I'm Here! Finally...

Hey all! I'm back! It's about time, huh? I guess it ended up being a bit longer than a week. About two and a half weeks to tell the truth. But anyways, what's done is done, and there's nothing I can do about it. So I've had a lot of good stuff going on recently in the crafting department, but I've only got one picture for today's post. I had to use my cell phone to take it, so sorry if the quality is crappy. I'll talk more about the photo above a bit later. First off, I think I'll talk about all of the chaos that's been going down in my room lately. It's a mess.

You see, I've been trying to organize my craft stuff recently and it's been complete insanity. I decided to sort everything by color, no matter what it is. That's sort of becoming a hinderance to the organization process, since I have to find somewhere to STORE all of this stuff. Haha. Well, anyways, that's that.

Now we'll go to the picture above. You can see that it's a couple of fashion sketches. If you know me personally, you can see that I'm not girly at all. For the most part I hate dressing up, and the fanciest I'll ever be is a summer type dress for a wedding. That's about it. So it's weird for me to be messing around with fashion. But so far I've done 6 fashion sketches that coordinate into a fashion line. You see, I've been working a lot lately on sewing clothing. I want to sell it. Do you like the sketches above?

There are several ways that I've been planning on doing this. A portion of all of my sales in my etsy shops will go towards this project. Also, in case I haven't posted it before, a portion of all my sales go to a nonprofit organization that is based in my city. So yeah. Well anyways, that is one way you can support me in this project. Also, if you like one of the pieces in the sketches above, just let me know in the comments, and include your measurements. I'll do some research, then get ahold of you to quote a price. Thanks so much for supporting me!!

The Destruction of a Project

Hey all. I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. The good news is that the bad news isn't reeeally bad. But the bad news is that I don't have any pictures for you guys AGAIN today. I know. I'm sorry. My bad. You see, I had actually taken all of these pictures, and even took special care to make them cool looking and professional. But then, I found out that my cord was missing. And I was so ready to share some pictures with you too. I'd use my old camera and retake them, but it's not where I left it, so that's pretty much M.I.A. But anyways, I guess that even though the picture thing is disappointing and really stinks, I can still share with you. At least my internet isn't down. So yeah. I had some pictures of a cross stitch project I was working on today, and also a few of my in progress fingerless gloves. I'll try and clean my room today or tomorrow in order to find the cord, but my day is pretty busy. I just got done with my schoolwork, and soon I'm hopefully going to the craft store. I've got some cool stuff in mind for some projects I've got planned, so we'll see if that works out. Plus I have a worship/prayer meeting at church later this evening.

But anyways, as a type of update, I think I'll first talk a little bit about my fingerless gloves. Are they working? Are you doing it right. The answers to these are I think so and I hope so. Like I've said before, they're black, so that's a bit of a challenge for me. I'm more attracted to bright colors like lime and turquoise. So yeah. But now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wearing a black Tae Kwon Do shirt right now, so apparently I'm not totally turned off to black. Actually, they sort of look nice so far. When I do an outfit, or put together something to wear, I'm more of a one or two simple accessories in neutrals type of person. Because they match the brights. So maybe it was a good idea to do them in black after all. But yeah. Even though I'm fourteen, I'm not really all that into fashion. Normally I only wear jeans and a tee shirt. Year round. In the winter. I don't know why, I just do. I guess I take after my dad. He always wears tee shirts. But my mom will always wear a sweater. I can deal with the short sleeved ones. I've actually been thinking about knitting one. But the long sleeved ones? You might as well forget about it. Too scratchy in my honest opinion.

Sorry about that totally non related rant there. I don't know what came over me. :P. Sometimes when I'm doing something, like typing, my mind just starts to wander, and I totally have to tell somebody about everything. (Actually, I think I have slight A.D.D. At least I do A.D.D. things.) So yeah. Sorry if that bothers you, but that's my personality and I'm sticking to it. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Those fingerless gloves. So you see; I was actually working on them last night when all of a sudden, I counted my stitches and found that I had dropped a stitch somewhere along the line. I was struck dumb. But, like the easily annoyed person that I am, I simply increased a new stitch and continued on like nothing had happened. *blushes* Anyways, when I got to the end of the row, I found the stitch I had dropped. And I couldn't just leave it there. And I didn't feel like ripping out a whole row just to get back to where I had increased. So yeah. You guessed it. I picked up that one too, and continued on as normal. I did one more row and realized my mistake. I couldn't see the cable anymore... I had totally cut off the pattern when I picked up an extra stitch.

