It's Okay to Embellish



Dear Future Bryce,
It's not my fault you're so pretty. 
Love, Auntie Ashley


Before you judge me know this - I make no apologies for trying to expand my business.  I may, however, have to apologize to my nephew in the future for making him my unisex baby model.  We'll cross that bridge when we get there.  Right now, there's a lot more to crochet for girls than boys and he's the only baby I know.

Crazy For Baby Crochet

While I'm only just starting to sell my crafts, I know that my most popular past creations have been the animals hats and toys I made for Bryce.  Everyone loves babies, especially babies in cute crochet creations.  Sure, I'll eventually make stuff for boys and girls, but it's summer, so I thought I'd start with one of those adorable flower headbands.  Why buy my headband? Because it's fashionable and functional, with interchangeable embellishments to go with different outfits!  I came up with the headband and flower designs myself and sewed on a button to make it removable.  To give customers options I went in search of an easy bow pattern.  I thought I'd have to come up with something myself, but Izabel Ignatowska-Motyl's pattern was exactly what I was looking for.

I'll probably sell each headband with two embellishments.

More Fun With Flowers

Of course, I can't let Bryce have all my fun crochet creations.  I whipped up two different flower embellishments for a pair of plain flip-flops.  I'm not sure if I'll end up selling any, but I can see this revolutionizing my own summer wardrobe.  What do you think?  Would you buy my baby headband or flower flip-flops?

Don't forget to check out my Ash-N-Crafts Facebook Page! I'll be posting more pictures of the different crafts I've made.





When Life Gives You A Bum Thumb...

It didn't look good after the fall, but we had no idea
how much worse it could get.

About a week ago, my mom was running late for work - literally running - when she tripped and fell on the concrete garage floor.  Unfortunately, her left thumb took the brunt of the impact.  So instead of  going to work, she ended up at the hospital.

The next day, x-rays confirmed it was broken.  My mom was especially upset because my older brother is getting married at the end of the month and she wasn't sure what she'd have to wear while it healed.

After it stopped swelling, she went back to the hospital to learn her fate...and it was bad.  We're talking a big ol' hitchhiker cast the color of creamy tomato soup bad.  Worst of all, she won't get it off until three days after the wedding.  Needless to say, there were tears.

Not a match...not even close.

You might be wondering why a grown woman would allow someone to put her in a bright red cast - so was the rest of my family.  Apparently there was some discussion about black, which was deemed too hot for summer and then someone suggested they try to match her dress, her beautiful, deep raspberry colored dress.  This attempt was woefully unsuccessful.

So what do you do when life gives you a bum thumb and a bright red hitchhiker cast 3 weeks before your son's wedding?  You make a cast cover.

The Prototype

This is where I come in.  You see, there aren't many options when it comes to cast covers.  So I made one myself.  I started with a plain purple fabric for everyday wear.  I plan to use a champagne chiffon for the wedding.  Here's how I did it:

The Verdict:

Two Thumbs Up from Mom!

Setting Up Shop

Check out my Etsy shop

I finally did it! Sure, it took the whole damn day, but my Etsy shop is officially open for business. It's weird, because I've never actually shopped on Etsy, so I still have a lot to learn about how it works.

Profile Problems

I have to say, it was unusually hard to set up my shop. For instance, I had to add a picture and write a bio for my profile. Then there was another section where I had to add a picture and write a bio as a "shop owner." Do I really need two pictures and two bios for one profile? Then I had to write the story of my shop. The story of my shop?!? It's been open for like 10 minutes. Then it asked me to add pictures of other projects I've made. I've never dealt with such a troublesome uploading system. In fact I'm fairly certain, that something on the website was coded to figure out exactly what part of the picture I wanted to show and then it pushed it out of frame. I swear I tried to crop and repost my pictures about 4 times. Despite the mental exhaustion of this process, am I thrilled to start selling my crafts. Let me know what you think of my products.

It's a Craftastrophe

It's a fact: bad crafts happen to good people.  And sometimes, property is damaged in the process.  So instead of getting bummed out about the projects that didn't pan out, I'm paying tribute to some of my biggest craftastrophes (yes, I made that up) in the above song.

Disclaimer: I have no musical talent.

