My To-Craft List

The dreaded To-Craft List.... From reading other blog sites, I'm comforted to know I'm not alone in my never ending quest to DIY what ever I can get my hands on.

My To-Craft list is long and all over the craft board. Sewing? Check. Scrapbooking? Check. Knitting? Uh-huh. Needlepoint/embroidery? That's affirmative. Card making? Definitely. You get the picture. 

In my recent move to Phoenix, AZ (you can read more about that here), I came across a treasure trove of crafts I did not forget I had to complete; more like I didn't make the time, it's more complicated than I envisioned, et cetera. 

Below you'll find my agenda, which is in no particular order.

Sewing patterns

My sewing machine and thread

Close up view

I've never sewn anything outside of home-ec in middle school (!!!), but I enjoyed it and it is a useful skill. A Christmas or two ago my mom and aunt bought me this machine and kit of all different colors of thread and a few other sewing essentials. Along with a gift card to JoAnn's, which his how I acquired the above patterns.... That have yet to be even opened. 

Scrubs are fairly simple (a few of the girls I worked with made their own and I wouldn't have known unless they told me). And I thought the shirt was kinda cute. Aaaaaand the packaging states "it's so easy". They saw me coming a mile away....

Hand-me-down kit

The needle crafts above were given to me by my mother. She bought them with the intent of completing it, but never did (obviously). So now I know who to blame for my problem! I kid, I kid.
While the patterns are very pretty, my will to complete the task is diminished by the dated images. I only know two people who would display the craft once I complete it: My mother and my grandmother. My mom simply because I did it. My Grams because she is almost completely blind, but would tell me it looks beautiful anyway.

Felt Christmas ornaments

Ahhhh, who doesn't adore a good Christmas craft? My Christmas trees and decorations growing up never had a theme necessarily. Certainly nothing as extravagant as you see in department stores. Which has always been perfectly fine by me. Department stores - in fact - stores in general commercialize "The Holidays" instead of conveying what this time of year is about. Which, to me, is about celebrating family and friends. NOT, I repeat, NOT about costly presents (new car anyone??) and the fad gift of the year (tickle-me-Elmo, perhaps?). But, I digress. This is not the forum for such rants.
Our Christmas decorations usually always had a story behind them about how they were acquired or what significance they held. Our trees always looked like a smörgåsbord of color and character. Which is what made me purchase the above items. I am proud to say I've made one so far. Yes, uno. These ornaments fall under the "I didn't realize this would be so complicated" category. 

Half completed Latch Hook

My mother is absolutely smitten with lighthouses. Always has been; and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's the history they posses. Maybe she's comforted by the light that bring ships home safely. Maybe it's not that deep and she just thinks they're cool. 

I found a ceramic lighthouse kit once that came with the paint and paint brush, all you had to do was paint it and my mother loved it. So when I saw this, I thought it'd be a quick and simple project. While it is (supposed to be) quick, and it is simple, it still has yet to be completed.

Although, I do deserve a little credit since it's thisclose to being done now! No points unit it's marked off the list though!

Glue and glass stones

Team images

Completed!

I saw in a craft magazine how easy it is to make and personalize your own magnets. I thought the idea was great, easy, and fun. So when I bought all the supplies I needed, I was ecstatic to find out that this was as fun as I thought it would be! I bought a few Duck and Beaver templates (since they are not the official logo's, I don't have to worry about copyright infringement) and put them together (I plan on posting a tutorial in the near future). I completed this venture! And, since it was so easy, I decided to make more with different images.... that has yet to be finished.Side note: I apologize for a quality of the last two photos. No matter how hard Mr. Jobs (RIP) has worked on the IPhone, pics still appear blurry on occasion.

Bottle cap craft

The bottle caps are also intended to be made in to magnets (not sure why I was on a magnet kick). I had also seen this in a magazine and enjoyed the idea. The bottle caps are easy to come by (my husband and his friends indulge on occasion), so free. Also, I already had the Mod Podge (kick-ass stuff) and magnets. I saw the mermaid template on sale for dirt cheap - which equals BUY. I made one (again, reveling in how simple they were), but making ONE does not mean DONE.

I sure did

A few years back, my best friends sister (really, she's like my own sister I've known and loved her for so long) invited us to a knitting party. I'd never done it before and wasn't necessarily interested in learning (I'm not 80 years-old). But I went anyway because that's what "family" does! We had lots of fun and learning was easier than I thought. My casting on and off could use some work, but I can knit and pearl with the best of 'em. I can make you a scarf in any color you want. Pot holders and matching trivets, anyone? That's pretty much the extent of my skills.
Knitting can be virtually any where at any time. Which makes it perfect to quickly complete a project. My only issue with knitting is I have severe tendinitis in both wrists. So, after a day filled with typing, and the twisting, pulling, and maneuvering involved in patient care, I'm usually in a lot of pain at the end of the day. The last thing I want to do, or need to do, is aggravate the condition further by knitting.
Thankfully, knitting is like riding a bike. After putting the sticks down for a while, I can pick it back up in no time.

Tissue paper

I saw on a craft blog a while ago how to make tissue paper flowers. Of course, the professionals made the flowers look almost life-like. How hard could it be? I love the look of real flowers, but we have a cat. I'm always worried she's going to eat them a get sick. Or, she'll knock them over and break the vase - then I'm worried she'll cut herself on the glass while we're away at work (Yes, I'm that pet owner). So, the simplest answer is tissue paper flowers. Which have yet to be done. 

Collection of wedding related scrapbooking items

Once my husband and I got engaged, I had collected carious wedding related items to use to make a scrapbook of the eventual wedding. If something was too beautiful to pass up and was priced right, I'd buy it and store it. It worked out well when many of our friends were having weddings of their own and I could use various pieces.
We were married July 4th, 2011. As you can see, I haven't started it yet. BUT, this isn't entirely my fault! I still haven't gotten our photo's from our photographer (trust me, I'm bugging him). I manged to snap a few great pics with my camera so I've started a mini book (bottom right you can see the cover).

Generic scrapbook and kit

When my parent's were married, they did a lot of camping and 4-wheeling. My father was in a 4-wheel drive club, so many weekends (regardless of the season) was spent out with friends snapping pictures. My mother isn't really the scrapbooking type (and my father certainly isn't either), so they have photos that just piled up in a drawer or shoe box. At some point, my mother found the box of photos and gave to me to give to my dad. But, I had a much better idea. I wanted to take the good pics and make a scrapbook for him. At one of Craft Warehouses' sidewalk sales, I found the green and brown album with the accompanying embellishments for $5. That's a great deal; especially since it's not overly girly, perfect for a dad.

This is just unfortunately another project that has been halfway started, but not finished. 

I still have many more projects to start and finish that I did not list here. I think the above are enough examples. It's a little like admitting to being a hoarder: I feel like the A&E camera crew just showed up and I have a strong urge to purge myself of some belongings. Or AA: Hi, I'm Jessica and I'm a CraftAholic.

I almost abandoned this blog because I just never made the time to work on it. Same goes with the above projects. But, I did some thinking and realized it's not that I don't have the time, I don't make the time. I did a little research and found that many craft bloggers have multiple do-to projects and a few projects they're in the middle of. They have journals to hold ideas, multiple drafts to publish, and so on. I would also start a project - specifically with the intent to blog it - and I would forget to take pictures! 

So, there you have it. This is my large To-Do list! Are there any projects you want to start and finish, but cannot seem to make the time? Do share and help a sistah feel better!