Let's give keys a chance

Man, that's a terrible post title. Meh, not changing it. We've come too far.

Changed the name of the blog again to tie it to the etsy shop business because marketing. I think. I have no idea what I'm doing.

In between sewing up new bifold wallets (they look so good!) I made this key holder. 

I saw this on Pinterest forever ago and finally decided to make it because I just needed to make something that wasn't related to the etsy shop. I've been surrounded by felt and fabric for months and wanted to bust out some power tools. 

Gathered up all the necessary ingredients , all of which I had on hand, plus a Hobbes. The Hobbes is optional for this project but recommended for an overall cuter life.

This project was so simple. Picture frame, print out of the Old Man from Zelda, some hook screw things, and a power drill. 

At this point, I would recommend doing some careful measuring so that the hooks are placed exactly where you want them on the bottom of the frame. My measurements were going swimmingly. But then this bullshit happened.

 

I didn't make the pilot hole big enough so when I screwed the hook in that mother-father-Chinese-dentist broke so part of the hook was forever stuck in the frame which royally botched my carefully laid plan which meant I just screwed pilot holes where I wanted. 

Which clearly worked out so well. But it's the bottom of the frame which no one will see so who cares. 

Overall, love it. Keys are now corralled in one spot which was all I wanted. 

You're about to look 87% more dapper

What's cooler than a bow tie?  Nothing, that's what.  If anyone says otherwise, I'll murder their faces!

The shop is now featuring felt bow tie pins in a variety of colors.  Still don't see what you like in the below picture?

Then just name a color combo. I dare you. I double dog dare you. Pins are only seven dollars.  

C'mon, you know you want one.

Click here and make your bow tie dreams come true.  

the most of her time

Look at it.

LOOK AT IT!

You're welcome. 

Internal conflicts

Sigh. So I really want to promote my etsy shop to people but the thing is, I don't want to actually talk to anyone about it. 

Reasons Megan is anxious:

1. Talking to strangers freaks me out 

2. The constant underlying feeling that what I create is never good enough so why am I bothering anyone with this crap

Now, in truth, I do know my stuff is pretty adorable but that doesn't take away that nagging self-doubt. What's my solution? Punch that fucker right in its stupid face and then strategically hide my goods in public where strangers can find them so I can promote while avoiding talking to others as much as possible. Also, who doesn't like finding free stuff? I found an origami crane in the bakery section of my grocery store once and it made my week.

In anticipation of attending the OMSI After Dark: Brewfest event and trying out my new promotional technique, I whipped up some hop bud felt pins. I originally made these pins when my husband asked me if I could make a hop bud pin to which I responded, "Maybe?" Turns out I can! He's an avid home brewer with dreams of opening his own brewery with tasting room and pinball arcade. I was only too happy to try and create something to represent one of his passions. 

 

I'll be hiding a few of these around the museum or maybe leave one in a tip jar (with actual tip too) for one of the many bartenders who will be assisting me in maintaining my buzz through the night. 

The pins will be packaged up with a business card so people can share the information on their found goodie or they can just keep it. Walking around the museum and spotting someone wearing a pin they found would just be too cool. 

A Long Time Coming...

Hi, there!

So, I made a thing.

Three Apple Designs

Making things is my thing.  Taking different materials, combining them just so, and creating something brand new.  My crafting interests have always varied greatly but the one constant has always been sewing purses or making wallets.  For the most part, I only made things for myself and occasionally friends.  My biggest customer so far has been my mother who commissions items from me around the holidays.  

I just like making this stuff.  Coming up with ideas of what nerdy/adorable interests I can translate over into wallets, purses, pins, or whatever is my favorite pastime.  I daydream about felt.       

Star Trek Communicator Pins

I'm also a sucker for adorable creatures which will often pop up on my designs.  Many times, I'll just wander through the fabric store and let the material decide on the decorative element.

Who doesn't love a duck?

C'mon, look at this guy.

Making these felt patches has been so much fun.  Discovering fusible webbing was the greatest day of my crafting life!  This stuff is amazing.  

