Wanna try something new!

As much as I loooooove to crochet, I just need to try something different to keep the excitement! With that being said, this week, I plan to go to the thrift store to see what I can find. I intend to find some tight stuff to "upcycle". For those of you who are saying to yourself "what is upcycle?"; basically you take something old (or new), and make it into something else (or something different), by putting your own creative spin on it!
Most likely, whatever I decide to use, will heavily incorporate crocheting cuz I'm not that tight at sewing yet lol. I have a couple dresses, sweaters, and jeans here at home already that I intend to use. I also wanna find some fly blazers and what not for the fellaz and maybe put my crazy little touch on them (I dunno, we'll see). I have soooooo many ideas right now, I just need to calm down and take it one step at a time lol. But I will surely show you all what I get, and I will DEFINITELY show you the finished products! Wish me luck!!!!

I COULDA STAYED HOME ON MYSPACE FOR THIS!!!

Random ramblings as usual :-D

To give tutorials or not to give tutorials...that is the question!

I am considering doing a few video tutorials on the basics of crocheting for my readers. I am still not sure if I am going to do this or not. Right now it is just a thought. I just thought it would be something nice to include for those who would like to learn. Please leave your comments and let me know what you think about this.

1 down a bunch to go!

As spoken about in my last post, I have been trying to come up with ways to attract a male clientele. So lately I have been up items that may appeal to "fashionably bold men", so far, this tie is one of the things I have come up with! I have gotten pretty positive feedback on this item. So with that being said, I will be making a few more in various color combinations to see how they sell.
In addition, I am working on some sort of vest or sweater (not sure what it's gonna be yet) for a man. I hope it comes out well.
As always, I will show you all the end result when I'm done.

Oh, and as always, any ideas are more than welcome.

Thinking outside MY box!

I think I may have created a box and stuffed myself right in it! So now, I am trying to get out of it. I have noticed that almost all of my items with the exception of a few hats , all cater to women. I have increasingly been having men inquire about my items. Many have expressed that the wish i'd make something for men.
I guess I have been making things for women because I AM a woman, and I feel more comfortable going that route because I'd like to think I know what women like.
But now it is time for me to push myself and see if I can come up with some nice things for the fellazzz!!!!!!!! I do not want to limit myself any longer.

I'd love feed back from some men letting me know what kind of things I should make that would likely appeal to men (hats I already know), so try to come with something else (unless you are thinking of a specific style of hats).
Check back soon, I hope to have a few things for men up very shortly! Wish me luck in my experimentation lol! :-D

Measuring success: Yet another random thought.

I get so annoyed when people measure success by how much money someone has. Yes money is a great thing to have, and I mean hell, who doesn't want to be able to provide for themselves and their family? I'm sure nobody WANTS to live pay check to paycheck. Yet and still, that is the reality of many people, and I would by lying if I said money doesn't matter!
However, I have been increasingly disturbed by how many people seem to think that having money makes you successful! Successful by whose standards? In my opinion, money does not equal success, (especially if you are not doing something you love to do).
I for one, know a good amount of people who have bookoo money but are MISERABLE! What is the point of having money if you don't even have the time to enjoy it? What is the point of putting your children in the "best" school money can buy, if you don't even know what is going on in their day to day lives? Although I am in college myself, I get soooo sick of people always throwing their college degrees in the faces of people who lack one. Your degree makes you better than who? NO ONE!
Too often, people use economic status, professional position, or past accomplishments etc. to define success.
These things are no doubt great achievements, but they are not the end all be all. I have even heard some of my personal associates put their nose down to my other friends because they have not achieved what society equates to success.
What I want to know is who the hell died and made YOU president? Sometimes we are so busy living up to standards others set for us, that we forget what is really important.... happiness, and living life to it's fullest!
Success is in the eye of the beholder. Set your own standard for success and let NO ONE dictate how YOUR life should be.

Just a thought for the day.

WOW

So my friend got 1 of her pictures back from her photo shoot and I love it! She has many more that she hasn't gotten back yet, but I think this one is hot. I stressed over making that suit but I suppose it was well worth it!!! I can't wait to see the rest of them! For this to be her first photo shoot, I think she did an OUTSTANDING JOB!!! It's making me want to get a bunch of models and go get some pictures taken!!! (not of me of course lol)

My first attempt at a brim hat!!!!

