Truly Sorry for letting you guys down.

Well back around my last post was only shortly in those manic plan making to stay afloat moments before deep collapse into some serious depression and anxiety. I tried so hard to tough it out and tried so hard to push forward and keep my spirit up and stay positive. To use the pain in my heart and my body to help me focus forward. I truly felt I was letting myself and everyone down collapsing against the promises I made..I hate to complain too much and when it gets to the point that I feel like I'm complaining way too much I just stop talking . I wasn't able to hold it together between lonliness and illness after illness ever since the kid started school. I lost my best little buddy for the better part of the day when I've had her right by my side since she was born.. I didnt know what to do with myself with all that time and nobody around driving me crazy. It was really harsh finding myself alone most of the day throughout the week when the grieving process hit me full swing. Just being so alone after being around my family I lived with for such a long time before and after Eric lost his job. Somebody was always around but back then I needed solitude and I still do but being by myself all day every day like I hadn't experienced in such a long time was rough. Especially while that pain of loss just raged on.. I felt so isolated and I furthered the process when I shut everyone out even online as well. I just stopped.. I unraveled...  I didn't know what to say. I would begin to sit at the hard uncomfortable chair and struggle to find pleasant words to say with apologies for not fulfilling promises.. Nothingness with empty sounding excuses... Type out paragraphs then delete. I'd only find further disappointment in myself  feeling like a letdown on my promises I made to myself and others.  I've had no energy or focus to be able to work on the lady rainicorn tutorial to be honest and that just really bothers me. I wanted to share that with all of you guys.. I still want to make a tutorial for her I am just on the rebound at the moment and it can take some time.. I'm going to give myself a few more months to try to aim for a rainicorn tutorial. So now I am working to push forward and reach out again as I rebuild. I'm truly hoping to make friends and branch out to not feel so alone. I need to get my anxieties in check. I want to move forward on my promises I just have to build up to it instead of trying to change everything at once while biting back the loss I feel with new changes. I know these winter months have helped pull me under more. I usually love winter and snow but I cant wait for spring and renewal for fresh rains that wash over me like calming peace, to get out and claw into the soil and plant new life to nourish our family, to breathe in the fresh scent of newly mowed grass, to hear the birds and see the flowers. I've spent too much time just so full of pain in my heart and felt so horrible with all the colds/viruses that have come and gone since late summer/early fall. I've been so stuck in this box I've sealed up. I plan to post again soon I would like to share with you some things I've made over the quiet months to show you some of what I've been up to to try to keep myself sane. Much love to you out there reading this. Again I am terribly sorry for the no show tutorial It will be coming in 2014 though. I will work on a date as I recover myself a bit more from the wreckage and start feeling better.
<3

Rainicorn necklace tutorial coming soon!!

I've decided to do a lady rainicorn necklace tutorial. I keep getting requests to make this necklace but I truly cannot keep putting my carpal tunnel to the test to make these over and over lol. The price I sell them for isnt enough based on time/pain/energy spent. Soooooo.... Yes keep on the lookout guys! I'm going to aim for next week but it all depends on my "spoons" of the week. So if you've been eyeballing this necklace this will be the tutorial for you! I just ask that you dont sell my pattern because it's going to be free and please don't produce them to sell because it's my pattern and I'm giving it away for free but by all means do make them for yourself and your friends and family. :)

First Tutorial and an apology for being away so long!

I want to start by saying sorry to any who follow my blog or have stopped in over the year+ I've been silent. A lot has changed since last time I popped in for an update. I've begun many new chapters in my life. I never have stopped crafting along the way even during those most stressful times I kept at it because it kept me sane. I only took a break after we moved into our first home early May. I'm back at it now especially since my kid has started school and I have plenty of time on my hands! She loves it but I miss her so. It's actually been good for us both. I have had a very rough time lately with a close family member dying so suddenly and so young it threw me for a loop. So I really need something to focus on to work through the pain. I've decided it's time for many changes in my life. The biggest would be to lose weight. I've always struggled with weight since I was first entering puberty and my thyroid production slowed way down and I went untreated so long. I gained a lot of weight in my teens due to being confined to a wheelchair as a teen. I was given medications that cause weight gain along with lack of hormonal treatment that only packed it on. I never really learned how to get the weight off so once I did get treatment I did all the wrong things to get the weight off such as fad and yo yo diets that only took it off and brought it right back. Its a lifestyle change completely.. My biggest problem involves being active. I have chronic pain every day. Some days I can barely get around my 1 story home other days I can get out and walk around for a bit but generally those days I push myself too far and end up worse off for the wear. I have a genetic disorder called Ehlers Danlos syndrome. It effects the collagen which is a major building block of our bodies. It can cause tissue joints and organs/vessels to be weakened hyper flexible or prone to rips/tears. I have the hypermobility type and major back conditions stemming from that along with fibromyalgia and inflammatory arthritis that go with them. I have decided that I truly need to find a way to get active even if its for 5 minutes here and there throughout the day. I cannot drive because of visual problems I have double vision in my left eye and I'm very nearsighted. So in order to get a gym membership I'd have to take a bus and change buses and spend too much.time and money to get to the gym 3 times a week. I've got a lot of anxiety about gyms and going out anyway because of the pain and social anxiety is another of my demons. So I've decided to give my shop a go again and use all proceeds to go forward to an exercise bike that is built to my weight capacity and that will work with my body. I've posted stuff to my etsy shop in order to do this so I can start saving up. I cant keep putting it off. Life is too short and there are so many things I want to do and experience in life. I also want to do it to honor my cousin's memory. He was much more like a brother we saw each other several times a week.. it was a huge loss and a wake up call.. I've got to stop wasting time. So I'm going to pour myself into my shop and try my best to achieve my goal of better health! I hope to share my journey here and on my other blog "Finding a New Tomorrow". On to the tutorial :)

