Saturday, November 17, 2012

Halloween revisited

And here (finally) is the whole crew that went out for Halloween a couple of weeks ago. My daughter is the Poison Ivy on the right with the cutie little leaf skirt I sewed for her (scroll down 3 posts and you'll see the making of).

She got really creative with her costume: adhering ivy leaves all the way up her leg and one or two on her face as well. She used eyelash adhesive which worked great--even better than expected.

Also in the crew is Batman and Cat Woman. And then there's Dracula, too. no--don't ask me why. It was 3 Batman characters and a Dracula. :)

Friday, November 16, 2012

Magnets and more

Hi all, I've been puttering about and keeping up with my inventory at my online store at etsy. I'm pleased to say that orders are picking up to several a week. Not big bucks by any means as most of my stuff is relatively inexpensive, but its meaningful to me. I hope to get to the self sufficient stage and then slide into the making a profit stage (which I am fast approaching!).  Notebooks are popular! In all sizes and with all coverings. Its a good thing. Especially since I like making them. I did have to stock up on more National Geographic maps but that was easy enough to do on ebay. I've also been expanding my horizons with a FaceBook page and trying to get used to posting on that medium (as opposed to the regular blog post). So if you are so inclined (and have not already done so), feel free to wander over to my LizzieLuvs2Recycle FaceBook page and like it! thanks! :)

Well, I added a new item for me: fridge magnets. I had been thinking about making these for quite a while but couldn't figure out what images to use. Then it struck me: "Duh! Vintage maps. Of course!" So, last weekend I made the first batch with some glass cabochons that I picked up on etsy. I tried initially to use the squashed marbles that you can buy for cheap at Michael's but they are not appropriate: too uneven in shape, scratched often, and with bubbles or other internal flaws. So lash out and buy the real thing that really works.

 And here are some of the sets that I made up. I used the last little bits of maps from the 1964 atlas that I used to make the thank you cards for my dear friends Matt and Mindy recently. The color range on that atlas was really rich and varied.

Here's a set cut from the greater Washington D.C. area.
 And a set from North America.
There was one little map that was of downtown Washington D.C. Aren't the colors great?

All of the maps were cut out and adhered with my favorite multi-purpose adhesive, E6000.
 After that had dried, I used it to affix the magnets on the back.
Each set got its own padded box and...done!