The Boy turned one yesterday! Here he is, playing with his new tricycle (thanks, Omi & Opa!) and wearing his mama-made "birthday boy" tee shirt.
Stay tuned for birthday party crafting...
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
labor vibes scrapbook
A few weeks ago, my friend Jamie was on the brink of having a baby. Our moms group held a blessingway for her where we each told her our wishes and prayers for her labor, birth, and postpartum period. Throughout our time together, I took pictures of us, and then each mama wrote out a little note of encouragement during labor. I took those notes home, and (with a looming deadline, ha!) put the notes and photos together in a little scrap book.
I had initially gone to Target to buy a pretty notebook to use, but all the books they had would have been too big, leaving loads of empty pages. I was considering a spiral-bound notebook that would easily allow me to remove unnecessary pages* when packages of brightly colored file folders caught my eye. A picture of a hand-made mini scrapbook I'd seen on etsy flashed through my mind, and I spontaneously decided to make my own scrapbook out of those file folders.
I hit a few snags (e.g. when I realized that the scrapbook I wanted to emulate was made out of brown paper bags, not file folders), but it turned out great. See:
More pictures on flickr...
*This was a no-go because I didn't want to have a big spiral with a few pages on it... What, anal, me?! Ha!
I had initially gone to Target to buy a pretty notebook to use, but all the books they had would have been too big, leaving loads of empty pages. I was considering a spiral-bound notebook that would easily allow me to remove unnecessary pages* when packages of brightly colored file folders caught my eye. A picture of a hand-made mini scrapbook I'd seen on etsy flashed through my mind, and I spontaneously decided to make my own scrapbook out of those file folders.
I hit a few snags (e.g. when I realized that the scrapbook I wanted to emulate was made out of brown paper bags, not file folders), but it turned out great. See:
More pictures on flickr...
*This was a no-go because I didn't want to have a big spiral with a few pages on it... What, anal, me?! Ha!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
pencil roll
I've been admiring the pencil rolls Lori creates, so when we were invited to a third birthday party, I immediately thought "PENCIL ROLL TIME!" (As an unrelated aside, we've been invited to three weddings this Summer, which excites me because it gives me an excuse to make a tie and vest for my boy. Wheeee!)
I used my trusty friend google to find a tutorial (this one), agonized over fabric choices for a good hour, and finally set to work.
Tadaaaa:
The birthday girl herself was a little pink-glitter-princess-blinded by her other gifts, but her mom was over the moon and very impressed with me for gifting something handmade. WIN! :)
I used my trusty friend google to find a tutorial (this one), agonized over fabric choices for a good hour, and finally set to work.
Tadaaaa:
The birthday girl herself was a little pink-glitter-princess-blinded by her other gifts, but her mom was over the moon and very impressed with me for gifting something handmade. WIN! :)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
starting over
Noah is almost one (!), and I'm starting to get a decent amount of crafting-time in. I've been busy! I completed 3 quilts, a bunch of baby hats, a few pairs of pants... the list goes on. Now all I have to do to make those projects count is to blog about them!
Here we go:
Two matching quilts for two completely unrelated baby girls:
Pinwheels for my friend Grace's soon-to-arrive little girl, and...
...zig-zags for my friend Jamie's little Natalie.
I was inspired to pair my charm pack (Moda Wee Play) with the plain white fabric by a swap project at Chickpea Sewing Studio. I love how it makes the colors pop! The blue binding was binding tape I stumbled upon at the store one day. As far as I can tell, the only real advantage over making your own binding is that it fit all the way around the quilt in one piece. It wasn't cut out 100% straight and it wasn't ironed super-neatly either, so I ended up ironing it flat, then folding it and ironing it again. I was sort of annoyed about that, but it did turn out very nice, so I will probably consider using it in the future.
I think she approves. :)
Here we go:
Two matching quilts for two completely unrelated baby girls:
Pinwheels for my friend Grace's soon-to-arrive little girl, and...
...zig-zags for my friend Jamie's little Natalie.I was inspired to pair my charm pack (Moda Wee Play) with the plain white fabric by a swap project at Chickpea Sewing Studio. I love how it makes the colors pop! The blue binding was binding tape I stumbled upon at the store one day. As far as I can tell, the only real advantage over making your own binding is that it fit all the way around the quilt in one piece. It wasn't cut out 100% straight and it wasn't ironed super-neatly either, so I ended up ironing it flat, then folding it and ironing it again. I was sort of annoyed about that, but it did turn out very nice, so I will probably consider using it in the future.
I think she approves. :)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
December 9th
I didn't do any crafting yesterday, unless you can count sawing the bottom branches off the Christmas tree and fitting it into the stand.
And today, I busied myself with cleaning up some of the enormous mess in the craft room. Not really all that creative (filing - yawn!), but a prerequesite for craftiness nonetheless!
