I've been organizing a bookmark swap that is RUNNING MY LIFE. Ha.
It's got 66 swappers (that's a huge swap, usually they cap at around 25.) and we're about halfway through the crafting period, nearing send-outs, on Sept 5.
Here's what I've made so far.
For a partner who likes vintage, antique stuff (it's elastic and awesome!):
For a partner who listed "sky" as a theme...it's magnetic and buffly so, I tested it on cardstock! Anyway here it is:
For a partner who listed "mice" as a theme:
Note that the blue bead has felt ears glued on to enhance the bead's mouse-like properties :)
For someone who loves robots and listed this on their wist, I went for my own spin, using this robot as my template:
It'll be laminated.
And here's one for someone who also likes vintage/steampunk stuff and yellow/green. I like the simplicity of bookmarks. I don't like a lot of extra stuff or having something that my book won't even close around.
It's elastic and has yellow/green ribbon that leads to a vintage, awesome, old skeleton key that I found in a vintage store.
I'm having a lot of fun doing the bookmarks. I think it's easy for me because I love reading. I want these to be used for years.
I'm swapping with 5 partners (6 in my group) and doing an unofficial swap with about 8 people, so I'll end up with about 13 bookmarks, altogether.
I was at Michael's today and wanted to share a great deal I found!
I have oogled over Small Things designs for...ever. They're so cute, petite, chic, simple and timeless.
I found a pendant today at Michael's for $3.99.
But I just haven't been crafting or swapping. I signed up on a lark for a swap. This one is all about Cupcakes!
What else is new...I've starting riding lessons (horses) and I'm about to be promoted at work. It's just been a busy stretch of six months or so. I'll keep posting whenever I do crafts.
So I just discovered this "Craft a Day" blog. It's pretty neat. Anyway, you can check out her projects here.
I was browsing the Paper Craft section of Craftster and stumbled on the idea of making my own rubber stamps. I saw some Suuuuuuupppppper cute stamps done up in the Image Reproduction Technique section. It's like stenciling but BETTER! Ha.
So I think I'm going to try my hand at stamp-making.
Here are the cute stamps that inspired me.
And here's one flickr tutorial for creating stamps with rubber erasers...it gives a basic idea of how to create a stamp. Of course you could change out the medium, the image, the tools...it's all very personal. You decide what you like!
I haven't been feeling too crafty lately. So I joined a supply swap. Maybe this will motivate me to make something, getting out and shopping for supplies and receiving a bucket of supplies. Something's gotta invigorate me. The swap is an altered paper swap. You fill a 8.5"x11"-ish envelope with scraps and whimsies.
I haven't posted in awhile. But I haven't swapped in awhile either. I haven't been doing much of anything except working.
I set a few hefty resolutions so I've been chipping away at those. Did anyone else make resolutions? My two big ones were
1. Read the Bible, cover to cover, in a year.
2. (Keep) training for a half marathon in October and December.
So most days, I work out and read.
I received this awesome Twilight charm bracelet in a swap that uses shrinkydinks, so I've been thinking about trying my hand at that. There are also some cool bead stores I've been wanting to check out, but haven't. So maybe this week(end) will finally be the time I do it. My other craft wishes for learning are metalsmithing and resin casting. I don't see those happening anytime too soon. But they're out there, in my imagination. I do look at Craftster on Facebook and see updates with new projects but I just haven't seen anything that cried out to me.
Looking forward, I will probably be posting for some Valentine's romantic/friendly gift ideas. And my anniversary is in March, so I might try some new stencils. I was *pretty* inspired by some of the stencils I saw on stencilry on other folks' blogs. I believe there was a stencil for Danny Effing Tanner?! Here's John Stamos.
http://www.stencilry.org/stencils/famous%20people/john%20stamos/
I'm also a big fan of the peacock feathers.
http://www.stencilry.org/stencils/nature/feathers/peacock-feathers-2.gif
I see the feathers in a rainbow stencil. It could be awesome. It would take a long time to cut out each quill thingy but it could be awesome. Then you need some funny feather pun. Anyway, that's my craft update. I'm still here. I'm just uninspired.
