Little Green Sewing Machine

2010 ctn. again :)

2011-01-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

2010 ctn.

2011-01-02T14:33:00.004-05:00

2010

2011-01-01T16:24:00.003-05:00

Super Hero Day!

2010-11-13T17:40:00.003-05:00

Friday was super hero day to kick off the book fair :) Yay for random excuses to dress up! I was Harry Potter.... Trying to contain my excitement for the midnight release on Thursday. I used Brittons Grinffendor Tshirt, a scarf made for a previous book or movie release, glasses from the book release for #7, and a cape from my the year my sisters and I were Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather for Halloween. I made a Griffendor crest out of felt and added it to the cape. I made a super mask for me too, but it was deemed unnecessary :)

Pardon my poor lighting (and my crest wasn't that crooked)

Scott wore his Percy Jackson shirt and I made him a cape and mask to match his Zeus lightening logo.

His cape was made from parts of a black Tshirt and was attached with safety pins... He was headed on a field trip and I didn't know if he would want to wear it all day.

Bat was super Hello Kitty. I wanted her to be excited about her outfit and Hello Kitty is her favorite thing right now.
She had a face mask made out of felt, and I modified a ripped princess dressup dress into her cape.

Happy Bookfair to all and to all a goodnight :)

autumn

2010-11-11T07:00:00.001-05:00

I have been making progress in decorating for autumn :) I saw some christmas candle holders with ruffles and decided I needed some for fall. I am quite happy with how they look :) I am usually more of a creator than an artist, but I traced some leaves, colored them in crayon and painted them with watercolor. They are more vivid in person and right now are just propped up in the living room. They totally make me feel happy and in the autumn mood :) Which is saying a lot, we didn't get below 40 at night until last week! It has been a warm summer and fall!
Kam also had a rug she was getting rid of. We needed a new doormat. I painted it brown, cut out the Hi and leaves to make a stencil and sprayed it orange. Yay for a free seasonal mat. :)

This wreath had been long in the making. I tried to make a wreath in the spring out of a pool noodle covered in twigs... it was a fail and had been taking up space in my studio. I finally removed the twigs and covered the noodle in duct tape and then strips of the marigold felt. It finally held its shape the way I wanted. I used strips of felt to make ruffle "flowers" and then spread them on the wreath.

At first I really didn't like it, but then I added some fall leaves/berries/mums that my MIL found and had given me.

I am still thinking it needs a bow? But we are looking quite seasonal. :)

chevron wall!!!

2010-11-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

This was also on my yearly goals list. I wanted to get up the guts to paint a chevron wall in my house. I love them right now and I LOVE how it has transformed the living room! We now have a room in the apartment that is not white! :) Measuring and taping took the most time.

Yay! :)

Halloweening

2010-11-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

We had a blast this year :) Hope your Halloween was fun! Here is Saturday nights party. Britton and I were both Mario characters. He was a goomba and I was a thwomp.

For Britton's costume I followed a tutorial I found here. I got 2 yards of fleece for under $5 and used felt we had. For mine I winged it using a box Britton brought home from work and more of Kam's gray paint.

I made BAT's costume this year too. She was "Hello Kitty". I made her a Hello Kitty Shirt and she helped me make an awesome pink tutu. I had made a headband with ears and a bow, but Britton found her the hat at target and it was perfect for a chilly evening. She loves it! She had a lot of fun and we hung out over there for dinner/ passing out candy/ sitting around the fire/ trick or treating. It was really fun!

One of my goals this year was to have more seasonal wreaths. This one ended up being a work in progress. It is a form wrapped in gray yarn. Then I made some flowers out of tshirts/fabric scraps and added some plastic bats. It was Ok but needed more substance.

I used black yarn to add a web in the middle and a spider from a plastic spider ring, I very much like how it ended up :)
I also made Derby a pirate tutu. :) What a fun month! Now on to November!!

paint

2010-11-07T23:58:00.001-05:00

I used my fall break to be productive too. I really wanted a mat in front of the sink while washing dishes. I bought an ugly "lemonade" mat for $4. I spray painted it black and it was so sticky for days... I was worried it wouldn't work. But it finally dried and wasn't sticky. I then taped it off and sprayed the blue. :) Yay for a monogramed kitchen mat.
This was Britton's dresser from his nursery. I had it from before we were married, it was some wood veneer finish. I was very tired of it. I wiped it down, primed it and then coated it in this grey color (left over wall paint from a friend- thanks kam!) The hardware was gold and I sprayed it black. The kiddos actually helped me on it :) Pardon all the clothes, I couldn't wait to o put them away before I took the picture.

2010-10-28T23:13:00.000-04:00

Another summer staple was our trip to the state fair. I wanted a fuzzy bunny!!

We went with our friends Melanie and Ryan, which is pretty much tradition too. Britton and Mel are eating their pork butt on a stick. Their fair favorite.

Here is Wendy, Mel, the frosty, and me.
We split a krispy kreme burger. (It had doughnuts as the buns) It wasn't too bad when split 4 ways, but definitely fair food to be consumed rarely.

Until next year :)

Summer Party

2010-10-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

I managed to fit in my Summer dinner party just at the end of summer, although its been an unseasonably warm fall so I probably could have squished it later :)

The food turned out great and the company was wonderful! It was a great way to celebrate the best parts of summer with our friends.

Britton's Bday

2010-10-27T13:00:00.000-04:00

For Britton's Bday, His parents and I got him tickets to see the Broncos in Nashville. It was the first NFL game for both of us. We got to go with our friend Casey and Emily who live in Nashville. We stayed at Emily's condo and tailgated with her bronco loving friends. It was so fun!

And the Broncos Won!!! YEA Broncos!!

2010-10-26T13:00:00.000-04:00

I made this invites using photoshop... I feel very over my head, but I like how they turned out. :)

2010-10-25T13:00:00.001-04:00

This was the summer of weddings and this post is a mashup of us and friends from all the occasions. :) The Smiths and The us @ the Gaither's rehearsal dinner.
My friend Casey... AMAZING wedding and she did it all!
Her photobooth wall was awesome!
My SIL and I @ the Gaither wedding.
The boys from the wedding. I LOVE this picture. :)

shirt refabs

2010-10-25T13:00:00.000-04:00

This summer I found a bunch of white tank tops for 97cents each. I bought like 15. I split them between me and my girl. Here she is modeling one pre-dye! :)

I bought a bunch of colors for under 2 bucks each.

We did 2 colors at a time. Lots of stirring...

And rinsing.... It was hot.

Here is our finished rainbow. I wear mine under stuff and BAT sleeps in hers :) (I shortened her straps a little.) Teal and Green are a little splochy but not bad for a first shot.

Spring

2010-10-24T13:00:00.000-04:00

I did the font for the Kindergarten bulletin board and was happy with how it turned out :) My kids and I spent quite a few days at the zoo this summer :) We had dinos visiting the zoo.

The K/1s do a big derby parade here for school. Kindergartners ride stick horses and 1st graders make floats or sandwich boards. My girl and I made her a jockey hat and then decorated. The back has "thunder over Louisville" which is our big derby kick of fireworks show, and the Belle of Louisville which is the famous riverboat.
The font has a horse and a hot air balloon, (Derby festival has a balloon race too)

Happy Derby! :) (way way late... or early!)

Home Sweet Home

2010-10-23T23:31:00.002-04:00

In August I got to go to Colorado for the wedding of a dear friend. The weather and views did not disappoint. It was so beautiful!

It was at a beautiful chapel in Estes Park. They even rang the bell.

Here is me and Jonathan. I was soooo glad I got to go. Check out the amazing view from their reception. He broke both his arms a few days before the wedding, which made for some laughs. poor guy.

Kelly was an amazing wedding date!
I made them a subway art wedding gift too. I LOVE the black and have since made one for us...
They had a fingerprint guest book. They are both artists and painted the tree together. I LOVE IT. Words fall short of how awesome I think it is.

It was my parents 29th Anniversary too. We celebrated by going to cheesecake factory. cheers mom and dad!

I think I giggle more with kelly than anyone else on earth. There are quite a few outtakes of this shot. Thanks for being awesome kelly!

It was such a great trip.

Long Time Gone....

2010-10-23T22:25:00.004-04:00

My sister asked for a blog post.. and Britton is off to the midnight showing of Ghostbusters. I also had a ridiculously productive crafty day. :) Here's to catching up on some fun stuff.

I bought 2 of these tank-tops on clearance @ Target. ($1.87 each). I cut one and used it to make the pleated collar. I love it! :) Its more ruffled after washing if I don't iron it, but either looks fine.

Thanks for pardoning the awkward pic :)

polaroids

2010-06-29T16:53:00.006-04:00

I was tired of this generic IKEA art. (excuse my doorbell) This is the "hallway" (its more square) between our bedrooms and bathroom and the dining room/ studio.I had seen a generic heart made out of polaroids in the window @ fossil around Valentines. So this had been stewing in the back of my head for awhile. I downloaded and used a free polaroid program and converted a bunch of pictures of us into polaroids. It makes them a little off center sometimes and makes the colors more like a polaroid too. I waited for Walgreens print 25 free, and printed 25 free. Britton printed 25 free for me too :) They ended up with the top and bottom correct, but the sides were not right, so I cut white cardstock and used a glue stick to make side borders.

It takes up a much larger part of the wall and it's so fun to see all of those fun memories and experiences all the time. :)

I tried to used double stick tape, but quickly realized that wouldn't work, so I used a small rectangle of foam mounting tape to hang each picture. The tape and my time were the only costs : )

Yay for being married to my best friend!

Happy Graduation!

2010-06-20T17:15:00.002-04:00

A kid @ school and I had our schools "party" together. He was 7, I was 27 :) We had Lego cupcakes. It was awesome!! They had lego rings... :) His mom had hot glued one lego to a large flat ring and then stuck a few more legos on top. It made for lots of fun!!May always seems to soar by with weddings, graduations, and recitals, spring concerts, etc. I had 2 graduations that needed gifts. :) My sweet SIL (Britton's littlest sister) graduated from High School- she's headed to Knoxville, TN and I'll help craft stuff for her dorm room later in the summer. I mad her a gathered clutch ala Noodlehead. I loved how it turned out and have a few ideas up my sleeve for more gathered stuff.
A friend from work has a daughter who's headed to UK, I don't know the graduate well so I went with UK pillowcases :) I used a tutorial and they went together pretty easily. :)

Happy Father's Day! Maybe I can get caught up soon, Blogger was giving me grief this week.

