crafterhours

I Spy Spoonflower Assortment: Eden

2012-01-30T07:37:00.001-05:00

I learned so very much doing I Spy: Spoonflower Swap 1 & Swap 2. A lot. Like:

- there are a lot of people who love I Spy.

- there are a lot of people who love Spoonflower.

- there are a lot of people who love I Spy: Spoonflower Swaps.

- running a swap for Spoonflower I Spy sets is a crazy amount of work.

- even knowing what I was doing the second time, it took 2 months to finish

- the post office people shoot daggers with their eyes when you walk up with 55 packages.

- they flat out reject you if you try to mail one that's already been metered

- Spoonflower shipping times can vary greatly.

- taste in I Spies varies greatly.

- even after all of the work, I really love the fabric.

So, as a result of all that I learned, I decided to try something. A small experiment. If I simplify things a bit in terms of what was required for a swap... can I at least pay the overhead costs of curating my own set? And secondly, since a partner is required, given the need for space and help, can we both earn a little for the time required? Kind of a scary leap. But one that I'm totally exhilarated to make.

Please allow me to introduce: Eden.

She's a lovely set of 56 different 5" squares. Behold the eye candy:

So many amazing Spoonflower designs in one package. And if you'd like to see the individual links to Spoonflower fabrics on their site, you can find them here conveniently sorted by keyword. The thing about Spoonflower fabrics is... you never know when a designer will make a print unavailable for one reason or another. So there's no telling whether when this set is gone, we'd be able to duplicate it. Also, If you're a Spoonflower fan who's in-the-know, you know that Spoonflower has just introduced Kona cotton as a new substrate. These were printed on the original quilting cotton that has a lower weight/higher thread count. In case you're wondering.

If you'd like to see it in the brand spanking new crafterhours shop, you can find it here. Each package is ready for shipping-- and we're happy to include a gift message if you'd like.

If you want to be added to the mailing list so that you're sure to be the first to hear about future crafterhours products click here. There may be a few fun discounts to be had that way, too.

Since this is our great big grand opening, you can enter code "GRAND" at checkout for free domestic shipping now through February 5. Some people want to send flowers or chocolate... I'd go with fabric any time.

This is just one of those things born out of crafty necessity. The people demanded it! Uh... they also demanded a second set. I'll tell you more about that one tomorrow. Are you worried that crafterhours may become one neverending advertisement? I promise to keep it down. The even MORE exciting announcement won't come until April. (No, I'm not having a baby. That's all Adrianna's thing this year.)

What I made for #3: Knit Blanket

2012-01-27T05:09:00.001-05:00

(That would be a blanket made from knit fabric, not a knitted blanket. As if. That's what grandmas are for.)

When it came time to make a blanket for baby (because the other 14 I own just weren't good enough), I strayed from my usual minky since the lows here are in the 80s. As it is, this cotton knit blanket is too warm for all but the most air conditioned situations. But the applique sure makes for fun pictures.

I cut the applique with my silhouette using a free font that I downloaded. It's called "lobster" and you can get it here. It's been my font boyfriend for the past few months, so this isn't the last time you'll see it.

The fabric on top is a white cotton eyelet knit, purchased I have no idea where or when. Some mom and pop shop in the fabric district, I'm sure. The best fabrics are the hardest to acquire, right? I love the texture and interest that it adds.

I backed it with some of my precious, long-hoarded Michael Miller Scandi Chirp. There's still a yard here and there if you do a google search. I've had it in my stash for, like, ever. It was just waiting for the perfect project. Pretty sure I found it :)

And that's a wrap!

(and a really lousy pun. let me make it up to you with a blooper shot:)

What I made for #3: Carseat Cover

2012-01-25T04:16:00.002-05:00

I thought I'd take a couple posts to show you the (very very few) things I made for baby girl #3. Although, I must say that it's more than I made in preparation for the other two. My "preparing for baby" story kind of reads backwards compared to what you would expect. For girl #1, I was of the mindset: they didn't have any of this crap when I was born, so I certainly don't need it now. We got all the basics at garage sales and on craigslist. By the time girl #2 came along, I had been hanging out with other moms for awhile and saw all the nifty products out there I had been missing out on. So we splurged on a couple of fun extras, including an Ergo (after borrowing Susan's and not wanting to give it back). It's an item I could. not. live. without. (well, obviously I could, and did with #1, but after experiencing it, I couldn't imagine not having it.)

Girl #3 didn't get any new gear, but she got some handmade by mommy stuff, which neither of the other girls received. It's just because she's my favorite.

First up, a carseat cover, since the original one was so grody at this point that you couldn't tell what color it was supposed to be.

