Canvas Storage "Bucket"

I promise I'm not turning into an anthropologie knockoff blog (altho...would that really be such a bad thing??)

Fell hard for this storage basket from the anthro site this weekend:

chevron pop canvas basket

Something that's actually an easy-to duplicate project.  If you're not at all familiar with creating a pattern for something like this by hand, there are several tutorials on the internets. This one looks good and even has measurements.

The anthro basket isn't horribly priced, but who knows about the fabric quality. When you make your own, you can customize the fabric and quality (and this project wouldn't take much fabric either, so you could invest in the good stuff).

There are lots of canvas and twills at Fabric.com. Love love love this one (and bonus! it matches my bathroom cabinet):

waverly sand art

I still haven't sewn a seam yet this month. But hey! There are a few more days left in January. It could happen.  I need to clean and oil my machine first. Poor baby.

On the First Day of Christmas: Castiel

So it's not the first of December.  And it doesn't fit the song.  Or ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas.  Unless I continue to 21. 

"21 Chocolate Covered Cherries..."

I may actually do this.  It could be a new tradition.  A post a day at Christmastime!  ANYWHO.  This weekend, in spite of my very best intentions, I got NO sewing done.  (Tissue bodice admiring, yes).  That doesn't mean the weekend was totally wasted!  For example, yesterday I made another ornament for my tree.

May I present to you, Castiel, Angel of the Lord:

Since it's quite probable you have absolutely no idea who that is...Castiel is the angel on the tv show Supernatural.  His besties are Dean and Sam:

Dean and Sam need to be little clothespin ornaments too. Yes?

If you look to the right of Castiel on my tree, you might recognize those two... It's Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Complete with sideburns.  *swoon*

Or do you prefer Colin Firth? (Who doesn't?? No really.  I'm curious.  Who prefers the remake over the BBC Pride and Prejudice?  Anyone?)

Before Dean and Sam, I must, MUST, make Mary and Matthew:

*Swoon* again.

These are my favorite ornaments to put up every year.  I have 8 now, including little Castiel.  I used the templates from the Martha Stewart website.  There's also a video clip of the Christmas special segment where she and a coworker made the little ornaments.  One of my very favorite episodes of Martha Stewart; I still have it recorded on VHS!

I also made my Christmas cards this weekend and sent those off to the photo lab.  I love to send Christmas cards, even though I rarely get any in return. WHY don't people send cards anymore?  It's such a sweet little cheery envelope in my mailbox in December. 

You know what we should do??  We should have a bloggy Christmas card exchange.  Quick! Somebody make a yahoo group and we can all enter our mailing addresses and swap cards.  Let's do it! 

And now it's Monday again.  SIIGHHH.

A Simpler, Quieter Life

December is flying by and once again I haven't had time to settle down and enjoy the time leading up to the holidays.

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I have Pinterest boards for both Christmas and handmade Gifts, but I haven't had time to even peruse them.

Next year seems so far away, and yet I found myself just this past weekend thinking about planning better next year.  

SERIOUSLY?

Shortly after that I realized my life could stand to be a lot simpler.

 

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I started by unsubscribing from every company in my email inbox.  Two hundred plus emails a day is 195 too many.

 

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Then I got really radical and deleted my Facebook account.   

I originally created my FB account when I was doing business on ebay sewing toddler girl's clothing.  Then I kept it because I discovered my tiny babies were suddenly teenagers and I wanted to keep up with them (and their friends). 

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Then all my coworkers and friends (old, new and barely met yet) had a Facebook.  So I should have one!  Except...  it kinda creeps me out.  It's always creeped me out.  It's terribly invasive.  It's time-consuming.  It's a new and improved way for people to be rude and unkind to one another.  It's a neverending mish-mash of TMI.

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I really loathe it.  So I deleted it.

And I feel so much better. 

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If you're my friend or family member, chances are you have my phone number and/or address.  Call me.  Or write a letter.  Or, you know, email me one of those really important emails I actually want to read.