DC Birthday Trip

2010-05-27T09:30:00.001-04:00

As previously mentioned, Britton treated me to a extra-long weekend/birthday trip to Washington DC. He was super thoughtful and planned way ahead, reserving us a spot to stay with friends and scheduling tours etc. It was SOO much fun and really only our second time to really travel together since our honeymoon, besides visiting family, etc.

This picture is us after our tour of the Capital, here we are in the National Archives. It was a beautiful building and fun to see an original Gutenberg Bible.
Here is me, near the capital :)
Starr and Steven, our friends who we stayed with, went with us to dinner to celebrate. We ate at a yummy Mexican restaurant. Chips and salsa are one of the ways to my heart. <3
We had popsicles on the mall between Smithsonians.
Britton hung out with C3PO.
We got to see many of the memorials. The WWII memorial hadn't been here when both of us had traveled to DC with our families/school. It was very cool to see. It was dusk and the sun set was so pretty!

We saw the Vietnam and Korea memorials after dark, with tours from the National Park Rangers. That was one of our favorite things. I got a pencil and rubbed my Great Uncles name off the wall. It is sobering to rembember that my freedom comes at such a cost.
The Korean Memorial was Britton's favorite. It just seemed very real and personal. It was very neat to see it in the dark.
We went to Arlington. We saw a wreath ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier. It made both of us cry. So neat. A guy I went to highschool with is burried in Arlington and I looked him up.
The Seabee memorial is just outside Arlington. My Pappaw was a SeeBee, building runways, etc. for the Navy on the Pacific Islands.
Here is us outside the Whitehouse.
Here is our tired faces, after packed days of sightseeing, and the long drive home in the rain.
SOOOO MUCH FUN! Thanks Britton, this will be hard to top :)

28 before 28

2010-05-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

This is my list of 28 things I want to do before I turn 28. (355 days :) )

1. Run a Race

2. Monthly Planned Dates/Adventures with Britton

3. Use my projector

4. finish a quilt

5. Save/tithe

6. girlscookguysclean

7. build a piece of furniture

8. camp red river gorge

9. at least 4 wreaths

10. memorize Romans 8

11. Picnic

12. Host 4 seasonal dinner parties

13. Awesome Birthday for Britton

14. Send at least Birthday Cards on Time

15. Trip with Sisters

16. sell stuff on etsy

17. 2 weekend trips with BDR out of town

18. Print Wedding Photos

19. Read a biography

20. Colorado Pillow

21. Long Weekend with Kimmi

22. Photo Wall

23. 10 more license plates

24. paint a chevron wall

25. Thanks Journal

26. Create a Decorative Family Tree

27. Pay off 2 credit cards

28. cook 3x weekly (not eating out)

27s best

2010-05-22T15:00:00.002-04:00

I turned 27 last weekend. :) My husband treated me to an amazing trip to DC. It was SOOO wonderful!! :)
This is the first of my 3 birthday posts. I wanted to list the 27 best parts of my year.... things, parts, and people that I'm so very thankful for! In no particular order:

1. Colorado Trip
2. My awesome amazing fun and wonderful Co-workers

3.Kristy’s Phone calls
4.Snowboarding

5. Kelly- our study
6. Having a studio
7. K-1st Derby
8. 2 Years!
9. Friend's Thanksgiving
10. Blog inspiration- including but not even close to limited to...
http://katieemrich.blogspot.com/
http://www.houseonhillroad.com/
http://www.ohfransson.com/
http://eliseblaha.typepad.com/
http://alisaburke.blogspot.com
http://chaletgirl.wordpress.com/

11. BAT and Scott
12. Casey and Emily
13. First Craft Show
14. Zoo Trips
15. KY Fall
16. Wonderful and Supportive Parents
17. SingAlongs :)
18. Wedding Bee
19. Paint Chips20. Lisa Tobe
21. Married to my Best Friend
22. MJ and Ryan's Wedding
23.Wine Tasting
24. Susan Beach
25. Reunions

26. Starbucks

27. DC Birthday Trip

My Awesome Rug!

2010-05-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

I am still trying to catch up, but wanted to share one of my recent most favorites :) I started with a tan carpet square for $2.99 from Meijer. Then I covered it in tape strips and drew on my faux bois (wood grain) pattern.

I then cut the tape on the lines. The white parts stayed on my rug and the colored in parts got trashed.

Then I used my brown spray paint and made sure it had even coverage. :) I waited for it to dry- impatiently and hoping.

I am thrilled with how it turned out! I was glad to get my poinsettia rug put away :) It is a tiny bit small for an entryway rug. When I do it again I will get a more expensive ($5) rug! :) The tape was a little hard to work with, I think i would just use paper and tape it down well, or use contact paper, next time.

I can definitely see myself making these with monograms or fleur de lis etc. for shower/ wedding presents.

It's Raining Brides! :)

2010-04-27T17:17:00.000-04:00

In continuing in my wedding chaos I co-hosted a shower for a dear friend @ work. I was in charge of decor and invitations.

I used paint chips and photoshop to make the invitations. The chips would feed directly through my printer, but the ink wouldn't dry- it would still smear after 24 hours. I bought a digital ground, which I should have been able to paint a coat on and then print, but it still didn't work. So I ended up running the words off on transparencies and then using a zig-zag stitch to attach the words to the paint chip. I had to make them for the whole school, so I made them in 4 colors. Her wedding colors and accent colors.....

This is Casey, her cake, and the "art" that I taped to the white board. Her cozy says "I'm the Bride, that's Why!" :) I made 2 more paint chip wreaths. One for next the door of the classroom where we held the shower and one we hung over a small "guest book" table. She got to take that one home. They turned out well.

I made some signs that hung down similar to the invitations, but these I chain stitched so they hung down. Best Wishes! Congratulations John and Casey!I folded a bunch of paper medallions in coordinating colors too and hung them using twine.
I also chain pieced, circles punched from paint chips. They turned out well. I made some with 2.5" circles and some with 1" circles. I prefer the larger ones.

It was fun and I love any opportunity to celebrate with the people I love! :)

Recovering. :) YAY for Love!

2010-04-17T22:08:00.000-04:00

I am hopeful that I will survive wedding season this year :) Between showers, brunches, rehearsal dinners, bachelorette parties, brunches, etc. I am already wearing down. The fun started with our friends Melanie and Ryan's 4 day wedding extravaganza. It ended up lining up with the end of Spring Break so that helped a little. Here is the happy couple, our friends Starr and Steven in from DC and us @ the rehearsal dinner. Yay for the old spaghetti factory.

It was a lot of fun but definitely wore me out.

They had a photobooth at the reception, which ended up being SOOOO much fun! They are all halarious or sweet!

Yay for wonderful and happy friends!!! :)

In the week and a half since this wedding, I have hosted a shower and been in another wedding :) More posts about all that fun soon.

Spring

2010-04-15T22:12:00.003-04:00

I haven't fallen off the planet :) just kept busy. I LOVE paint chips, I think its the visual part of me- all that organization and color. YAY! Anyways... over spring break I made a new set of cards using a zig zag stitch and paint chips. They are so fun and I have already used a bunch of them, so more are probably in the works.

I gave in and made the bunnies from Purl Soho- SO FUN! (Congratulations on their new location!) Brooke loved them.

She even took them for show and tell. :) Scott got a new Percy Jackson shirt for Easter. (following this stencil) He and I had read the books, so he was quite happy.

I have a few more posts with pics already so I'll try to get them written and posted. Everyone is getting married though and so I am a busy person :)

Thanksgiving!!!

2010-02-18T10:36:00.006-05:00

Obviously it is now March, but I still have lots to be thankful for :) I was really excited about my thanksgiving signs/bunting. They say- gather, family, and thankful. I found some "fall" fabric and sew the rectangles, then turned them and added freezer paper stencils to paint the letters. I used a bronze paint which was a little subtle but I really liked.

I hosted our "friends Thanksgiving" this year. Most of these boys(and Melanie) have been friends since about 6 grade, the rest of us have married in (or are in the process) :)
I went to Columbus, OH to hang out with my Mammaw. My cousin Shannon and I took over her living room and raided her fabric. We got a bag of designer scraps from here, and went to town. We are quite proud of our bracelet cuffs and headbands.

This is my cousin Joel, when everyone was over for family dinner.
I found these canvases for $2 each @ Michaels, I stapled them together and covered them with fabric, then used left over scraps/hot glue, I used a tutorial, but I can't find it, for my thanksgiving wreath.

Hope you still have many things to be thankful for in March :) I do!

Catching up- Colorado!

2010-02-17T09:34:00.005-05:00

I have a LOT of things from the fall that I am going to try to slowly catch up on. :) First I am going to share some of my favorite parts of being in Colorado for New Years!

Another thing on "our list"was snowboarding. I had been a few times before, but my sisters had never been. I was finally decent enough that I wasn't miserable. Kristy really liked it. I think Kelly and I will stick to skiing from now on.-We'll see. :)
I I typically get my hair cut when I am in Colorado, one of my most bestest friends grew up their with me and usually cuts my hair. Unfortunately she wasn't home this time. Fortunately another friend from home is almost done with school and she chopped it for me :) I finally got the guts to go really short! So here is the before and after. I am still really loving it and it is still really easy.

Another thing on our list was the Stanley/Shining. We did both! Estes Park was beautiful!

There was a slight appearance of snow flurrys- my first for the Winter. (Kelly is always that excited about snow) So we were thrilled!
We went snowshoeing up near Allenspark with some family friends. My fam has gone a lot but this was my first time. It was really fun. I LOVE that Colorado has so many sunny days!

Mount Meeker (Longs Peaks Twin)
The Karpenske's- aren't we so cute!

