Christmas Wreath

I always have intentions of making a wreath with the boughs that have been cut off of the bottom of the Christmas tree. This year I did! At least it is round... and smells heavenly!

They're finished!

I think I started these in September. My friend, Liz, posted on her blog where to find the pattern and I knew I had to make them. I had my sister Jill's family's name for gift-giving this Christmas, so I decided to make two sets. I know-CRAZY! I think we started in September. My friend, Brianne, decided to make them with me. Awesome idea. We got to hang out and play and crochet (sometimes:) every Friday. I finished Jill's set right before the move and finally finished my Joseph! The kids are a bit disenchanted with them because they have seen them around for 4 months- but Jill informs me her kids love them. Yeah! Success. Hopefully the kids will be excited next year.

face painting

My friend had recently gotten into face painting. One day Lydia came home from a playdate with a butterfly on her face. I had never seen this kind of face painting before and loved it. When it came time for costumes, my friend had moved. So I went to the dollar store and bought some make-up that I thought would work. I think it turned out great. Lydia was great to sit still while I did it, and while I washed it off.

Tulle tutu

I saw this tutorial and just had to make this tutu for Lydia. It was super easy and cheap. It turned out really fluffy and fun. I kinda wish adults could wear these. At least I wish I had one when I was little

Sorcerors Stone

We went on a treasure hunt to find the Sorcerors Stone. Problably the highlight of the party. We had picture clues. I had drawn pictures of where the next clue was to be found.

Potion ingredients

We also had alligator spit (blue gatorade) and hedgehog bile (orange crush).The kids had a blast making potions and eating dragon scales (doritos).

Harry Potter wands

One of the games for the party include "choosing" their wands. I set up a tower of blocks with an invisible (clear) thread around the bottom one. When they flourish their wands at the blocks I yank the string and the pile crashes. They realize that I am doing something but they can't figure out what.

I painted chop sticks different woodsy colors then labeled them with the type of wood and what magical core it contains (from the books).

Harry Potter Birthday cake

I was not feeling inspired about the cake this year. I always have great ideas that I can't execute. In fact, I am debating whether or not to continue decorating cakes for birthdays, that I am always disappointed with. I need to learn how to sculpt modling chocolate. How cute would it be to put Liam's face on a little Quiddich player?
My idea here was to make the cake look like the cover of one of the movies (which Liam carries around and plays with). I don't think it quite worked though. I had to explain it to him :(

Birthday Invites

So, preperations are underway for Liam's birthday party. I am so excited! I love throwing a party with a theme.
Liam wanted a Harry Potter birthday party. We decided for the invitations to make the envelope look Hogwarts-ish. I had some sealing wax from awhile ago that we used on some heavy papered envelopes that we made.
The invitations inside were written with white crayon on white paper. There was a clue explaining that to "reveal the secret messege" they needed to use a dark colored marker. It worked well, and was cute to do something "magic".
Stay tuned for more Potter themed birthday ideas.

Craft organization

One of my goals this summer was to get all my craft/sewing/jewelry stuff organized. Thanks to Travis and The Container Store I was able to start! I am so excited! It is like when you clean a childs room and they remember toys they have, simply because they can see them now.

Anniversary roses

Travis is so good about bringing me flowers. He gets the flowers from Trader Joe's (very reasonably priced) that are wrapped in plastic, so that I get to arrange them. I love arranging them as much as I love looking at them. We have a lot of plants in our yard that I can add to the arrangement.

Gift for Felix

My friend, Brianne, made these for Felix. They are felt/fabric applique, hand embroidered. They are so cute! Can't wait until Felix is big enough to wear them! Thanks Brianne!

Sarah's LCB

Sarah made this cutest little box. I should've gotten a picture from the side. It is round. Made of wood then covered in material, with an elastic closure. It is so adorable. I have had to reclaim it several times from my girls who can't seem to resist it. Sarah also made a CD and some lotion. I love how everyone picked such different things to do (except Andrea and I). I just thought I would post this in case Sarah hadn't gotten pictures before she sent them.
I want to know what Shawna and Elisabeth did. Someone better post them soon!

2 LCB ITEMS--ANDREA

Here is my first item. I really wanted and intended to make a burlap bag for Jen, but couldn't find burlap, so bought some linen-ish fabric, which was a huge pain to work with. I discovered that Melissa and I were duplicating, so almost started over with something entirely different (what, I don't know), but as Melissa and Mom say, "you can never have too many bags." I guess that's true. So here is the one I made for Jen. I decided to make it more like a tote (short handles), since it ended up kind of big. Also I reinforced the front, back and bottom with heavy interfacing, with the hopes that it would stand up on its own, but no such luck.

Here is Laura's bag. I wanted to try a different block and bag pattern with hers, but ended up using the same colors, since I feel like browns, greens and blues are pretty universally liked in our family (correct me if I'm wrong here). With hers I put a pocket on the inside, instead of the outside like Jen's.

Both bags have this tan lining (the fabric that I bought to use initially), which ended up being a good lining fabric.

I'm still working on Elisabeth's, slacker that I am. Good thing she's so patient!

LCB: bubble throws

I've been so cold this spring, all could think of was blankets when the LCB came up. So, I made three throws with identical fabrics and top designs. I did try different edging techniques on the three. I didn't use any batting, so hopefully they'll be in use all year. My favorite part: the ultra-comfy bubble fabric on the back.