In a very un-Adrianna-like move, I actually used a tutorial to make this. Usually I spend days and weeks reinventing the wheel, tearing my hair out, and generally subjecting my family to whining and grumpiness when I can't figure something out. This time, I did a quick google search and found a perfectly documented procedural from Ashley at Make it and Love it. My carseat was shaped slightly differently, but the tutorial worked great anyway. I recommend it, for those of you who are smart enough to seek help without needless tears and gnashing of teeth first.

My favorite part is the shade. I love how professional everything looks with just a little bit of piping. (note to self: use piping more often.) This isn't actually piping, but the casing that holds the plastic arc. Same diff.

The more observant readers may recognize this fabric as a Liberty print, and you'd be right. When Liberty did their line for Target, I bought this flat sheet just to use for the fabric. I thought this was the perfect project to show it off. The light teal is a linen/cotton blend. Baby girl isn't talking in full sentences yet, but you can just tell from the smug look on her face and her calm demeanor whenever we strap her in that she knows she's the only baby rocking a custom Liberty seat.

And, of course, the seat looks even better with a baby in it. Yeah, it's 88 degrees F here, and we're at the pool. Don't hate.

(No, I didn't take the time to cover the head-keeper-inner part. They only use it for such a very short time. Plus I'm lazy.)

If you are thinking of redoing your carseat cover, I say go for it! It took some time, but was generally much easier than I expected. Just take lots of pictures before you tear apart the old cover, and I would strongly recommend store-bought bias tape. The only imperfections on mine are because of my wonky hand-made tape. It just wouldn't wrap all the way around the bulk of some of those 4 layer seam allowances.

Leaping From Hot Tub to Polar Bear Swim

2012-01-24T11:14:00.005-05:00

That's how it's feeling around here. From the hot, humid, creative greenhouse of loveliness at Alt to the freezing cold reality of Mom. Not that I don't love home-- but a few days of uninterrupted sleep, time to do my hair (wait, I can do something other than a ponytail?) and talk to some of the most fun, creative grown-ups anywhere, followed by travel, scraping the ice off of my frozen car at midnight, 4.5 hours of sleep, jet lag, grocery shopping, a house that looks like I left other people living in it for the better part of a week, a 2 year old that woke up 3 times last night and a husband that's away on business this week and... yeah, we're back to reality around here. This morning as I was stumbling toward the 2 year-old's room to rescue her, the scream from K's room was intense. As a mom, I finally *know* the cries-- it took a while, but now I'm pretty clear on which sound means what. And this was the scream of "someone just ran over my puppy." Leaving M to wail her own less urgent wail, I turned the corner to find... K's brand new shiny pink ceramic puppy (!) piggy bank in pieces on the floor. For a girl that loves puppies, this is the end of the world.

However, in the midst of this morning's chaos-- I'm more conscious of the things I love about it thanks to hearing Gretchen Rubin talk about The Happiness Project. I downloaded the book on my phone and read a third of it on the plane and have already taken the time to call and tell a few important people in my life about it. 'Cause it's worth reading. I'm not the reader I once was. I now tend to choose how-tos and self-help in general, but the timing on this particular sort of self-help was perfect. "When the student is ready, the teacher appears", Gretchen writes. And this is a week where I can use some coaching on happiness. While I miss the page-turning of the real book in my hands, I love being able to grab screen shots of quotes that really speak to me, like this one:

Gretchen's words, from The Happiness Project

Being conscious of the stages of happiness makes me more attentive to it. Sometimes I wonder why I (or others) post random exclamations about silly happy things on Facebook. This has helped that make more sense to me. What may seem like bragging is also part of the process of savoring and expressing happiness. When I edit myself at times because I'm so worried about how others will read my words as being selfish or boastful, I may be skipping over my own opportunity to feel more joy. Or, less tied to Facebook even thought that is a critical means of communicating with my extended family these days, maybe I just need to call my parents more often to tell them what's making me happy. This is the kind of thinking that makes me a better spouse, mom, friend, daughter. So glad to have it in my hands this week. I needed that.

{I'm imagining Adrianna scratching her head at about this point. "Susan, this is a crafty blog, is there a crafty point coming?" YES!}

So, as far as what's coming around here in the near future in crafting/sewing world, there's really good news. I'm going to work on my Alt posts while also attempting to juggle 47 other things in this readjustment week... and there are a few posts coming from my co-blogger. (Hooooray! She's baaaaack with crafty things! You know, other than the 9-month project.)

And there's other good crafty news. Except it doesn't sound like it at first. The first part of the news is that Picnik is closing. My friend Stacey is a bit stressed over this one, and I don't blame her.

