THE SEMESTER IS OVER!

Oh man, my stressful, final full semester of college as an undergraduate is DONE! I still have to take one class during the summer to officially graduate, but still, YAY! I'm not sure finals week has ever stressed me out so much...haha. Hopefully this means that I will AT LAST be back on track with my shop and with this blog. I haven't made anything at all for quite a long time with the exception of a mouse that I got to sew for a final project...yes, my teacher was awesome =) Here it is!:

This is Anja, one of the characters in the graphic novel Maus by Artie Spiegelman. I HIGHLY recommend it if you haven't read it. Anyway, I altered a pattern I found to make her look more like the art in the book and just kind of winged it with the clothes. On the last day of class when we were asked to share what we did for our final, there was this ridiculous audible gasp from the class when I pulled her out of my backpack so I guess I did alright...haha.

Here are a couple of graduation pictures as well...my ceremony was on May 21 and my dad, sister, niece, Joshua, and my best friend Michele were all there:

Ultimate graduation picture with my best friend

Tried to get a nice picture with Joshua but he just kept making weird faces =)

 Making my niece cry...AS A FAMILY! Haha.

 And uh, yeah, I got a haircut...haha. I have decided that I'm done with long hair...it just doesn't suit me as well as short hair does. I'll probably post better pictures of it the next time I update (which will hopefully be soon!).

Alright, that's about it for now. Like I said, I hope to get back on track and start making things again very soon, so I'll let you know what I come up with...

<3!

Oh dear - have a collage!

COLLAGE OF STUFFED THINGS!, originally uploaded by days were never dull.

Once again I have waited too long in between blog posts and now I hardly know where to begin...so I will share this collage I made recently of some things I've sewn and never really said much about ^^ If you go to the actual Flickr page, you can hover over each stuffed creation and learn a little more about it. Most of them are in my Etsy shop so you can definitely check there for more pictures and details and such as well.

I promise, I will make a good entry soon! School is beating my brain up and...well...Joshua lives with me again =D He's been here since April 5 and he's all settled into the room down the hall from mine (it is a fantastic room). We've been seeing a lot of friends and hanging out with each other and such, so on top of not getting much done lately anyways, I've been pretty distracted by that...haha.

Hope you are all doing well and I will talk more to you later!

Catching up: Custom dog, self-portrait, and a skirt

Oh blog, you are so neglected...To be fair, school has had me in a bit of a bind. It's not as if I don't have some free time, but I'm usually just tired and meh or else distracting myself from such things by talking to Joshua. Haven't been extremely crafty this month, but I do indeed have some things to show you! Things I should have shown you a while ago!

First things first: I believe I told you about the custom dog I was working on...it came out pretty nifty, though I do wish I had made the legs longer =/ Here are some pictures:

Shortly after completion...

Labeled ear!

With collar ^^

WITH THE ORIGINAL WINNY!

Woo, so that was exciting =) Glad that the real Winny seems to like her stuffed version...haha. 

So shortly after that project was done, I got an assignment in a class to make a self-portrait. I immediately decided to make a stuffed version of myself because, uh, that's the kind of thing I like to do. Now, I wasn't going to be in class on the actual day that it was due, so I got it done early...only to find out that it was supposed to be non-representational (or non-literal) because it is an Avant Garde history class and she wanted us to try imitating the people we learned about -_- Ah well, my teacher still really liked it and uh, now I have a tiny stuffed version of myself that I don't know what to do with...haha. I do sort of wish I had known/realized ahead of time though because it would have been fun to make some really weird abstract mess of fabric...maybe some other time!

 TWINS! KIND OF! NOT REALLY!

It was made with brown, blue, and purple fleece, black felt for the vest and wristband, little jewelry jump rings for the piercings, colored tooth pick ends for the gauges (with real tiny o-rings!), and black plastic safety eyes from 6060. Entirely hand-sewn since it was so small...and I decided not to give myself green bangs because 1) I was planning on dyeing them (the very next day in fact) and 2) because I change my hair so often that even the cut would be outdated soon enough and I thought it'd be best to just stick with my natural hair color...haha. And I just want you all to know that I really do have a shirt and pants in almost those exact colors. Cos I'm cool like that.

So on the subject of vanity...this is what I look like now with my new bangs!
 

I also did a bleached under-layer in the back, how exciting. And uh, yeah, as you can see I tried wearing a weird scarf the other day. I never wear scarves like that...usually only for actual neck-warmth, not just like HEY GUYS I'M WEARING THIS SCARF TODAY. I am making a bigger deal of the damn scarf than I should...haha. In any case WHY YES I am wearing the Amanda Palmer shirt I made all by myself in that picture! How neat! I keep meaning to make some AFP-themed pillowcases but I haven't done it yet. Sigh.

Okay, back to the craftiness at hand!