So iv'e been wanting to make a brim hat for the loooooooongest time, But I just wasn't sure how to approach it! So tonight I set down and figured it out! I wanted to share the results with you all! I think I did a pretty good job considering this was my first stab at it!
The hat you see still needs a few finishing touches, but I am sure you get the point! You will certainly will be seeing a lot of these hats from me soon. Everytime I learn something new, I beat it like a dead horse lol!

I have finally gone international!

Since first listing items in my online shop I'd decided that I would only ship my items within the boundaries of the US, just because I had heard so many horror stories about offering international shipping. Frankly, I just did not want the headache! However, recently I have had a change of heart. Or should I say my pockets have had a change of heart lol.
While I have made a decent amount of sales through word of mouth, my shop online is not getting the business I feel it is capable of. I know this is partly my own fault for not promoting it as much as I should. But hell, things get hectic (especially around finals time) and it's sometimes hard to squeeze it in. I wish the shop were doing as well as my word of mouth sales. But I am in it for the long haul and I'm willing to stick it out!
I am now offering international shipping because I came to the realization that I was cheating myself by NOT offering it. I had quite a few people outside of the US ask me about my items lately (via the internet), and I turned them away because I didn't do international shipping. I now see that was silly on my part. Missing out on money and customers is NOT a good look. So hopefully things pick up online now that I have made this major adjustment! Wish me luck :-)

Kanye --Heartless (favorite song of the moment)

I don't really know why but I like this song a lot. which is a lot coming from someone who is not really a Kanye West fan (mostly due to his conceit), and partly just because I honestly don't think he is that tight. But I must admit he got me with this song. I especially like the animation...just wish there was more of an actual visual story line to better compliment the song.

$2.00 Secret Santa? lol are you serious? lol

So tonight I had a scheduling meeting for my job. In the mist of picking shifts we want to work for the upcoming weeks,one of my coworkers suggested that we all do secret santa this year. Initially, I thought it was a great idea seeing as though I haven't participated in something like that since I was much younger, but when I heard that the limit was going to be $2 I had to struggle to hold in my laugh. All I could think is "are you serious?!". My honest opinion is we might as well not even do it. I think that is a major insult. $2.00 what am I gonna get someone for $2.00? A cheeseburger and a fry?! I'd love to see how this turns out lol. I think I am gonna try to take some pictures at the exchange so I can let you all see what everyone came up with lol (we will see). They might surprise me. It will be interesting to see. $2.00 though ? lol I still can't get past that. These are grown people I am talking about here, not children. I mean I know times are rough right now but damn not that rough! I am cracking up right now just typing this.

Finally got my new camera.

I ordered a new camera a few weeks ago (a canon powershot SD890 Is). I already have a camera ( A kodak easy share v1003). I like my kodak ok, but it just doesn't get the shots I need it to get when it is most important. I personally hate playing the "maybe it will and maybe it won't game" when I really need a good picture. The main issues occur when I am trying to take pictures of my pieces...the colors are always off, or they blur horribly (among other problems).I just got tired of it. I got the canon because I had been hearing a lot good things about it. I am still not sold on it yet (but I still have a lot to learn about it so maybe things will look up), hopefully very soon especially considering that I paid about $270 for the camera (on a sale price). This camera was $400 in best buy so I expect it to work exceptionally well! So far I do not think the image stabilization works all that well because the pictures still blur.....more than I believe they should. But like I said, I will have to see. I have found a few settings in the camera that have made the pictures come out a better...so hopefully there is more to that. I have to read the manual.

My first feature!

I have been going twitter crazy lately and in the process I have met some great people one of those people is (screen name) FashionCitizen . I have only been utilizing twitter for the past week or so, and it is soooooo addictive lol. Long story short, Fashion Citizen featured me on his fashion blog blog! I was so honored. Check it out!:fashionwithasideoflife.blogspot.com

I guess we all make mistakes sometime!!! But dag!! Why did it have to be today!? LOL

sooooo I was commissioned to create a bathing suit for a friend. She is having her very first professional photo shoot tomorrow afternoon.She finally came over to try the bathing suit on today. And guess what!!!!! The thing did not fit right!!!
The bottoms were too big!! Not including a few other issues that I'm sitting here trying to correct at 2 in the morning :-( I had to damn near demolish the thing . But I am trying to keep a smile on my face right now although I really want to scream! But what can I say ISH happens. all I can do is try my best to correct my mistakes. I will show you all the finished product once it is done. But the picture above is the result of a whooooooole lot of unraveling that is not yet complete :-( . In the state it was in, I wouldn't even want my name attached to such a creation...the thing was just sooo damn baggy!It is just somewhat discouraging because I have created basically the same suit on two other occasions with no problem (Example: The black suit). What in the world happened this time :-( ?!!!!
That has never ever happened before. But there is a first time for everything I guess. All I can do is learn from it and try to be the best at what I do slowly but surely. I try to give myself some credit...considering that I haven't been crocheting for very long.


