Beanbags for Boys - Question About Copyrighted Images

I little while ago I made a few beanbags for my younger boys. I did make the pattern myself. I did drew the images with a pencil on grid paper. But the images are well known copyrighted characters.

Obviously.

I knew I would never be comfortable selling the patterns, since these are copyrighted images.  I was going to make them available to everyone for free and for PERSONAL USE ONLY. But, the question remains. Is that ethical? To copy an image and offer it for free to everyone. 

Any thoughts? 

Bridal Headband for an Indian Bride

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a local woman asking if I could make a special headpiece for her to wear for her wedding.  She was planning to wear a silver and beige top with ivory and pearl net sari.  I was a little intimidated with the request because her wedding was in 4 weeks and I've never made something like she was requesting.  (Not to mention she was VERY specific about how she wanted it to look and even how it would be made.)


She sent me the extra piece of fabric from her top and her sari, a few pictures, a call on the phone, and I made it.  She was actually very ecstatic expressing her appreciation and approval when she saw the finished piece (that really helps my self-confidence!)  And here is the finished piece.  I have to say, I 'dream' about doing business and seeking approval of my work from people in other cultures that I admire.  I was pretty excited to share the news with a few family members and friends that I had this little commission.  Below shows the process and the photo of the piece that inspired the bride.

the process

It is made with sari top brocade, felt, bias tape, embroidered pieces from the sari, pearls, and ribbon.

photo from etsy-click here to see

Inkodye Project #2 - Ginkgo Leaves Printed Fabric Failure

You read it right. It was a failure.  I found out about Inkodye from one of my favorurite blogs, How About Orange. Jessica not only writes a fun blog, she also designs fabric which I love and I always drool over.  Anyways, she made a fun print with safety pins and Inkodye. And made a cute zipper pouch with it.

See? It turned out awesome!

I also saw one made with paper clips, but I cannot find it where it was. I reasoned, that if I use thick crafting wire (which was thicker than paper clips), then I could create a shape - any shape and get equally great results. 

Airplane T-shirt- an Inkodye project

This was one of the projects I really wanted to during Spring Break but did not get around to. Plus my youngest is slowly growing out of napping, therefore it is harder to do projects that require the daylight - like playing around with light sensitive fabric dye: INKODYE.

Description of pictures from Left to Right: (1) On a page protector I cut up, I drew an airplane with a black Sharpie marker. I had to go over my lines a couple times to make sure they were dark enough. (2)Then I taped a rectangle large enough to fit my image on the T-shirts. I used Scotch tape. (3)Next I got everything ready; gloves, brush, dye, container to put dye in. (4) I slid a cardboard (wrapped in Saran wrap) under the T-shirt and started painting the dye on the shirt. Once I was done, I took the T-shirt (with the cardboard still inside) out in the sun. (5-6)The next two pictures show how the color started to develop.

(7)Finally, I removed the sheet protector and exposed the picture a minute longer. (8)Then promptly washed it in warm water with detergent, scrubbing well to remove all extra dye. (9) Next step was to put it in the dryer and once dried, letting my son wear it to bed and all day next day. At least I know he likes it!

Notes: You can tell the image is a bit faded looking where the sheet protector was covering it. Even though the sheet protector is clear, it still blocked some UV rays. Plus, the longer it was under the sun, the more condensation started collecting under the sheet protector, which I think added to the problem. Also, I tried painting on canvas...did not turn out well. It did not absorb the dye evenly. I am already working on the next project with linen. 

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Perfectly Polka Dotted Painted Wooden Eggs

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Green and Wood Bead Head Jewelry

I made this simple head piece this past weekend.  It is made with some of my favorite colors: Green and Brown.  I like the colors of Nature.  I'm trying to maybe make more simple jewelry that would be more versatile to wear more places than just Renaissance Festival.  I don't know if it's possible, though.  What do you think?  Would you wear head jewelry on night out?

Idealeon.com

Etsy Shop

Free-Motion Embroidery to the Rescue!

Okay, so I've been having some stain issues! I'm happy to say that I'm finally coming to terms with them. I've owned this yellow short-sleeved sweatshirt top for over 30 years I think, and I love how comfortable it is, but, alas, it has a stain right on the chest. I did try the bleach pen on this, but the fabric is too old and has been washed so much, I suppose, that the bleach pen did almost nothing.

See the liberal amounts of bleach here? Didn't do a thing. *sigh*
Backup solution? Free-motion machine embroidery!!

