I'm such a good person *smirks*

I discovered the Kiva website a few months ago and I thought it was great. They're an organisation that broker microloans between cash-poor entrepeneurs in developing countries* and cash-rich Ordinary (albeit bloatedly rich and decadent) Joes in developed countries. Each lender contributes US$25 to a loan, of which 100% goes directly to the businessperson, and which is paid back within 1 year. You can also give a straight-out donation, or buy gift vouchers.

I decided that as soon as I had made my first $25 from my shop, I would lend it to a person/group on Kiva. I want my 'business' (as I'm still hesitant to call it) to be socially and environmentally responsible right from the start. Plus we all need as much good karma as we can get!

Check out my group of entrepeneurs! I can't wait for my first email update.

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* I actually hate the term "developing country". To me, it implies that every country should aspire to be just like the U.S. And that has a bad stink.

Shop Stuff

P.S. - Shop Stuff

I sold my Chinese style painting!! I hadn't even taken it off the scanner yet! Yeeeeeee! And the lovely, amazing lady also bought the Deformedest Little Monster as well. So he has a new home! Boy, packing something that needs to stay flat and somethng that's bulky and has lots of lumps presented an interesting challenge. I posted it today. *crosses fingeres*

The Tumbleweeds Are Tumbling....

I know the three of you who read my blog have been waiting with baited breath to read my next post. Sorry to disappoint! I still haven't made anything. Why? I won't wang on about my personal problems at you (that's what Boy is for!), but I have been feeling Bler and Schner for various reasons. And that affects my creativity.

I did manage to toss off a painting in Chinese ink last week:

It's a pretty standard scene of the type of thing I used to do years ago. I'm either returning to my roots, or doing the artistic equivalent of assuming the foetal position. Not sure. I made a second one of a tree, but I didn't like it as much. My paintings are much better when I do them from life, not from my head. Or perhaps I'd lost my mojo after the first one.

I have also been researching the zine I'm writing for a Swap-bot swap. I'd been meaning to write my first zine for a while, but it turns out for once having a deadline is making me work for it instead of making me want to beat my head against a wall. All will be revealed. When I can be bothered.

See? Writey stuff!Then yesterday I went to the Etsy Sellers' picnic! Remember, that one that I was crapping myself over? I made Boy come along so I didn't pike out. (He's such a lovely boy, he must have been so bored! *hugs*) I felt completely lame and overwhelmed and unworthy. (And lightly crisped, after a few hours in the sun!) But everyone was really lovely! The food was delicious, and the crafts even more so. I got some interesting bits of info, but most importantly, I was stewing in the juices of like-minded people. I'm really not used to that. Don't get me wrong, I just adore my friends, but I can't really talk to them about how to execute a Magic Loop cast-on, or where to get real wool felt from. It's not something I've ever been worried about not having, but it would be nice to be there.

I was still feeling unsettled for some reason last night. I had a chat with Boy about why I haven't sold many items in my shop, and he came up with some reasons that are nothing to do with me that I hadn't thought of which made me feel a bit better. I started making a new toy:

LeggiesI want him to be a bit more symmetrical and less bizarre than the ones I've made before. Nah, not really! I don't want to feel I'm making things to bow to the pressure of a mainstream public. I'm sure there's someone out there who'll love my monsters and give them a good home! And if not, *shrugs* I'll have a house stuffed full of altered wool.* Oh well! It was fun!

Then today, I went to the Melb Craft Maf.. Cartel Market. Wow! So amazing!

Purchases from the market inc. Robot Brooch; cards from the picnicI spent a lot more money than I was planning to, a lot more quickly! But gawd it was fun! And as I said to Boy, it's OK because I'm supporting local artists. Right? ;)

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* Instead of unaltered wool like I have now! heheh
P.S. Sorry for all the Shop content with no warning liberally splattered throughout this one. It gets all mooshy and smooshy sometimes.

Craft-Free Zone

I've done nothing this week. Nuthin. I'm a lazy, lazy crafter.

