dotees round 2!

the last of these was actually received a week or more ago, i'm just behind. (surprised? you shouldn't be!)

i was running late for round 2 of this swap, and i of course felt guilty about it (it's that catholic guilt thing), so i decided to make everyone two dotees. plus my dotees weren't really all that traditional, so i was worried....


so! enough babbling, onto the pics!
i made 3 with gold, 2 with baby pink, and 2 with bright blue. i only needed 6 for the swap, the 7th was for a friend.




eyes are gold and black craft eyes, the wings are gold vinyl stamped with stazOn black ink, then sewn to another layer of gold (ie, the wings are plain vinyl on the back) the stamp was the flying heart stamp autumn leaves stamp set gypsy style by rhonna farrer.



eyes are pink and red albino craft eyes, the wings are baby pink vinyl stamped with stazOn red ink, then sewn to another layer of pink (ie, the wings are plain vinyl on the back). the stamp was the flying heart stamp from autumn leaves stamp set gypsy style by rhonna farrer.



the eyes were blue and black craft eyes, the wings are blue vinyl stamped with stazOn black ink, then sewn to another layer of blue (ie, the wings are plain vinyl on the back). stamp was the skeleton butterfly i think blue ones are my favourites!


and the second set!


- diamond stamp is from www.savvystamps.com
- believe stamp is from www.purpleorangearts.com
- stitches stamp is from stampers anonymous
- square with stars stamp was $1 on sale at collage, no brand visible



- knitting and crocheting stamps are from www.sideshowstamps.com
- doodle stamp is from stampin' up!
- create stamp is from www.invokearts.com
- stitches stamp is from stampers anonymous



- pen nib stamp from www.alphastamps.com
- curlicues are the top of a stamp from paperbag studios
- life stamp is from www.purpleorangearts.com



- striped stamp from www.savvystamps.com
- clock set from www.invokearts.com
- inspire stamp from www.invokearts.com



- clock set from www.invokearts.com
- "art" from www.alphastamps.com



- inspire stamp from www.invokearts.com
- sacred heart stamp from www.invokearts.com
- flower stamp from large set that i believe is autumn leaves, but i lost the insert ages ago
- numbers/lines from a Paperbag Studios set


i have to say, i was MUCH happier with my dotees this round than the first one! however, i probably won't join another round. they're fun to make, but there are just so many other things i could be making!

crafting of last night and this morning....

props! my mom's in a play (did i mention it starts TODAY?) and by dress rehearsal last night, she still didn't have all her props!. enter me, her favooouurrite child!

so here they are. i really had no clue exactly what these were supposed to look like, so it was google image search to the rescue! are they recognizable? do you know where they are?

copper wire, copper coloured embroidery thread, and a bit of white bobbin thread as the string

i added a bit of glossy accents on the ends too - it won't read from the audience, but i couldn't find any sandpaper to smooth out the ends of the copper.



shrink plastic and black embroidery thread



i know the hooks are wrong, but i didn't have the right ones, and i just needed something to pick up the stage lights. it really won't read from the audience.

she was happy with them, and it was fun to take a break from my usual stuff and make such random items!

ADDENDUM to the fat girl vinyl bag!

i posted this bag on craftster the other day, and a few people commented that they liked the bag, but didn't like the inside pocket because they consider "fat" to be a bad word. though i personally think crafting is inherently political, craftster isn't the place for it, so i wanted to address that here.

i love the word fat! i'm all about reclaiming negative words, things like queer and dyke and cunt, words that have been used as insults, as ways to hold us down, and making them ours and saying why yes, i AM fat! and i AM queer! thanks for pointing that out! i know that every person is in a different place on their own path to self acceptance, whether that be accepting their body size, accepting their sexuality, whatever, and so not everyone is comfortable with these words. but i think it's really important that we reclaim them, that we think about WHY we find them offensive, and decide that they're not going to be offensive to us anymore.

of course, it's all about context, right? so if some asshole yells at you as they drive by, then hell, yeah, that's insulting! but simply using the words as descriptors, as identities? what's insulting about that? even the most innocuous words can be offensive is they're said with a certain tone - i once had a client end a phone call with "god bless you then" in a tone that totally translated to "fuck off and die you bitch"!! she was pissed because i wouldn't let her break the law, and we had a 20 minute debate/fight/conversation/whatever about it, and trust me, when she said that at the end, she DID NOT really mean god bless you!

and fat's a great word. it's a honest, frank, DESCRIPTIVE word. most of the other words people use to describe fat people are understatements designed to make people feel better about themselves, are infantile and desexualize the person they're referring to, are completely inaccurate when applied to some fat people (not everyone is big boned, for instance), or are medical words that are used as scare tactics by the media and the big diet companies, etc. fat has no other meaning behind it but what it is, a simple description.

so yeah. that's why i used the word fat. i hope you understand, and maybe it'll help you on your own path. as i mentioned in the craftster post, i included a full set of Figure 8 zines with the bag in the auction. there are multiple zines out there that are fat positive, but i REALLY recommend Figure 8!

machine embroidery goodness!

i'm not going to post everything from the MasterCraftsters campaign here, you'll have to check out the links instead (hint!), but here's a few pictures!


























overall, this was an AMAZING experience! i was sent a sewing machine by brother, and had 2 weeks to make a whole bunch of stuff that showed off what the machine could do (that was the stressful part - 2 weeks!!). i had so much fun, and played around with lots of different things. i have to admit that i thought machine embroidery was pretty cheesy, and i still think a lot of the designs sold are intended for a more traditional audience, but there are lots of funky options too!! if you ever have the opportunity to get an embroidery machine, i highly recommend it!

Master Craftsters!

jeez, this is what happens when i don't post for a bit, i end up with too many things to post about!

an awesome e-mail (that i still need to reply to!), shopping for halloween supplies, my big purchase at the dealer/sewing shop, dotees dolls arriving, organizing, inspirations, etc. they'll all have to wait until the next post, because i have something very exciting to share!

"the big secret project" is now PUBLIC! wahoo! (finally! i'm so impatient!!)


please go to craftster and check it out!

MASTER CRAFTSTERS!