And these are my new favourite glasses. Thanks to my awesome cousin for seeing them and thinking of me.
Author Archives: SewTara
I have made something new.
It’s in my shop now.
It was created with Valentine’s Day in mind but it’ll work for all year round.
I carved a HUGE stamp with my own little hands (the first of many I hope) and then stamped with brown fabric ink on the unbleached cotton. Then I cut out my usual cozy shape and embroidered the lettering and heart on. Then stitched it up into it’s lovely cozy form.
The wood button goes really well with it and saves me using a label! You can you admire, or buy, one here.
Posted in cozy
Tagged carve, fabric printing, gift, love, printing, stamp, tree, valentine's day
Summing up 2012 in a photo.
Yep, that’s about it.
From purple hair and a nose piercing to a ton of under the surface changes 2012 was quite the year for me.
2013 has started with me being a little quieter, something I’m not known for. I’m a bit of an extrovert (just a bit) but this year has started with me reflecting and looking inward a lot more. Things I’ve never really stopped to do in my 37 years (yeah I’m ancient).
I’ve been doing a lot of personal growth and I guess with it has come this hunger for creative growth too. Flipping back through the last batch of posts they’re all about other people’s creations, which I’ve been reading and learning about. I think it’s time to get back to making my own. Oh and being a little more loud and extroverty, when I’m not busy reflecting that is.
Posted in uncategorized
Whew.
No really whew.
I’ll admit it, I was bad and there was some procrastination involved, but the cozies did ship on time. My poor fingers, my poor wrist, my poor forearm from all that cutting . . . My poor friend Joanna who came over Monday night to be my minion when I needed help desperately.
There was a day when I was sent an email asking if I handmade my cozies because he was thinking of ordering 2000-4000 of them. After a ‘OH NO WAY!’ moment I thought, “Wait, if I just spent a week going hardcore on making them I could probably do it . . that’s a lot of money”. Having made 200 I doubt I’d survive! The personal injury that would follow would just be insane.
But silver lining, soon 200 new to me people will be holding one of my cup cozies. I made a mysterious event extra special and I did get some money for it all. Now to get on with the teeny tiny but just as important orders I have left in my shop.
Great little read.
That image kinda of sums up my life right now. Only I’m not sure I can see the ‘where I want to be’ side, I don’t know what it is. But I know I’m supposed to jump somewhere, which is scary enough, I guess it’s even scarier when you don’t know where the somewhere is.
So I read Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon. It’s a quick read but full of “10 things nobody told you about being creative” I found many nuggets of wisdom in this book. It’s also very visual and full of drawings and shout out statements like this one.
Some people online were criticizing it, I suppose for his use of the word ‘steal’ and how the subtitle implies he’s advocating it. But once you read it you’ll see we’re all already ‘stealing’ and he just gives names to things we’re already doing and I found suggested some new and awesome ideas I hadn’t even considered yet.
Definitely worth a few dollars and an hour or two to read it.
Exciting news from Mollie.
I love patterns and tutorial and instructions to make things. I collect far too many but someday I’ll get to them, someday. I get that you work hard to make something and it’s ‘yours’ in a sense but I super duper love when creators are willing to let you take their project and run with it, make your own and give and sell them. Like this lovely lady, this tutorial turned licensed pattern and now my friend Mollie!
A while back we collaborated on a project and it’s now part of her new commercially licensed products. This means you can take her cute adorable embroidery patterns and put them on things you make and sell them for your own little crafty profit. The commercial license is here as an add on in her shop, if you already own her patterns you just nab it and there’s no need to purchase the patterns again. Sharing the love is great!
You can pick up the pattern for the Make a Memory game here.
Posted in embroidery, tutorial-ish
Kicking 2013 in the butt.
I’m seriously focused on learning and growing this year. I made a lot of accidental steps last year in growing myself and SewTara, or things fell upon me, so it only stands to reason that if I get proactive and start chasing and dreaming bigger even better things will come.
So far, even though we’re only a few days into 2013 I’ve signed up for Life is Messy Bootcamp (thanks to the funding of a large order), I’ve read an inspirational book, guess I’ll post about that too, and I have a pile of TO DOs that have been sitting around for a while but I now have a serious plan and commitment to getting them TO DONE.
