payday

on November 17 2012

Oodles of Glittery Doodles Frame Designs: Boldly Go Where No Other Doodle Has Gone Before

I’ve been wanting to put stylus to Wacom tablet over this idea since I started Glitter Meets Glue Designs. I’d made my logo to look like glitter and glue, two things you can’t escape as an art teacher.

So when I saw that others had made doodle frames I thought, “I know how I can make this a whole lot better: GLITTER.” And thus, Oodles of Glittery Doodles were born. These are fresh from Illustrator, born yesterday in fact, and only $2.00 a set!

They can be used in a number of ways but are great for layering on top of other  design elements. Use them as borders for test, quizzes, pictures…really anything. They’re fun. Kids will LOVE them. Best part? All the fun without the mess of glitter.

There’s CURLY DOODLES…

Oodles of Glittery Doodles - Curly Doodles

And VINE DOODLES…

Oodles of Glittery Doodles - Vine Doodles

And CRAZY DOODLES…

Oodles of Glittery Doodles - Crazy Doodles

As well as JAGGED DOODLES…

Oodles of Glittery Doodles - Jagged Doodles

And last but not least, SCALLOPED DOODLES! I love these.

Oodles of Glittery Doodles - Scalloped Doodles

These were so much fun to make!

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on November 15 2012

Glitter Meets Glue Designs: “A Very Metallic Christmas” Frames Pack 1

I’ve been in a rut lately, understandably so. Having to attempt to get stuff done while my mind is heavily pinned towards the chaos New Jersey is going through is tough. But somehow over the last 24 hours, I’ve managed to pull off doing some design work, all for me. I needed this!

Not sure what inspired this, but I decided I’d like to create some frames that were of Christmas lights in an array of color combos.

"A Very Metallic Christmas" Frames & Borders

That lead to candy canes and peppermints…

"A Very Metallic Christmas" Frames & Borders

…which lead to snowflakes and glittery Christmas balls.

"A Very Metallic Christmas" Frames & Borders

And yes, all of these graphics come in one set!

"A Very Metallic Christmas" Frames & Borders

$6.00 for the whole kitten kaboodle! You can check it out here on Teachers Pay Teachers.

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on November 11 2012

Hurricane Sandy Relief – 50% Off ALL Crochet Patterns, 100% Proceeds Donated!

50% off ALL NexStitch crochet patterns. 100% donated to Union Beach Memorial School’s Amazon Wishlist. CLICK THE PICTURE TO CHECK OUT MY CROCHET PATTERNS ON RAVELRY!

Dear Fellow Crocheters,

The last several days have been a trying time for many people in the tri-state community after the devastation brought on by Superstorm Sandy, namely on the Jersey shore. Having been raised in the small, beach tourist town of Point Pleasant, NJ myself, I’ve witnessed firsthand how this storm has impacted the everyday lives of people.

I’ve been fortunate to not have any personal destruction to my home. And yet I’m having a hard time going back to life as usual, to picking up my hooks and yarn, when I’m literally surrounded by others in need. And I know many in the knit and crochet community feel the same way and want to help but are unsure how to make a personal impact when they are a distance away.

I have a solution, if you will lend your ears and hearts.

The small enclave, bayshore town of Union Beach, NJ was  by Sandy. Two hundred plus homes were completely destroyed, with several , and the only school in town, Memorial School, took on several feet of water as the storm raged throughout this 1.8 square mile town. The children have been displaced from their school (and won’t be returning for another few weeks) to a temporary building until theirs is fixed. And the school itself is in need of repair, with many things lost.

The tide took with it many things from peoples homes but not their spirit. I’d like to help get back some of those things, starting with the school.

From now until November 30th, every  will be marked down to 50% off. Use coupon code “SANDY” at checkout.

All money collected during this time using the coupon code “SANDY” will be used to purchase items from Union Beach Memorial School’s . Additionally, if you’d like to purchase something directly from their wishlist, that would also be wonderful.

