Getting my Crafting Mojo Back

Recently I've been off after having surgery to get my gallbladder removed (NOT FUN) but have finally been starting to feel better generally and able to get up to some crafting. I hadn't realized how ill and stressed I've been this year with all the gallbladder issues until I thought about when the last time I'd done some crafting was! It had been a long time! I ended up playing around with some paints and some scrapbooking stickers I had and made this canvas. I also sealed it with Mod Podge to keep the letters on with somewhat bumpy results. :( However, good enough, and  I may actually take this to work and put it on my desk for those no good very bad days. I also did a huge overhaul of my craft room and got rid of so many things. I'm almost at the point where I can find everything that I need to do many types of projects and actually reach my sewing machine, so things are feeling a lot more creatively possible around here lately.

Myer's Briggs Personality Types

Have you ever taken a Myer's Brigg's personality test? This test was originally developed to measure psychological preferences and come to some conclusions about how people see the world, and was based on some of the archetypes outlined by Carl Jung. There are a lot of free versions available on-line that are easy and fun - it's fun to take the test with a friend and discuss some of the differences between your personality types.

Actually, this was something Zen and I did when we first met (over four years ago now, wow!) and it was a good way to get to know a bit more about each other's personality traits, and to see where we could relate well to each other (or in many cases, not )  Of course it's all in fun, but we found that our results were eerily accurate. I'm an INFJ and Zen was a INTJ. This site gives  detailed descriptions of all the different Myers-Briggs personality types and some of their common characteristics and traits and is a fun read.

As an INFJ, the traits that stuck out for me in the list that I feel are pretty spot on are:

Tendency to be a creative type - I think the previous craftiness displayed on the blog confirms this one, and I have always thought my creative side was an important part of my self, be it writing, drawing, knitting, sewing or any other kind of creative avenues I've pursued over the years.

Often make decisions by intuition, and can't always articulate the reasoning behind it  - this drives Zen crazy, he is all about the rational, reasoned decisions and doesn't like the answer "just because" very much. I often have made final decisions on things by feeling or intuition when I just can't decide things by rational means.

Internalizing of stress and getting health issues when sick --check and check....I totally have a tendency to get sick when stressed, or for my repetitive strain in my wrists and hands to flare up when I'm stressed.

Sensitive to conflict and cannot deal with it well - I'm not proud of this but this is often my reality. Getting into conflicts with loved ones, even about little things is very stressful for me, and my tendency is pretty much to cry, especially when tired.

There is always something else they should be doing to improve themselves or the world around them - I am absolutely always looking for the next thing to improve myself or the world. Lately I find myself looking for the next degree I could take to make my skills in social work and engagement better, as well as the next volunteer position that could help me improve. I have to remind myself that I still haven't finished my Social Work degree yet and that I need to focus on that right now.

So what do you think of these types of quizzes? Do you think there is some truth in the Myers Briggs tests or are they all in fun? I'd love to hear what results you got and what traits you feel were accurate in the comments! Or, if you have done your own post on Myers Briggs tests or any other similar kinds of quizzes, leave me the link.

♥ Craftzilla

Blog Design Updated

In case you hadn't noticed, I made a few changes to the design of the blog, and I'm much happier with how everything looks! (If you're in a reader, you can check out the whole thing here)

I will likely do something fancier with the header at some point, but I wanted something simple for now until I have time to do that. I also spiffed up the side links, changed the font of the posts, headings and page links, and put up a new profile photo that I think is pretty darn fancy.

I even learnt a few new skills, of how to change the fonts in html and other fancy things like that. Overall, I'm feeling pretty darn accomplished!

Future plans:

• Go through labels--there's a lot of extraneous ones
• New Blog buttons
• Redo pretty much all the pages
• Add images to go to specific sets of posts, i.e. features or DIYs.
• Perhaps change up how sponsor ads are displayed
• Changes to Sponsor page --likely an embedded form

Phew! That's a lot of work just thinking about it! Since this is still a work in progress, please let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions for me. I'd appreciate it! 

