New project #uno

I'm teaching myself to knit! I only watched the first half of the YouTube video, but after four failed attempts, I finally think I'm doing it right. I mean, I sure hope so, since I'm on the tenth row.
Not sure what to do with it when I'm done. I'll give it away, but to who?

I'll post pics of project #dos (spelling? I don't actually speak Spanish) a little later. That one, surprisingly to me, was much harder and involved much more um... Failing.

Today is the day!

No seriously, I swear I'm going to make something(s?) today.  I mean, I need to! Have to! I'm going to start with a gift for my mother (I'll post pictures, probably, maybe?) and then hit up Michael's to try making some candles in sugar bowls (Thanks, Pinterest!).

Simply obsessed with being inspired

I think I'm a little late on my recent discovery, Pinterest, but better late than never.  And what I missed in time, I certainly have made up for in collected imagery/inspiration.
It started about two weeks ago when I realized I was dying for a project.  I stumbled across Pinterest and began collecting loads of inspiring how-tos and DIYs. 
However... I'm on a tight budget.  While I would love to start a new, long-term, get-messy project... I can't really justify spending $40something (let's admit, it's never under forty is it?) on self-indulging projects. 
Any ideas for re-purposing things found around the home?

Try harder

Try harder, as in... I should. 
I recently posted a new blog post (about a week ago) and was quite proud of myself, thinking "yes! I'll get back into this!" and then promptly realized I had posted it to an old defunct blog (truth be told - I think I have 6 blogs under my belt, none of which are "current").

So, after my dear friend and co-worker announced that he was going to be updating his blog more often, I thought "Yeah! Yeah, me too!"  I mean... copying someone is the deepest form of flattery... or something... right?

Earrings.

Ooo! Pretty dangly earrings that I made. Can you believe how hard it is to just find circles? Obnoxious...

What's next?

Here's me, in a rather disappointed and unhappy mood. Can someone please tell me why we all don't have a special room in our house for smashing things? There's really nothing I'd rather do more than smash glass plates on the floor and yell until I feel at least a little bit better. 
Ah, whatever, let's play nice.
I just finished a pair of earrings for my friend's girlfriend. they're all pretty and dangle-y.  It was incredibly difficult to find the bits I needed to create what I had in mind, which is pretty ridiculous since I just wanted some larger circles...
And, you'll be happy to know that I have finally purchased the white thread to finish the gun cross-stitch.  Actually finishing the cross-stitch is next on my list. In the meantime, I'm trying to come up with a great design for my next piece.  I'm starting to think of this more as a method of expression and art than as just a, well, a pretty thing to make.

Anyone know....

Does anyone know of a lighting design forum or something similar? I'd like to make some more lights but I'd really like to know for sure whether or not they'll catch on fire and kill us all.

Part Two: the blood! The horror!

Hello my fine fictitious fans! I wanted to let you all know that the massive snow storm we experienced here in little Rhodey gave me the patience to work on my cross-stitched gun again. Previously incredibly frustrating, it is now almost done.

Time spent: approximately 15 hours.
Finger pricks: 9. And three of those were really in there.

Part One: Fail.

Damn. I tried to take a little short cut on my cross-stitch pattern by using an iron-on transfer and it ended miserably.  I apparently overestimated the quality of iron-on transfer paper.

This looks like poop.

 

 Well... Okay.  Maybe I can make some sort of lemonade out of this... So, I stick it in this nifty new frame thing that I got. Handy dandy, right? Yep.

 

The boyfriend convinces me to try cross stitching with the pattern on the back. Right, I'll give it a go!

WORST IDEA EVER.  It took me probably twenty minutes to get two rows done. After giving up on that, I traced the areas all paint-by-numbery for me to fill in later.   And, I think that I'm ditching the text "Happiness is a warm gun" altogether.

Should I just start over?