Sugar and Trash

I have always loved looking at people’s pretty handmade cards and wished I knew how to make my own. It has taken me a while to figure this out because for a long time the only ideas I could come up with were other people’s ideas. Then, I began spending a lot more time working on embroidery. DUH! That’s it! So I ran out to my local box-Mart store and picked up some cardstock paper. I already have my bone cutting tool. And here is what I came up with:

Embroidered bible quote

Embroidered baby girl card

Embroidered bible quote

Embroidered bible quote

Embroidered bible quote

I am still deciding whether I want to glue an additional piece of paper to cover the back of the embroidery or leave as is. I did make sure to do my best to have a clean back behind the stitching.

What do you think? I began with the biblical quotes because, well, God told me to. Not in plain English but by putting little ideas in my head after I pray for guidance. Anyway, I am really enjoying these and will make more. But I will also have other styles as well, I am thinking zodiac signs and quotes of other sorts. Any ideas that you think would be fun? I sure could use ‘em….

Oh, so its been a few days for sure since I have posted anything. I finally figured out how to look at my site stats and was a little tweaked for sure at what I had found. I have been getting over 200 views a day (I know, very small time compared to many out there but better than zero!). Yay, I am getting visits, I thought. But, wait. 99% came over from a Google search for Rainbow Dash. This was one post I had written to show a cute plushie I had sewed for my daughter’s friend. At first I was quite pleased at all the traffic. But then I realized that people are mostly only coming here for….My Little Pony? That’s no bueno.

I realized that I either need to become a “Bronie” (not happening) or regroup and figure out what I want this blog to be. I already know what I am doing wrong. I write and just hope that people will show up and read this. I have “followers”, after all! But I know what that really means. I also spend very little (no) time on about 90% of the blogs that I follow too. Chalk that up to blog hops where reciprocal follows are expected. Oh, and the “I follow back” on my sidebar. I am finding that gathering followers as if they’re cheap collectibles is not the right way to go. I cannot expect every follower to visit for every post. Especially if I am not also going out into blogland regularly. And that’s it right there. I spend very little time visiting other’s blogs. And that’s my fault for not finding the time during the day to go out and connect with other people.

Here is why I blog:

• I write because I am building a home business and I need to separate myself from the gazillions of other extremely talented Etsy sellers.
• I would like to eventually advertise and gain some income from blogging.

Here are some things I found out along the way:

• I enjoy the relationships that I have built along the way. As I have neglected my blog my acquaintances don’t visit as much. I actually thing of many of you more often than you would think. Even though this is my work, I have many friends that I have met at jobs throughout my life and I remain friends with them many years later.
• Blogging is hard!  I compare myself to others a lot and that leads to losing my own voice and style. I see what works for others and I think that it will work for me too. But it won’t. I often see blog designs that are identical to other designs. We can’t all be the same!
• I need to put myself out there more for sure! I definitely need to reconnect with old blog friends and make some new ones as well.
• Changing your blog name and platform is confusing to others. I lost more than a few people with that one. Which surprised me a bit because I have seen others do that successfully.
• I am too “all over the place”.  I have had trouble finding my niche.

So as I regroup and seek out my niche I am thinking of abandoning Sugar and Trash. I’m not sure yet. After all, it has gotten me 7,851 visits since I wrote it. Sorry for the strange ramble. But I really don’t expect that anyone will see this, lol!

I have been really into embroidery lately. I have a bunch of ideas on my Pinterest and of course, I keep adding more daily. This design I did doesn’t appear on my board but was taken from a book called Embroidered Effects by Jenny Hart. There are some adorable transfers in there and I have been using them
This one is True Love and I put it onto a denim tote bag. It took hours, hopefully soon I will be more practiced and quick on the stitching! The tote I made using denim from my stash and a thrifted cotton sheet.

I’ve been working on more embroidery, we’ll see what these turn into. What do you all think, do you like embroidery and other “older” crafts?

I was at the store picking up ingredients for dinner tonight and was slowly making my way to the soda aisle to pick up root beer for floats. As I was walking through the rice/pasta/international aisle I found the Jarritos mexican soda. Strawberry. How perfect, right?? Pink floats for Valentine’s Day dessert!

Strawberry Jarritos

Here is what I did:

First I made the ice cream. I used 2 cans of coconut milk, 2/3 cup sugar (you could probably use less sugar. I should have) and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Just blend everything well and pour into your ice cream maker and freeze. When we were ready for dessert I scooped some ice cream into a glass and topped it with the strawberry Jarritos. Voila! Strawberry floats! I rather expected the whole strawberry/coconut thing to taste a bit tropical but I didn’t think it tasted much different than any other coke float. Delicious though, we all enjoyed them thoroughly.

