ka-pouch

...new series of pouches in the Etsy shop...

Life has sort of taken over for the past couple weeks. How did that happen? My poor little Etsy shop has been neglected. Finally managed to get in some sewing time over the weekend and listed these pouches. The first one uses some of the wool sweater I felted - In my head I imagined it would look like a field of pebbles. Does it? The second pouch is a design that has been selling - so I followed the trend. I like the modern, graphic feel of the spots against the reeds.

I need to get myself in a good working rhythm again to prepare for an upcoming craft event: The Oceanside Craft Mafia's Craftopia coming up on May 16th. If any crafters in the San Diego County area are interested in participating, I've heard there are spaces left. Visit the Oceanside Craft Mafia info page and inquire via e-mail.

Etsy Day!

snap snap snap

Can't remember if I mentioned it here or on Facebook, but after the death of my camera (a Pentax Optio point-and-shoot) I was dragging my feet about researching new ones. I finally decided to put some feelers out there and posted an inquiry on the Etsy Forums asking for suggestions. (Which, by the way, is an EXCELLENT place to get all kinds of advice on nearly anything related or not related to selling on Etsy.) I was surprised to get a lot of people responding with Nikon as their camera choice. I see so many Canon cameras that I was actually expecting to get a lot of recommendations for Canon. I was happy to see that Nikon came so highly recommended because my very first, what I like to call REAL, camera (because it wasn't simple point and shoot) was a Nikon. My parents gave it to me for my high school graduation. By getting a Nikon I sort of feel like I'm coming full circle. Found several wonderful reviews on CNET.com for the Nikon D40 - "a good introduction camera to the SLRs". It's priced good and seemed to be a good transition from my very simple Pentax. So I had some fun experimenting with it this weekend...

At first I was a little intimidated. I wasn't used to having to use the viewfinder for taking a picture. The digital camera has spoiled us by not forcing us to look in close but instead frame our subject in the window of the digital screen. I didn't think I was going to be able to adjust to this. But once I started snapping photos and discovering how, without even trying, the quality and clarity was incredible I was hooked. And lets face it, I need something to capture my goofy guys. These expressions happen in a span of a few seconds and I don't have time to set up the scene in the digital screen, zoom in and out by push push pushing that zoom button and then waiting for the auto focus to do it's thing. With the SLR I can zoom in, see EXACTLY what the camera sees and snap snap snap. Oh snap! I think I am in love.

modern munchkins

I was SO happy when I was able to elbow my way into the Etsy Treasuries over the weekend and curate this treasury I titled, "Modern Munchkins". In the past I'd occassionally look in the treasuries to see if by some small chance the treasury was open for new lists. It wasn't until I started reading comments in the Forums that I discovered the strategy behind snagging a treasury. So I followed all the advice and was able to jump in.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that my very first treasury made it to the Front Page! This means it was worthy of being one of the faces of Etsy for a brief, albeit glorious, moment! Yay! I was bummed to miss it, but certainly appreciated all the comments from fellow Etsians to let me know that my treasury had been selected for Front Page status. Yes!

Etsy is seriously starting to become an addiction for me. I find myself getting sucked into the Forums - "chatting" away with fellow Etsy crafters. I love browsing the treasuries to see what collections other people come up with. It's easy to become addicted. I'm SO in love with Etsy.

upcycled?

A few weeks ago I was telling the husband about the popular new craft of making felted material from wool sweaters. I made a comment to him about how I'm sure all the second-hand stores must be experiencing a wool sweater shortage because everyone's encouraged to wash them, shrink them and craft with them. But when I told him that this is being referred to as Green crafting, he objected. True, it is recycling (or, upcycling, as I've seen a few webs/blogs call it), but - as he so eloquently put it - what's Green about taking perfectly good clothes that could be warming our nation's poor and homeless in the name of craft? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was still itching to try.

While at the Goodwill Store I did, in fact, overhear a couple women seeking out wool sweaters as well. I selected a few sweaters and a wool sports coat and felt like everyone was watching me. I expected someone to come up to me and ask, "What exactly is the purpose of your acquisition?" I avoided making eye contact with anyone. I was sure the clothes police were going to swoop down on me the second I stepped outside. Totally felt like I was buying contraband.

I'm still struggling a bit with the ethics of felting second-hand clothes. But I really adore the felt. Makes these booties so much softer than the wool craft felt I typically use. I love how much thicker it is.

Do you think it can be considered a clean wash if I donate a couple jackets and sweaters? I'll go through my things and replace the sweaters with my perfectly warm clothing. Even steven, right? And if it makes anyone feel better (it makes me feel better, anyway) - the orange wool sweater had a hole in it. So that one was truly upcycled! Guilt free on that one.