And if you're my child, well, I already know what you're doing and what your friends are doing because I talk to you every day.  Every. Day.  And I like that much better than Facebook.

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I plan on continuing to find ways to simplify and pare down my life.  What do we really need?  What makes me truly happy?  What do I cherish the most?

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Happiness lives inside us all. 

Set it free.

Crochet Rag Rug: In progress

I've been window-shopping braided and rag rugs for a while now.  I've even haunted ebay.  They're so expensive! I had never really thought about making my own, because it seemed too complicated, or at the very least a long process.

Guess what?  It's not! 

I found a simple tutorial on crocheting a rag rug on Vintage Chica a few days ago.  There are several tutorials out there (search rag rug on Pinterest, which is how I found the one I liked).  I like this one because it's just one stitch (SC, single crochet).  You work more intuitively, adding an increase as you round corners, or if you "need to" (if the rug isn't lying flat).  I'd rather work it out on my own than try to follow a complicated stitch pattern anyway.

I started this rug yesterday morning while watching the Macy's parade and waiting for my casserole to cook, so you can see it works up really fast.

I started out using leftover strips of "jelly roll" from this tablerunner project, because I love the colors.  I have similar cottons in my fabric cabinet too.  I tore the jellyroll strips in half lengthwise, making about 1-1/4" strips.  I did find that 3/4" strips are alot easier to work with though!

I also found a cool video on youtube HERE, for tying the ends of your strips together.  I had been knotting them, but since the jellyroll strips are pretty short I was ending up with a lot of knots on the back.  (I actually don't mind them much, but that video has a cool method that leaves barely a bump of a knot).

This project is my "Black Friday Avoidance" strategy.  Since it will be a throw rug, on the smallish size, hopefully I'll have it finished and be able to show in the next few days!

Speaking of crafty gifts...

Kudos to Pinterest for inspiring my creative side when all I want to do is nap.

 

apron in a jar.

 

spray paint thrifted frames, add corkboard.

 

Scrap paper + thrifted frame.  Add dry erase marker.

 

white tiles + scrap paper + mod podge = coasters! 

 (add felt to bottom)

 

my fave...a perpetual calendar.  brilliant.

could use...covered buttons glued to flat-top tacks?

Now accepting...crafty gift idea goodness.  Inspire me not to nap.  Please.

brrr.

Well, we had a white Christmas! Did you?


More pics of that and some furry cuteness in just a second. First though, I can finally post pics of the single handmade gift I crafted this season. I would be more ashamed, but the 3+ weeks of flu I suffered seriously cut into my usual Christmas craftiness. Sooo...here she is. Miss Kitty²:


She's pretty fetching, don't you think? Her boggly eyes crack me up (I used 1940's plastic buttons from my vintage button tin). The pattern can be found in this book by Jenny Ryan, Sew Darn Cute.


Technically the pattern is for a Square Bear. But my Lu loves kitties, so I just redrew the ears and added some kitty-like whiskers to her little pink, embroidered nose.


Lucky for me, while Lu may be fast outgrowing all things dolly (sniff), she still appreciates a good plushy! Just some details on Miss Kitty²: She is made from mint green wool felt (head, back & extremities), a cute "3 pigs" Japanese linen for the body front, and red rickrack accents. I used scraps of quilting cotton in a retro print for her ears, and pinked all the edges of her ears, arms and legs. She also has a red satin bow tacked to one ear, because she's a sassy kitty.

Now on to weather pics, in case you're on the beach and need to see the white stuff. It's been several years since it snowed on Christmas here! But it was blizzard conditions all night Christmas Eve, and bitterly cold. (It's still well under 30 degrees F.)

This is from Christmas morning in my back yard; the wind was whipping the snow so hard it made your eyes water!


See? Oscar says Brrr.


So does Megs.


