February fairy ornament story

Robin, my swap partner for the Year of Enchantment ornament swap received her package so now I can show you all. February's theme was the fairy...oh the fairy!! Now let me give you my personal history on the fairy...

I grew up with a mother who was a HUGE crafter, particularly porcelain dolls. Dolls soon led to porcelain miniatures and related miniatures, miniatures soon led to enchanting miniatures...mainly miniature fairies. What I'm getting at is that this month's theme, the fairy, was one I was too familiar with. So familiar that I could have SO EASILY created a porcelain fairy ornament since I had all the supplies at hand (or at least, at my mom's house in her stash). Well, me being me, wanted a design challenge, so I searched for something different and not so easy (or at least something I could create using my OWN stash. After all, I did join the Destash-Along 2010 challenge for myself, not for my mom.) One day while blog surfing, which I occasionally do when I'm looking for an idea, I came across this tutorial for a sarubobo doll. I thought PERFECT! The idea for the flying sarubobo would be perfect to turn into a flying fairy! So, having created a flesh colored sarubobo from muslin, I altered the "look" to be that of a fairy and this is what I created:My orange fairy prototype! It took a few days to figure out the wings, I played with several different ideas, wired ribbon, plastic printed butterfly wings, different fabric. Nothing seemed as good as the white tulle. So I played with a few different shapes. I still don't think it's my favorite idea for wings, but with a deadline, I went with them anyways. She also features a silk flower skirt, ribbon trimmed waist (or in prototype fairy's case, ric-rac trim, the rest will be ribbon), yarn hair, acorn hat, and a green beaded necklace with the center beades matching her skirt. A few more colors will be coming to my Etsy shop soon, so be on the look out.Here's the yellow fairy talking to her dragonfly friends on top of the purple and green wonky log cabin quilt block that I created for Robin. There was a GREAT online tutorial for the wonky log cabin quilt block here. I haven't created a quilt block since I was a teenager, it was a lot of fun! I've been wanting to get into quilting FOREVER! I just need a better rotary cutter and board. I was using my cutting mat from college for exacto knives and matte board (you know, for building models of your design if you're an architect or interior design major)...yeah...that's what I had, so apparently that type of cutting mat is not as self healing the way a quilting one is. :) Note to self, need new cutting matte, old one has many cuts through it now. Here's a larger pic of the quilt block and other goodies I sent to Robin:I also added some Leavenworth postcards and a package of chocolate covered red vines from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory that's in Leavenworth. Mmmm-MM! This months challenge was to use glitter...hee-hee...here's where the glitter went...
That's some fancy pair of underpants Miss Yellow Fairy!!

Next up...my A Fairy Went A Marketing Swap creations...due in THREE DAYS!! There's a sneak peak of my prototype here in my Flickr pics. Have a great weekend!!

Leavenworth, Washington

Well, we're off to another craft retreat weekend with my mom, aunt and grandma (and of course my two boys). This is what we'll see tomorrow and all weekend, at least when we look outside our room. I wonder what I'll create this time?? Here is what I created last time.

I'll also me mailing my Year of Enchantment package from Leavenworth...after I stuff some Leavenworth goodness into it! Get ready Robin, my fairy is flying to you!

Have a great weekend!

Happy (belated) Valentines Day!

I thought I would share a cute little crafty tutorial for some sweet magnets to make with your little ones. My three year old and I made a set for each of the grandparents.

Supplies needed:
-bottle caps
-acrylic paint
-varnish for acrylic paint (optional)
-paint brushes
-various felt colors
-printed pictures
-sheet magnet or old refrigerator magnets
-craft glue
-scissors

FIRST: Clean and dry the bottle caps of any stickiness. Paint inside of bottle cap with acrylic paint, allow to dry in between coatings. (I applied two coats to hide the brush strokes.) Final layer could be the varnish, it just makes it shiny, but is not required.
THEN: Cut out desired pictures into a 1 inch diameter circle (or a tad smaller) and cut out heart shapes from felt. Cut 1/2" square pieces of the magnet. (I bought sheet magnets only to realize that I could have used the old calender sheet magnet that was on the fridge.)
AND THEN: Glue magnet to back side of bottle cap, or if sheet magnet, peel paper and stick.
FINALLY: Glue pictures or felt heart shapes to inside of bottle cap that was painted. Allow to dry, then wrap them up and give them to the ones you love!

Twinkle Little Star...

In case I haven't explained before, Grosgrain has done a lot of THE MOST adorable little girls outfits I've seen. Lately she's been doing a lot of "refashioning" from dresses she finds at St. Vincents or Goodwill. WOW! Great transformation on this piece! I just love how she explains her thought process for reworking the dress.

Twinkle Little Star Refashion Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

GROSGRAIN is just AMAZING!

Check out her latest giveaway...

Cherry Pop Refashion Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Her designs and the way she recreates clothing is just AWESOME! I wish I had the know-how and knowledge to refashion clothing for myself. I've always lacked a style in clothing, I'm all about comfort and live in t-shirts and pajama pants, unless I leave the house, then I change into blue jeans. I've never worn cute, hip, fashionable, "whatever you want to call it" style of clothing but I've always wanted to. Until then, I am always inspired by what she creates and how cute it always turns out.

Really cool giveaway idea...

