So Dawns The Birthday Season..

And I begin to give myself everything I fancy..
My birthday is a couple weeks away but I started celebrating already.

What do I give to my self, that has everything?

First some jewels from Susan of Sulu Designs. How Gorgeous these are! Her Original Intent posts are some of my favorites...
She spoiled me a bit and I just couldn't be more thrilled. (One pair of these is for my sister...But the rest are Mine! All Mine!!!!) And thanks Susan!
(I might add that her new Portland digs are "sponge-worthy"... Design Sponge, that is!)

Also I downloaded a new CD from Lily Allen, because I saw this video
and I was smitten with the ska and the sass. The lyrics on the album are "parental advisory worthy" but boy, can the pretty girl sing.

Off I go to stitch up some goodies, hopefully cross off a few clingers to the Craft Guilt List and get ready to milk this celebration for all it's worth.

Starting on Monday, I am handing out Party Favors.

The first one will go to some one who wears a size 8 shoe...
Cinderella, Are You Out There?

Bloggers Gone Wild.

Bloggers Gone Wild., originally uploaded by bitterbethany.

What could be better than being out o the town with some Buddies of Blog?
Sonya and Claire of Knit Sonya and Little Lovelies Handmade and their darling kiddles met me in The Mission District for some hard core thrift and tart adventure.

Bring on the Tartine Coconut Cream Love.. To be featured under the next New Vintage garment as padding. Worth every bite.. every calorie.

Next a photo op filled trip down Clarion Alley headed to Thrift Town..







This was so great to see all the murals. It reminded me how much I loved living in the big city and checking out all the street art.
Murals, stencils, painting done over the tops of advertisements.
Interesting discussions on this and also Street Craft on WhipUp lately.
And even though I am raised by mild mannered civil servants. I fall more on the anarchy side of this arguement especially when it comes to artistic statements for the disenfranchised. ( as opposed to scrawled obsenities and spraypaint territorial pissings et al.)
Not everybody gets to be in a gallery show... after all.

But Being Bloggish: we then went to Candystore..
where Some People do.



Oh we will do, what we do... Won't we?

Thanks Ladies for a Lovely Day out.

More Gratitude Tomorrow!

New Vintage # 12: Domestic Bliss

Here we go! I am climbing back on the New Vintage Pony ... with Gusto! Top is Simplicity Pattern 1625 circa 1956 or so.. Done in Amy Butler fabric. I love this pattern. Fits like a glove.
Hardly any alterations needed.
The sleeves ( armbands?) were tricky to position and I did end up taking it in across the top of the chest a bit... but really that is minor compared to some other patterns I have attempted.

Cute how it matches my home made tomatillo Salsa Verde, don't you think?
The skirt is designed by me, based on the very cute
"Sew What? Skirts" book.
I did baste the pleats a few times on this one.
But I love that it is so poofy.

Made entirely of recycled fabrics, including a thrift store tablecloth,
with a fun fringe hem.

I have a house on the front panel
and a couple standing under a tree on the rear.

That's right, people, with little effort, you can have it all.

Finally:
I am so thankful for all the comments on the "Blog Laundry post"..
You guys are the best. I think blogging is such fun most of the time, that it catches us off guard when it starts to feel funky.

Over the last several days it has felt the way I hoped it always will. Like a big bunch of friends who just haven't had the chance to meet yet.

Thanks again for that!

Hanging Out Tha Blog Laundry!

Laundry Bag
(unfinished printed vintage linen embroidery blank from flea market, finished by me)

Oh Futuregirl,
It's me you got all jealous of.. isn't it? I mean you don't say so, but it's obvious.
Because I'm all cool and everything. Canning tomatoes. Making little dogs.
It's Okay. I'm used to it.

Oh. Not me then? Okay. Sorry. Nevermind.

It kind of floors me that some one like Alice ever has thoughts of being 'crushed by the craft blog world'. That other people's craft would make her feel "bitter", since I have always found her stuff off- the-charts original and amazing.

Now as far as my own craft life? Of course I struggle with this feeling. Repeatedly. Constantly.
Hello? They don't call me Bitter Betty for nothing. Does it make me a bad person? Perhaps.

I regularly have to take a "blog break" because the little light up box and keyboard start making me feel more "less than" than inspired.. Overstimulated, in a bad way. Blogtimidation. Craftimidation. You name it. I got it.

So I have to quit looking around for a bit. Put my virtual head down. Try to get back to "steering my own boat" so to speak.

When I first started blogging I was all tweaky because I thought everybody just made bird crafts and they were all better than anything I could do, so I was intimidated and irritated, all at the same time. They were fresher, simpler, newer, original and really CUTE.
How could this be when a birdie was on every single one of them? It seemed like a conspiracy of adorableness. It felt like looking at a clique that wouldn't let me in. Me, with my anatomy dolls and my dark underbelly.

And the hip "craftster" set .. I was not cool enough for them either... with their dang old adorable amigarumi and Ironic Tampon Cases. I truly feel too old to be that cool.

All that new coolness just pissed me off, something fierce. Everyone else's blog was prettier.
Everyone else was actually worried that some one would bother to steal their ideas... imitate their style.. I wasn't worried about that. I was worried that I averaged 1 or 2 comments per post and one of these was usually from my sister or best friend. I felt like a big faker. My husband confirmed my suspicions. ( "Who do you think is reading this stuff? There are like a million blogs out there already!") I had to quit looking at "stats" and Technoneurati, because it was such fuel for my fire.

Oh, High School Insecurity.. How I hold thee close to my bosom. Now at this ripe old age I have finally found a way to pull you out and hold you up to the light, to see all the chinks in the armor of my vast experience... And here you are, just as fun as I remembered.

