I need YOUR help! Public Opinion Survey

Hey everyone!

Long time, no talk! I have missed you all incredibly over the break and I literally have had one of the worst summers of my life. My work horror stories would make you pee yourself laughing, scratch your head at the stupidity of people, and keep you up at night. We are moving past that though, maybe I'll write about it in the future but for now it suffices to say things have been on the upswing for at least a month now.

I started college a few weeks ago and my class line up is great! Creative Writing, Printmaking 1, Drawing 1, and Small Business Management. I'm enjoying all of my classes thoroughly and feel like I'm benefiting from being in them already, which brings me to the point of this post; I'm having a business midlife crisis! I've been working on this thing for 5-6 years now and looking back...I'd like to change somethings...maybe, I'm not sure. How do you feel?

Please let me know by answering this survey! You will have my undying love and gratitude.

Til Next Time!

Sewing Superstar!!

Good news everyone! For real good, not Farnsworth-ian good too. A few months back I got an email from Cat Morley, asking me to be a Sewing Superstar over at the craft community site Cut Out + Keep! I got interviewed and submitted a few of my projects to the community and a new one will be debuting each day. You can find my feature here and make sure to check back every day for a new project.

Til Next Time!

September Hiatus

Hey friends!

As you can probably guess from the title of this post I am going to be taking the rest of September off here on the blog. I still have a blog hop I'm participating in soon, another post already scheduled for Dream a Little Bigger, and a guest post from Venture's first host coming sometime this month as well. The blog won't go completely stale but I unfortunately do not have enough time to devote to the blog this month and get all my other obligations done.

I am partially prepared for October/Halloween though (remember when I said I was getting a lot of content ready in advance? I got a little more excited for the Halloween stuff than I did regular content) so I will be back on the very 1st for a thrilling, exciting, and DIYlightful month.

I'll miss you guys! If you want to keep up with me this busy month be sure to follow me on my (new) Instagram.

Til Next Time!

Happy (belated) Blog Birthday! 1 Year of Cwafty

(My actual blog birthday was Aug. 22, but last week there were complications)

 Let me start off this post with a big WOW! It's been a year already? It flew by, let me tell you. It was one of the busiest years of my short life and I loved every minute of it. Seriously, it's been a level of awesome I didn't know was possible to achieve.

Touring Through Blogland!

Hey everyone! Today I have been asked to participate in the Tour through Blogland. I've seen a few of these posts from blogs I follow throughout the summer but I was surprised and thrilled when Havalah from Sisters, What! asked me to join up. 

So let me say thanks once again to Havalah who shares a blog with her three sisters, hence the name. She is super sweet and quite talented. Their blog has a little bit of everything but my favorites are the refashions/DIY clothing posts and the nerdy stuff! (but who does that really surprise?)

For those of you new here, Hi! My name is RaChil and I am the crafty mind behind The Cwafty Blog. I'm a 20 year old cat lady in training, book worm, nerd extraordinaire, full time student (tomorrow!), part time retail drone, and part time professional blogger. I live with three of my best friends (and our three cats) in a small two bedroom apartment. My life is a crazy compendium of glitter, books, cats, coffee, hair dye, long nights, and bright colors, I really wouldn't have it any other way.

For the rest of the tour read below!

Happy World Cat Day!!

Somehow I was not aware until about 10 minutes ago of two very important facts.

1. There is a World Cat Day.
2. And that splendiferous holiday is today!

So without further ado:

Cwafty Recall: Hopefully the first of as few as possible

I have some bad news guys! Two of my projects have through time deteriorated and I couldn't live with myself letting you guys think these projects worked as I described previously.

(I will have disclaimers at the top of the projects, and caution signs in the tutorial gallery. I hope to have solutions to these problems at some point though.)

Here they are:
The Bright Idea Globe

Clearly I didn't think that the wire being in water would be a problem. You may be able to counteract this problem by using glycerin instead of water, or trying to find a rust proof wire. I hope to try another one soon and will update you guys on any improvements. 

Teacup Planter:

 The problem I originally discussed in this tutorial (getting odd bubbles in the paint after watering) still happens. I'm sorry it took me that long to notice, and write this recall, but at least you guys know now.

I'm sorry again!

Til Next Time!

W.I.P Wednesday: Dying For The Weekend

The title of today's post makes me think of a pop punk-rock band I would probably guiltily like. Anyone one else? Nah, just me? That's cool. Moving on.

What a great color palette!

