Socks & Up Coming Challenges

I haven't made anything creative in 2 days! So weird. However I have had creative designs swirling in my head. I need to come up with a raffle quilt design that is an easy group project. I am the head of the raffle quilt comity in my quilt guild for 2011 or 2012. The raffle takes place every 2 years.

I have these fun Halloween socks that are orange & black with a white skull on them. One has a hole in the toe. I am not opposed to wear mixed matched socks; so, keeping one and crafting with the other is fine by me. I looked through "Stray Sock Sewing: Making one-of-a-kind creatures from socks" by Daniel. This book is a great alternative to making the standard sock monkey. I am thinking about making the Punk Zebra with my pink striped socks. Then cutting out the skull on the other sock to make a funky punk shirt for the zebra.

My weekend plans:

-Finish taking the VHS tape out of the videos that were given to me to recycle.

-Spin Vhs tape & pli it with plarn.

-Finish sewing the cloth napkins.

-Make a dress mannequin using a t-shirt, duct tape, and stuffing (the plastic bag handles and seams would be good). Put on a t-shirt. Have someone duct tape over the t-shirt while you are in it. Cut open the back of the shirt so that you can take it off. Wear an extra shirt if you don't want to be topless in front of the other person. Then tape that cut opening closed. Tape the bottom closed, stuff it, and tape the top closed. Now you have a cheap and custom made dress mannequin that is just right for you.

Does anyone have any ideas for future eco-craft challenges? Here are 2 of my thoughts.

The week after the 30 day challenge is your vacation, so to speak. You can go crazy with spending. However try to only buy tools and items that you need. Don't buy something that is going to just sit on the shelf and not get any use for a while. The holidays are coming up, and I plan on making things for Halloween and for Christmas. This is the week to buy for those projects. Then for the 2 weeks after that, don't spend any money!

My 2nd thought was for the New Year. If you are like me, then you like to make things for the holidays. Therefore this challenge isn't good for the last few months of the year. Instead the next big challenge will start on January 1st. For 3 months (that's right, 3 months), you will have a budget of $15 a month. That budget should only be used for odds and ends and for tools. This is a true stash busting, think out of the box, UFO (unfinished object), lets get creative craft challenge! Why 3 months? I was on the phone with someone yesterday talking about the current challenge. He said "It isn't really a challenge unless it is for 3 to 6 months." I thought about making a $10 budget, but maybe that is too cruel.

It takes 21 days to make a new habit. This challenge has helped to reprogram my brain when comes to crafting, esp. with shopping. Do I really need this item? Will I really use this item within the next week or two? Or will it just sit on my shelf for a long time? Is there something at home that would work instead? Where are my UFOs and why am I not working on those? Maybe I should clean my space so that I can find items instead of buying multiples (I need to find things in my garage). Can I borrow a tool from someone instead? Can I exchange skills or supplies with someone else? That's right, you can get rid of some of your stash in exchange for things you might want or need. No money is exchanged, you are helping each other out, and its a win win situation.

Now I said exchange skills with someone else... After making the cloth napkins, someone made a proposition to me. If I mail her some of those napkins, she will dye them, and then she will send half of them back to me. Yes I can dye my own napkins. However her dying technique might be different from mine. She keeps some of the napkins in exchange for her work, and she dyes some for me in exchange for my work. I also look at it as cross promoting. Her dying skills and my cloth napkin.

Photography: Yes, I took that picture of the dragonfly. If you have a digital camera, it will cost you nothing to go out and take some beautiful pictures. This one is my desk top picture on my computer. I take my camera with me everywhere, just in case. For very little money, you can print it out. Decorate your home, make art books, journal, make nice gifts, etc. with your pictures.