Craft Room

Last December we bought a new work table for my upstairs craft room from Ikea. We JUST put it together last night. It looks a little something like this right now:When I'm crafting, it may look like this:
Or it may be open fully on both sides like this:
However I have it, I don't think I could ever actually show you my craft table in my craft room after reading a blog (that I once again happened upon) that toured a relatives craft space that was SO AMAZING! I want my craft space to look like this and be as organized and this space is. You HAVE to go over and look at all the beautiful pictures she took of this fun, fun space!! I have all the same stuff, just not as much of it. It has some really great ideas on how to store stash items...I just don't have the space. So, my dear reader...until I have ample enough room and/or organization (whichever comes first), the look of my craft room will remain a mystery (and super tiny!).

Toddler times

The past couple of nights we've been reading a Richard Scarry book to our toddler that we got from the library (not the one in the pic, that one is the cover of the one I got when I was four back in 1981!!) The library book has about 15 different easy to read stories in it. Last night after my husband read him one or two, he decided it was his turn to read to daddy. So CUTE!! He flips through the story explaining what's going on in the pictures. He starts out with "One day.." and as he's turning the pages he'll say "And then..." Good times!

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. :)