KaoticKrafter

Dang Grammer

2012-02-09T22:51:00.000-06:00

So, I was pretty productive today. I discovered that our new printer (RIP old printer, you were good to us), in addiction to all the cool apps and such, lets me print onto granola bar boxes.

Our old printer use to let us do this, until it didn't. That was a sad day. I use to print all of my business cards onto granola bar boxes, then I couldn't.

I did end up with a cool stamp out of the deal, but still.

So, I was happy today when I cut the granola bar boxes to the size I needed, put them in the printer, hit print, and... they printed!

Here is what I printed.

I plan to put some of these into the Ames C.art ArtVend machine. What is the ArtVend machine? An awesomely cool vending machine that dispenses locally produced art and other handmade items. The ArtVend is located at Wheatsfield Coop in Ames, IA. For $.25 and up, anyone in the community can purchase locally handmade items.

So back to the printer. I also printed this

As I was getting it ready to post (you know, after printing up about 7 or so, attaching the candles, etc.) I realized that there is a typo. Stupid English language. Then and than are always so dang confusing for me. Until I make things all nice and pretty, then I am able to realize that than would have been the better choice than then.

Grrr. Oh well, I never claimed to be perfect. I think I few correctly spelled thans printed out on my label maker should fix that right up!

Happy crafting (and spelling)!

Stash Busting- Nesting Balls Tutorial

2012-02-04T16:56:00.000-06:00

In my attempt to make the King Quilt, I have been producing a ton of tiny little scraps of fabric and bits of thread. I knew they could be useful for something, so I have been piling them on the kitchen table as I cut and sew. You can see the beginning of the pile in the first picture on this post.

When I finally went to clean the table off today, a small child could have hidden in the scrap pile.

I also cleaned underneath the kitchen sink today and discovered an old mesh potato bag. Yup, there was a light bulb moment. I remembered seeing somewhere that someone had stuffed a bunch of scraps and what not into a mesh bag and hung it up for the birds to use as nesting material. I don't really know if there is a proper name for these things, but I have been calling them nesting balls.

So, here is how I made them.

Materials:

Scissors

Crochet hook, safety pin, or large eyed needle

Yarn, ribbon, twine, rope, etc.

Potato or similar bag

Lots of fabric, yarn, and thread scraps

Step 1. Cut the potato bag open so it makes a rectangle of "fabric." (Taking pictures was kinda an after thought, so I don't have the full bag). Cut the bag down to rectangles or squares . Mine were about 6" x 4", but play around till you find a size that works for you.

*Quick tip: Squares will make circle balls, while rectangles will make more of a heart shape.*

Step 2. Weave a length of yarn through the holes all the way around one square of fabric. I used a crochet hook, but a safety pin or needle will work also. Really, if you are patient enough, you could probably do the weaving with just your hands. I am not. The crochet hook makes it go quickly.

Step 3. Once you are all the way around, cut the yarn leaving a really long tail. Next, make a loop (I used a slip knot) leaving a bit of a tail. Next, slide the long tail through your loop. I suck at taking pictures of the steps.

Step 4. Pull the long tail so that the bag starts to tighten up a bit.

Step 5. Start Stuffing! Keep going until you feel that you have an adequate amount of scraps in the ball.

Step 6. Pull the long tail of yarn until the ball is all scrunched up tight. Tie a knot using the little tail from the loop. Now, wait anxiously for Spring so that you can hang these up for the birdies!

I ran out of potato bag long before I ran out of scarps. So, out came my vinyl record bowl of leftover yarn bowls and my gigantic crochet hook (I think it's a Q), and I whipped up a few rectangles. Yeah, I probably could have just crocheted a ball...

but really, a rectangle is way quicker and I love that they look like hearts.

I hope winter is treating you well!

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions at all, just let me know.

Beeswax Birthday Candles

2012-02-03T23:07:00.002-06:00

One of my all time favorite bloggers to follow is Julie. She blogs at Crafting A Green World, as well as on her own blog called Craft Knife. Both Craft Knife and Crafting A Green World are, obviously, about crafting, both focusing more on the recycled/organic/good for the earth type crafts. Craft Knife also features a lot of awesome posts on how Julie homeschools her 2 girls. Lots of great resources and inspiration.

Anywho, a while ago (who knows when really) I was intrigued by the beeswax candles tutorial Julie had posted so I ordered some beeswax sheets and Emma and I made a few candles. We liked it ok, but it wasn't really what we wanted to do at the time. And so the beeswax sat forever- and yes, I did try to sell it at one point.

I am so glad no one bought my beeswax sheets. Apparently, now is the time for beeswax in our house.

Bowl O' Wax and Wick

Emma helping out...

while watching "The Last Unicorn"

Here are some of Emma's finished candles.

Between the two of us, we made about 70 candles this morning. Emma will tell you proudly that she made 6. The candles are about 2" high. Perfect for our rainbow cupcakes (which I hope to make more of this weekend).

We kept a few, but we brought 64 candles over to Where It's At , a fun eclectic shop in Ames, IA. We rent a shelf there and have managed to sell enough of our stuff to pay for the shelf. Works well for me. I can keep making stuff and get it out of the house while helping out a fellow crafter and small business owner.

Tonight, I wanted to make some more candles to send to friends and family. I mean, who can't use some cute little candles?

I stared with a vinyl record bowl full of 112 2"x2" squares, which I of course forgot to take a picture of. It looked pretty similar to the first photo, only overflowing a bit.

I had enough wick to make 96 little birthday candles.

These poor little squares will have to wait till I can pick up some more wick. Or until I figure out some other fun or funky thing to do with them...

Oh! Julie also has a great tutorial for making a drawstring pouch for storing these little candles, and anything else that might be in need of a container. I made a bunch of those yesterday, super simple and a great way to use up some stash fabric. You should go check it out.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

King Quilt

2012-01-31T23:29:00.001-06:00

I have been working, off and on, on a quilt for Emma made up of bits and pieces of clothes she has worn and loved, as well as other bits of fabric and what not that she finds interesting. I recently added a bunch of pieces to her quilt which I blogged about here.

I have had quilts on the brain a lot lately. We are in the process of getting out house ready to sell, which means finally, finally, my hubby is ready to purge his wardrobe. Many of the t-shirts that he has were bought for a specific reason, but he is a creature of habit and typically wears the same thing every day- a white t-shirt (with some sort of logo) and blue jeans. All those colored shirts in his closet are just taking up space.

So, I convinced him to hand them over, and I did what I could to preserve the memories.

Of course the bobby would need filling as soon as the hubby gets up to take pictures

See that pinkish lump over my left shoulder? That would be Emma sleeping in the bed that we have relocated to the family room while fixing up the bedroom. Hence the crappy lighting.

This was my progress as of last night. This and a bunch of smaller squares and rectangles.

Hand stitched pieces

"It has sentimental value."

Most of the shirts from the hubby are either paintball related or Air Force related.

Here is where I am after spending a bit of time on it today.

I am currently at 56" x 43" and I need to be at about 96" x 96" for it to fit our bed with plenty of over hang. Still trying to figure out what I will use as the middle layer and how I will do the actual quilting part. Might end up knotting it.

Paint-To-Go: Watercolor Tutorial

2011-12-08T23:23:00.001-06:00

I love pinterest. It rocks. Except when I spend, literally, hours pinning and repinning all the coolness that is out there.

I have been making a conscious effort to actually make or do some of the things that I have been pinning. I thought I would share this one with, well, anyone who might be reading :)

Today I am sharing how to make your own Paint-to-go activity sheets using liquid watercolor paints and watercolor paper. (Here is the pin that I got the idea from, and here is the website from where the pin originated.)

Materials Needed:
Watercolor paper - I used a 22"x30" sheet and cut it into 25 4x6 pieces. (about $3)
Watercolor paint- The liquid kind that comes in a tube. I bought the least expensive ones I could find (8pk for $5), next time I will splurge a bit for the more expensive ones, but only in the primary colors (we like to mix our own colors).

I decided to add black just because

Put a small dot of the desired colors somewhere on the page.

As you can see, I do not make perfect dots.

Allow the paint to dry. We left ours overnight. Then give them a test run.

Just messing around with the paint.

I was really impressed with how they worked out. We made up a bunch to give out as gifts. Emma and I also did a few more test pages. You can check that out by visiting us here.

A few tips to pass along now that we have played with them a bit.

1. Make your dots as flat as possible. Some of mine looked like little mountains, and that made some of the pieces break off.

2. When stacking the unpainted pages together, it might be a good idea to layer in a piece of scratch paper or tissue paper between the paint and the page above it. The dry paint will leave marks.

3. These work best with a paint brush and just a bit of water. We tried q-tips and they held too much water.

Happy crafting!

Fresh Start

2011-12-08T15:43:00.000-06:00

I am thinking of beginning anew.

With as much help as I get from Emma, and as much support as I receive from Jared, I feel that if I have a crafty business, it should incorporate the two of them.

With a new shop/blog I would like to be more organized, but there is no guarantee that will happen. We tend to be more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants kinda family.

That doesn't mean that items ordered wouldn't get shipped on time, only that items may be a little slow getting listed, or that posts to our blog may be a little sporadic.

Kinda like how things work now, though I plan to try to follow more of a schedule. As long as it doesn't take the joy out of creating.

Nothing is for sure, I could change my mind tomorrow. Can you guess I am a Gemini?

Cleaning House- Beeswax Sheets

2011-09-23T12:16:00.000-05:00

I am trying to clear out a bunch of stuff so that we can build a rock climbing gym in our house. So, stay tuned for items I will have up for sale.

Beeswax Sheets- I have 14 sheets of beeswax in a variety of colors, mostly cool colors. The original instructions are included as well as the wick. I would like $20 for all of them and that will include shipping.

If you are interested, just post a comment with a way for me to get in touch with you.

Have a great day!

Site Updates

2011-09-18T21:52:00.000-05:00

Lots of super exciting things to mention but my brain is a bit tired.

I just went through and updated my website (calendar of events, some new photos, etc.).

Here on my blog I updated the Own It page with a few cool items that I can custom make for you, so click on over and check it out. Also, if there is anything you see on my site that you would like to purchase, just let me know.

Until I have more brain cells to post something more interesting, here is a fun random photo.

