What kind of crafter am I?

I like to say I have a "Bunny Trail" style of crafting. I don't mind going into several different directions to create a project. I like to try new things and to combine different ideas. For instance I like to stamp in clay, or use my stamps with ceramics. I like to combine photography with jewelry making. I like to make greeting cards with all kinds of embellishments. I like to lose myself in crafting.

A few examples of my crafting:

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=707536525396081774#editor/target=post;postID=4023279752485598057;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=8;src=postname

I'd like to be able to be more focused in crafting and be able to stick to one media, but there are so many different, exciting and interesting things that can be made or learned that I can't just choose one as my favorite!

What kind of crafter are you??

Melissa

Beginning of a new week.

Sundays are full of activity here on our little plot. Although, they tend to be more enjoyable and more subdued. We've been gathering supplies for the annual Memorial day camp out. The children and I have gotten sleeping bags washed and put into SpaceBags. Those bags are awesome. We have a gargantuan sized bag that fits two of our sleeping bags, a few pillows, and a couple towels as well. It's convenient.

I've been working on an order for a few customers. I need to redo one piece, but it's coming along pretty well.

I updated the website with two bracelets.

Here's what they look like:

I am hoping that people will be able to tell what size they are by looking at the measurements on the mat that they are sitting on. If you'd like to see more of those particular bracelets, head on over to the website, www.pineconepotteryandcrafts.com I have images on their product page and on the related blog page for them also.

Next week, or the week after, depending on how timing goes, I should have a new product all together for the website. I am excited to be able to have it, but I have to keep it a surprise for now. 

Wonky pots, woot woot!

I was able to get onto the pottery wheel Sunday and today! The patio has dried out, so I can use the kiln and the wheels again! Yay!

Which means I was able to get two "wonky" pots done on Sunday. One is a vase, one is a flower pot. Today, I was able to get a birdhouse made. I think. We'll see how it come out. It's drying on the patio now...



See? It should be cute and will resemble a pear or maybe an imaginary fruit of some sort. :) If it comes out like I have in my head, I will be able to offer them on my website

www.pineconepotteryandcrafts.com

That's the excitement from here.

Quick Update May 9

A lot has been going on here. But, I haven't photographed most of it. We had family from out of country come visit, which was wonderful. The house is sooo clean, now. In anticipation, I made sure to get it all spiffied up.

I haven't been able to get much done in the ceramics area, once the ice all melted and the area dried a day, the rains started! I don't feel safe using a kiln outside in the rain...as you can imagine, I am sure.

I do have an update video that I plan to post here as soon as it uploads and is all edited.

That's it for now!

A few updates

Things have been pretty hectic here. I have a few videos to catch you up on the "goings on":

This one's an hour long!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wki8KXQ-iBo

The end result is:

Then here's this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF8Tm_UwyZ0

Followed by:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9GHUSBVnZY

Go for a ride with me on my way home. See what my town looks like:

(see chickens too)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Laz9RhYN2-4

A Card project for second half of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytOC088A6w

And an upgrade to the card project is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usO6qjIzfr0

And the final result of that is:

It's May first here in the Rocky Mountains, can't ya tell?

 Last weekend, daughter had a dirtbiking accident  As she explained it "the dirtbike and gravity had a disagreement. I got caught in the middle. Gravity is the law, so it won." She broke her wrist in three places. Not a peep after the initial "Ow, I'm hurt!" of it all. She's my hero, I'd be a crying and whining mess.

She's been in good spirits. 

This is after my eldest son had a table and another student collapse onto his foot (my son was sitting at another table with his foot sticking out from under his own table a little. Turned his foot all sorts of colors and shades of not happiness.  This is after about the third day from when it happened: 

And of homestead-y news, we got one duck egg and 29 chicken eggs last week. Good gosh, that's a lot of eggs! 

Busy week planned

Just a really quick update, as the weather makes me want to stay off the computer. We are in a blizzard warning, trees are coming down like dominoes in the wind here, and ice has layered the roads making stop signs into suggestions.

Here's my last card project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--RYeqNJXzY&list=UUpcGakkptAcs4mzss2WJbEQ&index=2

Follow along and make a similar card.