I'm thinking that's because Picnik is focused on softening the blow of closing by emphasizing that people who've paid for a subscription get their money back. I know that people who are getting their money back are happy, and yeah, it's cool that they're refunding the whole year rather than just pro-rating it, but the next big question for Picnik lovers (that's perhaps even more important) is "How will I be able to edit my photos now?" I have Photoshop myself and love it-- but the ease of using Picnik on the fly feels irreplaceable.

So I followed the trail of links and came to the Google+ Creative Kit. This is the second part of the story that I wish they'd put more emphasis on because this is where they're dropping the functionalities that you're already familiar with if you're using Picnik. If you already have a Google account you'll be able to pop right in. If you don't have a Google account, it'll only take you two minutes. Easy peasy.

Once you're logged in to Google, you can open a photo to edit. Then click on "Creative Kit" in the upper left.

From there the interface gets a bit more Picnik-ish. But without the familiar grass and clouds intro.

The same effects are there, with some new options, too. (I'd been wondering for a while why Picnik wasn't introducing much that was new as far as effects. Now I know--they were busy selling the store...)

Worried that you wouldn't be able to use "Crowns and Tiaras" anymore? Take a deep breath. Crowns. Tiaras. Both still there. As well as beards, face paint and Christmas hats. No problemo.

So, now that I feel satisfied that the online photographic editing world is not ending, I'm off to look for my living room floor. It's got to be under there somewhere. And I am as excited as any other reader to see what Adrianna has to show us. 'Cause blogging as a team is how we got started, and still is one of the things that makes me happiest about blogging at all. I've seen a preview, but that's no replacement for getting to enjoy it when it appears in my reader window.

Crafty Bits: Holland

2012-01-23T08:35:00.004-05:00

We've done a few Crafty Bits Tours in the past. They're not comprehensive tours so much as snapshots of inspiration along the way. We've done London, Berlin and Las Vegas. Not a strange collection at all. We twisted our friend Kim's arm into photographing a spring trip to Holland, and posting it now means that if you still have time to catch a spring trip this year. At least that's what I'm dreaming about after reading this. I've just got to get unpacked from the last trip before I can figure out the next. And maybe take a nap. -Susan

Hello Crafterhours readers, my name is Kim, I am Eve’s mom, remember the lucky girl who received the super cute jean jacket decorated and personalized by Susan and who has sewn her first top with the girls from Crafterhours. Susan and Adrianna certainly have inspired and challenged me to be more creative in my own life so I promised them to bring back some new craft inspiration from my trip to Holland.

To give you a little background, I was born and raised in Holland or as most call it “The Netherlands”. A small country located west of Germany, east of England and north of Belgium. My family still lives in Holland, I haven’t for the past 14 years, but I certainly try to visit them as often as I can.

Sometimes it takes some time away to truly appreciate the uniqueness, beauty, traditions and folklore of one’s country. On many occasions people have asked me what they should see when visiting the Netherlands. I would recommend the major (tourist) attractions, but I am a little embarrassed to admit that I haven’t been to most of these places my self.

Holland is known for its flowers in particular tulips, windmills, wooden shoes and unique delft blue porcelain/pottery oh and not to forget its delicious cheese.

Spring flowers in a Dutch Market

Traditional Windmill

Delft’s Blue porcelain ‘Dutch Boy & Girl’

Delft’s Blue porcelain ‘Canal houses’

So this time around I asked my parents to join me and visit the number one tourist attraction in Holland in the Spring: The “Keukenhof” gardens (www.keukenhof.nl) and let me tell you from a person that has now ACTUALLY been there what a fantastic place! I had never seen so many flowers, in the most fantastic colors, so beautifully and creatively displayed. It was truly ‘dutch’ candy for the eyes!

Tulips

More Tulips

I thought this was very creative and fun

Beautiful Tulip

Adrianna - sorry - I know you dislike purple, but this hyacinth
was so beautifully vibrant in color

We ‘Dutchies’ are particular proud of the unique shoes we wear in Holland. There is quite the variety available on the market nowadays.

Everyday

Evening

Boots

Aren’t they cute? Actually, people really don’t wear these anymore. They used to in the old days, worn mostly by farmers to protect their feet from dirt and heavy/sharp farming equipment. They are part of the traditional Dutch costume and a beloved souvenir. Contrary to popular belief, they are actually more comfortable then they look.

Layers of Dutch traditional costume

Dutch folklore really has made its comeback in modern life. Many baby nurseries are done in Dutch traditional colors (red, white and blue) and patterns. Patterns and figures found on our unique Delft Blue porcelain and traditional clothing make their comeback in kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms on a variety of products ranging from linens, tile, ribbons, fabric etc. You can find endless related inspiration here.

