I seem to go through these phases of being very interested in a particular craft or material, during which I immerse myself in everything about that craft or material. Sometimes, I create some nice projects as a result of these phases, but they’re often pretty short-lived, and then I move onto the next thing that catches my eye. The worst phases are when I buy up a bunch of supplies and then never get around to making the thing I wanted to make in the first place. (That doesn’t happen as much as it used to, and at least I usually come back to them later.)

After a brief interest in making keychains that never went anywhere, I moved on to cross-stitch and embroidery projects again, thinking that I might work on so many stitching projects that I’d get sick of it. Of course, I only finished one small project and bought a few books, before promptly losing interest in it (for a bit, at least). And now it’s clear that the next big thing for me is paper (again).

I can’t remember exactly what sparked my interest this time, but lately, I’ve been very drawn to any sort of Japanese paper, especially the large sheets of chiyogami (yuzen) washi. They’re really beautiful, made with a special sort of silkscreening process, and often have a little bit of metallic color to them. There are a few local stores that carry both the large sheets of this paper and packages of it in origami-sized squares, so I’ve been doing a little shopping around here. I’ve found some good sources online as well.

• Paper Jade - A nice selection of sheets and packages, good photos of the items, and the service was amazingly fast and good!
• Paper Mojo - Gorgeous sheets of Japanese and other specialty papers.
• eBay - I found a lot of sellers by searching for yuzen, chiyogami, and washi.

I’m going to use some of the papers for envelopes, collages, and for another quilted kimono piece, but here’s something different that I put together earlier tonight:

(More photos here.)

The matchboxes are fun to make, since they’re so small and simple. And the badges were done with a Hello Kitty toy badge maker I’ve had for a bit but haven’t used for awhile. I’m going to make more and then take some of these to the employee craft fair next month, though I’m not sure if they’ll get any interest. I figure I can always put them up on my Etsy store if they don’t sell. I like them though.

Man, this going back to work thing has been kicking my ass in a major way! Well, at least when it comes to trying to do things when I have some free time. On weekdays, my brain seems to have turned to mush by the time I arrive home, and I’m still working on pushing myself to do fun things on weekends. We’ll see if this keeps up though, but I’m trying to be crafty, I really am.

On Labor Day, I got together with Amytha and some other crafty friends to help her prepare some Halloween decorations for a party she’s going to throw. I mostly worked on painting a cardboard cutout of a scary clown, as part of a gory circus theme, and it was fun to just dive in and go to town with a paintbrush. There’s more work to be done, so we may have to gather again sometime before Halloween.

The painting continued at our September South Bay Craft Group meeting, with a demonstration on decoupaging wooden boxes, led by Amytha. Painting was optional, of course, but I thought the cut-outs I chose would look better on color than on plain wood. Here are a few photos of what I created:

Here are a few more photos of the box, if you’re interested.

Otherwise, I’ve mostly been buying more craft supplies I really don’t need. Amytha and I went to a rubber stamp show in San Jose, and I left with a pile of more origami paper (for making small envelopes) and some Japanese stickers from Hanko Designs. I bought some supplies to make some of these cotton webbing keychains, though I have yet to actually try to make one. I just haven’t felt like sewing much lately.

Instead of sewing, I really want to work on another cross-stitch or embroidery project, even if it takes awhile to complete. I have plenty of floss and various pieces of Aida fabric, so it all comes down to the pattern, which is the most difficult part of it all. I’d rather not create my own design, just due to the extra work, but then everything I see at local stores is just awful. I’ve lamented about this before, but there really needs to be a total revival of cross-stitch, and with better designs than the crap that’s out there now. There are plenty of cool things being crafted these days (just look at all the stuff on Craftster), but not enough in cross-stitch patterns. I don’t think it’s because there’s anything inherent about cross-stitch that prevents it, but someone needs to get the ball rolling, and with something more than just phrases. I want images and colors, people!

