Overwhelmed

Honestly I've been overwhelmed for a little while.

A lot has gone on:

I moved into my first home.  

I failed on a costume that I promised to someone.  I succeeded on a different costume.

I eloped.

(Yes, this is a real picture of where you apply for the marriage license...please note the Mental Health office is directly across from the license counter.)

 

I started an entirely new job.

I just haven't been able to catch up.  

I've tried to do the last 3 Iron Craft challenges without success.  So while I try gain my footing please let me know if you have any tips for getting me going in a creative direction again!    

Last Leg

Staying with my sister while I wait for a house has been both a blessing and a challenge.  Craft space and my internet connection not to mention my sister's sanity have suffered heavily.

She has been a saint for not throwing me out yet.

In the meantime, however, I have neglected my poor Craft Noir.  I am fighting on though!  The guilt from missing any week at Iron Craft KILLS me...so I cut out cute amuguri food from chibi wrapping paper on breaks at work for memory cards...

and iced a QR code on a brownie amid a sea of 3 circling dogs.  And while Craft Noir has suffered, I've at least chronicled those forays on my Flickr page.

I admit, I'm not super impressed with most of these efforts but I still have felt the need to try each one.  It is shocking when someone likes one of my handicapped attempts.  It's a good lesson that I can't prejudge my projects before they're presented.  But that is it's own catch-22.  I wouldn't be 'done' with a project unless I thought it was good.

It's interesting when you have something mapped out in your head and it ends up NOTHING like you planned...no matter how many attempts were made.  I recently had one of those weeks.  Everything that I touched rebelled.  Even though I've been slinging art projects together that were perched on the back of the toilet tank and blinked through waterfalls of sweat on the back porch as I tied up finishing touches I've genuinely been so determined to attempt the craft that none of that mattered.  Yet after the week of rebellion, I needed a break.  I pondered the Iron Craft and not even a last minute 'Hail Mary Pass' appeared.  The tank was out of gas.

I regrouped and reassured myself it was ok to temporarily flunk out.  Not that I believed that.  I am still trying to think of my make-up project!  But nothing seemed suitable, so I cleaned and read and didn't craft.

I am happy to report this week I was able to jump back in; this week's challenge was Sculpture.

But I am definitely hitting that last stretch.  I am supposed to find out about the house soon.  I really pray that this house doesn't  prove to be just a mirage.  I am already fantasizing about my craft room. 

What Luck of the Irish?

Artistically speaking there is a school of thought that, "How can you know if you've gone too far if you haven't gone far enough".

Everything I touched this week has been a specter of that expression.
I have been near madness multiple times with everything I touched this week:  a wedding gift that won't be wrapped, my Iron Craft projects(both of them), even just trying to keep track of my Michael's coupon.

So, I can't speak of the luck of the Irish, even though I'm only partly Irish.  I would have thought that counted for something.  However, the only luck I seem to be having is in not catching anything on fire...yet.

Example Numero Uno: Iron Craft 11-project 1.
The theme was green.  No I didn't want to think 'out of the box'; I figured I'd enjoy making something kitschy for St. Patrick's day.  Besides you can only wear the party-store Shamrock earrings and the plastic ring that came off of last year's cupcake for so long.

I dug back to the 1960's Disney gem, Darby O'Gill and the Little People for inspiration.

Of course I like that movie!

There is a dark and stormy night and a Banshee and the Coiste Bodhar make oh so creepy appearances.  True, it scared the crap out of me when I was little but there was always something cool about that part.

So for this project I grabbed a T-shirt from Goodwill.  And scoured online for decent Darby O' Gill images.
So far so good.  I even found a screen-shot from an extra that was a Disney badge looking graphic that says, "I caught the King of the Leprechauns".

This really should have been easy...

But I didn't think to flip the image so that the writing would come out correctly.
I figured that little gem out AFTER printing the main image for the back and the 'badge' for the front.  The badge however, was small enough that I could print a redo on the same sheet.

Have no fear!  I had 1 piece of Iron-On paper left...

Too bad the printer ran blue streaks down the right side of the sheet.

*^#%*^&@&*(#$*%$^
I mean "Thats ok, I'll just cut away most of the green! It's a green t-shirt after all."

Yah!!!

Then I touched the iron.

I touched the iron to the design after it took FOREVER to get the cut away pieces to stay down.

*#$^%&#%~*^@#%@! ~
I mean, "Thats ok, it'll be cute with the vintagey-worn look.  Hmm, maybe not, I'll just use the left over backing and the iron to go back over that rough spot, & that spot, & that spot, & that spot."