Refrigerated Farm Food:


Jessie:


And one more of little Os, who actually loves the snow and would have stayed out longer. Except I'm a wuss and made him go in with me.


Christmas was wonderful, and over too soon. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday too!

merry.

Can't help myself. Played with charm packs.


and fat quarters.


Not enough of any to do much with...possible table runner or wall hanging ahead!

Queen of Hearts (pt 1)

Just a quick peek at Lu's Halloween costume! It's about 1/2 finished...but cute as heck. You can't see the whole thing (patience is a virtue) but you CAN see a couple of my favorite parts.

Tiny Top Hat

For size perspective, here's the hat sitting in my palm:


Here's how I made it! I took a small, round paper mache box and discarded the lid. That became the tall portion of the hat. I took apart the lid to a larger, round paper mache box, removing the rim. The circle left became the base of my hat. I hot glued the top to the base & painted the whole thing gloss white. On the second coat of paint (while wet) I sprinkled the entire hat with clear, superfine glitter. And boy does it GLITTER:


Then I just glammed it up some more with ribbon, maribou & a red silk rose. If I can find a mini pack of playing cards (party favor section) then I'll be tucking a Queen of Hearts card in the band behind the rose & feather.

The main portion of the skirt will be petals, with faux-applique hearts in reverse colors. I'm just fusing and the gluing trim around the edges. Not taking the time to actually applique them by machine! The underskirt is red tulle.


The underskirt is almost finished (Lu tied the tutu herself!) The petals are all heart-fused and cut out, and the white ones all stitched & ready to press. Now its on to stitching the red petals & starting the top (which is very simple!)

TGITW!!

(Thank Goodness it's the Weekend)

Weekend WooHoo!

(But where did the week go?) If you haven't voted in the PR Wardrobe Contest, all of the entries are up and voting has begun! There are SO many great entries! But my favorites are Emo's "The Clothes Make the Economist" (I would wear every single piece here.)


and I also loved and Reehti's Mellow Yellow:


I did make a decision between the two and voted. Go vote for your favorite!

I haven't done any sewing yet this weekend, but I did win these on ebay this week and they arrived yesterday! I love both of them!


And while perusing some of my Etsy buddies' stores, I ran across these HILARIOUS cards from a fellow Okie girl, The Surly Girlie: For when you just can't find it in the Hallmark section...


And my personal favorite...

(Not that I would ever need any of these. Of course.)

Glamourpuss Goods

For those bling princesses out there, a new goodie from the jemima bean side of things...

Sugared Hair Petals



Now in my Etsy shop!

So sweet

it'll make your teeth hurt! Would you LOOK at this darling little bear:



It was crafted by Jennifer Stanfield of nimbleknot. She is amazing! She has an Etsy store & an eBay store too, but I think she's working on commissions right now so both are empty.

I've been fascinated by needlefelting for oh, at least 2 years. I first fell in love with these tiny wool cuties in this book:


But frankly, other than oohing and ahhing, I skimmed over the pretties because a) I don't read Japanese, and b) I thought needlefelting was jabbing an oddly shaped needle into a flat piece of fabric/felt. How in the world did THAT equal these little 3-dimensional animals??

But flickr has persuaded me that I must learn to do this. You know, in all that spare time I've got lying around. And google has provided a couple of tutes. Here's one with basic instruction for dolly shapes. Here's another (rather complicated) dolly head & body tutorial.

But THIS one is the where the lightbulb a-HA moment hit me.

A little more seraching revealed that Martha has a video too, a how-to for a sweet little chick. View it here. Even sweeter...it features one of my favorite flickr artists, Jenn Docherty!
I mean just look at these bunnies she made! I could eat them up!


And lest you think I spend all my time looking at other people's projects (shut up) and never get to my own...here's a sneak peek of a few soon to be yummies for Lu:




although if I don't get my buns off the net I'll still be here next Sunday, wondering why none of my lovely projects are finished. laters!