Moving!!!

We're moving!!! In more ways than one.

You can check out my NEW BLOG at: http://armedandinspired.blogspot.com/
Check out my NEW STORE at: http://armedandinspired.etsy.com/

and cross your fingers, and wish me luck, because WE CLOSE ON A HOUSE NEXT WEEK!!!

I'm no longer posting here on The Xarata Project, but I post on Armed & Inspired once or twice a month.All my latest projects are there!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Dance Again- A Wedding Lace Project

2 years ago I got married. I made my dress and had a (literal) fairytale wedding:





But one of the memories I will always have is trying on my mother's wedding dress, head to toe lace with a lace train and the way my tiny niece's eyes lit up at the prettiest dress she'd ever seen. I didn't wear my mother's wedding dress, and though i took the train with me with the hopes of incorporating it into my dress somehow, my wedding dress was an original and the vintage lace didn't quite fit. 2 years later, I still have the train of my mom's wedding dress. So earlier this week, I spent 3 hours with a seamripper carefully extracting the lace from that train. Then I made a basic black dress and showcased that lace in a dress that will always have something a little extra special:

I love the idea of giving a wedding dress more than it's 15 minutes of fame. I'm not sure what the rest of the lace will go into, but I love that it can become something else. My little sister is getting married. It's her turn to try on our mother's wedding dress, and if she decides she'd like a little piece of it with her on her wedding day, it just might live on as a garter, a belt, a pair of lace gloves, a snazzy addition to a pair of heels, or a special touch on the edge of her veil. Style changes, but memories can evolve, and it's nice to know that a wedding dress doesn't have to be sealed away for someone else's special day.

I might be interested in a large scale wedding dress project, but I'm not sure many people would be enthused about letting someone cut up their wedding dress :) We'll see.

Favorited on Etsy

Over the summer I let my etsy site wilt a bit...ok! OK! I let it die...all my listings were expired. When someone asked if they could buy something I was wearing, I gave them all my info and breathed a little life back into my etsy store. Today I went in to list the item they had originally asked me for (it was one of my new hair flowers and I hadn't photographed it) and found some cool new features that I either never noticed before or are new (they did revamp over the summer). I can now see when people "favorite" something I've listed. The zombie plan glass has been favorited a few times recently, and my "42" glass was added to a treasury of Hitchhiker's Guide items. It's not in the treasury anymore and I suspect that's because I let it expire (whoops), but it was nice to see!

Currently trying to figure out the best way to evolve xarata.etsy.com into armedandinspired.etsy.com or if I should just leave the link alone, but change the banners and the business cards....decisions decisions...

Armed & Inspired

Have a little faith! I told you that just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I'm not crafting. Expect my blog posts to be like that more often- A big pow at the end of the month of what I've been up to.


Tourist season ended last week...time is back on my hands (though money is fleeing my pocket). I had some goals for the year...not a total win on that front, but progress...so let's recap:

-I have not bought a house and don't really feel comfortable committing to one before the end of the year. So...house FAIL :( On a more positive note, the biggest reason I wanted to leave the house we're in was my obnoxious neighbor (remember he kept mowing over my pumpkins?!?!?). He moved several months ago, life has been much quieter, and I have PUMPKINS!!! so if my house deadline is pushed back a bit more, at least I have a pumpkin WIN! :)
-I got a second job passively related to my degree(retail), I've moved up 1 slot in seniority at my restaurant job, and Bob got promoted. So...work WIN? :)
-I committed to a Pay It Forward Project for the year and will be mailing those out in the next week or two so...project WIN :)
-For those wondering, I did make sweet sticky rice with mango at some point this year- late spring I believe :)
-I tried to streamline the Xarata Project, and ended up taking it in a completely different direction. I'm okay with that. I rediscovered a love for fashion and sewing projects. Technically it's a streamline fail, but I'm declaring it a vision WIN! :] <-not a full smiley cuz I kinda went 50/50 there

Speaking of taking The Xarata Project in a completely different direction...Are you ready for it? I've decided that if I'm going to get truly serious about this, I'm going to have to make it a business- a business with a target clientele, an inventory, and -most of all- marketability. There will always be a special place in my heart for "The Xarata Project". It was a time of discovery, of learning, of building a support network, but let's be honest- almost no one can figure out how to pronounce it! :) And a "project" doesn't really sound very committal does it? It's a rather transient/temporary sounding word. So...it's time for a re-vamp. It's going to take a few weeks to get the new look off the ground, but keep an eye out for