From when the days were a bit warmer, like last week.

Just Be Yourself Altered Journal

2011-09-05T11:15:00.000-05:00

Yes, more journals. This one came about by accident. When I work in my altered journals, I typically work on a spread, then work on a few pages that I have pulled from the altered journal. When I was working on the Celebrate spread, I was really happy with how thick the paper turned out with the writing journal pages as a collaged layer. So I made more.

Front page. The tag says 'just be yourself.' The purple is wax from a candle that I dripped around the page and then stamped with found items.

Celebrate the Journey

This was the first page I created using my writing journal pages.

Squishy Head

I really liked the pictures :) The fingers made me think of when I was a kid and I would "squish" people with my fingers.

History Squares

These fun squares were created using different widths of cut up credit cards.

Critters

More random and fun items.

Inherit the Earth

Emma loves Furn Gully, and I really like the message it sends. I added a picture of Emma and Jared hiking, and the Native America proverb, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." Just call me a tree hugger :)

Change is Good

Hearts cut from a scrap piece of encyclopedia page, drops of red wax, and a ticket from a play I saw with my sister and her sisters-in-law 4 years ago.

You might remember this lady from this post.

Cracked

Just some fun images that I liked.

In Progress

I might do something with it, I might not. Only time will tell.

Also in progress.

A fun page with bicycles in the upper left corner.

Back cover

My second painted lady with more wax art. And yes, she is mischievous.

Thanks for stopping by, I would love to hear what you think!

A Woop and a Swoop and a Lady

2011-09-01T22:59:00.000-05:00

Holy crap I painted a person!

It all started with this cool paper dodad for collageing. (I know there is a word for collage materials, but I have no idea what it is). As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to use it as a hat for a person. I was thinking for a personal photo, or a magazine cut out.

Then Jared said it would look cool as a feather headpiece. I liked that better, my persons head could be bigger.

I had already painted my background, so I threw some glue down towards the top of the right hand page and went from there.

I looked through a few magazines, but wasn't feeling inspired, so I decided to try to draw the head and face. The background paint was still a bit wet, so I was having a hard time with the pencil. It was getting frustrating.

I said screw it, and decided to do what I do best. Wing it.

Our came the brown paint. I just painted some hair. I like the way it looked. In fact, I was really happy that it actually looked like the side of someones head.

Then I tried the pencil again to draw the face. I could see the face in my mind, but I COULD NOT get the stupid face onto the paper with the pencil. Again, I said screw it, grabbed some paint, and just went with it. Worse case scenario, I paint over it all.

I started with a very blocking profile of a face, minus a nose. I thought the chin looked very square and manly, so I added a woop, then a swoop for a nose. I almost fell out of my chair.

SHE ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE A LADY!!!!

No, she isn't perfect, and yes, she needs eyes and a mouth, but honestly, I am afraid to add those. I tried to add lips tonight. Thankfully I chose a pinkish color. When the lips turned out horrid, I just mixed the pink with the flesh color to give my lady a rosy complexion :) I plan to add highlights and lowlights to her hair tomorrow after I scan it. I also plan to attempt a face, once again after I scan the original. That way if I mess it up, I can always just print her out and try again. Of course, the smart thing to do would be to print her out and try it on that first...

My lady certainly isn't the best painting every, but man am I happy with how she turned out. I was so excited I got goose bumps. This is the very first painting I have done (that I can remember) where the end result turned out to be recognizable human.

'Course, it helps when you stop telling yourself that you can't _______ (fill in the blank; paint, draw, do math, etc.).

It is amazing what you can accomplish when you tell yourself that YOU CAN.

Classes and Workshops

2011-08-28T23:55:00.001-05:00

Here is a quick overview of classes that I plan to offer.

Junk Journals

Junk journals are created with recycled materials. Junk journals contain a bit of everything from paper and window screens, to envelopes and fabric scraps. Junk journals are a great way to keep junk out of the landfills and give them a new purpose.

Junk journals can be used for many different purposes; as a mini scrapbook, writing journal, art journal, planner, list keeper, etc. The uses are only limited by your imagination!

Adult Class- 12+

Kids Class- 5+ (adult assistance will be required).

Altered Journals

Altered journals are created from books that are no longer wanted or needed. Hardcover works best, but some sturdy soft covers work well also. Pages are painted, colored, torn out, added in, collaged, and generally altered in some artistic way. Some can be altered just enough that you can use them as writing journals, or each page can be a creative explosion of art. Once again, you are only limited by your imagination here. And, if you are like me and sometimes your imagination fails you, the internet is full of inspiration!

Altered journals can be a great gift created for someone else, or a wonderful book of creative and artistic memories for you to add to your personal library.

Adult Class- 16+

Kids Class- 5+ (adult assistance will be required.

Paper People

Paper people are created using recycled papers and other new, recycled, or upcycled materials. Create them as fancy or nonchalant as you wish. Paper princesses or paper paupers; paper cowgirls or paper ballerinas; the choice is yours! Fill up an altered journal or a junk journal with them!

Paper people can be used for cards, journals, paper dress up dolls, or any other fun project that requires people made out of paper!

16+

Freezer Paper Stenciling

A great way to add some excitement to your wardrobe! With the use of freezer paper, and iron and some paint, we can make the old new again.

Kids Class 5+ - (adult assistant will be required )

Adult Class 12+-

Crayon Art

If you have a bunch of broken, worn down, or partially melted crayons, these classes would be for you. Some crayon art includes:

-Melted wax Rock Art

-Melted Wax Canvas Art

-Recycled Crayons

-“Stained Glass” Windows

-And lots more!

All ages, children under 6 will require adult assistance.

Handprint Art

Children’s art created with handprints is a great keepsake and a wonderful way to see how your child has grown. Some handprint art we would be doing include:

-Hand Tree: A tree created using scrap fabric glued onto a canvas background.

-High-five Pillow: A small pillow with your child’s handprint stitched or ironed onto the front.

-More to come for this category!

All ages, children under 6 will require adult assistance.

Homemade Art Supplies

-Sidewalk chalk

-water color paints

-Playdough

-Glue

I will be adding to this list regularly so check back often!

An Awesome Weekend and A Workshop

2011-08-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

To those of you that I met this weekend at the Nevada Lincoln Highway days, thank you for making this weekend super awesome!

I had so much fun talking to all the people that stopped by my booth. I didn't sell much, but I did get a lot of people interested in classes and workshops! I am so excited to get started teaching others to be resourceful and creative. That being said, here is a link to more specific information about my upcoming Junk Journal workshop. For classes that are scheduled in the future, visit my calendar.

Thanks again for making my weekend rock and I look forward to meeting you again in one of my creative classes!

Background

2011-08-27T10:51:00.000-05:00

I have been doing a lot of painting lately. I am really enjoying it, and I am finding that even the pages I use to brush off the excess paint turn into something useful. I plan to use them for backgrounds, collage, lettering, etc. I love the way they look:)

Here they are. Feel free to use them however you choose.

This piece is collaged items covered with blue wall paint.

One of my scratch pieces of paper where I rested my brush, stamps, wiped excess paint off brushes, dropped clumps of mostly dried paint on it, etc.

Wiping excess paint.

These last 4 where created on a 12"x12" piece of cardboard. I like how I can get 4 different views of it by turning it around on my scanner and re-scanning it.

Happy Crafting!!

Teaching a Workshop!

2011-08-21T21:24:00.001-05:00

I am super excited to be teaching my first workshop! I will be teaching people how to create a junk journal (and another example). Nothing to hard, but for some people (like me) it really helps to have someone explain (with visual aids) something like this.

Here are a few pictures. For more, check out the links above.

If you are interested in attending the workshop, here is the info:

Junk Journals Workshop

September 15th, 6:30-8:30p

1037 8th St, Nevada, IA

Cost: $10 per person (12+ only please)

- Do you have piles of neglected, but useful paper? Do you collect cool papers, but don't really know what to do with them? Are you a closet paper hoarder that needs a productive outlet for your "problem"? Stop by the Nevada Community resource Center and let Tina, a.k.a KaoticKrafter, show you how to turn those papers into a fun junk journal. You can use your junk journal for so many different purposes- leave it plain to just show off your interesting papers, use it as an actual journal and jot down your thoughts, turn it into a mini scrapbook or brag book, or come up with something entirely different!

Items provided- Binder rings, cover materials, cutting devices, plenty of paper, lots of odds and ends, paint, markers, pencils, stamps, and lots of ideas!

Items to bring (optional)- Papers that you would love to keep but have no idea how to use it, any pictures or other odds and ends that inspire you and that you would like to include.

Paper ideas- graph paper, copy paper printed on one side, ledger paper, receipts, recipes, old school notes, old dictionary pages, stationary, scrapbook paper, writing paper, watercolor paper, magazine pages, maps, atlas pages, comics, announcements, greeting cards, etc. The papers do not have to be blank, or plain. Stains, writing, pictures, etc. are just fine.

To sign up, e-mail Tina at kaotickrafter@hotmail.com or visit her website at www.kaotickrafter.com

Class size is limited to 10 people and signups will end one week prior to the class start date (September 8^th). Don’t delay, sign up today!

Meet River

2011-08-12T09:33:00.000-05:00

Before I introduce you to River, I need to go back and tell you a bit about Where It's At. To tell you more about Where It's At, you might want to read my last about Ames C.art.

I met a gal named Shelley at my very first Creative Collision get together. I sat next to her and we chatted about different types of sewing and flower making. It was fun. Life got crazy and I wasn't able to make any more Creative Collision's for a while. I have been going back for the last 3 or 4 months and I love it. Such a great group of people with awesome ideas about everything. I hadn't seen Shelley at the get together's, but someone mentioned that she had opened a little shop on Main St and was looking to rent shelf space to local artists.

I managed to be brave enough to make my way in one day and Shelley and I chatted about crafty things. She was interested in the things that I make so I brought some goodies by a few days later.

Where It's At is a fun, funky, eclectic, hippy kinda store. I fit right in :) Shelley makes a lot of patchwork items; skirts, bags, shorts, pants, etc. I love all that she makes and if I ever sell enough stuff, I plan to buy a skirt :)

Well, I really like Where It's At, and I really want it to thrive, so I like to help out where I can. After all, if Where It's At does well, chances are so will I.

