Love this.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
And AGAIN I can't sleep
So I thought I would get a good night's sleep and I actually was tired and fell asleep around 7 or 7:30 pm. Up at 11:40. :::sigh::: Now it's 4:06 and I've diligently tried twice more to fall asleep in complete darkness and quiet to no avail.
Maybe I should just give in to it and become the night owl I've always been. It is easier over the summer when the kids don't have school. All of our schedules become backwards it seems. But honestly I'm getting a little old for this. I remember all-nighters on the yearbook in college, but come on, that was some time ago.
I have been thinking of another project. I am so incredibly 'project' oriented. For a while now, the girls and I have been talking about opening an Etsy shop. It's an online store that is affliated with ebay but there is no bidding or anything. You just sell your items but it is based on handmade and vintage kind of items.
Since I've recently become re-obsessed with crochet and trying to learn to knit again, I have a goal to open a new Etsy shop in September. For the past few weeks I've been trying to regain my "skills" at crocheting and have had a crochet hook in my hand for many hours a day. I really want to become professionally proficient and produce an excellent product. It takes practice.
Of course my other love is retro anything, especially clothing. I've found some wonderful, incredible vintage patterns for dresses that are gorgeous and I cannot wait to start sewing again. I used to sew almost all my clothes for a few years back in the early 80s, but it does take a lot of patience I learned at the time. My true desire is to design my own clothes. Tweak everything to make it my own. Discover my own style.
One of the things that mean the most to me is to leave to my children a legacy of creativity, courage to create and express themselves, believe in themselves no matter what anyone says to them. I was discouraged throughout my life by people who had no credentials to even give me an educated opinion and yet I was influenced, discouraged in fact, to follow what was truly in my heart.
It is amazing that even ONE off-handed comment by a inexperienced kid can so affect the self-esteem of someone that it can actually change the course of their life. I think most of us have experienced this to some degree.
But this is my changing point. I may have just turned 52, but in my heart I am still the 25 year old person I was (just with so very much more wisdom-thank you Lord). My body has changed and gotten older, but the desire to express my creativity has only grown. It is not too late to follow a creative dream. I am going to give it a try! : )
Maybe I should just give in to it and become the night owl I've always been. It is easier over the summer when the kids don't have school. All of our schedules become backwards it seems. But honestly I'm getting a little old for this. I remember all-nighters on the yearbook in college, but come on, that was some time ago.
I have been thinking of another project. I am so incredibly 'project' oriented. For a while now, the girls and I have been talking about opening an Etsy shop. It's an online store that is affliated with ebay but there is no bidding or anything. You just sell your items but it is based on handmade and vintage kind of items.
Since I've recently become re-obsessed with crochet and trying to learn to knit again, I have a goal to open a new Etsy shop in September. For the past few weeks I've been trying to regain my "skills" at crocheting and have had a crochet hook in my hand for many hours a day. I really want to become professionally proficient and produce an excellent product. It takes practice.
Of course my other love is retro anything, especially clothing. I've found some wonderful, incredible vintage patterns for dresses that are gorgeous and I cannot wait to start sewing again. I used to sew almost all my clothes for a few years back in the early 80s, but it does take a lot of patience I learned at the time. My true desire is to design my own clothes. Tweak everything to make it my own. Discover my own style.
One of the things that mean the most to me is to leave to my children a legacy of creativity, courage to create and express themselves, believe in themselves no matter what anyone says to them. I was discouraged throughout my life by people who had no credentials to even give me an educated opinion and yet I was influenced, discouraged in fact, to follow what was truly in my heart.
It is amazing that even ONE off-handed comment by a inexperienced kid can so affect the self-esteem of someone that it can actually change the course of their life. I think most of us have experienced this to some degree.
But this is my changing point. I may have just turned 52, but in my heart I am still the 25 year old person I was (just with so very much more wisdom-thank you Lord). My body has changed and gotten older, but the desire to express my creativity has only grown. It is not too late to follow a creative dream. I am going to give it a try! : )
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Fun Stuff!
So a couple of weeks ago I took the girls shopping and we got some fun crafty stuff to keep us busy creating this summer. We got some knitting looms, crochet hooks, knitting needles and some idea books along with a variety of yarns. And then we got to it! I haven't crocheted or knitted in a long time, so it's been really fun to get back to it. I've made rasta tams, scarves, caps and now I am experimenting with designing and creating a belted shrug without a pattern. Jussara has made several caps and Jaiden is still getting the hang of the loom.
I made my first afghan about 30 years ago in the late 70s. I still have it. It's actually back in style because of the whole retro thing. It is a ripple afghan in the classic 70s colors of yellows, oranges, rusts and brown. I love it with all of it's wear and tear, and it's held up so well. I used it about 15 years ago to cover the back seat of an old car I was driving and the Arizona sun really faded one side of it, but it just added to its character as far as I was concerned.
So Jussara shared with me that she really wants me to make her an afghan. She said she will be going away to college in a few years and she wants to have one. She said I should make one for each of the kids, so I think I would love to try and do that for them for Christmas. It's ambitious, but maybe I'll be able to pull it off. We'll give it a go. : ) If not, I can give it to them for their birthdays over the next year.
I've also found a lot of fun things on the internet that I would like to share!
I've discovered Japanese Bento Boxes and I would love to get a cute Bento box and try to make Jaiden some really fun lunches to take to school this fall, maybe once or twice a week. I guess they can be pretty time consuming so I don't think I could pull it off every day, but they really look so cute I'd like to try my hand at it at least.
And some more lunch ideas. You can find several Bento groups by searching Flickr.
I mean how much more would you want to eat your vegetables if they came with a cute presentation like these?
I also got some embroidery thread and a hoop and I want to create some of my own retro-inspired designs on tea towels and aprons. The girls and I have talkd about opening our own
Etsy shop and filling it with original designs of all the things we love. We hope to have enough items to open it in a couple of months. We love to create fun items, and it would be great to have some extra income for Christmas.
Etsy shop and filling it with original designs of all the things we love. We hope to have enough items to open it in a couple of months. We love to create fun items, and it would be great to have some extra income for Christmas.
Here's a great place to get retro-inspired embroidery patterns.
I LOVE these! It really isn't your grandmother's embroidery patterns! They are funky and cute!
It does the heart good to create something with your hands and your mind. It's soothing and brings so much joy. I guess I'll get back to crocheting. Happy crafting!
Still missing Michael. Gone too soon.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Michael
I haven't cried so much since I can't remember when. Watching the coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial service today, I felt his loss so intensely. Michael was just a year younger than I and I grew up watching and loving him from a very early age. Finally he gets the recognition he deserves. He was so amazing. I will miss him so much. My heart is broken for his children.
But he is free from the reach of the negative arms that tried to pull him down and bring him down.
He's free.
Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson.
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