If you haven't already watched the video, let me apologize now (1) for butchering a beloved tune & (2) for not picking any particular key to do so.  It you're wondering...it is my voice.  I just disguised it as a chipmunk (you're welcome) with the help of my new favorite app: Ultra Voice Changer.  I realize this made the words kind of hard to understand, so I've included the full lyrics (see right).  I assure you this is much better than my actual voice would sound.

Please, let me know what you think of my video.  I'd love to hear about your craftastrophes, too!

The Bin of Unfinished Projects

I did something brave this week...I opened the bin.  You crafters know what I’m talking about.  In fact, you probably have one of your own.  Maybe yours is a bag or a closet (if I’m being honest I have bins and bags, some of which are stored in a closet).   No matter what shape it takes, one fact remains the same – it’s the place where inspiration goes to die.



Michigan Memories:  I turned my old t-shirts
into a blanket that tells the story
of my 2-year adventure living in the U.P. 

No More Excuses

In the course of crafting, there are plenty of valid reasons to take a break from your current project.  You might get tired or a complicated pattern makes you frustrated or your cohabitants request to use the dining room table for actual dining.  So you put it away.  But every day that passes makes it that much harder to pick it back up.  Eventually, it goes into the bin.

A Lesson Learned, A Project Saved

My Upper Michigan themed t-shirt blanket was the most recent craft that took up residence in my bin.  How’d it end up there?  Let’s just say it was a casualty of my long-standing feud with sewing machines (see rant at right).  It was also evicted after a month-long stay on the dining room table. 

This was particularly upsetting for me because I’d been so excited to make my blanket.  It was one of those projects that had me hopping out of bed in the middle of the night to sketch my ideas or search for supplies.  I just couldn’t let it go, so I decided to address the real problem.  I’d run out of thread halfway through the final edge and I couldn’t get it to sew correctly no matter what I tried.  I’d rethread it once and get big tangled bubbles on top, I’d rethread it again and it would rip underneath.  I wanted to scream in frustration.  Instead, I decided to reread the directions.  With 20 steps you’re bound to miss something, right? 



When all else fails, read the directions!

It isn't easy to admit this, but as it turns out my t-shirt blanket (and every other project I've attempted to make with a sewing machine) was a victim of user error.  Though I doubt I'm the first to make this mistake.  Once I properly rethreaded the bobbin, I was able to finish my blanket and rescue a project from my bin.  A good day indeed!





The finished project.

Art of the Mind (not the hand)

My head pictured the next Mona Lisa; my hand did this.

I've always had a great appreciation for art, but I found out early on, it wasn't an area where I excelled.  No matter how hard I tried, my paper mache fish had one fin too small (that was before Nemo made it cool) and my cross-hatching looked like a pile of hay instead of the roof of a train.  For years I continued to suffer in silence.  I knew I had great ideas, but something always went wrong in the execution.

The Diagnosis

It wasn't until high school that I discovered my affliction had a name.  I had stayed late one day with a friend - both of us putting in extra hours on our latest works of art.  When I showed her my design and explained what I'd been going for, she told me it was a classic case of "Art of the Mind." And I wasn't alone - she had the same exact problem!  Now before any of you hypochondriacs head over to Web MD, let me clarify, this is not a condition recognized by modern medicine.  Sure, we made up the name, but it's still a very real problem. 

Don't Give Up, Get Crafty

Around this same time, I fell in love with scrapbooking.  I could take perfect pictures, add glitter glue, cut up some construction paper and arrange a page however I wanted.  Finally, a cure for my overflowing creativity!  But I didn't stop there.  Scrapbooking is kind of like a gateway craft.  You can get away with random household scraps for a page or two, but soon you'll want stickers and fancy scissors and special background papers.  My frequent trips to Michael's only piqued my curiosity.  I soon explored the yarn section and begged my mom - a bit of a crafter in her day - to teach me how to crochet.  Let's just say, there was a learning curve.

Tight Fit:  The first sock I ever crocheted.



I put my hook down for a couple of years, unsure if this was the right craft for me.  Luckily, I picked it back up towards the end of college and I've come a long way.

 Check out some of my crochet creations on Flickr

My nephew is my favorite new model.

My newest goal is to sell my crafts.  After all, one can only have so many scarves and hats.  I've gotten a lot of interest in the animal hats, but I think I'm going to start with spring scarves and see where it goes from there.  I plan to create an Etsy shop and post about my current projects.  I'm always open to suggestions and feedback, so please let me know what you think.