Thriftiness Adventures

Reading,Writing, Letters, Math, and Crafting books for my classroom and for teaching the kid. Most these books came from bargain barn side of the largest  goodwill in town where they sell items for less then $2 in the entire store area. I got these books for only 50 cents each. 

Mo' has been responding the best to board books as well as books made mostly of photographs and I found a nice haul of them today in the regular goodwill store.

I seriously wish this was in my size and not a 2t for the kid. It's the perfect magical girl sweat shirt. 

 I spend the majority of my time shopping at thrift stores because being a teacher and a parent I have to stretch every dollar. I lucked out with my most recent thrift finds with some great instructional books for teaching lower level students and even though I teach art I have to incorporate reading,math, science, and writing into my curriculum every chance I get.  I also picked up some new story books and clothes for the kiddo. (Keeping up with clothes that fit a growing toddler is a daunting task)

Bag Lady

I admit it. I have a bag addiction. I own several different kinds of bag, purses, and wallets and I always end up killing a number of them along the way as a result of the abuse I put them through on a day to day basis. Back in 2005 I started to make my own pouches to keep my undergraduate art major bag of tricks organized since I had to carry so much junk with me back then for various classes. Not soon as I made my first bags for my self my oldest cousin (20+ years older then me) and my mom's friends began to want them and then I began to sell them every year at different holiday shows which has proved to quite rewarding. 

My latest foray into bag making has evolved over the year. I first began by hand-stitching every bag with whatever material I could get my hands on at the moment. Every bag was different and then I got my sewing machine and I began to develop a pattern to use for each and every bag. It made the product more uniform and I switched from buttons to velcro. I am now going from velcro to zippers with my newest bags and finding wonderfully new and nerdy fabrics to make them for the up coming shows I'm attending this season with these awesome industrial feeling zippers on them. Hopefully they will make the impact my usual work does this time of year. 

When I am not trying to take over the world....

...my daughter is trying to squish my cat Starbuck into lovable piles of goo. 

I know, I post a lot about the kid and the cat but they're just so funny together. 

By the way I have another cat but she's an anti-social fat cat who only loves me and when I am alone. 

Yes, I named my cat Starbuck (the one being squished by the kid) from Battlestar Galactica. 

The anti-social one is named Enid from Ghost World. 

(All four of my pets have names from various scifi/fantasy shows or comic books)

Sailor Moon on my Fingers!

I have an obsession with making crazy little things out of polymer clay when the mood strike me. My latest incarnation are these sailor moon brooch rings. The top one is from the original manga's first few issues and the second is based from the show. I am happy with how the manga version came out with the bow since I didn't accidently burn it like I do so many other poly clay things when I'm not distracted.

A cosplay staple

I have always considered the sailor fuku, or japanese school girl sailor uniform to be a staple for any girl's costume closet. Its quick, easy, and comfortable when you are stomping around a convention. Until recently I always made the whole thing but I just started to make the collars only and thus I came up with the Insta-fuku to attach to a t-shirt and you can either get a skirt to match or wear it with jeans. I  use velcro so  you can take it on and off pretty quickly since most of them need to be a certain width around the neck to look right.

I've got a couple of them set up in the shop at the moment for only $10 + shipping and handling so check them out!

Retooling - Restyling

 I recently ran out of business cards and with the amount of work I do as a small business owner, graduate student, art teacher, mother, and wife I've had to finally realize I can't spend hours designing new promotional materials for myself and had to turn to vista print for help. I've used vista print since I was a freshman in college to promote myself in various ways and they've always been a good company to me. New designs meant a new retooling of the shop but since I've been trying to make the shop appeal to a wider market I went for the shop's poppy and skull design. Its a good balance of whimsy, dark, and sophistication. Now I need to go create, do inventory, and get ready for the first show of the season.

NOM NOM NOM Jewelry

I've been trying my hand at food jewelry over the past few months. I've mostly just stuck to pretzels, donuts, and ice cream which have been influenced by one of my favorite crocheters Twinkie Chan and her fabulous food art. (I am seriously in love with her bright colors and absurdly cute designs)

I made all of the pieces out of pluffy polymer clay which is nice and light compared to the brands out there for crafters. You just have to be very careful when baking it since it can burn very easily but when it turns out well they look fabulous with the brightly color aluminum chain I have paired with each pendant.  

Though personally I love the clay that turns into a useable eraser when baked in the classroom since you can gives students a chance to create a functional piece of art. 

I need to reshoot the majority of the pieces for the shop so expect some foodie jewelry coming to the shop within the week.