Sentimental Stitches

I made this hair clip for my little sister's birthday. Her birthday was on the 7th but shhh whatever.

I was trying out new techniques- which by the way this weekend I got crazy with some new carnation style fabric flowers- photos to come soon!

I love the colors in this piece!

Not only will this be a gift of fashion for my sis it will also be a gift of sentiment. My nephew Oliver picked the flower I used in the center piece when they were out for a visit last summer so it will be extra special for his mommy ;)

Happy (late) birthday sister!

"Erf" Day 2010

Well good evening fellow earthlings. Hope you all did something nice and earthy today. The weather was pretty terrible here in Los Angeles today but I managed to dedicate about and hour or so enjoying and feeling grateful for our great Mother, Earth.

While I was at work Miles and I (who is responsible for the "Erf" in this blog title) finished some miniature painted earths we started yesterday then cut them out and went around his house taping them next to every light switch and some of the water faucets as a reminder to conserve energy. He was totally into it which is really cool. He is a neat kid like that. (He is 3)

And, we also painted some leaves and rocks....

I also read Miles one of my favorite books from childhood. It had a profound effect on me and my relationship with the planet. I'm so thankful for my mom for discovering this book and sharing it with my siblings and I. The book I'm refering to is Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg. 

                              

I'm sure many of you have heard of this book and might share similiar sentiments about it as I. I just can't say enough about its awesomeness. At some point last year I started thinking about volunteering at local schools, reading it to the children to educate them about protecting the planet. I still think this is a good idea. I should do it! I ordered this particular copy last year from Amazon and I love the inscription I found inside.

The imagery in the book is amazing. I think it is why it had such an impact on me at a young age. It came out in 1990 so I guess I was about 7 or 8 when I first read it. 

                                          

After leaving work I drove over to Griffith Park, ordered a soy latte and the most amazing lavender vanilla shortbread cookies from the Trails cafe down at the bottom and then drove up to the top where the observatory is, the view up there is amazing. It was raining lightly but I didn't mind. I was feeling very connected to the earth and the universe. I love that feeling. I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have any pictures of this. Well I had my iphone camera but it just really doesn't do it justice.

Then I made my way over to Home Depot to and picked up some supplies for a little container window sill garden. I'm SO excited to get that set up this weekend. Hopefully the weather will warm up in the next few days. Gosh I can't believe myself, I'm such a Californian these days. Go away rainy coldness, I need me some sunshine ;)

Then I picked up my husband and we can came home and ordered Thai food. Haha.

I'm SO cold right now, our new place actually has gas heating vents throughout which we used a few times when we first moved in so I know they DID work, however I noticed yesterday evening that it stopped working and I have a sneaking suspicion that the hook up of the gas dryer last week has interfered with the heater!! Ahhhh. Need to call the plumber that set it all up and see if he can make it work again, because I have no idea where my space heater is. It gets mighty cold up here on this hill with all of these windows and hardwood floors. Eeeeee.

Anyway. OH yeah, this morning I found some papers in my Just a Dream book that I had stashed in there, I'm thinking like last March or April and one of them contained sketches and ideas for what eventually became Respect Your Mother. Its so cool, I'm so glad I found it. It gives me new inspiration plus makes me feel proud that I did move forward and create an online shop to sell my things and reminded me of ideas that I never materialized before and would like to do so now. Here is a photo of the paper ;)

                                    

I'm a serious list maker and am always jotting down words, lists, ideas, sketches on random paper and I love finding them later, its like a little mini journal of your life that you can look back on think wow, so thats what was going on in my world at that particular time. I usually become nostalgic. This group of papers contained a to do list in preparation of my mother's visit out here last spring. We had such a good time. She helped me create my outdoor garden at the old place. So much fun!

Annnd I will hush now. Happy Earth Day!

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

A new year, a new blog. Enjoy!

Where do we begin? Well... last spring I started a website and a blog through Yahoo web hosting where I displayed/discussed my crafts. I had just begun to create a batch of my earth inspired items to be sold online, it was certainly an exciting time. I had been making various pieces for myself to wear, mainly clay necklaces, shoe adornments and a shirt- they had captured the attention of strangers and family members who told me I should sell my creations online and well, one thing led to another and I started my website and soon after opened a shop on Etsy. I quickly turned a fourth of our (my husband Matt and I) tiny hillside studio into my "art studio" and have been an obsessed crafter ever since. I'm sure many of you have the same story, I think crafting is just one of those things that eventually takes you over.

Anyhow- one day my website was just gone, as well as my blog, I guess the term I had signed up for had lapsed with no warning email asking if I would like to renew. I'm not super website savvy so I never figured out how to get it back, I hope to one day, but for now I will continue to use Etsy and use this blog as a means to connect and display with other like minded and interested individuals. My posts may be spastic for a while but I assume over time they will find their way and purpose. I hope to talk about life, the planet, share new pieces, other crafter's pieces, demonstrations, and promote.

$1 from each of my sales (whether online or at a craft show) are donated to an environmental organization. Even though its small it makes me feel better about my place in this world, knowing that I am, and that I can in some way, help the planet. I am actually trying to seek out a sponsor who would be interested in meeting me dollar for dollar per each sell to donate that way the impact would be larger. Please let me know if you think you may know a person or company who would be interested. I don't make a ton of sales (as of yet) and my pieces are not expensive so the sponsor wouldn't be shelling out a crap load of money ;)

I like to look at blogs that have photos, so being mindful of that, I will try to keep this interesting with photos whether it be my crafts, another crafter's pieces, or random photos I will take with my new (yay!) camera :)
So tonight, I think I will sign off with a photo of one of my most recent pieces. I actually haven't made anything new in a couple of weeks due to the holidays, etc. I can't wait to start again. Plus, I got a sewing machine for Christmas so my shop should be expanding soon!! Until next time...




(I love this piece, I need to make more- this particular one was sold at my mother in law's booth at a show in Texas. Tree and bird made out of polymer clay.)