Armed & Inspired

 A new name, a new direction, and probably some new websites (i can't have people going to xarata.etsy.com for Armed&Inspired products now can I?). We'll see how it all pans out. If any of my photographer friends want to help a girl out, I want to design my banners with a photo shoot of me decked out in something frilly accessorized with tools (you know, armed and inspired) that I can use on banners, business cards, etc. This is the rough vision sketch, but definitely NOT what I will be using for my websites as it is really rough:

If/when the blog domain changes, I'll crosspost here for a bit with duplicate posts and the new blog link, and then I intend to completely transition. I hope you'll stay with me. Here we go...

Fall Flowers

Everytime the season changes, i feel the need to vamp my wardrobe, and I usually start with my flowers! I included pictures of the backs this time around for the simple reason that I never do and maybe you'd like to know that they don't look like some chick hotglued a silkflower to a hairclip (even though that's totally what I do).

*Forgive the background, I randomly decided to do all of my blogging for the month tonight at midnight and frankly was just too lazy to fetch my photo cube.



I wore one of these to my retail job last week and someone asked if they could buy it and that was kind of cool...




see? downright professional lookin'!



yeah...i got a little carried away...I think I was flower deprived or something...

Purple Plaid Projects!!!

In case you didn't know, it's been raining...A LOT!!! And with all this rain, I became very aware of the complete lack of hoods on any of my clothing, so I decided that I wanted a hooded Poncho. Why a poncho? I honestly don't know, other than I hate trying to squeeze winter clothing into coat sleeves, hate the hassle of buttons when I'm in a hurry, and always feel the need to take my coat OFF when entering a building. A poncho is kind of like a really wide scarf...with a hood in my case...and it rocks. I feel a little bit like Little Red Riding Hood and wonder why we ever started making practical clothing when capes were simply WAY more fun.

 When I went fabric hunting I came across a really pretty heavy weight purple plaid, and I think I am going to buy more of it! lol (I did buy a jacket pattern for $2, so I think I ALSO need a purple plaid jacket. yes. I think I do...)

It's reversible to the grey and black checkered flannel and it's super warm. And it looks good with EVERYTHING, jeans, dresses, everything. I dig it.

Honey liked it a lot too. As soon as it appeared, it became her new favorite lounging spot, so I made her a a thick blanket/pad to lay on that matches my poncho. I sandwiched 2 layers of super-thick fleece in between and she DOES lay on it ALL the time. But my poncho was on the chair and she pounced and so the following picture:

She actually normally lays on the flannel side, but I felt like showing off the purple plaid side for my purple plaid post! The lump behind her is my poncho... Note the matching purple plaid collar. My little dog likes her fancy accessories. And you know, soft flannel doesn't hurt either.

Now, say it with me: PURPLE PLAID PONCHO! PURPLE PLAID POST! PURPLE PLAID PEOPLE! PURPLE PLAID! PURPLE PLAID! PURPLE PLAID!!!

ok...i'm done now...


...


purple...


plaid...

Pay It Forward SPOILER!!!

In January, I joined a Pay It Forward Challenge to send something handmade to 5 people by the end of the year. If you are one of those five lucky people and would like to be surprised, I urge you to discontinue reading this entry......nnnnnnNow....

***SPOILER ALERT***

So the Pay It Forward boxes will be going out in the next few weeks, and while small for shipping purposes, contain some fun goodies made by yours truly. Thank you for participating and thank you for supporting The Xarata Project for the past year and a half. In your box, you can expect:

-A Headband!


Headbands were the first thing I managed to sell, so  you should be excited to own a little piece of Xarata Project history!



A handpainted glass bowl with my favorite bumblebee design!



I still have to add legs and antennae and then bake the suckers because I do NOT want that paint coming off darn it! And yes, I painted these especially for YOU!!!


-A hairflower!!!


My carefully selected "is that real?!?!?" hairflowers. One of my choosing, probably a fall style flower.

 -And a piece of unique jewelry yet to be selected. I'm torn between something traditional like my copper coil link jewelry, or something very special that's extra hard to get anywhere else, like my ear loop jewelry. Whatever I choose, I'm going to make it up special just for your packages!