I think I saved it though.  At this point I'm so tired of staring at it that I'm pretty convinced that I saved it.

But I being a mere mortal, was not content to screw up just one project.  Oh no, next I offer you frustration - uh, project # 2.  A ring in kind.

I found this cool ring at Target on clearance.

And immediately I thought, I could just take some of those Darby O'Gill pics and print them on shrink plastic, cut that little sucker out and glue it to the ring.

Well...it kind of worked.
 When they were in the oven, I got nervous because they curled up.  So I freaked and thought, well, I'll try those again later.  But I read about the curling problem and found that I probably didn't give them enough time.  So back in they went.

They turned out must better than at first but they were a little too big.  So another batch was printed.  This time the Banshee came out a bit too dull.  But in the 2nd run they shrunk right down.

King Brian however continued to curl, even though I tried the hint to place a piece of parchment paper over the shrink plastic to help keep it from rolling up.  I eventually got that piece to lay flat but noticed a small split in the side.  I don't know if that was from my trim job or my attempt to get that piece to lay flat.

But these pieces were definitely a better size.  So one of these puppies was getting a fancy ride.  So I checked them both out on the ring.  I decided I should color the Banshee's edges - the white was a bit too stark.  While I fixed the edges I decided to brighten her back up.

I gave them both another look on the ring but was still torn.
Unable to decide a clear front runner, I Modge Podged them both.

Head: : Desk.

The Modge Podge on King Brian smeared some of the ink.  He looked like a Gaelic Line Backer, the green smeared under his eye on one side.  Again, with some finagling I think I saved it.

So after a lot of fixes I realized that all these little boo-boos are just another set of tools.  Tools that won't take up any room.  Next time, I'll know just how far to go.

I'll know just how far I can push a piece of shrink plastic and just how far away my iron needs to stay away from an exposed transfer.

And until I decide whether to make a King Brian ring or a Banshee ring I at least have a cool t-shirt to go with that ring from last year's cupcake.

  

Allez metier!

"So now America, with an open heart and itchy fingers, I say unto you in the words of someone's uncle: Allez meiter!"

I have accepted the thrown gauntlet.  I have joined Iron Craft.

I found out about it after the first round.

For the second round I bit off more than I could chew and I didn't get anything in.  The second round was a draft excluder and when I finish mine, I'll show you.

So now that I have stepped up and joined I realize that I am going to miss some of my deadlines but I have to take everyone of those challenges and let you know what happened.

So here we go...  

Contingency Plan:

To be honest I'm more than disappointed with myself.

I bit off more than I could chew.  I had plans for quite a few Halloween projects but then I decided to spend all my free time working overtime...

My crafting has seriously suffered.

It is time to regroup.  So where to?

In an attempt to focus I am going to Halloween-ify the Holidays this year.
Um, yes I did just make up a word.
And for you super sleuths- I will be using some of those projects that didn't get worked out in time for Halloween.

So here goes nothing.  Yup, I'm putting it out there.
Since I have no choice but to deliver now that I clued you into what I'm up to...I had better get to work on the Thanksgiving project.

How does stuffing from leftover Halloween candy sound?
 

So Speaking of Craft Fails...

 A craft gone wrong can ruin your reputation in the blink of an eye. If this happens you might as well start crocheting cake cozies with cat hair - 'cause your projects will be banished to the depths of the rows of folding tables at women's club craft fairs.

(Yeah, yeah - I can hear the hate mail now...but if I see one more clown hugging a pot of cacti or faceless pantyhose child facing a wall a'la The Blair Witch Project...so help me the Happy Painter gets it!)  

So, uh, cough cough - I mentioned the Craft Fail website in my last post...so it's only fair to show you one of my fails.

Meet the Munny cake - duhn, duhn ,duhhhhh!

It began well enough - I even did a little research.  How to make your own pan.  Scratch that - I had gotten to that point because I had tried my shaky little hand at carving pound cake into the shape I wanted with unnerving results.  So I went about looking for tips to use any object to form your own pan.
  
But as soon as I introduced cake batter into my foil shell it burst like a cheap swim toy.

Soooo I had the bright idea to use cast material over the foil to better define the shape and give the batter some support.

 All I can tell you is that no amount of icing made this acceptable.  None!

My stupid pride be damned I should have bought a lovely card from the Dollar Tree.

But I couldn't bring myself to abandon all my hard work!  I choose to give this monstrosity and in turn I created a craft-nemesis...

Take heed my craft cupcakes:
Your crafting can be your undoing!