I've been seeing these bats online and wanted to give my take on toilet paper roll bats. These would be perfect to do with kids I used hot glue to put mine together but you can use regular white school glue as well. I recommend using clothes pins to hold things together until they dry. You could have the kids paint all the part

Here's what you need: 

Toilet paper rolls- I cut each tube into 12 strips for the bat wings and legs and you will need 1 for the body each bat takes 10 strips so 2 rolls per each bat is a good estimate :) It's always good to have a couple extra strips just in case ;)

Paint/Markers to color your bats. A smart idea would be to spray paint the base coat after they are put together!

Glue/Hot glue gun (my preferred method but do make sure it is low temp cus ouch hot glue on your finger tips is definitely not fun!)

Paper to lay down to protect your surface if using paint ;) I just use the millions of adds we get in the mail

String to hang the bats I didnt get good pictures of this part but you attach them as your folding the tops of the head down 

A pen if you need to mark off the toilet paper rolls. I just cut each one in half and those halves in half then each of those quarters I cut into 3. 

fun extras like googly eyes or bits of fabric to make scarves or you could use pipe cleaners for legs! I'm going to break out the googly eyes for my daughter and her friends this weekend when they make some!

Step 1: gather up all your junk!

  Have a black cat cross your path ;)

 

 shoo away cats who've come to pester you while you work because they are *totally adorable<3* stinky butt nuggets who I love but not so much while they are getting into what I'm crafting lol

 cut strips from your TP roll by flattening it but not creasing it we want the rings to open back up neatly with 2 points. Remember divide the roll in half, then you cut those halves in half to form quarters, then each quarter into 3 12 pieces! ;)

paint the parts. you could paint then cut but I find this easier because I dont have to wait for them to dry all the way before I cut them and its not as hard to get in the middle of them or on the edges.

yes be sure to paint the insides and edges strips too (psh paint washes off I'm a messy crafter as yo can tell! However paint doesnt wash off of nail polish so if you are concerned dont go my messy route or wear gloves if you do!)

Lots of painted rings.. I actually watered my paint down a lot so the coverage wasnt as great as usual but I didn't have much left so... yep it will do! I had enough left that I went back over the lightest covered spots

take 3 strips and cut 1 of them on a crease so that the circle is broken and the other end is pointy

 

Glue the 2 rings together at the top and then bring that split ring down over them (like a nice little hug huh? awwww <3 )

Take 2 more rings from your pile o' black rings and cut one in half completely so that it forms 2 curved strips. The other just snip to open the ring up at the crease like the last one leaving the other crease at the top

Take one of the half rings and make the curved side bend towards the peak like pictured below put glue on both inside bottoms of the split ring and stick it together

pinch it a bit until it looks like this sorta like the star trek insignia eh? coincidence... ? oh you'll never know ^.~

now take the pointy bits and glue them together only about 1/3 the way down those sides

yep kinda like this here

so here is the top of the head now bend one side in this first side is the back of the head

now bend the front side down but dont glue in place just yet you will do that later after securing a piece of string under the flap

here is the bottom part. going in on the opposite sides and bringing the front to a point that meets in parallel to the center of the bat's head the bottom back is left less pointy than the front to leave room to glue on the legs

prefold them so they will close easier you will have to do a little forming to make it look right.

take another loop and cut it at the pointy end

now bend out the 2 bottoms to make little footies

glue this on the thicker back side point

now glue that pointy front fold over the legs neatly.

here you go the body is ready (you could paint it before folding and all that but I figure this is easier to show you)

now comes the wings! remember that part with the star trek insignia? put some glue on that bad boy! Yea right down there in the corner only about 1/2 the way up that little length

now stick it onto the bat make sure its good and stuck before folding it out!

oh and another wing! dont worry if it isnt all lined up perfectly I think it gives them some personality baby!

that unpainted one is now the purple one and I just painted the eyeballs on with some glossy white acrylic paint some pink acrylic some grey and more glossy white for the teeth.

oh yea now that everything is done remember that unglued flap at the top? tuck a string knotted into a loop under there and glue it! now its a cute batty ornament to hang wherever you'd like

I hung some on my hoopla wall! all of these hoops I got in craft swaps. :)

The big fix

Fixed the epic failure! I like it better this way! What do you think?

