hard time finding parts, and I'm not very good with clay to make my own.













I also made some Twilight inspired cell phone straps/zipper pulls and a bookmark.
closeup, kind of an alternate version of Bella's bracelet.  With a red glass bead as a drop of blood.


And the colorful bracelet I made.  I love how bright and vibrant the colors are!  I'm not sure what the beads are, but I love them!  I also used fresh water pearls.
Hopefully this year will be the year I get a camera that will take pcitures that will do some justice to the pieces I make.  We'll see after tax season!  Plus, I'm also building up an inventory because I plan on doing my first craft fair this year.    I know it was one of my resolutions last year, but this year, I'm even closer than I was last year!  Going to get some jewelry made up, then probably some sewn toys, then some crocheted dolls.  So, my plan is to not do anymore swaps, except for the next one I plan on organizing, which is another anime/manga swap, but that will be sometime in the spring. :)  I've got my iPad, I've got my square (portable card reader) so once it gets closer to fair time, I will activate a data plan on my iPad so I can use my square! :)
Happy Crafting!!