August 2011

It's been about 5 weeks since my last post, and life has been crazy (I took a trip to Michigan, celebrated my quarter-century, and started working ~70 hour weeks with 2 jobs and the final weeks of tourist season), but just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I haven't been making things when I get a chance.

The last week of July I made a summer dress. You haven't seen it before, but it's actually the same one(copy) I made as a gift in April for my sister. The fabric was just too cute and I had just enough fabric for 2 if I made mine a little on the short side. lol.

This week I made 2 more boleros. At my retail job, I can wear pretty much anything I want so long as it's on the nicer side and and my back and shoulders are covered, so these are lace boleros that I can throw over my summer dresses (most of which don't cover my back or shoulders). The really great thing about them being lace is that i didn't have to line them or topstitch them, so they only take about 15-20 minutes to make, even with utilizing the scalloped edge (which means adding a seam to the curved edge to make the scallop trim follow it). Have I told you how much I LOVE my serger? oh I have? well, I really do love my serger...

Also, I didn't make this, but it's too cute not to share. We sell this where I work and I forgot to buy it and I was trully a little obsessed with it for weeks, so Bob bought it for my birthday. It's a rubber ducky tea infuser!!! See the lil ducky in my cup?!?!? TOO CUTE!!!

And remember how my tattoo is allowed to show at my retail job but not at my restaurant job? Look what a little makeup can do:

That's primer, cream concealer, and foundation my friends. Now you see  it, now you don't. It lasts about 3-4 hours before needing a touch up. Longer if I REALLY put the time into covering it up. Pretty much all of those coverups are waterproof and I have to really scrub to get them off at the end of the day.



I picked up a lot of beach glass(i have a BLUE piece!!! happy dance!) and crinoids (never heard of them before? me neither. they're broken up pieces of a fossilized creature and they pretty much look like fossilized cheerios. They're also called indian beads and are primarily found in the midwest. I didn't ask Bob to show me what they were until more than halfway through our trip, but I picked up about 30-40 of them) so I will undoubtedly be turning them into something soon. Bob wants me to turn the really big pieces of beach glass (we have the bottom of a mason jar and part of a wine bottle) into some kind of a windchime so we'll see. My daddy also gave me his old kiln for my birthday, so at some point I'm going to tackle my PMC (precious metal clay. Molds like clay, cooks to 99.9% metal jewelry) and bottle slumping (heating up old bottles just enough for them to collapse into a plaster mold- making wine bottle cheeseboards and other cool stuff). My posts aren't going to be as frequent, but when they're further apart, they'll have more cool stuff in them.

Branching Out: Applying for a job in retail

We all know how I feel about being a waitress: It pays well, it's what I know, and I am damn good at my job...BUT... (that's a very big BUT right there)

I'm not happy doing it. I have mastered the art of what I like to call "The Cheerleader". To a guest, I am cheery, energetic, conversational, and above all very VERY efficient. I'm a perfectionist and I don't like to fail which pretty much makes me a model employee. In general, I work in turn and burn restaurants and I flip tables like no one's business with consistently higher sales and fewer errors than anyone else. I learn fast and save my stress for later, but saying that this is what I wanted for myself is just a hop, skip, and jump away from saying every little girl dreams of being a hooker. This is not "Pretty Woman", my friends. This is life...like the cereal...

There are a few things I truly love in life: my husband, my dog, nature, and art. I chose to pursue art through fashion and jewelry. In 4 years, I learned a lot- a lot about what I wanted out of life and what made me happiest, as well as picking up several new skillsets on the way. Then I graduated, there were bills to pay, and I forgot all about it. I got married, moved 2 more times after college, and...I started this blog. It became my little niche in the world, a mark in cyberspace if not on the world.

The daily grind kept on grinding, and when it became too much I applied for other jobs in the same field and was offered them. I turned them down partially out of fear of change and partially because I knew "same shit, different place" wasn't going to cut it in the end. As I find myself doing every 6 months or so, I found myself perusing the classifieds again this week, and just for fun, I opened the retail section- because you know, i delight in fashion, jewelry, makeup, and secretly all things girly. One of my favorite stores, Francesca's Collections (a boutique with a unique and fun vintage feel) has a listing for their new location, and...with no retail experience under my belt, I threw caution to the wind and sent in an application.

