Recent Craftiness

I have been busily sewing, knitting, crafting and creating this month!  Here's a brief run-down of what I've done since Dec. 1st.

• 7 Christmas-themed hostess aprons (plus a pending request for 3 more!!!)
• 4 Hostess aprons, including a mother-daughter set that turned out adorable - that I forgot to photograph before shipping out!
• 1 Birthday party for my favorite 5-year-old, including a racecar-themed variation of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey"
• 4 Gift cards purchased for our teachers (I'm the Teacher Appreciation Mom for both classes, so I spent a Wednesday driving all over town to pick up cards for their favorite restaurants)
• 4 Custom gift bags for those gift cards
• 2 Pillowcase dresses
• 1 Appliqued onesie
• 36 Reindeer candycanes for school friends
• 1 Cheeta-and-denim purse
• Plus cookies for our MOPS cookie exchange, treats for our family, countless meals and snacks for our family ...

I've also attended the MOPS Steering Christmas party, my MOPS small-group Cookie Exchange (hosted at my house), the Women's Group dinner at church, Mitchell's Christmas program at school, Paul's company holiday party and my mom's annual get-together (in Baytown!).  Tomorrow, Paul's parents and brother arrive for Christmas at our house.

'Tis the season!

Noah's 2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated Noah's second birthday yesterday with lots of family and friends! Here's just a few of the billions of photos!

The Barrel of Monkeys cake. The idea was that they were escaping from the barrel. You can't really see the ones hanging off the side that well. (And, a few kiddos had "played" with them!)

Paul carving up the brisket. He also smoked a pork shoulder for the party. MMMMmmmm!

Mommy and the birthday boy.

Happy Birthday bunting I made.

These were the pinata bags. Everyone also took home a barrel of monkeys.

Sewing for a Super Hero

Mitchell asked me to sew him something. I thought long and hard about what I could make for a boy. So, I whipped up a special cape. He offered his creative input (switching the flames fabric to be the lightning bolt and the oval to the yellow lightning bolt fabric). It took no time at all, and he's hardly taken it off since I finished.

Fantastic Day

Today, I took the boys out for the morning to get out of Paul's hair.

(In praise of Paul: Thursday, he took off of work so I could spend most of the day at church doing planning for the coming year. How great is my husband?! And, Wednesday was our ninth anniversary, and he surprised me with a stunning gold necklace with pearl drops. Is this man great, or what?! I credit his jewelry shopping ability to genetics: His dad is an expert jewelry shopper!!!)

Anyhoo, back to our day.

The boys and I headed out around 8:45 this morning so Daddy could sleep in. We headed over to Benny's Bagels for breakfast. Yum-O! Mitchell had a Danish, Noah had a Screamerdog (breakfast sausage and cheese wrapped in bagel and baked), and I had an Asiago cheese bagel with chive-and-onion cream cheese topped with spinach and tomato. OMG. I could eat that every day and be a very, very happy woman!

Then, we headed down to the Pearl Farmers Market for some shopping. We scored with beets (never tried 'em - branching out!), carrots, mini yellow squash, peaches, pecans, olive twists from Biga on the Banks plus some sunflower plants. And, the plant guy was so nice he gave me a daylily plant as an added bonus.

The Pearl - quickly growing into a cultural hot spot in San Antonio.

We hung out around the Pearl Brewery and listened to some brewery retirees talk about the old days. Pearl has a special place in my heart: My PawPaw drank Pearl. It was one of the last beers to go to the pop top. The boys were more interested in the water feature and the brewery train (which the guys called "The Trolley") than their stories of a time gone by.

Pearl retirees telling stories of working at the brewery.

I, for one, couldn't think of a better way to spend my Saturday morning than spooking around the brewery, with all its history and its present and future ... all rolled into one today. Next weekend, the grand opening of the River Walk expansion will be held. Guess where it takes you now? The Pearl.

Longhorn artwork at The Pearl.

