A Formal Introduction

Welcome to Sew Scatterbrained! My name is Felice Regina. I'm a graphic designer by day, manic crafter (and aspiring fabric designer) by night. The contrast isn't as dramatic as Bruce Wayne to Batman, but it's a transformation nonetheless. 

So why the blog? Being the crafty, artsy-fartsy person I am, I have my own site, felice-regina.com and I guess what you could call an art blog on Tumblr already. I made a brief and admittedly half-hearted effort at more crafty-focused blogging before, but I was in college at the time and the thought quickly fell to the wayside. 

But things have changed! I graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio a year ago with my BA in art and a minor in business. I've been working as a graphic designer in my hometown of Houston, Texas ever since. Working from 8am to 5pm (and the occasional late night) instead of studying opened up a nice chunk of stress-free time in the evening to simply do what I love most: make things. 

During my last semester of college, my web design professor (whose class I totally fell into almost by accident), the amazingly inspiring Dr. Aaron Delwiche introduced me to the maker culture, and I had one of those "a-ha!" moments. People have always described me as a creative, crafty, and artistic person, yet somehow I felt like those words didn't get to the core of what I am passionate about. I recalled the first day of one of my recent art classes in which the professor asked us to introduce ourselves and share our favorite creative media. There were oil painters, ceramic sculptors, photographers, etc. I wracked my brain for what I would say. I loved so many things. Watercolor, paper-making, book-binding, sewing, and so on. My turn came before I could narrow down my options, and I ended up awkwardly and flatly announcing, "My name is Felice and I...uh...I make things," and sat down. 

I make all kinds of things, usually in an unintentional pattern: 

1. See photo of a thing 
2. Have sudden, insatiable urge to make the thing 
3. Read a barrage of books, blog posts, tutorials, etc. on how to make the thing 
4. Buy/find all crap I need to make the thing 
5. MAKE THE THING (in varying degrees of success)
6. Learn ways to make the thing faster/better/cooler/cheaper
7. Make things passionately and aggressively
8. Reach relative burnout
9. Take a short break from making to play some video games, catch up on reading blogs, Pinterest...

And the cycle continues. 

In case you were wondering what kind of crafts and maker-centric activities I've dabbled in (in no particular order): illustration (my main squeeze), web design, paper-making, book-binding, watercolor painting, crochet, French beading, cross stitch, embroidery, general sewing, quilting, wood sculpture, copper patinas, furniture restoration, photography, scrapbooking, candle-making, baking...I can't remember any more but I'm sure there are a few others. 

If this blog continues, one trend you will notice with me is abrupt endings. I said what I had to say! Why waste your time? Consider this introduction concluded.