Craft Wars

Hello!
So if you recall I had a super secret project that I was working on and was in LA earlier this year. Well the cat is now out of the bag!

I am a contestant on the amazing new TLC show Craft Wars! It had it's premiere this past Tuesday and will continue to air Tuesday nights 10pm Eastern on TLC.

You can see the video here where I am scurrying around with wood in my arms and making faces.


It is super exciting and almost dreamlike to have the opportunity to meet some amazing people who share the love of crafting and be a part of the first season of this new series! It is still surreal to see my face on TV for the current Promo's. I also got to meet Tori Spelling, Stephen Brown (Glitterville), Erica Domesk (P.S. I made this), and Jo Pearson (Micheals Craft Store)

Of course I can't ruin the suspense so you will all just have to stay tuned to see when my episode airs as well as what happens. In the meantime I'll be live Tweeting as I watch my fellow crafter's episodes air and I invite you to join in on the fun using #craftwars when you tweet at me "torn_angel". I'll do my best to give you a little blog write up the day after to get some more in depth opinions on the challenges the crafter's face!

Cheers!

Focus on the Positive

I was helping a friend with some ideas for his sister's wedding and it made me remember something that I did for my wedding that was very helpful. I made a two lists, One was for the things I expressly did not want at my wedding and the other was for the things I wanted indefinitely. These lists weren't all material things, in fact I think the most important things on that list were actions that I wanted to happen or not happen such as making my dad do the father daughter dance with me.

Anyways remembering this I was able to reflect over the weekend a little about how I could apply the same lists to my life right now and refocus on things that I feel are either getting me down and falling through the cracks. For my two lists I am going to make it things I am thankful for or making me happy in life right now and things to improve in my life. I do not want to make a list of things I do not like or are negative because that will just lead to unnecessary bitterness. I've been dealing with a difficult client right now and they have been delinquent on their invoice. I've been angry all last week and this weekend I finally just said I had to let it go. It is currently out of my control without making things worse and getting legal. As soon as I get my payment I am just going to cut ties with them and let karma do it's thing. Getting hung up over the negative will only poison your own life and make more stress. This is why I refuse to make a negative list of things in my life.

Let's start with 5 things that are making me happy right now.

1. My happy little family, which includes my Husband, 3 kitties and closest friends near and far.
2. Having a home to call our own and having my freedom to express myself in it.
3. New friends out of people I used to know when I was younger
4. Teaching  my fashion classes
5. Helping out with community festivals

And now the not so fun 5 Things I could improve in my life

1. Being more organized in the house (I might still be living like a college dorm room with clothes all over the floor)
2. Feeling more comfortable about making art in the presence of other people like at the coffee shop or when a friend comes over
3. Accept that I can not make every student in my classes happy and not take their criticism personally
4. Exercise more
5. Making time to play video games to alleviate some of my stress

I think this is a good start. I also need to think more about how this blog of mine has progressed. I want to give it a face lift and take it a bit more seriously. Keep an eye out for some positive changes.

Do you have any life lists that you keep? What are some things making you happy right now?

In the Works

 Currently I am trying to add some new items to my etsy page that are jewelry. I always love to make jewelry but hardly sell it anywhere because I feel like it is a saturated market. Right now there isn't much I can do with the upheaval on the kitchen renovations encroaching on my studio so I am focusing on what small things I can create, naturally jewelry is one of those. I think that my jewelry can stand out on it's own. It still has my aesthetic in combining textures and fiber elements.

This Saturday I am super excited to be taking this crewel work class at Wholly Craft (I know it seems like I am there every week but it is a really awesome store!). From everything I have read the only big difference between this and embroidery is the materials. Instead of floss you use wool thread and instead of cotton you stitch on linen. I think the wool will add a new element in texture that I haven't had a chance to explore yet so this will give me a kick in the pants. I mean how many times are you going to hear me say,"I think this wool will really do something for my Scabs". Anyways more about the class. All materials are provided (linen, wool, embroidery hoop, needle, book) and it will be taught by the Author, Katherine Shaughnessy. How amazing is that? It might be one of the more pricey classes but I think you will get more then your money's worth with all the materials being included. If you'd like to sign up and take the class with me Register here!

Lastly I am obsessed the the above instagram that I think it was taken by @ericazurmehly of one of the juices she was downing for a cleansing diet. It just looks so rich in the red color and a bit medical because of he starkness of everything else. I'm thinking of something I can do to recreate the feeling I get when I look at this. Something dark? Something Medical? Something dastardly bloody? Or just some fruit? The possibilities are many.

Is there something on Instagram that caught your eye that you can't stop thinking about or taking a second gander at?
Cheers!

Vintage Finds and a little DIY

 Every time I go to Wholly Craft I can't help but picking up some fabric from their vintage section. I also found these wonderful old circular needles by Susan Bates!

