Great Minds

My mom is an amazing crafter! I owe my love of, and ability for, crafting to her. An added bonus of moving back home is craft time with her. She makes holiday ornaments for friends and family each year and this year I got to be on the creative end instead of just a recipient of a beautiful little treasure.

 
It's a funny story how we decided on the ornament to make this year...
I saw a cute ornament on pinterest (of course) of a snowflake burnt onto a wood cutting. I thought, "hey! this would be fun to do with mom!" The next time I went to visit she had three logs on the floor and she said to me "hey K! I've got an idea for ornaments we can make!"...Turns out great (crafting) minds really do think alike.

We decided to make a day of it and craft our little ornaments while she had time off. The project got off to a bumpy start. I woke to a text from mom saying she couldn't find her wood burner, but she was ordering a new one. Ok, well we can cut and sketch them today and finish them later. Before I made it to her house, I got another text "I found it!" Cool! We're back on track, I thought. When I finally made it to her house, baby in tow, more bad news...This is hardwood and the saw we have isn't the right kind so we have a limited amount of ornaments.

It turned out to be enough and the rest of the day went off without a hitch. The ornaments are darling and I loved spending a day crafting with my mom. I hope for many more days like this in our future.

Happy Halloween

As I am sure I have mentioned a number of times, we love Halloween in this house! I decorate the inside, the Mister decorates the outside, and we both decorate ourselves. This year we got to add a baby to the mix! And let me tell you...dressing up a little one is amazing! I loved every minute of planning and crafting. 

The Mister and I like to think of the perfect costumes throughout the year, modifying and changing our ideas right up until craft time. This year we cheated a little and reused our pirate costumes. But can you blame us? Having a two month old doesn't allow for a lot of time at the sewing machine

On Halloween, we all answered the door together. Because aside from dressing my own family, I love seeing all the little ghouls and goblins that venture out. Living in this small town, we don't get nearly as many as we did in the city, but they are adorable just the same. I love listening to moms as they explain the steps to newbie trick-or-treaters and hearing the little ones mumble our "trick-or-treat" as they hold out their little pumpkin buckets.

However you spent your Halloween, I hope you had as much fun as we did! Now it's time for this family to eat too much candy as we start planning next year's costumes and decorations =)

 

Is that not the cutest little tail feather you've ever seen?

Baby's First Craft Project

Mommy is a crafter, Grandma is a crafter...baby is going to be a crafter. At least he will for as long as Mommy gets to choose the activities. It seemed fitting that the little man's first craft project would be a card for his Grandma.

I love all the hand and footprint crafts that exist for remembering tiny little fingers and toes. I thought for sure me and my little one could create one easy as pie... I forgot to consider that he keeps his hands in tight little fists until he falls asleep. "No problem, I'll just wait until he is napping", I said foolishly.

Baby asleep, paint ready, I placed his hand into the paint and he instantly curled it back up into a tight, paint covered, ball. Lets consider this just one more challenge in creating a wonderful house warming card for my mom. I managed to coax his hand back open and slap it onto the card before anything other than my hands, his hands, and his little shirt sleeves received a fresh coat of paint. I consider that a win. 

Next time we'll try using his little foot...

My Little Bumblebee

My apologies for the extended absence from regular blogging. I have been working on a different type of craft project =) Next month the mister and I will welcome out first born into the world. We have been busily attempting to ready ourselves for this wonderful addition. And this has left little time for projects or blogging on my part.

This past weekend my lovely mother hosted a baby shower for me and the theme was bumblebees. I was told I had to be very "hands-off" and couldn't help with the decorating, or the gifts, or anything for that matter. With all the cute ideas out there for bumblebees I had to get my hands dirty somehow. I decided a cute bib necklace would do the trick.

The shower was perfect. Thank you to all those who could attend, and to those who were there in spirit as well. Our new little bundle of joy has very generous friends and family and will be welcomed into the world with lots of love.

Return of the Scarf

I've been playing with this purple yarn, on and off, for a few years now. I've started at least three different scarves, only to decide I didn't like them and take the stitches out again. I finally settled on a pattern that I was pleased with. I had intended for this to be an extra wide scarf, but at the last minute I changed my mind again and decided to try it as a cowl instead. Finally, the piece is finished, just in time for the return of colder weather and scarf season!

Porch Paradise Project

One of my favorite parts of this house is the screened in back porch. In this century old house, with no central cooling, it is often the coolest place to spend time. And although I remember summers rarely breaking 90 in upstate NY, the last couple have been hitting those numbers pretty regularly. This year it has been pushing 90 already and its not even June! So with high numbers expected again, the porch is where me and the Mister can be found.

Since we spend so much time out there, I decided I would spruce it up just a tad. Not too mention, we had some small lighting concerns. With my porch paradise project, both issues were addressed.

 

I've had the last few days off, so I made it my mission to get the porch in ship shape before I had to head back to work on Monday.

