Quick update tonight

Hey readers,
just doing a quick post tonight because it's like super late.  Thought I'd update on the painting I worked on a while back. It still needs some work but finished for the night lol Below are the before and after. 
Enjoy!
Hillkat

Before

After

Sewww..... I'm not a seamstress

I've always wanted to know how to sew.  I can throw a quick hand stitch into something if needed but never have used a sewing machine.  (Probably because of the fear my mom put into me of sewing my finger off lol)
Anyway, I finally talked my mom into showing me how to use a sewing machine.  After much confusion of threading the needle and bobbin, I got it done and settled down to sew my first item.  A sweatshirt bag I had seen on the Maiden Jane blog.  I cut up my very first sweatshirt from college and prepared to make a beautiful bag out of the shirt with so many memories.  Boy was I delusional.  After first forgetting the hem at the top, I broke the thread, had to call mom for help on fixing it and in the end it still looked like crap lol But I took this as a learning experience. 

 

 

 

My 1st attempt at sewing.  Believe me it looks worse in person lol

 After the horrible 1st attempt I decided today to give it another try.  I had been to the dollar tree and got this really cute shirt for $1 in the hopes that one day i could make it into something. 

Deciding that it would be a worthy sacrifice I carried it to the sewing machine.  After laughing for about an hour, I emerged with this lovely piece of work. 

As you can see, I designed this for carrying things that are moon shaped. 

Bottom line.... I suck at sewing lol  If I lived in a 3rd world country I would be flat broke and hooking on the street corners for my money rather than working in a sweatshop. 

Oh well, maybe I'll try again sometime. 

Hillkat

WARNING...Sharp things cut people too!

So tonight I wasn't feeling particularly artistic so I decided to use the time to cut some T shirt strips for bracelets. I was cutting like a mad woman when suddenly I cut too far and accidentally tapped the rotary cutter against my stomach (My muffin top actually....dang it lol)  One little tap and it cut through the shirt I was wearing and my stomach lol  Since I didn't really plan on blogging tonight this is short.  Just wanted to show u the wrath of the Fiskars rotary cutter lol   It's an awesome tool for cutting fabric... just be careful lol

It may seem harmless but it's not!

My Shirt

My Poor muffin

I did however get a lot of material cut up!!

Goodnight! 
Hillkat

Back to Painting

I hate to admit it but I haven't painted in probably two months.  I guess I just got out of the mood.  The other day I kept my niece Charlie for the day and as always she wanted to paint.  I gave in (of course) and we started painting.  I happen to think she's a pretty good artist.  I dont have a picture of her finished painting yet but I will update it as soon as I can.  Here's a picture of her working hard on her sky. 

Since she was painting I also had to paint.  I took the opportunity to paint myself a sky as well.  I started working on it again tonight and I've almost got the background finished.  Just thought I'd post what I have so far.  I'll post the completed picture when I'm finished.  Anyone who knows Bob Ross can see where I got my influence on this one :oP

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Sunday!

Use every scrap!

So as I've been making these t-shirt bracelets I've had a lot of extras.  Sometimes I use the scraps in other bracelets, however I got the idea to make a cat toy out of some of my scraps.  My cat absolutely loves to try to eat my bracelets as I'm braiding so what better than to make him a toy out of it.  He also loves to eat string etc so I figure at least this way he can't eat it all tied into a knot! lol 
Here's a pic of what I did.

For this one, I just tied a bunch of strands together, however another easy way to make it would be to loop your string several times around you hand then cut both ends, many strands in 2 cuts!

Thanks for checking me out again! More to come!!

Neat Idea

So I wanted to put up a new idea everyday and since today has been so long I've went with the easy route. I have the craftgawker app for my phone and stumbled across this neat idea for re-purposing bread closer tag thingies(yes that's the technical term). Bread tag thingies are something we throw away without thinking, but what if we saved some to help us be more organized? How often do you look at a surge protector needing to unplug something and can't figure out what the heck the cord goes to? With this idea no more confusion!

Image from Unplggd

Tomorrow is crafting day while keeping my niece so I'm sure I'll have lots to post.

T-Shirt Bracelets and Headbands

A week or so ago I was browsing Craft Gawker and found an awesome project to work on.  Make it and Love it had this really cool project for braided Tshirt Headbands.  I love re-purposing things so this was right up my alley.  Why pay for crafting items when you can make awesomeness out of things you already own??  Anyway, I have a misshapen head apparently and can't wear headbands because they slide off my head.  I decided I could easily convert this idea to a bracelet. After a little practice, I've gotten pretty good at it.  I will probably have to buy a whole new wardrobe of T-shirts now, because they're all cut up lol but I'll have stylin' arms! 

Here are a few pictures of the ones I've done or worked on.  I started out just using one color of tshirt.  Now I'm branching out.  I also found that you can get really great colored Tshirts from the Dollar Tree.  Tonight I got a pink and a purple tshirts for a whopping $2! 

That's all for this post.  I'll post some more bracelet pics later I'm sure. 

Welcome and About me

Welcome to my very first blog.  On this blog you will find things I've made or am in the process of making.  This could be anything from paintings to bracelets to random things I've wrapped in electrical tape :o)

About me...I've always been drawn  to any type of art.  I love to find the beauty of every day things and learn how to do or make new things.  

My paintings often are influenced by other artists.  My two favorite paintings are Bob Ross and Tim Gagnon.  Both are fantastic painters.  I also draw ideas from my own brain of course.  I'll be posting pictures of some of the paintings I've done previously and keep you up to date on the things I am currently working on. 

One of my loves is also crafting.  I absolutely LOVE Craft Gawker.  They have so many awesome ideas that the everyday person can do. 

Music is a HUGE part of my life.  You will rarely find me going a day without listening to some sort of music.  I own 3 guitars yet I can't play them lol

Anyway that's a little about me.  I know I'm rambling haha Check back later for more!!