I am very, very excited about two new craft projects. They're in the beginning stages of development, but I just have to share.
Thing number one! I've written about this before, about how I loved resin when I was making pendants but then resin became my enemy because I was having a hard time with it, specifically when I was trying to branch out with it and do new things. Remember I wanted to make resin embroidered pendants? It was called "The Great Craft Disaster of 2009" and
I blogged about it. It was
a major fail. I cried. I had such high hopes for those resin embroidered pendants.
WELL, check this out! I spied
this on Etsy the other day. That's almost like what I had envisioned doing, except without the resin. It's an embroidered pendant! PERFECT! So then I stalked that craftster and found out that she bought
those pendant frames on Etsy. So I bought some too! {I have no shame in getting new ideas from Etsy! I don't plan on copying her, just borrowing her idea to further my own ideas. Yeah.}
<----- That's what the pendant frames look like. I actually bought three of the pendant frames and three of the pin frames. I cannot wait until I get them! I want to embroider up some of the girls drawings - they've been making cute little flower designs that will fit perfectly inside the pendants. I AM SO EXCITED!
Thing number two! I have decided that I am going to teach myself the art of print making. Specifically, I'm want to learn how to work with linoleum to make prints. I adore the linocut prints that I see on Etsy.
Like this one, for example (the third picture in that listing shows the actual linocut of the design.)
I also draw inspiration from
this Etsy seller, I have one of her pillows, one of her tea towels and this (pictured left) adorable little ice cream cone stuffie! I love the look of her work, the bright colors and the cute designs. I want to teach myself how to do it. The possibilities are endless with a print - I could print onto fabric, tea towels, coasters, actual art prints to frame, etc. etc.
I have worked with carving materials before - I carved the button-eye stamps that I used on my baby-safe dolls. I made up some button material and also some Jack Skellington fabric from a Jack head stamp. I have the basic principals down, but I want to make designs on a bigger scale, using better materials. I used the pink Speedball carving blocks to make the button and Jack stamps, and I found that after a few uses the stamps were getting worn out and in fact my button stamp can't be used anymore because one of the corners wore off. Linocuts seem to be more durable. I want to experiment with different types of papers and inks too. Because this is something relatively new to me, I'm doing research and learning about the techniques. I got some books from the library last weekend about the different kinds of block printing techniques and I've been scouring the internet. Here's a pretty
basic tutorial on linocut. I bought a sketch book and I've began thinking of a couple of designs. My birthday is coming up and I want to ask for a little printing press!
I've always done the same few types of crafts over the years. I mainly crochet and sew and did resin jewelry for awhile. Print-making is a new medium for me, and I'm so incredibly excited about the possibilities. I think this new venure will stretch my creativity and it will challenge me. I rarely design or draw from scratch, I'm best at pairing up fabrics that someone else already designed and making them into something of my own, or using a good color combo of yarn to create something interesting. But I know I can do it, create Wendy-original designs, because I have pretty good drawing skills, I just rarely have used them. I need to hone them and really study what inspires me. I'm taking all of this slow, and I'm learning as I go. I will keep you updated on my projects, for sure!
I sewed. A purse!
It has SCISSORS on it! The fabric is a patchwork of pinks, beige, greens and blues (with a little orange too) with sewing notions and butterflies. I typically don't carry such a colorful purse, but I do love how it turned out. It's unique! 
I had made a Christmasy purse out of the same pattern a couple years ago and I loved carrying it around the holidays because the thing is huge. After Christmas I was sad to put the purse away. So I had to make myself another one.
This time I put little pockets on the inside.
I like the strap a lot!
I had blogged about this fabric last month and I had featured that little purse in an Etsy Favorites Wednesday. Link here. I did end up buying that little purse, isn't it cute? It looks super cute inside my purse.