 

Lights! As I mentioned there weren't really any lights out here. I work until midnight, so during the week the Mister and I are out here well into the night. Our makeshift solution had been the Mister's halogen garage lights. Great for garage work, great even for photography projects. A little too harsh for unwinding after work. The new solution, white string lights. These are perfect! They are bright enough to see whatever it is you are doing, but warm enough to allow for some relaxation.

Then I found a tutorial for fabric garland at Sew, Mamma, Sew!  Many of my projects use a combination of green and brown fabrics and leave me with small scraps that I keep around, but never know what to do with. Plus, the chairs I bought last summer were green and brown. I knew that this garland was the perfect project for all those scraps I had hanging around.

Throw in a focal piece complete with felt pomanders, tissue puffs, and origami cranes and you have yourself a summer oasis.

And let's not forget a fully stocked beer fridge, with a wonderful selection of summer craft brews and seating for six. So, who wants to come visit?

Happy Mother's Day

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us

When adversity takes the place of prosperity
When friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us
When trouble thickens around us,  still will she cling to us
And endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness
And cause peace to return to our hearts

Washington Irving

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers I know. You all make the world a more loving place.

I made these felt Dahlias as a small gesture of appreciation for the mothers in my world this year.

An added bonus...all of these gifts were mailed out before Mother's Day! That never happens.

Earth Day Repurpose (a few days late)

This week I decided to finally do something about the collection of nearly empty candles that have been lying about the house. I hated the idea of throwing these perfectly good jars away, but until now I have been too lazy busy to do anything with them.

I followed this tutorial for how to get the last scraps of wax out of the bottom. It was a little tedious, but it did what it was supposed to. It wasn't until after I had cleaned all of the jars, I found that freezing the whole jar for about a hour garners the same results. I can't vouch for that method, but I will try it first next time I get to the dregs of my candles.

So now that I have the jars emptied of excess wax and cleaned up, the next step is making up my mind about how to put them to use. These are just a few of the ideas I have been tossing around.

Life Ann Style has some great ideas for using the jars in the bathroom.  One option is to add cute little birdies attached to the lid. this makes a great handle as well as making the jar a little more decorative.

[I know that somewhere on pinterest there is a similar tutorial where an object is glued to the lid and then spray painted, but for the life of me I cannot find it.]

Another option is to add some Epsom salts and essential oils to make an air freshener/ make-up brush holder.

I Am Style-ish takes it to another level with glitter. I love glitter, but when it comes to decorating I generally avoid it, as I am no longer a teenage girl. However, in this case I think the right color glitter could be a fun way to liven up the decor that currently exists in my bathroom. Plus, since me and the Mister are the only ones who use the master bathroom, no one will even be able to judge the glittery goodness =)

Weekender Tote

This is a big, BIG tote. Until recently, I've not had much need for a tote this size. When we were out in Kansas City we didn't make a lot of weekend trips. Now that we are back in New York and close-ish to family and friends we are making short trips rather frequently.

 


This bag holds all you need it to. A laptop, chargers, books/kindle, an extra coat, knitting, notebooks. You name it I can fit it in there. Also there are pockets all around the inside for a phone, wallet, keys, etc.

And there is still some room...

I made a smaller version of this tote a while back. The idea came to me while I was working at Hallmark, hence the draft on a card divider. I got so many compliments on that smaller tote that I decided to make a larger version.

I'll be testing out the functionality of this one tonight when we head up to my mom's for a few days.


Update:
The tote was perfect for our four-day visit!

Vacation Crafting

Since 2009, I have bounced around from crappy retail jobs to grad school. From great jobs that lose funding, to right-place-at-the-right-time jobs that end too soon because of a move. Needless to say, I was never anywhere long enough to rack up any vacation time. Now that me and the mister are settled back in New York state and I am working at an organization with a great PTO plan, I am on vacation! Real, paid vacation. For 12 glorious days! And I am thrilled about it. I have no plans, no places to go, just me, my crafts, and dinner with my mister every night. Perfect!

I am working to balance crazy crafting and doing nothing. In the crafting moments so far I have decorated a few more storage solutions... 

I switched this one up a bit from my normal yarn-wrapped cans. A little Mod Podge and some scrapbook paper will go a long way!

I also finished a gift wrap organizer project for a friend.

This gift wrap organizer is a simple, but clever little project. I wish I could take credit for the design, but the truth is I would never have thought to flip a stool up-side down and hang bags from it for storage. A non-sewing friend directed me to this tutorial with a pretty-please.

I made a few small adjustments to the tutorial.

For one, I used a patterned fabric with a simple lining instead of the all white bags of this post.

Next, ribbon was used instead of bias tape. It looks prettier, and there is the added bonus of less sewing. Not that sewing is a problem, but sewing ten 24" strips of bias tape is, to me, tedious.

I also made one extra bag. The tutorial shows bags on 3 sides of the stool. I made the executive decision to make bags for all 4 sides.

And finally, again to cut out tedious sewing, I cut all the patterns on the fold. This way you only have to sew up the two sides. Plus it makes the bottom cleaner, and there are no worries about the seams letting loose if you stuff them too full.

The end product is, to quote my friend, too stinking cute!