I have been trying to make a skirt based on an Urban Threads tutorial (which you can find HERE), but that came to a standstill after I realized that I made it too wide and also when I realized I for some reason could not make any sense out of how they say to make the waistband...keep meaning to ask someone else to read it and see if I'm just really dumb...haha. In any case, here's a progress picture of it a bit before I got stuck:

It will be pretty awesome...once I figure out how to finish it...

Alright...I've got more things to show you, but I am going to wait on it in the hopes that it will encourage me to blog again soon! PESTER ME IF IT TAKES TOO LONG! And remember, if you have any questions for me, craft-related or otherwise, you can ask them here: http://www.formspring.me/EmoSeal and, if they're relevant, I'll post the answers here as well. Hope you have an awesome day =)

<3

A block of creativity won't stop an update!

Hellooo...not much new to report, but I felt like trying to be at least a little more consistent in updating here. I just started school again last Wednesday (don't ask, we always start on weird days for some reason) and it has been both consuming my time and making me a bit too tired to feel like doing much sewing or other creative stuff once I'm done with it, and it's totally getting on my nerves...haha. I have a pile of fabric bits that are going to make up a stuffed dog and only the ears sewn together! Sigh! I did use my sewing maching for the very first time this weekend though in order to sew those ears and it was SUPER EXCITING! Here is me with my sewing machine...not the greatest picture, but alas:

I HAVE A REAL SEWING MACHINE!

So yes! That is an incredibly good development in my life! I'm going at a snail's pace with it while I sew, but I think once I get used to it, I'll get to sewing faster. Even going slowly, it's far faster than I could ever hand-sew (obviously) which is kind of nice because big projects don't have to take forEVER...though there is something nice to just using your own hands to make something from bits of fabric and thread. I'm sure I'll continue to hand-sew every once in a while, but really, I'm truly happy to have the option to use a good sewing machine to get things done.

The first thing ever sewed with my new machine =) Cleaned up the angles I didn't get so well after.

Like I said, I haven't gotten much of anything done for the custom project I'm working on, but I did order some eyes from 6060.etsy.com specifically for it and they showed up yesterday - they are PERFECT. I've ordered some black eyes from 6060 before after seeing someone who makes some cool plushes link to their store and I think that since I won't always be able to restock my plastic safety eye supplies at Ax-Man in Minneapolis (have I mentioned that store before? IT IS AMAZING AND MAGICAL! and they sell eyes at fantastic prices) for obvious reasons (I do not regularly reside in the Midwest and Joshua hopefully won't forever either), I will definitely make a habit of buying from them when my supplies run low or I have a specific need for something like this. Again, not the best picture, but here are the eyes I got:

Dear 6060, you are awesome.

Alright...that's really it for now. Hopefully after this weekend I will have made a lot more progress and I'll have more exciting things to show you! Until then...I made a formspring account earlier where you can go to ask me about quite literally anything you like - if you've ever had any questions about me personally or about some of the myriad things I do, this is your chance =) If I get any particularly interesting craft-related questions (or anything I think might be appropriate for this blog), I'll post the questions and answers here for you all to see. You can even ask things anonymously so you don't have to be shy...haha. Anyways, here's my link: http://www.formspring.me/EmoSeal 

Alright! Good night everyone!

I am the worst at keeping up blogs...

Sorry everyone...haha, SIGH. I always think "Hmm, I should update my blog..." and then I forget about it. Because I am a terrible person. Ah well, I'm here now!

I've been spending a month in the Midwest in order to hang out with my dear Joshua. I had my first white Christmas and finally kissed someone at midnight on New Year's Eve! Otherwise, we've done a lot of lounging, eating out (so much breakfast!), staying up horribly late, watching movies (so far we've gone out to see Sherlock Holmes, Avatar, Youth in Revolt, and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, all of which I recommend, plus we've watched a bunch at home), awkwardly hanging around bars (he works at one as a DJ and his roommate works at another - we were not awkward when we went to Donny Dirk's Zombie Den last night though, that place was AWESOME), and the like. Here is a super cheesy picture of us from Christmas day:

The infamous MOOSE HAT!

Haha, so yeah, things have been good. Leaving on Monday though...sigh. I'm going to miss him. School starts on the 20th though, and I'm nearly done! Sort of! This is my last full semester of my four years of college, but I'm going to be one class short to graduate so I'm going to have to do summer school. Which sucks, but alas. I'm just really reallyyyy hoping that the budget cuts don't screw me too badly and leave me without the last class I need. I'll just have to wait and see. Then I have to decide what I want to do about graduate school...I thought I was just going to stay at the school I'm currently at, but then I found out about the California College of the Arts up in Northern California and I'm kind of intrigued...not really sure if I actually want to move - it'll take a bit more research and thought - but it's an idea.

On the subject of making things, I've done a little sewing since I've been here. Joshua's mom said all she wanted for Christmas was for me to make her something, so he commissioned me to make a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater =) I didn't get any super great pictures of it before we gave it to her, but here it is!