Anyway, enough ranting for now. I’ll just have to work on my own patterns in the meantime, and I’ll make sure to post anything I come up with. I’ve got some swaps to work on in the meantime though…

Before I go, I just want to thank Alicia at Posie Gets Cozy for linking to me this week. I’ve noticed a huge spike in my traffic, with lots of referrals from her site. Thanks to her and hello to anyone coming from there!

When in doubt, return to what you know.

I’ve not had much luck with the various projects I was trying to start, so I’ve set them aside and focused on making envelopes in the meantime. The process is so ingrained in my brain, that I don’t have to think about much more than what paper to use and what size or style of envelope to make.

There’s a soothing quality to it as well, especially when I work on small batches at a time, like I tend to. Pick a few sheets of paper, cut out and make the envelopes, and then repeat until I feel like doing something else. My envelope stash is definitely growing again.

While working on a few more batches last night though, I was thinking about ways to make them more interesting. I usually just have piles of envelopes and fill them with whatever I want, but I thought about making cards that correspond with the envelopes somehow. My first try was in using scraps of the paper that actually made the envelope, and adhering those to white flat cards.

I’m still trying to decide which version I like the best. I like the “thumb tab” look, though it’s not as clean-looking as the lovely striped versions. Oh, and the sad-looking card in the upper right of the photo was a failed attempt at arranging a few squares and rectangles into the corner. I couldn’t quite get the look I wanted, so I might have to work on that arrangement before I give up on it. I also plan on trying out different colors of cardstock for the actual card.

I think I’ll try making up some sets of these card and envelope combinations, and perhaps list some on my Etsy store. We’ll see though. I’m just glad to have something crafty to work on to break up all the job search intensity I’m in the middle of. Things aren’t going so badly in that area (my portfolio is pretty much done and I have at least one interview scheduled so far!), but I definitely recognize my need for some time away from the serious stuff.

The cross-stitch demo I gave last week at the South Bay Craft Group meeting went all right. It’s a bit hard to show something that is so small, so I used a piece of plastic canvas and some yarn to demonstrate how to do the stitches. After a bit of explanation, everyone went at it and asked me questions when they ran into trouble.

I have to admit that I was feeling a bit bored with cross-stitch that night, most likely brought on from looking through so many bland patterns in preparation for the class. We used some free starter kits that I got from DMC, all with simple, but somewhat boring flower designs to them. Their site offers a few others, but there isn’t much variety. I think if I give this demonstration again sometime, I’ll make sure to use more interesting designs, like these abstract art patterns.

I guess I’m feeling a bit stuck in the crafting area overall lately, partly due to my recently begun job search. I think it’s about time to get back into the workforce, so I’ve been busy fixing up my resume and putting together a web portfolio, as well as talking to a few headhunters and HR people. All of this takes quite a bit of energy, and I don’t feel like doing much creative afterwards. I’m sure it’ll only be more of a struggle once I’m working again, so this is quite frustrating.

I will say that I’ve still been looking for new project ideas though. Last week I was searching online for hours to find Japanese sites about carving stamps, and found so many good resources, none of which I can read. I started with some new Japanese books on the subject, and eventually figured out the phrase for carving stamps (it refers to using rubber erasers as the carving base). I ended up with lots of good bookmarks, but never carved any of my own stamps after that.

And then last night, I started browsing Etsy for things I might like to buy, but it turned into gathering ideas for my own projects. I went from wanting to learn how to make mosaics to thinking about creating my own jewelry (which I don’t really even wear), and then ended up feeling like painting. And yet I didn’t make very much when I was through, and everything I’ve tried today just didn’t seem to be quite right. Maybe I just need to do something else for a little bit, and a new project will come to me. Sometimes the things you look for the most come out of nowhere when you stop actively looking for them.

Yesterday marked the first full year that this blog has been in existence. Unfortunately, I missed posting then due to access problems at home, but I was definitely thinking about it!

I don’t really have anything prepared to celebrate it, other than to note that it happened and say that I continue to keep Being Crafty going beyond this point. I think this might be the longest I’ve kept an online journal or blog without deciding to change it in some way, either in format or design, but I think things are working pretty well as they are.

Anyway, here’s a link back to my first entry. Short, but sweet.