Join the Colloquy!!!

So...as you may or may not have noticed- I changed the name of this blog. Not that Respect Your Mother was not a good name, it is after all the name of my business as well as an important statement- I just felt I needed to change the angle.

Alas, you are now visiting the Creative Colloquy blog. I chose the name because colloquy means a conversation, dialogue, or a conference and that is exactly what I would like this blog to be.

So, with that said, please DO feel free to comment and interact often, check in daily and email me with anything you think I may want to include or discuss in the blog. I would very much enjoy getting to know all of you out there with common interests!!

I also updated the design with the new options from blogger, not quite sure how I feel about it yet, any input?

The topic I would like to discuss tonight is something I'm currently struggling with. The medium war.

(Felt clip holder)

(Clay pendant)

(Fabric/Felt aromatheraputic hair clips)

(Glass tile pendant with vintage book text and felt)

No- my clay, fabric, felt, glass, etc... are not bombing one another. The war I speak of is purely internal and I'm thinking, completely useless and a waste of thought.

It's just that- sometimes I feel like "Am I betraying my clay right now?!?!" when I am playing with my fabric. And the fact that I started out making jewelry with my original Etsy shop. Oh my god I just realized TODAY is the 1 yr anniversary of my opening my Respect Your Mother shop on Etsy! Whoa. I should have totally had a sale or something. It kind of snuck up on me. Anyway. Interesting. So- I had never actually intended to do only jewelry when starting out with RYM but I think I sort of got addicted to making it so I stuck to it pretty seriously for a while. I remember always thinking, ok so when will I start working on the other things I have sketched out to make?? Some of the things I had made before opening my shop at the urging of others weren't even jewelry. They were shoes, well, altered shoes, and an altered shirt and some other things of that nature. As well as some clay pendants of course.

What I'm trying to say is, I haven't made jewelry in a while and I feel weird about it. Hahaha. But at the same time I'm starting to do a lot with fabrics and such and I am absolutely LOVING it and reallllly wanting to learn so much more on technique and skill.

For example, I whipped this up last night.

Another view...

I can't say I know what I am doing. But I recently learned about interfacing, fusible web, etc and got excited that there was a product to help stiffen the material. I have made 2 other pouch type things previously but this one is my favorite so far. I don't have the inside photographed but the problem is I just don't know how to finish off edges and what not!! The outside is linen, with a felt tree and a little polyfill inside of the tree for the dimensional feel. I think I will add something else to the opposite side. Maybe some poppies? I have a cute yellow gold floral fabric lining the inside, with the stiff interfacing fused in between.


I'm sort of going off a little internet researching, and the knowledge I gained as a little girl when my mother taught my sisters and I how to sew. So this was probably like 20 years ago or so. Oh and the Home Ec class I took freshman year of highschool. I got a second hand sewing machine for Christmas from my inlaws and when I pulled it out a while back I could NOT figure it out and it frustrated me so I put it away. I do think it might have an issue and need a repair, I SWEAR I was doing everything right but the thread would get tangled on the underside of the fabric. I need to take lessons. I ordered a used book on sewing technique online last night (only a dollar! heck yes!) from abe books.

Oh, and to continue with the dilema of "cheating" on certain mediums while spending time on others, I have the HippityClippity shop which is strictly hair clips, which by the way I can't even decide if I should sell ONLY childrens clips in their which was my original intention, and sell adult ones in my RYM shop or put all clips in HC?? But HC is such a kiddy name. Ahhh. See? I have decision making problems. Haha. Input is CERTAINLY welcome.

Anyway. Enough about that. There are HUGE problems going on and my internal war of mediums so completely trivial. Anyone living down near the gulf and have seen the oil spill first hand? I get so sad everytime I think about it. I feel so removed being all the way over here in California, but I am originally from and grew up in the Gulf area of Texas, between Houston and Galveston. Hey someone tell me what you think of this- I ran it by my husband and he said he didn't think it was good taste but I don't think he understands my point. I have earrings that I sell in my RYM shop, I Love the Earth Earrings, and a few weeks ago I thought about making a version of them that have an ugly black splash of paint in the area of the gulf, to really exaggerate on this terrible problem, like a political statement against the awful oil companies like BP, and donate ALL of the proceeds (minus the shipping cost) to the recovery down there. If I can't physically be there, I would atleast like to do my part. After all, the creation of RYM was not only to be inspired by the planet, but to help save it. I have been donating 1$ per sell to Greenpeace since the opening of my shop a year ago. It is my mission and passion to help this beautiful planet!! Anyhow- what do you think of that idea? Is it somehow in bad taste or do you understand my angle? Input please!!

