3.22.2006
My newest obsession.
I wonder if its a natural progression. You're a crafty girl.. and you fall in love with reading crafty blogs. You think to yourself, how fun is that! And end up starting your own blog (even though lately you havent been very crafty). Next, you start loving the photographs on others blogs - and becoming fascinated with their beauty. I have a good ol' digital camera, and I have a really lovely SRL (SLR, I always get those confused?) that was from my aunt who was an avid photographer. For some reason though, I am afraid to throw either of these into my purse for a day of picture taking. I am reliant on the digital camera to take pictures of things for iglubu - and the real camera, is so lovely and was my aunt's - that i would be very disappointed if something bad happened to it. I am a camera scaredy cat.
So ive decided on this beauty. It retails for around $60, so that if it decides to stay at the coffeeshop, when i head home, it wont be complete heartbreak. I dont know much about cameras - but this one is cool because it uses 120mm film instead of 35 like your standard camera. That means that the pictures are square (like this lovely one)! *tries to stay calm* The other really cool thing is that this camera is somewhat of a cult classic. There is a whole world of people out there who try to do crazy modifications to the camera, and force it to do things that it was not designed to do. I found this blog that is packed full of tips on what you can do with your Holga.
I've been a bit on the fence about ordering the camera. Right now, all of my money has been going towards sewing supplies. So, its difficult to spend money on something else - but, after looking at all of these lovely photos.. i think i need to go find my credit card.
Lili at 10:21 AM
3.20.2006
Dear Winter -
As you have probably noticed our relationship lately has been more than a little strained. The last straw was last week when you absconded with my favorite pair of mittens. At this point it would be very difficult to replace my mittens, and therefore I have to let you go.
Starting tomorrow, Spring and I will be moonlighting on a regular basis. I am sure this is no surprise - you have already seen the evidence in my apartment. Spring is a very wonderful lover and sent me a lovely blooming plant and a bunch of tulips.
I am sure we will see each other in the future, and maybe next time will go a little better.
Enjoy your gloomy clouds and slush,
- Lili
P.S. These are not my tulips. I thought it would be too painful for you, Winter, to see them. Instead, these are from Holland, MI. I'll show off mine sometime soon.
Lili at 12:21 AM
3.09.2006
In this past week i havent been as crafty as i really planned. Instead, ive been enjoying time with my family, working on some personal feelings and generally sitting around and enjoying not having to do anything.
Tonight while watching reruns on tv I made these. I picked up the kit the other day from tandy leather when i was looking for leather strips. it was $9 and they are most comfy things ever! my toes are pretty happy, which is good considering i am very anti-slipper and sock.
This is obviously not a picture of my slippers. I like mine much better. I was thinking it would be fun to do a little embroidery or something to make them a little less plain and a little cuter.
In other news - I am almost done with my two pointy kitties. I am planning a photo shoot with them tomorrow. It was so lovely outside today - i hope the same for the kitties tomorrow.
The nice weather is really making me feel a lot better about myself. For awhile there i was really feeling very stressed out and probably depressed about a lot of things that didnt matter. I have more to blab about this, but i think i might save it when i am feeling a bit more talkative. I think tonight i shall curl up with my toasty slippers and hope for sunshine.
And! the SeekIndie contest is off to a really great start. We already have around 40 artists participating. The exciting thing is that I dont know a lot of the participating businesses. I hope it means that we are spreading the word to a lot of people, and that this event will be really great.
Lili at 11:07 PM
3.05.2006
Today was a pretty big craft day. Yet again, i dont have photos to share, but hopefully i will have a new handbag design to show you guys soon!
The other day my mom and i went to a local quilt shop that has lots of reproduction prints. I picked out 2 for the pointy kitty (one for me, and one for my mom) and another for the new bag.
pointy kitty fabric A:
The little details are pretty much being ironed out (literally!) as we speak with the bag. I think it will be quite darling. i am also working on a rick rack flower to add to the bag. to make it even more springy and fun!
Hopefully tomorrow will produce a new clutch and 2 pointy kitties!
On friday i also received this fabric in the mail:
its for another clutch ive been working on lately in my head. im still rounding up the last of the supplies, but i think that will be tuesday's project. *nods*
did i mention yet that i am on spring break? nothing more glorious then being at your parents house, not having to cook and being able to sew all day. soak it up girl, the real world is coming fast (im graduating in may!)
Lili at 11:42 PM
3.01.2006
I swear, one of these days i promise i will post about something other than Alicia's blog. But her recent post really made me renew my interest in supporting indie artists. two of my business ventures are both primarily to help indie businesses. tonight, i really want to talk about PR for businesses. in Alicia's post she talks about how many crafters go out of business because so many people look at their work, but never purchase. The question is, why do some businesses make it, and others dont? I obviously can not answer this, but I can say that i think that an important aspect of running a handmade business is to expose your work to people who dont make things.
As a crafter, i know a lot of times i shop around online or in the stores, and i never buy anything. If i do find something that i love, i often times thing, "i can make that!" and being my poor self, decide that at some point in my busy life i will set aside the time to learn how to make my object of lust. Of course i wont! Anyways, here a couple of ways that you can expose your website to people outside of the crafty world.
The first is SeekIndie. This is one of my projects. Its run by myself and 2 other indie crafters. We are trying to gain exposure for the indie world and crafters everywhere. It started a couple of months ago, with our goal to get some PR for valentines day sales. We got the idea on Monday, and on Friday the contest started. Hehe. Our idea was to have each of the business donate one item, and then each would hide a graphic within their website. People who want to enter into the contest have to find 5 of the graphics. During the couple weeks of the contest, we had 9000 hits and nearly 400 entries. Really amazing!
Today we just started the registration process for the next round. It lasts until march 24th. The contest runs from April 17th until May 1st. Our theme is "April showers bring may flowers." Fun!
For more info on seekindie:
www.seekindie.com
And this is directly to the business info: Business Info
It is currently being organized by 3 indie designers; myself, Nicole, www.pinklovesbrown.com and Jeaneen, www.yattabags.com . I personally feel that there are so many people that give up on their crafty dreams because of lack of sales. I hate seeing that, because there are so many talented people in the world. Everyone deserves a chance. I hope that seekindie can help make all indie businesses stronger.
Lili at 10:37 PM