I'm doing a giveaway in coordination with Monster Bites for a free Custom Eco Coffee Sleeve!  You get to choose what you want on your sleeve!  To enter, all you have to do is comment on this post and tell me - How do you like your coffee? - ... but be sure to sign in or enter your e-mail address so that I can get in touch with you if you are the winner.  Contest will end at 12 noon (EST) on Saturday and the winner will be chosen at random.

Here are a couple of sleeves to inspire you!

These sleeves are made from recycled materials!  The outer layer is made from fused plastic grocery bags... several layers of plastic bags are fused with a low heat to form one strong, solid material that both looks and feels like wrinkly leather.  The lining and patch are made from upcycled materials.  A vintage button and small elastic loop allow this sleeve to fit a variety of cup sizes...even cans!

For more info about my products and Eco Coffee Sleeves, please check out my Etsy Store :  soshesews.etsy.com

So...


How do you like your coffee?

Along with 2010's awesomeness, every Sunday I will be bringing to you an installment of something in my possession which I absolutely adore.  Pay attention because some times you might find a neato crafting tool that I cannot live without, maybe a thrift store find, and sometimes I'll show you my latest Etsy or craft fair purchase.

So... on with the first of many!

There's just so much...

... so much to tell you my dear bloggy.

First, let's start with what we've missed.

1. The biggie... I got married! I've been screaming about it (almost everything was DIY, of course) for months, and you can check out my Flickr if you're interested in the whole scoop... but here's a tiny dollop to satisfy your cravings (Photos are done by the very talented Andrew Thomas Lee... please refer to him for complete amazingness!).


2. Second, business has been great! I'm starting to learn that for me it has more to do with keeping up with the demand, and being productive every day.

3. You can now find my goodies locally in Atlanta at Beehive Coop!
It's been really fun being there so far! So many talented designers in a one-stop shop! Check it out!

And now for the Future News!


2. Now that I am a genu*wine* arteeeeesst, I must have an art show to launch my new work! The month of March, you will find my newest line of art on show at Octane Coffee here in the great Westside Arts District in Atlanta!

3. And of course, no awesome year would be complete for me without major plans for ...

...CRAFT FAIRS!

This year's gona be a bit strange (Indie Craft Experience announced this month that they will not be having a summer show... boooooooo! hisssss!). ICE will be missed greatly... but I'd really like to try my very hardest to do one of the Renegade Craft Fairs. It would involve a lot of traveling... a huge expense (the closest one is in Chicago)... but I think I would kick butt there, so we'll see if it pans out.

As usual, you will find me at least once a month (as long as the gettin's good) at some local craft fair. Follow me on Twitter get the latest updates about what craft fairs I'll be doing!

xoxo

Love you!

So I am having photography woes.

I just cannot seem to get my lighting right. Or maybe it's my exposure. In any case, I do not know enough about photography to get things done the way I need to get them done.

You know when you stare at something so long that it starts to look normal? Like having a vase on your mantle that you see every day and you don't notice how much dust is gathering on it until a clump of dust slides down the side of it.

I stared at this photo for so long...



... and tinkered with it for so long on picnik.com...


... and ended up with what I THOUGHT was a great-looking re-touched photo....
NOW it just looks like this cloud is floating in a world of airbrushing. It's a lifeless being without a shadow... just searching for a slightly-yellow tinted nothingness in which to suck the life out of you with.

Or maybe he's a sad cloud because he empathises with my plight. The neverending ache of what it is to take delightful, slightly blue-ish natural sunlight-ish, but not too contrasty or washed out, somewhat enhanced color saturation, with depth and appeal and lets not forget to use the MACRO!!!! OMG!

I just want to sew and create!

Can't these photos take themselves? Gah.

And there you have it! Your trim dispenser.

NOW... you may be wanting to say to me... "BUT BROOKE... do you mean to tell me I have to take all my trim dispensers off this loop just so I can use one?"

NOPE.

When you're ready to use one of the trims, just take the whole chandellier with you. Set it in your lap or hang it from a back corner of your chair, or hang it from the side of your sewing table. Unpin the trim you want to use.... and use it. Since it's on a roll it will just... well... dispense.

You made the big, fat knot and the loop just so that you can add more trim dispensers on. But you will never have to take them off the loop once they are on.

The SweetGreens blog was hosting an Earth Friendly Etsy Giveaway last week with one of my items... and a winner has been announced! Thank you so much to everyone who participated!

Believe it or not, the winner lives less than a 30 minute drive from me! Imagine that!