Na-na-na-na-na-na....

There's also the challenge of it.  The husband asked me to make him a wallet.  So I figured out how to make him a wallet.

You are correct.  That is an elastic closure.  Toss with free abandon.  

Dolla dolla bills ya'll.

So, yea.  I made a thing.  If you like cool stuff you should check it out.  If you don't like cool stuff you should probably rethink some of your life choices.  Or maybe you're a jerk.  Don't be jerk, check out the shop.  

I'll just leave this here....

C'mon, don't be a jerk.

Watch out for snakes!

Happy Halloween!  If you get inspired by this post and want to recreate this project you better hurry because Halloween is only four days away!  I say this as someone who just barely finished this project in time for its intended holiday.  It is going to look pretty awesome for these next few days though.

Pretty sure this was originally a Martha Stewart idea but then again, what isn't now a days.  Martha, you wily dame.  This Halloween wreath only requires two things, a plain stick wreath and snakes of various sizes.  If either the wreath or snakes are not black, fix this with matte black spray paint.      

This snake close up is for my friend/nemesis Ed who hates snakes.  Though I don't think he even reads this blog.  Which makes it a lot funnier to me.  These pictures are just out in the world now, waiting to be discovered.

Hi, friend!

Pictured below is the now black wreath along with a package of already black tiny snakes that was also picked up from Dollar tree.  The large snakes are drying in the garage during this picture.

Again, this one's for you Ed.

Let's be BFFs!

Here the large snakes make their grand reappearance sans white stripes.  However, only two survived the spray painting process.  I have no idea why, since the snakes were spray painted at the same time in the exact same manner, but the paint on the third snake would not dry.  It just stayed tacky and gross.  Maybe primer would have helped.  So try that if you try this.

To add the snakes to the wreath, I wove them through the sticks that made up the wreath.  No glue required.

In this picture, you can see how the snakes are woven through the branches of the wreath to hold them in place.

AH!  Spooky snake wreath!  Taken at night to help add to the spookiness.  Or because that's when I took the picture and didn't want to wait till tomorrow since Halloween is already so close.

Close up shot of the wreath.  To hang the wreath, I used a clear 3M hook.  I was skeptical on these hooks only because the last time I used them to hang my belts up in the closet all my belts fell down.  Could be because I never waited the required hour before hanging something on them.  Directions, it turns out, are sometimes there for a reason.

Another closer up.  I hate you Ed.

So this turned out pretty cool, right?  I like the monochromatic look.  From far away, it looks like a regular black wreath.  Unassuming.  Unthreatening.  Then BAM!  Snakes all up in that door decoration.

Watch out for snakes.  

Lego Simpsons Shadow Box

In the midst of another cleaning session of the craft room (we recently acquired a king size bed so our old queen needed some space made for it thusly turning my craft room into a craft/guest room or as I prefer to call it my craft/napping room) I whipped up a quick present for my Simpsons/Lego crazy husband.  

After digging though my closet, I found this shadow box frame.  I don't really know where I got this from....but that happens a lot with the stuff I find in my craft closet.  

As you might have deduced from the title of this post, I recreated the Simpsons family out of Legos and put it in a shadow box. The minimalist Lego Simpsons idea originally came from here.  Luckily, we have an outrageous amount of Legos hanging around the house.  Seriously, ridiculous.  The husband's mom is an avid garage saler so she snagged bins and bins of Legos for us for a song.  After a few minutes, I had put my new little Simpsons family together.     

Since the inspirational beach backing that was originally in my shadow frame would make an unarguably odd background, I opted for this fake leather like material.  I thought something neutral that still had a bit of texture to it would help make the Legos pop out a bit more.  

Once the backing of the frame was removed and poetry removed, my fabric just had to be cut to size and glued on.  Easy peasy.  

Next step was gluing the Legos to the fabric using the glue gun once again.

A few minutes later, once the glue had dried, I reassembled my shadow box and was rewarded with this cool art piece.  Well, the husband was rewarded with it technically since I made it as a present for him.  But still, super cool spur of the moment craft.