Have a happy day/night!!


Julie

clinging to spring

Ahhh the end of spring is nearing. Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to summer but there is just something so magical about spring. Also I'm not gonna lie...when you live in southern california the beginning of summer is basically a prolonged spring. I've been checking the weather back home (ok actually i have as many cities as allowed in the iphone weather app to check on. i'm a strangely curious person. a few on my list: Alvin, TX (my hometown), Big Sur, New York City, Sleepy Hollow, Athens Greece, San Francisco and more) and the temp has been in the 90's! Gah! I think its hot when it hits 77 here. Pathetic. But hey, you get spoiled and quickly forget how terrible weather can be elsewhere.

So I'm kind of sad because today when I was watering my container plants I noticed they were not doing so well. For example I swear it looks like there is mold growing in my beets. WHYYY. Anyway. I think they may not be getting enough sunlight. Hmm.

OH! I'm so excited and proud of myself. Today when I was stopping to get coffee I parked right in front of a children's boutique, which I have so many times before. I have always wanted to go inside and talk to the owner about selling my hair clips but I just never could quite build up the courage. It just seems so audacious. Like "Hey! Look at this! Sell it please!?" haha. But it was really easy and comfortable. I just kind of asked her about how the process would be to sell things in her shop and then I pulled out some of my business cards from Moo.com that have photos of my products on the back (awesome idea). Her daughter was there too and she LOVED them. So that was good. Anyway so get this....next Wednesday I am bringing in my collection for consignment selction!!!! WOoohoooo. Now I feel confident enough to take my things to other places for consignment consideration. Way cool. Etsy is just way hard. Too many sellers on there to stand out.

I roasted large chunks of red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers for dinner and it was SO yummy. I need to do that more often. Just thought I'd share that piece of information. Not sure why. It may be because of the iced espresso I'm sipping on. Makes me "mouthy" as husband lovingly refers to it.

I will now leave you with a piece of spring. My spring flower patch hair clip to be exact. Enjoy!

So cheery and springish ;)

Buy Spring Flower Patch Hair Clip

Super Woman

If I listed all of the things I accomplished this weekend, you may start suspecting I'm Super Woman, so I probably shouldn't list it all, but I'm feeling super good about it :)

It feels so good to have a really productive weekend, especially after last weekend, when I let my hormones get the best of me (i.e. lady time) and I pretty much stayed in some sort of stationary position for a large portion of it. And I can't stand being still like that. It was hard. Especially knowing the zillion things I needed to work on.

The concept of moving is so strange, you pack up all of your belongings just to unpack them all again very soon. We have been in the new place now for nearly 3 weeks and I'd say we are now ALMOST done with all of the unpacking. I finished the kitchen today and I can't explain how great that makes me feel. I put together a pantry friday all by myself except for the very last step where I had my husband help hold the door in place while I screwed in the hinges. I also put together a wall shelf thing in the bathroom and drilled it into the wall. A power drill is super fun by the way ladies, if you have never assembled something before, I say next time try it out for yourself, its a good feeling.

 Oh my, I almost forgot, WE HAVE A WASHER AND DRYER now! Haha. You have no idea HOW exciting this is. When you live on a hillside and have to trek up and down stairs, possibly walking a long way to your car depending how close or freaking far away you last parked on the street, with a huge hamper of laundry, its a very tedious experience. But NOW, now, we purchased our very own washer and dryer because the new place had hook ups in the "upper basement" which the entrance to is literally right outside our door. They were delivered Wednesday but some extra work was needed to create a vent so the set up was completed this Friday and when I got home from work I began the 4 or 5 loads of laundry that I did all through the afternoon, evening, and night. Yippeee.

Anyway, I will soon do I post where I show photos of the old place and now the new place. I'm also starting to do some re-photographing of more of my crafts for both of my Etsy shops (Respect Your Mother & Hippity Clippity) as we have a massive and lovely amount of beautiful natural sunlight here in the new place.

Here are some new photos of one of my clips for my HippityClippity shop that I hadn't yet listed in my shop until tonight. I actually have quite a few pieces for both shops that I haven't listed in my shops yet. It just takes so much time and I'd rather be doing something else I suppose. Oh well, eventually they will find themselves listed. Until then, here is one of my favorites, a leaf and ladybug hair clip. I think its super cute for spring and summer. I hope you agree. Its made with felt and the ladybug was made with a tiny red pom pom and black thread ;)

                                                                         

   

This clip may be purchased HERE