♥ Craftzilla 

Things I Made and Saw: A Few Snippets

I totally didn't get arond to doing this post on Sunday since I'm still finishing up craziness for school. Thought I'd take a little break today and share a few fun things.

I made some fun fabric labels on Spoonflower last week - I hope that they print up nicely!





This fabric was on my hall table for a long time -thinking to maybe make something fancy out of it soon!





We went to a bake sale last weekend and got this box of goodies. Pretty tasty looking, right?





Zen had to sanitize his hands and wear gloves...the old ladies apparently followed him around and glared at him. I told him they were probably a bit scared of him, since he's like 6"3 and was the only man here. Apparently that kind of thing had not occurred to him? I can see how I might be wary if I was an old lady working a bake sale with money around in a downtown that's sometimes pretty sketchy.





Some fun and strange thrifted finds of late:













♥ Craftzilla

Day 28: Paint with your fingers -Turkey Art

I'm swamped and in the middle of the crazy time of school and work, but I thought that I'd take a few minutes to pop by the blog and do a little creativity exercise at the same time.

I had done a previous finger painting piece as a part of this challenge, so I thought I'd share my favourite example of myself painting with my fingers that I have from when I was a kid. I noticed a similar craft up on Schnitzel and Boo's blog the other week and promised her I'd post mine when I had a chance..and since it's past Thanksgiving for Canada and the US, I think I better do so today! So without further ado,  here's a lovely Thanksgiving hand turkey that I made when I was five years old.



Pretty cute, right?

My hand is enormous in comparison to my five year old hand --how time passes!

Do any of you have any fun art that you made as a kid?

♥ Craftzilla

Ten Commandments for Positive Thinking

I just found this list of "Ten Commandments for Positive Thinking" amongst Zen's papers for college, and thought it was pretty interesting, so I copied out the list and fancied it up a little.



I know I'm guilty of at least a few of these things, and I also know I'd like to train my brain to think a little more positively. I often find myself giving up on things or ideas  in my head, just because I know I lack the time at the moment, rather than just doing what work I can on an awesome idea when I have a bit of free time.

Do any of these ten commandments really speak to you?

♥ Craftzilla

Halloween Costumes from Way Back : Liz Lemon Avoiding Jury Duty

It's been a few years since I actually dressed up for Halloween, and I was thinking back to costumes that I've done in the past. Most hilarious one (where I actually made pretty much all of it?)--has got to be the time I went out to see the shadowcast screening of Rocky Horror Picture show at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto with some lovely friends!

My costume: Liz Lemon avoiding jury duty (aka Princess Leia) (please watch this and this and watch more 30 Rock immediately if you don't get the reference)

My friend Spock (aka Brent)  and I

This was a sort of last minute, DIY costume that actually turned out really well!

Things I bought:

Princess Leia wig -I even happened to find the official Star Wars version (if I'd had enough time, I would have knit one like this one! )
Water pistol

Things I made:

1) Princess Leia dress
Custom design, made from some white fabric I had lying around I think the fabric was actually my curtains at one point!

2) Belt for the dress
I made the belt from a strip of fabric, with tin foil wrapped squares of cardboard glued on to it.

3) Nametag that said "Hello my name is Liz Lemon"
I cut out a rectangle of foam core, glued a pin back on the back and just wrote the text on with a permanent marker.

4) Sign that said "I don't think it's fair for me to be on a jury because I can read  thoughts"
I also used a large rectangle of foam core and a marker to make the sign

Here's the beginning of Rocky Horror! So Exciting! I'm sad to hear they won't be playing it at the Bloor Cinema this year, since they're renovating.


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Spock looks a bit confused as to what's happening here --or it's been 7 years and he's distracted by something over to the left, who can tell?

We were also accompanied by the fabulous Lady Gaga!

