(no subject)

[inside-out.livejournal.com]

michael's had end tables on clearance for 9$ so i made ( this )

Scarf, Benji and Edgar

[world-of-tights.livejournal.com]

Hello! This is my first post, although I have been reading for quite a while - you are all very talented!

Anyway, my name is Addie and I have been knitting for a few years now, but always kind of give up on projects half way through... Last week I taught myself how to crochet, primarily to make flowers, but I have now discovered how wonderful it is. I'm still not so good at it, but I'm really proud of the stuff I've made thus far...

( Read more )

Finding my way back to craft

[amaz0n.livejournal.com]

I'm a 23-year-old die-hard crafter. Knitting, sewing, general artistry, you name it, I do it. I've got a closet full of crafting supplies and three plastic bins full of my fabric stash. Most of the stuff in my house is either hand-made by me or bought at thrift stores and revamped into fabulousness.

Well, about a year ago, a set of fairly traumatic life events occured. To make a long story short, I've battled severe depression and anxiety for about a year. All of the things that used to bring pleasure to my life, including crafting, fell by the wayside as I got overwhelmed by my problems.

Recently, I've decided that I need to take my life back. Part of swimming back to the surface is getting re-involved in all of my hobbies, including art and craft.

So after a year (yes, a whole year) of not crafting, I'm trying to step back into it. But honestly, I feel completely overwhelmed. I haven't done any of this stuff for what seems like forever. It sounds weird, but I feel like I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I'm overwhelmed with questions about stupid things that I would have been able to do with ease a year ago (and those questions are probably going to make their way onto here eventually).

Has anyone else ever felt like this? How did you get back into the flow, so to speak?

fancy crafting vs... what i can do

[rachieangelwing.livejournal.com]

i am a general crafter. i just make whatever, have limited skill sets in lots of things, great skill sets in not too many things. here are examples of things i have made-

*cat tent / hammock made with an old chair, a pair of jeans, and a pair of boxers
*a lot of paintings (decent, but nothing special)
*hemp jewelry (decent, but nothing special)
*marble magnets (made with yellow glue and came out looking eh)
*a felt 'coupon kitty' that sticks to the fridge and holds coupons
*knitted dryer lint ball (to hang outside for birds to use)
*farm animal babies made with felt

anyway, for a long time i lived in a kind of crappy apartment, where pretty much anything i made looked nice. it was really cool because stuff i made was pretty much everywhere.

but, this month we moved into a nice house, and now all my stuff looks like crap. everything looks out of place and not nice.

i was so excited though, because for the first time in my life i have a whole HUGE walk-in closet that i completely organized with all these purple glitter pull-out boxes with all my craft stuff, but i have not made ANYTHING because all the stuff i made before looks so bad in the new house it broke my spirit.

i even tried getting new things I haven’t tried before (like fabric paint), but even that isnt getting me back to crafting.

i am getting a sewing machine (donated to me) and i am going to learn how to sew, so maybe that will get me crafting again, but my super nice organized space just seems sad now that my crafts don't look good. it also makes me hesitant to sew, if i cant make things that look nice.

everyone here has such nice stuff though, i am just going to keep watching and hoping to get inspired again. the tutorials are REALLY nice, because maybe if they show me where i am going wrong, i will craft again because i will know how to make nice things.

if anyone has any ideas for me, let me know. or if anyone is really interested in seeing anything i mentioned above. otherwise i will just keep watching. thanks!

Painting on suede

[astrea.livejournal.com]

I checked the memories and googled, but didn't find a satisfactory answer to this question, so I am going right to the experts. Have any of you ever painted on suede? What kind of paint did you use, and do you think acrylic would do the job? I want to add white polka-dots to red suede shoes using a little adhesive stencil, and I'd like to not end up ruining them.

Thanks!

decorating!

[iguanasdefuego.livejournal.com]

Hello, all.
As I said in my last post, my boyfriend and I just moved in together. So we're decorating and I finally got pics of the paintings I've made for the place.

( Here's what I have pics of so far. )

Nothing amazing, I know. But it beats plain white walls.
I have some pastels and such waiting to be framed that I'll snap pics of later to post.

<3

afghan backing?

[toastess.livejournal.com]

so i'm making a bubble bobble afghan for my sister for christmas... 12 inch squares in flat single crochet with characters done in cross-stitch. i'm happy with how the front turned out, but the back, despite my efforts to keep the back as neat as possible, looks a mess. i was going to try afghan stitch squares so i could hide the backs of the stitches in the fabric, but the squares curled too much and i don't think blocking would have helped since i'm using acrylic.

( pictures )

so i was wondering if anyone had any experience with backing an afghan with fabric. i want to sew the finished squares together in a checkerboard pattern with alternating cross-stitched squares and solid squares, so i think i only want to cover the backs of the cross-stitched squares. do you think this would work? what kind of fabric could i use? anything else you would suggest to cover the backs?

thanks ^_^

Travel Bag

[misstakenid.livejournal.com]

( lookey see what I made today )

question!!!

[mybuddyishot.livejournal.com]

hi hi hopefully someone will respond quick! I'm bored and have been looking for something to do all day, so I pulled out this dress pattern I had. I have never really done a pattern before so I have this one question -- are the seam allowances included in the pattern (like if i cut the piece out is it the piece and seam allowance in one) or do I have to include that in addition to the piece?

Prommmmmm!!!

[anti-normality.livejournal.com]

Hey, sorry this is text only....

( I need a strapless, backless bra.... )

(no subject)

[stargazercrys.livejournal.com]

Not sure if this is allowed or not, but figured I'd give it a shot and if it's not ok-I understand if it gets deleted.

I was wondering if there were any wonderful crafters out there in LJ land that happen to be in the South Jersey area. I was hoping to start a SnB around here, the closest one is Philly (which sometimes has them in Jersey) but I hate travelling to Philly. I am right near the Lindenwold Patco station. Close to Berlin, Marlton, Deptford-to give people a reference point. By all means, please email me: ImagineBelieveBreathe@gmail.com I'd love to start something, if anyone is available-even just a few people for an afternoon of crafting. Any sort of crafting allowed! :)

Thanks so much! Have a safe and happy holiday weekend everyone.
Crystal