Here is my Valentine with his float.

Strawberry Float

Cute, right? We are so going to do this again…..

In my home, ponies are king! *Yay*
My 17 year old son is a diehard “bronie” and my 13 year old daughter is the girl version. I guess males and females are now known as “bronie”. You know, bro + pony. Anyway, even though I don’t get into My Little Pony, I have always been a horse crazy girl so a little pony project can still make me smile. I made a book / tote bag, double pocket, with an embroidered Fluttershy on the front. I bordered the picture with a pink blanket stitch as well as adding a blanket stitch to the top of the bag. Of course, in true Sugar and Trash style, this was made using thrifted cotton sheets. See? Ponies can be good for the environment.  Its a lot of pink but I think it turned out cute. Its big and the divided inside is big enough for a laptop plus other essentials.

Fluttershy

Fluttershy

Fluttershy

Fluttershy Tote Lining

This bag is for sale on Ebay. It was fun, I’m sure that I will make more like it. Different colors, different ponies. Probably some different themes altogether as well

Hmmm, can something be spring-y and winter-y at the same time? I made it so I cut the sleeves from a thrifted wool sweater, narrowed them (you know how when you cut the sleeves from a sweater, the shoulder end is so much wider??) to straighten and I used more cuff from the sweater to sew onto the raw edge. The neck works well for this, as would the bottom of the sweater. Its so easy, just machine stitch the raw edges together, wrong side out, then trim the edges as close as you can and that’s it! I hand embroidered some orange daisies and used a vintage wooden button in the middle of the flower. Simple, charming and winter-y and spring-y at the same time! Oh, and soft and warm on your legs. I love wearing these tucked into boots and scrunched at the top. Cozy on rainy, windy days such as the one we’re having today.

Daisy Legwarmers

Daisy Legwarmers

Daisy Legwarmers

Daisy Legwarmers

I left the stitching on the flowers just a bit loose so that they stretch properly when being worn.

I did a little experiment with embroidery and heat and bond.  It didn’t work quite as well as I’d hoped. In the future I will embroider right onto the pieces of the purse rather than trying to heat and bond an embroidered cloth onto it.  The  glue just looks funny. Bummer. I like the rest of the tote though. I used denim for the strap. I stitched together two pieces of denim without turning the edge in. The rough edges will fray just a bit. The outside of the tote is denim and it’s lined with a light teal sheet. All in all its pretty cute.

Embroidered bird tote

Embroidered bird tote

Embroidered bird tote

Embroidered bird tote

The birds look so perky and cute don’t they?

Hey everone. I am on day 4 of a nasty flu. Not the stuffy nose kind either. That’s really all the detail needed here. I learned a few things though:

• When you are feverish, choose a beautiful book to read. When I am feverish I always have very vivid dreams. On Saturday I began reading Under the Tuscan Sun. A very enjoyable book for sure and I read between catnaps all afternoon and let me tell you, I felt so warm and happy and peaceful all afternoon.
• Ten year old Pedialyte pops are still good.
• You don’t need to gulp all of your Gatorade down. I mixed mine ~ 2 parts water to 1 part Gatorade. My son had learned in his military physical training that one part Gatorade to 10 parts water is sufficient for re-hydration. But I wanted a little more taste and sugar, lol!
• If you soak in the hot tub with a fever (probably a bad idea anyway) the water won’t feel hot. Bummer!!
• Snuggly doggies and kitties still want to hang out with you <3

Blue Hawaiian purse

Blue Hawaiian purse

Blue Hawaiian purse

Blue Hawaiian purse

This one is so cute! It used to be a women’s button up shirt and on the back had some lettering and design, the lettering saying “Love is when you’re at a loss for words”. I have held on to this for a while now, trying to figure out what to do with it. Yesterday I made a little denim handbag and ~Bingo!~this piece of love was the right size. I used heat ‘n bond to iron on the piece of shirt and, thinking she looked a bit plain, hand sewed on some red ric rac. Now its just cute as can be!

Valentine's purse

Valentine's purse

Valentine's purse

Valentine's purse

Valentine's purse

The funny part is I didn’t even realize how Valentine-y this little purse is until I was finished with it!

Are they mad at all of us who switched from Blogger to WordPress or elsewhere? I successfully transferred my GFC from Crafty Geordi to Sugar and Trash and it has worked for a while. Until recently. Now it says its not configured correctly. I know that this is happening to others…..

I know that my posts are still showing up in followers Google readers, which is why I am even bothering to write this post. I’ve added a new follower gadget and I hope that you will follow along with Sugar and Trash. While you’re at it, wouldn’t you also like to follow along on Facebook or Twitter? I would love it if you did