Harry Potter and the Crapton of Craftlace

What is it about the holiday season that makes time seem to fly by even faster than usual?  One minute you're thinking "Gosh, isn't it a little early for lights?  It's not even Thanksgiving yet!" and the next you're thinking "Oh, crap!  I've only got a week to do all my shopping!"  Been there, done that.  But not this year.  I got all of my shopping done early this year.  What I didn't do yet is a lot of stuff for the shop.  Like posting here!

I just realized it's been two weeks!  Goodness.  I meant to post last week and show you all my newest items - craft lace zipper pulls in Hogwarts house colors.

Honestly, I was never a big fan of craft lace.  Sure, it had it's uses, but they were rather limited.  I used it a few months ago in a jewelry commission for a costume.  I only needed two colors for the project, but I was on a deadline and had to shop locally (read: at Wal-mart).  Fortunately, they had plenty of craft lace, but only in multi-packs.  And of course, the two colors I needed only came in the huge MEGAPACK.  So I got stuck with a metric ton of craft lace and no idea how to use it.

There were the obvious keychains and lanyards and such, but I really wanted to do something... different.  So I wracked my creative little brain and searched online for ideas and inspiration...  and finally wound up making keychains anyway.  I broke down one day and decided to try one of the braids that was shown in the little pamphlet that came in the box and I suddenly saw the appeal.  It was fun. 

I made several keychains and zipper pulls and whatnot, tried out some different patterns, and decided that I ought to add these to the shop.  They didn't take long to make and the materials were very inexpensive, so I wouldn't have to charge much.  And they're a useful item.  I know I always feel better about buying something if it's useful and not just purely decorative. 

And as I was pondering color schemes, I realized what I had to do:  Hogwarts house colors.  There was a new Harry Potter movie coming out, so the timing seemed perfect.  And besides, I'm just a big Harry Potter fan.  Plus it would be another "geeky" item for the shop, something I was wanting to add more of.  So there you have it. 

I'll soon be adding keychains as well and I'm already pondering new color schemes (if you have a specific color scheme you'd like to see, leave a comment and let me know!), so you can definitely expect to see more of these.  In the meantime, I'm off to work on some necklaces.  And I promise it won't be another two weeks before you see me again!