make something day thirty

Today I made: a basic bikini top with a natural, undyed, cotton yarn. I really don't know why I haven't made one of these before or why I didn't start off with a plain and more natural variety of tops. But now I finally have it. This color is the only one that is undyed, however, and is otherwise referred to as "ecru."

for sale on etsy

make something day twenty-nine

Today Charisma showed me how to make dragonfly bobby pins. Aren't they adorable?

make something day twenty-eight

Today I made: a simple cross necklace. I now have a full set of cross jewelry including this bracelet and these earrings from days 19 and 25. I'll try to get these up on Etsy soon now that I have all three finished.

make something day twenty-seven

Today my crafty best friend taught me how to make a dream catcher.

make something day twenty-six

Today I made: these fingerless gloves in coral. I'm working on getting a lot of new stuff in my shop, including adding a bunch of new spring-ish colors to my already existing items. I'll probably continue making tons of variations of bikini tops and some of my other favorite creations, but I promise I'll be coming up with brand new ideas along the way too. 

So far I have these gloves up for sale in three different colors:

charcoal // coral & aqua

make something day twenty-five

Today I made: some simple earrings. Projects like these are perfect for busy days. They definitely didn't require much creativity but that doesn't mean that they don't make for a good pair of earrings. Plus, knowing how to put together an easy piece of jewelry can always help spark some ideas.

make something day twenty-four

Today I made: little crocheted hearts <3 I'm going to use them to make the color options for my bikini tops easier to choose from and I think it's a pretty cute idea. I haven't applied them to my shop yet but I will very soon. Each heart takes approximately five minutes to make, so it's a super easy craft for anyone who crochets. Aaaand, I just got a few brand new colors for spring so I will be making more of these.

colors already in my shop:

tea rose // coral

make something days twentytwo&twentythree

Yesterday I made: an aqua colored headband. Headbands are great, I'm seriously thinking about putting some more in my shop, but I have some other things that I want to put in there first.

Today I made: fingerless gloves in aqua! They look pretty adorable along with the matching headband I don't even know if I can bear to sell them separately. So far I have one set of fingerless gloves up in my shop, I'll be adding in this color soon along with some other pretty new colors.

make something day twenty-one

Today I made: a green rectangle. Later I turned it into something useful by crocheting in a couple holes and attaching buttons. And I'm fresh out of this yarn now, so this cowl will most likely remain an original, one of a kind, unlike most of the patterns I come up with and make multiples of.

In other news, my lips are chapped and I cannot stop coughing.

make something days nineteen&twenty

This weekend I made: two new hand chains. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. They're both exactly the same except for the beads used. There are so many possibilities with these bracelets. Now that I've come up with a good, well-fitting design for these I'm ready to put some up for sale. 

I love how this project keeps giving me new stuff for my shop that normally would have taken me weeks to come up with. For all the other creative people out there, I can say that making something every day really helps and it relieves the stress of falling into a creative rut. Even if you don't come up with something amazing today, you can put it aside and try something new tomorrow with a better know-how and a more productive, inspired mind.

make something days seventeen&eighteen

Yesterday I made: the first of many fingerless gloves, (on the left). This one's made with a cream colored wool yarn and is super cozy.

Today I made: my second pair of fingerless gloves, (on the right). I perfected yesterdays design making the gloves a little bit longer and tighter around the wrists. For these ones I used an acrylic yarn. I love them so much and they're actually incredibly comfortable. I'm going to be putting them up in my shop soon and I already have a few new colors to make them in, should I make some in wool too?

make something day sixteen

Today I made: this turquoise heart necklace. Well, actually I made two of them and each one has a little wooden bead placed inside of it. They're already up for sale in my shop at a valentines-y price of $14, not bad for handmade jewelry!

Turquoise Heart Necklace on Etsy

make something day fifteen

Today I made: a replica of my most popular top but in my favorite color, coral! I know I've made this top a million times but I always love seeing it in new colors, and with this one my shop is finally starting to get a pretty color scheme. Annnnd it's already up for sale. I'm hopeful that something to be proud of will come out of all this, and as of day fifteen I think this project is already making improvements on my creativity, my integrity and my overall attitude towards life.

make something day fourteen

Today I made: a purple scarf for my grandma. I'm notorious for giving late christmas presents, but I've finally checked everyone off of my list! 

Thanks for reading and looking at my crappy pictures, I wanted to try on grandmas scarf without spending too much time taking photos. I'm really OCD about my pictures and especially how they look on my webpages, so grainy cellphone shots can really bug me. Even while reading the Etsy blog today I read and I quote "Makers and creatives tend to be perfectionists. The devil is in the details, right?" and it is so true. This is a problem that I'm trying to get over because I think as long as my shop looks nice and the content of my pictures is unique and well framed then people will like them, and that not everything needs to be perfect especially when it's just taking time away from my main focus. And hey, I'm going to be doing this a lot this year so I think I can put my name on this, be proud of the work I've accomplished and let this one fly for today. I'm off to go fill some orders for my beautiful customers! xo

recently

Some of my recent crochets. Made a bikini top for one of my customers, 

and with this ball of yarn I make a ton more! In my shop: www.etsy.com/listing/85007224

Finished this project from msed day 2. It's a crop top that I made for another lovely etsy seller. 

