Angela Hamilton

Angela

Crochet Infinity Scarves – November Update

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It’s not quite November yet but the pressure is definitely on to keep my Etsy shops stocked full for the fall and holidays. Most of what I craft and sell is seasonal – we all know no one is buying scarves in the spring time, and time really does fly this time of year. I never seem to have done just everything I should have. I just added a couple more scarves and some better close up photos, and I’m hoping people will love these neutrals and fall tones :).

In related news, Etsy’s relevancy search still really bums me out. You’d think I know it by now – but while my coffee cozies seem to have found the key to getting seen, virtually no one views my scarves. It’s hard to see all your work get pushed to page a million when you actually list it! I’ve tried fixing them about fifty times and seem to get nowhere. It’s more than a little discouraging.

Here’s to hoping my latest round of updates to the shop gets noticed 😉

Santa Monica when the sun’s not out

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Back when my family visited in September, we went on with our long-standing plan of visiting Santa Monica despite less-than-perfect weather. Temperatures were the lowest they’d been in months (only to rise once they went back home to Washington), and I told my sister she might want to change out of her shorts for this beach visit…

These are all taken from the Santa Monica pier, where we spent most of our time that day.

While Santa Monica beach is always crowded on weekends, this cloudy Friday afternoon was a lot more peaceful.

One of my favorite things to watch along the LA coast are the pelicans that fly along here–either in flocks or alone, diving to catch fish or sit on the surface. They are huge and it amazes me every time.
We’ve spent a lot of sunny Saturdays at the beach since we’ve moved here in June, but this wasn’t your typical visit…it ended up being a really nice change of pace (though not what everyone expected!).

Quickie DIY: Fall Maple Leaf Glitter Wreath

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Wreath-making is not my specialty. I’ve tried crafting traditional wreaths for the holidays before – and it never goes right. So I kept it simple. This quickie DIY is made of:
  • 1 leaf arrangement from Michael’s (almost always on sale. this was $2)
  • Silver glitter pen
  • Mini twig ring
  • Hot glue/hot glue gun 

Cut the leafs off of the garland or bouquet. Outline them with a glitter pen. Let them dry.
 Glue them around the ring… and voila! 
This tiny wreath fits perfectly in our tiny kitchen.
I had some extra leaves so I’m scheming up ways to decorate the apartment with them. I love how the glitter outline turned out. 

DIY studded painted pumpkins

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I’ve always preferred painting pumpkins to carving. When I was little, I remember entering a pumpkin painting contest led by my mother with the rest of the kids I knew. I have amazing memories of carving, too, as she came up with a new design every year. I also made friends over pumpkin carving in college, but painting has always been fun for me and a lot less messy (and squishy).

By now I’m sure you’ve seen this painted pumpkin by a beautiful mess, or at least the photo which is having its moment on Pinterest. It’s a white pumpkin dotted with different color fabric paint. So. Easy. I gave it a try myself with the colors hot chocolate and copper from Scribbles 3-D paint and came up with these pumpkins. Don’t the dots look like little studs? Perfect for Halloween.

I got out the glitter paint and did this cute red polka-dotted one too. If you want to decorate the pumpkins to look like studs, go for an iridescent paint like the copper color. What is it about white pumpkins? I don’t know but they’re the best.

These were adorning my coffee table until I came home to bite marks all over one of the unpainted ones… (thanks, kittens) and now they’re a center piece for my patio set.

Do you paint pumpkins for Halloween?

Filed Under: DIY

DIY thrift store coffee table tray

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So I don’t know the exact purpose of this old metal tray. What did it intend to hold? I just know that I desperately needed a tray for my coffee table, which is an ottoman, because I can’t set drinks down without fear that the cats will jump on it & knock them over. Plus, I love the look of trays on ottomans for organization, they keep misc. items like remote controls in the right area.

