I’ve moved to aliciag.blogspot.com.  Hope to see you there!

Alicia

Happy New Year All! I plan on writing a post about my resolutions and then updating you all year long on how I’m doing with them. For now, let me share with you my craft finds of the day.

I found a great deal on some beaded jewelry kits at Michaels today. They are originally $8.99 but were marked down to $5.00 and then they also were an extra 35% off, which made them $3.99 each. As soon as my camera charges I’ll take a photo of them for you. I am thinking of listing one or two on eBay and using the rest to make some jewelry. I love some of the clearance sales you can get this time of day.
I also picked up a Fiskars Cutting Tool from Costco today. It came with the cutter and a few templates. Quite a deal for $21.99 considering Michaels had the cutter alone for $19.99.

I’m so glad Thanksgiving is over. Not for the trouble with family that usually arrives or the travelling, but the eating! Luckily I was so busy on my trip that eating too much was not an issue!

I did manage to do some black friday shopping.  I bought $105.00 worth of beads and earring kits from Michaels for only $65.00.  I’m going to use the kits to make gifts for my children’s teachers and for give aways to bank tellers and other community people as advertisement. I will probably list a few on etsy or on ebay, so stay tuned for that.

here are some photos of projects I got done before I left for Thanksgiving.

Here are two of the handmade tutus I made (click for larger image):

I also added these and some new items to my
Etsy Shop as well as listed some tutus and items on ebay.

Not much else to talk about at the moment.  I hope you are all giving away something handcrafted this holiday season!

Just a quick post to share with you the third tutu I made.  I like it much better than the first two.  I hope you enjoy it!

I didn’t do much productive today.  I decided to take this morning as a ‘Me’ day and hit some thrift stores and Wal-mart.  I picked up more tulle at Wal-mart for some more tutus.  I want to make some to sell to local consignment stores.  I hope they buy.  I also scored some rolls of scrapbook stickers at Big Lots.  They were such a good deal that I’m listing some on eBay. Here is the link to the action.

Here is a photo of the stickers:

Not much else to share.  I want to make a few more tutu’s tonight in front of the TV, so I’ll put pictures of those up when I’m done.  Have a wonderful weekend!

I have been so lapse in posting! I have been crafting though! Here are a few images of what I’ve been working on. It is a tote-bag made from squares of recycled fulled sweaters.

It’s taken me a bit longer to do that I would have liked, but it is all hand stitched.  It’s promised to my husband’s cousin.  I almost hate to part with it but I know I can make another one that is similar.

 I’ve also been working on some handmade tutus.  Here are my first two:

Admittedly they look way cuter in person.  I’m sure I’ll get better at them the more I make.  After I get a few done I may take them to a consignment store.  I think I’ll do some holiday and winter colored ones.

So that’s what I’ve been up to.  That and working on my business site www.thecraftcart.com.  We have a new consultant in Washington!  A lot of states are still available for consultants.  This is a very easy home based business for moms or at-home women who love to craft and enjoy working with children.  We have no sales minimums, recruiting or quotas.  So it’s just $20.00 to sign up, you print your own brochures and you can sell and/or teach birthday parties.  It really can’t be any easier and flexible than that!

Where in the world did this week go? I guess I was spending a lot of time going through my craft corner (the ENTIRE dining room) upstairs trying to trim it down and make it more kid safe. Now that my youngest is becoming very mobile I don’t want her accidentally to get into my buttons. I took one of 3 huge bookcases we have in our living room (it was in a bad spot anyway) and moved it into the dining room and put my stuff in there. The stuff at the bottom is all in closed containers so she won’t be able to get to it. I also have been trying to catch up on laundry and work on an article for my Mother’s group newsletter. Today I’m going to hit a garage sale at a friends neighborhood. She had a small cabinet she was going to sell that I think I will like to put all of my sons arts and crafts stuff in. If it’s small enough I’ll keep it in the kitchen in the corner. Maybe the top would be a good place to put my mail and other stuff that usually winds up on the kitchen table.

– The cabinet fits great and I also picked up a solid wood kid sized dresser for my sons room.  What a deal, I got both pieces for $35.00!

I’ve been noticing a lot of pallette wood around.  I am wondering if I can pick up some for free and use it to make some prim signs.  I used to do a craft show with a friend in Arizona who made signs like this with her niece.  I suppose I could get the wood and let it age a little behind my garage so when I go to use it, it will look even more aged.  Have any of you used this type of wood with success?

If any of you remember the July/August 2003 cover of Expression Magazine then these might look a little familiar. Although I was not the talented artist behind the article pieces, they were made from my art glass pieces I call ClinkIts!. The artist in the magazine is Lea Everse and she is a hugely talented artist. My pieces still lack my final embellishment, but I wanted to share with you what I’ve been doing. The original cover is below and back issues are still available if you visit the magazines’s website at: www.expressionartmagazine.com.

I take the ClinkIt (glass piece) rubber stamp and emboss it. Once it’s cooled down from the embossing gun I add a face I’ve made with polymer clay. Lea herself sent me the molds for this and I think I have used them more than any other thing in my craft stash! I should drop her a note to say hi. I haven’t talked to her in such a long time! To turn the piece into a pendant I will glue a coil hanger on the back.

When they are done I plan on putting them up on etsy and probably giving some away to friends. All and all they are not that hard to do. Perhaps I will post the entire project on a ‘Tutorial Tuesday.’ If you need ClinkIts, you can get them at AliciaG.

My home based business, The Craft Cart, is coming along. We are lining up our first few consultants. I am disappointed that my husband has not done much work on the new site as I had hoped, but he does work all day at his computer and I guess it’s a bit unfair of me to nag him to do more work after he gets home. Because of this I’m starting to do my own site. It’s about 75% done and if you want to see the work in progress, you can here. That’s about it for today. I’m going to snag a nap before one of my kids wakes. Have a wonderful afternoon.

Knotted Pearl Necklace.

This is a traditional style necklace. Knotted white freshwater pearls on silk beading cord. Of course you can use whatever beads you like! This is also great for reusing beads from a broken necklace or reconstruction some of the treasures found in your grandmother’s jewelry box (hoping she doesn’t mind, of course!). You can find the tutorial here at my tutorial blog.

The festival my friend and I did on the 16th went ok. We handed out a lot of brochures and got our name out but we did not sell many kits. Admittedly I over bought for the festival, but I figured if we didn’t sell them we could use them as stock. I’m a little frustrated over things not getting done on time, but the website is coming along and we’re refining our kits. I just ordered a bunch of new books to get inspiration for new kits. I am somewhat disappointed at the quality of the kit supplies we have gotten so far, so I am going to work on new sources.

While I was at the festival a few weeks ago I got a chance to pop into Super Suppers. What a fantastic idea. Basically you go in and assemble the meal. They have done all of the shopping and chopping and have recipes all ready to go. You can go home and cook the food or freeze the stuff for a later date. I think this would be a fantastic idea for someone who has just had a baby or got out of the hospital! They even have meals you can walk in and grab. Easy Peasy!

I’ve posted a tutorial for a Ribbon, Wire and Bead Necklace for you on my tutorial blog that I just started.  I’m going to try and post a new tutorial a week from the ones I wrote back in 2001 and 2002 for an on-line Rubber Stamping community and mall called Cyberstampers.

Not much else to post, just getting ready for the festival this weekend.  I hope you all enjoy the tutorial.