So, as you can imagine, after all of that excitement and running around, I tend to be a bit tired after work and therefore cannot muster up any energy for crafting. But fear not, for my weekends are filled with a crazed desire for sewing and I have actually been working on a lot of stuff. (I just hadn’t gotten around to taking photos.)

So, here’s a plethora of stuff that I’ve done in the last 6 months:

Fabric bracelets

These are fun to make, very easy to do!

I also got on the pincushion buzz too:

I’ve also managed to make my very first messenger bag, woo! Thanks to this handy tutorial http://pinoyinoz.blogspot.com/2008/07/tutorial-messenger-bag-with-zip-top.html, I now have a very funky and secure bag!

Sorry the pictures aren’t great but the light was dimming and it was hard to get shots.

That’s all the blogging I can do for now, I’m tired. Laters!

One thing I love is scouring the mighty oceans of the Internet, searching for tutorials. There’s just so much cool stuff out there and I want to make so much of it! I rarely follow the full directions, somewhere along the way I’ll insert my own twist on things.

Anyways, one of the most awesome tutorials I’ve seen is from Obsessively Stitching. Caroline makes lots and lots of funky stuff, including fabric storage cubes.
The tutorial I tried was the quilty belt and I must say, it’s a fantastic tutorial. I never thought it could be so easy to make drab belts look so awesome!

(I don’t have a before shot, but it was quite boring.)

Time for the Action shot!

Nifty! The photo was taken by my boyfriend, who is feeling poorly. Awwh!

Much thanks to Caroline at Obsessively Stitching!

My sewing toolkit

On the upside, my mam gave me her sewing machine, a glorious Singer 9012. (Yep, the one I wasn’t allowed touch as a kid!) This workhorse has lasted 20 years and it’s still going strong. T’is a dream to use!

(I call her Attie, short for Athena, the goddess of crafting. It’s not an ego thing, it was either that or Zapp from “Futurama” fame. Personally, I don’t want to sew nothing but velour!)

Getting my love of photography on with my love of sewing...

I’ve already made loads of things with her, but that’s for another post.

The other things I’ve learnt this year: knitting (learnt basics as a kid, but I forget almost everything until January just gone), crochet (I’m only at the basic stage now), digital art, jewellery making, embroidery and I’m sure there’s other stuff but I can’t think of them right now.

My first embroidery piece - ever!

OK,  so some of these skills are still at extremely basic levels, but it’s all fun and I’m gonna keep on trying! I’m gonna try quilting next

Out of everything though, I gotta admit that sewing is probably my favourite.

I joined up to Craftster.org which is this unique community of crafty people. Everyone’s so nice and so goddamn talented that my jaw drops on a hourly basis at least (I do occasionally have to drag myself away from Craftster). Some of the tutorials are incredibly brilliant as well, I wholeheartedly endorse having a look!

I also joined up to the Monthly Odd Holidays swaps which have been fun, slightly nerve wrecking (“oh insert-deity-here, what if my partner doesn’t like what I sent? What if it doesn’t arrive?!”)  and invaluable to my learning. But mostly a lot of fun!

Well, I’ll leave it at that for now. But I’ll be back again soon(ish) with more updates!

Here’s the flyer that myself and my lovely boyfriend made!

Facebook group is here if you would like to join us in stompin’ the night away! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=335063750465#!/event.php?eid=335063750465&ref=ts

If you sign up to stompevents@gmail.com, then it’s only €5 in instead of €7 at the door. Make sure to sign up before the 6th of March though!

Give a listen to these lads whilst you’re waiting in anticipation!

Shatterfreak: http://soundcloud.com/shatterfreak

Welfare: http://soundcloud.com/welfare

Ganjdalf: http://www.youtube.com/user/DubTHC

It’s time for my Photoshop skills!

First and foremost, I must mention that I’ve only learnt how to make actual digital art almost a year ago. Before then, I knew the basics that would help with my photography, such as crop, trim, resize, skew, that sort of thing. I found Photoshop to be an intimidating program at first truthfully. There’s just so many options and buttons and nothing is named the way I needed it to be named.

With practise though, I’ve learnt a ton of new tricks and I’m looking forward to learning even more.

First off, a digital art piece based on my eye.

Eye

I wish I could remember where I got that particular flower pattern from. I’ve been really hesitant about putting this piece online but if anyone can tell me who made this pattern, I’d be more than happy to credit them!