I just recently got introduced to this amazing (and I have to say quite addicting) crafting blog world, so please forgive me that this post does not include a wonderfully written tutorial, I will leave that to the pros. I hope this little trip to Holland provided you with some new inspiration for your new and unfinished projects.

Happy crafting! Or is that totally cheesy to say in crafty blog world …..

Dutch wheels of yummy cheese

Truly yours,

Kim

Coming Down From the High

2012-01-22T15:42:00.001-05:00

Wooooow. Coming to the Altitude Design Summit was everything I hoped it would be and more. Completely and utterly exhilaratingly exhausting. And now I'm packing to head home to reconnect with my girls who I can't believe I haven't seen since Tuesday. What if they're totally over me? Five days is a long time. Maybe they're out of mommy-mommy-mommy stage? The fears that creep up after five days away... wait, would that be a good thing? I think five days ago I might've thought that'd be a good thing.

So, while I sort out my thoughts and attempt to organize a few posts that hopefully won't feel to you like I'm writing while strung out, I thought I'd share these two posts from friend Jen at Upcycled Education.

Paint Swatch Garland and Paint Swatch Bookmarks

She's been featured a few times around here (here with tee-to-tank and here with cranberry playdate fun) but I don't think I could overdo it. I love her ideas and her enthusiasm. And since I skipped my free ski lift ticket for "Solitude" resort in favor of attending add-on design camps at the conference, now I'm dreaming of heading to her crafty condo and skiing in Breckenridge. Dang it, I'm not sorry I got to go to those sessions, but real skiing would have been fun. All I've skied on is ice and slush. Not like it's a crisis, just a fun wistful thought.

Somewhat relatedly, Jen and I are both sad that Picnik will be closing in April. But... I'm imagining that Google taking it over could make it even better. We'll find out soon enough, eh?

If you've followed along on the Crafterhours Facebook page or on Twitter with @crafterhours, there're some spoilers about the awesomeness of my trip. If you like spoilers. And my roommate for the trip, Natasha, is working on her trip posts too. I'm looking forward to seeing them myself-- I made her stop telling me what she was thinking about writing because my head's already full. But I'll enjoy reading when she's done because I know there are a few things we felt differently about. Oooh, blog drama!

High on Altitude

2012-01-19T10:31:00.000-05:00

Last year I got a quick e-mail from Samstermommy. Okay, she's not Samstermommy, she's Natasha of Little Pink Monster, but in my head she'll always be Samstermommy and not the CEO of Little Pink Monster. Would I like to come with to the Altitude Summit, aka Alt? In that moment, it was as much a "yes!" based on my desire to take a fun mommy break as to attend a conference about blogging.

But before committing, I did some googling. The conference site itself is pretty seductive to a crafty mommy blogger, but would it be worth the investment? I found a few posts that recapped what bloggers learned at Alt, and that was what hooked me. Bloggers love to talk about blogging, but in my everyday life there isn't much of that. Most of the people in my world don't even read blogs, let alone write one. And have things to share that will make me a better blogger.

So we set out yesterday, dragging ourselves out the door, brushing away tears at the reality of leaving our little girls behind. It's only a few days, but walking out the door was so much harder than I'd pictured. (We both brought drawings the girls had given us and made a tiny gallery in our room.) By the time we landed in Salt Lake City, my first visit here, we started feeling the spirit of the conference. One attendee wrote a beautiful description of the conference here. And I was downright gleeful to get picked up at the airport like this:

I don't think Natasha minded either.

And when signing in for the conference we each got this:

Natasha couldn't wait to open hers, so while we were in our hotel's macaroon shop...

Natasha was already scoping out the goodies.

And then I got distracted by the cuteness of the sweet shop-

That sells lattes and cappuccinos, gelato, and....

washi tape!

Before the conference began, lots of attendees got to go out last night for small-group dinners hosted by Alt sponsors. I went to the New Yorker event hosted by Squarespace, and it was a night of fantastic food and meeting fun bloggers who are so much more friendly than you'd ever even hope. And getting to know strangers isn't necessarily high on my things-to-do list. Among those my dinner group? A celebrity stylist for Ellen and a designer for Timeless Treasures! Not a dull moment in conversation.

So after the conference there will be a "what I learned" post, I think. The conference only officially begins this morning, and my lineup for today includes... Amy Butler! Fairly sure I'll sleep well tonight, trying to digest all of this. And we're supposed to be dressed and ready in just a few. I'm trying to pull together a look that's 180 from my everyday mom job appearance-- which I'm finding is so much easier when there aren't sweet girls swirling through to grab for lipstick and hot flat irons.