I opened with a cover letter (something I never do):

"My name is Samantha Elliott, and I have no retail experience. What I do have is a bachelor's degree in fashion design with a minor in art and jewelry and 10 years in the fast paced food and beverage industry where interaction with guests, keeping customers happy, and doing high-volume cash sales on your feet is must- that's 10 years of direct sales experience including upselling and suggestive selling, multitasking, problem-solving, and overall guest satisfaction with cashier experience. In college, I also spent a year in a movie theatre box office doing thousands of dollars in cash sales in hours as well as suggestive selling in a concession stand. I've held several jobs where creating visual displays was a part of my job duties, most notably the weekly lobby displays I was required to create and change as an RA, and the many wedding displays I've done in banquets, in addition to the fashion shows and art displays that were a part of my coursework in college.
I am not currently using my degree professionally, but I do keep a blog where I require myself to make new pieces and use my talents, because art and fashion are where my passions truly lie. As a waitress, I take pride in accessorizing with style and looking as best I can in a uniform. As an individual, I'm especially fond of unique and timeless pieces and a frequent visitor at Francesca's in Park City, Lancaster. Check out my blog: http://xarataproject.blogspot.com/p/xarata-project.html and my website http://xarata.etsy.com, and take a chance on something unique and different that just "works". It's how all the best finds are made."

A little corny, but to the point and different enough to grab some attention. It worked- they emailed me back prompting me for a more user-friendly format for my resume. I sent it to them 2 days ago, and not hearing back have despaired. When I saw that they relisted the job ad, I decided "what the hell? Persistence never hurt anybody". I completely revamped my resume, having sent in separate Fashion and F&B resumes the first time, I took the time to craft a retail resume (you know, with things like "cashier" under past employment in lieu of "Movie Ticketing" and "Waitress" -both which have cashier in the skills line), pasting it in the email, uploading it to skydrive, and making sure it was in .doc format. I also attached the previous cover letter so it doesn't immediately scream re-ap, but shows I took the time to troubleshoot, refine and give it a better go should they read it again.





The Little Details:
The job listing is part time, so I would still have to waitress to pay the bills and going on restriction means destroying the little seniority I've earned for myself. On the upside, I'm on Bob's benefits so changing jobs doesn't affect my insurance or anything. Retail is one of those industries where people seem to climb pretty quickly, and if there came a day where I could leave waitressing, I would be very happy about that. Retail isn't as hard on your hands as serving is, the clothes are nicer, the discounts are better, and when you get bored, there's always stuff to organize (which is so much better than scraping gum out from under tables). Mostly, it would just be a really big change, but probaby a positive one. We drove by the new location and...it actually isn't there yet. There is an empty storefront in the shopping centre though which is probably going to become the new location. In some ways, this could be really good, because it probably means that they're not opening until late summer/early fall which is exactly the time when all of my shifts at the Lodge magically disappear and I start scraping for money and scrounging for hours, while fighting the idea of going on unemployment. It might be scary, but it could be perfect...

Oh, by the way, Bob is up for a promotion at work so cross your crossables! It's actually the same promotion that he didn't get last time that he was supposed to be a shoe-in for and everyone was so shocked and disappointed when he didn't get it. He's spent the last 6 months listening to management complain about the mistakes they made in that last round of promotions and only rarely does he mention that hey, I applied for it, I didn't get it, and I'd rather not hear about the ineptitude of those were apparently my betters. So again he's supposed to be a shoe-in, and it would be a really big raise which would allow us a little more freedom, but neither of us is trying to get our hopes up too terribly high...just crossing our crossables...


So that's just me sharing to anyone in particular what's going on in my life, my little hopes and fears, where I might be headed next. any words of wisdom?

Silver Earpiece and Updates

Did you miss me?!?!?

The bottom of this post has a rundown of the last few weeks, but that really isn't why you read this blog so onward ho! My mom asked me for some stuff for a trip, so today I made an ear piece. I haven't made a whole lot of these in the past and I'm not really sure why, but this one is fun enough:

The loop that comes out the bottom is part of the design, but it's also longer because I know for a fact that my mom's ears are bigger than mine.

And hey, remember that piece that I designed and cut out but never put together? yeah...I put that together today!

And it's an inch and a half short on each side. lol. Obviously there are a couple of tendrils in there that need moved into proper alignment with the piece, but it really does need more on the outer edges and I'm not confident enough to tweak the design tonight. Part of why it is as short as it is was that I was having trouble thinking of more to make it longer. It will fit exactly as I meant it to though which is lovely. For now, I've flattened it back out so I can add to it.