So a school kid gets a backpack, paper, and pencils and you get a crochet pattern as well as good karma for having helped out.

Sound like a good deal?

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on November 10 2012

JERSEY RISING: Jersey Helping Jersey Rise from the Rubble of Hurricane Sandy

I’m apart of a group of creative types trying to put together a Jersey folks helping Jersey folks-inspired benefit concert to aid those in need here on the Jersey Shore in the aftermath of Sandy and this latest storm.

We started out with a Facebook group page 48 hours ago that has swelled to 6K overnight. We’re working to finalize the basic details of the venue this weekend.

If you would like to be involved in some capacity, or have connections to NJ venues, promoters, businesses to auction gifts, etc., we would love to have you on board for this. We would like to put this together and stage it in the next few weeks, if possible, so we can strike while the iron is hot and help folks get back on their feet. Please join and indicate how you would like to be involved.

OUR NEW  IS HERE.

We’d love it if you’d “like” us over there.

The overwhelming support we’ve gotten already is going to make this a successful event because this?

photo credit: nj.com

Can’t happen on my watch.

 

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on November 4 2012

Jersey Strong: What Doesn’t Divide Us Only Makes Us Stronger

Through all the chaos of this last week, the best gift ever has been being able to get online and just talk and listen to other people, to not feel alone in all this. May that never wash away with the tide.

Folks, this has been a trying week. All those scenes you keep seeing on tv all this week broadcast from the Jersey shore? That’s where I’m from.

This is the town I work in. This is the oldest home in town, was the oldest home, correction. Photo credit: nj.com

My pubescent playground has been turned into a militarized war zone of broken windows, exposed joist beams, twisted metal circus rides all mixed rather vigorously with more sand than you’ve ever seen in your life. Crossing guards have been replaced with National Guardsmen with weapons blocking entrance into whole towns.

This was the roller coaster on the Seaside boardwalk, which is now in the ocean. photo credit: LA Times

I’m still coming to terms with it all, with Sandy.

A house in Bay Head crashed into the sand. Photo credit: nj.com

Sandy? Seriously? You couldn’t have picked a more apropos name if you suddenly had x-ray vision and could see into the future of the New Jersey coastline, my hometown, my first love.

A house in the town I work in, or at least stairs that lead up to what was a home. Photo credit: nj.com

What remains in Her aftermath is akin to a post-apocolyptic nightmare replete with enough hints of reality to distinguish it as such.

A house in the devastated town I work in. This one looks like it folded like a house made of cards. Photo credit: nj.com

Yet, nothing can prepare you to truly understand the devastation.

A scene from Mantoloking, NJ. The water from the beach has fused with the bay and enveloped the bridge (left side of the frame). photo credit: New Jersey National Guard via Scott Anema

Everything that I knew from my childhood is but a figment of my imagination.

Water from the bayshore rushed into the streets taking all the sand with it and depositing it everywhere it shouldn’t be and quite a distance from the water’s true edge. Photo credit: nj.com

And nothing is more of a universal divider than a natural disaster. The best and worst are squeezed out of people. The sheer acts of bravery, dedication to public service, and just overall humanitarianism have been as equally prevalent as the looting and thievery (only the lowest common denominator would take the ashes of a dead man just to posses the pretty container he’s been relegated to).

American Red Cross Donate

I want to see good prevail here. You can be a part of that. If you could see it in your heart to not buy that one luxury item this week and just donate $10 to the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, or some other great local cause, I would personally appreciate it.

I just got internet back yesterday and I’m working on some other ways I can offer more incentive for you to open your wallets and your hearts. This? Is my Katrina. And I need your help. PLEASE.

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on October 22 2012

New Clip Art & Frame Designs from Glitter Meets Glue!

I’ve been hard at work trying to put together a lot of teaching materials (lesson plan stuff) to post on TeachersPayTeachers.com but in the meantime, I’ve managed to put together a few graphics-type items.