I had a wonderful time- I giggle more with my sisters than anyone. My family is awesome!

Happy Valentine's Day/ Snow Days!!!

2010-02-16T10:12:00.005-05:00

This is some of my Valentine garland :) This is some we hung up @ the house where I nanny. Its all over my living room too, but it took a while to get up since I got it all tangled... oops oh well. I also had another "interruption" while hanging my garland, I found out a good friend went into the hospital. She went to the ER with an awful headache on February 3, they found 2 masses in her brain and she's been in the hospital since. She had surgery last Tuesday and we are still awaiting the results of the biopsy. Her name is Johanne, she is doing well, but still in ICU. She and her husband John would appreciate your prayers.

Meanwhile... Louisville has had 4 snowdays in the last 2 weeks!! :) As a CO girl I believe that winter should either be a)snowy or b) sunny. We have had quite a bit of both this year and I am thrilled! Brooke and I built this snow girl. We were out of carrots and improvised with broccoli. She continuted to evolve, which was fun to watch. She turned into a snow bear with cute little ears and then a lot more arms were added, and I called it a snow octopus.

With extra time on my hands I was semi-productive :) I finally got around to creating curtains for my kitchen. They are a little long, but I am too lazy to fix that now. They work and they make the window look bigger :)
I also patched my favorite pairs of jeans using this tutorial (actually I used a similar one I can't find) . So glad! It feels great to more pairs of jeans again, especially super comfy ones!

Finally, Britton and I went to a Valentines banquet/ball/fundraiser for Hopeful Hearts. They providing medical and nutritional aid along with basic living necessities for orphan children. They supply orphanages in Ukraine and India, built a school in Afghanistan, and run transition homes for teenage orphans in Ukraine, and are about to work with orphans in Haiti. It was really encouraging to hear about people specifically making a difference.
This is my favorite ridiculous picture of us... kinda normal for us :)
I got to take home a centerpiece- I took it apart and it turned into 5 awesome bouquets!!! (one is in the kitchen and I was too lazy to go get it for this picture.) LOVE it!! Hope your Valentines was as wonderful as mine!! :)

February

2010-02-01T22:10:00.004-05:00

I am already quite in the Valentiney mood. As previously mentioned I got roses last week. Technically I got roses twice last week! These are 1/2 of the ones that got sent to work. :)
I finally finished my Valentine's wreath the middle of January, I refused to take Christmas down until I had Valentine's done- real life motivation :) I had seen this tutorial. I used dollar wrapping paper from the one spot @ Target- I love Target. They took FOREVER to finish... not really once I figured it out, but quite a while to figure it out while watching the youtube video over and over :)
My wreath is more diamond shaped because I wanted it larger. It turned out OK but I am not thrilled. It will only live here until March.
These, however, turned out awesome. :) Britton says between them and the Valentine garland he feels like he lives in a classroom... oh well :) I'm festive- deal with it. I love how they look with the sunlight coming through them!

I'll post my Valentine garland soon, I haven't hung it @ home, only at the house where I nanny. Happy Groundhogs Day! I am not really anxious for Winter to end.... I am sure it will come quickly anyways, but I am flexible :)

January

2010-01-31T22:08:00.003-05:00

Good bye January. I have very much enjoyed this month and hope February continues to be as fabulous. :) It has to be romantic and full of love right? I already got roses this week, so we're off to a great start.

I finally finished my slurg snail. Snails are a big inside joke/ reminder of love between Britton and I. We have a few ceramic ones, but this one is homemade :) I painted the snail on the fabric first and then basically colored him in with embroidery floss. I like hows he turned out. I think he'll hand in my studio for a while. Slurg is what snails say, like cows say moo. So, obviously it also how snails say I love you.
These are my new map spheres :) They all fell down after I hung them, so I have to hang them again. I had seen a tutorial to make them out of Christmas cards. Actually I made one but it was too busy out of so many designs, I love the maps because they are similar colors and style but each side is unique. I love maps!! I don't know why they make me so happy. I had bought an atlas for 50 cents this summer and it was fun to use it. I made them out of various sized circles. A few are made out of the index and those look really cool too. I need to get them back up off the floor. :)
On my trip to CO, I needed something to work on, on the plane. I ended up making 4 of these :) Britton hates the .s but the one I saw somewhere on line had them, and I like the color they add. I am also trying to add a little color to my red/black/white kitchen. So, one of these helped.
I have been a good crafter but a bad poster for awhile now. I am also doing a much better job cooking (not eating out) and I am trying to start working out. I will try to include more sharing too. :) I organized my pictures, so hopefully that will help. Happy almost Groundhogs day! :)

BEST 2009-#3

2009-12-31T22:00:00.002-05:00

I am so blessed and thankful for an amazing year! Thanks be to God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine! Thanks for being a part of my life.

BEST 2009-#2

2009-12-31T02:19:00.007-05:00

So many blessings, memories, and things to be thankful for this year.

BEST 2009-#1

2009-12-30T13:43:00.004-05:00

I have had a wonderful year and so many blessing to count, inspired by a blog friend , (who is ALWAYS inspiring) I felt like this was a great way to recount my wonderful year.

2009-11-15T15:00:00.002-05:00

Fall is my favorite season! I could actually say that about all the seasons, but fall really might just win by a nose... I did fall in love in the fall :) I love fall colors, and smells, and food!

Football is also my favorite sport, so the fact that it's starts in the fall is lovely too. We got to go to a Louisville game for Britton's Birthday. We tailgated and everything. It was a blast!

Have you ever seen a lemon drumstick case? Our other dear friend Joe had his birthday in September. He is currently the drummer in a band called the lemonwedges. I couldn't resist using the lemon fabric. I finally mailed his birthday present this week! I am such a slacker about mailing things on time. I finish them and then they sit waiting to go to the post office. Silly me! He should have gotten it- and I hope he likes it. Happy belated birthday Joe!

I am thankful for the joy that I get from being creative and productive. I had such a fun day.

Not dead :)

2009-11-08T21:06:00.003-05:00

I haven't died, just been busy living and crafting. My sister, Kristy, has been kindly reminding me for awhile that I should update. :) I have quite a few things to post... it's been months! sorry. I have been busy making the chateau a home. I am loving having our space. I definitely have more projects going at a time now that I have the space...

This was an early September project that has been almost finished since mid-September.... keywords- almost! Sorry Casey! One of my great friends "got" this teris blanket for his birthday... Except I haven't quite finished it.... It is granny squares that are stitched together in their 4s and then together. I need to put this in a more prominent place so I quit skipping over it. Each square is about 4 inches and its 10 squares wide by 16 squares high... So about 40x64. Should keep him warm- if I can get it done.

This is my baby ironing board. The cover was sad and pathetic and so I recovered it using my pillow sham from my dorm room bedding. I loved it and figured putting it someplace I see frequently would bring me more happiness than it hiding in the closet.

I am also going to try to post things I am thankful for... So today I am very thankful for my husband. I am thankful that our self-esteem is found not in ourselves, and that we know where true love and security is found. (can you tell it was an interesting evening)

Visit Deux-

2009-07-14T12:01:00.009-04:00

Welcome back :)
Kelly asked for me to clarify, so hope this helps, My spaces are now highlighted with boxes :)
This is the living room on the wall across from the doorway is the couch. I am thinking of painting this wall.

Moving clockwise is the chaise, and a table, my new favorite garage sale chair that will be re-done when I can choose a fabric.

On the opposite wall from the Couch is the entertainment center (it is next to the door).

And on the right is a small bookcase/Roxy the goldfish. and the doorway to "the studio".

The studio should be the dining room, but we only have a kitchen table so it is my space for now! :) I am loving it. I feel so organized and inspired I love the lighting from the huge windows too.

Toward the bathroom and bedroom is the "bonus room" or 2nd bedroom. It is the game room and lives up to its title. Britton has every old school gaming system except a few and this is home to his massive collection. Now that he's finally got most things put away there is room for the futon we are getting, so it will be possible to use it for company, when necessary.

Back through the dining room is the kitchen. It has a huge empty wall that i am scheming to fix... (I think it might need Casey, who I recommended come visit me next month.

Ps. These are ribbon and button bookmarks that a girl from work and I made. They turned out really cute! I love the taxi, treasure map, and patriotic ones the most!

Welcome to the Chateau- Visit #1!

2009-07-12T10:40:00.007-04:00

I realized it would be easier if I broke the tour into parts- It will be picture intensive anyways :) So without further adieu Welcome to the Chateau! We are on the first floor to the right. In Vegas our apartment only had windows on the south-west facing wall. The chateau has windows on 3/4 sides. I love all the sunlight... but need to figure out curtains soon :) This is the view from the back of the building. We back up to soccer fields and across them is a nursing home. Our garage is the one on the far right (mostly hidden by the shrub in this pic) Right now we are just using it for storage... but we will see. Our washer and dryer are down there. Here is our bed... the pillows are way crooked, oops. I haven't gotten the shams out yet. Here is my bedside table. I got the owl at Urban Outfitters in Vegas and had intended to paint it, but it fits in my yellow scheme perfectly. I got the vase and flowers for 90% at a sidewalk sale in the fall. And the green thing is my ring holder I made at a paint your own pottery place. Love it!
Britton's side has sidewalk sale vases too. I am not loving his side yet... We have a little bookcase over there for the lamp and clock. It works for now.
You will see quite a few projects from the last year are finally in their homes! :) Anya the Matryoshka doll rules from her royal throne. My most favorite gold chair.
The covered bulletin board I made has a few random wedding snapshots I had around. I think I would like a larger maybe b/w picture of us.

This is an amazing b/w pencil drawing from New Orleans that a friend bought me for a previous birthday. I am planning on scoping for similar pics from SanFran and Savannah in my up coming travels.
We got these with wedding gift card $ on clearance. We bought 3Rs and 1 U. and We cut the legs off 2 of the Rs to make Ps. :) I was pretty proud it worked. They were in the bedroom in Vegas but seem very appropriate in the hallway at the Chateau.