LCB :: bath bombs

I had intended to make something super fabulous for this craft swap, but somehow only managed these bath bombs (so I included a couple of Todd's cards as a consolation prize). I love baths, but not bubble baths or bath oil. Bath bombs, however, are great. Drop them into warm water and they fizz away to nothing but leave the water and room scented with essential oils. I made chamomile (to which I added dried chamomile flowers), sweet almond, tea tree oil, and spearmint. Yummy. I kept one for myself, but haven't tried it yet, so I hope they work. Melissa, Jill, Laura and Sarah will have to let me know. ox

Seeing Clearly

This is a combination of some of the themes that had been tossed around, all in the theme of clear glass.
First, one of My Favorite Things-- I don't know if you can see it well, but I picked up some little pendants that are crystal prisms. I love wearing my "rainbow necklace" because every time the sun hits it there are little rainbows around me and they always cheer me up. I just thought I'd share a simple joy.
Next, I shared a way to Pamper Yourself --my version of a foot massage in a minute. I use these marbles in the bottom of a foot soak to massage my feet. Then I end with a full pedicure --polish and all-- and I begin feeling more like a woman and less like a tired mommy.
To top off this LCB, I threw in my attempt at craftiness with some hand sandblasted mugs I personalized for the sisters I had (I don't sew or crochet or make cute cards, so what could I do? Also, Sarah's mug is not pictured here because I gave it to her before I took the picture). I've been doing this on people's pyrex dishes to earn a little extra money, so I already had everything set up. I have to admit that Richard helped me though, otherwise I never would have finished in time. Anyway, the mugs are so they can enjoy their favorite drink while they pamper themselves. Hope you enjoy it! I sure had fun doing it, and thinking of you girls!

LCB

My sisters (including sisters-in-law and soon to be sister) and I all love and/or appreciate homemade crafts. After emailing back and forth and deciding we that we needed sufficient motivation for doing some serious crafting it was proposed that we do a craft exchange. While this initial idea morphed into a gift exchange of sorts, our Long-distance Craft Bonanza (LCB) was born. We set a deadline, decided against a theme, and drew 3 names. So we will each send out 3 gifts and receive 3 gifts. Part of this plan was then to document the process, and thoughts behind our gifts. I am writing this to explain while there will soon be many LCB posts, and hopefully posts by other people. I am getting excited!

LCB bags

I love bags. I can't get enough. Everytime I go to the store, library, church, park, overnight, or anything I need a bag. So why not carry a cute one? Even better a reversable one, so that you have two bags in one? My original idea was to embroider "grocery" or "library" on the bag but I thought it might limit your limitless possibilities!

This is the first bag I made, patterned after an IKEA bag I love. It ended up with Elisabeth.

This side seems a little plain after that "Apple Octagon" on the other side :)

I love this fabric and think I might need to go back for more. This bag is smaller than the others but I was working with limited burlap.

This burlap is from a Basmati rice bag that I had. Jen had showed me these "burlap buckets" awhile ago and I wanted to try it out. The WIP is for work in progress, to keep any unfinished project in. Another great use for bags. You can kind of see the print showing through, but that is okay.

This is Shawna's bag. I hope it turned out okay. shawna said she loved this fabric and I hope I did it justice. I had thought of her when I bought it. I did the straps a little different with little ties at the top.

Andrea's pictured next. I hope she loves polka dots as much as I do.

I had so much fun making these. I have a lot more fabric with great plans for them. They actually don't take long to make (if your needles don't break, or you don't have to clean up potty training messes, or make dinner, or whatever else takes you away) You could make one in the precious hours during a nap, or after the kids go down. That is, if you have any energy left, and have a deadline :)

New fabric

Do you ever feel really rich? I am feeling so wealthy right now. I went to Home Fabrics to get some material for some projects I am working on. I had a very minimal budget. They were having a sale. I went up to get half this much fabric and it was so cheap I grabbed more! It all came out to under $14!

Spring dresses

We were at Joanns Fabrics today and Zoe saw this fabric that she loved. She really wanted to have matching dresses with Lydia. The fabric had the top elastic part already done, so I literally had to sew up the back, hem it, and put on straps. They look so cute matching! Do you think I should make one for me, too?

Crochet Owl Purse

Adorable crochet pattern I found on Etsy.

Spring inspired cards

Card #1 One rick rack flower, one mixed paper and one quilled.

Card #2 The yellow ones are rick rack flowers.

Card #3 The colors didn't turn out well. They are much more vibrant than they look here.

Card #4

Card #5

Card #6

Card #7

Card #8

Brown Sugar Pound Cupcakes with Brown butter frosting

I got a Martha Steward Living magazine to enjoy while in San Francisco. One of the articles was about cupcakes. Decadent cupcakes. Not one of the recipes calls for less than 2 sticks of butter in the cupcake alone, not to mention more for the frosing.

I could not resist making these, though I gave them away as fast as I could so I wouldn't consume them all. They were as delicious and evil as you would suspect.

Mine did not turn out cute, though they were tasty. So I stole Martha's picture.

Fishy valentines

The girls both made these fish for their valentines this year. They turned out so cute. We found the idea on familyfun.com

Baby shower invitation

This in one of the baby shower invites I made for a recent shower.

simple valentines

I *love* Valentines Day! I love pink and hearts, etc. I love to make valentines and always have. Here are some I made this year.