I designed some Monstrous Monsters clip art:

Monstrous Monsters Halloween Clip Art

And some Hearty Hearts Frames & Borders:

Hearty Hearts Frames & Borders

As well as some Watery Colors Frames & Borders:

Watery Colors Frames & Borders

What do you think?

 

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on October 8 2012

Glitter Meets Glue Designs: Stellar Graphics & Teaching Materials Now on TeachersPayTeachers.com!

Last week I was going through my morning routine of touring every corner of the Internet when I stumbled across a video online about a teacher who had made upwards of over a million dollars selling teacherly things: lessons, units, etc. I was intrigued to say the least so I headed on over to Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) and instantly signed up.

“I could do this. I have tons of stuff!” I thought, excitedly going through a virtual rolodex in my mind of all the self-generated lesson materials I had from lessons and units to worksheets and Easi-Teach slideshow presentations to tests and quizzes. You name it, I probably have it.

And then I went tooling around on TPT and noticed that many people were selling graphics for things like borders and labels and worksheets, etc. I can’t recall the last time I thought that I had a chance, a slim chance but still a chance to find a profitable way to marry my teaching and art experience together to make a living. I know, I know, I’m all pie-in-the-sky about this. A girl can dream, can’t she? I don’t need millions. I just need to make a decent living doing the best job in America which is to work for myself and be independent, speaking as someone who is the product of two parents who did just that.

And so, “Glitter Meets Glue Designs” is born.

Glitter Meets Glue Designs: Stellar Graphics & Teaching Materials

What do you think about my logo? The logo is really the top part. This graphic was created to fill the square space given for an image on the TPT website.

I’m opening up shop with just a few things but hope to grow my wares over time as I comb through all my teaching materials and edit things down. For now, I’m dreaming of having my (ice cream) cake and eating it, too.

Check out my first product. It’s a freebie! They’re Halloween themed clip art frames for personal use.

Glitter Meets Glue Designs: Halloween Frames

Glitter Meets Glue Designs: Halloween Frames

I have a heart themed frame pack coming out shortly, too.

If you know anyone who is a teacher or homeschooling their child or who might be looking for graphics for things like borders, frames, yada, I’d love a referral. 

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on September 19 2012

NEW! Milk Thistle Shawlette Crochet Pattern

Milk Thistle Shawlette by Amie Hirtes of NexStitch: Stylish Crochet Patterns

Details

  • Project overview: The shawlette is worked from the top down starting with a pattern of open fan and v-stitches that decrease nearly to a point. Silver-gray stems and leaves jut outwards from the shawl’s edge and are worked into decrease stitches from the body. A row of violet flower buds and receptacles is worked followed by several rows of double and treble crochets to create be beautiful thistle flowers.
  • Yarn: Tilli Tomas, Plie (100% spun silk; 120 yd/50 g): 2 midnight borealis (Color A); 1 atmosphere (Color B); 1 gloxinia (Color C)
  • Skill: Intermediate
  • Size: 65″ wide x 13″ long (blocked)
  • Hooks: US E/4 (3.50mm) and US G/6 (4.00mm) or hooks needed to obtain gauge
  • Notions: Stitch markers, yarn needle
  • Extra: The entire shawlette has been translated into two large stitch diagrams, one for the body and one for the edging! There should be no hair-pulling moments crocheting this shawlette, rest assured.

Milk Thistle Shawlette Crochet Pattern

Milk Thistle Shawlette Crochet Pattern

 

Milk Thistle Shawlette Crochet Pattern

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on September 19 2012

INSPIRATION: Milk Thistle Shawlette

Milk Thistle Shawlette by Amie Hirtes of NexStitch: Stylish Crochet Patterns

 - MILK THISTLE SHAWLETTE

I heart Google Images.

I do about 11 billionty Google Image searches a day for ideas, inspiration, research, and in some cases shopping. It’s a virtual playground for visual people like myself who lead with their eyes in making sense of the world.