Lady Gaga (aka Kim)

We even got the chance to meet the fabulous Kanye West! Best night ever :)



What's your favourite Halloween costume that you've made or dressed up as?

♥ Craftzilla

Crafty Show and Tell: Finished and Unfinished Projects

I thought  I'd share some of my finished and on the go projects of late on this first day of a looooong week, since I ran out of room in my post yesterday!

Here's a finished work (though made by Zen not by me, since I'm the master of starting to cook things and then somehow getting him to cook them for me) --pastrami, onions, cheese and gravy sandwich --so tasty!



This is supposed to say "Home Sweet Home" but not sure if it's clear enough...and I might add a heart to the left hand side to cover up what's supposed to be a flower.



Case for Circular needles! Hopefully I'll get some more pics with needles in it soon





I found some fun Christmas ornaments I'd cross stitched ages ago and decided to start finishing them





I made some pins, which refused to allow themselves to be photographed clearly..will try again another day. I think they might need something else too that I haven't figured out yet.



I'm also working on a cute fleece backed baby blanket... though finished a few others with the same front (just no fleece backing)




♥ Craftzilla

Happy October! Free Autumn Desktop Background

I was feeling really inspired by the coming of autumn the other day as well as wanting to spruce up my desktop background, so I thought I'd make up a quick desktop background out of one of my recent photos. I'm a sucker for backgrounds with quotes, and I thought this one was fitting! The quote is "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower" from Albert Camus.

[1280 by 960] [1024 by 768]

Click the link above to go the correct background size. Save the image to your computer and set as your desktop background. Then enjoy!

♥ Craftzilla

Day 25: Photograph your favorite feature.

Here's my favourite feature--my eyes! Aren't you glad for this extreme close up? Better not look too close or the laser beams might getcha.

When I was in highschool or university (the first time around) I used to eye makeup the heck out of these babies, but now, I really can't be bothered most of the time. However, I'm thinking I should really have fancy eyes once in awhile, so found a few different looks that I enjoy, including some tested and true ones.

This one is fun and sparkly! However, liquid liner is a giant pain and I usually just end up looking like I was trying to put a winsome spot over one eye for a dog costume or something.

Source: weheartit.com via Meredith on Pinterest

I really enjoy the many colours look,but not sure if I could pull this one off.

Source: polyvore.com via Gillian on Pinterest

I had some blue sparkly eyeliner like this when I was first in university and thought I was so awesome:

Source: lisaeldridge.com via Gillian on Pinterest

I used to do a look like this once I started working--people would always ask me if I got new glasses whenever I put makeup on which I always found sort of a weird reaction to it. Similar to how my hair apparently always looks great when I remember to brush it. (You can tell how I'm a high maintenance person, right?)

Source: keikolynn.com via Gillian on Pinterest

 I have also done the Amy Winehouse eyes, but only to dress up as a last minute Amy Winehouse for Halloween one year. I met another Amy Winehouse while out on Church Street in Toronto who "loved my hair." It was a fun year, wandering around with my friends Britney Spears and Borat on the beach (complete with homemade man-kini)

Source: hedislimane.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Hope you enjoyed my trip down eye makeup memory lane:)

♥ Craftzilla

Day 24: Write a simple Haiku. (5-7-5)

I decided to do this day of  my 30 Day Challenge since it was already haiku-related,  in the style of the lovely Katie of Hazel and Mare. So without further ado,  here's a lovely haiku for you, (Rhyming in the last sentence was mostly unintentional)

"On the cute pets I'd have if wild animals made good pets and I had any more room in my apartment"

Sweet pup rest your eyes
as we watch your dreams unfold
on your bed of moss

This image is a print available here from this cute shop, Lulu froot. Check out her fun shop for other quirky and adorable prints!

♥ Craftzilla

Day 23: What is your "Creative Bucket List"? List 12 creative things you want to learn more about.

