Old School Selfie and New Repurposed Clothing

I don't have a smart phone.....I'm not that smart, plus, I have a really old, grandfathered cellphone account that gives me 5 phones for under $130. I keep checking and talking with them, but if I switch to smartness, my bill goes up over $100, and that's just for 1 smart phone! Yikes!

So...this is me wearing my recycled cashmere and men's shirt top....yep, in the bathroom with a regular digital camera! But the weather is so pretty, and I love wearing it so I wanted to share.

I've entered March like a lion, roaring thru the first weekend and making 1 new top a day on Saturday, Sunday and Monday! They're all listed in the Etsy shop already, and I really think they're pretty and perfect for this time of year.

This weekend I have GOT to clean, though! My bedroom & the inevitable upstairs bathroom are calling my name, so at least Saturday I'll be a no-show in the Art Barn.



I got accepted into a really cool craft show in May, so I've already started stacking up plushie "skins" to be sewn and stuffed for my booth. I'm also working on a new item since the show is right before Mother's Day; a sort of everlasting corsage from cashmere sweater scraps and vintage buttons. I'm messing around with the flower shape right now, but as they come together, I'll share!

Smarty pants with no smart phone

I don't have a smart phone....I'm not really smart enough! But I have been fascinated with the cool-looking photos people post on Facebook, taken with Instagram. I like moody, misty, washed out, photos. Romantic, spooky, they just speak to me. But Instagram is only for Iphones, and I don't have any cool graphic design programs like Adobe or Photoshop, so what's a girl to do?

My favorite tool that comes with PCs is the Microsoft picture manager program; I like it alot better than the Windows manager that comes up on my home PC; I end up opening Microsoft manager there, too. It's easy, basic, I feel like I can handle it!

Sooooo.....I thought I'd explore a little more. I mean, I've used the tools to increase brightness, contrast, color on photos that I'm using for my Etsy shop, to enhance or correct. But I thought I would take it even further, and see what happens!

So let me show you:

Here is the original pic of my Kashmere Kitties, made from recycled thrift shop cashmere sweaters. I think it's sweet and endearing!

and Here is the pic with a bunch of the contrast and color taken out.

And the Last shot, I took the washed out version, and slid the hue and intensity over to the blue side! I think I like the middle version; it reminds me of a black and white photo with just a shot of color!

Ha! Now I can instagram, too!

Pattern Play

Trying something new; I really like the Ghost Kitties that I offer in my etsy shop, but right now, my thumb is so hurtful it's difficult to do the handsewing.

SOOOooo, I've made a pattern to sell! Ghost Kitty can now go out and haunt the whole wide world! I've done a pdf file that I can email to a buyer, so they'll get it almost instantly depending on how close I am to my computer. It's hand drawn, with typed out instructions. Not as super fancy as a commercial pattern, but hey, I'm not commercial!

I also give permission for the buyer to make as many as they like, and sell them for cash money, as long as they don't sell them on line. Make them for craft bazaar, or whatever, just please don't compete with me online! I thought that was fair. And no copying the pattern and passing it out, either.

Really hoping to generate a bit more business, and trying to set Ghost Kitty loose!

Vintage Becky M: Memories

I got an Etsy buddy for the holidays! I signed up for the Etsy bootcamp, to work on my shop and promote myself for the holidays. They give you a To Do list, a buddy to kick you into gear, so I'm looking around for a model here in town so I can do new photos for my clothing.

check out Vintage Becky, her shop is pretty cool! She's also got a sweet Blog! Gotta support my Buddy!