Everyone please check out Sweet Greens often for more giveaways! Entry is really simple and easy!

http://sweetgreens.blogspot.com

Today I woke up relatively unmotivated. But, somehow... this one little spark of motivation came through while doing my dialy surf of the net of all things crafty and awesome... LET'S MAKE A PAIR OF SHOES, BROOKE!

Don't ask me where the decision to make a pair of shoes came from. God knows, I have dozens of perfectly good shoes just gathering dust in the closet. Probably part "Let's see if we're capable of this." and probably part "If you're really good at it, perhaps you can do it for money." Who knows. Whatever was driving me... drove me all the way.

BEHOLD!



















Now obviously I'm not ready to become a cobbler or anything. But, given that I've never made a pair of shoes before... and my very limited tools, I'd say I did alright... a very shoddy version of a pair of Toms if I ever saw one.



















Basically, I drew up a pattern with construction paper (yes), pinned it together and tried it on my foot. When I was satisfied with my paper pattern I made one prototype, and then changed anything to the pattern if I saw something with the prototype needed to be changed.

I made the uppers and inner sole and lining out of green canvas material. The inner sole (interior padding inside) is actually a cut up foam hand that was given as a souvenir at a friend's wedding (you know, the kind that look like they're pointing and saying Number One!)

Then, I cut up a pair of gross looking Teva-look-alike Old Navy sandals that I bought last year cuz they were $3 and I needed river shoes. Now, this left little holes in the soles where the sandal straps used to be, but that's ok... these aren't profesh, ok? I just won't wear them on rainy days.

I used Gorilla super glue to glue the soles to the uppers... and then I was done!





A few things I'll change for next time...

I'm going to look for something better than old flip-flop stuff for the soles. I'm thinking rubber tile, it's thinner and easier to cut.

I made these shoes to fit me, but they ended up very snug... like comfortable snug... but a little snug. I'm going to enlarge the patter for next time.

Ok, so this post is inspired by a forum post I made just a few hours ago. Someone was asking about how craft fairs compared to selling things on Etsy. I made the following analogy:

"Craft shows are kind of like hitting your target with a cannon and Etsy is kind of like hitting your target with a sniper rifle. You can take your time with the sniper rifle and get 'em at a distance. Sniper rifles are easy to load, and a one-man job most of the time. Cannons are cumbersome to move, difficult to load, more expensive to bear, and require a little help maneuvering. But, if you're on-target with your cannon, you can do a lot more "damage" with just one shot."

In every war, many weapons are used. I say, when it comes to crafting, use them all!

Hello Blog. It's been a while. Time to start using you again. Much has changed... much has not. 

I'm a sucker for well-done upcycled items. Especially if it's something I NEVER in a million years would have thought of myself. Advent calendars are difficult to find... especially if you're looking for a classy one. Check this amazing advent calendar out by keepsakesbykristi...  That's right folks, it's a muffin tin!  Truly brilliant... and a great price!


http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_10&listing_id=18037580

I think the best Christmas stuff doesn't scream "Christmas!", you know? It's the kind of stuff that still gives you that warm fuzzy feeling of the holiday season, yet could still sit on your shelf or whatever throughout the year. Like, for instance this great upcycled bottle lamp from missdaisyw.

I have found myself lately sharing my thoughts with lots of different people on dating, love, responsibility and respect within relationships, and the difference between boys and girls. I find it slightly ironic that someone who hasn't even really dated someone for like 4 years has suddenly become an informant. It's funny how distance from something gives you a broader and yet somehow more informed perspective.

Tonight a friend of mine said he thinks that a boy and a girl having dinner together (especially if he is paying for the dinner) should be considered a date. He said he thinks that it is considered a date. I had a lot of things to say about that, as you can probably imagine.

He says, "Well, what would make it a date then?" I said, "Oh you know, the statement of intent making it an official 'date', holding hands, the exchange of mutual or verbal affection for one another, kissing, and most importantly: that the sole purpose of the encounter is to 'get to know' the other person so as to progress the romantic nature of the relationship."

And I added, "Cuz, you know I've had several boys 'hang out' with me... and even pay for the food: as favors or as pay-back of some sort, and I would never presume to conclude that there were romantic intentions involved."

Of course, anyone who knows me knows that this is false. I should have said "I would hope not to presume that there were romantic intentions involved."

Therein lies the female demise. The mortal fate of my kind, the bleeding heart of the lonely friend, the "motherly" figure, the soft shoulder, the hopelessly devoted kindness and the self-less advice.