I was so annoyed with myself, and I was totally freaking out. So I put away the knitting for the night, and devoted the rest of it to searching craft blogs. Sad, I know. But I found some pretty good ones... Okay, enough with the excuses. It was a sad thing to have done and I'm sorry I did it. So the next morning (this morning) I decided what I had to do. I ripped out two rows. And I know it wasn't that much. I'm just a lazy crazy person when it comes to ripping stitches, especially when it comes to knitting. Because you have to get each and every single one of those loops BACK onto the needle without letting them pull themselves out. My back starts to hurt, and I can't see very well. (I know I'm only fourteen and my vision shouldn't be blurring, but I have contacts, and sometimes when I stare at something too long it does.) So yeah. Thus the title of this post. Don't be afraid to rip when it comes to fiber arts. I know that I should know that with my experience (a good 7 or 8 years), but sometimes I just get annoyed and mad at the piece and don't want to.

So please, please, PLEASE learn from my mistake. When you're making something DON'T be afraid to rip. Whether it's embroidery or cross stitch, sewing or quilting, knitting or crochet... make sure you rip if it's necessary. So now, speaking of cross stitch, that's another thing that I wanted to touch on briefly. I've mentioned before that I cross stitch. Even though that is very true, my cross stitch box has been stuffed in my closet for three or four months now, because I was getting frustrated with the project. I know, I know. I shouldn't be so easily annoyed. But that's my personality. I can't be any other way. So anyways, today I actually dug out that box to see what I had left. I was left with a rather pleasant surprise. It seems that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was; I think I was just tired of it. It was done. Well, practically. All that's left is some of the backstitch outlining and some french knotting. Things like that. When it's that close to being finished, who knows why I put it away. So I should be finishing that sometime soon. I'll definitely try and post here when it is.

So yeah. That's pretty much all I have for you today. Again, I apologize for not having any pictures yet, as that's something I'd really like to have on here. I'll try. I really will. Until next time, have fun creating!

A Plan to Create

There are a lot of people who will do crafts or art, and they will do it with absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. I know that sounds like a normal way to do it, but even though it's normal, doesn't mean it's the right way. I know, I know. There's no "right" way to create. Though that is true, having a plan for your crafting isn't exactly the art itself. It's just a way that you can get more time and enjoyment out of your craft. So here we go. I guess I'll show you guys a certain way to come up with a simple plan. Some people have their plan in their head. And then there are others (like me), who would rather write it all out. In my honest opinion, writing it out is a better way of doing it since then you can see the whole thing; all of your ideas and future plans for working. Especially if you want to start a business selling your crafts, crafting a plan is especially important to the success of your business.

So let's get started in crafting an arting plan. The most important parts of writing a crafting plan is the goals. I know that we briefly touched on the importance of goals in your crafting in the last post, but right now I'd like to just say that you need goals for your crafting plans. I'll give you a couple of examples of good goals in this post, just so you can have a sort of idea of some goals. Feel free to come up with your own, or use mine. The basic idea of goals is to have a bunch of different types of goals. Such as some easy, intermediate, and long term or hard goals. Let's start with goals for ATC making. An easy goal would be to try a new technique; such as working with distress inks, or setting eyelets. A more intermediate goal would be to create something like 30 or so cards within a time limit; say 30 days. Some harder goals would be something like create a card every day for a year, or, perhaps my personal favorite and currently one of my goals, trade 1,001 cards with other artists.

It is important to have more than one type of goal. It's sort of like when you're working with money, trying to save it. Especially as a kid. You have short term goals (like action figures) and at least one long term goal (like a new bike or a car.) It's the same way with crafting. If you have short term goals, you'll have the pleasure and enjoyment that comes with completing something, but the long term goal will give you something to work towards. Another part of your creative/artistic plan, is that you work towards those goals. And you use one spot to track your progress towards those goals. That's sort of what I'm doing with this blog. You however, can do it on a blog if you want, but, if you'd rather, you can do it through notebooks. This also works very well. In fact, before I started this blog, that's what I was doing. I also used a ton of other blogs. But I thought that it would be a better idea to just have one blog and post everything on here. It'll probably work a lot better for me.

So now that I've at least somewhat explained to you the importance of having a plan for your crafting and arting, now it's time to give a type of progress update/first post on my art. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures yet, but I'm hoping that soon, hopefully next time, I should have some. So today I was working on some ATC's for a technique swap I'm in. I think I did two or three. Also, I did a little bit of planning for a clothing line/collection that I'm working on. So far the colors are turquoise, lime green, chocolate brown, and an ivory color. The lime and turquiose are pretty much my favorite colors ever, so you can understand why I picked them, and I just think that chocolate brown goes so well with bright colors. Black is another that works really well in combination with blacks. Also, earlier this afternoon, I actually started a new project. It's a knitted project. Fingerless gloves.