In my critical self assessment, I find that what frustrates me most is: I apparently suffer from a serious Crisis of Style. What I love on others blogs I couldn't begin to imitate. I am not that Clear in my Vision most of the time. I don't have a STYLE. I like stuff ornate, I like it simple, I like it cute, I like it weird, modern, retro, vintage, whatever... and I never resist the urge to do something new. Everything that I do that does come off as if I have a style is, in fact, a fluke. Why? because I am a Craft Spazz. A highly dedicated, semi-skilled, Craft Spazz.

Oh well. What am I going to do? Not make whatever I want, whenever I want? Turn my back on my favorite public outlet for all the crazy stuff I make? Or accept it?

Hello, My name is Bethany and I am a dilettante crafter.
With an inferiority complex.

I am just going to be okay with that. Out here performing and witnessing Public Acts of Craft on the Internets, one must have teflon heart with a core of steel. But you can always make a wicked recycled, hand-felted, embroidered cozy for it.

And that is what it is all about.

I am Not an Expert.

Well, I am not an expert on tomato canning but I saw a couple of videos on You Tube about it.
I totally loved these ladies but I didn't get enough "how to" info..I did like feeling like I was hanging out in their kitchen though. And I must say I enjoyed my stay.. What a couple of characters!

I also watched David and Andrea's video but they were making too many things at a time for my skill level.

So I throw my hat into the ring. This video tutorial will only assist the real, true novice.. But if this inspires even one new canner.. I will be thrilled beyond belief.



For my favorite canning instructions:
click here

Now after all this, I need to say: I just read a new article that said the peeled tomatoes need to be "hot packed" (cook the tomatoes).. I didn't do it in the video...BUT, I now recommend it.
Just cook them ..
You know, Safety First.

And the music is Django Reinhardt "You, Rascal, You" and "Limehouse Blues"... perfect for canning.

The Craft Guilt

I know that guilt and regret are a huge waste of energy.
Consequently there are things I would have done differently in my life but I stamp down my regrets into a black little ball in the bottom of my soul... only rearing their ugly heads on pathetic drunken new year's eves or unhappy birthdays. They aren't generally too much of a problem.

Guilt, however, I let have pretty much free reign. Lately, with my back to school "new lease on life", I found that the guilt was keeping me from getting motivated or maybe it was running me in circles.. and Accomplishment is what this rediscovered structure is all about for me. I needed a solution.

So, I started a paper list.



The Craft Guilt list.
THE PROJECTS I NEED TO DO.
The ones that haunt me.

So I am finishing up
the little things that need finishing.
Like sewing up and posting this doll I made from Michelle's contribution to the Handprinted Fabric Swap.
( seriously, How cool is she?... And wait until I dig into the the other pieces!)




Like making the dog for one brother, so that both brothers could have one. the first dog ... from JUNE, was so Lonely. Just Waiting to Be Played With.





and making a dog for my nephew to match the one my niece has.. (and then there are my other two nieces..)

and the people I owe swaps to..

and finishing my sister's birthday present... from JUNE...

and mending her handbag from last years birthday...


Oh, there are so many more. But the list is helping.

3 crafts down...

Next!

Viva Las Brookdale!

Here is a quick virtual tour of "What I Did With My Summer Vacation."
Part One.

I had a terrible room in my house. My Bedroom.

Originally when our house was a fishing cabin.. It had been the living room.
It never looked good. I couldn't seem to get it right.
I had it painted a soft warm peach color. SOOOO Gross..it looked like skin.
Then I put a tangerine orange glaze over all the walls and painted the floor dark blue to "cool it off"... Sort of inspired by the "Mexican/ Moroccan" look that had been the rage... We lived with that for a year but one morning we woke up turned to each other and blurted out:" We need to paint the bedroom!"
I mixed up some paint from leftovers we had in the garage. It ended up green. I started painting but unexpectedly I got a "reorganization" (read: big bunch more work) at work... and I didn't have much free-time anymore. It stayed partially painted for about 2 years, mostly green except for orange patches here and there, and I had painted the floor brown to cover the blue.I had not, however, painted under the furniture because I had done it when my significant furniture lifter was out of town... as a surprise. Surprise ended up being that it looked Pretty Bad and it stayed that way for a long time.

Finally in June of this year we hauled everything out and spent 10 days really painting the room properly.

I picked bright colors because this room had been perpetually dark and dreary. I may have gone a little mad.
I threw caution to the wind and just went for bolder colors, "eggshell" sheen to the paint, to capitalize on available light, and even big wide stripes painted on the floor. We finally painted the wood paneled ceiling white. The whole color scheme was chosen to feature my Grandmothers great velvet bedspread and to brighten up the place.

I must admit, I was nervous while painting. I "wasn't sure" about 45% of the time. With our previous track record of "wrong choices".. it wasn't a good sign. But I trudged along... Motivated by a little faith and a mounting desire to stop sleeping in the living room.




It came out a little "Vegas" which is a surprise in a bedroom... But I have to say, after 2 months, I wake up and I am so pleased we did it. I guess there is some tinsel and glitter down deep in my soul. I'm a Bit Bolder than I thought I was.

As a very flattering bonus it is even going to be featured on another blog:
Gussied Up
It's not up there yet, but Chrissy has some other cute spaces ( including where Posie gets Cosy) and a link to a "gentleman" who has the biggest moustache I have seen in a long time.. and a life that looks more fun than mine.

There was a bit o' craft involved with My Big Summer Project as well: I did decoupauge the back of two plexiglass half circles to use as "handles" on the sliders, and I decoupaged the switch plate cover as well. The fact we got to that point and FINALLY got trim installed is the living end. Seriously Like a Dream Come True.



Bright light city... gonna set the world ... gonna set the world on fire....Viva Las Brookdale!