Free-motion embroidery is actually quite easy to do although the idea seems a bit intimidating. I personally like having the feed dogs move my fabric along in a nice handy, straight line. So, lowering the feed dogs and controlling the fabric all on my own is stepping a bit out of my comfort zone. But, boy, is it simple and fun, especially for a doodler-type like me! Here is a nice YouTube tutorial for doing free-motion embroidery from LucyKate Crafts that is friendly as well as thorough. Following her instructions, it was really easy to embroider these lollipop-like flowers onto my sweatshirt. It's really just like doodling, except instead of holding a pencil, you move your fabric around as you wish. Quite neat and fun AND super fast!

Four 'Four-leaf' Clovers

#1 & #2 clovers

I was taking my normal morning walk and happened to glance down at a patch of clovers and noticed one that was larger standing out above the rest.  I thought, "What a perfect clover... wait! There are 4 leaves on that clover!"  And just inches away was another one just about as big and proud.  What are the chances of that?  Not one, but two 4-leaf clovers without even searching!  I don't know how many hours I spent as a kid looking through clover patches and never found one.

Look in the very center- #3 clover

About a week and a half later, I found another one a couple blocks down the path by just glancing down again but decided to leave it.  I went back to save it from the lawn mower a couple days later, but was too late.

#4 four-leaf clover with the first two clovers

So, I went back to the original patch where I found the first 2 and... Voila! Another one!  And it only took about 1 minute or less to find.  I don't know whether they are more common than I thought or if I am more uncommonly lucky than I thought.  Four 4-leaf clovers in less than 2 weeks!  Wow.

I'm going to press and dry them for good luck!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spring Break

Even though we homeschool, I follow our local school district's schedule when it comes to breaks. This way, our boys get to spend time with their friends and hang out more.

I also look forward to breaks, because I get to sew or work on crafts totally guilt free. No lessons to prepare, books to read, trips to the library...I get to spend daylight time working on my projects without giving up precious sleep.

In my anticipation of spring break, I ordered a few fat quarters and half yard fabric cuts and I was so excited when they got here. Some Joel Dewberry and great chevron prints.

 I even got a great surprise right as Spring Break started! Inkodye from my husband.

I'm no Ma Wilder but...

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>here<

Etsy Shop - Should It Stay or Should It Go?

{Thank you all for your comments and e-mails! You all gave me something to think about!}

Last fall I opened an Etsy Shop along with a few thousand crafters. I had no plans, other than I did not want to have another year go by and regret that I did not just do it. A couple of months after I opened the shop I started formulating some goals and ideas started to take shape...then all of a sudden I discovered that the stable life I thought I was living was not stable at all.  I had to re-evaluate everything that matters the most in the past few months. Etsy shop, blog? I did not even give them a second thought. 

Six months later I feel that the past needs to be put behind me and life needs to go on. Others noticed the change too, since I keep hearing the same question:

What about your shop?

I still avoided answering the question. What made me sit down to write a blog post about it was that I realized I spent about an hour editing pictures of 3 new reversible bags I made and was going to list . And I had to figure out what to charge for them. And for the first time in my life I followed the formula I found on Etsy Success:

Cost Price (Labor + Materials Cost) x 2 = Your Wholesale Price

Wholesale Price x 2 = Retail Price

Once I added it all up I started laughing.

Bleach Pen to the Rescue

Somehow I managed to get a very ugly stain on my lovely light yellow Lee pants and I tried to get it out.... unfortunately the item I washed them with ran and my pants came out blotchy...AND the stain wasn't gone! Ugh. Rather than dying my pants entirely, I decided to turn to my bleach pen. Following Dora's directions, I added various squiggles, swirls and flourishes up and down the worse of the two pant legs.

Christmas and Summer Glass Jar Globe Scenes

Clearanced Ornaments and Clear glitter

Here are some easy crafts I made with inexpensive materials.  This is easy for kids and definitely fun to make and look at.  In the Winter Scene Jar, the snowman was a miniature I found on clearance at Michael's.  The tree was a miniature on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  The snow is made of clear glitter.  You will want to use glue or sticky tack to keep them down.

Dollar Store Shells and Craft Sand

The Summer Beach Scene is made of shells I bought from Dollar Tree, and the sand I bought a long time ago from Hobby Lobby.  It would definitely be more personal and cheaper to have found the shells and sand from a beach that I visited.

Candle Jar from a Thrift Store

And where did I get these candle jars?  They were at Salvation Army for a good price.  Craft stores probably have plenty of options similar to these.

idealeon.com

Etsy Shop