I did miss silver-work. There's something very satifying about watching silver melt and flow the way you want it to, and then fishing the tarnished piece out of the pickle pot all shiny and new looking.

Also a new development. Because weeks like the past few are inevitable, and because I DO go on vacation occassionally, I've decided to stop numbering my posts. If I realize that I'm REALLY slacking, I'll consider revisiting the numbered posts, but as long as I'm putting stuff out pretty regularly, I'm not going to guilt myself about sleeping in or baking cookies or going to a movie instead of making something. This project isn't about guilt, it's about creative freedom. In general, I put out better work when I'm not forcing it, and that's how it should be.




Where have I been?

No secret that I took a couple of weeks off from projects. I was working overtime, 6 days a week usually around 12 hours a day. We served breakfast in my restaurant for 2 weeks, and I had a week of coming in from 7-11:30am, going home and napping til 2pm, taking a shower, going to physical therapy from 4pm-5pm and running upstairs for work from 5pm-1am. Then I'd get back up at 6am the next day and do it all over again. I got one day off a week, about 8 days apart. The last thing I feel like doing on my day off is telling myself I HAVE to do such and such. I did some shopping, some eating, and a lot of sleeping. I also spent lots of time at the park with Honey, and we finally gave her a chance off-leash on the nature trails. She's behaved wonderfully and I'm so proud of her. It was relaxing, I had fun, and I don't regret one second of it.

 I've also been spending a lot of time working on my hands, since a lot of the physical therapy I'm doing can benefit my hands overall and is kind of fun. My favorite therapies are Baoding melody balls (little cloisonne spheres with chimes, they come in an asian box), silly putty, and tendon glides (which i affectionately refer to as sign language). I've also been drinking joint juice (which i prefer over pill-form glucosamine supplements- it's basically kool-aid). I'm also on prednisone to speed up healing. Can't say as I really think it makes a difference, but I can turn doorknobs and wash dishes without being in immense pain so something must be working. (If you're curious, the rundown of my hands is as follows: Carpal Tunnel in both hands, damaged cartilage in my right hand, tendonitis in my left hand, and an overstretched ligament in my left hand that is likely permanent from the way I carry trays- the ligament being stretched just means that it doesn't support my joint the way it ought to, making it easier for me to hurt myself if I don't support it in some other way, so I've been given a brace/support to wear on that hand at work, specifically because I carry trays.)

Also, I'm going to be tattooing my damaged hand for my birthday. In general, I know how most of you feel about tattoos one way or the other, and my general reply is this: I've wanted a tattoo for a really long time, I didn't just wake up one day and decide I wanted to go get one. I've known what I wanted (Honey's pawprint) and where I wanted it(on my hand, the final location will be the most damaged part of my hand- the area between my wrist and thumb/index finger) for over a year. I made a stamp and tested the image for several weeks. Between my secret love of makeup, fairy ear prosthetics, and because the hand is damaged and I'll be wearing a support (be it a brace or kinesio tape) at work for medical reasons for the rest of my life, I'm not concerned about the location of this tattoo interfering with my job/future jobs. So what I want you to know is I really thought about it, I made this decision for myself and no one else, and I'm a grown-ass woman turning 25 and quite frankly, my dear, I just don't give a damn ;)

Week 13

This week I made another bolero. I made it a size smaller, because I felt the other one was a little big.

 Both this one and the last one are reversible, but I picked more exciting lining this time :)

I also did a little teeny project I've been meaning to do for awhile now, and that's to take my souveneir shirts, cut the nostalgic logo out of them and sew them all together like a quilt. I only did my volunteer/special event shirts in this one, but it's a lot easier than holding onto a bunch of shirts i'm never going to wear again. I cut up what was left of the t-shirts into large rectangles (size of small towels) and plan on donating them to an animal shelter since they're always looking for fabric bedding for their crates and kennels (towels, sheets, tshirts, etc) 

Week 12-Fabric is Back In

I've decided to allow fabric into the mix, and this week I made a leather-look bolero.

So...I hurt myself again...

So...yeah...I hurt myself again (surprise surprise- i see those eyes rolling!). I was working, and I heard(and felt) a crack in my hand- my left hand (my UNdamaged hand). My thought process was pretty much "oh shit- that can't be good" and I kept working, aware of the pain- a pain very very similar to when I damaged cartilage in my right hand.