Shelley had a boring open sign, so I made her a new one. I will probable make another one soon, but for now, River does a great job letting people know that the shop is open.

River's skirt was made using scraps from some of Shelley's projects. The tapestry hanging behind River is one that Shelley has available in her shop. Feel free to check out the photos from Where It's At's face book page. If you see anything you like, give Shelley a call and I am sure something can be arranged.

Have a great Friday!

Bringing Local Art to the Communtiy

2011-08-05T11:52:00.000-05:00

I have been getting more and more involved with the local art community in Ames. I have been attending a monthly get together called Creative Collision hosted by Ames C.art. Creative Collision is just a group of people who meet at a local business and chat, work on projects, and have fun. It is very low pressure and relaxed.

Every year Ames C.art does a community project. Last year they painted a mural on one of the buildings in Campus Town in Ames. This was before I was aware of Ames C.art.

This years project is the ArtVend. What is ArtVend?

"It is a vending machine that has been transformed to display and sell the work of local artists and crafters (aka Makers). The machine will spread homemade morsels of Central Iowa where they might not normally reach, and local Makers will have a unique option to promote their work. The presence of the ArtVend will encourage the integration of creativity into everyday life."

I am very excited to be submitting some items for ArtVend which debuts in mid September. ArtVend will be located at Wheatsfield Cooperative Grocery in Ames, IA.

If you live within 50 miles of Ames, IA and you would like to submit your creations, please visit Ames C.art for more info!

Meet Lily the Paper Princess

2011-08-04T13:03:00.001-05:00

Please say hello to Lily the Paper Princess. Lily lives in my August Altered Journal . She was drawn directly onto the page, and her name just jumped right out at me. She knew who she wanted to be.

Her beautiful skirt is made from strips of scrap papers. Her top is a bit of leftover scarpbook paper. She has a glittery belt made from tiny seed beads of green, with some matching seed bead leaves next to the blue flower in her hair. The background and her hair are painted with acrylics.

Before finishing Lily's page, I scanned her and made some mini-Lilys.

I printed out the minis and glued them to a page from a book that I painted with black acrylic. I added a few more strips of paper and colored the belt and leaves with a green glittery gel pen. I added a blue flower to the hair. I then went in and added a boarder on each of the minis. I haven't decided if I want to leave them plain or add more so they are ladies in waiting.

I have since finished the original Lily.

I hope that you are having a fantastic Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by.

Meet Sassy

2011-08-04T12:44:00.000-05:00

Sassy started out as a page from my crafting dictionary published in 1943. I usually like to try and line up the head of my people with a fun word on the page. That is how I have decided to name my people. I was a little tired when I started this girl, so I forgot to do that :(

Here is the outline of her body and the dress I made for her on some tracing paper (hence the light lines).

Here is Sassy all dressed up and ready to go.

I went back and added a purse to the original.

Once I have finished with most of the dressing and what not, I like to scan them and add text.

Then I print it out and add a few more touches.

Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't. The printed version isn't always as vibrant, so sometimes I repaint, or color the background.

I am still playing around with the best way to shrink them down so I can make prints, bookmarks, cards, etc from the original. If you have any tips on programs that work well (and are free) I would love to hear about them!

Thanks for stopping by :)

p.s.- Feel free to use my images as you would like. If you make money from them, great job! Let me know how so I can make some too :)

August's Altered Art Journal- Calendar

2011-08-02T01:12:00.001-05:00

To start of the new month I started a new altered journal. I love how everything in life is a learning process.

First lesson learned from the new journal?

Make sure the altered journal isn't bigger than my scanner :)

Here are my calendar pages:

The calendar pages are on the back of the front cover and the very first page. I ripped up a few pages from an old dictionary and mod podged them in. I went over that with some green soft pastels with a touch of blue. Over that I made a bunch of swirls with different colored gel pens (gelly roll, soufle, glaze). I also used some LePlume markers and a few sharpies. All in shades of blue and green with a touch of white. I went over it all with mod podge and layed out my inchies for the title and days of the month. I used Martha Stewarts Opaqu marker set for the month and year. I traced the letters and numbers with a silver sharpie.

And I decided to do weekly pages as well.

The weeks are not to fancy. I just used some found lined papers- each week has the same patterns of paper, but I have arranged them different for each week. I plan to doodle to fill in all the blank space.

That is all I have so far but I look forward to filling up this months altered journal!

Almost Bedtime

2011-07-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

I should have gone to bed at least an hour ago, but I just had to finish this guy.

A simple collage paper person just for my hubby.

A combination of his 2 loves. Mountain Biking, and paintball. Can't see the paintball aspect? Look a little more closely at his bike, body and clothes. All taken from a paintball magazine.

Now I need to get some sleep. I have more people to create tomorrow :)

Paper Abigail meets my Altered Art Journal

2011-07-27T21:17:00.001-05:00

My latest paper person was interested in meeting my other paper obsession, my Altered Art Journal. She found a page she liked and decided to make it her home.

She originally thought she might like to blow some bubbles, but once she saw all the beautiful flowers, she just had to pick a few.

Enjoy your new home Abigail, the birdie sure is happy your there!

Paper People- Forms

2011-07-27T19:58:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone would want them, I decided to scan and post my people forms.

I plan to do more with this later so stay tuned!

Still In Love

2011-07-24T22:37:00.000-05:00

Oh boy. I think I may end up need an entire room for all the paper people I have running through my head!

I spent more time today sketching figures than actually putting them together, but I still had a blast. Especially because if you had told me 2 months ago that I would be drawing people (not just stick people) and that they would actually resemble people (if a bit whimsical), I would have laughed. Hard.

So, long story short, I am enjoying drawing the figures as much as I am enjoying creating the finished person.

So, without more "Wah wah, wah" (you know, the noise that the adults make in the Peanuts movies);

Meet Lolyta.

I love her.

She makes me smile when I look at her :)

Here is Lolyta with her sketch.

Her sketch is referred to as #8 (cause, well, she was the 8th sketch I made).

Close up of Lolyta's skirt. You can just see her cute little shoes peaking out.

More sketches. Actually, the rest of the pictures are sketches. I used a magazine lady as the inspiration for the pose on the left. Then I wanted to see if I could draw a man. Turns out I can :)

I REALLY want to make a cowgirl for Emma. I thought that if I could also make her a cowgirl that could sit on a horse (either drawn or cut from a book/magazine)

Sketch on the left is taken from a magazine ad with Beyonce. The right is a sketch from my imagination. Amazing isn't it :) That is also Miss Lolyta!

I have vision of including my paper people in my altered art journals as well as trying to make them into cards or little pieces of art that I can submit to our local ArtVend (an awesome vending machine with small pieces of local art in it). In order to do that I needed them to be smaller then the 9" ladies I have been making. So, I played with dimensions.

I ended up having to switch to graph paper at one point to get it figured out. But it worked! This sketch is just over 6 inches, about 2 inches wide. Perfect for oh so many things :)

I am loosely following along with the Altered Journal Craft Along on craftsters.org and the theme right now is sunshine, light, and music. I had the image of a kid blowing bubbles in the sunshine, wearing a fun summer dress with some birds singing in the background. The above sketch is the pose that came to mind. Not exactly a kids body, but it will be.

Then I thought, "Well, she could be blowing someone a kiss. But if she were, she would be in a more romantic, dramatic pose." Yeah, might take a bit of imagination to see it, but hey, I WAS ABLE TO SKETCH THIS WITHOUT THE LINES!!!

Yes, a bit over excited, but I like the idea of being able to just whip out a sketch without having to draw all the silly measurement lines :)

I hope you had a fantastic Sunday and I hope that your week goes even better!

p.s. We decided to name the tall girl (the one on my MIL's wall) Celeste. My very first paper girly is named Sophie. And I love them all :)

Latest Obsession- Paper People

2011-07-23T23:24:00.000-05:00

I bought this book on a whim (after looking through about 15 other paper craft/art journal books). I am so glad I did!

This book has great instructions for how to draw people. She explains the normal proportions (the average human is 7 heads tall), then explains how she does it.

Here are my attempts at drawing people in poses (left) and with some implied movement (right).

I gave the eyes and mouths a try, but I really didn't enjoy that part at all.

So fancy pants (and skirts, and dresses).

My first finished girlie!! I love her. I really need to come up with a name for her...

My mother in law loved my little lady so much that she wanted one! Except she wanted her "little" lady to be around 36"-40" tall!

Here she is just about done.

A little closer up.

Here she is on the wall in my MIL's house.

And just a bit closer. She needs some shoes (and a bit of lipo suction on her calves), but we are pretty happy with how she turned out.

If you have any ideas for what to name my little lady, I would love to hear your suggestions!

Off to create a super cute army! Actually, I do think I would like to try to make a few boys at some point, but not necessarily military. Maybe one riding a bicycle, or playing paintball...

More Altered Journal Pages

2011-07-09T23:50:00.001-05:00

I discovered that using my scanner produces better shots of my altered journal pages. Well, except for the squiggly line down the center of some.

Black and White Inchies

Weird randomness

Decided to make a calendar in the front of the book.

Currently trying to write a poem to go with this page. I may just end up writing a story.

My first collage person. I want those tights!

Rearranging the family/craft/weight room

This page was fun. Tissue paper, flowers from Dora napkins and a horse from brochure.

Pictures from the actually readers digest I am currently mutilating.

Weird randomness

Emma's art! She loves to draw giraffes. She is pretty critical of her horse drawings so there are not as many.

2nd collaged person and picture from the book.

My goal is to try and create a new page every day, but it may not happen. At the end of July I plan to use up whatever pages are left in the back of the book to make a little storage nook (in a book!). Then I will start a new altered journal in August (unless something shiny catches my eye...).

The Empty Nest

2011-07-03T20:21:00.001-05:00

Here is the latest pages in my Altered Art Journal.

I wrote a poem! Not the best, but it has been YEARS since I have written a poem and I really want to get back into it. I read this to Emma and she requested that next time I write a poem for her (after asking what a poem is) that it be about a horse.

Go figure.

The nest is real grass and real bits of a robins egg. It will be interesting to see how it holds up.

Oh, and I just got the pens today. They are called Jelly Rolls and I think I love them :)

I Can Draw!