I am trying out a size and padded style zippies as something to eventually sell at Craft Shows but these are a few of my samples. Not the fabric I would choose but the size with a strap as well as the construction were the things I was testing.  There are still a few things I would like to tweek on this before I make them from Vinyl and put them up for sale. They are double padded and will fit the average sized camera lens. Things I will probably do to these are embroidery to add a little person touch. One I'm sending to a photographer penpal and the other when I am satisfied with the Embroidery I will put up as a Giveaway on the blog! 

Here is a close up of these fantastic vintage circular knitting needles. I can't decide if I want to just hang them up as decor or take them our for a test spin. The nylon makes them super smooth and there is no jointing in the thread and the needles so it should more very smoothly. I am keeping an eye out for more of them to add to my new collection.

Lastly these are the fabrics I picked up 100% polyester but so much fun. I know with the white one I plan on making a skirt, perhaps a wrap skirt. The green is a pit thicker with a pique style texture, so I was thinking shorts but we shall see what they actually turn out to be.

Did you pick up anything extraordinary over the weekend? I'd love to see it!
Cheers!

TILT- Kriss Kross will make you wanna.....

JUMP JUMP!

Today's TiLT is just about one thing I loved that I did this year. It was going to SkyZone with a bunch of friends and playing like we were kids again but feeling like we were 80 years old by the time we were done.

I was essentially a nice warehouse with tons of trampolines in all different configuring for maximum fun. I took these pictures at the end and in between a private party so you can see the grand scale.
There was a Foam Pit with 3 trampolines that you jump on before diving face first into memory foam blocks.

I really don't want to dwell on the bacteria that could be floating around in there so let's pretend there isn't any. It felt like what you might imagine jumping into a cloud would be from your youth before you started taking practical science.

The main jumping area is here, where the walls are also trampolines. It was slightly embarrassing to be the oldest people there jumping. They put us in a corner just for the 5 of us and kept telling the kids to stay away as if we were some big hazard waiting to happen.

This was our corner of exile.  It was probably for the best since I kept trying to do flips only to faceplant repeatedly into the trampoline. I'm surprised I didn't break my neck or come out with another back injury. There was one more section that was 6 tramoplines facing each other with padding in the middle for a dodgeball court. We were all excited when they asked us if we wanted to do that because we thought we would be playing each other. No such luck, they were looking for a team to play against a bunch of High School kids both guys and girls. We felt a bit guilty trying to throw balls at these kids faces.

Over all I'd do it again. I mean I wouldn't of bothered blogging about it unless I thought it was amazing and made me happy right? And this Blog is about positive and happy things that I want to share with whomever reads my various fashion/nerd/adventure/event posts.

So go out there and BOUNCE!
As a side note they do have aerobic bounce classes and "rebounding" is starting to become a more popular form of exercise.

All I ever wanted.........

Once upon a time in Korea when I was in High School I had the perfect wallet. My oldest brother bought it for me. I didn't know it at the time but it was a total splurge. We got it from Galleria Department Store in Apkujung Dong. Department stores in Korea are what they used to be here in the States. Only superior high class brands they basically are the equivalent of what the Original Marshall Fields or Bloomingdales. Anyways I digress, this wallet was perfect, slim dark turquoise leather with the Logo OZOC on a rectangular silver plaque only have an inch by half inch large placed off center to one side. It was a long style wallet but not accordion, it would open up all the way with a small accordion for cash, a zippered change pocket and slots of cards and ID on the opposing side. The best part was it zippered all the way around flawlessly. If you can't tell by now I loved that wallet, it was the one wallet that I think all wallets should aspire to be. I have been on the hunt for such a wallet every since it was stolen from me in the summer for '99 at night club in Myung Dong.

I thought my search was fruitless until I saw this wallet on Linea Pelle. It was by chance that I went to their site through an "Lucky Daily Break" where they were offering 50% of this wallet. I'm a sucker for sales so of course I clicked into. I was pleasantly surprised by this luscious looking leather wallet. Her name was Dylan and I knew I needed her.

About a week later she came. I was impressed with the clean packaging and the safety put into it. There was a small box much larger then the wallet filled with packing peanuts and wrapped in two layers of zebra tissue paper.

The pictures on the website did her no justice. Where I was wary in getting the green color because of what looked like white leather painted green I was happy to see that it was not the case. The leather was a fully dyed green so there were no awkward white edges around the seams. Buttery Soft with shiny gold hardware.

The inside was my identical to my precious lost OZOC wallet and best of all was the zipper all the way around!

I'm telling you guys even though I got this wallet at 50% off because of that deal, if I had seen this in person I would of dropped that money for full price. This is high quality leather, thick and buttery with the wonderful wrist strap so I can take it on the go as needed without toting my entire Purse (no really more like knitting bag) with me. I feel like I will never need to buy another wallet as long as I have her. My husband will be very happy to hear that.