Can't wait to tell you more. Maybe I'll have more to tell you if I get out of the room? A bit intimidating to dress to be surrounded by design people. But I think I'll get through it.

How To Get Fat Using Pinterest: A Tutorial

2012-01-18T01:45:00.000-05:00

Step 1: Start obsessively pinning stuff like this:

{chef in training via pinterest}

{plain chicken via pinterest}

{recipe girl via pinterest}

{kevin & amanda via pinterest}

{rumbly in my tumbly via pinterest}

Step 2: Make them.

Step 3: Eat them.

You're done! How easy was that? The most successful project/tutorial I've ever done! And I'm sure those extra lbs have nothing to do with the fact that exactly 1 month ago, I looked like this:

(there's a real bun in that oven. but plenty of cinnamon buns too.)

ps: can someone please tell me I'm not the only one with a well-curated board dedicated exclusively to cinnamon roll recipes?

Super Soap: A Tutorial

2012-01-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

When I saw this pin, I knew I wanted to do something like it. But rather than take new photos of my kids, I wanted to use photos I already had and add some text. I made these as Christmas gifts, but I figure you could make them for any one of 543 other holidays and occasions. And make fun (self-congratulating) labels.

The first one I made with a photo of my brother. The one I was just talking about the other day. Because he started a new pedicab business this year, I figured my Mom, Dad and grandparents would enjoy a little reminder of that success and of the grandkids, too. Two birds, one stone and all.

I did two different versions as indicated by the above labels. I like the hand soap, but also did dish soap. What I like about dish soap is that you're more likely to actually pick dish soap up and turn it upside-down, so it'll make the inserts wiggle around a little.

All you need for this is:

a soap bottle
Goof Off
images
a trip to the office printing place to print your images onto laser transparencies ($1-3 each)

There are two basic ways to get your images onto laser transparencies so that you can wrangle them into the container. Nope, inkjet won't work. It'll run. I don't have a color laser printer at home, so it required a trip to see the office printing people. You can:

1) Physically cut out your already printed images and place them onto a white page to copy onto a laser transparency ($1 around these parts)

or

2) Use photo editing software to clip the backgrounds out of your photos and save them. Arrange them in an 8.5 x 11 document and save as a JPG or PDF or similar and have the office people print them ($3 around these parts)

In theory I guess you could print your images on paper, cut them out and seal them with a laminator. My guess is that the soap would eventually soak through somehow, since you've got to roll or bend the image to get it into the bottle and that tends to make lamination crack or split open. Lots of variables there that I didn't feel like dealing with.

So I went with approach 2. I left some room around the photos to give them some help in orienting themselves in the bottle. Lemme show you what I mean. Here's an image that I didn't leave an arrow sort of shape at the top of. So it wants to flop sideways. Which is totally fine if you want it to do that. My recipients are much too type A for that, though. (At least I know where I get it.)

And here's the same image where I did keep some space to help keep it right-end-up. Can you see the shape I left at the top and on the bottom right?

So when the soap bottle moves around, the shapes will eventually float back into place. At least that's the idea. All you have to do to get the pieces into the bottle is roll it up and slide it in. If you don't get it right the first time, you can always pull it out and try again. I found that was a good time to use the giant tweezers that came with my serger. But chop sticks or two butter knives or something similar would work too.

So here's the same image in a bottle-- after I let K choose and count out 10 plastic beads to add in. (She took this job very seriously.)

And here's the same image in a Method bottle. It's pricey for soap. But you don't have to remove a label, because the labeling is so minimal. (And it's printed directly onto the bottle anyway, and thus would seemingly require radioactive somethingorother to remove from the bottle.)

Speaking of labels, I tried both nail polish remover and rubbing alcohol in an effort to avoid buying Goof Off. In the end I wish I'd just bought the Goof Off to begin with. The rubbing alcohol works but takes forever, and the nail polish remover left smudgy spots on the plastic. Goof Off was much easier.

So when I was done with my brother's bottle, I decided to play with other photos. And add some related text. For example, my little M wouldn't say "wash your hands please". She'd say "Wass hans pwease." I cut these out on two different pieces of transparency, leaving lots of space on the text shape so it will stay above the image. This one's for Bella, since M is proudly wearing Bella's reading glasses here.

And then I took a menacing photo of my godson and used it with the words "Don't make me make you wash your hands." I think I made his head too big. Let's say I was trying to make him look even more menacing.