UPDATE!!!!!!



So after hours of unraveling and re-crocheting the ooooh so many things that went wrong with the suit the first time around, SUCCESS AT LAST!!!! The suit looked great in the end, and my friend left very happy with the end result, as was I! I was so worried that when she came to try it on again this morning there would still be issues. Had there still been problems with the suit I would have felt like crap because there was literally noooooo time left to fix anything! So I am happy things turned out the way they did. I felt so much pressure to make sure I followed through because this was her ONLY outfit for the photoshoot, and I did not want to disappoint. But all in all, I am happy with the way it turned out.

when the wife doesnt listen

Haaaaa I saw this on someone else's blog and it brought tears to my eyes it was so funny. Lol as a matter of fact I am still laughing right now! This was a mean joke but yet hilarious! I am assuming the gun she had was not loaded (at least I hope not lol) or there may have been a waaaay different outcome!

What the hell is stopping you? Go for it!!!!

Just another random thought. I was sitting here thinking about how so often we don't follow our hearts, or don't follow through on things we have claimed we are "gonna" do "when the time is right" etc. Usually this hits home for me when I find out that someone has passed away. ESPECIALLY someone very young. It makes me think of all the dreams they must have had and didn't get a chance to fulfill. All of the things they said they were "gonna" do. Every time something so tragic happens all of a sudden, I am EXTRA motivated to do all of the things that make me happy, and work towards all of the things I want to accomplish.
When I come to the cold hard realization that I won't be here forever, suddenly I get an overwhelming feeling to GO FOR IT! Whatever it is (doesn't matter) personally or professionally. But then when such harsh thought leave my mind, I am back to my old ways. But the truth of the matter is, it should not take someone dying, or something negative happening for us to follow our dreams.
So often, the thinking is : well, if you DON'T die tomorrow, you will have to live with the consequences of choices you made today. Yes, this is most definitely true! I am in no way suggesting that we go doing crazy things that could really hurt us or someone else in the future. BUT I am saying that people need to stop being so concerned with all the WHAT IFs, and just live life to the fullest. We sit around waiting for the right time and sometimes "the right time never comes". Always waiting for a sign or something drastic to happen before we make our move toward happiness and success. If we take it upon ourselves to declare "the right time" then it is THE RIGHT TIME. So I say the right time is NOW......

BLACK FRIDAY SALE!

wildchilddzigns.etsy.com
I am intending on making a lot of new things soon, but first I need to get rid of all this stuff I already have lol. I feel like this stuff is in here about to eat me alive!! Everytime I go in the closet, something falls on my head. Soooooooo, with that being said, I have decided to have a sale on my entire shop for black friday. Everything will be 20% off until midnight Friday! Maybe a tad longer because I might be too lazy to go back and change the prices back :-) . So my gross laziness may actually benefit someone for once lol! Pathetic. But hey what can I say? I'm a slacker sometimes and damn proud of it!!!!DON'T JUDGE ME :-)

I got my tags!!!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOO

lol I know tags aren't normally something to get excited about. But despite the lack of normalcy, I AM EXCITED! I custom ordered my first set of hang tags the other day and I finally got them in the mail today! They are great! Exactly what I hoped for. I ordered the tags because (if all goes accordingly) I am planning to have a few of my items sold in a local store in Richmond called RUMORS. I haven't taken any of my items back to the store because I didn't have tags :-(. I figured it
it wouldn't be wise to have my things sold in a store with absolutely nooooooo tags identifying myself nor my online shop site (Where more items can be found) So, with that being said, I decided to get some fly tags with my shop address on them! I can't wait to use them. What do ya'll think of em?

COMING SOON!!!!

Sense I have just opened up this page, I don't have a contest/ Giveaway prepared at the moment, but some will be coming VERY soon!  Click the "follow this blog" link to the right so you can be the first to know when I post!