We finally got a bathroom rug last night. I like the ones we picked! These paintings have lived with me in 3 states. Britton didn't like the unfinished edges of the canvas. I hot glued grosgrain ribbon around the edges so it is less noticeable.Welcome to your first visit :).
P.S. I am keeping my eyes out for cheap frames I am thinking this is what the empty wall in the bedroom needs.... We'll see.

Christmas in July

2009-07-10T22:17:00.002-04:00

The official first project in the Chateau was a long time in the works and with the assistance of my favorite toothless wonder- kid #1. (She lost 3 of the front 4 in the last 2 weeks. I had cut the cardboard rings and gathered the paint chips months ago, but I finally knew where both were at the same time!!! :) I had seen the idea here using styrofoam rings. We used plain old Elmers glue and variegated the green paint chips. It is hung using ribbon on our apartment door. Great style for July :)

This picture is us unwrapping wedding presents, almost 2 years ago! This was one of our favorite wedding gifts. Using my cricut and modpodge I made a similar (but not nearly as classy) one for some small group friends. We included our token wedding gift of nerf dart guns, too! :) It's hard to stay angry when shoting at one another.

Hello :)

2009-07-09T06:35:00.005-04:00

Sorry I have been gone for so long! I am working as a nanny this summer and at the craft store and It has been awesomely, ridiculously busy.... good busy though.
The family I am working for is great, I am loving being a part of their family. I am working with the little girl whom I worked with all spring- she will be 7 this month, and her brother who is 8. I very lovingly refer to them as "the kid" and "kid 2"- to their face I call them various things (dude, their names, princess cupcake, goofball, silly, kiddo, captain wonderful, professor, etc.) They are busy so a lot of shuttling from thing to thing, but a lot of swimming, walks on the trail, playing, crafting, baking... Exhausted but loving it.
We got our own apartment- from here on out referred to as the Chateau. It rocks. It has a ton of closets and they are all like Harry Potter Tents- they appear small and normal, but in reality are massive and allow for storage of all of our stuff, truly miraculous. That being said we are trying to get the end of things unpacked and organized and I have quite a few projects and life to share :). I also have a "studio" room in the apt and it is shaping into such a great space. It feels SO good to easily find my materials and easy to clean up now that they all have a home. My work space is HUGE too, compared to all previous homes and that makes it easy to work as well.
I will try to take pictures in the next few days, I have a few more things that need put away/swept/hung up/etc.
My first sewing project for my new house was coasters! :) I had some wooden frame coasters and they were in pretty poor shape. I decided we needed to move on to better. I am a coaster enforcer and who wants to bring attention to those.... forever ago I had seen a make it Monday tutorial about pinwheel coasters. I had linen for a future project. How great is that! I didn't even buy anything for this project! The tutorial has a pattern but I haven't hooked up the printer, so I made my own. They turned out great! I love my scraps. Here they are in their coaster glory- ready to save my coffee table from the evils of the condensation that hold such power here in the shallow south.

P.P.S. We got new blank tea towels in a work and I am the embroidery expert (!?) so I got to sew flowers on the sample. It's cute.

Irony

2009-04-16T19:57:00.008-04:00

Ironically I have hardly crafted since I last posted. I am living in "the derby city" and although the rest of the world is oblivious the Kentucky Derby is in 2 weekends, my "part-time" job is not so part time as I help sell hats to half the crowd. They are crazy! Gotta love hats.... anyways I wanted to post the few bday gifts I managed to complete and my squares from the quilt along.... I love them, so I am sad that I haven't had time to do anything... Oh well. :) Soon enough I guess.

I did make these birthday sleeves. :) I like the yellow and black scraps, but I love the random scraps one and I think that my boss loved it too... so that's good. I started sorting my scraps when i was working on them and had to quit because I didn't have time.... I am looking forward to going through them though.... and I my next project for me involves lots of scraps, but it might be awhile...

While in CO I worked on my blocks and I worked on another pixel pillow. This one is for another groomsman's bday and I had a plan to not chain piece insanity for this one. I had to have it finished the day after we got back. I used fusible webbing. It took longer than I thought but definitely less than the last. It is more consistent than the last. The image is the "keyblade" from Kingdom Hearts (another video game).

P.S. I do have a job interview with a local district for a job for next year.... if you could keep it in your prayers.

COLORADO!!!!!

2009-03-31T23:51:00.005-04:00

So we managed to come to Colorado for part of my spring break!!! I am here almost a week and Britton was here Friday until today. We had a great time!

Friday night my parents got symphony tickets. It was Rodgers and Hammerstein night at the symphony. They played clips from the movies and played parts of the score. It was awesome. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

We have had a bunch of quality time with one of my bf's Kimmi and her kiddos. Her eldest was our flower girl and it's crazy to see how grown up she is. We went to Casa Bonita- Britton had never had the privilege or experience. It is "the Disneyland of Mexican Restaurants." We had a lot of fun!
It is so nice to have a break and have time off with my husband and visit my parents. Colorado has also lived up to it's infamous spring weather.... snow days intermingled with days in the 70's! crazy fun! :) I love sunshine and am looking forward to the remaining days of my break.

I also am working on this quilt at Oh Franssion (she is amazing!) .... I am loving it and enjoying my fabric pics, but feeling very behind :) Oh, well.

Fell off the Planet...

2009-03-31T09:51:00.000-04:00

So sorry I have missing all month. I have not had the time to craft and blog so crafting won out. I tried to post once and couldn't get the pictures to load and give up. SO I am going to try to post a few posts now and have a bunch of pictures.
3 weeks ago I ended up in urgent care, twice.... first I had a sinus and upper respiratory infection and then I had type A influenza. I slept a lot. I was down for the count. I ate 2 boxes of Popsicles in 3 days.... gross! But i bounced back and have managed to finish/start quite a few new things.
I managed a trip to my local quilt store for their fat quarter sale. I had a gift certificate from Christmas and so I managed to get quite a lot for just a little! :) Woot! I got all these and then the black and whites for my mod-quilt.
I finally finished all the auction stuff just in time for the auction. I re-did the onsies and tried to straighten the anchors using interfacing (I also added the borders and stitching.) They are still crooked- but they were cute and sold well with the adorable bibs. I made up my own pattern- similar to one I had used last year, and they turned out really great.
We started this teepee as the room's dontation to the auction. I put together the components of it and the kids decorated it. Well they liked it so much that we decided to keep it in the room. It's definately a fun hiding place.
I made this scarflette and coffee cozy for a girl in my small group. I had to learn how to purl... (it's a knit/purl repeating pattern) it turned out great.... even if it is just in time for spring! I started with this pattern but I had an odd number of rows, instead of even, because of the odd I ended up with kinda of a checkerboard pattern, instead of the ridges. I think I like it better! I am still a little slow but I will definately need one in my closet in the fall and it would be a good gift.
I patchworked this cozy and lined it with black polka-dots. It turned out cool and it was nice to only use scraps.
A girl at work is adopting 2 kiddos from Ethiopia. They had a shower at work and I wanted to do something other than baby blankets. I saw something similar... somewhere... I can't find it. and was inspired to make these for her kiddos- Madalyn and Carson. I wanted to make the boy one without an animal so I settled on an acorn. The nursery colors are pink, blue and brown. I used almost all scraps and frames with mattes that I found on clearance.

Auction and Extras...

2009-02-28T16:42:00.007-05:00

So I got most of my stuff for the school auction made (can you tell we are the anchors?). Lots of key fobs, some future anchor onsies, (they need future still :) ) some coffee sleeves (they still need buttons). Another birthday sleeve, and new sleeves for kelly and I! :) We've misplaced ours... she asked for a new one and I needed an excuse to make myself another one.
I have 1 of my 4 chair cushions done, The rest are cut out and ready to pin. Hopefully I can show you them in a few weeks all finished and attached to their chairs!

PS. I couldn't load pictures last night and it's still being annoying tonight. I added buttons to all the sleeves. Kelly's and mine need larger buttons but all I could find were some little ones, so they will work for now. I have the rest of the cushions pinned too... we'll see how long it takes to reach that goal. Auction stuff has priority. Last night we hung out with some of our small group friends, and today we had UofL tickets and "family" dinner with some good friends. It was a great way to finish/start our week.

Valentine Catch Up!

2009-02-26T09:50:00.004-05:00

I am a slacker :) sorry, a busy slacker. I have been somewhat productive, but between both jobs I haven't had time to craft and blog... so crafting it has been.
These are my valentine candy cane lolly-pops, (made using this tutorial) They broke prior to eating. Oh, well. They were cute for awhile.
This is similar to my sisters valentines with a U of L theme. It was for Britton's Aunt Debbie- we are housesitting for them again and I am so thankful!
These are my standard go to kid valentines- I made them for our class. Butterflies made with hearts and a stick of Big Red gum. They work and are fun!
This is Britton's valentine- it's link from Zelda. I am working on a larger Mario one, (which has been the big project lately.) Sorry this is such a bad picture, my camera battery died for awhile. These are my amazing valentine flowers! I love my husband, he did great this year. I felt like my gift was a little puny, we'll have to work on that. He picked out these flowers and had them assembled, he wanted to get close to my wedding flowers. They were beautiful!
He also got me a Nike + to go with the little ipod. It's a sensor that goes in your shoes and connects to a receiver in my iPod The sensor tracks your run, then sends the data to your iPod. It was on my list and I am hopeing it helps me get more active again.

I don't own the fancy Nike shoes that go with it, so I used a tutorial to make a pocket for my sensor that goes on my shoe laces. It looks a little bulky but it will work fine, and I love that I had fabric that matches my shoes :) I just finished it, so I'll let you know how it works :).

We went to a great pizza place for our valentines dinner. :) You can eat in a car. We ate in the trunk! :) It was fun and the pizza was great!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

I can finally post my sister's valentines. :) I made one key fob for Christmas, so this was just refining what I had learned. Kelly's matches her Birthday clutch and Kristy's is made with duvet scraps. I figured I'd stick with things I thought they'd love. I needed a keychain too, so happy groundhog's day to me. Mine is a fabric Britton bought me on clearance early in the fall. I hadn't used it yet and I really like it.

Their cards are variations on the square/ zig-zag cards I've made, but with hearts. I think they're cute. Happy Valentine's Day!

