1 Year, 1 Benjamin

So, a little bit of background, I work as a Temporary Recreation Aide at a County Park in Central Florida.  When I first was hired last September, basically my job was to show up, do what they tell me, and answer the phones all day.  Around October, my old boss essentially got promoted (I think he got elected to some sort of environmental council, but I'm not sure), and after about a month or two of limbo, our new boss came in with a vision to make the park even more interactive. One of the new things he wanted to start was to have themed months, where each month on Thursdays and Saturdays, we would have a craft and activity in the Nature Center that revolved around the month's theme that people could come in and do and learn a little about the theme while also having fun. January's theme was birds.  I was tasked with coming up with 4 bird-themed crafts to set up and have kids come around and make to take home.  I must have a pretty great job if I get to brows...

I know, I know, I'm falling behind.  Let me live. So it doesn't fit as snugly as I would normally make it, but I dance in this dress and wear a thick tutu under it, so I'm fine with it being a little loose. This post will probably be more of a picture dump than anything, but I'll try to make sense of it all.  I was originally planning to have to draft the pattern, but I wound up finding a Simplicity Pattern (S8330) that had the exact type of bodice I was looking for, so I used that.  I did draft the skirt, but really I just made a circle skirt and cut some tentacles out of it.  I didn't have enough fabric to do it properly, which is why some of them are really short or really thin. Original sketch for the dress.  Marine Biology fun fact of the day:  Squids have 8 arms and 2 tentacles. So my goal this week was just to install the zipper back on a costume that I made for a Halloween dance last fall. Long story short, I made this before I br...

Dried, sealed, and ready to go. I know, I know, I'm cutting it close for week 2, but I just barely made it. Still drying. So I was scrolling through Etsy one day looking for marine biology themed items to buy with a birthday gift card from my Aunt and Parrain, and out of nowhere the idea for a lemon shark painting popped into my head.  I ran back to my room, grabbed my sketchbook, and made a very quick sketch of what I was thinking of. The original sketch. I tried to make a cool timelapse video of me painting it, but my phone kept running out of space, so I only have painting the body and doing the shading, and once it finishes processing, I'll make sure to put it here. Once this dries, I will be sealing it and listing it on my Etsy, which can be found here . And now for the money bit. Ok, so the cost for this project was only one bottle of paint, but this is probably the last week that JoAnn's would physically have Christmas stuff in stor...

It's a good thing I already made something last week since I didn't think of starting this blog until week 2. One for the sewing bucket list. So my project for week 1 was assembling a corset that I first thought of about a year and a half ago.  I won't go into a lot of detail here since I did make a dedicated video on it. Long story short, I already had the fabric cut out, but an illness put this project on the backburner since June 2016.  I knew I wanted to go ahead and finish it, mostly to get that fabric out of my stash so I can start to slim that down. What I had: Fabric (Main, lining, and interfacing) Thread Plastic boning Eyelets Busk What I bought: Ribbon, originally $4, had a 50% off one item coupon, paid $2 Cord, originally $8, had a 40% off regular price coupon, paid $4.80 Total cost: $6.80 Week 1 Budget: $1.92 Week 1 Spent: $6.80 Week 1 Leftover: -$4.88 January Budget: $8.33 January Spent: $6.80 January Leftover: $1....

Hello, everyone! I am Sam, and I am a craft supplies hoarder.  I like to consider myself a very crafty person, and over the years, I have dabbled in soap making, candle making, polymer clay work, embroidery, jewelry making, knitting, calligraphy, sewing, painting, etching, and so much more.  I've done a lot of craft work for both personal projects, and also costume, prop, and set making for my dear college theatre group. A repertoire of that caliber results in a ridiculous amount of tools, supplies, and just stuff .  Lately, I've been sitting in this mindset that I have so much stuff sitting around that I should make an effort to use as much of it as I can before I embark on any new endeavors. So here I am, January 10, 2018 (One day before my 23rd birthday, mind you), and I look into my wallet to decide how much I'm going to #TreatYoSelf, and in it, I spot three $1 bills, and one good ol' Benjamin Franklin looking up at me, and the idea for this blog was born....