So when over the summer I had a germ of an idea flittering whimsically around my head that I couldn’t make sense of, I turned to Google Images to bring that idea to fruition. I had three skeins of the lovely Tilli Tomas, “Plie” in midnight borealis (royal violet), gloxinia (red-violet), and atmosphere (silvery gray) and I couldn’t make sense of what those colors reminded me of, more so the violets.

Copyright © Omega Dyes
http://www.omegadyes.co.uk

I went to Google Images and started my query: ”violet red-violet.”

Up popped a potpourri of images that ranged from a bird to peace signs to the bar at a restaurant to many types of flowers. ”Hmmmm…flowers.”

Query #2: “red-violet flowers.”

Towards the top of the search I found this image of some lovely flowers with a cute shape.

Query #3: “alliums.”

“They’re so cute!” I proclaimed. They reminded me of the (weeds in some countries) that I had shipped in from overseas for my wedding.

Instantly my mind tries to connect with what crochet stitches I could use to make the shape work and I was rather stumped. Somewhere buried in the last search was a picture of a thistle.

Thistles! I love thistles. “THHhhhh-isssss-lllll,” said in my best Bugs Bunny voice.

Query #4: “thistle” then, Query #5: ”milk thistles.”

Milk Thistle: A type of thistle belonging to the daisy family which has small strands of milky white that run across its leaves and boasts medicinal properties for the liver.

I was stoked at how well the colors I had chosen, including the silvery gray, fit with the colors of a milk thistle. The stem of the flower has a greenish gray hue and while it didn’t match perfectly with my yarn, it would work well enough.

I set myself to the task of figuring out how I was going to incorporate the design element into my burgeoning shawlette. I was adamant in my desire to make these really appear as flowers.

How did I do?

Learn more about the Milk Thistle Shawlette over on .

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on August 31 2012

Pants-on-Fire De-Stashing!

Scarp Yarn Mat

THINK: Seaglass. That’s what the color palette was inspired by. There’s a Plassard blue-green papery yarn that carries throughout that ties it all together.

There. I did it. I’ve managed to use up all the old novelty yarn that I had lying around here, the pile of yarn that I felt was holding me back from moving forward. That pile of yarn, to me, represented a bunch of old, failed ideas. It’s been in my stash for over 7 years now. Ancient times. Every time I’d look at it, I’d think to myself, “Wow, I’ve made nothing…from nothing. What a total waste.”

Two days ago I was on Pinterest and came across a pin of a scarf made from scrap yarn. I’d been thinking about making a mat to put on my desk at the window for kitty. I thought about all that old yarn that I didn’t want to throw away nor use in any actual designs for the website and thought, “Hmmmm…” as I pulled out my hook and yarn bins.

The first one I made with the intention of keeping it here in the office and decided it had to go with the beach vibe I’ve set in place. So I gathered a lot of blues, whites, and blue-greens and one lone nappy orange novelty yarn and went to work.

Scarp Yarn Mat

I wound up pulling out the gray eyelash yarn because I thought kitty wouldn’t like laying on it with those lil buggers in her face.

It’s just a simple single crochet mat in the shape of a rectangle, but I can’t tell you how happy I was in making it!

The next night I decided to use up the remainder of the yarn: lots of reds and pinks with a smattering of yellow, green and blues.

The key is to pick one or two yarns that you have a lot of that you carry through to the end. The other yarns can start and stop organically and the whole mat will still feel like it has unity. I used a huge hook, which I believe it a honkin’ size Q. I could be wrong. It’s not labeled (need to do that). I would have thought it would be yarn to pull the yarn through the loops, but the real challenging part was keeping my “feed” of yarn from tangling, especially when one of the yarns was starting to go.

Scarp Yarn Mat

You can see I just let everything hang loose on the floor!

This whole process was truly cathartic.

Kitty agrees.

Chillaxin’: You’re doing it wrong!

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