Merry Christmas Kristy.

2009-01-31T23:59:00.001-05:00

If you remember my sister requested a duvet, my parents bought the fabric, and I made the duvet. Merry Christmas.
So, I finished her duvet quite awhile ago but it's taken me way to long to get her pillows done. But I finally finished them all and they are awesome.

I was inspired by a quilt on purl bee. I didn't use solids. I made my own pattern and made this pillow. :) It needs a 15" insert. It is identical on both sides and uses all 4 of her Amy Butler Fabrics. I installed an invisible zipper.

I was inspired by a tote bag, but I can't find the site. This just has the applique on the front and a patterned back. It's my first applique too! It is 16" and has an invisible zipper too. I used Anna Maria's super circles. I still think I need practice.

I merged 2 tutorials for log cabin pillows and modified them to make them my own. I used the pattern I'd used this summer for the back- I think it's called an envelope back. I quilted it using a zig-zag stitch following the seams of the log cabins. I found a new pattern for the front, using 4 log cabin blocks then I added a few borders to make them larger. The back was quilted using zig-zag stitches on the diagonal.

I made one pillowcase using this tutorial. It was pretty easy. My first french seam! It seems big, so we'll see if she has to buy a bigger pillow. I used the scraps left from the 2 accent fabric, and the rest of the Gray lace.
They and my sisters valentines are on their way. :) "California here they come!" Merry Christmas Kristy Ann. I love you!

More Ice and Snow

2009-01-31T23:39:00.000-05:00

The ice on the trees is kinda sad- lots are broken etc. but they are so beautiful.

So I'm finding it super ironic that now that I have a job I have enjoyed another week at home crafting.... :) Oh, well. Louisville has had a psycho ice/snow storm and so there has been no school since Monday. Lots of the city is without power. As I mentioned I spent a few days cross stitching, knitting, and hanging out with Britton while he played video games- His work had no power either.
When he went back to work yesterday I got into full sewing mode. I
I am very thankful to be warm and have electricity. The whole subdivision doesn't get plowed and I have gotten stuck in the cul-de-sac at least twice. Seems silly to me- I grew up where 6 inches of snow didn't stop traffic. The girl at the Meijer Starbucks recognized me today.... It's been my escape the last few days.

Macho coffee cozy

2009-01-31T13:01:00.000-05:00

Another friend from our new small group has a birthday tomorrow. (He's married to the girl who got hobo chic gloves for her birthday.) He is working on his masters and is a Starbucks nut. I figured a cozy would be perfect. I am still perfecting making them more manly.
I used the satin stitch on my machine to stitch his last name. I covered a button with the interior fabric and I used a hair elastic for the catch. I think it's cute and I like how it matches the card.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Snow/Ice Fun

2009-01-28T17:59:00.003-05:00

So I had a good first day, but the irony of my week is that I only had a first day. We have had a crazy ice storm that most of you have heard about. So I think tomorrow will be my third snow day. :) I am ok with it, but I would really like to be making money so we can move out. Britton had 1/2 of yesterday and all of today too. So it's been nice to hang out.

I finished 2 more sets of chic gloves, one a "commission" :) and one for a girl I love. I am starting a cross stitch project and valentine presents. I need to finish Kristy's pillows and I need to get a pattern figured out for my chairs. I hope you are enjoying winter. I am - It helps me to appreciate all the other seasons. Plus after living in Vegas a little snow is nice. Hope you are all staying warm and safe. I am very grateful that we have power... lots of people here don't.

I think Matt liked his pillow. I am pretty proud of how it turned out.

Happy Birthday Kelly Jo!

2009-01-28T17:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Happy Birthday to my baby sister. (It was yesterday but I had to wait until she had her present and I had time to post) Here are my wonderful sisters and I at my rehearsal dinner. Kelly is on the left.
Here is she and I being silly a few christmases ago.
Same Christmas, I think - annual line dancing trip.
In honor of my fabulous sister's #21 I made her a clutch out of my In Stitches by Amy Butler book that I got for Christmas. It's a good thing I started this and the pillow before New Years. They both took me a long time. I am satisfied with how it turned out, but not thrilled. The fabric I picked I really like and I think it's totally Kelly. It has pockets for her checkbook, calculator, pens, lipsticks, cards, and cash. My hubby included a new starbucks card for her. (We are addicts)The zipper sticks a little on one side, but I had to install it 5 times, even with help from the expert friend at work. It also has a few rough places but it is cute and I know how do do ruffles, harder zippers, and more pockets, etc.

I hope she likes it. Happy Birthday my dear Kelly!
We have always said when she turned 21 we would go skydiving, so the countdown until sometime this year when we are all together is looming. :)

Sonic

2009-01-24T20:29:00.000-05:00

Yes I am insane. I had this idea before Christmas to make Britton's boys something using the pixels from their favorite characters in 8/16 bit video games. (For those of you not married to video game geeks, that means characters from early Nintendo/ Sega games). I plotted them out on graph paper and quickly realized this was not a project that was going to happen before Christmas. So then it became this years birthday presents project. Matt's birthday is January 27 and he loves Sonic the Hedgehog.
I don't know why everyone is celebrating at the end of April but I have 3 significant people in my life born on January 27. I also have quite a few other birthdays to celebrate this month.
I counted and cut 1" squares and used 1/4'' seams. I sewed the squares together in pairs then rows of 6 or 8. Then rows together in pairs and then groups of 6 or 8 rows. It ended up being a HUGE undertaking. :) I think its almost 1,100 squares. I started chain stitching around new years while we were still house sitting. Here are some squares and my lgsm case and my chirstmas lights i refused to put away with the tree. :) (I find the tree putting away one of the most depressing events of the year.)
I think he turned out great though. I hope Matt loves him.

Valentine Flowers

2009-01-24T00:28:00.002-05:00

My favorite go to easy valentine is my flowers. I cut out hearts and then attach them to a floral stem wire by poking a hole through the corners of the hearts and through a loop at the top of the wire. I made these for the scrapbooking department at work. I think they turned out super cute, and they are so cheap and easy. I have always just used construction paper before but scrapboooking paper worked great. I recommend using styrofoam or oasis foam if you are putting them in a vase so they arrange more easily. They are cute individually for coworkers, friends, etc, but they are great in a vase for you or a secret valentine.
On another note I will have to start planning for Valentines for this year!!!! I GOT A JOB! Praise God! I start Monday as a Special Ed Assistant in Kindergarten. I am thrilled. (This also means we can soon move back into a place of our own, which I am very excited about.) I better get to work on the kitchen chairs :).

Knitting- hobo chic

2009-01-24T00:16:00.004-05:00

So I knitted my first real project, using a pattern I MADE UP!!! :) A friend from work helped me with figuring it out. But it really worked. I made myself fingerless gloves. They were super easy. I knit 40 stitches and then knit 20 rows, then i mattress stitched up the seam, except for the thumb. It took me a little while to help me hide the ends, but I am learning.
We started going to a new small group on Thursday nights. (which we love and has been super encouraging.) My new friend Andrea's birthday was yesterday- I quickly made her some. I added some bows to hers. They turned out super cute (and someone else ordered some :) ).

I also whipped up this card using my scraps (and a pack of clearance wedding invitations from target.) I Love Target. I love how it turned out and can see making more in the near future.
She seemed really pleased. I hope she had a great birthday!

Kameron's Kitchen

2009-01-24T00:05:00.003-05:00

I made Kameron these napkins for her birthday in December. She decided they were too cute to be napkins and also decided that we needed a crafting day together. (a cheap one! :) ) She decided that she wanted to use the napkins as cafe curtains in her kitchen. We stocked up on button kits, mini clothes pins and satin ribbon at the craft store and got to work. She did her stuff and I worked on this months chaos (birthday presents and trying to finish pillows/art stuff to go with Kristy's chrsitmas duvet). They turned out amazing. I had extra scraps she used to cover buttons. She painted the clothes pins using extra wall paint and then glued the buttons to the clothespins. We hung the ribbon at the top of the windows and pinned the napkins up. They look awesome and help finish the adorably already charming kitchen.
Yea for crafty girls!!

2009!!

2009-01-03T14:59:00.003-05:00

Sasha (the dog) wants to be wherever you are.... I call her stalker dog. She sits wherever you where sitting, etc. This was noticeable to an extreme on New Years Day. Britton was playing his new Persona 4 for PS3 and I was using my new!!!! :) Sewing Machine to work on a Duvet for Kristy. Check out the dog hanging out with my Singer. Silly Sasha!

These are not posed, she really is that weird :)

So I made a deal with Kristy and my Mom. Kristy decided in the middle of Dec. she wanted a new duvet. I would sew and mom would buy- Merry Christmas Kristy! :) She picked 2 great Amy Butler fabrics and I photoshopped some pattern ideas. We decided to use gray on the outside so we didn't have to buy as much designer fabric. I found them reasonably online and they shipped here, arriving right before Christmas. I was excited because they are so pretty.

I was going to get some gray kona cotton after they arrived, but nowhere in town was carrying gray, or enough, so I moved on to looking for a flat sheet I could use. I finally found some I liked at my 2nd Target, but It was expensive and only came as a set in full or larger. I ended up buying the queen size bed skirt. I tore it out and made it work as the borders on each side. On one side I had to use some black in the corners. It turned out fine though.
I got to use "the vine" stich on my new sewing machine to topstich the sides of the top edge.
I think I am most proud of the 5 buttonholes!!! I made, and the 5 adorable buttons. Welcome 2009! I am going to try to track the new things I tackle.

finishing 2008

2009-01-03T14:55:00.003-05:00

Here are some of the magnets I made "the boys" for Christmas... They have been Britton's friends since early high school. Some were our groomsmen and now are taking turns being in each others weddings :) (Congrats to Matt and Heather who got engaged on Christmas Eve!!)
I had been saving bottle caps for awhile for the unknown.... I used them to frame 1" circles cut out from some of Britton's old video game magazines. I cut out a bunch and then sorted and picked according to individual interest. I coated the circles in mod poge and then placed them in the bottle caps. I covered them with embossing powder and baked them at 250 degrees until the powder was clear. Then I glued magnets to the back. They turned out cute. I'll have to make more using circles that are cuter :) I already have quilt a few bottle caps from our Christmas party and New Year's Eve. These are Matt's magnets.

