A Maternity Dress!

My sister is preggers, so I am making her a couple of maternity outfits to help out with the new wardrobe. Lucky for her, these A-line billowy dresses are now in style! This dress really isn't maternity wear, but there is plenty of room inside for a tummy to grow. I can't wait to see my new niece/nephew (although I think it will be a niece, but I don't know why). Stay tuned for updates on maternity wear and baby crafts!

I Discovered Polymer Clay!

Ha ha, I am finally jumping on the polymer clay bandwagon, and I must say that I am addicted. It's not only fun to make small trinkets, but I've found a use for the clay that is even better. I have long saved old jars from everything that comes through my house: from pickles to pizza sauce to jelly.

And it drives my husband nuts. "Why do you need all those jars? What are you going to do with them?" And until now, I have only been able to say, "You never know when you will need a jar!!"

Well, now I have a better reason. I can use polymer clay to "repurpose" my jars and actually make them useful in a variety of ways! Now, I have all of my family saving jars for me . . .

Here's some not so good pictures of a few of my latest creations. My favorite is the rose jar, but I also love the tiny night and day jars made out of repurposed baby food jars. I don't know what I will put in them yet, but that is going to be just as fun as making them! I'll keep you posted as I make more fun and cute polymer art!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our lives have been crazy in my household lately and we are having the best and worst year of our lives. My husband's mother was put in hospice care two months ago after her 9 year battle with breast cancer. As you can imagine, our lives have been turned upside down and we were saddened by her passing on October 22nd. The time was all too short and we miss her dearly. Please pray for us as the holidays arrive, especially as Thanksgiving will be the one month anniversary of her "graduation" to heaven. She was an amazing woman who touched so many lives that we know she must be organizing the welcoming committee in heaven already.

On a lighter note, I have finally gotten back into some crafting. Andrew's sister requested that I make a couple of dresses for her 2 year old for the holidays and I have completed the first one. I made it by copying a dress that we saw on Ebay and I must say I think mine turned out cuter. Haha. Really, though, the cutest part of this picture is the adorable baby girl in the dress! I used brown gingham, which was nearly impossible to find for some reason, and made the turkey from fabric remnants and this magical stuff called "steam a seam." This was my first attempt at some sewing machine embroidery and I think it turned out pretty well. My sis-in-law wanted her name to be stitched on it, so I figured I could do a better job on the machine than by hand. Tear-away stablizer is amazing! The cutest part is that when everyone asked Mary what was on her dress, she said, "A big flower." Cutie Tootie!!

Prepare to stay tuned for pictures of her Christmas outfit coming early in December!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers young and old out there! Mothers are such an important part of our lives, whether they've been there for us or not. They are the very first people that we are introduced to when we come out of the womb, and they might be the most influential part of how we turn out as people. I am saying "Happy Mother's Day" to my own amazing mom as well as my new mother-in-law today. It's amazing when you join your life with another person's and you're able to see just how much you are like your own mother and how much your partner's mother has made them who they are.

In honor of a holiday, I am going to take the chance to introduce you to a wonderful book that I have fallen in love with called "Holiday Treats." This book is a compilation created by several different authors who have joined forces to bring us a rounded perspective that covers the holidays that most homes in America celebrate.

The book starts out with Halloween and ends with summer holidays and birthdays, covering in between a variety of holidays including Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and a variety of Jewish holidays in a format that is informative and fun. Each section is filled with creative recipes, crafting, games, and helpful tips that are sure to make it easy to create traditions in your family that your children will remember for years to come. It's a valuable resource for moms and grandmoms to look to, if only for a reference or to spark ideas for other crafts and creative recipes.

These pages are filled with colorful pictures and step-by-step instructions that often include tips for when children can help out and when adult supervision is recommended. The instructions are easy to read and often the authors use anecdotes from their own experiences to guide you as you attempt to start your own traditions.

The crafts presented in the book range in difficulty from easy-peasy to mildly advanced *(these are my personal ratings and are not contained in the book), but most of the time the crafts are kid-friendly and just as fun to make as they are pretty to look at. The recipes are generally simple and elegant, with most of the focus being on presentation.

I highly recommend this book, but if I had any complaints about it, it would be that it seems to focus only on Judeo-Christian and Jewish holidays and I would have appreciated a few holidays from other culturally significant backgrounds such as Chinese New Year or Cinco De Mayo. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to Jewish holidays, which is wonderful, but it might have been nice to see a little more cultural balance in the book.

Swap Love!

Well, here it is! The long-awaited photos of my dollar store swapping fun with Kat in Buffalo! I am going to post pictures of her package to me later this week. The first thing that I made for her (and I guess the thing that she enjoyed most . . . she said she still uses it!) is a purse that I made out of dishtowels. I found three little dishtowels that were the same fabric and two were the same color of purple and one was a darker purple.

