Introducing Blackheart Knits & Crafts!

It’s always awkward to start out a blog post when you haven’t done one in awhile.. you aren’t sure how to be! Like when you’re in the midst of a breakup and you tiptoe around each other in the house like everything’s made of glass.. like that. In any case, I’ve been busy. Busy doing what, you ask?

Launching a legitimate handmade business!

Something that I touch on here and there in my posts is how I enjoy knitting and doing crafts, just enjoy creating in general. For years, I’ve been knitting for charity and for friends, and even selling a piece here and there. I created an Etsy shop a few years ago, but haven’t ever made a sale since Etsy is so oversaturated at this point it isn’t even funny. That wasn’t doing how I thought it would, so I opted for the next best thing – doing craft shows! 

Several years ago, I came up with the moniker Blackheart Knits & Crafts as kind of a whim. It’s something that I thought of that never really went away and it has definitely stuck!

The last month has been nothing but stress, hemorrhaging money, and attempting to create the greatest booth I possibly could. I bought plain kraft paper bags and hand-stamped each letter on them, bought and painted fixtures, bought tablecloths, created business cards – the whole shebang. It all came full circle for me when I applied for a Wisconsin seller’s permit! We are officially ready to roll!

Of course, my first show (which was this past Sunday) didn’t go how I would have planned. Organizers poorly promoted the show, which led to maybe 25 people in the door all day, and it was not the handmade show it was purported to be. There were maybe three handmade crafts booths, otherwise the entire show was saturated with home businesses like Pure Romance, Pampered Chef, and the like. Through no fault of my own, my first show really was not a success.

Since there are two sides to every coin, I decided to take my motivation and direct it forward, instead of stewing and being upset about a show that didn’t go how it should have. So, since Sunday, I have been a busy bee! I have booked about ten more shows from now until Thanksgiving weekend, and if anything, I’m just hungry to be successful and continue to grow the little handmade business that homes itself in my second bedroom when it isn’t packed up and ready to go.

I will continue to maintain an Etsy shop, which you can find here, and if you’re in the Midwest area and want to check out one of my local shows, or even if you just want to ‘Like’ what I’m doing, Blackheart Knits & Crafts is now on Facebook. Even if you aren’t in the area, I always take custom orders and you know.. Christmas is just a stone’s throw away!

Seriously, though – thank you guys for your patience and I will be happy to continue sharing news and goings-on in my little life with a bit more frequency from now going forward.

How To Tuesday: Fabric Canvas Wall Art!

Since things have been changing rapidly around my house these days, I decided that the previously undecorated bedroom needed a little something (especially since it's just mine). I wanted something simple that wasn't too time consuming, and that anyone could do! I think I found a great solution (at least for one of the walls in the room).

You will need:

• 1 yard of fabric
• canvas (mine was 22x28, but you can use any size)
• glue (I used E-6000, but you could use hot glue)

Now that your supplies are collected, let's get started!

1. Take your fabric and put it over the canvas (or canvases) you plan to use. This will help to get the design straight so that it looks the way you want it to. Also, if you feel like it, iron the fabric first. 
2. Starting on the top side, glue down your fabric. First, glue down the top and the bottom, then move onto the sides. 
3. When gluing the sides, be sure to pull the fabric taut so you don't wind up with ripples and lines (especially when you haven't ironed your fabric).
4. Cut off excess fabric from sides if necessary. 
5. Fold over corners so you have a nice, finished look. 
6. Hang and enjoy!

This is an incredibly simple, cheap project. If you need to spice up a room in your home, I would definitely suggest trying this out. Canvases are always on sale at local craft shops, and a yard of fabric (especially with a coupon) is super cheap! I personally would have used hot glue for this if doing it again, but I've never used E-6000, so wanted to give it a try.

Post your opinions in the comments - and if you try it, I'd love to see a photo!

How-to Tuesday: Keurig K-Cup Storage!

If you checked out my earlier post today, you know just how much I love our new Keurig Elite B40 single-cup coffee maker. In my excitement to try all kinds of different flavors, I rushed out and bought a huge variety pack, as well as a couple of other packs. This led to Mount K-Cup on my kitchen counter:

When I priced out the different drawers and carousels that Keurig makes, I was a little surprised that anybody in the world would pay that damn much for a metal drawer or metal carousel. I knew that there was a way to make something that would serve the same purpose for about half the price, so I set out to do just that!

You will need:

• A three-drawer storage box of some variety (I got mine for around $12 at Target)
• Scrapbook paper
• Self-adhesive letters
• Scotch tape

I'm sure you can predict what's about to happen here. Just in case you can't, here goes!

1. Slide your scrapbook paper into the front of one of your drawers, and mark off the height of the drawers on the paper - this will be important.
2. Fold the paper lengthwise three times, just in case you make a mistake and need extra (I know I accidentally bought 8.5x11 sized paper!)
3. If there are indents in the fronts of your drawers, mark those as simply as possible.
4. Grab your self-adhesive letters and write out what you'd like your drawers to say! (Mine say 'coffee', 'tea', and 'etc.', but use any words you'd like.)
5. Fit the drawer front into the drawer and Scotch tape into place (I tried other ways of doing this, and none worked better. 
6. Repeat for the number of drawers in your container!

There you have it! A very simple project, that allows you to store quite a few cups, that's cute and will go with any kitchen decor! You could even update the colors with the seasons, if you wanted! So, before you run out and spend $25-35 on a Keurig K-Cup storage solution, think of the good you could do at home with just a few simple supplies!

A thrifting adventure!