I HATE the day after Christmas... I LOVE Christmas and am always sad to move on... :) This year I had a Boxing day present from the Dog we're house sitting for. She totally randomly bit me. It scared me to death and hurt, but we've had more than a week to make up and be friends again, which is probably good. I am still nervous of her in the bedroom (which is where I was when she jumped off the bed and bit me, but my bruise is starting to look better and my arm isn't tender anymore.
We got sushi with some of our friends and then hung out New Years Eve. (We tease some of our friends for making a face in all their pictures on facebook, so we spent a good part of our evening taking pictures trying to make the funny face- obviously I can't do the face)
Here's Kameron and I in a more normal pose.

And Happy New Year!!!! :) I am looking forward to what 2009 brings! (Hopefully at least a new apartment, maybe a 1/2 marathon, a trip to San Fran, skydiving, and my first full size quilt?)

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T22:46:00.002-05:00

Although Louisville was disappointing in Football, we have high hopes for basketball. Britton's mom got us tickets a few weeks ago. We had a blast. I love college sports.
Here is our "family" Christmas eve photo. Don't we look festive!? :) Hope you all had a blessed holiday. It was hard being away from Colorado for the first time, but my family made a huge effort and was super generous making me feel loved and special. Britton was super thoughtful too!

One of my favorite Karpenske traditions is fireworks on Christmas Eve! I think I am the only Karpenske who really cares about this tradition anymore, but it is unique and one of my favorites. When we were in TN last weekend Britton was thinking ahead and being wonderful and got fountains and sparklers for us to continue one of my favorite traditions. :) We had fun!
We also read "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever" which is amazing and wonderful.
I hope you all enjoyed time with family and friends and had a wonderful holiday! Merry Merry Christmas!

christmas crafts!

2008-12-25T21:40:00.004-05:00

I tried to make most of my gifts this year. My sisters are still in progress... but they got cute frames I made with a pic of us from my rehearsal dinner. They turned out cute and I printed a picture for me, so I'll have to make myself one eventually. I made my in-laws a frame with their dog- They LOVE their dog.
For my grandmother I made a card keeper book. I started from scratch and it was a more intense project than I thought, but I think she really liked it and will find it useful. I started with file folders and turned each into a pocket page (I cut the top 1/2 of the front page off and taped the bottom to the back and bottom to create a pocket.) Then I scrapbooked each page for the month. I collected all the family birthdays and listed them for each month (with space to add more). Now she can keep track of her cards and who she has purchased cards for already etc. There are cards for every month and then extra pockets for congratulations cards, encouragement cards, condolence cards, congratulations cards, and baby cards. (I am not posting all, just my favorites)I made Holly and Lindsey's presents too. I don't have pictures of Holly's yet (I'll add them later with pictures of the presents for Britton's friends). For Lindsey I made her wall art using 5x5 canvases. I used my favorite 2008 trick- freezer paper and stenciled her name using different fonts. The fabrics I used match her bed spread. When she gets them hung up I'll post another pic. They had been in my head for awhile so it was fun to see it turn out great. I think next time I will try to remember to stencil before I staple the fabric on the canvas. (It's hard to iron the stencil onto the canvases. I am quite proud of my 2008 resolution success- to craft more :) My inlaws got me a new Singer for Christmas and I have a list of WIP, so 2009 looks good too!

Catching up...

2008-12-25T21:15:00.004-05:00

I have been teaching a lot lately. Which is great! but wears me out! I have also been having a life and Christmas crafting in my spare time (still working on some- sorry sisters :) It will take a few posts to catch you up! I did win a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens (or BHG). I am thrilled!!! Thank you so much to Bonnie from Quiltville! She is so friendly and generous. I love reading her blog and can't believe I won. I love BHG and haven't had a subscription for a few years.
I had 4 pre-christmas birthdays. People need to pop kids out in Nov. or Jan. so Dec. is not so crowded with presents :).
I made coffee sleeves for my coffee drinkers... Brianna, Alex, and Melanie. Alex had his monogram which I handstiched and turned out pretty cool. (I had to make it tough and not girly.) Melanie's had a button closure which was also a first. I was happy with how they turned out. I forgot to topstitch around the outside on this batch. Nobody cares but me, but I think it does help it to look more finished- so I'd better remember next time! :)
Kameron prefers wine to coffee :) so she got cloth napkins to match her adorable robins egg blue kitchen accessories. I had gotten the plain white napkins on clearance at Target. I love Target! I had been plotting this for awhile. I had seen MODA stuff with a really cute trim, I thought I could replicate it. (These are the inspiration) I made bias tape and stitched it closed and then created the trim. I turned out really cute! I am excited to make more and on the lookout for cheap cloth napkins... (or I could make some if I wasn't perfectionist/lazy.... :) I'll work my way up to that.
We had a wonderful time celebrating with our friends!
I also made a housewarming gift for the hostess (Alex's mom) It is a pillar candle with ribbon and their monogram. It turned out really cute and was super easy. I need to keep the supplies on hand for easy hostess gifts.

Karpenske Elfs!

2008-12-21T22:34:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

baby blankets

2008-12-01T16:09:00.002-05:00

I finished 2.5 baby blankets last week. One is for a girl using yarn I had.. I think I know who this one is for. :) and one is for some good family friends who are having a boy and due at the end of this week! He is their first and his name is Westin. His nursery is baby blue and chocolate. I found this light brown yarn with blue specks called tweed and bordered them with a dark brown yarn. It's small but the yarn is awesome. I hope I get it mailed this week.

Thanksgiving....

2008-12-01T15:54:00.004-05:00

My pies turned out super yummy!! Here they are in their glory.Coconut Cream

Pumpkin (I made 2 and am enjoying the leftovers!!)
Apple
Apple Tart
Nantucket (Cranberry and walnut, it was awesome!)

Here is Britton's cousin Aaron helping me get the pie off the fridge where I'd stashed it. He's one of my favorite new relatives!Here are Aaron's sister Casey, me, and my SIL Lindsey. Hope you had a lovely weekend! It took me a long time to post- gotta love thanskgiving weekend working retail :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2008-11-27T12:01:00.004-05:00

I got the pictures yesterday but I didn't get it posted. Sorry. Happy Happy Thanksgiving!

I am quite proud of the wreath- it cost me less than $5!!! and its really cute. I might add a bow on the ribbon hanger, but I really like how simple it is. I got the wreath for 50% off $3.99. The ribbon I already had. I bought a blue R for 99 cents, and paint and a piece of scrapbook paper for 20% off 99 cents and 71 cents. :) I had to buy thumb tacks at Home Depot- $1.31 for a whole box, but I was there getting more paint samples, so I was glad to spend a little :).- more on that later.

These are my centerpiece, also on sale I bought the 3 colors of balls and the ribbon. I think it looks classy, I love the colors and it was really easy. Have a great Thanksgiving. It has been a crazy year, I still have tons to be thankful for! Wishing you a weekend full of friends and family, food, football :) and fun! Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Family and Friends... and applesauce.

2008-11-25T15:10:00.006-05:00

We spent the weekend in Columbus, Ohio visiting my Mammaw and family.

My cousin Shannon and Mammaw.
Cousin Phillip and Britton.

Uncle Lynn and Aunt Sarah

Shannon and Me.
I helped her with her crocheting, but she had knitted me this.
On our way back we stopped in Cincinnati and had La'Rosa's pizza with one of our groomsmen and his girlfriend.

Britton and JasonMegan and Me.
It was a fun weekend. We were both fighting colds though and that's always annoying. Hopefully we can go visit again soon. Yesterday I made applesauce from 9 pounds of Gala apples. I ended up with about 3 quarts of applesauce and a very sore shoulder. It sure is yummy though! My thanksgiving post and pies will be tomorrow. :)

More baby fun

2008-11-25T14:55:00.003-05:00

I didn't finish too much before the weekend, but I did finish the cards for the blankets and got them packed up and mailed. I had seen a similar baby shower invitation. They turned out cute. I think they'll look better with more practice. I got this one in the mail... hopefully it will be there in time for the shower!

Sherwood Forest

2008-11-19T15:06:00.003-05:00

This is probably not Sherwood Forest. It's fun to have my own little forest though. I am fighiting a cold I think and I decided to take it easy today and craft before work. I have subbed more regularly lately, and I am glad for some work, but it sure is exhausting.

I have been working on these for a few days. It would go faster if I ironed the interfacing on th fabric and cut the semi-circles out once, but I am stingy with my fabric and interfacing so to get them as close together as possible I cut them out of the interfacing, then iron, then cut the fabric.

I did what I said, and modified the pattern adding more cones (I increased the diameter by 1.5 inches for each semi circle. The previous trees all had 4 layers. I made 5 and 6 layer trees to group with the originals and I made a new set of three that's slightly bigger. I am going to see my Mammaw this weekend in Columbus and I am planning on taking her a set and mailing a set to CO. They are so cute! :) I have a few other projects in the works, we'll see if I get anything done before the weekend though.

Advent

2008-11-18T23:05:00.002-05:00

It has begun... No not what you are thinking. Yes, Christmas is rapidly approaching!! YAY!! But I am talking about something else. What is it with everyone I know having kiddos!!!??? I finished the first of MANY required baby blankets today. I have 9 more on my current list that I know of... I guess 'tis the season. Welcome to Aubrey who arrived last week... 2 weeks early! She is the first recipient of this very full season of baby gifts! Off to the post office tomorrow.... I already started on the next one... its pink and white.

P.S. I you are expecting and think you are on my list- let your color prefrence be known whenever possible. :o)

2008-11-18T16:28:00.003-05:00

i am trying to win this contest... (http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-contest-are-you-ready.htmli)
think i figured it out!! i am trying to win this super cute purse :)

Kartwheel Quilt

2008-11-11T23:56:00.003-05:00

She's finished! I machine quilted most of it, hand quilted spirals on the outside edges and then attached my bias tape. I am proud of it since it's my first. I learned a lot. I still think I have a lot to learn. I am not sure what my next quilt project is going to be. I'd like to make a tree skirt sometime, probably next year. Yeah for finishing!! What projects do you feel took longer than you planned?