2011-06-27T17:02:00.001-05:00

Who knew?

I guess you really can accomplish a lot if you actually try. I was looking through the Beginner Inchie (and ATC) Swap R2 gallery the other day and saw a really cute robot.

So I decided to see if I could replicate it. I think it turned out kinda cute, so I added a dog.

I wanted to know if I could draw something else if I had a picture to look at so I kept my eyes open for something that would work. Turns out my hubby's Spanish book has some really cute simple drawings in it. I made a photo copy of this one

to add to my black and white art journal and decided to try copying it.

I have to admit that the level of excitedness for how well this came out was pretty excessive. On top of that, my hubby leaned over when I was just about finished and said, "WOW babe, that looks great!"

An unsolicited compliment! It was probably a good thing I was tired or I would have been dancing around the house with how happy I was with how this turned out.

So...this is my latest obsession to go with my latest obsession. If that makes sense.

I love black and white line drawings (I have no idea if that is what they are called). I love the simple and clean look of them.

When I looked for more things that I could try to draw, I was happy to find this.

I actually had this saved in a word document to use for other crafty things, but decided to try drawing it.

I think I may be getting the hang of this drawing thing :)

I have always been fairly good at drawing trees, and I have recently dabbled in flowers, so I am happy with how these came out.

Sorry for the sideways view

Then I tried drawing cartoon faces. With a normal Sharpie marker.

Not super excited by them, but I decided to keep even the pictures I don't like so I can see my progress.

Doodles

More doodles on scrapbook paper

While I am not comfortable trying to imagine and draw my own person (faces and hands intimidate me), I was happy to try and draw my own little city/town scapes.

Emma (my 5 1/2 yo) helped me with this one. Can you spot the house that she drew? And the birds?

Then Emma decided to show me how to draw a horse.

She thought mine (on the top/right) looked like a long neck :)

I decided to try a landscape type picture as well.

Emma informed me that the horse needed to have lines to show where the hooves are. Such the critic already.

With all this drawing, I am finding that I really like the uni-ball gel roller pen. The one I have done most of my drawing with is a micro tip (somewhere between a .1mm to .3mm). So, I went to Staples today (I thought they would have the largest selection of pens to choose from) and looked through all the pens they had.

I really wanted a variety pack of different tips, but thought I was going to have to settle for a 4 pack of all the same size. I was having a tough time deciding.

Did I want the same tip I am using now, or do I want to try the next size up?

Oh look! They have the pen I am looking at in bold! Do I want these instead?

I probably held 3-4 different packs of pens in my hand for about 20 minutes trying to decide. I was shooting to spend around $10 (cause you know stay home moms really don't make enough money, and having a husband in college doesn't really pay much either) so I couldn't get more then one pack.

I finally decided to go with the fine tip (which was a .7 I believe).

For the heck of it I wandered off to check out the watercolor paper. Just cause I was curious after signing up for these free art journal classes on line.

And while I was over there I found a 4 pack of pens ( I thought) that all had different tips. They go from .1mm-.7mm. A few dollars over what I wanted, but I liked it better then getting 4 of the same pen.

I got home, took a nap (I hate naps but some days I just have to) then got up and experimented.

Uni-ball eye Micro - Staedtler .7mm - .5mm - .3mm - .1mm -

I was a little sad when I noticed that the pens are felt tip, like my Sharpie markers. I really like the way the gel roller ball thingy looks. Oh well.

Here is the picture I drew today (while outside no less) with the .7mm pen.

Not too shabby. Not to shabby at all.

More Art Journals

2011-06-25T23:46:00.000-05:00

I am really enjoying making art. And I really feel like it is ok if I call it art :)

Here is a link to my flicker page if you are interested in looking at the 78 photos I just uploaded :)

My Art Journal Photos

More to come!

Tutorial- My version of an Art Journal

2011-06-22T22:17:00.001-05:00

(Wow, 2 posts in 2 days!)

Ok, so if you are not aware of my latest obsession, you may want to read up a bit here.

So, now it is my job to get you hooked as well :)

Here we go!

Materials Needed:

-Corrugated cardboard

-Ruler

-Rotary cutter (or scissors)

-Cutting mat (if using rotary cutter)

-Book rings (or ribbon will work as well, just a little more of a pain to add pages)

-Paper (printer paper, tracing paper, wrapping paper, newspaper, scrapbook paper, brown paper bags, packaging paper, graph paper, maps... I think you get the idea)

-Hole Punch (not shown- adjustable 3 hole punch or a single punch. You may be able to get a fixed 3 hole punch to work)

-Other fun and random items to to put into your journal. (envelopes, cards, pictures, fabric, dried flowers, beads, trinkets, whatever!)

-Writing implements.

-Glue, tape, stapler, staples.

Oh, and box. I like to find a shoe box (or a papa johns chicken strips box in this case) to hold all the items that I think I might want to add to my journal. I usually try to keep at least a glue stick in there also.

Step 1.
-Decide what size you want your journal to be. I typically like 5.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Having it a square makes it a bit easier to get the pages lined up.

However, for this black and white journal I went with what I had for white paper which ended up being 4 inches by 6 inches.

-Cut 2 pieces of cardboard slightly larger on 3 sides then your paper.
-Cut a lot of random paper to to the size you would like. You do not need to get them perfect.

Step 2.
-Set up your adjustable 3 hole punch so that 2 of the punches are where you would like your rings or ribbons. I suppose you could also have 3 holes. Or 4 for that matter. How ever many you want :)
-Punch holes on one side of all of your paper and the cardboard. *Make sure that the paper is pushed all the way to the back of the hole punch (or you will get partially punched holes). It may make it easier if you make a mark on the hole punch so you know where to like all you paper up so that the holes line up nicely.

Or not, it is up to you :) the beauty of the book rings or ribbon is that as long as the holes mostly line up, you should be good to go.

Step 3.
-Here is where the fun comes in. Take your cardboard and poke a pencil under the top layer of paper.

Peal it off slowly until your get the look you are going for. Do one side of each piece of cardboard.

Step 4
Sew things to other things :) This is of course an optional step, but I really like this part, so I expect that all of my covers will have some sewing on them. Not super happy with the back cover but I can fix it as I go.

-If you plan to add anything that will hang off or add any odd bulk, wait until your are about finished with your journal. Or add it now and take out the pages you want to work as you go :)

Step 4.
-Ok this part is pretty fun too. Put everything together. Play with the lay out. Then do what you will with it :) Draw, paint, collage, staple and have a blast!

Don't mind the green ring. I just ordered more silver, but I had to make do :)

Here are a few examples of what I have done with my journal so far.

Bits of left over thread from the covers.

Envelope holding a sticker to be added.

Stamped paint chip weaving.

Months of the year. Just 'cause.

We really love horses :)

If you have any questions, or need something clarified, please leave me a message or send me an e-mail. I am happy to help!

I would love to see what you make. If you write a blog post about it, leave me a comment with the link and I will stop by and check it out!

Happy Crafting!

p.s. I plan to add photos of my pages as I add to the journal. Thanks for stopping by!

Latest Obsession

2011-06-21T17:07:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I had a blast at my first vending event. Thank you very much to everyone out at Prairieland Herb for making my first event awesome and stress free!

Lets hope my first class goes as smoothly :)

Ok, so onto my latest obsession.

Art Journals!

Well, I guess mine would qualify more as junk or scrap journals for a few reasons.

1. I can't draw. I am working on it, but really, there are very few things that I can draw well enough that someone else would be able to recognize it easily.

2. I am addicted to adding stuff to it. Basically, if I could figure out how to punch 2 holes in the kitchen sink, I would probably try to add that too :)

I have been wanting to make an art journal for a while. The ones that I keep seeing over at craftster.org look so cool, and I love the idea of being able to recycle. Go figure. I am not sure when I first started coveting one, but it has been a while.

Added to that, I have been researching other ways to make journals and such and I ran across this cool woven journal cover. Once I found that, I was stuck (believe me, my arm was really being twisted) reading through The Creative Place. For hours. I loved all the journals I found there and wanted to make them all.

Through that site (I think), I found this cool technique for making covers.

And the straw that broke the camels back was this awesome art journal made by Phizzychick. I finally felt ready.

I guess in the true sense, an art journal is suppose to be a visual journal. You can still write in it, but a lot of it is drawings, paintings, etc.

I can't really do either of those, and I kinda fell off the journalling bandwagon. I didn't let that stop me. I figure the only way I will learn to draw and paint is if I try, try, try again! Until I get better at it, I plan to just keep adding cool things to my journal :)

Inchie Tree and Random stuff.

Emma's Mud Gloves and Mud Socks

The green and purple paper is newspaper that I painted with acrylic paint. A lot of the inchies (1"x1" pieces or art) that I received in swaps are in here.

Envelope received in a swap.

Dictionary page sent through the printer.

Panda card.

Zantangles. Thinking of a B&W theme.

ATC received in a swap

Handmade paper and a note

The beginnings of Emma's art work section.

Emma holding her pigtails while sleeping.

Bowling in Tucson :)

Awesome inchies!

Close up of the awesome inchies.

Happy mistake- Pen holder.

I can draw flowers. Apparently.

More Zentangles

Stitched owl on denim.

Emma's early art.

Doodles

More flowers.

Collage with a few inchies.

Teddy Graham

More flowers

More flowers!!

Needle Felted Flower

Handmade paper.

More of Emma's art.

Emma's very first drawing of a person.

Winking cowgirl or equestrienne.

Chicken wire and wool yarn thingy.

Doodle.

Tree doodle.

First attempt at bead drawing.

Flowers with added backround.

Boarder work-in-progress.

Cool shoe tag I found on the ground.

I used note cards, envelopes, plastic packages, overhead projector paper, ribbon, etc. I plan to have a step-by-step how to up by Friday.

I hope you are inspired!

Short Work

2011-06-05T22:55:00.000-05:00

The title may not be as witty as I thought, but it is past my bedtime.

I am up late because I am super exited about the shorts that I have been making lately.

And by lately I mean yesterday and today.

Here are the ones I made earlier today.

The shorts are super comfy and I was really happy with how they turned out, except the stitching shows wicked bad (I don't use the word wicked enough anymore- I must be losing touch with my New England up-bringing).

