Mystic Trinket bag

It was a nice day out yesterday and I decided to spend most of it with my family, but into the evening I decided to make another trinket bag. These are such a fun and tranquil craft and I've already begun a third one.



I really wanted to focus more on the beading with this one. I knitted the main part of the bag with a lamb's wood/acrylic blend of worsted weight yarn using size 2 needles to get a really tight knit and solid base for the beading. The beads used are all glass beads, some of them were reclaimed from childhood jewelry and some of them were gifts. I just kinda went for whatever with the design as always. I then stitched up the sides using purple embroidery floss in both a whip stitch and back stitch.

I find that these are simple enough that I don't get distracted while making them and move on to something else like I tend to do with larger projects. I have a problem with that :)

Cold Spring

Today I'm devoting solely to some crafting and cleaning. So far I've organized my craft area and desk, watered the seedlings, moved around some furniture, and completely revamped my altar. I've been pretty productive so far.

Today I made a trinket bag with a really vibrant spring theme. I've had this cotton yarn lying around for a few years. I got about 50 yards of it at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and have never really found a purpose for it. I thought the colors, pastels wound with red thread, were really perfect for the season. I knitted up a quick rectangle with it and stitched it up with red embroidery floss, attached a braided handle to wear it around your neck or tie it to a belt or something, and glass and wooden beads for decoration. This was my first time adding beading to anything and I think it turned out well. I get a really good vibe from it, very strong and cheerful. I really plan on making more of these today. They take no time at all and they're really fun.

The seedlings are going strong! This is the Flax here, but many of the others have sprouted. I keep forgetting that Rosemary and Lavender have a longer germination period then most of the other seeds I planted so I was getting quite impatient! But now their little sprouts have poked their heads about the soil so I'm happy.

I wish the light was better in this room, but alas. This is the upper part of my altar. I just added this part today since I usually run out of space on the bottom part quite quickly. The upper part changes the most here. On either side of the vintage glasses used as tealight holders are two needle felted eggs I received in my last swap at Craftster. The pretty lady in the center is a vintage find from the 40's or 50's I believe and I sometimes use her as a Goddess figure. The little wreath behind her is woven Willow branches.

Below is the more working area of the altar. This is the cleanest it will ever be. Incense is burned down here, charms and amulets are charged, stuff is constantly being done on this part of the space. Either that or I do it outside. But for those times when I can't and the nosy neighbors are watching I do this stuff inside.



I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful day and for those celebrating have a wonderful Spring Equinox.

Another watercolor

Goddess of the Dark Blue Watercolor on Paper. 2009

These are really relaxing. The process is incredibly organic and even though more planning went into this one I didn't feel constricted. Fun stuff.

I'd love to hear what you think about it.

Watercolors

On a whim I decided to break out the watercolors after using them for my Craftster card swap portion. I love the murky mixing of colors and the transparent layers. It's all very fun for me and watercolors are more forgiving than you'd think. It's sort of a self portrait since I was in a selfish and strange mood last night.



Consumption by the Blue Boy Watercolor and ink on paper, 2009

I know it looks just like slap dash color, but it means something. I'll leave that up to interpretation, though. I might work on some more watercolor stuff since it's so organic and enjoyable. I dislike any craft that is too much of a hassle because it gets in the way of my process, of the flow from my brain to my hand.

Apologies for the shoddy picture, but I don't have a very good camera. I use my phone :)

Started my seeds today

So this morning I decided to get a jump on things and plant my seeds. It's such a beautiful day I thought it terrible to waste it on silly things like sleep. I planted half my seeds in the cut off bottoms of water bottles, and the other half in those newspaper starting pots I was telling you about. I really just didn't feel like folding all that newspaper. Heh. They're now sitting outside on my back porch in the wonderful morning sun.




Here's some strawberries. I hope they do well. I'd love to be able to pick these right of the vine and eat them. That would be wonderful. The beans are in there too, but they're hiding.

A Moth's Closet

So I decided to start another blog, this one being just for my clothing inspirations. I hardly buy new clothes anymore, most of them are vintage, thrifted, or made myself. I draw lots of inspiration from stories, art, nature, and I wanted a place to document it. Go check it out.

A Moth's Closet, or the button to the right :)