Anyway, I actually did the dying on Monday, but "Dying For Monday" sounded depressing (I'm not a Monday person.) I dyed a surprise something for Dream A Little Bigger next weekend and I colored/dyed my hair. I like to say dye but apparently the proper beauty term is color.

I shall reveal what I did to my hair on Saturday!

Til Next Time!

WIP Wednesday: Tick Tock

Whew getting back into college involved a very drama/stress filled last few days so I didn't get to talk to you guys yesterday, but trust me the next Talk About It Tuesday is going to rock. I promise you. Until then, this Saturday I'll be over at Dream A Little Bigger, so make sure to come visit me!

Today I'm giving you a sneak peak at my own tutorial for next Tuesday. This is one of the best projects I feel like I've ever finished. It's beautiful!

Til Next Time!

W.I.P. Wednesday: Full Power! (tools)

I got to break out my drill and my new-used reciprocating saw. $5 bucks for that, a belt sander and a palm sander. Yay yard sales!

This project is already done, as well as a few other weeks! I've been finishing one project and starting a new one the same day for the past few days. Productivity to the max!

Find this project over at Dream A little Bigger this Saturday!

Til Next Time!

Link it or Lump it #45: Link Party Time!

More exciting firsts this week pals! The first party I ever linked up at was Link it or Lump it, and today its also the first party I get to help host. There's a lot of great talent that shows up here so no matter your tastes you're sure to find something great down below. You can link anything up as long as you made it (and it's not for sale), that can mean crafts, clothes, furniture, food, babies, all sorts of options...although maybe not the last one. Mingle with some of the other participants, maybe make some friends and find some inspiration! Check back next week for my pick of my favorite link :) Party on!

Your hosts for the party are:

W.I.P Wednesday: A Summer Craft

Heres a little sneak peak at my first project for DALB! Summer sewing!

Til Next Time!

W.I.P Wednesday: Fear and Loathing in My Office

Sometimes, albeit rarely, I have some time to work on projects that aren't for the blog or for my shop. If I see a project that immediately makes me drop everything and make the time for it, you know it's special! I was catching up on one of my daily blogs, Zauberbear  when I saw a super amazing tutorial and got right to work!

Come back tomorrow if you want to see the finished project and what I did with it! Also since its pretty obvious what it's going to be, can anyone guess what it's going to say?

Til Next Time,

I got nominated for a Liebster Award!

I was recently nominated for the Liebster Award, by two three lovely ladies!
- Juli from Just Pepperminty
- Janice from Nearly Handmade
- Kathy from Up To Date Interiors
Thanks girls! It was so nice of you to nominate me! For those of you who don't know what the Liebster Award is, its passed around new blogs to help bloggers get to know each other and make blog buddies. :) Yay! I also have to go find 11 new blogs of my own to nominate!

Cwafty Update #3

Let me start off by saying I hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving. I know I had a good one, even if it was a day late. I also hope none of you were harmed in a freak Black Friday accident!

Its been a while since I've done one of these! But this one is a biggie, you guys need to know quite a bit!

A Very Merry Un-Birthday! Good Shopping, Good Food, Good Friends!

I was super selfish this year and celebrated my birthday the whole weekend(hence the title, since technically I only celebrated one birthday and two un-birthdays. I hope you can understand my Wonderlandian logic.) 

I went shopping with a friend and found some great stuff to add to my fall wardrobe! I was surprised cause on a good shopping trip I find one thing, maybe two that I am in love with but on this magical day I snagged two sweaters, three dresses, and a coat. All for under $40!

Cwafty Update #2

I made some art!

So yesterday I got up at like 5am on my day off and was actually well rested and ready to tackle the day! It was wonderful.

Shelf of Unfinished Projects: First Finshed Project

I finally got one! And by got one, I mean got one completed! Since I set an opening date for my store, September 20th, I have been making loads of plans for new products.

Shamefully though, I still have some prototype products that have been sitting on my unfinished shelf for 1+ years. This Jake the Dog plushie is one of those products.

New Year's Resolution...8 months late

 Let's just say I procrastinated?

I have a problem. A crafting problem in particular. When I come up with a good idea I can't stop thinking about, I get really really psyched about it, get all the supplies for it and then dive right in to making it. Now, that doesn't sound too bad, but I feel like my creativity is a bad habit at times for a few reasons.

Hello World.exe

Hello Internet Friends! My name is RaChil. Yes capital letter in the middle and all. I have an odd family. You can call me RaCh. Anyway, I want to share my interesting, creative, busy busy busy life with you. To start us off let me introduce myself to you with some Fun Facts!