I did join a gym and attend regularly and send two three Swap-bot packages and re-arrange my mess and deal with various problems and recover from my chest cold and work full-time and make two pages in my Art Journal. Here's a picture of one of them. It's a tribute to 'The Tennis', the two weeks of the year that I have any interest whatsoever in sport:

I took the photo myself when I was there and printed out a small version. I stuck it on the page and then drew a larger copy directly into my journal. For me this was a fairly big step as I was expecting to have to erase it many times and re-do it and basically stuff the whole thing up! Before, I would have been hesitant to do the drawing directly into the journal in case it wasn't good enough. But I didn't screw it up, and I think it was OK! I added my ticket and a schedule of play as collage elements, and surrounded the whole thing with blue paint to signify the blue courts at the Australian Open. I'm quite happy with it, and I think it represents pretty accurately my state of mind at this time of year.

More next time!

More Faffing Around

I've been doing all sorts of stuff lately. Just no knitting or crocheting. My old staples. But I think this is good I've been branching out.

Over the weekend I decided to embrace the bandwagon and make a Dotee Doll. They're art dolls that you make from fabric and felt and decorate them any way you like. Here's a tutorial (links to Wayback Machine) on how to make one from the lady who invented them. She's Australian. Woohoo!

Here's a picture of one I stole off the internet (I heart Google images) to tide you over until I finish mine:

From My Spinning Head blog.
She has some great fabric postcards as well.

Last night I also started a Tennis page in my art journal in honour of Lleyton Hewitt losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open. I'm the most un-Australian Australian there ever was! Heh! Actually, I'd been planning it for about a week. I just need to buy some blue acrylic paint and then I can finish it tonight. I did some quick little watercolours as well on the lovely paper that Boy got me for Christmas. It felt great to be painting again after a few weeks of having no mojo.

And! Most importantly, I've taken a huge dose of Comfort Zone Be-gone!:
1. I've RSVP'ed to the Melbourne Etsy seller's picnic on the 9th of Feb. I'm absolutely shit-scared, but I have to do it. There's no corners to hide in in a park! Perhaps a tree?... I really am looking forward to meeting some of the other amazing sellers out there whose shops I've been admiring for a while, though. And it's a great opportunity to get some ideas and tips for putting my shop out there.
Will anyone come with me??
2. I've decided to go to the Melbourne Craft Mafia Market on 10th Feb. This will be slightly less scary, as I'll be going as a passive consumer, but I know that some other Etsy sellers will be there, and if I don't tell at least one person about my shop, I may as well go live in a cave in the mountains and eat grubs for the rest of my life! Or stop trying to flog my stuff, anyway.
3. Going on Swap-bot is a lot more social than I'd realised! Swapping with people actually consists of social interactions (uh duh!) as well as just stuff. People are looking at my profile and the links to my blog and shop! I'm finding this a little scary, but all of the people have been so amazingly wonderful that I just can't help getting out there and doing more. And ... they're looking!
4. The Big One. I've decided to change the comments setting on my journal so that anyone can make comments. It will be moderated for non-livejournal-friends though, cause I'm paranoid. So don't worry if your comment takes a little while to appear. But I do welcome comments, that's for sure!

So much change! Eeek! *runs away and hides in the Basement*

A Whole New Obsession

I've completely lost it lately. Completely.

I haven't knitted a stitch, crocheted a loop or picked up a pencil at all for almost a week. I've been completely and utterly obsessed with Swap-bot. I cruise it all day long for new swaps, checking to see who my swap partners are and poring over their profiles for clues as to the perfect things to send them. I've even been looking at the forums, which I usually avoid like a chilli sauce enema. I'm hooked!

I hardly feel guilty at all for not having done any art or craft. I'm trying not to, anyway. I'd just like to think of it as a different way of being creative and seeking out inspiration. Or perhaps I've just lost my creative mojo and I'm trying desperately to channel my need to do something into a vaguely 'creative' outlet. That's kind of scary. I'm not going to think about that right now.
I have, however, seen some new crafts that I haven't heard of before on Swap-bot, such as inchies and dotee dolls. Both of these look very interesting. When other people do them!!
[Nah, just teasing myself.]

