Craftzine linked to the Craft Trade site yesterday. Here is the link. Welcome, all you new members! Trade Day II is this Friday and I’m trading Bonprons.
The Flip Side
Dude. Where is the flip side, people? I could use some good news.
First of all, Schmutzie has long been one of my web favorites. When I was scouring the internet looking for people to interview, I found her and then hung on because wow, she’s original and compelling and real and funny. And a little wacky. And super smart. Put all together, you get the inimitable Schmutzie, whom I love with abandon that would probably scare the cat. I don’t want her to have cancer but just so you know, what I want means nothing. If it would help I might even consider becoming Mormon again. That is how much I love her.
Then you have Susan’s mom, Ginny, whom I never met in person but got to know so well through Susan’s Flickr. Susan showed the good, bad, ugly and the beautiful through her images and captions. Sometimes, all you could do was read and cry, which would turn into laughter at some point because Ginny was such a wild card. Taking care of an aging parent who has lost their ability to be a part of their own care-giving is an enormous drain and continuing learning experience for the people around them. But, besides all that, it’s also just what we do for those we love when the Universe presents us with that opportunity. I hope someday Susan writes a book about the experience. I’m sure many people would benefit and would love to read it. I got to meet Susan’s brother and sister and friend last weekend for lunch. It was right after Ginny had died and I wasn’t sure what to expect. The only way to summarize the experience is to quote my son as we walked out of Seaport Village – “I was worried it might be awkward, but mom, they were great. I hope when I get to be their age I’m fun and vibrant even when things about your life are hard.’
I got sick towards the end of Mother’s Day, barely sitting through dinner before beginning the puke-fest, and unfortunately couldn’t make it to Ginny’s Funeral Party on Monday in San Diego. From what I hear, it was really awesome.
That brings us to Suebob. I read her blog but don’t comment often. Pretty much what I do everywhere on the internet. Suebob’s sister had pneumonia and then just kept declining. Every day I’d go and hope to read how she might be getting better and pulling out of it. But that wasn’t what happened. Having a few sisters of my own, I can only imagine how awful it is to lose one, leaving behind children and a husband. I can’t think about it for too long.
And now for JPGMag. I LOVE JPG. Love. Love the idea of it. Love the creators of it. Loved working with them, editing for them, interviewing for them and even submitting photos, none of said photos were ever selected, but it didn’t matter. There was always next time. There was always the thought in the back of my mind that if I just kept shooting, learning, taking the opportunity to find interesting things to photograph, my photo might get selected next time. It wasn’t impossible because look at all the evidence! Other amateurs were getting their photos published every issue. The community was a living breathing thing and it was fun to be a part of it.
As a person that comes up with ideas myself, a cultivator, if you will, I’m always interested to get to know others of my species. The people that think it is a good idea to throw the next few years of their life into something because it makes them happy and probably not much money at first. The people that get excited about doing something right, even if it takes longer. The people that bring the people they know along with them because they like to feel like a family. That surround themselves with other passionate people because it feels good. That care about the end product or experience being solid and quality. That want to involve the community in new, interactive ways and explore how things can grow. These are my people.
All the time I was a part of any part of JPG magazine thus far, I have very much appreciated. I will no longer be submitting any images to JPG. I will no longer be interviewing or submitting stories. Because if it was such an easy thing to erase two of the core founders and their contributions, how can my little contributions have any chance of longevity at all? If I can’t trust that my submissions and contributions will be treated with respect, I don’t want to play anymore. To pretend that the first 6 issues of JPG don’t exist is to say that all the people in the community that participated had no value. What a shame. I kept my account open because I wanted my small voice to be heard there. Heather’s words. Derek’s words.
What I wrote over at the JPG site:
I almost deleted my account last Sunday when I got an email from Derek explaining what had happened. I’m still so shocked that someone’s labor of love can be ripped away from them in this way. Instead of deleting, however, I decided to publicly say how wrong I feel it is. I will no longer be contributing to JPG.
The roots of something should never be forgotten, changed, erased or buried. The end result, which is then basically a lie, will never be as strong, genuine or connected to.
End of story.
For Mother’s Day I got a new Feist CD, some beautiful picture frames, a balloon, a dinner out and a baby boy cockatiel, who currently has no name.
But mostly, I got to spend lots of time with the people that I love and that love me. At one point, after dinner on the drive home, I realized I wasn’t really feeling any of it. I wasn’t feeling. I could have cried if I’d only had the feelings to do so. Instead, I just looked out the window at the lights.