Sigh. Oh how my heart longs for days forgotten. Oh how I pang and pray for the gentlemanly nature of sturdy intentions, uninhibited honesty, unabashed passion and meek consideration for a soft heart.

I am consoled in knowing that these things that possibly bring out intimidation may some day be a blessing and a God-send to some deserving man.

Saturday night I had this costumed event for my day job to attend. My friend David was kind enough to be my date. He went as a California Raisin, and I endeavored to make this costume completely from scratch so that I could go as a "piece of meat".

I designed the costume on paper first. Using a female body template, I drew out the shape of a steak from the breast line down, and included basic shoulder straps. The basic framework looks like a thick, wavy A-line dress. On paper I could tell that just the dress was not going to be enough to get the message across. I needed something more... a hat! I drew out what looked like the top of a bone to sit atop my head. So far so good. I also wanted to include a small interior pocket on one side of the dress so that I could carry around individually wrapped pieces of beef jerky and tell people to "eat me".

I constructed the framework of the steak/dress out of flame-retardant foam rubber. I used spray adhesive to fuse all the seams of the foam... which was suprisingly easy but not completely sturdy. I purchased several yards of a bright yellow spandex to create the outer and inner "shell" of the dress because I knew that the raw foam would probably absorb the paint or not paint very well. FYI- when you spray paint synthetic foam, the chemicals in the spray paint (similar to acetone in nail polish remover) tend to break down the plastic in the foam, making it crunchy and hard to the touch. I didn't want that so I resolved to cover my steak/dress with the spandex first.

Now, ideally, it would have been much more professional for me to sew all the pieces of fabric together first, fit them snuggly around the framework of foam, and stitch around the edges to finish the piece off before painting. But, I was limited on time, and knew that if I got the fit of the spandex wrong, I would not have enough spandex or time left for a second chance at it. So, what I did was cut loose pieces of spandex and use the spray adhesive to simply glue the fabric to the foam. In my tiny, closed off apartment, I'm pretty sure I got a little high off the fumes... but that's neither here nor there. After securing all the fabric to both the inside and outside of the shell of the dress, I was ready to paint.

On the next day, I took the dress outside with a tarp to begin spray painting. As soon as I started, I realized I'd made a huge mistake. Remember my little FYI about acetone? Well, the spray paint began to affect the spray adhesive I had used to fuse the fabric to the foam. the edges of the fabric began to lift off and become "unglued". I did my best to press down the edges as i painted, but resolved to just have a really sloppy finished product.

I layed down two colors. One was a muted brown primer to cover the bright yellow color of the spandex. Next was a brighter red for highlights. After the spray paint dried, I took the project inside and used some gesso and acrylic paint to add the finishing touches. White was used to create the look of fat around the edge of the steak. I used a blue paint pen to make little veins in the fat. I am totally not an artist... but I did my best.

Next, I needed to create the hat. I used an old phone book and cut a bunch of little strips of paper. I had just inherited a manequin head (thank you Cat!). I covered the mannequin head with a plastic bag to protect it and made a little paper mache hat. For the paper mache, I simply mixed some flour with water, dipped the strips of paper in the mixture and went to town. After creating the cap, I inflated two small round balloons and taped them together, side by side. I affixed them on top of the cap and also covered them in paper mache. Next, alls I had to do was wait for the paper mache to dry.

The next day was Saturday and the paper mache hat was dry. I painted it a flat white with gesso, and added some shadowing with a brown acrylic paint. It kinda looked like the top of a bone, and totally "made" the costume.

An elastic band was stapled to the hat so that it would stay on my head.

But, I realized all too late that I had forgotten to add the pocket for the beef jerky! I just stapled a small strap to the Slim Jim can, and made a little purse to carry them.

The end result was:

Not very many people could tell at first what exactly I was supposed to be. I don't know if that's because it really just looks like a poofy dress, or if it's my artistic skills not adding up to par.

Also, not too many people were impressed by the beef jerky joke. Maybe in a parade or a large crowd it would go off a little better.

The shortcomings of the costume really annoyed me. I KNOW I am better than this. I was disappointed I did not have enough time to make sure all the edges of the fabric were secured before I wore this thing out. I am going to keep it and will make improvements before I wear it again. I will hand-stitch all the edges in the future and maybe even get someone who can actually paint to help me create the "look" I really want.

I was so worried that the elastic on the hat was going to cut off circulation to my head that I did not make it tight enough. I ended up having to check it and keep it from falling off all night. I will adjust that next time.

Also, I completely forgot my camera all night... so I don't have pictures... but I think I'd rather post them when I have a better-looking finished product!