Oh, and I haven't added a waist yet. I was too busy wearing them :)

I made a second pair tonight. This pair I made for 2 reasons.

1. I really need shorts

2. I have this awesome fabric I bought on clearance forever ago and I want to make some shorts with it, but I want them to come out really good.

So I have been practicing. I haven't got the waist part down yet :(

The second pair I made tonight I made from a button down shirt. I think they came out pretty cool (except for the waist).

These pants have the buttons down one side and a pocket in the front and back. I sewed the button down part closed so there wouldn't be any gaps and such showing off my undies.

Any who. That is what I have been up to the last few days.

When I haven't been working on shorts, I have been getting some stuff together because I will be a vendor at the next Sample Sunday at Prairieland Herbs in Woodward, IA. I am super excited and a little nervous. I am going to be selling:
Vinyl Record Bowls and Cups

Recycled Journals- The journal covers are made from the vinyl record covers.

Granola Notes- Blank note cards made from Sunbelt granola bar boxes and old calendars and maps.

I will also have some felt flowers and a chaotic mix of some other goodies, but I am trying to focus (for my first time anyway) on just a few of the items I make.

If you live in the central Iowa area and are looking for something to do, stop on by Prarieland Herbs on June 12th for their Sample Sunday!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, so is a Dictionary.

2011-05-15T20:18:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to get my hands on an old for a while now. I mean, how cool would it be to craft using pages from an old dictionary? I had envisioned cool inchies and ATC's, plus some other mixed media types of things.

I purchased this old guy from the Friends of the Library book sale in my town. I paid a whopping $0.50 for this.

G. & C. Merriam Co., Publishers

Springfield, MASS., U.S.A.

1943

I am really glad I got it. I was flipping through it the other day looking at the pictures and thinking of all the fun inchies I could make from those alone.

As I was wondering through the world wide web one day, I came upon a couple pretty cool pictures that had been printed right onto pages from old books. You can see one here.

A few days went buy and I kept thinking about the picture.

Then I signed up for and received my partner for the Tree Swap at Craftsters.org.

I didn't immediately put the two together, but once I did, "Hello new obsession!"

Here are a few of the trees I have drawn in the last 2 days (it could be 3, I can't remember exactly).

The bird in this tree is the actual picture from the dictionary that goes with the word 'warbler'

I was attempting to draw birch trees, but they didn't really come out. When I asked Jared what kind of trees he thought they where, his reply was, "Dictionary trees?"

Not a favorite. I was trying to draw a weeping willow but I only have a vague idea of what they look like. Might have to do a research trip soon.

These next four are a series. I actually started with the Summer one, they realized I liked it a lot. Once I added the nest, I loved the idea of seeing the nest in different seasons.

Spring

Can you see the eggs?

Summer

Can you see the baby birds (there are 3)?

I drew the brown lines with my sharpie, but then lost it. I would prefer that they all have the same color brown, but I don't expect I will be able to wait much longer for the marker to turn up.

Fall

Kinda hard to miss the birds in this one.

Winter

Bye bye Birdies!

Well, I think I might go look at some trees on the web and see what else I can come up with. I hope you have a great week!

Painting the Roses Red

2011-04-30T22:13:00.001-05:00

We have a local place that offers clothes for free. It is all donation based, and so we try to bring clothes in whenever we clean out our closets.

I was there a few weekends ago when I came across this shirt.

I asked Emma if she would like me to make her some pants out if it. She looked at it, touched it, then informed me, "That shirt is too boring. Maybe if the flowers where colored."

Now it just so happens that I have jars of dye sitting on my counter. Out came the red,

I realized that I wasn't going to have enough fabric to make pants, so we went with capris, which Emma loves. I did manage to find a scrap big enough to make a matching shirt (also made from an adults shirt)

This is the "finished" outfit. I had her try everything on and she wouldn't take it off so that I could finish hemming the waist, sleeves or shirt bottom.

Oh well, I am just glad she likes it :)

ArtVend- Bringing Art to the Public

2011-04-29T22:16:00.002-05:00

Our community has a pretty active group of artists, Ames c.art, The goal of the organization is to make art accessible to the public. Last year they painted a mural on one of the buildings in Campus Town (near the ISU campus).

This year, they would like to purchase a vending machine and retro fit it so that it will vend small pieces of art created by local artists. The prices for the art will range from $1-$20. If I understand correctly, the location of the vending machine will rotate through out Ames giving access to more people.

In order to make this a reality, they need help with the funding. If interested in learning more, you can go here for more info.

Thanks for checking it out!

Felt Flower Tutorial (tons of photos!)

2011-04-19T16:22:00.000-05:00

I should really be doing groceries, but I would much rather be doing crafty related things :)

My crafty related thing I decided to do was create a tutorial so others can make felt flowers like I do (you know, if anyone wants to).

Oh, and I am still getting use to this whole tutorial thing, so if you find any problems, let me know.

Lets get started.

Supplies

Felted wool sweaters

Scissors

Marker (or other fabric marking device)

Circle pattern (the diameter of your circle will aprox. equal your flower diameter)

Sewing Needle

Thread

Choice of backing (pin, hair clip, headband, etc)

Hot Glue Gun (not necessary, but helpful)

Step 1. I like to make a 4 inch flower. They are a good size for pins, to go on bags, or for headbands (if you like bigger flowers on your head). Anyway,

Trace circles on your sweater. If your sweater is thicker, you will need 3 circles. For thinner felted sweaters, you will need 4 or more.

Also, if you are making bigger flowers (bigger then 4"), you may need more circles regardless of the thickness.

Step 2. Cut all of your circles in half.

If you have stripes on your fabric, fold your circle in half then skip ahead a few steps to figure out which way you want to cut your fabric. I like to cut across the stripes.

If you cut out more then one set of circles, I suggest putting the correct number of 1/2 circles into individual bags. They make a great project to do on the couch or while waiting at the doctors, etc.

3. Thread about 2 to 2.5 yards of thread onto your needle. Knot the end.

4. Take one 1/2 circle and fold it in half.

Like this.

Then fold one half, in half again, like the picture above.

This is what the front will look like.

This is what the back looks like.

Fold the other half in half, this is what the back of your flower will look like.

And the front.

Step 5. Take your threaded needle and thread the petal right through the bottom center.

Repeat until you have 6 petals on your thread. Be sure that when you thread each petal, the petal is facing the same direction as the others.

Step 6. Once you have all six petals threaded,

poke your needle through the spot where you originally inserted your needle. Instead of going straight through, insert your needle at an angle.

Step 7. Go around the flower threading your needle through the base of the petals. Once you get back to the beginning,

go through the first petal you started with. Pull the thread tight. Poke the needle from the front to the back.

This is what the front of your flower should look like.

From the side.

Step 8. Repeat step 7 on the back.

This is what the back will look like.

From the side after tightening both front and back.

Step 9. To create the center, use fabric scraps from the same sweater or a different one. Cut a rectangle.

Like this.

Step 10. Roll up the rectangle fabric.

This is what you want it to look like.

Step 11. Poke the rolled felt into the center of the flower. Twist it so that you are twisting it in the same direction that you rolled it.

This is what it will look like once you have it where you want it. If it sticks out the back also, that is ok. You can trim it after you have finished sewing it.

Step 12. Poke your needle back through to the front, but coming out one of the bottoms of the petal.

poke the needle through the center of the flower, and out through the base of another petal. Keep going back and forth until you have passed the needle through base of each petal.

This is what the front of your flower should look like.

Step 13. Repeat step 12 on the back.

Step 14. Trim the center of the flower in the back. Try to get it even with the petals, but make sure you don't clip any of the thread.

Step 15. Cut a square of scrap fabric from the same sweater as the flower. Hot glue the scarp of fabric onto the center back of the flower.

like this. Trim the extra edges.

If you want your flower to be a pin, lay a strip of hot glue and firmly press the pin onto the glue.

You want the glue to be poking through the holes, like so.

If you don't have the actual pin things, a safety pin will do just fine. Just glue the pin under a strip of scrap fabric.

Same if you would like a flower headband.

I apparently forgot to take some finished photos. Oops.

Oh well, I hope that you don't have any problems understanding this tutorial.

If you do have problems or questions or comments, just let me know!

Have a great day!

I'm Gonna Do It!

2011-04-18T15:20:00.000-05:00

I am going to sign up for a craft fair.

That makes my heart thump just writing it.

I have wanted to participate in a craft fair for some time. I haven't in the past because the thought of someone deciding if my stuff is good enough or not just made me uncomfortable.

Now, I don't care. I am happy with the creations I make, and I am proud of them. If someone else doesn't feel the same, oh well.

The hardest part now is... well everything :)

I have no idea what I am doing. I googled "Iowa Craft Fairs" and got a lot of results. The ones that are free listings (because I would rather not pay for a list of craft fairs) are all out of date.

That means I actually have to do more research. They do say that the harder your work for something, the more it is worth.

Or something like that.

Anyway, I have decided on at least one craft fair. It is called Oktemberfest. The website is partially updated, but the vendor form is not. I called the number (while shaking from nervousness). The man I spoke with said that someone was scheduled to update the info in the next week or so, but that I could fill out the form and send it in.

I asked what type of craft items are they or are they not looking for. He asked what I have to offer.

My mind went blank. I couldn't think of a single thing I make. It felt like a really long time before I finally answered him, "I make stuff from mostly recycled items. Like animals, I make stuffed animals...and flowers, wool flowers from felted wool sweaters, and..."

He said, "Those are some things we haven't had in the past. You are welcome to bring them and try to sell them."

Really? That was it? So totally awesome :)

I am waiting for my hubby to wake up from his nap (he just got home from a college paintball tournament in Florida where most of the trip was spent on the 44 hour round trip car ride) so that I can print out the form and send it in.

Then I need to figure out what the heck I am suppose to do from there.

Suggestions are welcome (please, pretty please, really, I could use any help you would be willing to provide).

Have a great Monday!

Meet Amphibalinna

2011-04-16T22:16:00.000-05:00

I have been spending all my time over at craftster.org lately. I have been swapping crafty goodies like crazy. I think I am addicted.

In the last 2 months I have tried a few new crafts and gotten hooked on owls:

Inchies- 1" x 1" pieces of art work. Think about the size of a quarter, only square.