Update: And now Eden’s dad?? Are you kidding me, Universe? XO, Eden. Lots of them.
UnReal
So, Heather was all, ‘Leah! You’re making aprons? Aprons that turn into BONNETS!?’ And I knew what she wanted. I could smell it all the way from Utah, land of the Pioneers. She wanted one of my new apron-bonnets. Bonnet-aprons. One of my Bonprons(R)(TM)(C). As you can imagine, I’m a little reluctant to let them go. These past few days, feeling the fabric, looking at the buttons and brightly-colored rickrack…well, I knew at some point I was going to have to give them away but I kept pushing those thoughts from my mind and continued throwing kisses to the stack of thread. The lovely, lovely thread.
Knowing what a craft-lover Heather is, I really am happy to trade with her. She’s trading me for one of the corn husk dolls she makes. It’s a pattern that’s been passed down to her from her great-great-great granny. She uses the natural corn silk for the doll hair and dried up corn centipedes (the tiny white ones that eat the corn) for the eyes after carefully placing them in a circular shape and setting them on the warm, packed dirt to dry out back by the well. The tiny, shriveled centipede legs make really beautiful eyelashes on the dolls.
And her begging. Brothers and sisters, it was tough to listen to. The please, please, please and the you know how much my pioneer heritage means to me! and the aprons!? you know I LOVE aprons! I need one of yours for my collection! But it was her pleading that her daughter needed one, in fact, they both needed matching Bonprons(R)(TM)(C), for when they played pioneers in the new fort – that was what finally did me in. I can’t wait to see the photos, both of them with their flat-braided hair tucked inside their bonnets, Jon in his clogs and Chuck playfully teasing the birds with his gun before putting on his smoking jacket and watching BBM.
These special limited first edition Bonprons(R)(TM)(C) are not for sale. No sir EE. They are for trade only, so if you want one, you’re going to have to make something to trade for them or get some supplies like fabric, yarn, RICKRACK, buttons or the like to trade at the craft site. I know you want one. We BOTH know you need one. So, go ahead. Do it.
Domestic Skills
I’m working on aprons that turn into bonnets.
I know. It’s awesome. They are convertible.
Rickrack is one of the best things ever invented.
So, no. I haven’t sewn on the buttons yet. But I will. And when I do, boy howdy.
Tony Makes A Stool (and don't think we didn't say that about a million times…)
Here he is, the cute boy with his raw wood stool and the burning tool. We played with the idea of carving for a bit but sadly, the cheap tools I picked up were way too dull for the job and so, thinking of all the fingers we could lose trying to make a beautiful scroll around the edges, we decided to just use the burning tool and avoid permanent disfigurement. Call me crazy.
He sketched his original rose design on the top with a border and wrote an original saying around the edge.
Here Tony is doing the leaves. I think they turned out quite nice. Also, I love the smell of burning wood. Well, wood in general. It reminds me of my grandfather. Cedar is my favorite but pine is a close second.
And, now you’ll have to pretend I remembered to take photos of him inking the rose red and staining the stool a deep walnut color. Because here is the finished product:
Next we’re going to make cameras out of Altoid containers or make a book.
Spring Yarn
New hat over at Craft.Leahpeah.com! It’s baby size. (chomp!)
Alex Got Her Braces Off
There has been much smiling. Real smiling. With lots of white, straight teeth.
She has used whitening strips every morning and night to remove the very, very, very slight yellowing around where the braces hit her teeth. And I think at last count she was at 16 trips per day into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Nice oral care, girl.
Also – new hats over at the craft site!
Update On Many Fronts
Thyroid – the meds were working quite well and have now started working not so well. I run out of energy quickly and have been reduced to tears a few times this past week over things like putting salt in my coffee or not being able to find my phone. That is in my front shirt pocket. My throat is still sore. My hair is still falling out at a rapid rate and I could be considered a shedding mammal. I am a shedding mammal. I am managing to work out 5 out of 7 days a week but some days, my body feels so weak that I can’t do much more than ride the stationary bike for 20 minutes at a very leisurely pace. If I were on the street, you would lap me if you were using a walker. But I figure some movement is better than no movement. The very act of my blood circulating and taking oxygen to parts of my body has to be better than nothing.