Do you have any Holy Grails of accessories or clothing that you have accomplished in owning? or have anything you are still on the quest for?  I'd love to hear about it!

TiLT - More Random

 1. Succulents. These are my baby plants. I have been nurturing inside and now they had to come out into the elements for lack of a good place in the house with the kitchen upheaval. Succulents are some of my favorite plants because of their various shapes and their uncanny ability of regrowth.

2. Cat bed Roll. I saw this tutorial off of Pinterest which led me to the original link here. The kitties LOVE it. Also nice and convenient since it will pack away very easily when we have guests over. Since it is all fabric I can easily wash it by throwing it into the machine. This was one of the few sewing projects I felt I had to get done before the house was a wreck and I no longer had access to my studio.

3. Bribery from the Hubby. I love that my hubby knows me well enough to bribe me to do simple things such as walk through a street festival without getting distracted by jewelry vendors. He heads it all off by buying me pretties. Usually it's stuffed toys but I'm not going to complain at all. The  Artist is Ashka Dymel and her website is here.

 4. Lakehouse Weekends. With the start of summer also comes trips up to the Lakehouse. Relaxing weekends of just hanging out in a clean house with very little TV or internet. Just sweet nature and the local sights and attractions

5. Organic mass. Some new work I am doing that is yet again small scale and portable. Much like how I need my life to be right now in the chaos for lack of space and sanity. I plan to do a series of at least 5 in red and pink then we'll see where I take it from there.

Columbus Arts Festival

This big festival happens once a year but this is the firs time in a very long time that is has come back to it home on the river front. The hubby and I rode our bike's as it is a very well attended event and we didn't want to deal with the parking lots in the area. On the way there we spied some amazing temporary artwork pillared on the posts of bridge.

Laser cut plywood that reminded me of the grand Cathedrals that we saw while in our honeymoon in Europe.

As we rode our bikes up I could see all the vendors tents lining the bridges

It was a gorgeous day with some overcast and the people were out in full throng!

This was some local art I spied in the "BIG LOCAL TENT" that was set up with groups such as:

Mother Artists at Work

OAL- Ohio Art League

Columbus Crafty Cotillion

Cloud Haus

Cap City Creatives

Etsy Team Columbus

CAW

Idea Foundry

(I'm sorry if I missed anyone)

I'm really Interested in this women's artwork so I had to take some photos to remember it and remember to look her up when I have some more disposable funds. 

Mary Ann Crago

Of course there is the food, which I really hate to put on my blog but the little potatoes above were just too pretty in their colors to not get snapshot. The lobster roll below with it's green cucumbers and bright red lobster flesh complimented each other so well. Both of these were from one of my favorite dining restaurants in town Deep Wood.

No street fair is complete without a crazy musician and Cheese sticks.

I look forward to this summer's Comfest and the Columbus Food Truck and Cart Fest!

Summer approaching

With Summer pretty much on the doorstep I keep thinking about how great my last summer ended with getting married and our amazing whirlwind honey moon to London, Paris and Rome.
As I daydream of the fantastic time I had I am avoiding the reality of things that will be this summer, the kitchen renovation.

Everyone looks nice and dandy right? Wrong....... when we did the Tear out the cabinets were from 1948 shipped from California and made proudly in the USA by Union workers. The oven is failing, 2 of the three stove top burners are no longer working and there is no dishwasher. The counters and cabinets are also too narrow to fit in with modern appliances. I loathe the vinyl flooring so that will be replaced with the same Bamboo throughout the rest of our first floor.  We are also getting a wall demolished to open the area up, moving the window by the oven to the opposite side and installing a half bath.

In other news the beginning of summer also means the start of summer classes for me to teach.
Over at ye' olde stomping grounds of CCAD for teaching I'll be doing Pattern Drafting and Sewing Construction per usual, then my favorite Summer program College Preview teaching another summer of heart wrenching fashion elective! Sadly my Draping and Fabric Manipulation class did not have a large enough enrollment to happen this summer. I love teaching draping, it is just more my style and such a fun loose class to get creative in.

I also will have a few classes over at one of my favorite local stores Wholly Craft. I'll be teaching beginning crochet and also an Amigurami class for a little Jelly fish doll.

I'm trying to work on some new pieces of art and just jewelry in general that I'd like to sell on Etsy. It's very annoying to be out of my element and without a proper work space. I'm making do as much as I can with just the small handicrafts that I can transport around with me. It is seriously stressing me out not to be able to sew and work in fabric freely when ever I want. Today is just Monday so hopefully the rest of the week turns around. Tomorrow is my first day to teach with the summer class so that'll be exciting to meet some new people and find out why they want to learn basic pattern drafting.

Cheers!