ATC's - Artist Trading Cards- Same size as baseball/football/etc cards.

Owls- These will require their own post :)

My most exciting new item though is Amphibalinna.

Linna to her friends.

Linna is a poppet. I discovered the world of poppets through, you guessed it, Craftsters! Here is a fun link with lots of poppet pictures.

Linna began her life as this:

A few cuts, a little thread, and the beginnings of Amphibalinna!

The instructions called for some sort of button shank thingy. I didn't have the time, energy, or money to go to the store to get what was recommended. I dug through my bag of buttons looking for buttons that might work. The buttons are so that the arms and legs can move.

After attaching the arms and legs.

Her cute tail.

I was doing some detail work on the toes when Emma snatched this photo.

Making her clothes was a bigger pain in the butt then making her. The clothes, made from fabric scraps, turned out kinda crappy, but Linna's cuteness makes up for it.

Her eyes are made from buttons, her hair is wool roving. Because her body is from wool, I was able to needle felt her hair right on. Might not be the best way to do it, but I thought it worked out nicely.

A bit of Linna's personality has started to show through. She is an animal lover. She loves,

Cats

Dogs

Ponies

and dino's.

Her favorite cuddle buddy though is

Emma.

Thanks for stopping by!

Swappin' Fool!

2011-04-12T05:00:00.000-05:00

Please excuse any typo's (well, more than are normally there). It is late and I have been in a crafty frenzy for the last couple of hours. Well, almost 5.

I was asked to send out to a second partner in round three of the Random Acts of Kindness swap. At first I was a little nervous. I am always a little nervous. The people over at craftsters.org are all awesome at what they do. I feel a little intimidated due to my kaoticness.

You know , "Jill of all trades, master of none," kinda thing. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but sometimes I can feel a little...less.

Today, when asked to provide for a second swap partner, I felt that same intimidation. Then I started looking through my partners posts, wist, etc. I started formulating an idea and then it just took off.

I went from no clue, to this:

After a bit more research and digging through my crafty stash, I came up with this:

My first mixed media piece. The tree is made from the inside of a security envelope, the left and right owls are fabric, the middle is fused plastic. They all have paper tummies and beaks. They have beads for eyes and metal feather beads for wings. The "leaves" on the tree are from a t-shirt. Oh, the pink on the canvas was painted by Emma a few months ago, so she gets credit for this art work as well!

My partner has three kids. I selected the colors of the owls based off of their birthstones. For their tummies, I added a little image of something they like (the owl on the left belongs to a 1yr old so her interests are hard to pin down through forum messages).

Closeups of the owls:

(I wasn't patient enough to let the glue dry before taking pictures)

As I sat at my kitchen table looking from the pencil drawing to the finished piece, I realized I really liked the simplicity of the pencil drawing. So I grabbed a second canvas and came up with this:

Oil pastels

And now, I am not sure which one I like better. For that matter, I am not sure which one my swap partner would like better...

I would love your thoughts! I don't have to mail it out of a while, so I would appreciate it if you let me know which one you like better and which one you think I should send out.

Thanks and have a great day :)

Swap Updates (Mostly Photos)

2011-04-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

Some photos of the fun stuff I have received or sent out for swaps.

Stuff I have sent out.

Inchies

Clock Attempt #2 I couldn't see the hands so I tried to make them stand out (not photographed). I failed.

So clock #3 was born, packaged, and shipped.

Felt and denim coaster, cuff, flower, notebook.

Received:

My first inchies!

Photo necklace

Crocheted Pageboy Hat

Dragonfly Necklace

I think that brings you up to date!

Crafty Swapping

2011-04-05T23:29:00.000-05:00

As if I haven't had enough on my plate, I went out and got hooked on crafty swapping. I am currently signed up for 4 different swaps over at Craftsters.org.

Sweat Shoppe Swap: Make 5-10 of the same item to swap.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=374066.0

Random Acts of Kindness: 3 different send outs, 3 different secret partners, 3 "unexpected" packages with fun surprises in them.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=374565.0

Clock Swap: Make a clock and swap it.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=375502.0

Inchie My Theme: Creating works of art 1sq in at a time.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=376070.0

I love them! I would sign up for more, but the shipping is costing me more then I figured and with Jared taking summer classes this summer, money will be pretty tight. So, I will finish up these swaps then take a break for a while.

Here are a few pictures from my swaps so far:

Sweat Shoppe Swap- I made felt flower and vinyl bowls/cups.

Random Acts of Kindness- This swap is still in progress so I will show the first round of swapping that is finished.

Round 1 items I sent out

Round 1 items I received

Round 2 item I received

I love that we are getting so many fun horse items!

For the Clock Swap, I attempted to make a clock today, but my idea, though awesome looking, didn't work out. The hands of the clock wouldn't go around. The tree gets in the way.

I do love the way it looks though. I am going to see if I can find a clock set up where the hands are higher up, but if I can't, it will make awesome art :)

Next are some of the inchies I am working on. I am new to making inchies, so bear with me.

The color red, and cats where 2 of the themes to work with for this partner.

Butterflies and fairies for this partner.

Fairy Tales.

Can you guess which fairy tale this is from?

After a bit I got side tracked by my 1sq" whole punch and my stack of magazines. Did you know that there are a lot of cool things that fit nicely in a 1" square?

I sure do now!

Skulls

Bling

Flowers

Blingy flowers

Cool backgrounds

And lots of other fun stuff! Some of the coolest pictures came from junk mail, the other from my Fire Mountain Gems catalog that I keep meaning to cancel.

That is about all that has been going on here. I am trying to get settled back into the rhythm of home, and so far so good. There is laundry to catch up on, dishes to do, but most importantly, family to love. We have been doing a lot of nothing, but we are enjoying doing it together :)

Family Update

2011-04-05T22:59:00.000-05:00

My grandmother passed away on Friday, 1Apr2011, she was 84. Her two biggest fears where living in a nursing home and dying alone. Neither one of those happened. Up until November she led a very active life, golfing and bowling most days of the week. Once she got sick, she never fully recovered, but she was never alone. She had family by her side till the moment she passed.

Rest in peace Memere, I love you.

Crafting Therapy

2011-03-24T19:58:00.000-05:00

Some people see a psychiatrist when times get tough.

I craft.

My grandmother (Memere, it's french and I probably don't spell it correctly) has been sick for a while. She had been living in AZ, the family (Memere included) felt she would be better off in NH where we have more family that could help her out.

With my awesome MIL watching Emma, I flew out to AZ in January (on a Saturday night) to help Memere get packed and ready for the big move. Monday, 2 days after I got there (3 days before she was scheduled to fly to NH) she ended up in the hospital. My sister, Amber (who lives in NH), was scheduled to fly out on Tuesday and fly with Memere to NH. Amber's son ended up with croup, so couldn't get out here until Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Memere's doctor informed me that she would not be ready to fly the next day. Amber was already in the air. Amber landed, helped me get the rest of Memere's stuff packed up (the movers left with all the furniture Wednesday). She hung with me and Memere at the hospital for a while, we had dinner, rented a hotel room, watched a movie and went to sleep. Amber flew home without Memere on Thursday.

I crashed at the hotel for a few nights, and stayed at a friends house (3 hours away) 2 nights. The doctor gave us the ok to schedule her flight for Monday. We got discharged from the hospital on Monday morning and drove directly to the hospital.

By the way, Southwest was phenomenal throughout this entire ordeal. We changed tickets I don't know how many times, and bought them last minute. Every time we spoke with someone through Southwest, they were very understand, supportive and cooperative. And they got us awesome tickets for awesome deals.

Anyway, the flight went better then I planned. We landed and drove right to the medical rehabilitation place the Memere was going to so that she could regain her strength.

Throughout this entire ordeal, I made 3 people hats and 2 doll hats, a handful of baby hats (that ended up being to short so I need to redo).

I flew back to AZ on Tuesday (the day after getting to NH). My flight was the last one to get out before the airport was shut down due to weather.

I spent a few days at my friends house, trying to eat (which I had failed to do while Memere was in the hospital), sleep (yup, failed to do that also), and relax (goes without saying really that relaxing was not happening at the hospital). I crafted with my BFF Yvonne. Even managed to hit up a cute little yarn shop where I bought some fun wool yarn (that has been crocheted and felted into a fun little bag).

I left Yvonne's house on Friday to drive back to IA.

Oh, I also got rear-ended one of the days I was driving from the hospital to my BFF's house. I mean really, was that necessary?

Turns out it was. I got all the crappy stuff out of the way and my drive home was more then I could have asked for. It only took me 2 days, the roads where beautiful (instead of icy like I was expecting), traffic was minimal, and I got to listen to Brisinger the entire way.

I was home for about 3 weeks when Memere took a turn for the worse. Turned out she had a raging infection and a whole in her colon that required surgery. She still hadn't regained much strength, so the outlook wasn't great.

Amber called me with the news Tuesday morning about the surgery and such. Emma and I where on a flight Tuesday, arriving Wednesday morning.

Memere had her surgery Thursday night. With in a day or two she was already making improvements. She looked better, sounded better, and felt better.

While there I crocheted one hat and a few odd little critters.

Emma and I left for home on the following Thursday. We took the train. We love the train.

Memere was doing well enough that she was moved from the hospital to a different rehab facility.

Got to my in-laws on Friday night. Spent the weekend with them (as was the original plan before heading to NH).

I got a call from Amber yesterday letting me know that Memere was back in the hospital. We didn't find anything out last night, but Amber called me this morning to give me an update. Memere has two veins in her pelvis that are, for some reason, bleeding internally. For some reason or other, the doctors are unable to operate to close them.

Due to all the other issues, she is on blood thinners. They can't really stop the blood thinners because she is already full of blood clots. If they keep giving her the blood thinner, she will bleed out. Right now the doctors are walking the thin line between enough blood thinners, but not too much.

Essentially my Memere is dying. The doctors are keeping her alive long enough for family to get to her to say good-byes.

So, not even home a week and I am currently sitting at an airport in Milwaukee. My connecting flight was originally schedule to leave at 8:30ish p.m. It is now delayed till tomorrow morning at 2 a.m.

Looks like I am spending the night in the airport.