Anyway, I loved making them, K loved helping, and the recipients laughed a lot. An inexpensive thing to make, and I'm finding them especially fun for the great-grandparent types who really don't need any "things" but are bound to use soap.

Engagement Shoot: DC with Scott and Dana

2012-01-11T08:53:00.001-05:00

So, I wrote about my photography journey. The short version is that I've gotten a whole lot better since becoming a mother and then a blogger, I've learned enough to know that I have a lot of practice ahead of me, and I think I have the tools in the toolbox to have lots more fun. Which is not to say that I plan to turn it into a career or anything. I just love being able to photograph the people and things I love.

An example of people I love: my brother Scott and his fiancee, Dana. They're planning a May wedding in the mountains of North Carolina. They come to visit us pretty frequently and both have attachments to DC, so an engagement shoot in DC was a natural fit. Except... the day we could go... I was coming down with some sort of something icky and it was 30 degrees outside and cloudy and windy. Yikes. I was quite nervous about whether we'd come out of it with anything useable. I joked with them that if we got two good shots, we'd have done well. I was only kind of joking. I did my best to come up with a travel plan that I hoped would work out.

Thaaaaank the lord I'd figured out how to deal with manual settings. I'm not saying these are perfect, by any stretch, but on auto? I think I'd have gotten nothing that day.

We started by parking by the Capital's reflecting pool and walking toward our first location. On the way I got these:

We paused a few times along the way but it was just too dang cold. So we headed for the US Botanical Garden. It's a ginormous greenhouse. Perfect escape from the winter weather, right? Yes! ... if Dana hadn't just curled her hair. Dangit. The curls disappeared. But... we continued anyway, dedicated to the noble cause of engagement photography. And we got these:

From there we hopped into a cab and headed for Union Station. It's not all that far, but we would've been all red-nosed and silly by the time we got there. It's a good thing we got a cute shot outside...

... because the inside was covered with scaffolding and netting that were totally unattractive. AND made me feel old because I remember the last time Union Station underwent a major renovation. (Except now that I read the update in the above link, the station was damaged by the August earthquake. Phew! Not sooo old. Yet.)

So we hopped on the metro. And took these:

When we got off of the metro, we headed for the National Gallery of Art. The West Building was packed.

We headed for the East Building which has a far more open feel and more natural light. But to get there (without going back out into the elements) we went through the underground tunnel and stopped at the NGA Cafe, where there's a glass wall with a view of the aboveground waterfall.

In order to get to the East Building we had to travel on the moving sidewalk. It was almost pitch black under there, as the idea is that you'll pay attention to the really cool constantly changing light installation. I'm still amazed that we got this image, especially considering my camera only goes up to 1600 ISO.

After a trip through the freezing wind for a quick in-the-car wardrobe change and perhaps some liquid courage, which I've found is especially helpful for models that don't typically work as models, we set about exploring the gallery. Starting with a slow exposure... that required my brother to stand super still with sort of a duck face... fun!

And another slow exposure that wasn't so much about motion as it was about getting enough light to make the photo work. Without the benefit of a tripod, leaning awkwardly sideways on a bench would have to do.

From there we went on to check out Lichtenstein...

And lastly stopped at the mezzanine level for a look at Miro.

This last photo is my favorite because I think it captures a sweet little couple dynamic-- she's giving him a classic "what?!?!" girlfriend/wife look and he's laughing. And in the follow-up, most importantly, they're both laughing. I don't know that that's THE key to a successful marriage, but it's gotta be one of a handful.

And I hope the shoot is, in a tiny way, representative of their future-- whether they're given perfect conditions or not, they make the best of it. And laugh.

Lastly, we did this the following day. I was going for something like this-- except without sun, water and warm weather. Ha!

Much love to these two and thanks for their bravery and good humor. Actual wedding-related crafting coming up this Spring. No worries, crafterhours isn't planning to morph into an all-photography blog. Promise.

On Photography

2012-01-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

Around the time that K was born, a scant five years ago, I was suddenly highly interested in photography. That's just how it seems to happen. Spouse + spouse + kid= instant interest in photography. I'd always liked it, just hadn't previously had so much inspiration and was okay with paint-and-shoot with a decent zoom lens. But that doesn't cut it with kids. There's too much detail to capture and they are never (ever) still. Unless they're sleeping. I tried repeatedly to capture a beautiful photo of K's eyes before they changed from blue to brown. They were fascinating to me and I knew that beyond just her eyes, as a new parent I was being barraged with moments that would never. come. back. (I never did get a good photo of them, dangit.)