Last week, I went on a little thrifting adventure after work, and wanted to share! Milwaukee is a wealth of little shops here and there, some quality, some not so much. Then, you have the big-box thrift stores like Goodwill, where sometimes you’ll score on clothes, but not much else. When I thrift, I am usually looking for something to add to my religious art collection, craft supplies like embroidery hoops, or keeping an open mind (and open eyes!) for other fun, unexpected finds. I wanted to write this post and share a couple of my favorite thrift shops with you guys – as well as last week’s buys!

Likely my favorite shop in Milwaukee (at least the one I go to the most), is located in Hales Corners, a suburb, but is just a short drive down Highway 100. It is a Bethesda Thrift Shop, and there are twelve in Wisconsin, but this is the only one in the Milwaukee area. I love it for a couple of simple reasons: I always find something great, the items are always priced well, and the store is absolutely immaculate! There is nothing better than that when you’re out thrifting. I found a couple of great wall hangings featuring handpainted style kitties! So kitschy, but I couldn’t turn them down. I also found an old spice rack that I plan to repurpose for an upcoming How-To Tuesday!

A second favorite is also located on Highway 100! While it doesn’t donate to a particular cause and is for all intensive purposes a for-profit thrift shop, there’s something a little bit different about it…

There are Barbie dolls everywhere! On the walls, lining shelves, everywhere. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, they’re just there. 

I don’t typically have great luck here, but still like going in to poke around all the same. On last week’s trip, I found this adorable Enesco cookie jar with squirrels on it from the 1970’s! It was in great shape – best part about the buy was I couldn’t find the price (they typically write on the items with a grease pencil), so the store’s manager priced it at $6.50, and we eventually found the price, and it was initially marked $10! Such a cute, great find. 

If you are in the Milwaukee area and looking to check out a couple of different thrift shops, these are definitely a couple to look for!

Have you gone thrifting lately? What have you found?

How-to Tuesday: Concert Ticket Wall Art!

It is absolutely no secret that one of my favorite things to craft with is Mod Podge. It's so simple and quick to make pretty much anything awesome out of this awesome brush glue. As a kid, I started saving my movie tickets. That led to saving my concert tickets. Fast forward to a little earlier this year: I was sick of taping my concert tickets to every refrigerator I've ever had, so I wanted to do something else with them. I remembered that I had a canvas and some Mod Podge and voila!

You will need:

• A pile of old tickets (it doesn't need to be concert tickets)
• Mod Podge, either Matte or Gloss original, and the purple-labeled Hard Coat
• An old brush or sponge applicator
• Canvas to fit as many tickets as you have

It's all pretty simple! Here's your steps!

1. Grab your tickets, canvas, brush (or sponge) and Mod Podge. 
2. Organize your tickets however you deem fit on your canvas (I did one large rectangle, then a smaller one, and a smaller one yet, etc.)
3. Use your original Mod Podge (with either the yellow or orange label) and lay down some glue on both the canvas and the ticket. I would do one rectangle at a time. 
4. Once your entire canvas is covered, I'd do a layer of the Hard Coat just to make sure none of the edges come unglued.
5. Hang up and enjoy!

One tip I will give you on this is not to use a hair dryer to try and get the glue to dry faster. I did it (as you can tell from the random black splotch), and it changed the color of the heat-sensitive paper. 

And there you have it! Another fun way to use Mod Podge. Let me know what you did with yours in the comments, check back next week for another How-To Tuesday, and don't forget to follow if you're enjoying what you're reading!

How-to Tuesday: Decoupaging Furniture!

As a pastime, and as far back as I can really remember, I've been using Mod Podge to craft all sorts of things! Little storage boxes, formed rabbits, all kinds of stuff. It was tissue paper and creepy animal forms when I was a kid, but it's a skill I've maintained through adulthood. One of my favorite things to decoupage is furniture. And it's very easy to do! So, let's get goin'!

You will need: 

• Comic books or other paper to glue onto the furniture. I go through the $0.25 bins at comic shops and usually come up with some good stuff.
• Mod Podge! There are all different kinds of it on the market, but I typically use just the plain Matte in the yellow bottle. The Gloss comes in an orange one. For these types of projects, you want to have regular Mod Podge, as well as Hard Coat Mod Podge. That ensures your project will stay awesome for years to come.
• An old paint brush or sponge to apply the glue with. I say an old one because I wouldn't personally go out and buy a new paint brush just for this purpose - it's glue, after all!
• (Obviously) a piece of furniture to apply paper to. This table I actually found next to the dumpster at my apartment and had painted! You never know where you'll find a great piece, so you might as well just swallow your pride and dumpster dive once and awhile.

As I did before, I'll give you the steps and show photos of my progress as I went through them.

1. First things first: tear the pages from the comics and rip the pages into pieces. You'll want jagged edges since it adds to the collaged look. If you really want to, you can cut the edges, but I've personally never done it. 
2. Brush some glue onto a flat area of the table or whatever you're working on. Lay down a few pieces of your ripped paper, and Mod Podge over all of them. 
3. Continue until you have the largest, flattest portion of your table finished.
4. On the sides, you're going to want to do the pieces one by one, especially for routed areas and parts that aren't 100% flat. It would be smart to use your fingers to press the pieces down. Also, make sure to glue under any lipped areas of your furniture for a more complete look. 
5. Once you have covered all you want to, put an entire layer of Mod Podge all over the entire thing. 
6. Let the full covering of Mod Podge dry, and then use Hard Coat Mod Podge just like you did in the previous step. 

And you're done! Make sure to let the glue dry before you put your table into use, but once it's dry you can use it for anything (I made a computer table). Following this, you can clean your table's surface with household spray cleaner. Onto the photos!