Happy New Year!

Christmas was fun and I must have been nice since I got some awesome presents! The cutest of them are a pair of earrings made from upcycled jeans …

I found them online, instantly liked them and pinned them to Pinterest. Little did I know Santa would check my pins! They’re made by Daring Miss Lassiter on Etsy, and the photo is hers. She has several other pairs for you to admire …

I love denim, and I love to make new things from old jeans. I even have a Pinterest board for denim! Check it out. There’s some very cool ideas!

This past week there hasn’t been much time for crafting, or even writing. Instead my creative mind has been busy planning and building castles and train tracks for my almost 2 year-old grandson Dexter. He loves knocking them down!

A lot of time this week has been spent studying the VAT mess in Europe. Starting January 1st all sellers of downloadable files – my for-sale-patterns – will have to by law collect a VAT from the buyers. This VAT depends on the country the buyer lives in and is different in each country. Then I have to pay that VAT to each country. This is a crazy new ruling, and nobody, not even the European authorities, really know how this will be done in a practical way. Especially Etsy is not yet giving any help – basically they don’t know what to do – and many sellers are talking about closing their shops until the issue is resolved. It’s a mess!!!

I haven’t decided yet what to do. I’ve even been contemplating offering my for-sale-patterns for free and asking for voluntary payments (donations) to help me finance my blog and the work I do to share ideas, patterns, and photo tutorials. I do like the idea of a “giving” economy!

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the new year, hoping I’ll have more time for crafting and traveling less. My most important New Year’s resolution is to give my old WIP:s a VIP (Very Important Project) treatment as soon as I, in February, return to my craft room where I have most of these WIP:s and materials.

This includes several of my dolls, teddies, and other stuffed creatures that I’ve been working on for quite some time. They’re all basically waiting for me to find that special missing piece, whether it be a certain fabric, button or even a specific design my mind haven’t figured out yet.

I’ve decided I’m being too demanding, too much of a perfectionist, and that I just have to finish them with what I have, and trust the universe that I will find the pieces now. Maybe the pieces I alreay have, at first sight seem wrong, but could actually be exactly what I’m looking for when put in place!

Is this idea also symbolic for everything else in the coming year?

So one thing I will do more of next year is to talk about my stuffed friends, as well as redo my page about the Snovej teddies. My blog started with them. That’s the reason I have a teddy bear as my logo.

This is my Daisy Bear. I got the material from my mom. It was a printed piece of linen meant to be an embroidered table runner, but it got misprinted. Way back when I started my blog and Facebook page, I posted a picture of the embroidery process. Since I got her all sewn up, she’s been waiting for a suitable material for her dress. I finally found it last fall. The material is an old, pink, linen dress. The material was perfect, but the pink was too bright. I decided to redye it. I tried tea, coffee, and finally avocado skins. The avocado gave it the right hue, almost the same as one of the embroidered flowers. You see the difference in the photo above. I’ll tell you more about Daisy Bear in February!

I’m also working on more crochet patterns, especially some freeform ideas! There will also be more tutorials about paper crafting, wire works, and working with natural materials as well as using old materials/trash. I’m doing a lot of research online, and therefore following trends. Next year seems to make the things I like very trendy, whether it be a color, a material, or design. I’m excited!

The Snovej Circle updates will continue. The past seven weeks have been a lot of fun. Thanks to my fellowship!

Happy New Year and Merry Awesome Crafting to you all!

~ Marina