Also I've been making baskets and here's a video to follow along with as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wki8KXQ-iBo&list=UUpcGakkptAcs4mzss2WJbEQ&index=1

You'll need a few supplies which are mentioned and described in the video.

Hope you give one or both of these a try, they're lots of fun!

I still have more baskets to make and more ceramic projects. I have a few orders even...how exciting is THAT? So I need to kick it in gear, if only the weather would cooperate! Can't get on the pottery wheel on the patio if the temperatures (with gale force winds too) is in the single digits.

Engeseth Homestead

www.pineconepotteryandcrafts.com

A lot going on here

This month has been a whirlwind! I can't believe how quick it's gone.

With five Birthdays, it seems I finish one item and have to start another. Thought I would show how to make the little box for notecards that I made my daughter...who LOVES pink! And easy peasy, it's in video form...less typing, HA!

Plus, the cockatiel, Baby, makes an appearance on the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7O1pLsWM1s

Here's a photo:

Also, fun stuff is happening for me in other ways...(insert drum roll here)

I now have a website of my very own!

www.pineconepotteryandcrafts.com

I am working on populating the "store" and blog as well. Some of the blog entries will be extra photos for the store items, but it will also have a lot of fun blog stuff too.

And, if that wasn't enough...the weather has begun to warm up which means more pottery! I expect in the next two weeks or so I will have a few days that I can get onto the pottery wheel!

Anyhow, that's the fun that is the fun here!

Snow day

The skies opened up and blessed us with some snow. We haven't had a real snowing other than an inch or two all season. Last night we got a proper amount. Some parts of town got 5 inches, and others 9. We were right in the middle somewhere near 6 or so. Not too shabby. The school district, with the news reports of accidents and so fourth, decided to call a snow day. The kids were ecstatic. When they were homeschooled snow days didn't have the same kind of biting-your-nails-while-holding-your-breath-during-the-morning-newscast excitement as it did this morning.

Without further ado, here's a pic of the snow:

The kids have been fighting, especially the youngest. It's particularly frustrating trying to accomplish anything today. I am so very thankful that their Uncle took them sledding most of the morning. It gave me a break. I managed to get the dishes and a few loads of laundry done. Also, I used the time to get the first part of dinner made and ready for use later.

I have been working pretty diligently on a card order that I received for 15 cards. I was surprised with another order for cards as well. How fun is that?

Also this week we received a half a cow. Not alive...that would be weird. We found a home for half of that, and now we have a quarter to deal with, which is much more manageable.

So this week I will be canning some of the ground meat to free up some space in the freezer. I will also repackage some for quick use as well.

So, that's the plan for the rest of the week.

Busy week

Hi folks!

This week has been pretty busy, what with the children's Valentine's Day parties, lunch out with my friends this Friday, seed shopping and so on.

Let's get to the You Tube videos first:

Semi-homemade paper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApDnfJBW8Nc&list=UUpcGakkptAcs4mzss2WJbEQ&index=3

A matchbook style Valentine card:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3T7dYJbEss&list=UUpcGakkptAcs4mzss2WJbEQ&index=4

Classroom swap style Valentine's Day Cards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxgENAJ0T2Q&list=UUpcGakkptAcs4mzss2WJbEQ&index=2

And a seed related video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSwgKg4uCok&list=UUpcGakkptAcs4mzss2WJbEQ&index=1

Today I need to make a list of the seeds I am out of and the plants that I need to get this year.

This weekend the guys would like to go dirtbiking. I have been invited, and am going to be there as well. I might take my camera and something to do as well. I dont' bike.

Anyway, that's my excitement...

looking forward to a new season

Very soon a new, warmer season will begin. It seems hard to believe what with monster blizzard, Nemo having blanketed the Northeast in several feet of snow this last week. But, soon, the cold  will let up and we should begin seeing tell-tale signs of Spring. Here at the foot of Pike's Peak, we are anxious for the warmth. Although we've not seen any of the snow other regions have, we have had bitter cold.

Anticipating the next season brings some things that make me giddy. Soon, I'll be able to finish the patio project. I'll be able to get the pottery wheels running and the kilns firing. seeds will be started, seedlings planted. The chicken and duck coops will begin filling our egg cartons once more.

