Sunday, August 30, 2009

Positive Thinking

You may be wondering why I've posted a picture of this hole in our yard. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a picture of faith. Adam decided that he was going to build a shed to replace the old falling down metal one that you had to stoop to get into. Before I knew it, he had torn down the old shed, had it picked up by someone that responded to his craiglist ad, and arranged for his friend Zeke to help him this weekend. The faith part comes in because Adam's summer job with the Army Corp of Engineers has been over a week and so he's in job limbo. Being the worrier in our relationship, this should make me very nervous, especially when he's taking on big home improvements like a new shed! But I had to agree with him that now is the only time he would have to work on it, and let's face it, the condition of our old shed and our need for storage was getting a bit desperate. The new shed is beautiful! I'm so impressed by these guys! And I know that I'll appreciate it even more when I need to get in there one day when Adam's at work and can't fetch something for me out of the old spider infested shed.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Crisis Averted

I burnt up a total of three soldering iron tips on two different irons so finally, yesterday morning my awesome husband got me a new fancy soldering iron. Okay, it's not fancy but it does have a thermostat and a tip that hasn't melted! We decided that the replacement tips for the model I got at the craft supply store just weren't the same quality as the tip that came with the iron. Kind of a gip if you ask me. I hate how products are made nowadays to just throw away when they quit working, and in this case the product worked fine but the part I knew I'd have to replace would not no matter how many I tried. I guess they expect you to go buy another one of their irons after you've already tried two replacement tips (cha ching). Not this crafter!
So here's the first pendants done with the new iron. I'm a busy bee! Only seven more days to go until the First Friday Indie Market!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Be there or be square! We have a lot of great crafts people coming to this so if you're in the Triad area, PLEASE come support your local artisans!!! Remember, the holidays will be here before you know it....

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Catching Up

Wow. I took a four day vacation last week and I'm two weeks behind on everything. How does that happen?
So two weeks ago I took an altered surfaces class at Sew Original in Winston Salem with my mom. The instructor, Karen Fridy, was teaching techniques out of Rayna Gillman's book Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth. We tried rust dyeing, stamping after making our own stamps, discharging with bleach and gelatin printing. I especially like my discharged piece with my acorn stamp. I can't wait to experiment with these techniques more.
I was going to spend the day soldering new pendants for an upcoming craft show but I somehow melted not one, but two, soldering iron tips every time I tried. Even my resident stained glass artist can't figure out what the problem is. I have several ideas as to what the problem may be but the thing I can't figure out is why it's happening now when I haven't done anything differently. Adam says he'll figure it out tomorrow. I hope so because I've got to get to work!
I ended up sulking in the garden (Yes, I sulk when things don't work that are supposed to i.e. soldering iron, computer, etc. It's a major pet peeve of mine.). I felt much better after weeding a whole bed, repotting seedlings to go to the neighborhood People's Market, and harvesting the last of the corn and spring carrots. We'll have fall carrots if the chickens stop scratching in that bed! Tonight we had the corn with Adam's fried chicken (yum!) and tomatoes. Does this sound crazy? I think fresh vine to table tomatoes taste like sunshine!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The NC Triad Etsy Team will be out at this event on Friday. First Friday is the big arts night in downtown. We will be in front of the Greenhill Center for NC Art from 6-9 p.m. If you're in Greensboro, come check us out. Also, stayed tuned for more info about the first First Friday Indie Market in downtown Greensboro Sept. 4!