Crafty Carnival

Fibertastic! and Sew Mama Sew for sure!

Thanks everyone for the warm birthday wishes!!!  I so really appreciate them!  And big fat extra thank you to Nicole, Jenny, Tamie, Amy and Heidi for the blog love on my bday :) (hope I didn't miss anyone!) Here's a little history about one fun thing about my bday....

I always look forward to getting up on my bday and going on line because before we even knew blogland existed, my bff, Nicole, and I used to post pictures of eachother on our websites on our birthdays.  And they were mean pictures... so like the first one I ever posted was Nicole bent over pushing Gracie in a plastic car... she HATED that pic... then she posted me with a balloon under my shirt drinking beer, so I looked like I was preggo and drinking... and I had a mean look on my face too!  Then the next year we did some drunk photos... not quite as mean but still funny... at least we were smiling in these, and then last year, they were a little nicer, happier pictures, and this year, they were just all super nice... so I jokingly told her, "what's up for next year?  Do we get dressed up in ball gowns and tiarras?"  Since each year has gotten progressively nicer!  LOL!  But who knows... we'll just have to see next year! (*she does have a pic of me asleep in the car with my mouth open... and she keeps threatening me with it... and if she does...well then I'll just have to photoshop one of her!  LOL!)

And in other crafty news... I will be vending at this event, so if you can mark it on your calendar now to come see me, that'd be good!!  And if you don't like me... don't worry, I'm not the only one!  LOL!  This show is gonna be super over filled with way cool talent that surpasses anything I've mastered for sure!!!  (and thanks Nicole for the graphic...you da bomb baby.  whatever that means :)

And finally, do you frequent the Sew Mama Sew blog?  I hope you said yes, but if you said no, then here's my question to you... WHY NOT!!!????  It's super fabulous and you should run not walk over there because that blog is just OVER FLOWING with brilliant ideas for sewing and they link to all kinds of super cool blogs with tutorials, patterns, etc.  It's a mega-mall of ideas...and the fabric they feature.... well let's just say I drool...  LOVE IT!  So I'm adding them to my blog roll now... can't believe I hadn't done it sooner!!

I fell off the C-A-D wagon! LOL!

So I really thought I could do a craft a day!  WHAT WAS I THINKING!  LOL!  Have you even noticed I was gone the last two days?  LOL!  I should have thought ahead.  First of all, my dh's birthday was yesterday.... there is only one day between mine and his.  So of course I had presents to wrap and cake to make and all that entails, so that's my excuse for missing day one.  Then I missed day 2 because I was ..... drumroll please..... sleeping.  LOL!  I sat down on the couch after picking up the kid from school and snuggled under a blanket because the house was cold... and well... the rest is history.  I never made it up from my really warm spot except for details like dinner and baths.  :)  BUT!  tonight I prevail!!!!  It's not much but I made this little teddy today.  It's not at all what I intended when I started, and actually, I really want to revise it... but that will have to wait until another day :)

Thanks everyone for stopping by and checking out what I have managed to get done, and your sweet comments really warm my heart and make it all worth it :)

And a big WHOOT!  To Jenny at Craft zine and plush you too!   They both blogged about my free bear pattern and that just makes me feel so warm and fuzzy!  So thanks a million guys!!!  I so appreciate that!

Craft-a-day for 4 more days :)

I made this shadow box today :)  It's a little baby bear in a tiny shadow box (6.5" square on the outside of the frame!)  The little mohair bear is in a vintage pink plastic train cart.  The box is lined with vintage wall paper, and then I added an old playing card to the mix too!  I think it turned out super cute, and of course it'll be in my shop :)

So what's my inspiration for this you might wonder!?   Well, the fabulous Shonda, who is one of the gals I am friends with from Sacramento Craft Mafia, is putting together a show called FIBERTASTIC! The details are here, but it got me thinking that I'd like to make some arty pieces that are maybe wall quilts or shadow boxes.  You know stuff to sell in a gallery maybe??... not just at a craft show!  So I made this shadow box!  I also made another one that I ended up not liking too much.  I think it would be fun to make some luvable monsters encaged in shadow boxes.  Who knows... I'll have to think on this some more :)  Can you join us, either as a vendor or a guest?  Pretty please :)

