Craft Masochist

I've recently come to accept that I'm a Craft Masochist. Every prick of the sewing needle, every searing burn of the glue-gun, every cut by the scissors just sends me to painful yet exhilarating new crafting heights. Most normal nights, I'm ready for bed before the mystery is solved on the NCIS reruns, but if I'm sewing or crafting, I can easily stay up past 2am, and even when I reluctantly crawl into bed, patterns and designs blythly dance through my head.

Which is pretty weird, as I'm actually quite terrified of pain (and extremely fond of sleep). When I was 8 years old, my mother decided that I was finally old enough to get my ears pierced. Excitedly, we browsed through the case of gold earrings, my mother promptly rejecting most of my selections as being too gaudy. Finally agreeing upon a simple pair of gold studs, I climbed onto the stool, and smugly looking down at all the other little girls who's ears weren't pierced and wouldn't be peirced that day.

I remember the piercing gun touching my ear, and the lady that was doing the peircing telling me that all I would feel would be a quick little *pinch*.

The next thing I remember was being shaken awake by the staff. It seems that the pain of the peircing had caused me to faint. And my ever loving mother, telling the staff to wait until I woke up before doing the other ear - so I would "really appreciate" the experience. Heh. My mom, she's hilarious.

Somewhere along the way, I've come to associate the pain caused in the pursuit of art with something like a badge of honor.  A sacrifice to the Goddesses of Creativity.  Or maybe, I'm just so wrapped up in what I'm doing that I don't notice the hurt quite so much?

Whatever the case, it's clear that I'm a Craft Masochist living in my little Sweatshop.  I wish I could sew all the time, but it's probably healthier that I can't.  Heh.

How about you? Are you a Craft Masochist too (and should we start our own self-help group...with a crafting corner, of course!)...?

The Garden of Awesome

Sometimes, it's incredibly annoying to have a BFF who is gorgeous, stylish, and a pin-up/comic book artist of note.

But then sometimes, it's the MOST AMAZING THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD.

Take for example, my poker flowers. I was so excited when I came up with the idea. I was more excited when I was able to get these flowers to look the way I saw them in my head. My excited little heart was on the verge of bursting when I texted pictures of my flowers to my BFF.

As a good BFF, she properly "ooh'd" and "ahh'd" over them with just the right amount of enthusiasm and awe. I sent her directions and my template on how to make these flowers for herself...

...when she PROMPTLY BLEW MY MIND AWAY by coming up with new mediums for me to use! I didn't think past the poker cards (sometimes I have the most awful tunnel vision), and I couldn't wrap my mind around changing my process which took forever to figure out, but after a flurry of text messages (thank you $5 unlimited text messaging, you made no money on us that day) that lasted nearly 3 hours...BAM! I present to you my garden of *AWESOME*!

The Garden of Awesome - brought to you by the letters: B, F and F.

And that's not all! Now that I've mastered how to make roses, I'm now toying with other designs and flowers! Not all of them are turning out *quite* the way I see them in my mind, but that's part of the "fun" (and angst) of the creative process...right?

Comic Book Daisy - for superheros who loves me...loves me not...loves me...loves me not...loves me!

Extra Lucky Lotus Flower made with Chinese Hong Baos!

A Comic Book Zinna - kryptonite sold seperately!

For more awesomeness, head to my Etsy Shop!