Epic failure

So I've been busy with a few more swaps and an order.. Today I did the biggest goof up fail ever I'm so angry with myself!!! I had already drawn up Moss from IT Crowd and hand cut this stencil out of freezer paper and then applied the silk screen and that came out great but I decided to stamp out the quote "I came here to drink milk & kick ass.. And I've just finished my milk. I messed up mid "kick" by putting the clear acrylic stamp on upside down (didnt adequately check it >.<) being in a hurry to get it done. I could kick myself! Now I'm coming up with ideas to fix it and will show you guys the results when I'm done.. Wish me luck!

I'm still alive creating the undead ;)

Hi everyone! I've not been around much I've been in craftster swap la la land and just recently getting my but to the YMCA to get my butt in better shape in the only way my EDS body allows and that is in the pool! I work out 4x a week for a hour each time :) Plus I am counting my calories using sparkpeople so I ! What a handy site. I've been working on a lot of different craft projects since I last posted you can check some of them on my pinterest I have a board listed "things I've made" another is "swaps I've sent out" I just finished the walking dead swap and that was fun but I still had some zombie inspiration in me and whipped this up ~> cant show the stuff that I made for the walking dead swap yet but its on its way to her now. Anyway its late but I  in and give a tiny little update on my life... I will update some more things a bit later and I cant wait to actually add some tutorials and patterns for you guys :)

 See you soon my friends! <3

Hi all! Its been a while.. I've become a swap junkie!

Yes, swap junky I say! I've joined up for several on Craftster and just created my own called "Lets Get Foxy now show me your Hooters! Owl and Fox swap" I figured I would share with you bits of things I've been crafting for swaps :D and things I've received as well!
I did an Adventure Time themed swap! So I had to make the nesting dolls I had in mind for quite some time but I couldn't just pick 6 so I made them double sided! Here is one side:

And here is the other:

I will have to show you what I get from my swap partner when I get it ^__^


I also did an invite your partner swap and I got spoiled with lots of goodies here is what I made her:

Beemo is scarf:

Labyrinth Quote wooden Pencil box:

A tree and nest embroidery hoop: (her picture I forgot to take one! DOY!):

A Domo kun crochet hat!:

A girl on a tire swing necklace (shoulda stuck with black) :

Pinkie pie 3D wall plaque:

And I sent her a bunch of random snacks from the international grocery store down the road.

She sent me this awesome package: 

Super cool messenger bag she made to my measurements! The fabric on the inside is the same as the body of the owl! I love it!:

A huge amount of awesome hand sewn goodies 4 pink and pink zebra fabric baskets, 2 awesome skirts for my daughter, The zebra one had a matching sunglasses case and headband (missing cus the girl stole it) 2 hoops with button monogram for the daughter and I, a cherry potholder,  and 4 sweet flower skeleton hand hair clips

Vintage (I think) flower trims she shared with me, an owl bag my daughter Ellie swiped, a tinker bell book to read to Ellie, a cool gold tone vintage style owl charm.

I also joined up in a pinterest swap but I only got around to making one thing :/ I wanted to make more but it was late in the game and when I went to claim someone else it was too late...
This is a hoop I made inspired from someones pinterest I am not one to copy completely and mine was a much bigger hoop:

And here is the inspiration I found in her pinterest:

It was a hoop made for a hoopla swap on craftster by the talented crafter sheepblue I think hers is far FAR more lovely! but I would say you can tell its influenced ;) 

I am working on another swap now that is a spell my name swap.. I would post a picture of something I made but I'd hate to spoil the surprise if she heads over this way! The pinterest embroidery hoop should be arriving today so I'm safe there LOL I am so addicted to doing craft swaps! It really helped to have something to focus on after my dear dog Lucy died. She was my furbaby and I miss her dearly.. I couldnt live without a dog... We got a puppy (should have waited but what's done is done) it helps too having a pet to train I forgot how much I hate puppies sometimes haha! I love hate them. They can be so sweet and cute yet such little assholes! Even though she annoys me so I really love her! She was supposed to be a beagle when we went to get her she looked a lot like a beagle mix well she has gotten huge over the past few weeks and when we went to the vet at 9 or 10 weeks she was 9lbs already! we found a calculator and it said she was going to be between 45 and 55lbs! BUT I am not even sure if she was 9 or 10 weeks because she still hasnt lost any baby teeth in the front like they do between then and now... Who knows! I have a giant puppy LOL Here is a picture of her from when we got her she was supposed to be 8 weeks then:

She looks a lot like lucy in some ways it sometimes makes me sad but she is enough different she is way more lanky and has a waist she a lot different.. I truly miss Lucy she was my best friend and my sweet puppy love. I have never met a dog so accepting of others and so tolerant of little kids... 

My daughter was always so rough yet all Lucy would do was get up and walk away or give me the look like "please save me!" lol You could often find them like this on the couch or bed or even in the middle of the floor. I loved that girl and I always will... I hope she now has peace happiness and lots of bunnies to chase up in doggy heaven.