WIP…umm, no Work Completed!

So I've actually finished some crafts! I know, I can hear an audible gasp from all of you in blog-land. But you know, this place is called 'Craft N Clutter' for a reason, just lately its contained more clutter.

My recent surge of Craft Focus has come courtsey of Craftster and a wonderful thread/craft-a-long called Procrastination Station. Basically it's full of people like me, who have tons of crafty ambitions, but little to no motivation. You narrow down your To Do list to top priorities, and then you set due dates for yourself. You post progress, and when you finish your list, you post some more. If you don't show some progress, the other members are supposed to get on your ass about it. It has actually been really efficient for me so far. I'm making so much progress (at least compared to before) that I don't need any prodding.

I've finished the pillows I showed a few WIP Friday's ago for my mom and my old bedroom, that have been sitting in my possession since March. I started PS last Saturday and gave myself until this coming Sunday to finish them. I ended up actually finishing them, complete with delivery to my mom last Sunday, only 1 day after restarting them.

I also recently participated in Sweet Treats 2 Swap (I actually sent out the day before starting PS) and above (the first picture) is what I sent out to my partner. It was a fun swap, and as I've said before, I really enjoy the swapping process. And Mike just not understand it whatsoever. If I'm not crafting for myself, I should be selling it, he says. And now he's started on about piles of swap crafts just piling up. Though there are no piles of swap crafts anywhere in our home, I try annd use everything I receive because I know what kind of work goes into it. But anyways, I was saying this was a fun swap. I mean, how could Sweet Treats not be fun. And my partner had a diverse love of different treats, so I was locked into one thing (like she was for me, kinda).

I think my favorite thing to make was this Freezer Paper Stenciled Donut tee shirt. Turned out cute, huh? I even embroidered rainbow sprinkles on because her favorite (besides just plain chocolate) is chocolate covered donuts with sprinkles. I need to come up with more designs to put on tee shirts. I'm already trying to figure out something to stencil on a shirt for my godson's Christmas present, and heck, Braydon's too!

I also knitted a cute little cupcake that I weighted slightly so it could be used for a pincushion. I mean, what kind of sweet treat crafting could be complete without the requisite cupcake, right?

My partner also collects with trinket boxes, and I just so happened to have a little wooden box sitting around. Originally I had planned to make my godson a toothfairy box for Christmas last year. Yet because of my constant craft procrastination, it did not happen. So I turned it into an adorable little "Sweet Disaster." I don't work much in polymer clay, but I thought I did pretty well. And even better, the delicate little box made is through the USPS and to its new home!

And finally, since my partner loves chocolate milk, and I couldn't think of any crafts that would work well with that subject matter until I saw my brown envelopes, I attempted to make some hand stamped chocolate milk envelopes. I even carved the little stamp. My idea was cute, as was my little drawing, but the execution just did not turn out as well as I envisioned. I guess I need a gocco printer or something, right? I don't even know what a gocco is really. But I'm sure it would have made this a lot easier and nicer looking. As you can tell, I stopped after 6 attempts (the first 2 got recycled because they WERE that bad).

And of course no swap story would be complete without showing the goods that I received from my partner. Adorable handpainted Sundae Cups!, a reversible ice cream bag which should be perfect for toting small projects in the car with me without being cumbersome (like the system I have now), and cupcake stitchmarkers!

I've been coveting these clay stitch markers that I've been seeing all over the place. I even want to make my own, though my clay skills are minimal and I'm not sure what to use for the hardware because I've never used a stitch marker before. And I mentioned my lust, and she delivered. They are super cute and super small, yet detailed. I can't wait to use them. But more importantly I'm looking for means to display them in my studio for all to see in their natural habitat.

Well, tomorrow while Mike is out drinking or as he likes to call it, 'Consumption for a Cure', I'll be hard at work on my next ToDo. A concert tee shirt quilt I started 2 summers ago. I've been slowly working on it all week, so I'm doing good. Hopefully by the end of August it will be done. Plus my best bud, Darcy, should be coming home soon from Hawaii for a month, maybe even tomorrow. I may spend part of my day stalking her.