Friday, January 28, 2011

Crafty crafty...

Marketing is amazing... and sometimes disgusting. I find that more and more when I am shopping I don't want anything. I see the marketing and not the stuff, I see the way they want to make you feel as though you NEED things like matching cradle bumpers and sheets that cost 4 times as much just because they share a pattern with the bumper you chose. And it always makes me feel as though I want to fight against it... to find a way NOT to support those that market to me and make the things I want (matching or not) my own way. And I see SOOOOOOOoooooo many things that it takes almost nothing to put together with basic materials that those in marketing like to charge an arm and a leg for. Blows me away!

Take baby mobiles for example... 90% of the ones I found don't even take balance and craftsmanship, they are square umbrellas with stuffed animals hanging off of them. In one case, it was fabric balls in assorted colors... hanging from a striped umbrella. Seriously? This costs $45?

I just can't pay for that. I decided that if my baby was going to have a mobile it was going to take craftsmanship, balance, and as little money as I could possibly get away with. :) I found some beautiful sticks we happen to collect while in the Redwood Forest last Spring and found a bunch of wool felt we had left over from our school projects from last year... and yesterday I started this:

This is my idea of a real mobile. Crafted by hand, made with materials that you wouldn't mind hanging above your child's head, taking balance and moving with the wind and not some bad musac. Those are the real deal.

I am not meaning to just toot my own horn (although I have been known to do that...) and I have no idea if it will get done... but I felt as though I had to prove that I could still doing something 'nesting-ish'.

I have also, for my own sanity in my mild emotional crisis about nesting, decided to count small projects along with my 'nesting' for the baby. That's what caused me to augment this lamp.


This $10 lamp from Ikea and this box of felt flowers...

that I bought for Logan's 2nd birthday party over two years ago now and I got this:

Perfect for my girly's new room (this same girly is now obsessed with Magic Tree House books before bed. *love*).

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8 comments

Patzi said...

I agree so much! And I am very grateful, that I have the time, passion and willingness to do some crafts and make our lives better. But I also understand not everyone likes doing this kind of things. Or can! Or has the time, because of work...
As for the mobiles... people actually should look at a mobile from under it, looking up and see what their baby actually can see of the mobile. And 80% of the mobiles are boring from the babys viewpoint, they just look nice (or not) from the side as we adult will see it. But who is the mobile for? :-)

Anna said...

The lamp is beautiful! And I think your baby is going to love looking up and seeing that adorable mobile that Momma made.

Annicles said...

What I love is that my children are now able to see past the advertising and say - but it is just a bit of plastic that looks nothing like the advert and I don't want it. We went into a toy shop after christmas with money to spend and came out after half and hour with nothing. In the end, by popular demand, we bought a family subscription to the RSPB (royal society for the protection of birds) so we get free entry to bird reserves. How cool is that?!!!

Frannie said...

You make me laugh! I agree and the projects are great!

ColorSlut said...

The lamp is perfect and I can't wait to see the mobile. I so agree about "stuff". And really the prices for certain thing is what really really pisses me off. Because they aren't even that nice. Just charging for the ability to charge.

Yours is going to be stunning and perfect. Is that an owl with its wings open?

Val in the Rose Garden said...

Yes it is! :) I am trying to figure out how to do that. I think I'll have to find some thicker felt for the wings so they stay out rather than fall.

Still working on it. But yesterday Alex and I put together Logan and the baby's room. It looks wonderful! Just some finishing touches to go (like curtains on the closets) and I will feel free to show it off. :)

BLessings,

Val

Nessa said...

The lamp is gorgeous! A beautiful job and unique. I completely agree with you. It's like going to prom and having another girl wearing the same dress. It's hard to decorate from department stores and not noticed everyone else in the world has the same. Besides paying too much for the items, all of our homes are becoming identical inside. ;o)

Stephanie Griffith said...

I love it! and I totally agree with you. I want my home to be an expression of me, and what better way than to make things myself.

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