Fall Walk!

2008-11-11T18:55:00.007-05:00

I love the walking and quality time with Britton. It was beautiful! (These pictures are from last week, we walked today in the rain, and it was BEAUTIFUL but much colder. :)

Does anyone know what these green things are? Britton called them "horse apples" but he didn't know what they were. They were beautiful, the color and texture were very cool.
Happy Fall! Are you enjoying fall in your part of the country?

PRESENTS!!!! :)

2008-11-11T17:59:00.006-05:00

Actually, not presents yet, but I had fun making this super cute gift tags. I made them using red, green, and blue strips (Thanks Home Depot). I used my punches and borrowed some from Christy at work.(Thanks Christy!) Punching and rounding corners- its that easy. I added the punch out to the top before I punched the hole. I really like them. Getting me in the season.

Knitting!!

2008-11-11T17:36:00.008-05:00

So I bought a bunch of this yarn, not too long after we moved here. I quickly realized it was too thick to crochet with.... I loved the colors and so I needed to figure out what to do with it. I googled it and ended up with this ruffled scarf. So, I learned to knit. I am definitely a slower knitter than crocheter... at it's a little wonky, but its very warm. I finished it last night and I was excited to wear it today. It was totally necessary on cold and rainy today. Britton walked with me on the path in the rain, it was great.
It is rust, maroon, and purple, one side is the purple and one is the orange/rust.

Christmas Trees!

2008-11-11T17:17:00.005-05:00

Using scrap fabric and this tutorial from small object steno, I made some adorable little fabric Christmas trees. They turned out so cute and they were super easy. They are only about 6 inches tall. I think I am going to make a few more with more cones so they are taller. I love red and green, so its fun to see that part of my stash. I am planning on making a few for some lovely people who need small christmas decor. They were easy and so cute.

Thank you Thank you Thank you!

2008-11-11T16:29:00.002-05:00

I have quite a few things to catch up on. First, I really need to say Thank you to Rebecca Goering at Tastefully Entertaining. I won the book Katie Brown Celebrates!
It came last week in the mail and I love it and am excited to get to put it to use. It has events to celebrate each month, yummy recipes, and ways to decorate. Love it! Thanks Rebecca!
Tastefully Entertaining is awesome! I subscribe to her posts in my reader and everyday she has fabulous ideas for parties and weddings. Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Christmas Ornament Contest

2008-10-30T15:32:00.003-04:00

I quilted a bunch today and am close to getting ready to bind, but I had to stop to finish my ornament. At work, we are having a Christmas Ornament decorating contest we've had about a week and a half and they are due tomorrow. You have to use supplies from the store. I had one sphere and one flat circle.

It is hard to see, but it says "Let it snow!" Written with paint pen and sharpie. It's easier to see in person. I sprayed the inside with hair spray and shook some white glitter in there. Then I modge-podged snowflakes, punched from silver, blue, and white paper. I used ribbon scraps. I like it! :) The next on has paper wedges cut and glued on and silver paint pen. Then I put some red reject ribbon inside. The edge says "May your dreams be filled with sugarplums" in silver paint pen, but I need to make it darker... Then for some remnant ribbon and a jingle bell! It's beginning to look a lot like christmas! Have you started getting ready?

Pina

2008-10-29T00:28:00.004-04:00

Pina (like Pina Colada) means pineapple. Oh how the Kinder kids loved the cafeteria pineapple. I loved it too. :) I bought the green for the topper yesterday (on sale) 1/4 yard at Hancock. I think I will probably modify it for the next ones, but I am not sure how. It looked nice. Mamaw will love it and it is off on its way.

I also finally started quilting my first (slightly askew) doll quilt too. Here's a preview...

It's starting to get chilly here. I wish I could find the sweatshirt/coat box! How's your fall?
I have my first sub job here on Monday in a Kinder class. Hallelujah!

Lampshades-Finally.

2008-10-27T23:12:00.003-04:00

I painted these lamps like 2 weeks ago. They were really tacky brass and not in good condition. I sanded them down a little with steel wool, cleaned them up, and painted them black. I have been planning to make the lampshades since my blog about my dream bedroom.

So these lampshades- which I love have been harder than I thought. First I thought I didn't buy enough fabric- so I used what I had to make Kimmi's apron. (I want a picture of you with your birthday apron) :) I went and got more fabric today but I was wrong. The way the print runs on the fabric is what made me short, not my stupidity.... I don't think that made me feel better, I should have figured it out. Oh well. So I made a pattern out of newspaper and cut the fabric the best I could. There is an inch gap at the bottom of the back, but I figure since these are bedside tables and going against the wall It doesn't really matter.... right??
I couldn't get the picture to take with a flash. I need to glue the inside 1 more time. I wish I had some clothespins. I have fabrictac all over my hands. Have you had any projects that didn't turn out quite like you planned?

Halloween Costume

2008-10-27T22:48:00.004-04:00

Here are the carnival decorations in their glory at the party. They looked really great.

The big top tent :)

Britton and I were trying to figure out what pair we could be for halloween that was affordable and easy. The Halloween party we went to was Friday so I was working on our costumes late Thursday night :) We got white sweatpants for $5 each at Walmart and long sleeved T's for $8 at Meijer. We ended up choosing to be a Nintendo Wiimote and Nunchuck. :) I used photoshop and freezer paper (tutorial) to make my stencils and used acrilic paint and textile meduim to paint them. Spent less than $15 each. Not bad. I even included a wrist strap with the wiimote and a little plug with cord for the nunchuck.

The nunchuck has a analog stick on the top- so that is my hat.

I had white eyeliner and eyeshadow and painted my nails white- Britton said I looked weird, but whatever... How do you look like a nunchuck?
Here is our friend Jason (two-face) pretending to play wii.

Aren't we cute? It was fun. Today, I re-used the stencils again to make a t-shirt for a certain little friend who loves wii. I cannot wait to get picutres! :) What are your creative Halloween plans?

late night, lots of progress.

2008-10-22T02:57:00.005-04:00

My sister commented that my Monday blog was posted Tuesday. I usually blog late... oh well. Today I did a bunch of things! :) I love getting lots done.
I am working on refinishing these chairs and "watched" Walker while I sanded them with steel wool. They are coming along. I am still quite puzzled as to what color to cover the seats in. Any suggestions? I am thinking I am keeping the chrome and brown....

I need to get the green fabric for the top, but I am mostly finished with my PINEAPPLE! :) (Flying geese are those triangle type squares Kelly, and they made a pineapple (something fruity). This one is for mammaw. It's her late b-day present. I have enough triangles cut to make at least 2 more (one for me and one for mom). And enough of the pineapple bias tape to make 100. Oh well. The pattern was in a BHG quilt magazine and I love pineapples so I'd had my eye on it for awhile. I have been collecting the fabric since before we moved. My lines are not per

Amidst my super productive day (I stayed up REALLY late) I attended my SIL's band concert. She had a picalo solo and did awesome... Anyways I was wearing my new fall sweater and looked cute :) So here's a glance at that.

I finally finished a birthday present early!! :) Now if I can mail it on time.... I used this pattern... kinda. I love blog tutorials so much more than magazines etc. It didn't have a pattern for the pocket and I felt like it rushed or didn't describe some details, but I do think it turned out cute. I adore the fabric, so watch for the fabric again soon. If I did it again I would go more with my gut than following the pattern... which I am slowing learning is usually the way to go anyways... the bias tape was too thin and it would have been easy to hem a few lines on the back so it was less ragged. I did make ruffles on this one using a long stich- thats new for me. And that part looks awesome. I only had to take like 10 pictures with the timer at various heights to get one of just the apron :)

Happy Monday.

2008-10-21T00:17:00.003-04:00

So, Thursday was even better than Wednesday! Britton woke me up with a "Grande, non-fat, no-water Chai" from Starbucks. My very favorite! Then when the mail came I had an amazing package from my wonderful sister. She rocks. She has been incredably supportive and amazing and is such a great friend. She sent me 2!!! great mix-cd's (my sisters are both amazing mixed cd experts) , cute socks, a starbucks card!, a sweet and cute card, and an totally cute fall sweater!!!! :) I had been whining that I am tired of living out of my suitcase and I don't have many fall clothes in storage anyways since vegas doesn't have much of a fall. So she decided to help my wardrobe (and morale). I wouldn't survive without her! (she is also my loyal blog stalker!!!) Thanks for being wonderful Kelly! Love you.
I was not nearly as productive as I'd like but I have had fun making progress. My favorite place to sew right now is in the backyard. Here is my setup. :) I "watch" TV on my laptop (I really just listen). I own the first 3 seasons of Macgyver which is what I have been watching lately. Or catch up on my Brothers and Sisters at ABC.com. But today Britton bought me Walker Texas Ranger season 1, so that will be the new fun!!!
I finished my bias tape and used some to finish this lovely bunting. :) I had already cut all the triangles out at derby time and never finished and my friend Matt requested more for his halloween decor. He is hosting a "Joker's carnival" party and I had given him the derby bunting and some sheets that look like circus fun that my friend Kat and I painted one summer in college for me to use as curtains in front of the dorm closets. They were supposed to resemble my striped bedding and we taped them off to create various sized stripes of rainbow. They ended up looking circus like and they are perfect for this party... maybe I'll get a pic of them there.

When we were house-sitting I made these cute logcabin squares with the intention to make a "message board". Isn't her's so cute?! I think I might pin some black and white pictures up on it in our bedroom. So we were cleaning out the closet in Britton's bedroom so we can have a little more room in there and I found a sad bulletin board with an ugly frame. I took off the frame and bought a little black fabric at work tonight and stitched it/stapled it together. I really like it and I think I have enough black fabric to make Kristy (my other lovely sister) a present! :)
This is a preview of an ongoing project.... I'll give you a clue, it's kinda fruity! :) Flying geese are harder than I thought. Can you guess?