And then I also wanted to share this adorable pin cushion that I got from Lauren at the Speckled Hen.  She's so super talented and FUNNY!  I love her!  I'm really hoping to get to know her better since she lives so close and I love her stuff!  She made the fabric covered buttons too!  I'm gonna have to get her back since she GAVE these to me, but I'm not sure how yet :)

Two more things... then I'm done, I promise!  LOL!  I had a totally sweet comment on my last post, and I followed it to this blog, and was so happy I did!  HOW CUTE IS HER STUFF??!!!  Omg... very cute.  And she took my free bear pattern, and made it out of an old baby blanket... the flannel kind!  How brilliant!!  I commented to her that is a million dollar idea!  You might not want to save those recieving blankets forever, but now you can upcycle them, make a little bear for a toddler and get even more use out of them!  SO thanks, Crystal, for sharing!!!

And FINALLY, are you still with me, or are you sleeping now?  LOL!  I met this super, cool, urban, hip and NICE chick at Bazaar Bizarre and she made a little video.  She put this video together and submitted it to ThreadBanger.com and they aired it!  WHOO HOO!  You go Kate... so my part of the video got cut, but I still think SHE is super fabulous and it's not her fault.  And maybe I'm kind of even a little bit glad that my part got cut because DANG, I DO NOT like how I am in that video!  It's so hard to watch yourself on tv... I'm looking at it thinking... why is the whole one side of my mouth not moving?  Did I have something in my mouth like gum or something?  I know I was eating tic tacs that day... and my hair looks greasy and my make up sucks... so ya... maybe I'm kind of glad my part got cut!  LOL!  But anyway, you can see the whole video here, and the Threadbanger version here.  Have fun... laugh away... I'm fully aware of my flaws... LOLOLOL!  And congrats Kate for getting that video out there!  (I'm hoping to hang with her at the next baz biz because she's going to possible be vending not just shopping :)

Crafting a little drunk....

Don't judge!  LOL!  I had a few beers and I had not yet finished my craft-a-day-til-my-birthday project!  LOLOLOL!  I actually like what I came up with tho :)  I got my A Muse stamps in the mail on Friday and I was so excited to get started and stamp with them!  Tonight I made quiet a few little simple projects.  2 note cards, a bookmark, and a set of v-day tags.  I'll add them to my etsy shop too :)

*click the picture and you can see it way better because it will open in a different window much bigger*

For the second little monster tag, I stamped her on a pretty little papers from A Muse, then again on plain pink paper.  I cut the head out of the pink one, and put it over the top of the patterned monster for a 3-d look :)  The cute blue vintagey card is a note card from the A Muse line as well!

The first notecard is a cheepy Michael's one and I just threw some stuff together!  The third one is place card size with a coin style envelope.  I stamped the word love, and then hand wrote monster, so it says LOVE MONSTER!   I think that is such a cute sentiment for a card.  I could totally see a mom giving it to a little boy!  Can't you!  And finally, the book mark is another of the "pretty little papers" and I just rounded the corners with a corner punch and added a ribbon.  Not rocket science, I realize this... but how cute would it be to make book marks for your little school aged kid to give at Valentine's day!?  And I think any kid could help along with this project!  All of the stamps and pretty papers and note cards are available at A Muse :)

I also made a set of tags with my A Muse stamps.  I took an A Muse notecard, folded it down a bit and punched holes.  Then I tied a ribbon all around it to make a little pocket for my tags.  I stamped the images in chocolate brown on shipping tags that I got at Office Max :)

I'll be back with a craft a day for the next 3 days... any requests??

Craft-day-till-my-birthday continued :)

I didn't really feel like crafting too much today because I have to do laundry.  But I didn't want to do that either because it's FREEZING outside (laundry is in the garage.)  So I did a whole lot of nothing while I debated on what I was going to do.  LOL!  But finally around 8:00 tonight, something kicked in, and I was able to be crafty :)  There's always tomorrow for laundry!