I came across this tray for $2 at a local thrift store (yes! I have finally discovered a few gems in LA county after almost giving up and moving back to Washington. Not really – but close). It was the perfect canvas for paint.

So I cleaned it up a bit and then draped newspaper over my entire deck and spray painted it with a seafoam green color that matches some of the accent colors in my livingroom.

I left the bottom as-is, and it matches the table itself.

This project went so fast that it was hardly a DIY, but I’ll call it that since it did involve a can of spray paint. So far it’s holding a few fall decorations and pumpkins that I’ll be sharing in a few days!

Filed Under: DIY

What to do when you’ve had a shitty day

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When I left work yesterday, I wasn’t feeling so hot. Physically, I was hot – my cheeks were red from sitting hunched over my desk all day, jaws dropped in awe at the problems popping up like ads on the computer screen. I like my job, but it was just one of those days. As I descended the (almost) million steps down from the office I thought to myself (or mumbled, whatever), what can I do to make this better?

The problems I was experiencing, and will continue to experience, were little specks upon a week, a month, a lifetime. Websites crashing. Low views. Emails not responded to. Ideas not coming together. Demanding clients. They’re so little. But like most of those little things, I felt that nagging feeling of them adding up – continuously piling high as the steps I climbed down from.

That’s when I thought I should of writing this: a step-by-step guide (because who doesn’t like those?) to follow when I’m having a bad day. And because we’re all different, you can read my tips and then swap them out for your own…

What to do when you’ve had a bad day:

Talk it out – but not too much. I share everything with my boyfriend. It calms me down to go through the day’s events – good or bad. But lately I’ve noticed that if I get it off my chest and then be done with it, I feel a lot better. Be as detailed with you need to be – with your friend, boyfriend, mom, whatever. But make the decision to tell your story and be done. 

Brew a warm cup of whatever comforts you. Confession: Sometimes I drink coffee late. I tell myself it’s the warm, delicious beverage that lifts my spirits, not the extra dosage of caffeine. I know it’s not the healthiest, but having a little comfort food/drink will help pull you out of your slump. For me, a little coffee, some sugar, and a lot of cream, goes  a long way. Then I can move on and focus on the night’s projects: the blog, shop, writing, reading, whatever – with a perkier outlook.

Instead of coffee you could choose a caffeine free tea, cider, or whatever else makes you happy, and just relax for a little bit. Consider it the in-between period as you rise to the surface of your shitty day and breathe in a different air.

Go on a walk. I love to walk. I feel antsy when I don’t walk at least one place everyday. If you work in an office all day, sitting at home at your desk will feel like an imitation of the days’ events. Even if you’re active all day, going on a leisurely walk around your ‘hood will feel like…a walk in the park, so to speak. When I was younger, I walked everywhere alone (thinking back, I don’t know that that was the smartest choice), I loved being on my own to clear my head. I find that when I’m walking I don’t think of my day so negatively, I think of solutions, of new ideas, and new ways to execute them.

Clean it up. Even if you can’t control the circumstances that created the bad day, you can often control your surroundings. Falling asleep surrounded by a mess of laundry and cat toys (those kittens are way messier than I expected) always spells bad news come 6am. When you’ve had a bad day, follow steps 1-3 and then get to tidying things up. It will make for a more relaxing night ahead and a better morning.

Get a good night’s sleep – or try to. I get so worked up when I’ve had a bad day that I start to panic about how the night’s going to go, how my sleep will be disrupted, how the next morning I have to get up and do it all again. Talk about pessimistic. When I’ve actually given myself time to get over it, go on that walk, and hop into bed at a normal hour, things start to fall into place. It’s nice if I can dim the lights a bit and get a good few minutes of reading in, too.

Luckily for me, my bad day ended just in time for me to follow my own advice – but this doesn’t happen all the time. To that I say, pick the option most important to you (and it’s not cleaning) and use it to relax, refresh, and get ready for a better tomorrow. Here’s to doing bad days, better.
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