The good news:
In theory, I just pulled or overstretched a tendon in my hand, so no cartilage damage and no physical therapy with a fluidometer (we hope). I definitely didn't hurt it as badly as my right hand so recovery time shouild be much shorter.

The bad news:
I have to wear an immobilizer (stupid little hand brace thing that "immobilizes" my thumb and wrist to keep my from using that tendon), which I also had to wear when I hurt my other hand so I wasn't really surprised, but it's not particularly comfortable and it really limits movement which can be frustrating. I'm also kind of bad about following the rules with wearing this (last time, the doctor threatened to put me in a cast if I kept taking it off to use my hand) which can delay healing...I'll try to be good.


What this means:
What it means is a week or two away from wire work and I have made a decision. I have decided to bend the rules. It's hot out and I like making myself little dresses and fun sewn fabric things and telling myself that they don't count as being creative for the week makes me resent my other projects and forces me into working with a media that maybe i'm just not feeling that week-which means i put out half-hearted mediocre things and that's not good. I majored in both metal and fashion, so why hold myself to only one or the other? So from now on fabric is back on the table. And yes, I did make something this week which I'll get around to posting in the next day or two.

Week 11

So I did check the scratch window on the new paint this week. In case it was really small i just did a lava shotglass. I scratched it when it was tacky, and I could smear paint. I'm not sure about the window when it's dry. I like the super shiny definitely permanent finish i get with this paint, but i prefer the control i have with my permanamel paint. Wonder what would happen if i mixed the two...

The second project...perhaps doesn't really count because it's an in-progess work...but since it's the type of work you probably read this blog for, you're getting a sneak peek. It's a collar-style necklace which I don't have the ability to harden to the extent I would want to so it's a half collar and the back will be secured with chain or ribbon.



I had a necklace flashing through my head all week. When I sat down to draw it out, I drew something completely different than what was in my head...




And this is the layout in silver. It still needs soldered together (which is the hardest part of any piece really)




I also finally went to see the Hodge Podgery (consignment shop) this week to see if it was for me and maybe pick up a form for consignment. I was not impressed... The shop is about the size of a large bedroom on the outskirts of Harrisburg, and the works featured were the kind of hack jewelry I really hate (oh hi, i bought a bunch of charms at hobby lobby and hung them from a soda tab, aren't i awesome?!?!? I can string beads too! Look what I can do with a silk tie...) and a lot of homemade soaps. It just really wasn't what I expected.

Week 10

*As my posts are always at the end of the week, this post is for last week and there will be another for the coming week.

New paint. When I used the microbrushes on the bowls a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I had bought some new paint. If you have a little boy or a hubby with a hobby, you may have seen these paints- they're designed for model cars and figurines and microbrushes are made especially for this paint. Today, I played with it. I chose something simple because I really wasn't sure what to expect from it.

It's a lot thinner than I expected- thinner than nail polish even, but it doesn't run which is good. It takes 2-3 coats to get good opacity and the swirls on this glass need another coat. I'm not sure how I feel about that since I use the microbrushes to get a thin fluid line, and having to go over it can mar that effect a great deal (at least until I get the hang of it). It has a really fast drying time, but I THINK it just might have a scratch window, and I'll be playing with that in the coming week just to see it can replace my permanamel paint for scratchglass. I'll also be washing it to see if it has a more predictable permanancy that my permanamel paint which I've had problems with random glass partials washing off. I may try baking some of my paint this week too (I've been reluctant to do that because of the possible cracking involved- putting all that time and effort into a glass just to have it crack- kind of like pottery lol), but I really can't have glasses peeling on me. In general, I've washed all the ones I've sold ahead of time, but some that I've given as gifts have not been so kind.

Also, being friends and family, you may remember that Honey(in an act of blatant misbehavior trying to steal chapstick to chomp as punishment for my not playing with her) broke one of my favorite votive lamps last year. I was furious, but kept the pieces in case I couldn't find a replacement. I couldn't find a replacement. I don't really know why I waited so long to put it back together, other than being really frustrated over it being broken, but this week I sat down with a pile of broken glass and a tube of glue, and put the puzzle back together:

If you look at the one on the left, you can see a large crack line in the middle. To be fair I wasn't 100% successful. The impact point was shattered beyond my capabilities, and I'm fairly certain I'm missing several teeny tiny pieces. In the picture below you can see a one inch x quarter inch hole- which i have facing the wall. All those spidery lines around it are broken pieces that i painstakingly pieced back together.

