Crafting Geek Speak

I'm going to join over at Ginny's Yarn Along ... not because I've been doing anything crafty or been doing any reading, but because everyone needs some humor and when it comes in the form of crafting humor, everyone here should enjoy...


I'm not sure if I should be proud or scared that I've helped create such a crafting geek.

To set the stage, my 9-year-old, K, LOVES crafts, especially fiber crafts.  For the past 3 years, for every birthday and Christmas, all she requests is CRAFTS!!!!

This morning, my husband and I were talking about how his request for time off in December started a chain at work of people requesting the same days off.

Out of the blue, K says, "So, Daddy was a slip stitch."

I sat there and stared at her, shook my head to clear it, and asked her, "What?"

I'm ashamed to say that my husband got the obscure reference before I did.  I had to have him explain it to me.

"Slip stitch?"

"Yep, you know a slip stitch starts a chain in crochet, so Daddy was the slip stitch in the chain at work."

Gaahhhh - I've created a monster, but at least she's a crafting monster - I like that one, it's the 9-year-old pain in the butt monster that I don't like.

She Took It ALL!

I'm still amazed that The Art Garage wanted my projects for their holiday show. Hmmmmm

I took in some of my stuff yesterday to Ann, for her to review and decide on.  Wouldn't you know that she took ALL of it for the holiday show.  I took in two mushroom houses, two felted mats - bumblebee fields and the ladybug racetrack.  I also took in 4 whimsys of gnomes, 6 pirate maps with pirate gnomes and sea monsters (formerly dragons), and 4 each of my puppets.  Quite the honor, now I just hope they sell.  And now I have to get back to making more stuff for my craft show next week.

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See the pet snail and the dragonfly - gnome mailmen hate dragonflies.

How about the flower petal path to this house?

A gnome whimsy.

Bumblebee fields

Ladybug racetrack.

The back of the pirate jacket

Knight puppet - or if you flip his visor down, he's a football player

Fairy puppet

Princess Puppet

Santa and Reindeer puppets

ACCCKK!!!!! It's a Great Honor!

Gee, that came out of the blue!

I've been busy cutting, sewing, and new idea-ing for my craft show on the 30th and to put things (finally) into my Etsy shop.

You know the route, plugging away, because I have a deadline, but going with the what-I-get-done attitude.  That is, until I get a phone call from a lovely lady who volunteers at The Art Garage .  Ann had noticed what I call crafts last year at craft show - see, craft.  And I displayed some of my gnome houses, whimsys of gnomes (def: family of gnomes), and some needle-felted play mats for their Christmas showing and sale last year. 

Well, I had been getting the emails as part of her mass emails about this year's Christmas show and sale.  No one has been buying my houses and I haven't made any new mats.  I've been crafting.  I've been making my puppet kits and pirate maps.  So, I ignored her emails. 

Then, Ann called me yesterday, which is technically the day after things were to be taken in.  She told me that she was checking to make sure I was okay and if I had been getting her emails. 

Well, yeah, I was getting them, but I'm not an artist.  How did this stuff apply to me?  None of my things had been juried for this year's show.  She DIDN'T care!  She wanted my stuff for this year's show, because she liked what I did last year, that I had an "artist's eye" (still working on figuring out what that means!), and she LOVED the sound of my puppet kits.

So, I'm back in this year's show - sight unseen!  Which translates into - AAAAACCCCCCKKKKKK!  (Meaning, ugh, I've been busting my butt to get ready not only for the craft show, but also for this show.)  She extended the deadline for me, and I have to have everything in for Tuesday.

So, the table is full of felt in various stages of something.  From full sheets, to cut up sheets, to sewn parts, to bits and bobs, and now the sewing machine.  Plus, I have to fill out the exhibitor paperwork, the sales tags, print more puppet inserts, cut out the bag tags, print more business cards, and figure out how to fill out a bio sheet.

This was my 10 minutes of brain-clearing, back to the sewing machine, the scissors, and the glue.

I Want My House Back

If you know me, you realize that I am a lazylaid-back housekeeper.  On any given day, I have 3 to 6 children in this house ranging in age from 2 to 8.  This group of children is enough to mess up complicate any cleaning scheme.  In fact, my husband and I have always been pretty good at "The Flight of the Bumblebee" emergency cleaning when people are coming over.

So, for me to admit that I need to be able to see my cupboards and that my living room needs to get about 3 feet bigger on every side is actually a huge accomplishment.

My husband made huge strides towards us being able to gain room, make that REgain room.  He put the flooring down in the newly remodeled guest room/craft room.  He still needs to do the closet, but we can actually put the bed back in there, so I can get back on the front porch.

Then, we will be able to move the extra craft supplies that I purchased at an estate sale, that are currently inhabiting the new game closet, will be able to at least go into the craft room in a stack, so I can list them on Ebay.  Then,, we can finish the games closet by painting and putting the shelves.  This will allow us to move the MOUNTAIN of board games from the front porch to their home in the game closet.

By clearing off the front porch, I can guarantee that I will have a home for the hundreds of cookies that will be decorated during our annual cookie decorating party, which is ONLY 5 weeks away from today!  Gaaaaacccckkkkk!

This knowledge that the cookie party is coming up sooner than I thought it was, is probably the reason that I NEED a clean house.

Another thing that has to happen is for my canning things to be finally put away.  After I finish another couple of batches of apple, cranberry, cherry relish tomorrow, I think I will finally be done and can put away the steam canner. 

The craft room/guest room will also have to have a shelf for food storage, because I have never canned so much food as this year, and every place that I have ever used is currently stuffed to the brim with home canned goods.  I need another shelf.  Then, the "extra" table that we set up in, oh, August, will finally be able to be moved into the craft room.  The crafting stuff currently residing under the "extra" table will be able to find their home in the craft room. 

Then, as a final step, at least for finding my home again, the other crafting stuff hiding upstairs will be able to go into the craft room and the toys will be able to move from the living room to the upstairs hiding area.

I'm going to gain at least 80 square feet of living space between the kitchen and the living room.  My house is going to feel huge.

I can't wait.