Baby's clothes and Folksy

Today we've been looking after the baby of a friend of ours. She's 3 and just learnt to walk three weeks ago, but toddles around quite soundly considering. It's made me think that a) i'm a bigger sap for kids than i thought i was and b) making children's clothes mightn't be a bad idea. They're probably a bit easier to make than grown up ones, not to mention cheaper as they require less fabric.
If (or, hopefully, when) I get round to doing this sort of thing, i'd sell them on Folksy (which is the british equivalent to Etsy). It too is just toddling about but there're already thousands of items available, forums for discussing creations or just general chitter chatter, tutorials for experts to people just starting out and the opportunity to sell and buy handmade items. It seems to be a highly ethical place where people's ideas are nurtured rather than exploited (as they would be in mainstream shops), so i try to nip over there for presents and ideas if i'm in a stodgey mood.
Recently I bought some mugs from Julia Smith who is planning to get a proper shop on the go and who makes beautiful designs (and huge cup sizes) for us tea lovers - coffee lovers too; *not one of them*. I've been keeping an eye on one cup in paticular which is 90mm in diameter. Huzzah! Tea in vast quantities.

Tried a little more crochet today but had to abandon it and rush around after the bab. She's very tiring but beautiful so it isn't a bother and there are other people i can distract her with. I'd like to try making something substantial using crochet soon. A friend of mine on twitter who's into knitting has prodded me to make dolls with crochet which i'd not thought of. I suppose that must be possible and, if i practiced them enough, quite quick to make (and sell). I still need to teach myself how to have more than one colour in a piece but i'm gonna keep going with it; i've wanted to do this for a long time and i've only been going for a day.

It's too hot here for long posts and there's a baby to creatively distract from poking her eyes out on stinging nettles;




V.

Ready.

Tried some Cosplay the other week. A lot of people i know are really into it and i've always admired ManaFromHeaven's House and 10 impersonations. On a sort of Whovian wavelength i decided to try Amy Pond 'cause she has some nice outfits for red-haired people; i would never have thought of wearing a red jumper for fear of it clashing. But it looks really good, and the skirt seems to want to go with everything else i would normally wear.
I'm also planning another cosplay which i may go to the Febuary Midlands MCM Expo in. I've been planning it for a little while but only just recently found the right dress. My plan is to go as Poison Ivy from Batman but rather than feel self conscious in a comic-canon leotard i'm going to do a mixture of film and comic canon - keep the tomato red shoes and long, curly cherry red hair but wear a dress instead... (not gonna wear those hair horns). I'll put some pictures up when i've got my wig and added a few flowers to my dress which is almost /too/ green.

I've been in a mildly creative mood for the last week and decided to at least start to plan something today. I'm not at home at the moment so i'm away from my tablet (which is being a bit moody just now) and my paints but my dad's camera is left on the table for hours on end, unattended so perhaps i could do a collage of the beautiful things in the garden here.
I've also re-found a brilliant and creative blog made by the same person who did Heidi & Seek up until last year. She decided she needed to rethink what she was doing clothes-wise. Her new site is up and beautiful and can be found here. I really adored all her old ideas for clothes and she's continuing to be a really insightful source for the tentatively creative. Her recent blogs on finding your own style and knowing what colours suit you for example have given me the courage to go through every piece of clothing i own and seperate them into Wearable and Chuuuuuuuuuck. I'll make sure to see whether shades of red that i have in my clothes actually clash or if it's just an assumption brought on by society.
One of her other blogs which has been of particular importance to me is her blog on why people feel the need to shop when they're unhappy. My parents and I share the need to fill up our moderately sized house to the rafters with random bits of junk that we don't really need but at the time thought were 'cute' or would 'be useful if [insert unlkely scenario here]'. This has made even my mom consider being couragous about going through all her crap and clearing out.

I want to go to Australia and meet all my friends there. Especially my friend Nighty (who you won't know) who is extremely nerdy and is prompting me to cosplay as much as possible. My other friend who made this brilliant Dragonball Z parody. I met her on dA which i go on occasionally. But it feels a bit cramped for proper creativity just at the moment so i thought i'd make this nice new blog.
Here's my plan for the summer, creative-wise:

• I've started Crochet but so far i've only made a sort of lumpy foot-hat. I'm gonna keep going with it though as it's very satisfying.
• I'm also planning on buying a video camera and possibly another graphics tablet (as mine's having a wobble just now) but i'll need to wait until i'm certain i have enough money for rent and bills this coming year; i'm just starting my 2nd year of university and will be living in a house with some friends.
• I'm going to try editing the clothes i'll have left from my binge which i may not like the style of but like the colour of and create unique pieces of clothing for myself and friends should they want them. This is something i can start straight away as it won't cost me any money - i already have thread, needles and fabric and can find any patterns or templates i might want online.
• I've been planning to teach myself to draw accurately in traditional as well as digital mediums over the summer which i think i'll start quite soon.

That's the current plan.

Hope you're all having a lovely summer.

V.


Comments...

Do you have any creative projects you're planning for the summer? Perhaps you'd like to share them with me in the comments below.