After we left The Pearl, we headed over to Fiesta on Main, one of my favorite local shops. I picked up some great embroidered shirts plus a skirt. The boys each picked out a little bag.

Inspired by the fantastic flowers at Fiesta, I came home and began working on my own paper flowers.

What a wonderful day!

Viva Fiesta! Barrette

Here's my first completed project using my vintage flower loom. I've decided to call them the Viva Fiesta! Barrettes. They remind me of fun and summmer and, of course, Fiesta!

I made the flower using lime green and hot pink raffia, then attached it to a snap clip. Wrapping the clip in hot pink made for a nice finish, I think. I'm going to make up a few more and add them to my Etsy shop. (I also have turquoise raffia, so I can make a few different combos.)

New Toys: Vintage Flower Looms

They say that everything old is new again, and flower looming is no exception. This craft reached its heyday in the '60s and '70s, and thanks to craftinista Cathy of California, it's back in a big way! Cathy even taught Martha Stewart how to create flowers the other day!

Here's my flower loom kit plus two projects I played with yesterday. I used gift-wrap ribbon (aka, curly ribbon). I can tell you, it's a tedious task to loom a flower. With practice, though, I'm sure it will be lots of fun!

Here's a detail of the two flowers I loomed yesterday with gift-wrap ribbon. The purple one on the left was done on the larger pegs on the large square loom. I wrapped the ribbon 3-5 times around each peg then knotted it off in the middle. Once I removed it from the loom, I split the ribbons down the middle and then cut the loops to make a really pretty chrysanthemum.

The flower on the right was done on the double circular loom. I used lime green for the outside petals and turquoise for the inside. I backstitched around the center, like the instruction manual suggested.

I left long tails of ribbon on both of these so I can use them on gift packages. Bags of goodies have never looked so good!

(BTW: If you'd like a vintage flower loom set of your own, you can purchase it from Cathy's etsy shop.)

Black Widow

Mitchell's class has been studying spiders, bugs and insects this month. The other day, they all made spiders. Mitchell's is a black widow. I am impressed (and a little creeped out by!) with his creativity!

Ale Has Landed

Meet Ale, our new alien.

This afternoon, Mitchell asked me to make him an alien. I searched online for some alien graphics and then let Mitchell decide which he wanted. Then we hit my fabric stash, where I had this sort-of planet-y fabric. Mitchell picked out buttons for his eyes while I cut the fabric.



Mitchell hasn't put him down yet! Not bad for a few minutes and scraps of fabric! He's pretty wonky, but I couldn't imagine him crisp and perfect!!!

This was the alien clip art that was my inspiration for Ale.

BTW: Mitchell named him Ale. I think because it sounds like the first syllable of alien.

Eggstra Cute!

Yesterday, Mitchell's preschool teacher presented each child with an adorable egg critter for Easter.

These "Eggimals" are super easy, and the patterns are all available for free over at FamilyFun.com.

Mitchell received a blue puppy, his friend G got a mouse and K got a pink piggie. (We took K with us to run errands yesterday after school, and she carried her piggie all over Target. It was really cute!) Inside were some stickers and a mini container of Play Dough.

I love the extra care that Mitchell's teachers put into making each child feel special. We are so lucky to have him at such a wonderful preschool (and so lucky that Noah will start there in the fall!).

Tutu Cute!

I finished a tutu for our friend's Audrey's first birthday. I hope she loves it! It was lots of fun to make, and I think I'll add them to my etsy shop.

Audrey's tutu is pale pink and white tulle with pink satin bows tied around the waist plus pearl-centered tiny satin bows sprinkled in.

To complete her first birthday gift, I'm appliqueing an A on a onesie. I have some cute scraps of pink and white floral fabric that I'm using.

Beautiful Artwork

Yesterday, Mitchell attended an art class at Artworks. Here are some of the paintings he created, with his own words to tell the story of the paintings. The last image is one of a leaf he took with my camera a while back (that I never got around to posting). Since this is all about his art, I thought it was a nice addition.