I'm looking forward to it all. I'm looking forward to open windows and laundry on the lines. Flowers in the yard and birds in the trees, I can't wait!

Are you looking forward to spring?

Made it through another week (almost)

As of typing this up, it's Friday Morning. We've almost made it through another week. This week was a long week, eeking by slowly.

Here's the craft videos from this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3T7dYJbEss&list=UUpcGakkptAcs4mzss2WJbEQ&index=1

and if you are interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Rjy1Ff8E0&list=UUpcGakkptAcs4mzss2WJbEQ

Charlie (the cat from the previous posting) is healing up wonderfully. Our vet is pleased with his recovery. It's even growing fur in the area around the actual wound, so it looks like he's going to be just fine with no lasting effects. Hopefully the person is caught.

I have a nice stack of seed catalogs that have arrived for the new gardening season. I'll be posting about that topic soon. Saturday I have a talk on seed starting to give. Looking forward to that. I enjoy trying to get people excited about gardening.

It's finally Friday!

And that means two days with the kiddos all to myself. No sharing them with the school. :) Not that we have any plans or anything, just time together to get over the week we've had.

Anyhow. I made it back to the 3 Michael's here in town and got more of their one cent paper stacks Thursday. Here's the video on those deals and the card made using some of those deals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maXjsJmM8yI

On sadder news, I think our Charlie got himself shot in the front leg by someone with a BB Gun. Yesterday I thought maybe he tangled with an animal in the yard, but...the scab was real hard it seemed. Today he licked it off and seems to be happier with it now, but it looks like this:

Poor guy 

Anyhow after a vet visit he should be right as rain. 

That's the excitement from us this week. 

Penny deals and Birthday cards

Last week was a hot mess here with all the illnesses colliding at once. Kids were sick as was I. I can't shake the cold or whatever mutant strain it is the kids gave to me. My lungs feel almost full of water and my face is stuffed up. Wheeee, fun.

But I did manage to get some crafting done last week and this week as well. 

This first card is one we made using a random haul of supplies. We made a cute birthday card for one of the kids' friends. Daughter helped some. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwl-RPwr-aw

Second was a haul and card project from last week. Lots of Hello Kitty goodness. A more masculine birthday card is made from some of those supplies. It is crazy long. Crazy. I don't know how to fast forward parts yet. So you might want to speed through some of it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRZZU2AW4Ho

Can you believe the one cent deals I got?? Those Squinkies will sit in the "Emergency Birthday Gift Stash" and the paper will get used up pretty quickly as well. 

Last Friday was a fun day here, Oldest won an award at School, for his grades. For being the first year in public school (we'd homeschooled up until now) he's doing wonderfully.

January 2013

Huh. This was supposed to start raging outta the gates on the first of January, as do most New Years Resolutions. But it seems I fell flat on that one right away. Ah, well. Better late than never. I did though get the second half of that resolution as I wanted. I began posting more You-Tube Videos of my crafting. Here's the links to the videos of this months cards so far. Hopefully I can get motivated to post weekly (as was the original plan.)

New Years Shaker Card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWivZ5L9V6o

Haul and Friendship Card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEkdpBlTLo8

Haul and Love Card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKIvfzKJmho

Valentine's Card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLnoFbh00wU

Who doesn't like Pico De Gallo?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wkaVGIc35c

Bee Mine Valentines Day Card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3N1v4wDF8s

Hannah's Valentine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5-i_tmxSSs

and last (for this posting anyway)

Haul and I love "ewe" Valentine Card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR0_fNBIX88

As the year progresses, there will be more crafting videos, apart from just cards. There will also be gardening videos, videos showing my chickens, ducks, and such. And I plan on more pottery wheel and ceramics videos as well. There are some on my YouTube Channel (several links above) from last year, should you be interested in watching those.

Here's looking forward to a great New Year.

Melissa

Just a PS, the old blog, www.xanga.com/mrsengeseth is still there, but remains inactive. Those that know me from there and those that don't are certainly welcome to read past blogs if you wish. I am, however, going to try to keep this one going instead. Somewhat more user friendly.