I’m also going to spend a lot of time on research and online connecting. It’s starting with Oh My Handmade! I feel a bit silly, when I was at Etsy in Brooklyn last spring and everyone was discovering I was “The Canadian” in the room I was asked if I knew Jessika. Not only do I not know her I didn’t know the blog. People were a bit shocked. It’s only recently that I’ve changed that and I can’t believe I was in the dark on this for so long.
I picked up her ebook, Guide to Businessy Goodness (you can set your own price $5-$20 so it’s accessable to even the smallest small business). Now I’ve snagged her Happy Healthy Entrepreneur 2013 Planner. It seems like a good alternative if you’re not ready for the investment of something larger like Life Is Messy Bootcamp.
When you purchase the Happy Healthy Entrepreneur 2013 Planner you get an extra copy to gift to a fellow creative person. Sooooooo anyone want it?
Guess this isn’t really a giveaway but more of a reward for reading this far down in the post. Leave a comment with your email address or blog so I can contact you. If you aren’t the first lucky duck to speak up and get the planner you can leave a comment with some of your 2013 plans for growth.
Posted in share the love
Tagged awesomeness, business, goals, growth, life is messy, oh my handmade, planner, research
Why I need to read magazines the day they come out.
Last night I caught up on my Gathered by Mollie Makes issues. I found this in last week’s edition.
Sadly, it seems kinda silly to shout it from the roof tops now that today’s issue is out. Which, by the way, I read this morning with a tea lazing on the couch.
Also, I know I’ve said it before, but Gathered and Mollie Makes are ridiculously awesome publications. You MUST subscribe. Yes, must.
Curve balls and silver linings.
I got this order for 200 cozies, my biggest order yet. I called the person who taught me how to screen print and asked if she would have time to make the screen for me but she was too busy. I can make screens but I’m not an expert yet, it’s very hit and miss. So I was on my own for the project.
Here are the hurdles I have experienced since starting on them on Saturday.
– Had to run to Fabricland for supplies, red for the interior, ran out of fabric after cutting 98.
– Went to Staples to make the overhead photocopy I needed for screen printing. Had trouble with the copier, which is silly because as a teacher I could have made the 1 copy at school quiet easily. I put 4 designs on it just in case.
– Came back home and set things up, plugged in the halogen light to burn the screen and the bulb blew.
– Trip to Home Depot
– Pulled out a coated screen I’ve had around for a while and burned it, covering some of the images at intervals to make sure at least 1 of them would turn out well.
– Couldn’t rinse the emulsion out of the screen so I tried again.
– Couldn’t rinse the screen.
– Had to strip the screens down to start over but was out of the chemicals, trip to Michael’s at 8:30pm.
– Came home and coated the 2 screens and rigged up a box covered in a blankie to keep them in the dark while they dried.
Onto Sunday when we had a plans with friends all day.
– Cut the batting fabric I had on hand, only had enough for 102.
– Checked my label inventory, I have 187.
– Massaged my sore forearm muscle while visiting with our friends.
– Came home exhausted and not feeling very well at 11:30pm but burned a screen.
– Washed it out successfully!!! <- a good thing
Monday
- Screen was dried and ready to go but had some spots I needed to fill, trip to the art store.
- Cut the fabric for screen printing, ran out at 119!
Tuesday
– Everything is closed!!!!
Sooooo it’s all manageable but my oh my it’s been a bit of a challenge to get this done. But it’ll be worth it for my cozies going into the hands of 200 people!
Life is messy, I know eh?
As I sit here covered in ink and massaging my very sore forearm muscle from all this fabric cutting I am proof life is messy. As we move into 2013 I’ve decided to take the plunge and finally sign up for something I’ve debated for a while. Click image to find out what it’s all about.
Mayi Carles has come great advice and wisdom to share about growing your own business. If you click around her Heartmade blog there’s lots of resources and information about focusing, and learning, and expanding your business and well, a whole ton of things.
As 2013 starts and many people launch into setting goals and reflecting on 2012 I loved her post about realistic goal setting. Basically, she says set little tiny goals for each day so that you can achieve them easily (and go beyond) and not end up beating yourself up as you fall asleep for letting yourself down (haven’t we all been there?). She mentions if you’re a writer committing to writing 1 word a day, which is ridiculously easy to check off your to do list, but I know if that was my goal I’d want to write 1000 times that just to feel super excited about how awesome I am.
I figure if her free advice is that useful and speaks to me so well, her bootcamp can only get better.