I have a lot of crafty things I want to learn more about, so here's the perfect chance for me to write up my list! Despite the fact that I already do a TON of kinds of crafts already, and learning more might be a bit excessive, I likely will have to try at least a few of these.


1. Screenprinting

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I'd like to try this with a real screen and such, or even just with a freezer paper stencil. It is on my 30 before 30 list to take a class, I just lack the funds at the moment ..hopefully soon! And I'll try to get working on at least a freezer paper stencil soon, given that I have an awesome idea for an apron that just MUST get made!

2. Encaustic

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I met someone through an Etsy meetup who did this, and it seems so interesting! You can see a few peeks of April's work here

3. Linocut

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I'd love to make a fun custom stamp using a linocut. I worry that my drawing skills are not that great for this purpose though.

4. Stained Glass

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I love how you can use a lot of fun colours and patterns in stained glass

5. Weaving

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Love how weaving looks, but seems a bit of an undertaking to have a full size loom in my house (especially when my current house is a shared one bedroom apartment)
6. Spinning

I almost don't want to try this ever, for fear that I'll like it and become fibre poor. Although there would only be certain fibres that I could actually try spinning, due to evil allergies.

7. Embroidery

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Tecnically I can do this, I just don't think I've ever done an entire project of any size in pure embroidery. So there's a goal--to do a small embroidery project and give it a whirl!

8. Glass Blowing

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Maybe a bit working about burning off my face or an essential limb doing this, but it's still pretty cool.

9. Resin Casting

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I'd love to try resin casting some fun necklaces or rings. Technically another craft I have actually purchased all the things to do, and haven't done for some reason.

10. Etching

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I literally have all the things at home to do this, and have even taped off one or two things to etch.

11. Pottery

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 Learning how to throw a pot would be pretty cool.

 12.Woodworking

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I have used a circular saw before, but I may have screamed a bit the whole time. I'd like to make more things out of wood where I felt comfortable holding the tools and less like I was going to cut off a limb!

Are any of these crafts on your crafty to do list?

I'd also love to hear if any of you have tried a new craft lately and how it turned out!

♥ Craftzilla

Day 22: Find and photograph one object in your home and create something inspired by it.

For today's post, the object that I took a picture of is my typewriter! I got this pretty Smith-Corona on Freecycle, and while it needs some work done to it (cleaning, new ribbon etc) that I haven't had time to do yet, I love it so!



Given that I've been meaning to give this tutorial for making fabric labels from the Make Something blog a try for ages, I figured this was a good opportunity to get myself moving on this project.
So I got the boy to let me use his working typewriter (also pretty fancy--just realized they are both Smith Coronas haha) and gave it a go!



Instead of fabric, I ended up using a piece of stiff, sew in interfacing, which actually was a great surface for typing on, and ended up looking a bit like a twill/canvas  sew on label I think, with less unravelling:



I think that once there's a working printer at the house, I might give printing directly onto the interfacing a go, since it would be a cheap and easy way to make sew on labels. I'll be sure to share pictures once I try this!


♥ Craftzilla

Day 21: Listen to a favorite song or artist and create something inspired by that music.

A few nights ago, I found myself listening to one of my favourite Craig Cardiff songs, When People Go. I love the song, as well as how the video is shot and set up. Check it out:

I was inspired largely by one of the first few frames of this video to create this edited photo of my dog Jesse. Isn't he fancy?

The concept behind the edit has a bit of a story to it as well that makes it even awesomer (I know, hardly possible, right?) We were at a games night at a local pub and we were playing the game In My Opinion, which is a game where one person gets a question such as "My favourite band is _____" or "The thing I want most in the world is________". The other people playing voice their own answers to the questions, and then vote on which one the person would agree with most. I got a question that was something like the thing I want most in the world one, and someone's answer (Amy's in fact) was "Eternal Jesse". Everyone threw their votes on that one immediately, knowing how special this pooch is to me!

This is what I think an Eternal Jesse would look like, don't you?

♥ Craftzilla