I Made a Commitment!

I am a Wardrobe ReFashioner!



Here's the official pledge:

I __________________ pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that my thriftiness brings! Signed__________________.

Only, I need to amend this slightly for my handicap(s)...

You see...I'm not very good with the needle & thread. Perhaps I shall change that for myself by taking on this challenge.

I haven't bought anything new for myself in a very long time. That has more to do with budget than my particular skill set.

OH, and I don't have a working sewing machine at the moment...

You KNOW that I'm 'green' so this is a no-brainer.

I'll do the very best I can to work with 'preloved' clothing items and create something new from them for myself rather than buying new stuff from the store; for the rest of my life!

I must admit, I'm not a big fan of clothes shopping in the first place so this opens up a world of possibilities in that respect as well! I don't think my 'size' on top and bottom are in sync...

So Here Goes...

I, Pam Hoffman, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the rest of my life, as best as I can.

I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate and recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract to the best of my ability.

I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that my thriftiness brings!

Signed,

Pamela Hoffman

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Funny thing, I LOVE to embroider, so perhaps I'll start there!

I know I'll continue to get a ton of help and inspiration from Nikki's Wardrobe Refashion blog anytime I visit. It's a wonderful community!

There IS a bit of wiggle room in the rules [tho i'll try not to abuse them!] so we'll see how this works out.

Do YOU refashion anything in your wardrobe or your family's wardrobe? Do you like to sew? Won't you check out Nikki's site? :)

Pam Hoffman

The sleeve of a worn out turtle neck shirt becomes a
'fingerless glove'! [the 'thumb hole' was already there! ;)]

It's a start...

Blog Follower Giveaway

I am SO GRATEFUL to my followers that I will send each one of you (ok, probably not my boyfriend!) a little giftie, a RAK (random act of kindness) if you will.

I know that I like getting mail so...

If you are following me RIGHT NOW and you'd like a craft item, probably greeting card(s) or something like that, send your physical/snail mail address to pamhoffman at cox dot net to claim your prize by 2/21!

If you write a little bit about what you do or what you like, I can send something a little more focused on your interests, if I have anything like that!

Are you having a giveaway? Do you ever practice RAK (random acts of kindness)? Do you know how to get followers? Leave a comment so we can all learn!

Pam Hoffman

Fairy Orb my mom sent me for my birthday!

Please Help Spread the Word!

Scrapbook & craft enthusiasts are going for a World Record in Anaheim, CA this month.

It will only take about 1000 of us to break the record for most crafters at a crop at one time!

Please help spread the word and if you can be there, Join Us!

The blinkie on my blog, upper right, can be snagged to help you spread the word.

If you can't get ahold of it for some reason (right click - View Page Source - copy/paste it) let me know and I'll send it along for you.

Thanks!

Pam Hoffman


OH, it's here too: http://campaigns.ratepoint.com/campaigns/22b820d5d01ba68ffabb80a89b60c94a?r=f52bd0df041ca19d3634c9516b21c782

Katie Says: "It's Roundup Time!"

I just love this idea. Last year, I started a Project 365 project and I wanted to have a daily 6x6 layout to capture Orbit #48.

Things haven't completely worked out for THAT project! Fact is, I'm not much of a scrapbooker. I like doing things in 3D mostly - sculpture would be a huge love of mine if I could figure out a way to deal with all the creative works I produced...

Maybe I can get a one or a two page layout made to commemorate the whole month and I'm thinking this strategy would work very nicely...

Let's start with my source ;)

I'm big on knowing where something comes from so I add that in as often as I am able. I do a LOT of work, research, etc. online. I happened across this not too long ago (don't remember how, could have been a twitter post or something like that):

Katie the Scrapbook Lady's 'It's Round Up Time'

I see that Katie has a 'year end' version of this process too. How wonderful!

Well, I spent a little time the other day (so i need to finish) digging through my notes, calendar, etc. filling in the blanks of her 'survey' so I'll have a record of December 2009. Here are some of the things that happened for me...

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
 
Currently reading: War of Honor, Homemade Money, Selling the Dream and a book with my boyfriend, Jeff.

Finished:  Making a Living Without a Job

I got my last ‘Scrapbooks, Etc.’ magazine and a way to subscribe again for 2 years at ~$20

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?

Got some great Christmas shows in – Prep & Landing (new, a favorite now), Shrek the Halls, Peanuts (not as fun as I remember)

Saw the usual, as available during the holiday season – CSI, Dexter, Sanctuary, Dollhouse

Watched miniseries “Alice” – very cool

Saw many videos on “Watch it Shred” – very wild stuff…

A friend brought a tape of the latest “Dr. Who” called “Waters of Mars"

No plays

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?

Jeff and I started reading to each other

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Celebrated Christmas this month – a few gifts between Jeff and I, mom bought livestock for families in need overseas and a small celebration at Joan’s

Made ornaments with glitter inside & gave to my scrapbooking group at the 'Cookie Exchange Crop'

We created disks for Sandy & Joan of almost all the pictures taken of Jake, Jeff & his family for the last 3 years

Got money

Got LOTS of cards!!! They are so beautiful

Sent some swaps of cards, etc.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Can’t think of anything at this point…

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Feeling more pain during the night from my hip

What were my accomplishments this month?

Created the ornaments with glitter inside

Finished working through the exercises from “Making a Living Without a Job” and I probably retyped 1/2 to 1/3 of the book! I really want to get the revised edition

I won a lot of great stuff! Earrings, a book (yet to arrive!) a bracelet, two pair of socks ($12 each! also coming still) and more chances to win other things – great odds!

What were my disappointments this month?

I wanted to bring in more money thru my business endeavors (I did earn some!)

Anything else noteworthy to include? 

My dear friend Rick Wills (who i haven't seen in ages!) was in town and we had a very nice visit! 12/6







Rick Wills

Got some design ideas figured out for pamhoffman.com & sent them to Richard!

Jeff started braiding my hair for me (he does a great job too!)

We got some rain this month!

Enjoyed Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas early in the month

Learned more Russian

Many flowers & potted flowers came into my life

Dover Downloads – free samples from the Dover Publications site

It's been an amazing month and I want to publicly thank Katie for this Round Up exercise.  If I do layouts, I have a great summary to work from.  If I don't, I still have a pretty good record here for myself.

Thanks Katie!

How do YOU keep track of it all? Do you have your photos organized somehow? Do you create layouts or just various crafty things (like i do!)?

Pam Hoffman

Handmade Gift Giving

I rather LOVE giving handmade items to family and friends. They don't always love them back so I need to figure out who likes what and what to avoid for some of them.

I'm making something for my boyfriend, (who ALWAYS loves the stuff i make!) he already knows about it and said he'd help me finish it! Isn't he 'da bomb'?

Here are a couple of photos of my progress to date...




I've seen some really great, creative, handmade things online lately too! I really should capture them somewhere...new project!

Here is the inspiration for my gift (and hopefully mine will look somewhat similar ;).

[if i figure out where it came from, i'll give the appropriate credit!]

What do you like to create for gifts? Who do you like giving them to? Are they well-received?

Pam Hoffman