I made these 3 little bunnies.  They are from my free pattern here.  These are special though because they are made of vintage apolstry fabric.  It's super rich in color and soft in texture.  I roughed up the pink one a bit to give her that really primitive old look.  If I had been thinking on my toes, maybe I would have stuffed her with excelsior, all though that would have been really super tough since she's so small.  I'm adding them all to my etsy shop.

And then, I took a tiny little naked baby doll I had laying around and dressed her in a glass glitter crown, and a crepe paper skirt.  Everybody's doing it right?  Wearing glass glitter and crepe paper?  LOL!

I have NO idea what I'm making tomorrow.  It's a full day around here since I have to do laundry, then we are going to a sportsman expo (fishing, hunting, camping type trade show) and then we have a going away party to go to tomorrow night.  I think I might whip up a set or two of notecards.  I really enjoy making those, and they are fast and easy, so perfect for a busy day like tomorrow!!  :)

Gnome it is!! 7 more days :)....

So I finished the little gnome!  I actually think he was kind of cuter in theory... but that's okay.  I'm adding him to my etsy shop anyway :)  I really need to clean up and clean out!!

So then, after I finished gnome guy... I took and old ugly bunny from 2006, and made this!  I looked at some Japanese craft books for face ideas.  I think she's kind of adorable.  I'm not very good at embroidery, it's not really my "thang"  but I do like to dabble :)  I'm putting her in my etsy shop too :)

And then finally... I TRIED to redo this ugly old snow girl... but just made her uglier.  I think she's trash can bound... but here's the deal... I think she would REALLY look cute with a sampler (like the abc's) stitched on her belly.  I'm just not willing to do it.  So if you want her, and your willing to pay shipping, email me and she's yours!!  :)

more crafty updates tomorrow! 

Counting Down, 8 more days :)

So I thought I should share a pic of my closet... now mind you, I took this pic to email to my bff Nicole... because she would get that this is HUGE for me... so I did not clean up the outside area and stage for this pic... LOL!  But it's fun anyway :)

The part I'm most excited about is that you can see the back of the closet!  LOL!  The last time Nicole was here, we had to get something out of the closet (I think it was yarn, or clothespins or something) and we litteraly had to stand there together shoulder to shoulder, one of us holding stuff in, while the other one was pulling stuff out! LOL!  So this is a big day for me... that you can see the back of the sewing room closet.  I put this same pic in my flickr with notes on it, so you can see what everything is :)

So for my countdown, this is what I worked on today.  I took this old uglee (I spell it like that when I mean ugly in the cute way :) Santa that I made in 2005, and I stripped him of all of his Christmas goodness, because he's so not my style anymore.  Then, my original idea was to make a Valentine sweety out of him... but instead, ended up making a cute little hoody.  So with the hoody, he looks really cute as a Gnome (picture him with blue pants and big felt boots.  But SHE also looks really cute as a little red riding hood (picture a cute dotty dress under that hood) holding a sweet woodland creature (the bunny!)  I'm really not sure how IT will end up.  I'll think on it tonight and finish it in the morning.

 

I'm really looking forward to Big Brother starting again in Feb.  It's one of my fav you-don't-need-a-brain-to-watch-this-show shows.  And I need those kind of shows in my sewing room!  LOL!