So I played and played and was lucky enough to have access to a good camera. Not that I fully took advantage of it, because I was always shooting on auto. Had no idea what all of the features did or how to shoot in manual with something other than a white or black exposure as a result of it. I did learn to change the lenses to capture different things, but was lucky that there were already lenses with the camera to try, or I would've had no idea how different the lens options are.

Blogging and the attempt to capture subtle detail brought photography to a whole new place. I'd had a lot of experience with Photoshop, but eventually grew impatient with having to do so much editing. I finally realized (ta da!) that exposure was my chief problem, and while I knew, in theory, that adjusting the ISO, aperture and shutter speed were the keys to success, I had no idea how to make those adjustments and had no rules of thumb to follow. For three years I lived in a place with plenty of opportunities to use beautiful, natural light and then when I moved back to the mid-atlantic with a cloudy, yucky winter... I was frustrated.

I tried a few e-book things. None of them were all that helpful to me. And then one day I saw a Groupon for a seminar. I was hoping it wasn't one of those things where I'd be one of a dozen people in a conference room because I don't enjoy being on the spot, I just wanted to be able to watch and learn in a format where I could ask questions if I wanted to. (How did I graduate with an art degree and not take a photography class? I think it was that the classes conflicted with another specialty area. I've kicked myself repeatedly over this.)

The seminar, who is not compensating me in any way for this blog post and has no idea who I am, was with the McKay Photography Academy. I know that there are others out there-- this just happens to be the one that was in the right place at the right time for me. I registered myself and a friend and we went on our way. They travel all over the US, but this one was at the University of Maryland University College.

Holy moly, I was not one of a dozen. There were actually probably several hundred of us in an auditorium. But I thought that was fantastic-- because in a room that large and dark we were all able to sit back and use our cameras during the presentation. They encouraged us to use the camera during the presentation. That was the best! I was listening and trying things out and improving as I sat there. I was so inspired by the seminar and was ready to run out and try more. They had multiple photographers available to answer questions during the two breaks, which I thought was great even though I didn't have any. I'm hoping there'll be another Groupon for the intermediate class that they're doing later this year.

I was ridiculously proud of this image when I took it. You can tell (mostly) what's going on! The room was soooo dark. The people are David (L) and Ally (R). They teach the photography seminars and there's another instructor that teaches Photoshop.

Also quite proud of this photo I took in a bar during the dinner break. It was crazy dark there, too. Didn't really expect to ever have a reason to post bar photography on crafterhours. First time for everything?

I tell you all of this because there is soooo much discussion of photography on blogs. We've gotta talk about it and celebrate it because in many cases the photos are the blog. Adrianna and I have both evolved as photographers since our blog's beginnings. And not without a lot of work trying to figure out what we were doing wrong. (Step 1: Avoid the on-camera flash at nearly all costs.)

Relatedly, in case you're wondering what we use, we both have Nikons. When we're shooting crafty stuff we most often use a Nikon 50mm lens with a 1.8 f-stop. Adrianna had one first and then I had to be just like her. It's awesome because it lets lots of light into the camera and that's what's required to take photos inside of a dark-ish house. There's one like it on the Stuff We Use page if you have no idea what I'm talking about. You can find a similar lens for Canon pretty easily.

As far as editing, I most often use the software that comes with Macs-- iPhoto. If I feel the need to get fancy or I'm photographing people in shots that may end up in frames someday, I'm editing occasionally with Picnik and most often with Photoshop, using Pioneer Woman (free and a great place to start!) or Paint the Moon (worth the investment!) actions.

So as a result of 1) having a good camera 2) being interested and 3) having learned a bunch, I was able to shoot my brother and his fiancee recently. We'd done a session 18 months ago that turned out beautifully, but was more a result of fantastic weather and lighting and cute subjects. Despite the fact that it was a cold, cloudy December day, we still ran like crazy people around the Nation's Capital for four hours and got some shots that we were all happy with. More on that shortly...

Spoonflower I Spy Swap 2: Wrapped Up!

2012-01-08T17:54:00.001-05:00

Later today two big buckets of parcels and I will make our way to the post office. My portion of the process that began in November will be done. Hooo. Ray.

I thought that this time would be a lot smoother. It kinda was and it kinda wasn't. It was in that I knew more heading in as far as what the bumps in the road might be, and it wasn't in that I tried to prevent a few bumps and was only moderately successful. In the interest of providing helpful information for posterity, here are a few notes about it.

This is a tricky swap to run. (At least, in my hyper-anxious people-pleasing mind it is.) There are 56 people each spending money on two yards of fabric plus shipping to themselves then shipping to me then shipping back to them. The total cost varies based on shipping distances, but it isn't cheap. My aim is to make sure everyone gets out what they put in. They're each sending 112 squares and should get 112 back.