I made the lining with a light purple and put a cell-phone pocket inside and a large pocket on the outside, which you can see I have appliqued with a large "K" for Kat! The buttons were sewn on by hand (and totally removable by the way, Kat!), but I thought they were a nice touch. Wish that I'd had more time to make it look cuter, but I was a little rushed for time.

I had to add a cute little donut, because it seems that all of my swap partners have one of these on their wist! It's so much darn fun to make, too. I just included the picture to show that it is different from my last donut (ok, so it's not that different).

The next thing that I did was cover a small journal with some fabric that I repurposed from a wine bag that was velvety and had these awesome dangly beads on it that just made perfect fringe. And I took some felt and covered a set of bamboo coasters that I found at one dollar store and hand embroidered spider webs on each of them.

Here is a closeup to show some of the different spiderweb designs I did. I hope that Kat liked her package, but I do have something that I am still (!) working on for her. Life's been hectic, so I hope that she can forgive my tardiness! She's been an awesome partner and I can't wait to show you her fabulous talent!

My favorite thing I swapped

This is a post about my favorite thing that I swapped with my partner. I made her a t-shirt for her daughter which had a design that matched her own tattoo. She and I emailed back and forth quite a bit and she mentioned that she had some tattoos, so I asked her what they were. She told me about them and mentioned that her "favorite tattoo and current obsession" was her Sailor Jerry tattoo that had a swallow and her daughter's name, "Sophia," in the banner.

Well, I was trying to figure out how to incorporate Sailor Jerry into my package and I did a search to see if I could get some examples of it. Lo and behold, this picture popped up. I was nearly positive that it was her tattoo, but that was confirmed when I discovered that the artist lived in the same city as my partner. Whoopeee!

Now, just how to use this valuable information. I decided early on to do two packages in the swap for Heather and Sophia. It occurred to me that it would be so fab for Sophia to have a shirt that had the same tattoo as her mom, but with "Mommy" in the banner instead of her own name.

So I messed around in paint and photoshop, bought some t-shirt transfers and a 4-yr-old size t-shirt, and VOILA! I am super proud of this. Also pictured is the bracelet that I made for Sophia that is very similar to a bracelet that I loved when I was her age.

A blatant copy and an original

I am posting some more things that I sent my swapping partner, Heather.

She has a fondness for stuffies, so I really wanted to make her one for the swap. I found this on her wist and decided to try to copy it (but not exactly). I came up with a pretty good version of it, I think and I am rather proud.

I also decided to make her some handmade stationery. Again, I used the hot pink and black theme and made little polymer clay tiles with her initials on them to put on the cards as a personal touch. I liked this technique so much that I am thinking of using polymer clay tiles as "seals" on my wedding invitations.

These were simple projects (once I learned how to bake the clay without it burning up into little black squares) and didn't take very long to finish. It was fun to try to emulate MyPaperCrane's style and techniques, too. I will probably make myself a donut as a little "diet" buddy to help me get through till my wedding day.

PS: I am working on the request for a tutorial/pattern for the knitted bag in my last post. I hope to have a tutorial with pictures. *Cross my fingers*

A knit purse

My swapping partner, Heather, received her package yesterday so now I am free to start posting about the things that I sent her. Whew! It's gonna take a while, so I am just going to blog about one topic at a time.

I knit her this purse out of BabyBee yarn. Her favorite color is pink and she liked it paired with black so I thought this yarn was perfect! It took a skein and a half to make.

I love this yarn so much . . . I'm really glad I bought extra!

I really wanted to make a cable knit purse, so I ended up making up the pattern myself. Next time I think I will try this pattern. However, I really enjoyed this pattern that I made up, so maybe it wasn't such a loss after all.

The lining is a really cheap cotton print that I found at Wal-Mart and backed it with a stiff interfacing so it would stand up on it's own and give some shape to the purse. I also lined the strap, which was hand sewn, so that it wouldn't stretch out to her knees when she wore the purse.

I made a "ribbon" that ran around the top of the purse and tied in a bow on the back, as you can see here. The ribbon also served as a means of attaching the lining to the purse without compromising the yarn. I'm rather proud of this ingenuity, actually.

Finally, the lining of the purse was the same that I used on the strap and the ribbon/bow. I added a pocket, because, well everyone needs a nice sized pocket in their purse!

I made the lining two pieces with stiff interfacing in between so that the pink of the material would fill in any "gaps" in the yarn between cables. It created a really nice effect and was better than just lining it with one piece and white interfacing.

All in all, this was fun and didn't take absolutely forever to knit and put together. If you'd like the pattern, comment and I will post it later.

Swapping Goodness

So, the swap has finally happened and I am so excited! Heather is still waiting on my package to get there (should be there on Wednesday, if not before) and I have my wonderful package from her.

She's a felting and soap making fiend so I am really happy with my package. Wanna see some pics? Of course you do!

She felted me some slippers that are just so comfy and warm. They are my fave color too!

Let's see, next, she made me the cutest little clutch with buttons to die for and some amazing oatmeal and honey soap! I can't wait to try it out!

