Hodgepodge!

I am so inspired by neawear's beautiful and kitschy wall wear that I have decided to start doing hand embroidery again! I have always loved fabric arts, and lately I've been getting back into sewing and knitting. I cast them aside for jewelry, and I'm ready to try my hand at them again. I love embroidery for so many reasons, but one is because it's so much more portable than jewelry--you can pop your hoop (as long as it's smallish), needle, and floss in your purse and go! I'll be listing the fruits of my efforts in my new Etsy shop, sew sharp very soon, so please tune in there!

I have also added some new lovelies to hawleywood, my OG Etsy shop! I am growing the Hodgepodge series, which utilizes vintage and new items to create beautiful new pieces of jewelry with serious street cred. That's the tag line I'm using. You like?

Nick invited his parents over for dinner this weekend, which is great because I love his parents, but TERRIBLE because the house seriously looks like a tornado hit it. PS we don't have a vacuum right now, and the carpets are looking unbelievably scuzzy. We'll probably have to lug my dad's gigantic-ass Filter Queen down to the house tomorrow so we can clean up this wretched mess. It's one of the old-fashioned 1980s brown vacuums that has a big round base on casters (that weighs about 80 pounds), and a long hose connected to an equally monstrous sucky part. I don't know what that part's called. It kind of takes away from the story, I know, but it's not like it was a great story anyway.

I'm still obsessed with design*sponge, and How About Orange, and now I'm checking knack like it's my job, hoping desperately for some updates. I went to Barb's booth at Antiques on Augusta (in Greenville, where I live), and I loved seeing her stuff up close. I just wish there was more of it on display. I want to go to the next First Friday, which is when all the local artists open their studios to the public, including knack! PS there were some hot tranny messes up in Antiques on Augusta, but I guess money doesn't buy taste.

Have a great weekend!

Oh, God

There's a reason I hate eBay, and I just remembered what it is: it SUCKS!! I bid on a couple of lots of embroidery hoops and thread, because I've been seeing all these beautiful embroidered works of art and it made me want to pick up my needle and thread again and give it a try. I always bid on a couple of the same things on eBay, just because I've been burned too many times by losing to some ass who does nothing but troll eBay all day long, waiting to pounce on auctions that are almost over. I figured that I would increase my odds of winning today, and bet on four different lots of embroidery hoops. I set my max bid on all of them, figuring I would end up having to pay $20.00 at the MOST for ONE lot of them. Unfortunately, today was apparently a slow day on eBay, and I won all of the damn auctions, meaning I am out about $60.00. Nick is going to be so pissed. We're supposed to be saving money for our second honeymoon this summer, since we didn't get a real honeymoon right after the wedding.

Dammit.

My plan was to get maybe 8 hoops, make some stuff for myself and try to sell some on Etsy. Now I guess I'll just have to re-eBay the damn things, although I'm such a packrat I'll probably never get rid of them, and they'll end up collecting dust like all the rest of my unfinished projects. I wish I had more time to spend on crafting. I feel like I make some nice things, and that if I had more time to spend blogging and actually making pieces, I would sell more. I don't know. I look at these shops on Etsy that sell jewelry, and I KNOW my stuff is so much nicer, cooler, and better-made, but these people have a bajillion sales and I have 4. I'm not trying to say that I'm the best thing since sliced bread or anything, but seriously, COME ON! I am not going to make some tacky-ass anklet just so I can make more sales. I would rather be a poor, unsuccessful artist who makes awesome stuff than put one thing in my shop that I don't like or wouldn't wear.

Bah.

I wanted to get so much done this weekend, and as usual, I got nothing done. I skipped church today and slept in until 1:00 pm, then cleaned and folded clothes before getting sucked into VH1's reality shows and the ever-enticing pull of teh interwebs. Maybe tomorrow I will actually get something done. HA! I'm going to my Etsy Street Team meeting tomorrow at noon, so hopefully I can get some good ideas from the successful sellers there. Here's hoping!

Happy MLK Day!!

It's back!!!

Hawleywood, my original Etsy shop, is up and running again!! Please stop by and take a look at my new items--feel free to comment and give advice/criticism. Work has been insane as usual, but since I'm only taking one course in Jan. term I'm trying to make 2-3 new pieces every day. I relisted all my expired items today, and in hindsight, I should have relisted them a few at a time. Oh well...too late now.

Other than that, I suppose it's just business as usual. I'm working on a mobile for my cousin who's having a baby, and that's slow going. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to finish it up.

Time for bed!