Craptastic Inspiration

I’ve mentioned previously that I’m currently searching for crafting inspiration. Life is hectic right now. It’s spring and that means my mind is a jumble of home beautification and improvement projects. Also my son is in T-ball and that means weekly practices and games. So between work, kids, and the house I’m pretty much too pooped to come up with any fresh, steaming craft products for the shop.

Sure I could just whip out some re-digested version of something that’s been done before but I want something of quality. Something unique, something fantastic that will show the true fiber of my talent!

I’ve been struggling with this crafty constipation for months but I felt confident that inspiration was about to explode somewhere, perhaps just beneath my shoe or on my front lawn and then I found it!

Yes, that is an entire shelving unit covered in fake poop. I came across it while browsing my local flea market. The umm, items, are made with dyed concrete. Note the attention to detail and the varied shades, textures and consistencies that this artisan has captured.

It had a profound effect on me. You see, the moment I saw this display I realized that no matter what I came up with it was bound to be better than a shelf full of concrete feces. And well, if that’s not inspirational I don’t know what is.

(In case you were wondering: yes, this entire post was just an excuse to weave in as many feces related references as possible. I really had to strain to work in “constipation”. I mean how often do you come across such a display of concrete poop? Well okay once is really more often than necessary, but still I had to share.)

Happy Crapping - I mean Crafting everyone.

Trophy Pincushion

While I'm waiting for inspiration to strike for some new Etsy shop items, I've been making some small things for around the house. Things like a wallet for my son's allowance money and some little cloth diapers for my daughter's baby dolls.

I decided that it was time to make something useful for myself as well. I'd been needing a second pincushion for my craft area. I keep one by my sewing machine but often do my pinning on my work table and transporting it back and forth was just annoying. So I grabbed a vintage quilt block from my stash, a garage sale milk-glass piece and the trophy pincushion was born.

It's been named the "Trophy Pincushion" by my daughter who ceremoniously presents it to me everytime she sees it and says "Here's your trophy Momma!". I suppose it does look a bit like a trophy, though to me it's more reminiscent of an ice cream sundae.

I used the container because I wanted it to be large enough that I wouldn't misplace it, and I didn't want it to be rolling all over my workplace either.

If that milk glass looks vaguely familiar that's because it previously held some fantastic moss, but alas my greenery didn't make it through the winter. Now I've got to add moss to the list of things I can't keep alive. I'll put it right below ivy, cactus and the will to follow a low carb diet.