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?

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?

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!