2013 Resolutions

...for wanting to post more on the blog, I'm not getting off to a very good start ;P


I wanted to start this year with my resolutions being shoved out into the world via the blog, so hopefully I'm successful for a second year in a row by having completing, and keeping them all year !

This year, I'm gonna make more then one resolution, which might seem like a lot, but I just want to set goals and go for them in a few different aspects of my life.

My Personal Resolution this year is:

 to start living healthier!


I'm not going to say "I want to drop ten pounds!" ...because I don't, and I'm also not going to say "I want to work out five times a week!" ...because I know I wont, and I definitely wont say, "I'm cutting out all junk food!" ...because I can't, I love pizza! But I will say, I'm going to start paying attention to what I put into my body, and I'm going to try getting a little more in shape, not to lose weight, but so I don't have such a hard time doing stuff like playing with the kids for more then 10 minutes. And I will say I'm going to start accepting myself better. I'm my worst critic, and if you ask my brain, I'm never getting enough done, or doing good enough job at what ever it is I'm doing, and that needs to change. I need to start being one of my biggest encouragements, instead of talking myself down.

For my crafty side:

learn to read and write patterns


I can crochet, and I can knit, and sew a little, but there's still so much to learn! This year I want to tackle the task of learning to read patterns, and in turn being able to write patterns that people besides me might be able to follow :]

For the store:

STAY OPEN ALL YEAR LONG.

Now this might seem silly, but its a legitimate resolution and goal. Most of the items I make are more geared towards fall and winter when our weather is less than desirable. So as silly as it sounds, my goal is to be able to brainstorm new items and designs that will allow the store to have relevant items available year around. I figure its a simply and easy, yet very necessary task that must be done, so I find it resolution worthy :]


What are your resolutions or goals for 2013?  

Read More

What a Wonderful Year!

As the year ends, many of us can't help but think about the beginning and all the lovely, and sometimes not so lovely, things that have happened in between. I just would like to take an opportunity to revisit some of my memories from the last year!

One of the biggest things this year, was starting my own business!!I am now the proud owner of chelseaMADE!  My blogging skills could use some help, and there's a lot of things I hope to achieve with it in the future, but for just starting, I'm proud of it, and I can't wait to watch it grow! :] I'm proud of the 47 posts I've made and hope I'll do even better in the incoming new year!

This year I saw my first EVER college 4.0! I couldn't be prouder of myself! Definitely one of my greatest accomplishments!

In the last year I got to take part in two awesome shows with The Dragon's Den Players at TU.

One being Get Witch Quick, as an old women hybrid of two parts (we had to cut a female during production and I took on her lines as well, in my role of "Miss Wisk")

and Exit the Body as Jenny, a ditsy, and sometimes rude house maid, with a secret of her own at the end of the show ;]

My sisters and I also all donated our hair this year in honor of our aunt Rhonda! Who we all love and miss everyday <3

Last, but definitely not least, I started my last year of Undergrad classes. One part of me is shouting, "YES! I'm finally a senior! look at me, I'm educated and about to be released on the world! BEWARE!" and the other part is wanting to crawl back in bed and hide from the incoming next year as I think "holy crap...I'm graduating next year, but I just started....where did all the time go?! I  want a do over! I'm not ready yet! "

So many opportunities have come and gone, and through the years I've readily jumped at some, while eagerly, and sometimes disappointingly passed on others. I know a lot of the decisions I made in my first two years sometimes weren't possibly the ones I should of chosen, they led me to disappoint, and missed opportunities, and honestly if I could have pulled my head out of my butt I probably wouldn't have made them. When I got to school, I wasn't ready, still looking at my Junior year I wasn't ready. Everything scared me, and the person I was then, just didn't enjoy college. Some people college is the best time of their lives, but for me, even though I was the typical age of 18, college just wasn't for me. I look back now and think, if I could start college as I am now, I'd have fun. I've grown into myself, and at the same time I know there's still plenty of room to grow, and I can't help but be excited for that. But now I'm almost done, and I am an adult. I have bills, and responsibilities, and a scary unknown future that's coming at me fast. I just wish I could of known then, what I know now, so that I could of enjoyed my time spent here more to the fullest.  Yet, even though I look back and think that there is so many things I wish I had done differently, opportunities I wish I had passed on, so I could of jumped on others, chances I never took, and chances I definitely shouldn't have taken, I'd have to say, if given the chance, I'd be too scared to change a thing.

