In case you are wondering why I'm not posting much over the next week or so - I'm working on my first mass production crochet project.

I'm making 35 pins for a charity Christmas gift bag project for the HerShe Group.

It's a mentoring program for girls 13-21 who are, or previously have been, in foster care. My wonderful friend Laneshia is a mentor in this program and she asked if I could help her with contributions. I've hit up all my work friends for swag and have received a bunch of offers for gifts for the girls.

Each girl is going to get a bag of goodies for Christmas at the groups party. They will have at least 3 different t-shirts, a bag, some lotion, and something handmade by me. (they are also looking for monetary contributions to support the party - hit me up if you want to donate something.)

Here is the prototype for my contribution:



I'm going to add tags that say "handmade with love for built in hugs."

what do you think?

so I've tried very hard to keep this under wraps because Nikki didn't want to see what I was trading with her until it came in the mail....

But now that we've received I can share!!

I asked Nikki of Untamed Menagerie to do a trade with me....Acrylic for Crochet

the pendant should look familiar if you've been reading for awhile:



and I sent her a long skinny scarf (3"wide and 6' long):



as well as this for an extra:


Nikki is so sweet, super professional and quick to respond. I loved trading with her and as soon as my credit cards are back in the clear, I will probably go blow them up again in her store.

wow - people after my own heart. nerdy and crafty and techie all at the same time.

NERVOUS SYSTEM

using self developed modeling tools inspired by nature Nervous System makes gorgeous, gorgeous jewelry

I am inspired to pull out the plastic myself now....

Borrowed a pic from their blog:

I found this earlier today from Craft Yourself Rich.

Ali J in Australia wrote up this interesting article on selling your stuff.

check it and take a look at her art as well.

Heart Handmade does interviews and features on varying crafty peeps quite regularly. I just saw on their site a feature for Sleep Dream Play another textile designer.

Her blog, shop, bio site.

Flotsam & Jetsam - interesting textures and design

My Funny Eye - textures and inspiration photos

Yep - it's true. There are forest fires all over LA county right now. the whole city is covered in smoke and smells like a campfire.

check out the LA Fire Department's flickr stream for more really creepy beautiful images.

after the last unsuccessful project below, I decided to work on repeats again but try the old school approach. I saw this post a while back and thought it would be fun to try. Check out Julia Rothman's site, she has some interesting art up there.

results - I need to work on cutting an lining up the paper, but it's fun. All hand drawn....

What a great idea I had, print a flower on some silk... but alas, it was not so successful.

I will share my lack of success with you and if anyone has any tips, please feel free to comment.

The fabric:



The medium:


I have had this stuff in my stash since college. A tiny bit goes along way and it looks really shiny and bronzy when dry.

the fabric all ironed out:



I put some of the paint on cotton batting to make a temporary stamp pad (I could swear I saw this on the small object, but can't find it anywhere on her site) UPDATE - I FOUND THE TUTE Jezzeblog



Ink/paint all soaked into the batting:



Here are the final results - really disappointing....



the best one


the worst one

Just got up from a nap and wandered the web a bit...

Model Elyse Sewell has a Live journal and she's blogging from all over the world with some really cool photos. She's kinda of raunchy and I started to skip the actual text and just look at the pictures after awhile. Her photos of Hong Kong are really cool.

Have a look.

I'm so glad I never went into modeling - I like to eat too much :)

found at the tiny little girl... via some one on Maquette.

and how cool would a crafty tour of England be? Awesome and someone has done it. Check out the Great British Craft Tour here.

and via some one in Maquette's blog roll.... Nod Young - really cool artist.

I whipped this up on a whim and ended up swapping it on craftster. I love it but it would never get worn. I think it's better to trade with someone else who WILL wear it.



what do you think?