Is This Considered Crafty?

It's not a sewing project. Or scrapbooking. Or baking. Or anything like that. But here's a major project my mom and I have managed to finish.

We bought these bunk beds for the girls nearly two years ago. We bought them unfinished because it's cheaper that way. As we were living in the apartment two years ago of course we didn't have any place to finish them. Make sure you check out Sarah's bedside table. My pastor in St. Augustine made it from free scrap wood he got from Home Depot. Isn't it genius!?

I quite enjoy staining and finishing wood. It becomes so smooth. If you have the inclination, check out Wood You or some place with bare wood furniture for your next furniture purchase. It's fun.

A New Project

I've just spent $100 of my hard-earned stash-cash-that-I'm-saving-for-a-serger on fabric for this project. However, the plan is to sell these little crafties in my poor, neglected, empty Etsy shop. What is it you ask? Not gonna tell. When I finish one I'll take pictures and tell you all the details. Until then, here a picture of some of the fabric I bought. Can you guess what I'm going to be making?

Christmas Projects, Part 3

As Savannah calls them, these are her Christmas Balls.... I call them ornaments though. We had fun with these this year, though i really think she would have been able to do more of the project if she had been a little older....



Savannah and I took inexpensive Christmas balls (the harder to break but still glass solid colored ornaments that are 18 for $2) and she "painted" them with a 50/50 solution of Elmer's glue and water. Then we added torn tissue paper to the balls before I did a top coat of glue to put down all the edges. Savannah had a blast, I couldn't get her to stop touching them she was so proud, and we added them to all of her school friend's goody bags, wrapped up for their mom. (Hopefully they made it home in one piece....) Like I said, Savannah was so proud of them.

In the goody bags were the ornament for mom, a sticker book (or Christmas pencils when we ran out of sticker books), two candy canes, and a can of playdoh. Nice and easy and inexpensive.... we made fifteen bags for about fifteen dollars.

For the teachers, we went in on a group basket, but I also made chocolate covered pretzels. I didn't think to take a picture of the finished project, but I made them plain this year so it was just the stick pretzels with chocolate on them. Really easy to make, just take the bakers chocolate, melt by 30 second intervals in the microwave, then do whatever you need to to cover the pretzel with the chocolate. Usually I use a dinner glass to melt the chocolate, cause if it is deep enough you can just roll the chocolate onto the pretzel, though this time I used a knife to spread it on.

Here are the bags and chocolate pretzels all ready to go, in the back of the van, off to school (with some thank you notes for other church friends on top.)

Christmas Projects, Part 2

So right before Christmas, I found this really cool pattern for making a rag doll from the Emily over at the Inside a Black Apple blog after she appeared on Martha Stewart's show. Well I was hit with the doll crafting bug and after I made the first one using the template (but not enlarging it), I changed it and just cut out the basic shape that I thought it should be. (You'll notice that it is basically the same, but I couldn't enlarge it here at the house and I am too lazy to drive somewhere to get it enlarged....) So here is Zoe, showing off the first Meagan Original....
which was a birthday present for one of our neighbors little one year old.

Then Christmas eve I decided that I wanted to give Savannah's Cousin Ella something more than the little toy train we bought her, and went ahead and made this baby doll for her. I started at 11 pm and finished by 2 am. That was with having to recreate the pattern on the fly and all, except for the face embroidery, which I did Christmas morning.... (and the scarf type thing used to be a hair ribbon from when I was a little girl....)

And Ella really liked it.

Merry Christmas Ella!

Tutorial anyone?

Christmas projects... part one

So I was very busy the month of December in the sewing room, but until opened, the presents had to remain a mystery! Well no longer! Now all can be disclosed cause it is the day after Christmas!

For Mike's family, they decided to do a gift exchange, so I was making gifts for both of my sister - in- laws. So, I knew immediately that I was going to make this: A Garden Caddy (I tried to link it but apparently it is not on the website anymore) over at Michael Miller Fabrics. Anyways, here is the tote I made:

This is actually the second one, in which I was able to make all the needed adjustments to the pattern to make it turn out even better. I must say though that I wished that I had made the back fabric (that is red in this picture) the army green and the pocket edges (that are army green here) be the red accent. But I went with what Mike said since it is his relatives.... and since it was too late to change it before I saw the colors together. (It would have just balanced better..... the green is more dominate in the rose material and therefore would have been better to be the more dominate color in the caddy.)

Which leads me to the next question.... at what point does a pattern stop being someone else's and becomes a new pattern.... I ask cause the pattern at Michael Miller fabric's (When I , or I should say Joanna) printed it last year, was so horrible that I ended up only being able to use the main concept of it and the measurements.... and even then I thought the measurements were a little off too. So does that mean that I could write up the new pattern and it not be their pattern anymore??? and could I in turn then sell it at an etsy shop..... that is the way to make money at an etsy shop..... selling either the pattern or the kits to make something, so that it can be easily reproduced and home mass-marketed....

And no, I don't know yet how the two recipients of the garden caddies liked them.... I haven't talked to the wonderful ladies, to know if they even knew what it was.... being that they had to be mailed and such, we were not able to show them off or demonstrate them....

Merry Christmas

Well it is a tradition around here..... We always do a secret Santa exchange, set up by Marie through Elfster. I find it funny this year that Johanna and I exchanged gifts with each other this year. Since I don't think Johanna has had the chance to open her present, I can't say much other than I hope you really like it cause I had a blast making it for you, though at one point part of it I was ready to throw out the window at one point..... and for something completely unexpected..... Anyways, oh yeah.