UPDATE: I remember where I got this particular pattern, it’s from Brusheezy.com, the link is as follows:

http://www.brusheezy.com/brush/1280-Very-Flowery

Next up, a robot!

Searching Robot

The next one is for my friend Colm who is just plain crazy about Star Wars. While I don’t share his obession love, I did enjoy doing a shoot with him and making some digital art pieces.

Disco Jedi

Suffering Jedi

Jedi in the Fields

And just for kicks, here’s a random selection of other stuff I did:

GIR

Aido's Eye

Nietzche quote

Well kids, I hope you’ve enjoyed that. No doubt I will make more

Til next time, see ya!

The reason why I haven’t updated in a while was due to, yet again, a lot of stuff happening. There was the gig on the 11th of December that I was co-organising so that meant making decorations and visuals for the night. The actual gig…well, there was some technical problems and some anger to deal with but it was all dealt with and the audience seemed to enjoy themselves. I felt I aged a thousand years but the best and most awesome Christmas rest sorted that out for me and now I’m back to my youthful 27 years old!

Also, there was Christmas to deal with that distracted me from blogging. Being broke and funemployed (someone who enjoys being unemployed, i.e. actually making good use of all the free time), I had to resort to cheap, crafty presents so I was frantically trying make presents (whilst doing the other stuff too). I succeeded too, so I’m pleased. However, I’ve already given all of those presents away so the only photo I can show you is the present I made for my boyfriend.
My boyfriend and I are comic fans (generally not the Marvel/DC stuff, more Watchmen/Preacher/Sandman kind of thing but willing to dabble) and we both agree that Rorschach is the most bad ass superhero of the lot. It’s true! He never loses sight of what’s right and wrong, he doesn’t want ANYONE to see his real face, he’s a bit crazy and he can fight as well as any superhero. He’s the quintessential anti-hero.
Anyhoo, I made him a Rorschach plushie. He was originally going to be part of the Aido’s Monkey Army but then I thought to myself “nah, this guy’s got to be special” so he’s just himself.

Rorschach from "Watchmen"

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Who watches the watchmen?

(Answer on back of the poster: ME.)

What do you think?

In return, all I ask is one question.
If you could rule any country in the world, where would you choose and why?

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=56636.0

Me wearing my lovely warm hat:

Detail on one of the ears:

I probably should mention that this didn’t cost me anything at all to make!

Photos by Aidan O’ Brien.

I know I haven’t written to you since I was 8 years old but I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve been a good girl (mostly). So, if you don’t mind, here’s a little wishlist:

Things I Need Want:

• A drill. Preferably cordless but I’m not hugely fussy.
• Drill bits. (Obviously.)
• Polymer clay.
• Fabric paint.
• A saw (for making shelves).
• A tool box.
• A Canon D10 (for underwater shots!).

If you deliver the goods Santa, then I promise to use the items, blog what I’ve made and be a good girl for another year.

And since I’m dreaming, how about helping me win the lotto?

P.S.  I hope a lack of chimneys in my home won’t deter you from trying.

The night is called Sól Vs Stomp-O-Rama. Sól is a psytrance night run by my good friend Chris Quinn for various charities (we usually help out with decorations y’see) and I haven’t missed a single Sól night because they’re just so awesome! Great people, great atmosphere, fantastic music…it’s a guaranteed great night if you like psytrance.

For a while now, myself, my boyfriend Aidan and our friend Steve have been hankering to put on a gig that’d cater for the dubstep, breaks and drum ‘n’ bass fans, so we teamed up with Chris and hey, would you look at that, we’re putting on a dubstep/breaks/drum ‘n’ bass verus psytrance night! A Battle of the Genres if you will.

Anyway, the reason why I’m telling you fine folks is this: it’s a free gig, so if you’re around Dublin on December 11th and you’re looking for something to do, then scamper your way to the Odeon at 9pm, go upstairs, (give a little donation if you like!) and just have a good time!

To persuade you even more, here’s a flyer that myself and Aidan made together:

Sól Vs Stomp-O-Rama

In case you’re wondering, Saor in Aisce is Irish for “admit one”

Links!

www.solatnight.com
Facebook: (My facebook is acting weird, just do a search for Sól!)
Bebo: www.bebo.com/solatnight
MySpace: myspace.com/solatnight

Hope to see you there!