The cat jumped all the way up to the moon. The cat that jumped on the
moon had no problem. Someone was going to cook the cat and eat the cat.
Isn't that rude? So it jumped up to the moon. That's a black cat and that's for Halloween.


That picture has a little crack and then it has a door for an invisible castle.
That's all about that one.

This tree has a bendy branch. The gold glitter is the wind. The tree is
starting to lose its leaves. It's because the wind is blowing.

Two brown tire tracks. Someone else did the colored part.
Someone took away mine (tire track print) so I decided to add tracks to theirs.

The leaf fell into a hole.

This was the first time I've left Mitchell somewhere other than preschool. I was a little nervous when I dropped him off. But, he charged right in, grabbed a smock and brought it to me to put it on. He was "jumping right in" (his words for trying something new).

All was well until it came time to go and he couldn't find his tire track print. Apparently they were all hanging on a wall to dry and another child took his by mistake. The fantastic staff searched high and low for Mitchell's print but to no avail. Miss Lisa, who runs Artworks, sprung to the rescue and grabbed a stack of left artwork and encouraged Mitchell to add his tracks to it. He did it reluctantly, but he cried about his missing artwork for almost an hour.

Paisley and Dots purse

Last night, I needed a little sewing therapy so I whipped up this cute purse. It starts as three fat quarters (which I have tons of now!), so I picked three browns. I love this paisley fabric, so I made it the main one for the bag.

You start by cutting strips of different widths then sewing them all together to make the front. The shape is accomplished by trimming a triangle off both sides then creating a box bottom at the end.

Here's the back. I like the shape enough that I think it's really cute even in a single fabric. Maybe a Swiss dot fabric with a funky ribbon sewn across as an accent? Or, ribbon and a bow to make it a really girlie look? Or denim with a wide pink ribbon and some rhinestones? I could think of a million variations!

Here's a detail of the front fabrics. I didn't look at the big circles before cutting or I would have left room above and below on the top piece. Live and learn, right? (This is a detail that probably no one would notice but me! Also, I would have centered the big dots on the skinny strip so they looked better. There was quite a bit of this fabric left over, which means I could have tailored it to be just right.)

Here's a shot of the interior. I added a pocket at the last minute (dummy!) and placed it too high. Next time, I'll plan ahead and sew in the pocket before I start assembling the purse. Also, I did a magnetic closure instead of the flap and button suggested in the pattern. (That's too much of a hassle when you need to dig around!) And, I made the straps longer - the suggested length was awkward.


BTW: These fabrics were cheapy fat quarters that I picked up at Hancock Fabrics. I bought the paisley and the big dots to make an eye pillow, which turned out so cute that I went back to buy more. I bought the small dots to make into a burp cloth - but then I decided it complemented these really well.

Orange Purse

I sewed my first purse today. I'm quite proud, if I say so myself!

This month, Sew, Mama, Sew! is featuring fat quarter projects. This little cutie began life as two fat quarters. The exterior fabric is Petal Party Autumn from Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market line. Side note: I won this fabric as part of an orange mix fat quarter pack on SMS!

You can get the instructions on the SMS blog.

The purse's lining is Lila Tueller's Soiree Sun Party Favors. I just got a huge stack of fat quarters from this line and am in love!!!

You all know that I love learning new things, and boy did I learn lots of new stuff with this project! I'm most proud that I did the flat bottom variation. I also modified the size of the project to be more my style. The leather button and faux tortoise shell handles came from Hancock Fabric.

Noah totally agreed that the bag is fab. He quickly snatched it up during my photo shoot, checked out the inside then took off running with it while shouting "Bye."

My First (& Second!) Sewing Projects

One of my goals for this year is to learn to use my sewing machine. So, I decided to make a rag quilt for my girlfriend Kristen's baby shower. I didn't take a photo of it after I washed it, so the photo below has big fringe. The finished blanket (after washing it) has nice, fuzzy seams around each square. Very cute and very soft!