Craft trades are awesome. The recipient of this top makes some beautiful jewelry, 

check out her shop: www.bohobettyks.etsy.com

make something days twelve&thirteen

This weekend I made: two new "slave bracelets," hand chains, ring bracelets or whatever you want to call them. One for each day, I made the moon one on Saturday and then went a little feather crazy on Sunday. I'm willing to sell the feather one if anyone wants it and though I'm keeping the moon chain for myself, I can make a few more to put up in my shop! Any takers?

make something day eleven

Today a made: a set of nature inspired granny squares. I took this photo of some of my beautiful flowers a couple days ago, and I've actually never made a granny square before today so I figured I'd try it out. Now, I can fall back on making more of these "little flowers" and maybe by the end of the year I'll have enough to sew 'em up into a blanket, my own cozy garden. :)

make something day ten

Today I made: a painting for my mother. It's kind of a late christmas present, but more just an idea that I wanted to create for her. I'm not overly excited about the finished product, but decided to call it finished before messing it up any more than I already did. But!, there is a story behind it. It's called Ave Maria, and is from a scene in Fantasia where a bunch of robed beings are seen walking down a path carrying torches and singing the chorus to Ave Maria. While watching Fantasia together, she went on about how much she loved this scene and how it was the one of the songs played during her mothers funeral. Though sad, I know that this song holds importance in her heart, so I took my memory of the visual scene and recreated it. It didn't exactly come out as good as I intended it too, mostly because of my few mess ups that I had to cover up, but the important part is that she likes it!

make something day nine

Today I made: a crochet headband. Here's another cute crochet project that's easy to make and doesn't take very long. They're very useful too! This ones super warm and a must bring to the snow this winter. I used a fluffy roving wool yarn that's incredibly soft and comfortable, perfect for a headband. 

In other news, I spent the rest of my day crocheting and working on a new Valentines listing. I took yesterdays 'make something' project, which was a crocheted heart necklace, and made it this morning in two more lovey dovey colors, then I took a bunch of pictures and posted it in my shop. I'm hoping to provide some cute, affordable, handmade gifts for lovers to buy for their ladies because every girl deserves something special on Valentines day. Now, I'll probably spend my evening filling orders, drinking green tea and watching America's Funniest Home Videos.

New in my shop:
heart necklaces // valentine scarves // bow hair clip

make something day eight

Today I made: a little crochet heart necklace. So cute and so easy to make, I had to give it a try. Maybe I'll sell a few for Valentines day this year. <3

make something day seven

Today I made: the third scarf in this set. The other two were already completed but my plan was to make a bunch of them for my shop so I decided to crank out another one. I intended to tie dye them in solid colors once I had a good amount of these done but I'm not sure how popular they'll be so maybe I'll just start with a few and see how it works out?

In other news, today I started out with a troubled mind and bad thoughts but these days all I have to do is think positively if I want to change my mood. Though sometimes it's difficult to be happy or even content, I just need to count my blessings and realize that the bad thoughts are just a waste of the time that I could be using to make improvements on my life. Also, I promise to get my camera back out soon but for now I'm just using these instagram pics so I can make my posts quickly and get one in every day to keep updated on my msed365 project. 

make something days five&six

This weekend I made: a little bow keychain and another bracelet using an old moon bead. I know they're just little things, and were pretty simple to make but it is the weekend and it was a busy one. I gave the keychain to one of my friends, so heey I'm a pretty good friend to have, hang around me and you might get some free stuff. ;)

In other news, I had a great first week of the new year. How was yours?

make something day four

Today I made: a couple new bracelets using the pieces from a necklace that broke. I don't wear jewelry that often but I really loved this necklace, so of course it had to break. I let the pieces sit around for so long with intentions to remake the necklace and finally I did something with it! If anything, this daily project has given me the motivation to do things that I normally would have just put off. And these bracelets are super cute!

#MSED 365

(Make Something Every Day)

using the hashtag #msed365 on

tumblr // instagram

make something day three

Today I made: a new turquoise necklace. It didn't take too long and I have a ton of jewelry making supplies and materials laying around. Over the years I've developed a real knack at making jewelry but it's not something that I do often and it doesn't sell very well in my shop. Maybe one day I'll be able to use all of little jewelry boxes that I have and send some pretty pieces off to new homes and new customers, but for now I can just enjoy it as a hobby and widen my personal jewelry collection. 

In other news, the sweater that I'm wearing in the first photo is hand knitted and straight out of my grandmothers closet. It's flawlessly made and I probably wear it way too much. I'm always surrounded by art and handmade items, my life is just a mess of creativity.

make something day two

Today I made: The first half a new top. I'm working on a trade that I made with another Etsy shop owner, but I'm super late on it and I already received her part of the deal weeks ago. So, I figured I'd put this project to good use and make her top while I have the time. Like I said, I'm only halfway done, but I'll have most of it done by the end of the night. It's no simple crochet piece so it will probably take more than just one day to complete but I still made something, and it was something that needed to be done!  For her I'm making this top but in the lovely red wine color above. I'll have more pictures once it's completed but for now this is all I got. 

In other news, when I went to the post office to ship off some orders today I was hit with the smell of burnt P.O. boxes. Looks like someone had their fun this weekend and thought that the post office would enjoy some fireworks. I'm not sure what exactly was put into the drop box that caused the fire but I'm sure there's some video evidence of what happened. Thought that was interesting, what would cause someone to blow up a post office? Anyways, time for me to get back to my yarn and crochet hook. 

#MSED 365

(Make Something Every Day)

make something every day

 

Happy New Year! It is my goal for 2013 to Make Something Every Day. To be creative and make art a part of my daily life. I vow also to get out and smell the flowers every day, enjoy the fresh air and keep my mind at ease. I can't guarantee that all of my creations will be blog worthy but I will try my best to document each days new idea. 

Today I made: A couple new things for the shop. Already this is helping with business! After uploading a handful of new items to my shop, I got out my red yarn and made a red version of this bow and a cranberry red version of this scarf. No pictures yet but I'll have these colors added to my shop before the week is over. In other news, the rain has been treating my garden well and the flowers are blooming beautifully. <3 

So, the challenge has started,

and day one has been completed.

#MSED 365

(Make Something Every Day)