Good thing I brought some yarn with me :)

2011-02-20T22:47:00.000-06:00

When I got the latest issue of Family Fun magazine, I was super excited! There are a bunch of cool ideas in there, but the one I got the most excited about was the one where I got to use my hula hoop. Unfortunately it isn't on the website yet, so if anyone is interested in making one, I would be happy to post a tutorial.

Once Emma saw I was using her 'wula hoop' she wanted in on the project.

Da took a few photos.

Emma realized Da was taking photos...

she thought it best to wave (while I was consulting the directions).

Back to work.

Looks like a cool spider web.

Emma lost interest in the weaving so she grabbed a lollipop and a Bone book.

I decided to be sneaky about taking a photo. Stupid red eye detection gave me away.

Close up of my weaving.

Emma reading out loud.

Apparently at some point I started pulling to tightly so I started to create a basket, or a sombrero.

My second attempt turned out much better. I didn't have any more colored t-shirts, just some of Jared's old undershirts.

White would be way to boring. Grungy white even worse.

Bring on the dye!

My technical mixing lab.

Blue (which looked REALLY purple)

Purple

Red

Soaking shirts. I realized after I started soaking them that my shirt to dye ratio was off. I had 4 shirts and 6 bowls of dye. I probably should have cut them into strips first.

Turns out my everyday scissors cut wet fabric pretty well.

Red, orange, yellow

Green

Finished t-shirt loops! Well, mostly finished. I wasn't patient enough to let them dry all the way, but they work just as well damp :)

The beginning.

The end!

I did a horrible job taking photos during the process. That would be because I was watching 'Lie To Me' while crafting. I managed to get this done while watching 2 episodes (so about 1 1/2 hours).

Which brings to mind an idea for a blog series.

Couch Crafting.

Might have to look into it.

Printer Problems

2011-02-16T21:23:00.000-06:00

So, I really wish money grew on trees, and it was earth friendly to go out and buy a new printer just because the one I currently have is being a pain in the @$$.

Once upon a time I was able to send cereal boxes and other thin cardboard through my printer. Now it wants nothing to do with the heavier stuff.

And I am extremely sad about it. I want to be able to print my own business/product cards using our recycled food boxes. It makes them recycled (which I am all about), cheap (which I am also all about), and fun (yup, all about that too).

Now I am not sure what to do. I could just print them on some old office paper/ junk mail then glue them onto the cardboard, but that seems a little waste full.

I could print them on just paper, but then they won't really hold up to anything.

I could hand write them, but then no one would be able to read them (and I don't have the patience to make out hundreds of cards - a girl can dream-).

My latest thought has been to get a stamp made. One with my name, brand, logo, and blog site on it. I love the idea of trying to make it myself, but no one around here seems to sell the stuff to do homemade stamps.

If I could somehow make one with the acrylic stuff, that would be even cooler! Then I can get Emma to help me stamp my cards.

I guess I should go look around on the web to see how much a personalized stamp costs...

If anyone would be willing to make me one in trade for some of my crafted goodies, I would be more then happy to do that!!

Here is what I want it to look like.

I realize that the image would need to be black in white, but if I could somehow get the recycle symbol and the flower outlined, I wouldn't mind adding the color in myself with markers.

Anyway, that is what I have been working/ thinking about for a few days now. But I am done trying to figure out the dang printer.

Paper Crafting

2011-02-14T21:27:00.000-06:00

I have been in the mood lately to play with paper. I have also been in the mood to start working through my stash of granola boxes, and odd papers.

So I created note cards using a Nature Conservancy calendar, Sunbelt granola bar boxes, some magazines, and an old atlas.

I created a template to make my own envelopes. I have a recipe for envelope glue (the kind you lick). Might have to give it a try this week.

I had fun making them. Emma even joined in and helped out for a bit.

She loves cutting and punch paper as much as I do :)

Saturday's Artist

2011-02-11T23:17:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I was reading one of my most favoritest blogs, one that incorperates unschooling and crafting, Ordinary Life Magic. Stephanie mentioned that she wanted to start doing a link party so that her readers could link to the past weeks favorite creative moment. She has titled it Saturday's Artist.

I don't normal do link parties because, well, they tend to be pretty specific and I have to think ahead about it and stuff.

I am not so great at the thinking ahead/ planning thing.

What I like about Saturday's Artist is that I can link to a post about any creative thing Emma and/or I have done during the past week.

Well yesterday, when I was reading Stephanie's post about Saturday's Artist, I knew immediately what I wanted to blog about.

It was this:

I was attempting to make a little felted wool pillow with a flower (both from recycled wool sweaters). The sweater had other plans though. After sewing up the three sides, I turned it right-side-out so that I could get ready to stuff it. I tossed the flower on the not-yet-stuffed pillow to make sure it would still fit and stopped. I could almost hear the sweater telling me, "I want to be a purse, not a boring old pillow, a PURSE!!"

I aim to please.

I lined it with purple jersey fabric (that I kinda did backwards), tossed in a little pocket, added some store bought handles that I covered with more recycled wool, stitched on the flower and added a magnetic button closure.

I aim to please, and boy was I pleased. This purse is my new favorite :)

Anyway, like I said, yesterday I knew exactly what I wanted to link to for the Saturday's Artist. Then today, I made this:

The above purse was made using the sleeves of a wool sweater. After I cut the bottom portion of the sleeves, I had two somewhat "V" shaped pieces left. I kept glancing at them yesterday, thinking I would like to make a hat out of them, but not really sure how it would turn out.

Today I mustered up the courage to give it a try. I am so glad I did. I tried the hat on myself and loved how it fit (how it looked was all together a different story, but living in a cold region has made me care less about how a hat looks, and more about how warm it is). The sides came down nice and low so my ears would be covered, while the front curved up a bit so that I could still see. Jared and I decided it needed some dangling pom-pom things. I wanted to continue to use wool if possible, but I didn't really have any scraps that would work, and I didn't want to cut up a new sweater just to make pom-poms and strings.

I also realized I was a little tired of the white color scheme. I needed more color.

Enter some beautiful Autumn colored roving from Prarieland Herbs. It seemed like just the thing, so I grabbed my needle felting tools and the roving and got busy making some abstract art on a felt hat.

It turned out so awesome, that Emma decided she wanted it.

I was ok with that, it looks way better on her anyway.

(Emma wanted everyone to know she is 5)

(in this picture, Emma, wanted everyone to see what the hat looked liked with the pom-poms behind her shoulders)

I decided to make a scarf that would go with the hat, but realized doing abstract on the scarf would be difficult because there was already a pattern on that part of the sweater.

Oh well, you win some, you loose some.

Emma and I created a lot of fun things this week, but this hat is my favorite.

(edited 13Feb11- I am not sure if I added it correctly, but I wanted to have the fun little Saturday's Artist logo.)

Field of Flowers

2011-02-11T09:36:00.000-06:00

I have finished up my latest batch of flowers for Lisa who owns the wonderful shop, Kaza, in Concord, NH.

I love making flowers. They are so simple and relaxing. The more I make them, the better they become. Isn't it amazing how that works?

So, onto the flowers for Lisa. All the flowers are made from recycled wool sweaters in a white color scheme.

1" Rolled Flower Hair Clips

2" Petal Flower Barrett

2" Petal Flower Pins

2" Swirly Petal Flower Pin and 2" Rolled Flower Pin

3" Petal Flower Pins

4" Petal Flower Headbands

4" Petal Flower Pins

5" Swirly Petal Flower Pins

6" Petal Flower Pins

6" Swirly Petal Flower Purse.

I am thinking about doing a felt flower tutorial. If anyone would be interested, just leave me a comment!

Going with the Flow

2011-02-07T19:14:00.000-06:00

I love how life reminds me that going with the flow is so much easier sometimes.

For the last half of 2009 and the first half of 2010, I beat my head against the wall trying to figure out how to sell my creations. I twittered, facebooked, blogged, promoted, joined groups, etc. I spent more time on the computer trying to sell my stuff then I did actually making stuff (or so it felt).

I managed to sell one thing.

Around summer time last year, I said the heck with it. Trying to sell my stuff was so stressful, it was making me not enjoy the actual creating.

Once the pressure was off (and in between running all over the country) I managed to make some great stuff. I still have most of it, but I tried to give some stuff away to people who could use it.

By chance, I managed to sell some of my book purses. Well, to be accurate, my mother-in-law (the awesome woman that she is) managed to sell not just one, but 3!!!

Then, in one week, I am commissioned to make hats for two different people! (you can read about that here)

I finished up the hats for Angie while I was in AZ (a long story and one I don't really have the energy for). I shipped them off to her on Wednesday, and she got them on Saturday. Just in time for her Packers fan friend to have her hats for the super bowl.

They loved them! Nothing makes my day brighter then knowing someone is happy with something I made for them.

Actually, a lot of things make my day brighter; Emma (or the hubby) giving me an unexpected hug or kiss, a ray of sunshine on a cold, gray day, cooking something new and having it taste good, etc.

But knowing that I made someone happy just by making something for them? That is way up there.

I did remember to take pictures of the hats, but not until I was in the Post Office. The pictures did not come out great, but at least I have some :)

Packers Fan Hat (Child and Doll)

I decided to make some scarves also

One Black, One White Adult Hat

Pink Hat (Child and Doll)

with matching scarves

So, to reiterate, going with the flow works for us. Very well :)

I hope everyone is surviving this crazy winter. If you need a hat to keep your head warm for the remainder of this winter, just let me know!

Back to Crafting

2011-01-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

Man, where does the time go? It has been a while since I have posted an actual, useful post, I may not know how to do it any more.

Hopefully it is like riding a bike.

It is cold in Iowa. Very cold. Cold enough to make me want to play with wool again. In fact, I just got a shipment of sweaters in today. I have to say, when it is this cold and yucky out, I love that I can visit Resweater to order thrifted sweaters. Yes, the shipping does take away a little from the recycling aspect of my chosen 'sport', but man is it so much easier! Besides that, the three closest thrift stores are still about 30 minutes/ 40 minutes away. The closest one is only open 2 days a week for a total of 8 hours.

Instead of taking my chances with the weather, and the possibility of not finding anything after all that driving, I just visit Kris and order what I want. (Resweater is having a giveaway!! Just stop by her site, Resweater, and enter for a chance to win!)