You see, I've been wanting some fingerless gloves for a long time now, but it seems like I'm always broke, even though I don't really buy that much stuff. And these gloves are sometimes going for as much as twenty bucks, which I personally think is ridiculous. So anyways, long story short, I was searching through blogs (like I always do) and I came across somebody who was making these gloves. And I thought 'Hey, I've been wanting some of those! I bet I could do it too...' And then, one thing lead to another and next thing I knew, I had another started project. So these are going to be my first knitted "garment" if you could actually call it that. Also, they have a knitted cable running down the center of the top of the glove. And this is also my first time ever working with cables in general. So here's the dealio. Now you know how normally, when you're working with cables, you need to have an extra needle known as a "cable needle"? Well, I didn't have one. And I didn't have the money/I was too impatient; to go and buy one. So I searched for a tutorial for knitting cables without a cable needle. And it came up with a ton of results.

The first one I found worked like a charm. So that's another lesson. If at first you don't succeed, go do a search! It always works for me. As a side note, the part of the glove I've done so far is about 4" into it or so. And they're black. Yep. Black. I'm more of a bright color girl myself, but I thought I'd try something different for a change, and get away from blues and greens. Plus it was the only thing I had in my stash. Besides a soft baby pink, which is pretty much my least favorite color in the known universe. I don't know why I own it. But who cares. Some people like it, so I'll probably make something with it and sell it. Who knows.

One Day at a Time - My Artistic Journey

I posted briefly in my last post about my life as an artist and a few of the things that I may or may not do in only a single day. I thought that today I'd go a little more in depth into some of the other parts of my creative journey. What is a creative journey? You may be asking yourself that very question. Though, on the other hand, you may not. It's all the same to me. Anyways, everybody has their own description or feelings on an artistic journey. Or a creative journey. See, there's an example right there. Some people call it a creative journey, while others refer to it fondly as an artistic journey. Some might not even refer to it as anything, but it's there just the same. I know it sounds strange; having an opinion on something, but not necessarily being aware of it. But it happens every day, in almost all aspects of our lives.

I call it an artistic journey. Because I'm an artist. And this post is to introduce you to what I think it is. Everybody has their own opinion. This is just mine. So here we go. Three. Two. One. My idea of an artistic journey are the goals that you go through to become a greater artist. Think about it. We all have creative goals. Whether they are small things, such as finishing sewing the buttons on a jacket we've just created, or if they're something huge, like one of my goals is to make and trade 1,001 ATCs, which are small (2.5"x3.5") pieces of art. Yes it's a big goal. But it's a good one. It gives you something to work towards. Something that, in all, will actually make you that much better as an artist.

These goals are important in everybody's life as an artist. If you don't have goals, then there is nothing for you to complete, thus, nothing to do. I'm not going to share all of my goals here with you, because there are far too many to list. And most of them wouldn't be exciting to anybody but me. Let's take for example, some of your goals. Depending upon what type of artist you are, you will have different goals than the next, or the previous person reading this post. For instance, if one of your goals is to cross stitch a pillow, then great; that's good. It's a goal of your's and that makes it special to you. However, to someone else, specifically artists that don't cross stitch, that may seem like a meaningless goal. At least it is to them. Since they don't know what it takes.

That's another benefit of my style of art. I do so many crafts and different types of art, that there probably aren't many that I haven't tried, or at least heard of. So I learn to appreciate all types of art, and all the goals that come with them, no matter how small they may seem to others less interested. That's my opinion. And I'm sticking to it. Perhaps tomorrow I may be able to share some of my work with you guys. I'd like that. I'd like it a lot.

An Introduction to Me - An Artist

Hello all. My name's Jordan, and I'm 14 years old. I have tried in the past to start blogs but I always suck at keeping them updated. It's really quite annoying. But those were all single topic blogs. This is for all of my crafts and art forms that I do. That means that pretty much any artist or crafter can find a good source of information here, since I do quite a few things. I've done so many things, it's verging on ridiculous, but I just can't help it. I love to work with my hands, and crafting and arting gives me that satisfaction that I need.

I do a lot of different things, such as scrapbooking, quilting, clothing, ATCs, inchies, twinchies, crochet, knitting, cross stitch, and probably a whole lot of other things that I can't think of right now. It's actually kind of sad. It's annoying. But I can't stand being without them. It keeps me from getting bored. And I can continuously change my mind about what I'd rather be doing. For example, if I'm sewing one day, the next day I may possibly get bored of sewing and put it away, getting out something else, maybe knitting or cross stitch. The next day may be ATCs. Then crochet. And then back to sewing. Maybe I'll change crafts several times in one day.

More lately than in the past, but there have been days when I've done four or five different crafts on the same day. Just the other day as a matter of fact, I was making ATCs in the morning, sewing in the afternoon, crocheted a little, also in the afternoon, and knitted in the evening. I know it's sort of weird and maybe a little annoying and unorganized to some people, but, there is a method to my madness. If I time everything just right, it all works out in then end, and I get a lot of joy and pleasure out of it. That's what matters to me. But anyways, I just wanted to post a sort of introduction to me and this blog. And the way I work.

And if you think about the way I work, then you won't be SO confused when I post about making inchies one day and the next I'm sewing clothes. That's what works for me. I live it. I breathe it. I love it.