And today, I busied myself with cleaning up some of the enormous mess in the craft room. Not really all that creative (filing - yawn!), but a prerequesite for craftiness nonetheless!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
December 7th: pie
I made three pies today - two apple pies with crumble topping, and a blackberry tart. One of the pies made it into the freezer, and now I have to decide what to have for dessert, apple or blackberry.
I'm thinking a little of both would be just right. :)
I'm thinking a little of both would be just right. :)
Saturday, December 6, 2008
December Projects
Oh right. I have another blog. Hmmm.
I've been crafting it up a little, and my goal for December - at least until Christmas - is to do something crafty every day.
On the first, I made a candy cane table runner out of one of Noah's burp cloths and red bias tape. It was a quick and dirty project, took less than 45 minutes, and was of course done to avoid doing some chores. Very satisfying!
On the second, I did quite a bit of work on this year's standard issue Christmas gift: photo calendars. This is my ninth year making a calendar for my parents, and the first year of making one for my sister, who is moving into her own appartment in January. I used blank calendars, made photo collages in power point, printed them, and glued them on (just FYI: This sounds a lot easier than it was, what with accidentally printing in black and white a few times, running out of ink, and other assorted small-scale catastrophes).
New this year: I also made calendars for other relatives because I decided that everyone would enjoy Noah's baby pictures and I would enjoy making one gift and duplicating it rather than shopping my little heart out with a child that can only handle 1-2 hours at the mall. For these, I chose 13 pictures (one for the cover!), dropped them off at Staples, and picked up the calendars a few days later. GENIUS! Even better would have been had I been able to get their website to do my bidding, because in theory, I could have just uploaded my photos and done all the ordering online, then simply picked the finished product up in the store. Maybe next year...
On the third, I christmased my house. I cleaned my windows (!!!) to put up my stars (here's a photo). Then, I spray-painted my pumpkins to see if they could become Christmas decorations. While I think they look really interesting (fascinating, in fact), I'm not sure I want them as decoration... what do you guys think?
On the fourth, I made applesauce in the crock pot. Is applesauce crafty? No matter what, it was absolutely delicious. As a matter of fact, I have the next batch in the crock pot right now!
On the fifth, I did nothing crafty. I didn't even make dinner, as a matter of fact. I did, however, get my hair cut (!!!) and decided what to wear for my fancy country club brunch, so still a productive day.
Today, I finally decorated my advent wreath. I had real problems finding the candles I wanted. In the past years, the wreath has been silver/white, and I wanted to go with a more red theme this year. Well. Red, unscented pillar candles? DO NOT EXIST. I looked at a few places, and then just ended up with the same white pillars from Target. Better luck next year, I guess!
I have grand plans for the next weeks: Stockings, a Merry Christmas garland, salt dough ornaments... stay tuned!
I've been crafting it up a little, and my goal for December - at least until Christmas - is to do something crafty every day.
On the first, I made a candy cane table runner out of one of Noah's burp cloths and red bias tape. It was a quick and dirty project, took less than 45 minutes, and was of course done to avoid doing some chores. Very satisfying!
On the second, I did quite a bit of work on this year's standard issue Christmas gift: photo calendars. This is my ninth year making a calendar for my parents, and the first year of making one for my sister, who is moving into her own appartment in January. I used blank calendars, made photo collages in power point, printed them, and glued them on (just FYI: This sounds a lot easier than it was, what with accidentally printing in black and white a few times, running out of ink, and other assorted small-scale catastrophes).
New this year: I also made calendars for other relatives because I decided that everyone would enjoy Noah's baby pictures and I would enjoy making one gift and duplicating it rather than shopping my little heart out with a child that can only handle 1-2 hours at the mall. For these, I chose 13 pictures (one for the cover!), dropped them off at Staples, and picked up the calendars a few days later. GENIUS! Even better would have been had I been able to get their website to do my bidding, because in theory, I could have just uploaded my photos and done all the ordering online, then simply picked the finished product up in the store. Maybe next year...
On the third, I christmased my house. I cleaned my windows (!!!) to put up my stars (here's a photo). Then, I spray-painted my pumpkins to see if they could become Christmas decorations. While I think they look really interesting (fascinating, in fact), I'm not sure I want them as decoration... what do you guys think?
On the fourth, I made applesauce in the crock pot. Is applesauce crafty? No matter what, it was absolutely delicious. As a matter of fact, I have the next batch in the crock pot right now!
On the fifth, I did nothing crafty. I didn't even make dinner, as a matter of fact. I did, however, get my hair cut (!!!) and decided what to wear for my fancy country club brunch, so still a productive day.
Today, I finally decorated my advent wreath. I had real problems finding the candles I wanted. In the past years, the wreath has been silver/white, and I wanted to go with a more red theme this year. Well. Red, unscented pillar candles? DO NOT EXIST. I looked at a few places, and then just ended up with the same white pillars from Target. Better luck next year, I guess!
I have grand plans for the next weeks: Stockings, a Merry Christmas garland, salt dough ornaments... stay tuned!
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