Bias

2008-10-17T00:13:00.003-04:00

I haven't got much done this week, especially compared to my very productive Sunday. I have been reading Eragon and Eldest by Christopher Paolini. I am not usually a fantasy fan, but I love a good book... and once I am hooked on the characters I am good to go in a book. My dad LOVED them and was excited for the third, so I borrowed them from a girl from work. I have enjoyed them and I am looking forward to book 3 but I found out their is 1 more and I am annoyed because now I have to wait again.... God has decided to teach me patience through all possible angles :) Oh well. I will probably have to check out the movie, but I haven't heard good things.... The book does set the standard high it reminds me a lot of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

Today wasn't totally productive, but I made some progress. I have had a bunch of WIP (works in progress) that I couldn't finish until I bought some stuff. So today I went shopping with a specific list of what I needed for the works in progress and some gifts (that are already late) :)
So I bought what I needed, but I also got most of my bias tape finished. (It's not sewed together, just folded) So here is today's progress:
both have ready made purposes, so watch for them again in the next few days... And I have another plan for the gold when I get around to it.

And my roses again :) They smell amazing and they look even more pretty today. Hope you have a fabulous Friday! Do you feel like you've made progress this week?

Happy Wednesday to me!

2008-10-15T21:55:00.004-04:00

I worked a food show for my MIL's company from 7:30-4:30 and then worked at the craft store from 5-8 it was amazingly wonderful to have a full day and not sit around, but my feet and lower back aren't as happy. But... when my husband picked me up from work at 8 there were roses and a wonderful card waiting on my seat. Aren't I lucky! They are beautiful and smell amazing. (And I got the vase for free from some neighbors who didn't sell it in their garage sale. I have had lots of garage sale reject luck, but that's another post. So... Thanks to my amazing and wonderful husband and best friend for making me feel loved.

Fall Leaves Swag

2008-10-12T15:08:00.003-04:00

I saw various fall garlands and decided to create my own. I was pretty proud that I didn't buy a single thing! I used my brown, orange, maroon, gold, drk. green, and lt green felt and cut out 8 different leaf silhouettes. 30 some odd leaves. I thought the orange and lt. green were too neon and so I soaked it all in coffee. It didn't totally fix it, but I do like it better and with the colors spread out I think they look pretty good. I used contrasting fall colors of embroidery thread and added veins? and lines to all of them and then I used fabric glue to glue them to green ribbon I had.

I have 4 garlands and I used 2 of them to decorate at my inlaws. (one on the mantle and one on the seasonal side table). I am not sure what I am going to do with the others. I hope to keep 1 or 2 and maybe give one to my mom and one to my MIL... We'll see. I am trying to get up the guts to sell things on etsy but I am not sure exactly where to start.

Fall Walk

2008-10-12T15:00:00.002-04:00

I am going to blog a little more about life amidst the crafting :) Hopefully It will help me post more often. :) I finally talked Britton into going on a walk with me on this lovely little path that the "Papa John" built near his parent's house. It is almost exactly 2 miles around (we only had time to do 1 mile) but it was beautiful and hopefully he'll go again soon... (or I'll go anyways :) )

Chi home

2008-10-11T00:43:00.001-04:00

Today, I made a pouch using left over insulator for my chi (hair straightener). I used some of my firework fabric that I bought in Vegas on sale as a fat quarter. ( I love it even though its random) It has fireworks (which I love) and bold colors (which I love).
I quilted the fabric with the insulator, added the ric-rac and ribbon and then added the infamous bias tape. I wanted it to kinda match my chi which is royal blue and I think it looks good. Now he has a home. :) I am almost done with another fall project which I will hopefully post tomorrow :)

vote for me! :)

2008-10-11T00:32:00.001-04:00

I have been considering making potholders after seeing some lovely tutorials (here and here). I was procrastinating as I don’t really know what colors I want in my kitchen. But my local quilt shop was having a contest so I went for it. I made them patchwork and that added a while and I love the bias tape I picked but I cut it pretty narrow trying to be conservative with my fabric and that was a mistake! I ended up having to attach it by hand because I couldn’t get it straight through all the layers. ( top, batting, insulating layer, bottom fabric) ARG! It was so not worth “conserving fabric”.
Oh well. So I finished two in time to enter them in the contest (to win a tote full of quilting fun worth $75)! There are 10 other entrants and I am #10 so if you go by Among Friends quilt shop on Taylorsville Rd. (next to Kingpin bowling) make sure and vote for me! ☺ I like how they turned out but I was so over them because they took a lot more work than I thought. My mom would really like them so they might get sent to her…

So exciting!

2008-10-11T00:21:00.000-04:00

I love blogland! ☺ I won a yard of fabric from Chaletgirl in Australia! It has brought great excitement. (when I found out and when it arrived) I am not sure what I am going to use it for- It is beautiful. I love the colors!! I am saving it for something good. She also sent me a adorable tissue cover. I am thrilled to have a present and a new friend. Thank you!!!

progress

2008-09-24T01:00:00.000-04:00

We are housesitting, which is wonderful. It's nice to have space (and electricity). I made my bias tape the first day we had electricity. (the iron requires it, since I don't have a "williamsburg" model) I like how it turned out, I cut it wonky, so the pattern runs in 2 directions. I don't think I have enough of one direction, so I will probably use each with its parallel.... but maybe I'll pair it to make 2 corners. What do you think? I am not to worried about it... you live you learn. I did put a white boarder on the front and back pannels, I thought it looked better sitting on the white than trying to match it with all the colors.

I am thrilled with how the back patchwork turned out. I am almost sad it's the back, since I am planning on hanging this on my future "doll quilt wall" in my crafting studio. Doesn't studio sound so much more hardcore :) ? I used the same 25 colors from the front, I really tried to use scraps, think I did well. Plus, I made 2 more kartwheels from my new heather bailey that I love and some totally great firework fabric I got in Vegas out of the cheap fat quarters. I ADORE fireworks, and wasn't sure how I was going to use it. I am sure it will pop up again but I like how it turned out. (I added white around the edge, post-photo)

I realized I hadn't shown the front together.

Finally I found this tute, from Crazy Mom Quilts about making a message board and made my log cabin squares to make one for my bedroom. I totally made them up as I went and love that I didn't screw it up :) I almost just want to use it for a 8x10 black and white or something. A pink and orange one could be really cool with my wedding pic. What a fun wedding present.... Sorry thinking outloud :) Anyways I don't have the board and linen, so it's probably on hold for now.

I am really trying not to spend any money and just use what I have... so I don't think I am going to finish my quilt because I don't want to spend money on batting... we'll see how long I can hold out. I wish money didn't stress me out. Hope you are having a wonderful first week of fall!

decor and excuses

2008-09-20T00:02:00.000-04:00

So, I said I would post more pics of the decor from Lindsey's party. I had some random coasters from a wedding shower. I just messed with the photoshop invite and created a smaller icon. Then I cut strips from the same paper I used to make the invitations. I modge-podged them :) and they turned out lovely. :)
Then I made flowers using this tutorial. I made the gobes and the flowers. The larger pink flowers are extra leftover strips. The multicolored flowers are following the tut. In the next pic, you can kind of see the globes made using the same tutorial (by the pillars). I really liked them and will probably make some kind for Christmas decor. They would be cute halloween in black and orange.

I had some left over scrapbook paper in the pink and orange, I made some old-school paper lanterns (no light) and hung them over the bar. They looked cute.
Here is the last glimpse of the crazy pink puff balls. I bought them for 90% off 50 cents- for 4 so 1.25 cents each. I didn't know what I was going to do with them. I ended stringing them on VERY thin pink yarn from the Mexican swap meet :) They were ridiculous but worked perfect for the occasion.

So, I showed you the decor... now for the excuses. I was quite uncrafty all week :( Louisville was hit by a category 1 hurricane... how crazy is that!!! Ike left TX and came through the Ville, the 'natti, Columbus, etc. And left hundreds of thousands without power. (Ours was out Sunday early afternoon until Thursday (yesterday) late afternoon.) It was a little crazy. Restaraunts (even fast food) were packed and Gas stations were nuts, because they were all either without power or out of gas because of the extra traffic. We did just fine. My friend Melanie loaned me a bunch of books (and I read all of them), but the LGSM requires power. :) It was also frustrating because the school district ended up taking the whole week off which is frustrating when I am anxious for them to process my paperwork so I can sub or offer me a job! Tonight I finished the bias tape, added a white boarder to the quilt top, and made coffee sleeves for Holly and Lindsey. Here is Lindsey's. It's been kind of a crazy week. How about you?

1 done, 1 wip, lots of decor

2008-09-11T23:30:00.000-04:00

I finished Olga's friend, her name is still being debated. Kelly likes Galina, Britton thinks Anya. I haven't decided. I love the colors. It took me awhile to find the yellow fabric, but I love it.
I did my first chain piecing.
f I am making a kartwheel doll quilt. I was inspired by this. I do like how it turned out. I want to put white around the edge, because I don't want to cut into the colors. I picked out my binding, but I haven't cut it yet. I think I am going to piece the back some too. I decided I am going to make a few doll quilts, to get better at quilting and maybe eventually to hang on the wall in my craft room.

I spent today decorating for Lindsey's party. I had bought all these puff ball things at work and spent today stringing them and hanging them up and decorating. I made a bunch of other stuff that turns out really cute, so I'll post it later.

bedroom...

2008-09-04T17:25:00.000-04:00

I made Britton put photoshop on my computer and have been attempting to learn out to use it, so I can make design/inspiration boards like the blogs I stalk so frequently. I made this one last week, it has lots of components of our vegas bedroom, but some additional color, etc.
We have the bed, the tree art, and the side tables. I want the rug, lamps, etc. I think yellow is going to be my accent color. (I already have a "gold" chair from my grandma that I adore)
These are fabrics I think I am going to use. I need to cover the lampshades I have or paint the lamp bases... I haven't decided.... Its weird planning for an unknown space. I keep picturing everything in the vegas apt. I think I want a black shade with yellow curtains, but I haven't found any fabric for curtains that I like. (this is all in theory for awhile, I can't spent $) :)