I am a terrible blogger...

I just really haven't caught on to this whole blogging thing, have I? Which doesn't really make any sense, because I can write page-long emails to my best friend up to 3 times in the course of a single day, but I can't seem to come up with anything to say for a blog post. Of course, what I'm writing to my best friend isn't necessarily stuff I'd want to publish all over the internet, but just the same...

Well, here goes...

Since my last post in JANUARY (*rolls eyes at own lameness*)... I finished the special order cat project in time, and it was lovely and the recipient was quite pleased, which made my day. In February I started working full-time as a secretary in a Human Ressources-type office near home (45 minute drive, currently carpooling with Dad, but he has retired and will soon be quitting work so I'll be solo), which severely cut into my crafty time. But I still managed to make 2 special order wedding cake toppers, both a little later than scheduled, but arriving before the weddings. The first was a fun figurine about 6 inches tall. The bride was wearing a Montreal Canadiens hockey jersey and the groom was wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. :) I shall have to try to post pics... That wedding is next month, so I'm hoping to get some pictures of the topper in action. The second topper was for a good friend of mine, and it was actually my wedding gift to her and her new hubby. They were having a kind of country/cowboy themed wedding (which turned out absolutely fabulous, by the way). She ended up ordering 2 cowboy boots as her topper. Might sound a bit strange at first, and it was not without difficulty, but trust me, they looked AWESOME on the cake!

Those were the biggest projects I've worked on in the last 8 months... I've also done some bow centres for a friend. She makes beautiful sculpted ribbon hair clippies, and really fun bows and stuff, and last year we decided to strike up a partnership where I make little bow centers for her and she makes bows for me, to sell in each other's "shops" in an effort to reach out to different audiences and get our stuff seen by a different group of people. We also live in different areas, so that helps, too. Anyway, so I've made a couple orders for her, I'm still working on finishing up the last order.

I've also bought some fun new sewing patterns for bags. I tried one, but I didn't really have the right materials so it's a little funky, but I still like it. :) No idea what price to put on it, tho... I'm looking forward to making another and trying the 2 other patterns I bought.

I've been finding TONS and TONS of ideas of new things to do, projects to try, etc., etc. but I haven't got around to many yet. I wanted to make myself a sofa-shaped business card holder, from a tutorial I found online, but I haven't done that yet, either. If it turned out I was going to try to make a couple others to sell, but I haven't even made one! Christmas is coming, and I have so, so many ideas... I have some friends who've had babies this year, so I'd like to make First Christmas ornaments for them. There are a few kids whose First Christmases I've missed, so I'd also like to, possibly, get caught up, or at least make one with their birth year on it... So I'd LIKE to do all that, but I should also be stocking up on Christmas ornaments to sell. Which is more important? :/ And then I've been trying to ornaments for my 2 nephews every year, so I've got to come up with something for them, and I sometimes tend to make some for other family members as well...!!! My sister and I have reserved a table at the school craft fair we were at last year. It was a profitable sale for me, the best I've ever been to, so I was eager to sign up again. But now I've got to get some stuff made up in preparation. And it's so hard to know how much to make! Because you don't want to have a ton of leftovers, when will you ever get rid of them?! Next year, you say? I'll tell you in a few months... (Still have a few leftovers from last year...)

Anyway, I guess that's all the updating I can do for now. I'm currently working on a clay project using an unexpected medium. My aunt and uncle gave me a small wooden birdhouse for my birthday - a bit random, but sweet. At first I was going to paint it or whatever, something normal and blasé. But then I thought, No... I'm going to cover it... with clay! And so that is what I am doing. It looks pretty cute, if I may say so - except it kind of looks like Snoopy's house, from the Peanuts... At this point, the house itself is covered, I'm just working on some design accents and small finishing touches (should look much less Peanut-esque when I'm done)! I haven't decided whether I will be keeping or selling it... I guess I'll decide after I bake it. I've been seeing some reviews online saying that the wood sometimes cracks in the oven, so we shall see what happens! I also parbaked some pieces, so hopefully they won't discolour or crack when the whole project goes in the oven... It's an experiment! If it turns out well, tho, I plan on buying up a couple more wooden birdhouses or boxes to cover. And maybe try out some new clay techniques! The technique I tried out with this current project is rubber stamp embossing on clay... Fun! :)

Ok, bye for now, I'll blog again soon, hopefully! Comments are always welcome - please share thoughts, new ideas, Christmas ornament suggestions, constructive criticism... I warn you, however, that I do NOT take criticism well, so please be kind. :)