Hello from the land of Lycra and rhinestones!

Progress on the Elvis costume was a bit slow last night, but we are making progress. It's now a week until Hallowween. That may sound like a lot of time, but we're going out of town this weekend, and I have prior commitments for tonight and tomorrow night.

So... last night I fell in love with my husband all over again as I watched him setting rhinestones on Liv's cape. What man would spend the evening at the kitchen table with a bedazzler and an Elvis cape? I can think of just a few other than my sweet sweet husband. This is what we ended up with:

We still have to actually sew the lining onto the cape and then figure out a way to attach it to the back of the jumpsuit. I'm thinking Velcro?

Finally, a listing!

It's been four days since I've listed anything new on Etsy. I was starting to go through mild withdrawal so I quickly photo'd some tags I'd just made and now I feel back in the game.

They're made from a roll of vintage contact paper at an estate sale this weekend. Etsy and estate sales are a dangerous mix! In addition to the contact paper, I also came home with two decks of vintage playing cards and a package of vintage ribbon.

Anyway, these are the tags I made.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7554598

I'm feeling like a goddess

I'm feeling a little bit like a goddess after reading Denise's article about me on her blog. Thank you, Denise, for such kind, inspiring words! I felt my butt growing smaller and smaller with each sentence.

(Denise and I have a joke about how Etsy is like an artist's version of "Does this dress make my butt look big?" meaning that posting your stuff out to a group of artists can simultaneously bring out your vulnerabilities and provide the validation that you really do have something worthwile to offer.)

Check out Denise's Etsy shop! She makes the most marvelous collages where she pairs vintage photographs with snippets from old books. Then she writes a story to explain the scenario that brings together all of the elements of the collage. I'm totally not doing it justice. You just need to see it all for yourself!

I don't have much else to post tonight. I've been knee-deep in Lycra for the last couple of days while I've been working on my daughter's Halloween costume. Olivia is going to be Elvis this year! I had no idea that it would be this difficult to make. First, I couldn't find a pattern. Then, no fabric that was both stretchy and shiny white. Once I had the fabric and pattern in hand, I had to alter the pattern to fit my tall, thin little girl. I'm finished with the basic jumpsuit, now I have to make the cape and put jewels all over both pieces.

Check out the picture we found when we were looking for examples of Elvis' capes. I'm not sure how one would go about making one of these!

Goal: Kill the critic

Two days into my blogging, and I'm already behind. Not because I don't find the time to write, or that I get busy doing something else and forget, but because my internal critic keeps telling me that I have nothing of any importance to write. The same critic who tells me that anything I create is crap, that nobody would want it, that any idea I have for success is really going to be the source of my downfall. So I continue to make little items and keep them to myself. Or get an idea for a terribly cool new approach to my art, but at the first experiment fails my internal critic starts laughing at me and teasing, "I told you so, I told you so!"

So as I think about my goals for my blog, my Etsy site, and my SU business, I'm scratching all my previous notes about promoting my products, telling friends/family, creating focus, blah, blah, blah. That's all sideline. My real goal is to kill my internal critic. Shut that bitch up once and for all. Send her screaming to her grave while I let my internal artist out of her box and give her crayons, or paints, or glitter, or anything else her heart desires. And see what she does.

So, anyone know a good hit man?

Look, ma!

Lookie, lookie, I made a blog, too! I guess I'm feeling the pressure to finally move my inner thoughts and rambling email messages out into the world wide web of it all. I don't actually even have a plan for this blog, but I suspect it will touch various aspects of my crafting life, and a little of my life life.

Lookie, lookie!!

[clicking "publish" before I chicken out]