Baby Steps

It’s a new year and it’s starting out to be a good one!  Above is a recent project that I tackled (more on this later) that ties together what has been going on in my life these past few months.

Lately, I’ve been in a bit of a creative slump.  It’s winter, it’s cold, it’s dreary.  That never helps.  But it’s more than that.  I’m working more hours in my “day job” and I tire much more quickly than I used to.  Oh yeah, and I’m pregnant with my first child!

As of today I am 16 weeks along and every day is an adventure as to how my life is changing and will be completely different from now on.  I’m going to prenatal visits with a midwife, I listen to podcasts about pregnancy and babies (to learn about things such as birthing options, baby carriers, breast-feeding/pumping, etc.), I watch documentaries about the current situation most American women find themselves in when giving birth (Pregnant in America and The Business of Being Born are two of my favorites so far and are currently able to be streamed via Netflix), I follow along month by month with my used copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and I keep in touch with my good friend, Sarah, who is my pregnancy mentor, since she just gave birth to her first child three months ago (congratulations Sarah!).  What a great source of support and knowledge!  My husband and I are taking things one day at a time and trying not to stress out too much about the whole thing.  So far, it seems to be working.

Now that the first trimester is over and I’m regaining some of my previously lost energy, I feel more motivated to make things again (besides just this baby).  Motivation has been a real hinderance lately.  Though I want to start creating again, I find myself feeling a bit blocked as to what I want to do.  Do I continue making things almost exclusively with recycled materials?  Do I continue seeking out shops to potentially sell the things I make, as well as keeping up with the shops I’m already in?  Do I switch gears completely and just start making things for this baby?  I think the answer is probably to do a combination of all of these things.

Sometimes it’s the hardest to just get started, especially after what feels like a long break.  Taking things slow is probably a good way to start, which is how I came to make this crocheted baby dragon.  But let me back up first, because before I could make anything, I had to get organized.

On January 1st we took down all of our Christmas decorations, clearing the slate for the new year.  After that was done I was ready to do something that had really been getting me down; cleaning out my studio to make room for the baby.  I realize we have plenty of time before the baby will be here but it felt good to find new homes for all my tools and supplies.

The long, low dresser filled with my most essential tools (scissors, glue, hammer, pliers, crochet hooks, knitting needles, fasteners, etc) found a perfect new home as a buffet in our dinning room, conveniently located next to our dinning room table,  which is an excellent place to work.  The vintage suit cases underneath store finished products and also double as displays during craft shows.

On the underutilized side of our living room, my work table found a new home right next to a small closet which previously housed little more than our vacuum (not too necessary with all hardwood floors).  After moving the vacuum to the closet of the baby’s room, I had plenty of space for bigger essentials such as my sewing machines, irons, ironing board, sewing threads, and my most frequently used yarns.

My favorite feature of this storage space are the shelves that hang from the top to the door. We found these for only a dollar at a yard sale last summer! Now I can store and see all my little do dads such as buttons and beads. Love it!

Other, less used supplies, are now stored neatly in the attic and are still easily accessible.

I mention this because having an organized workspace is very important to many people’s creative process, including my own.  Though I feel lucky that I had a whole room to use exclusively for my work for an entire year, it did pose a problem of its own; it was impossible for me to keep it organized!  Now, with everything out in our living space, I am forced to clean up after my projects daily, since I am now unable to just shut the door and forget about it.

Now that I was organized I had to think of some things to make.  I started by processing a bunch of plastic bags that people have been giving me into new plarn.  Though it’s nice to have all those bags made into plarn and ready to be crocheted, I haven’t thought of what I want to make with them next yet.  So the plarn is on hold for now.

Then I started to look at my yarn stash and see what I wanted to make with that.  I couldn’t think of anything so I turned to Ravelry for some inspiration.  That’s where I found this free Baby Snow Dragon Pattern.  Originally, I had set out looking for something cute to make for my new baby.  Since this little guy has safety eyes it’s not exactly baby material since I guess it could be a choking hazard.  But it was the perfect application for my last bit of my green silk bamboo yarn, and since I haven’t done much amigurumi yet, it was a good exercise in the process.

More importantly, it got me making again, happy to be using up yarn in my stash, and excited about having a baby to make cute things for.  And I guess that’s all that really matters right?

PS- Doesn’t this baby dragon look like it needs a hug?

PPS- Here are my baby bump pictures that where take every two weeks starting at 12 weeks and ending with a picture that was taken today.

12 weeks

14 weeks

16 weeks

This post has just been added to Made By You Mondays over on Skip to my Lou!

Get Organized!

It was a busy day in my studio, but now, as usual, it’s a complete mess.  I’m really lucky to have a room devoted to all my supplies, at least for the time being.  My husband sees it less as losing a bedroom and more as gaining the rest of our home.  He loves that their aren’t strings and do dads all over the living room.

I know that I’ll have to devote a good amount of time to cleaning my room before I can continue working and it’s really a bummer because in a way it’s a waste of time, but in a way it’s really necessary.

I have a lot of storage in my studio and when it’s clean it’s really functional.  I really like open storage where I can see exactly what I have at a glance without having to dig through deep drawers or cupboards, like these small nicknack shelves shown above.  I hate nicknacks, but I love the idea of displaying my small supplies (buttons, beads, old spools of thread, etc) so that I can enjoy their aesthetic value while they’re “in storage,”and at the same time keep them accessible for use.  In the near future I’d like to paint all of these shelves white, so as to unify them and make them blend into the wall.

A lot of this shelf space is being taken up by my matchbook and matchbox collection that I found at an estate sale a while back.  I really need to do some stash busting of those.  Actually, that’s what I’ve been working on today, but more on that later.

Toot Tuesday; Inventory Organizer

Have you ever participated in a craft fair and felt that your inventory was less than organized?  If you can’t have every single thing that you have for sale on display, than you’re gong to need a place to store the overflow while at the event so that it’s easy to access.  This is something that occurred to me just today as I was putting the finishing touches on my last batch of puzzle piece earrings for the upcoming Cleveland Craft Coalition Art and Craft Bazaar.

That’s why today I’m sharing this super easy way to organize your inventory using things you probably already have around your house.

Materials:
A container that you already have. I used this old tackle box that was currently empty because it was the right size to hold all the earrings that I’ve made, plus it has a handy handle. A shoe box would also work very well.
Cardboard. Not corrugated cardboard, more like mat board. I have a bunch of board that I keep from large-scale sketch pads and damaged mats from art work.
Ruler
Utility knife
Scissors
Pencil
Masking tape

1. Measure your box to determine what sizes to make your compartment boxes.  Keep in mind that if your container has rounded corners like mine, your compartment boxes will have to accommodate that.  Depending on the type of products that you have will determine how big you will want your compartment boxes.  In my case I wanted to separate the earrings into color families.  I also knew that I wanted two levels of boxes.

2. Measure and draw out the bottoms and sides of your box, depending on how big you want your base and sides to be (see above).  Note that the side that you draw your guidelines will be the outside of your box, in case this matters to you.  Using your utility knife and ruler, detach your box from the rest of the board (see below).

3. Following your guidelines, remove the corners from the template, score the remaining lines, and fold up the sides of your box (see below).

4. Place a piece of masking tape on the outside corner of your box, long enough to stick out past the box by about an inch on each side. With your scissors, slit the tape that hangs off the edge of the box down the middle and fold over the sides (see below).

5. Repeat steps 1-4 until you have as many organizer boxes as you need. If you are making more than one level, as I did, you will want to place a piece of board between the two layers for added support.

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