Johanna knitted these really cute little Christmas stockings for my Christmas tree. They really are quite adorable, and Savannah and I raced in the house to put them on the tree when we first opened it. (Oh yeah..... some of you are probably pretty cold, but here in Jacksonville area of Florida we are sitting in the mid to upper 70's and sweating outside.... the day after Christmas).

Also I can continue more craftiness with the gift card to Joann Fabrics. Thanks Johanna!

From Rags to Pretty

I have been duly grilled by Meagan to post this. I apologize ahead of time for doing a poor job of documenting the process.

Christmas 2003: We buy this folding table and chair set for the girls - just two of them at the time.

Fast forward 4.5 years and the table has faded and been ripped and abused like nobody's business. I have gotten sick of looking at the pink-instead-of-red chair and the huge gash on the table top that's been taped up. I find the table to be dumb for kids since the top is padded with foam and now it's bowed in the middle; the kids can't eat on it and they can't color on it. It's a poorly thought out child's table. I find card tables in general to be a little pointless. What's with the foam? Aren't tables supposed to provide a hard surface for you to "get stuff done" on? Anyway, especially for children, this little card table is a waste of time.

So I decide to give it a face lift. It was supposed to be an easy project but apparently this kind of stuff never is...especially when you live in Florida and are trying to do this during the rainy season...and you're using spray paint. And you can't really do it all yourself because you're pregnant. Sigh.

Anyway, Del and Pastor Ronnie did the table top. Pastor Ronnie has all sorts of woodworking experience and tools so Del took it to his house and he mitered the trim corners and nailed the trim on for us and gave Del lots of advice. Then Del primed and sanded and primed and sanded and painted and sanded. Me and the girls and my mom stenciled the top and then Mom and Dad finished the top off with some polymer...stuff. It's dried to a hard surface now and the kids can draw on it and have tea on it no problem.

For the chairs and the table legs/support, the kids and Mom and I sanded them and washed them and then my dad spray painted them.

I really like how it turned out. It's pretty darn cute, eh? The only down side is that we probably would have saved money if we had just bought an entirely new table considering that this one only cost us $25 in the first place and we spent at least that much and more fixing it up. Oh well!!!

There you go Meagan, you happy now? :)

The Best Idea I've Seen This Side of...

You all have kids, right? Or at least husbands. Or maybe soon-to-be-husbands. We need JOB JARS!!! Check out this fantastic idea that Little Bits of Everything has posted. I'm going to scrounge around the house for some jars. I'll post pics of mine when I'm finished.

Yet Another UnInspired Mother's Day

Me and My Girl has this tutorial up. I think these cards are so cute and will be half of a mother's day gift for my mom and my grandma. The girls helped destroy create these little beauties. We'll tie them up with some nice ribbon.

The second half will be pin cushions. I know that is so prosaic, but they both sew and...Ella really, really, really wants to destroy make something lovely for her grandma and GG.

A Revived Little Craft of Mine

So I used to make these all the time when I was in high school and the early years of college. I really like making them and I don't know why I stopped.... oh wait maybe cause all the tree guys got smart and stopped giving away the branches so they could make the extra money.

I made four in all, pretty much exactly the same. You want to know the best part though???? If you buy them from the tree guys then you pay $20 each, but I made all 4 for $10. A little more if you add the craft wire, berries and the metal ring, but I still had all the supplies I needed from when I used to make them. Even so, the grand total would have only been like $15 for the four all things included.

So next time you buy a Christmas tree, and they offer to fresh cut it and remove the lowest branch, just know you paid for those branches and you surely could get a wreath out of them.... and if you don't ask for them they will just keep them and then they make an extra $20 off the tree that you just paid full price for...

Okay, maybe its a pet peeve of mine that they can get away with that but, then again, we all have one or two of those pet peeves hanging around.

Also, if you didn't want to have to buy the branches like I did, you can get them for free at some of the big name retailers that sell trees.... ie home depot, Target... Usually they don't have the man power to use the branches for wreaths so they just throw them out. I was just too lazy to go get them from there this time. Maybe if I make any more I will try that first before I go buy them again.

Trying New Things

I have tried many, many new things this Christmas season on my sewing machine. I have been more brave about branching out when it comes to my sewing since starting to contribute to this blog. You all inspire me and so I decided that I should make many of my Christmas gifts this year. I cannot show all of them because I want my secret santa recipient and my family and friends who read this blog to be surprised, but there are two that I can show that I am so proud of!

These zippered wristlets look simple enough, but they have a zipper on them for goodness sake! I am not sure I have ever sewn a zipper before! Well, it was about time already, so here it is! I made these for Ella and Sarah and filled them with fun girly things.

I also made these Elephants from the Patchwork + Quilted Gifts book I have posted about before:

I am absolutely in love with these and really wanted to keep these for myself! They were a lot easier than I thought they would be and I really got them done faster than I thought I would too. It took me as long to sew them up as it did to stuff them and hand sew them up and hand sew on the ears, blankets, and eyes. Then for some reason, I thought the blue and purple one looked like he would be a well-worn elephant and added some hand embroidery on a few of the seems as if he had been loved and patched and loved some more. Anyway, these are for Rachel and Lily. I had so much fun, and I am so shocked with what I can do when I just try it!

Speaking of Free

You can't believe how many crafty blogs out there are giving away free stuff! I mentioned yesterday that I had been browsing crafty blogs lately and I entered four giveaways. The first one ended today, but I didn't win anything. I can't believe how generous these guys are. The next one that ends is Ravenhill's. She lives in Norway! Neat, eh? She's giving away some Kimono fabric, a giveaway I'd love to win. She just started her blog a few months ago. Plus, she has a daughter named Lilly. I entered another one giving away an apron, and one giving away a bag of crafty-goodness. Check it out, if you have time.