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

What a super cool idea!! I must learn more about it, but for now, I'm blogging about it to enter the giveaway. Check it out if you need something to brighten your day!

Ornament exchange package surprises!

Yep, that's right...this was my super creative, awesome idea I came up with ALL on my own... only to research it (after I made some prototypes) and learn that they've been thought of already. :( However, the ones I found on Etsy are not two pieces sewn together like mine. There were all sorts of different kinds using real acorn caps. I like mine the best though. :)

Now that my swap partner has recieved her enchanting package of goodies, I can show you what I made for her...I just COULDN'T RESIST making a couple of cloth diaper covers for her 10 month old. My mom gave me a pattern and instructions, but I didn't like how they were put together, so I changed it. So, Natalie, if there are any issues with these diaper covers, please, PLEASE let me know. I would like to try to perfect how I make them so that I can make a WHOLE BUNCH! I also sent her a few of my favorite teas and a cute little set of notecards I just happened upon while browsing Pier 1.
I made SO MANY of the acorns, in the end I decided to send her the most "Christmas-y" ones. I think the rest will go on Etsy...I'm just debating if I should add the little holly berries and leaves to all of them or just the "Christmas-y" ones. I ended up with several shapes and sizes, I was trying to achieve the pointy tip like the real ones had (in lower left of the photo). Sewing that small was pretty easy, but to get a point like that was a little difficult. Fabric doesn't want to get that pointy when it's that small.

I also recieved Natalie's package for me!!! What perfect timing, we received them the same day! She sent a WHOLE BUNCH of goodies all wrapped in tissue paper and labeled with her recycled labels (I'm gonna do that this year, I've saved my Christmas cards)....just look at it all...There were three ribbon pinecone ornaments, eight felt leaves for decoration (my three year old can't get enough of them, he's constantly wanting to play with them), a pinecone bracelet and one HUGE bar of dark chocolate (my favorite!! and my toddlers favorite too!). We couldn't wait to try the chocolate, I think we opened it before we opened the rest of the tissue covered packages. heehee! It's got a good flavor to it, I can tell it has a different type of sugar than our American chocolates.
I LOVE the colors of the ribbon she used! The green one is AWESOME...She's very good with selecting colors I would say. :)

Isn't this bracelet cool?? I've never seen a bead so pine-coney! It's really neat!

THANK YOU NATALIE! It's all so fun and wonderful!

Cravings? Not so much...

Okay, so I've been a bad, BAD girl...these are what I've been consuming together, a couple times now in the past week...That's right...STRAIGHT from the can!! All 150 calories of it! I took one swig of a bottle when it first came out, and I was instantly wisked away back into my childhood. You know that scene in Ratatouille when the food critic, Ego, takes a bite of the ratatouille and the movie zooms to a scene from his childhood when he was enjoying it in his mother's kitchen?? Well, my one swig a few weeks ago was JUST like that...I remembered the taste from my childhood and now I'm hooked on it again. And I don't drink soda (well, not regularly)!! I've been enjoying the salty sweetness of the Nut Roll right along with it. All 100 calories of it! HA! They taste soooo goooood!!!! When did Pepsi change to high fructose corn syrup?? Real sugar is SO MUCH better for you. :)

Destash-Along & Blog Update

Well, my first project has been completed for the Destash-Along I'm participating in. Until my Year of Enchantment swap partner, Natalie, receives her ornaments, I can't really show them, but I DID use some small bits of my stash for this project. In fact, all of it was from my stash except for the string I used to hang them...I was really picky about the thickness and color, so I had to go by some, so really, 95% of the materials used in making my ornament is from my stash!! Yeay!!

I just learned how to add the percentage bars into my blog t0 show the progress of my crafts I'm working on...Crafting with Cat Hair, the Destash-Along idea generator/hostess blogged about it and shared her info. You can learn about it here and add them on your own blog if you're a crafty, crafter like myself. :) Now you all can see what my current projects are, which are all knitting projects that I kinda have deadlines for. If I'm working on something without a deadline, I don't think I'll put it up. Monthly I'll be changing my progress for each month's YOE ornament. So, this month's is at 100% since it's already been sent in the mail.

I also figured out how to show the number of destash-along projects I've completed. It doesn't show each project, but....well, I guess you can search the post labels to find out what they were. Maybe I'll number them...I don't know...it's early enough in the year that I haven't figured out that detail yet.

On its way to Australia...

Yup...my package is...here's a pic of what's inside:
You can see the ornaments on the bottom there, the smallest items in the box. I know, I know, the pics a little fuzzy, but I didn't want to give it all away until Natalie received it all. And, just so you all know, I really liked how Awtemnymf showed her teaser pic, so I did a quick search online for a free image editor and found LunaPic, which, after playing with it for 15 minutes, I came up with the pic above. And its free! So Natalie, your package is in the mail!

And for you future ornament swappers that will be sending to Australia, you can't do Delivery Confirmation. You can do 1st class Parcel and then Register your package and that will give us delivery confirmation and a tracking number that we can track. And, if you like to wrap your packages in brown paper (AKA recycled paper grocery bag) like I do, then you cannot use the typical clear plastic-y mailing tape, you have to use the "paper tape", which he retaped at the counter with. I have never heard of this, but I think it's also cuz it's going to Australia. AND...if all this information is false or not accurate, it's my post office's fault...not mine. :)