Work – still freelancing. I hope to be starting more steady work next week. Steady money would be great. Because my health has been so up and down, it’s been hard to commit to something and if there is one thing I can’t stand to do, it’s make commitments and then break them. So, I’ve been cautious about wading in too far. But it feels like the right time and I feel strong enough to handle a normal work routine with out suffering some kind of physical relapse.
Moving – moving plans have been put on hold until May. With Joe starting a new contract position and everything that needs to be done around the house prior to moving, we can use those few extra weeks. But, hello garage, don’t think I’m still not going to move through your bowels of crap and not have a ruthless hand. Because I am. And soon.
Kids – Alex got her braces off this morning. I haven’t seen her naked teeth yet, but she says they are SMOOOOTH. Tony is not in a sport at the moment and it’s the first time in many months that he’s had no practice to go to after school a few days a week. I’m curious to see what he does with that time. Tyler is wrestling and playing volleyball. He’s also doing about a bazillion other activities and has zero free time for anything except the occasional sweaty hug on his way to the showers. Except this weekend. For some reason, this weekend the planets have aligned, Mercury is in retrograde and there is not one practice or game for anything. All weekend. You may all pick yourselves off the floor. Devon is tired. Tired. Tired. Tired. I remember sleeping a whole bunch at his age but I think this might be different. More on him later.
Joe – rocks.
Crafts – People! Upload images of your crafts, please. Thank you. I have many hats that need new homes and I want your stuff. : )
About Last Night
When I woke up this morning I had the phrase ‘You my baby daddy’ in both question and accusatory exclamation form running through my brain. Alternating with those lovely words was the local Outback commercial song, which, as Joe pointed out, could be worse as the tune is genuinely kind of catchy.
Not sure what I dreamed about last night, but I think I was on Jerry Springer and then went out to eat.
And for those of you playing the home game, there are still no clothes on the chair!
(they are on the floor next to the chair.)
Also – I uploaded photos of my hats to the craft trade site.
Crafty Crap
Look! I made a craft exchange site! I used Ning to set it up, and let me tell you, it’s never been so easy. They really did a great job making it user friendly. And as far as I can tell, it looks the same across all browsers. And, THAT, my friends, is awesome.
So, go! Sign up! Let’s trade! (I don’t think I’ve ever used so many !!s as I have the past few days. It! Must! Stop!) Upload an image of the craft you want to trade and put the amount it is worth in the image description. Look at the example on my page if you want.
The basic rules are thus:
1. All crafts must be (mostly) homemade.
2. Be sure to give your handmade items a reasonable* worth.
3. No one has to trade if they don’t want to.
4. Play nice! Everyone has different taste. Remember the Golden Rule and don’t say anything if what you want to say is mean spirited.
5. If you are trying to sell your crafts, this is the wrong place for you. Check out Etsy.
6. Although some amount of creative overlap will naturally occur, please try your best not to steal someone else’s ideas. You’re creative! Come up with your own.
7. Have fun!
*Everyone has different ways to come up with the cost of their crafts. One good rule of thumb is to triple your materials cost. You could also look online and find what other people are selling their comparable craft for.
Since you guys are the test group, feel free to let me know here or there what doesn’t work for you. They have a lot of customization features so I might be able to change it ‘til we love it.
Stuff I like: I can feature images that you guys upload to show up in a slideshow on the front page. I can set the Flickr feature to upload all the images in your Flickr account that are tagged a certain thing. We can come up with that together. (Maybe something like leahpeahcraft?)
So Then……
It was all going so well.
And then I remembered I was me. And since I’m me, I want to do about a bajillion projects at one time.
But seriously, let’s just say that there was this place. And when you went to that place, virtually, you could trade a handmade craft that YOU made for one that someone ELSE made of equal value. There would be no money involved except what you spent for shipping your own craft to the other person. Would you want to? Are you a crafter? Is this worth my time? Am I insane?
Well, let’s just leave that last question alone.
But I have to tell you, I have three craft trades of my very own lined up with her and her and her and I am PUMPED and loving this entire idea. Have you seen me pumped before? No?? You are lucky, Pumpkin, very lucky.
But I have a dream! A dream of a crafty exchange! Who’s with me? Unless someone already did this and I missed it. Because I did search, just so ya know.
Make Your Own Dress Pattern
You don’t have to be a sewing genius to make your own dress pattern. If you can trace, do a little math and have basic to medium understanding of how to sew, you can totally make your own pattern and pocket that $20 or save it to splurge on a little fringe or ribbon.