And, today, I made an apron for myself this afternoon. I found this "Apron in an Hour" pattern and was so excited to get my fabric in the mail today (didn't pick up my mail yesterday!). I love how it came out!

Bernie, my machine, and I are very well acquainted now!

Current Craftiness

Here are some photos of what I've been up to lately.

I'm hosting a baby shower on Saturday, so I made this banner for the buffet. I cut out the letters on different patterned papers and strung them together with brown ribbon. (Yes, I hand-cut the letters with an Xacto knife, my weapon of choice.) It didn't hang how I wanted, so I used painter's tape to get it just right!

(Note to self: put away the Christmas decorations in the formal dining room
before Saturday - and don't forget the Santa upstairs.)

As promised, here's a close-up of the bramble scarf, which is still a UFO (unfinished object). The color in the photo still isn't quite reality, but it's closer.

I'm also working on a ribbed scarf for Paul out of a charcoal gray merino blend. He has to travel for work sometimes, and everywhere he has to go is very cold this time of year. And, I've never made him anything, so I thought I'd do something for him. Mitchell is upset that I'm not making it for him.

Here's a close-up of Paul's scarf. The first photo looks like it's blue, but it's really a dark gray.

And, here's an altered folder I created. I adopted the word now as my word for 2009. I'm very good at procrastinating, and that's something I need to stop! Inside the folder is what I want to do now. It currently contains the notes from a workshop I took about clutter control. I need to get things back under control. It's amazing how the holidays wreck your home, your waistline and your routine!

BTW: The "Quick & Simple Clutter Control" workshop is online at Simplify 101. It was a great workshop, broken down into four weekly sessions. When I did the workshop before, I didn't devote to it the way I should, so I've pulled out the notes and am starting over. I'm also doing the "Organizing 101" workshop that starts Jan. 13th. Hopefully it will be just what I need to start the year off right!

On the Needles: Bramble Scarf

I'm currently working on this bramble scarf. I'm using a merino blend in a color called "Spice House." The camera doesn't do the color justice.

I took a close-up of the bramble, but it looked like ground beef! I'll try again later.

My Latest Scarf

I finished my latest scarf last night. That's two since Thanksgiving. If I keep up at this pace, I can make one for each of my girlfriends for Christmas next year.

The yarn I selected for this one is a hand-tied collection of different browns and turquoise with a little orange added to the mix. Since there are so many different textures, I decided to just knit this one.

I made the fringe from a section of the ribbon included with the yarn.

Here's that same ribbon knitted up.

Stitch detail - see all the different yarns?

If the weather continues to be as cold as it's been the past few days, I'll wear it to MOPS on Friday. I think it would look great with my orange cashmere sweater.

Pink Christmas - Finished and in the Mail

I finally finished my Pink Christmas gifts and got them in the mail today. I'm in love with everything I made, especially the scarf. I'm really excited that I have enough yarn and ribbons left over to make one for myself.

For the scarf, I knitted two different yarns together. One was a basic brown with a hint of blue in it. The other was one that went from a tiny strand of brown to nubby lenghts of orange, yellow, blue and pink. It came out gorgeous! I only knitted this time (no purling - I was being lazy, even though I love purling). When I finished, I tied on some ribbons at the ends to create a fringe. It really gave it a nice, finished look.

For the other items, I created a matching office set with a "Messages" chalkboard, file folders, pen cup and even a personalized journal. I chose coordinating scrapbook papers for all of the items.

The biggest challenge of this project was the message board letters. I Mod Podged the scrapbook paper to the letters first and then attempted to cut them out with an Xacto knife. Next time, I'll trace them onto my paper, cut them out then adhere them to the wood letters.

And, I love altered paper items, so of course I love the file folders, pen cup and journal. I even went as far as cutting out the recipient's name - Chris - in coordinating paper and adhering it to the journal.

I hope Chris enjoys the items I've created for her. (And, selfishly, I can't wait to see what someone created for me!)