Fleece, felt, and a random textured yellow fabric Joshua picked out for the wings =)

 

And: Joshua and the monster checking each other out...haha

She really liked it and I'm actually pretty proud of how it came out. Joshua also has one of the bartenders at the place he works for interested in having me make a stuffed version of her dog (and potentially her other pets depending on how that goes). I think I'm going to have to consult a pattern or tutorial of some sort to get it right, but I'm excited to get started on it. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE BUSINESS, JOSHUA!

Anyways, since I am now just ONE sale away from 30 overall in my shop, I've decided that my 30th customer will receive 30% off of their next order from me! Please spread the word and/or consider buying that special someone a monster that they can cuddle with =)

I also suggest that you enter The Dainty Squid's latest contest for three of her super cute coin pouches! You've got until January 23 to tell her what your favorite animal is here on her blog.

Click here to enter!

Let's see...well, I'm sure I've got tons of other things to update you on - I've been making more monsters and such - but I don't want to overload you. Maybe the next entry will just be a big monster party! And perhaps I'll have even more things to show you once I'm back in San Diego, because I will finally have a legitimate sewing machine! My dad got me one for Christmas because he is amazing. I really love hand-sewing things, but having the ability to do more and do things quicker will be so great. I'll definitely be letting you know how it works =)

Until then, I hope that 2010 is going well for you!

<3

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale! Plus my b-day and those secret projects...

Yes, I know, I just had a birthday sale of sorts...but now it's Black Friday (and soon to be Cyber Monday), which means an even bigger sale!

I made a brand new HOLIDAY SALE section - more than half of the items in my shop have migrated over into it and they are all 25% off! And the rest of the items in my shop now have FREE shipping =D I rarely have sales throughout the year and this is an especially big one for me, so take advantage of it while you can - the sale ends Monday night at midnight (or, well, Tuesday morning if you want to be technical).

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale!

11/26 -- 11/30

In other news, last Friday was my 21st birthday and it was AWESOME. I went to Disneyland with Joshua, my friend Cat, who I share my birthday with (I'm older by 2 years and 1 hour ^^), her sister, and our friends  Nick, Jen, and Hayden. We had far more fun than people our age should there...haha. Here's a picture!

See my hooded-cat friend there at the front? I totally made that ^^

Joshua stayed to visit for a few days besides that and we had a lot of fun running around with all of our friends, seeing two concerts (The Features and Say Anything) and Boondock Saints 2 (so good), and just getting to spend time together again. All and all a good time.

Now! Secret projects! Haha, I haven't been able to tell you guys about the past two things I've made because they were both birthday presents - one for Joshua (Nov. 15) and one for Cat! Cat really liked the bat I made back in October and I decided to make her one similar - I don't have a picture of her and her new friend together just yet, but here he is right after I finished him:

Cat was very pleased with her bat...haha.

And as for Joshua...Joshua is very hard to get things for. Even harder to make things for...but I decided to risk it and try something new. I ended up asking him to tell me a design of some sort that he really liked that I could put onto something and that he wouldn't mind seeing a lot...because I wanted to try making him a new wallet =) He told me to use the Pixies "P-wing" logo and I went to work. I used fabric markers and hand-cut stencils to get the design onto some fabric, sewed up the edges and attached some backing fabric, and then sewed vinyl pockets to the inside (and, being the cheesy person I am, I stitched "I love you" into the inside...haha). I gave it to him on the bus shortly after he arrived and...he really liked it =) I was super excited and I got this really cute picture of him holding it before he left:

He rarely smiles or looks at the camera in pictures, so this is just AMAZING =D

And here's a look at the inside...and my cheesiness...haha.

He said he really liked it and immediately switched out his old wallet (and proceeded to show it off during the rest of the visit to everyone he could), so YAY! I think I may attempt more wallets in the future now.

Alllright...I considered writing about two other recent projects here as well, but I think I'll save those for another blog soon. Good night and please do check out my Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale!

<3

BIRTHDAY! Free shipping in the shop through the weekend =D

SO! Tomorrow is my birthday! Woooo! This is going to be a pretty brief update, but I just wanted to let you guys know that I am offering FREE SHIPPING on everything in my shop starting now as my gift to you =)

FREE SHIPPING!

on everything in the shop =D

11/19 - 11/23

 

I've been working on a few different secret projects that I don't want to post about just yet because they are birthday presents for two friends - Joshua's birthday was on November 15 and my friend Cat and I share the same birthday (we are exactly two years and one hour apart). Hopefully I'll get some pictures of both of them with what I made and I'll be able to show off then. One will look a bit familiar and the other is something I've never attempted before...we'll see how that goes over...haha.

Alright, next time I promise you will be getting a super exciting, picture-filled entry! For now, I have one more class to get through for today and then I am heading to the airport to pick up Joshua - we're going to Disneyland tomorrow with a bunch of friends and then spending a few days just hanging out together and I am super excited =D Hope things are going well for you too!

<3