Anyway, the order of sweaters I just got was full of lovely sweaters in shades of white. White because my friend Lisa, who owns a beautiful shop in NH called Kaza likes my felted flowers so much she has ordered more. In a white color scheme.

I have a few made up, so here is a picture.

4-4" white felted flowers, 2 sets of 2-1" felted rolled flowers on clips, 1-1" felted rolled flower on a headband.

I then remembered that Lisa had mentioned that she wanted some pillows. I don't think the one I had is what she has in mind, but I thought the flowers looked gorgeous against the pillow.

Here are some close-ups of the three I added to the pillow.

Emma and I have been up to some other things here and there, but until 2 days ago, I didn't have a camera so I have no photos to prove it.

When I get back from AZ (I know, I need to just stay home for a while), I will get caught back up on photos.

Oh, I can leave you with this fun little creature that just had to be born the other day. I was busy making flowers and for whatever reason, I started goofing around with my fabric, and I created this:

We both hope you have a great weekend!

Hats Galore!

2011-01-21T23:26:00.000-06:00

I have been commissioned to make some hats.

The woman who cleans our teeth is the same woman who does our family photos (you know, being "Paula the dental hygienist" is just her secret identity, she is really Paula the Super Photographer). Her company is This Day Photography, and I could spend all night telling you how much we love having our pictures taken by Paula and how much we love the pictures she produces, but I should go to bed at some point, so I will try to stay on task.

While Emma was sitting in the dentists chair the other day, Paula asked if I still crochet.

It may not seem so here, but yes, I still do.

Paula then asked if I could crochet her some hats.

I thought, "Awesome, now Emma's poor head will get a break because someone else will be wearing the hats I make!"

Paula, however, did not want hats for herself, she wanted hats for itty, bitty babies. The ones she takes pictures off.

The images that came to mind where stunning, knowing what I know about the photos that Paula takes. And I was honored that she wanted my hats in her awesome pictures with the adorable newborn babies.

So of course I said yes.

Did you know how hard it is to make hats for a new born when you crochet like I do? One of the reasons Emma has so many hats is because her head and my head are the only heads available for me to measure against.

My solution to this dilemma is to make a bunch of different sized itty, bitty hats. Besides, not all baby heads are created equal.

I have finished a few and will continue to work on some more until I can make a trip out to Paula to deliver the goods. I like to offer choices when someone gives me a general idea of what they want (as if I am a pro at this sort of thing, ha!).

Meanwhile, I took today "off." Jared has Fridays off from school, so I typically make plans to do errands on my own or something fun for myself on Fridays. Today was the ultimate 'me' day.

I started off with a meditation class, which I am enjoying, then I headed over to Finess Spa Salon in Ames for a Mani/Pedi that I got an awesome deal on through Groupon. While I was lounging around with my tootsies soaking in the pedicure throne, I was finishing up a crochet hat that I was making for Emma (I know, give the poor kid a break). The woman being pampered next to me, Angie, started asking some questions about what I was working on. I was enjoying chatting about crafting and such, because it is one of the only subjects I feel really knowledgeable in.

Then she asked me if I would make her a hat.

"Really, that would be so awesome?!?" is what was going through my mind.

But, I played it cool. I simple asked what color she would like, "Black" was her reply. "And white, I would like a black and a white one."

Now, it is a good thing I had my feet soaking, otherwise I probably would have done my happy dance and embarrassed myself.

I mean, it isn't every day someone likes my stuff enough to want me to make one for them. And two different people in the same week! I love my stuff, and Emma loves my stuff (to a certain point), but other people? That just makes what I already love to do more enjoyable.

'Cause really, I am going to make the stuff anyway, but when I can find a home for it where it will be loved and appreciated, that gives me a warm glow.

So Angie and I exchanged e-mail addresses, and I starting thinking about the fun that I was going to have making a black hat and a white hat.

White seems to be a popular color right now. Me personally, I feel there is enough white stuff falling all around me, but I have to admit the white hats look nice :)

Just so you don't think the only thing I make is hats, here are a few pictures (taken by Emma, my 5yo) of some horse/unicorns/llamas that I made for her.

The middle one was the first one I made, and it is knitted. Yes, I decided to knit something because it was a horse and I have been promising Emma I would make her a horse for about a year now. Thankfully the pattern and directions where easy (and in a video format). I did end up paying for it though, but it was well worth the money.

After taking forever to knit it, I decided to try to make my own with crochet. The didn't come out as great, but Emma loves them anyway. She is so good to my ego!

Well, it is almost tomorrow, and tomorrow I head out to AZ for a week to help my grandmother move. I best get to bed because I have a lot to do tomorrow before I leave...

p.s. I promise to post pictures of the hats once I have them finished. Have a great week!

Chance to Win an iPad

2010-12-20T03:21:00.001-06:00

Go to Frugal Family Fun Blog to enter to win an iPad and an assortment of children’s books courtesy of Target!

Changes and Excitement!

2010-12-05T22:22:00.005-06:00

I should be in bed right now. But what fun is sleep when I have all kinds of exciting things to share?

Well, not really all kinds of exciting things, more like just one super exciting thing.

I NOW SELL SOME OF MY FLOWERS AT Kaza Designs IN CONCORD, NH!!!

Lisa, the owner, is a super great lady. I have known her since I was a kid (she use to babysit me), but we fell out of touch along the way. Thanks to the awesomeness of facebook, we have become reacquainted and it turns out we have a lot in common such as she has a super cute shop specializing it recycled/handmade/local items, and I sell super cute handmade recycled crafts.

Technically I am not local (unless I am visiting family), but I was born and raised in NH, so I think that should count for something.

Would you like to see the cute stuff I sold to Lisa (and she has turned around and sold 5 of the flowers I sold her!)?

Here is a picture of one of my flowers in her shop.

So much fun to work with and sell to such an awesome lady!

As far as changes go, you may have already noticed that I have changed the layout and look of the blog a bit. I plan to make more changes as I go. Feel free to let me know what you like and don't like, or if there is something you would really like to see added.

I appreciate you stopping by and I hope you have/had a wonderful day!

Fun with Words

2010-12-05T09:18:00.007-06:00

I just found this cool site called Wordle. I found it from this site here. So much fun, go check it out! Here are a few of the cool things I created.

A few I made before I realized I was suppose to be doing something else =)

High-Five T-Shirt Pillow Tutorial

2010-11-16T18:45:00.012-06:00

So, here is my tutorial for making a t-shirt pillow. This can be machine or hand stitched, so it is really great for anyone who wishes to give it a try. It could even be a kid friendly project.

Items Needed:
-Smaller t-shirt (the ones pictured are 2/3T)
-tie dye (kits make this pretty user friendly)
-2 scraps of fabric, one hand print sized, one big enough to close up the neck opening.
-marker
-fabric scissors
-sewing machine or thread and needle

Instructions:
*Wash and dry the t-shirt

*Follow the tie dye directions
While you are letting your shirts sit, why don't you check out some of the other fun things I have on my blog.

*Trace the hand print directly onto one of the scraps of fabric (or onto a cereal box or other stiffer paper, then onto the fabric).

*Cut out the fabric hand print

*Stitch the hand print onto the t-shirt wherever you like it best. (If you are doing more then one shirt for more then one child at the same time, just write the child's name on the inside of the hem at the bottom of the shirt.)

*Use the other scrap and sew it to the inside of the neck opening. I have no great advice on how to do this, just wing it till it works :)

*Sew up one sleeve and the bottom hem. I sewed right over the stitching that was there because I liked that the sleeves "opened" a bit.

* Stuff the t-shirt through the open sleeve, then stitch the sleeve up when you are happy with it's fluffiness.

Take a picture of the happy child holding their cool, upcycled, one-of-a-kind t-shirt pillow, and send it to me. (just kidding, you don't have to send me a picture if you do not want to, but I would love to see them!)

Almost forgot, if you love this pillow but are unable to make it yourself, I would love to make one for you! Check out this page for how to order.

Hand Print Gift Ideas

2010-11-16T10:55:00.016-06:00

I don't need to remind anyone that times are tight right now. Lucky for me though, I love crafting and giving. Even better for me, most things I make I created from recycled items. A great way to cut costs even more.

Holiday gifts will be handmade this year. I even convinced my sister to jump on my band wagon :)

I have to tell you, I love my daughters hands. Ever since she was a baby, my favorite thing to do with her, is trace her hands or paint them and make hand prints. It is a great way to follow her growth in a fun and different way.

So, here are a few projects we have made. I have added a link for where I found the idea, and they all over tutorials, so go on over and check them out!

Hug Pillows (found here: From An Igloo)

This will be a pillow for one of the grandparents (if you happen to be reading this, pretend to be surprised at Christmas). We have 4 of the 6 grandchildren on here.
For this project, I actually purchased fabric. I really try not to purchase fabric, but if I do, I make sure to shop in the clearance section and use a coupon. Some of the fabric for this pillow did come from clothes destined for the thrift shop, so I guess it can be considered partially upcycled.

For the hug pillow, I also created some less...formal ones.

These are made from upcycled clothes. The stuffing and thread are new.

High Five Pillows (just a slightly different take on the hug pillow).

These are my nephews pillows. Emma and the boys had great fun using them for a pillow fight.

This project came about due to an oops. A few weeks ago I had Emma and her 3 cousins make some tie dye t-shirts. In a moment of laziness, I bought each of them a package of 5 plain white under shirts. Apparently, they run small :( The shirts for Emma and her youngest cousin, T-Bear, didn't fit. We were able to use the shirts from Emma for T-Bear, but I wasn't sure what to do with the shirts from T-Bear. My sister suggested making them into t-shirt pillows. I loved it! Having 5 t-shirts, and 4 kids, I made a t-shirt for each. I thought adding their own hand print to their shirts would be fun.

Hand Trees (found here: At Second Street)

My oldest nephew didn't want to make one of these so it was just Emma and two of her cousins. I was a little frustrated that Emma and G-Man didn't want to add more leaves, but it is their trees, so I decided to butt out (and not add more after they left the table).

So, this is some of what we have been up too. I hope to get more pictures, but it is slightly slow going as my camera eats batteries. I manage to take about 10 pictures before the batteries are dead. So, now I remove the batteries after each picture taking session. I hope that helps.

Thanks for reading, I hope you find some inspiration here!