On a completely random note, I had a haircut yesterday! It'd been about 6 months (I know - ew), and I got it cut a little shorter than normal, as well. It looks so cute! So in honour of the occasion, I went to a kawaii photo booth shop and did some photos!

Awwwwwwww! So cute!
SHOP STUFF
Yes, that also means that I haven't put anything on my shop lately, either, even though I have some things lying around. I had already figured out that adding new things regularly helps to keep your shop current and coming up in searches, and I had that reinforced yesterday when I was reading a series of 'Etsy shop make-over' articles. It wouldn't really be too hard to chuck an ACEO or two on there. It's much easier than taking photos of three-dimensional objects and having to get the light right, etc etc. I just can't be bothered!

I so don't deserve to be rich!

Peeking out...

Peeking out from the rock that I've been hiding under...

Yesterday I was surfing around on Ravelry. I had just entered some new wool that I'd bought (not worth writing home about) and I thought I'd see what projects there were out there using that wool. One of them was made by a user whose name I recognised, because they're also a seller that I have on my favourites list on Etsy (partly cause I really like their stuff, and partly cause they live in Melbourne). I had a look at their profile on Ravelry, and they have a blog. So I looked at the blog, and lo and behold! There was an ad on it for a Melbourne Craft Mafia Market!! I didn't think they had such things in Australia! I'm such a dumbass. Not only that, but it was held at the bar right next door to where Boy and I always go for dumplings!

And it was held last Monday night! Aiieeeee!!

Then later on when I was in bed, I suddenly realised that Boy and I had gone for dumplings last Monday night!! If only we'd walked there from the other direction, I would have seen it! But I figure it's a sign that I'll get even closer next time. It's held the first Monday of every month. So that's ok. I'm so excited! I'm gonna go! And I might just have the guts to mention that I have an Etsy shop. I even thought of making up business cards. That's a bit too scary for me right now though.
Though I did look up some pricing before.
Don't tell anyone.

Last week, my work colleagues found out about my shop. Well, I told them. It came up in conversation when we were talking about Flickr accounts. Part of me felt like I should tell them, tell as many people as possible, dammit! The other part of me was really embarrassed when they praised the shop and what I'd made. But I'll get over that. I'm determined.

My art journal entry for this week is from the Inspire Me Thursday website, and it's on the theme of The Best Thing I Did in 2007. This was learning to drive and buying a car! Hands down! Getting my Ps has given me so much confidence. If you'd said to me 2 years ago that I'd be in this position, I wouldn't have believed you. But here I am with my beautiful Tara and freedom! So I did a journal entry that reflected travelling and freedom:

I'm going to refrain from any comments about whether I think it's good or bad. See! I'm improving already!

And!
I discovered something else wonderful this morning, that I heard about on the Craftypod podcast. It's Swap-Bot!

Oh

My

God.

I am completely addicted to this site. I signed up to 14 swaps already today. Um, oops, actually.
How it works is that you join up and browse or search for swaps that interest you. When you commit to a swap, the site randomly allocated you another signee, and you send whatever it is to them. It can be anything from postcards to books to stories to toys to artworks to make-up to a tea bag and a magazine. As simple as sending one postcard to one person to as complicated as making artworks to send to 5 or more people. Your choice. BUT. The cool thing is that you get exactly the same back! There's a rating system to keep people honest and once you've participated in enough, you can make up and host your own. A lot of the people on there seem to be crafty (you can list your Etsy shop on your profile!) which is right up my alley. Many of them present particular challenges or inspirations, such as Write a story about how you would escape a zombie infestation.

The Internet has just thrown up some real gems for me in the last few days! I'm feeling really excited and ready to create lots of stuff. Sometimes I'm a bit lost as to what to do in all the choices out there though! I need some kind of Twister spinner, with different crafts on it. *brain goes bing!*

I love you all.