Oh, and I almost forgot!  Two of my friendzies from Sacramento Craft Mafia have news.  Tammie has a super cute crochet elephant pattern out just new!  And Antoinette is doing a really fun feature artist thing on her blog.  You can check it daily and get a sweet intro to the girls in the group.  It's so nice of her to do it, and a great place for me to direct all of you so that you can see us all!   Tell her I said Hi!  :) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

well not yet, but I always like to start early.  LOLOLOL!  I'm planning on having a count down until my birthday.  I was going to do a 10 day count down, but then I decided to clean out my sewing room closet.  So that didn't happen.  Then I was gonna do a 9 day countdown, and I was still cleaning the mess from cleaning out my sewing room closet.  LOL!  I think you get the picture now!  So looks like it's going to be an 8 day count down now!  Jen did a really cute advent calendar before Christmas where she took a cute pic every day before Christmas and did a count down, so I thought I'd list a craft picture every day until my birthday!   So for the next 8 days, I will have a crafty post once a day... I promise!  So here goes :)

Today,  it's a crafty paper lantern.  Not my best work, because I really didn't have to do anything but click.... but VERY cute none-the-less, right?!  Deets below!!!

I really do feel like I had an early birthday present today.  My lil one was playing Nick Jr. online games when we came across this new show!  It's call Ni Hao Kai Lan.  It is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!!!!  The little girl, Kai Lan,  sounds like she's from Wisconson if you listen to her for awhile... which I did, thanks to Daisy.  We made a bunch of paper lanterns here and I printed out a 10 page coloring book for the girls too, but I can't seem to find the link for that now :(  They all turned out so cute!  I'm already inspired by the adorable-ness of Wow Wow Wubzy, and Yo Gabba Gabba... and now they give me this too!  Let me just say, I love you Nick Jr.  Always have and always will... and it's for all the wrong reasons, which makes it even sweeter!!

  Here's a jpg of my lantern I just now made.  You fold them in half cut the slits then tape them together.  SUPER CUTE!! 

Whoot! Vintage Pillow Case Challenge!!

Whoot is my new word.  It means like WHOO-HOOO... and you have to jump and smile in your head when you say it!  My cousin says it and now I'm addicted. (It's a good thing.... in case Martha's reading :)

What's this vintage pillow case challenge you ask!?  Well, Claire over at Handmade Parade is asking crafty people to make something from a vintage pillow case, and submit pictures.  A panel of judges (me, being one of them.... because Claire thinks I'm kind of great.... because she's my friend and kind of has to :) will pick a winner.  The winner wins a $50 gift cert. for FABRIC!   WOW!  Does it get any better than that!!???  You email a pic and win fabric!  And I promise not to follow in the foot steps of the Craft My Ride judges who did a terrible job.  LOL!  Oops?  Am I still talking about that... I'm not bitter I sware!  LOL!  SERIOUSLY though, I'm just kidding, trying to be funny.  I'm over it... moved on :)  For real :)

Here's a pic of a few things I've made from vintage pillow cases.  It might get your wheels turning :)

So hop on over there and submit a picture!  Put your picture on your blog too, and link it so we can all see!!!  :)

That's all I have to say about that... but I do want to end with a little note to say Thanks for all the love :)  You're comments have been so sweet and encouraging these last few weeks, and I just love you all.  hmmm... maybe I'll have to do something special for you all for Valentine's day... to SHOW my love :)  Actions speak louder than words!  Right?!

Wow... now that was a STORM!

So we weathered the biggest storm of my adult life this week.  It's California, so we don't really have inclemant weather THAT often, but this was bad.  On Friday, the rain and winds did so much damage.  I would say that AT LEAST every third house has either a fence down, a huge tree down, or at least a major portion of a huge tree down.  The storm only lasted about 7-8 hours, but it's been raining off and on ever since.  We were fortunate enough to only loose electricity for about 3 hours, but many of our neighbors were out for most of Friday, so we had lots of company, and we offered out our ice chests and ice to keep everyone's food cold.  We also kept our house really warm in case we lost electricity again, it would give us a nice base.

Here's a pic of the girls in front of a downed tree across one of our cross streets (and this tree fell Friday, and it looks like this today!!)  It is not the biggest or the most damage in the neighbor hood, but it is the one impeding the most traffic!  LOL!

We spent over $2K last month removing a HUGE tree from our property because this is exactly what we were afraid of .... but only afraid it would fall on our house.  So we were lucky to only lose part of our fence.  But I've never seen such strong wind... it really was scary for us California natives.  LOL!