I'll never be able to put a candle in it again for fear of the glue igniting, but maybe i'll get some battery powered tealights...



My week:
I had a very busy week. When I have busy weeks, I get to the end of them, realize I haven't done a "real" project that week, and face the question of whether or not to skip a week. My posts usually go up around midnight between saturday and sunday. Somehow, I still feel guilty if I don't make something. I suppose I have all of YOU to thank for that. lol. I don't think I'd be good about it on my own...

My little nieces were up all week for their birthday. Actually, they're camping right now and I would love to be there but I have to work. I gave them presents on Monday, had dinner with them on Tuesday, and took them to Hershey Park on Wednesday. I worked Wednesday night, and by Thursday morning I was sick with both really bad allergies and a cold (this is what happens when you share icecream with toddlers). How do I know it is not one or the other? Because allergy medicine (claritin) treats the allergy symptoms (burning eyes, sneezing) and cold medicine(advil cold and sinus) treats the cold symptoms (stuffy nose, nasal inflammation, coughing). Neither treats both and I can't take them both at the same time, but I've opted for the cold medicine since I bothered to buy it from the pharmacy counter (i guess most meds with NSAIDs in them have to go from the pharmacy counter- bother).

Also this week, I made fudge which I was fantastically happy with (so was bob of course). I made it in the microwave with 2 sticks of butter, 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk, and 2 packs of chocolate chips (actually I did a pack of chocolate chips and a pack of peanut butter chips), zapped for 5 minutes, and poured it into an 8x8 pan. Delicious, with a texture somewhere between caramel and fudge. It reminds me very much of my favorite chocolate silk fudge from gertrude hawk and I will be remaking it with darker chocolate. I've decided microwave fudge is a fantastic thing.

I also cleaned my house on the off chance that my neices or any of my family would set foot in it. It was pretty messy so it's pretty lovely having the whole thing clean. Well...except the basement...my workspace is a lost cause. lol. AND Bob bought me flowers :)

It also stormed a lot this week and friday night, Honey and I hung out in the tub- i brought a book. Truth be told I love thunderstorms, but Honey really hates them and since she was clearly torn between hiding and being with mommy, I just gave her a place to hide with me.

How to: Fairy Wings

I've made a couple sets of fairy wings on here now, so I thought I'd post a how to.

Supplies:
-12g-14g wire. preferrably galvanized steel, but some aluminum ones will work too



Assuming you read this blog on a regular basis, you'll remember that i had a problem on my first pair of wings with the aluminum wire being too soft. I made the second pair of wings out of a different brand of aluminum wire (pictured) which is harder and holds its shape better than the other brand i had.

 -Fabric (for the purpose of this tutorial, i use sheer woven synthetics)
-Tacky Glue
-A Lighter (preferrably the kind you use for candles, not the kind that burn your fingers if you hold them too long)
-Glitter paint

How to:

Step 1- Choose your design. It helps to make a paper or cardboard pattern

This is a pattern for some kid's wings

Step 2- Form your wire frames for each wing segment

Step 3-coat both sides of the wire frames in tacky glue

Step 4- Lay the glue covered frame on fabric, and fold it over so it's sandwiched and sticking

Step 5- Cut out the wing segments

Step 6- Use a lighter to melt the extra fabric around the frame

Step 7-Paint glittery patterns and melt any holes you'd like to add.

My holes aren't great on the purple set because i used a high-powered grill lighter and it wasn't cooperating. You may want to use a match for the internal holes. It helps to cut them out, stick the lighter up through and then carefully melt.

Step 8-Attach tops to bottoms and then the two halves. I like clear electrical tape for this


In this picture, I had the bottom halves upside down. Whoops!

Step 9- Decide how you want the wings to be worn. If you'd like strapless wings (worn down the back of a bra or corset), add a sturdy u-shape loop of wire to the center joint and wrap sharp edges with electrical tape(like the white wings at the top of the page). If you want straps, you can wait until you're finished and tie a long ribbon to either side of the middle joint.

Step 10- Wrap the center joint with ribbon, or conceal by gluing flowers. Position wings. Add ribbon straps if desired.