She also sent me a beautiful soft and warm scarf, a really sweet note on adorable stationery, and some twizzlers (only half eaten because of me, I promise).

And lastly, but definitely not least, she sent me a beautiful piratey bracelet that she made from shrinky dink plastic! It's so adorable! If you can't tell, it has an anchor, a treasure map, a naval star, a treasure chest, a pirate ship, a piratey sword, a parrot, and a buccaneer hat!

I just had to leave you with some slipper action shots. (It's hard to take pics of your feet!)

So Andrew helped out and took a picture for me. Sorry about the lighting here.

I'll post pictures of what I sent her once I get word that she has received it! I can't wait!!!

A Mad Dash

Although I don't technically have to be moved out of my apartment for one more week, I am almost completely out. This weekend, we moved all of my furniture, clothing, crafty stuff, cooking stuff, and bathroom junk. We cleaned the carpets. We moved the washer and dryer. We took out lots of trash. Lots and lots of trash.

Everything I own (except my clothes on my back, a backpack with overnight necessities and a lava lamp) is sitting in boxes in my new apartment without electricity. It's really amazing.

I am house and dog sitting for a lady that I work with this week. It's worked out nicely, actually. She has an air-conditioned home, hot water, a big screen TV and a nice puppy pal for me to use this week while I transition to a new home. This weeked was so stressful that it's actually a nice break to go back to work.

I do have a neat find for the week, though, that I wanted to share with you. It's a website where you can get vintage patterns and really cool discontinued patterns that you can't find most other places. Their prices are fairly cheap, too! And if you buy more than $30 worth of stuff (which I did :-D) then the shipping is completely free! So check it out here.

Pictures as promised!

I promised pictures of the book, so here they are:

Here's a pic of the cover that I made. I wish it were more creative, but I was running out of time.

Now I'm just going to go in order of how I put the book together, skipping the ones that I've already shown you pictures of in my previous post. :-D

This hippo's mouth is buttoned shut at the nostrils, but it opens to reveal a fat red tongue! So fun, in my opinion, and who doesn't love hippopotamuses (hippopotami? what's the plural of this)?

This is my lovely lion. I know that most boys don't care about braiding, but they probably would love the lion anyway, so I included it. Across from him is a page with shapes that snap onto the outlines you see. They are all cut out of different print fabrics, so you get the idea.

My roommate loves the train because it spans two pages. I love it because you can take the elephant and bear out of their compartments! (They are attached with a string so they don't get lost though.)

I know I took pictures of the penguin already, but I took them as page layouts this time and didn't get the balloons yet. Mason is learning his colors, so he can do this one already. Underneath each cutout is a matching color just to help him out. (The pieces are velcro.)

Again, you've seen the alligator, but not my sunny clock! The clock hands on his face are actually moveable plastic pieces attached with a brad. Kids love this page.

The flowers have cutouts sewn to the page, but also buttoned pieces on top of them. The buttons are tiny, but this page makes me happy. I also have the ladybug, which I had to do once I saw it because I love love love ladybugs. Boys like bugs, right?

And inside the ladybug . . . baby ladybugs!!! I love it, but you don't have to.

I love this hang the clothes page. Sadly, many kids don't know what it means to hang your clothes on a clothesline any more. They hang up with hooks (from a hook and eye) and the basket underneath holds the clothes when they are not on the line! The kangaroo is the most difficult page to make, because she has a pouch.

And inside of it . . . is Baby Roo! I had to get the buckle for this from some kids shoes in the thrifstore, because they just don't make buckles small enough anymore!

I've shown you the giraffe, whose bows untie, but not the mitt. This mitt hangs with a hook on the page. He reminds me of the mitt from the hamburger helper commercials and he looks just like an oven mitt (quilted stitching).

This is the last page . . . aww. It's a sweet little turtle who looks like he is blissfully happy!

And inside his shell is . . . love! Awwww . . . what a great way to end the book. Thanks for looking! This has been a project made with a lot of love.

A Birthday Present for a Little Tyke

I have been working on this for a shamefully long amount of time. I just picked it back up again because my best bud's little boy is turning two on July 11th. So, now that all I lack is the embroidery, I decided to get cracking once again.

I am making him a fabric "activity" book. I had one when I was little, and my grandma made it for me. She taught me how to make them and it has been a real bonding experience for the two of us to make some more together. She is my hero and the one who taught me to knit, sew, cook, and do other generally crafty stuff.

So, here are a few pages that I've finished. :-D

I've always loved this alligator since I was a little girl. He has a fun zipper mouth!

He licks his ice cream cone with a little polka dot tongue!! :-D

My sister loves the fishing pelican.

I invented all the pieces for this clown's face.

And his clown shoe is my very own pattern. I'm rather proud of this!

And you have to admit that this giraffe is just too cute.

I love the abacus-like counting page too. It's really simple, but still a learning tool for kids. That's all that I have for now, but I have several more pages to go. Hopefully I can show you more tomorrow! I need to finish soon, though!! Hee hee!