I wish I would of experienced less of what I did, and more of what I hadn't, I wish I would of taken opportunities and studied abroad and seen the world, I wish I would of stressed less, and realized what was really important, and simply just have fun. But even though I'm terrified of what the next few years could bring, whether Vincenso and I will be in Tiffin the next few years, or whether we'll be relocating, whether I'll get into the grad program my hearts set on, and many other scary chances and decisions I'll face, I'm happy I'll get to face them with him<3 As cheesy and hopeless romantic as that sounds, that's the only thing that can ever help me take a moment and just BREATHE, knowing what ever comes, or doesn't come, I'll be okay, and thankfully, he'll be there to hold my hand the whole way,

  and THAT'S why I'd be too scared to change anything from my past, in fear that I might not have met him <3

(note: I would of posted another picture, perhaps one with more clothing then swimsuits... but this is the only one we have from when we met and that was just such a perfect day.)

Read More

2012 Resolution Update

If any of you started reading my blog way back in January of this year, or have just browsed through the past posts since you've started reading, you'd know that this year I had made a resolution to myself. I wanted to create at least, 52 different projects within 52 weeks. Giving the fact that my store hold 50 items, and I've sold many outside of my store, and I have too many products to list in my store still, I'd say my resolution was a success! :]! Im young, so I haven't made very many resolutions, and as far as the ones I can remember making, this is the first time I have ever succeeded! I did really well in my own opinion. I'd love to show you every piece I made this year, since I failed at post each product/project like I had hoped I'd have time for, but that would just be photograph OVERLOAD! and not only do I not have pictures of every single item, but I also just don't have the time to do the editing and uploading of every thing I've made this year.  So instead, I'll direct you to my website, where you can check out a lot of items that didn't make it to the blog this year, as well as my instagram (refer to the instagram page on the blog, or view a few recent images to the right in my instagram widget ...)

Now instead of leaving you completely high and dry when it comes to images, I thought id share my favorite item of this year, that many have complimented, and my own aunt actually ended up purchasing from me at my first craft show :]

It was a beautifully hand crocheted cowl done in an absolutely GORGEOUS grey yarn that was just to die for! So incredibly soft, I almost kept the item for my self, but I figured it was so beautiful, it needed to go in the store so that people that can't DIY, could enjoy something beautiful too <3

Read More

my resolution

This year, one of my new year's resolutions is to complete 52 projects in 52 weeks. Which is one of the main reasons why I wanted to start this blog. I wanted to give myself someway of documenting it, thinking, if its out here in the world, I'll be more inclined to do it. I'm definitely going to need some motivation this summer when I plan on doing my required internship,while working as close to full time as possible, and taking summer courses to free up some space my senior year. YIKES. Just thinking about it stresses me out...so on to a more exciting  point of this topic, day two brings my first completed project of the year!

My friend Kelsie wore the cutest top to our boyfriends' family Christmas party, and I fell in love with it! So, once I got home from visiting Columbus, the next chance I got to sit down and crochet, I grabbed my skein of black RedHeart yarn and jumped right in. I've always been pretty good at looking at things, breaking it down,and thinking to myself, "I could make that..." So I already had a pretty good idea of how to make the shirt when I first started out, but I only did a few rows before it was time to head out to visit Vincenso for new years. I kind of made a conscious effort not to bring any crochet with me during my Christmas visit, but I couldn't help myself for new years visit, I was anxious about this project, so I took advantage of my time last night when we laid down to watch TV before bed. I crocheted my little heart out for a little bit, (in the dark, only lit by the TV which I would not advise...) I had no problem finding my stitches, and thought everything was going great, headed home this afternoon excited to jump right back into it...only to discover, it was much too wide for myself. le sigh.... There is absolutely nothing I hate more than having to unravel a project, so when ever possible I try to switch gears and turn it into something usable instead of scraping it.

Thus, my new hello kitty cowl was created :] Its kind of a lot different from my other cowls, because for the most part, I usually use the same stitch, or same two stitches all the way through a cowl. But this one has several different stitches in different patterns making it unique to my collection so far, and I really like it. I had the perfect row of open squares to run a ribbon through, so I dug through the sewing box that I've been trying to get organized and pulled out my ribbon, and found this hello kitty ribbon in my stash. The width of the ribbon was perfect for the height of the stitches, so I weaved the ribbon through, and voila! Very pretty if I do say so myself :] So now I'm working on a pair of matching fingerless gloves to sell with it as a set.

As far as my resolution of  52 projects in 52 weeks, I'd say I'm off to a pretty good start eh?

Read More