Piles of 5" strips waiting to be cut into squares.

Spoonflower offered the participants each a 20% discount on their total purchase. That was super fun.

The participants signed up by commenting on the post and then got a summary e-mail from me outlining how it'd work. A few people dropped at that point because they realized the process is a bit complicated or that the timing wouldn't work for them. The "alternates" list came in handy. Participants got a request from me to submit their info for a Google doc that collected all of the relevant info (usernames for Flickr and Blogger, mailing address, whether they'd be willing to cut fabric for an international participant if they themselves were domestic, etc) and after uploading their picks to the Flickr group, they got a second request to add their links to another Google doc along with their indication of when they had or expected to place their order.

Using Google docs meant I got to get all nerdy and excited looking at the highly specific and scientific data I collected, such as:

So, as I've already said, each person signing up is expecting to get 112 different Spoonflower fabrics back. Since the waiting period from order to fabric delivery varied, and got longer at the time that Spoonflower ran their free swatch day, participants waited anywhere from 9-30 days to get their fabric. If at any point after the Flickr approvals anyone had told me THEN that they wanted out, it'd have been really problematic, timeline-wise. Even without that happening, the longer end of that delivery range meant that one poor participant from Canada whose fabric was going to a PO Box in the US was making repeated 2 hour round-trip drives to see if her fabric had arrived. Ouch, right? That's dedication!

So it wasn't until after Christmas that I finally had alllll of the fabric in my hands. Had I known that the original timeline would get pushed aaaanywhere within two weeks of Christmas, I'd not have run the swap. But... maybe I wasn't thinking rationally. It was the fabric fever.

Once all of the fabric was in-house, I called in Kyra, who had participated in the swap, to come and help sort. It sounds like a simple enough task, right? You'd think. But with all of the different packages, quite a few sets coming in multiple pieces, a variety of ways folks had prepared their fabric and a bunch of sets that had exceptions (switched fabric for squares that had been mis-cut, for example) it took the two of us sorting for about 4 hours to get it all done. And to check the lists to make sure everything was accounted for.

And now? It's all accounted for. There are so many prints here that it's a bit overwhelming-- much like a game of I Spy.

I did my best to keep the fabric out of my oldest daughter's sight. Because if/when she does see it she wants to run off with it.

I'm so relieved to be sending these sets off to their new homes. I get so antsy about missing deadlines. And now that that's done it means I can finally get to work with my own squares. I've started an I Spy project page on Pinterest, and my to-do list is shaping up.

112 squares times 25 square inches each is a LOT of I Spy coverage. Please accept these three photos as a representative sample.

The folks that participated have been patient, which has made me happy even as the timeline streeetched. And I got happy notes and treats along with the fabric, which made it feel all the more festive. Now I'm hoping they'll add their project photos to the Flickr group!

Will I do another swap? I may. But I also have another idea that you might like if you missed this round. An idea that was born as a result of some of the more difficult parts of swap organization. In the coming week or two, you'll see more on that!

I'm a winner!

2012-01-03T00:20:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd just do a small round-up of the fun things I received in the mail last year from a few of my favorite bloggers.

First, my favorite blogger, Susan, who writes this little blog right here. She sent me and my girls a big box of Christmas love, but nothing so important as these:

Cinnamon M&Ms. Cinnamon. M. And. Ms. I've long since made a decision on one of the most important questions in life: gun to your head, if you had to give up either cinnamon or chocolate for the rest of your life, which would it be? For me, cinnamon wins by a very narrow margin. But now I don't have to choose! The relief in this house was palpable. (Until this bag is gone and I have to wait until next year for the dumb Mars company to realize this should be a permanent flavor. I'm thinking of starting a petition now.)

This one is 6 months late, but I won this adorable Oliver + S Music Class Blouse from Jennifer over at Parrish Platz (photo from her blog).

She said she just didn't like it and didn't want to spend the time putting in buttons for something that wouldn't get worn. Well, I love everything she does, and this was no exception. I believe I commented that she should just forgo the giveaway and give it to me, but in the end I won it anyway.

I am always right after all.

Now I need to add the buttons, which I even went so far as to purchase the other day. Good thing I now have 3 girls to cycle through this shirt. I should stop procrastinating, especially since I've never done buttonholes with my Bernina and I hear it works like a dream.

And in a strange coincidence, I also won something from one of Jennifer's real life friends, Corinnea. Corinnea and her daughter Jessica recently combined their blogs and shops for double the crafty awesomeness. Jessica has an adorable son who is the main recipient of Corinnea's gorgeous sewing, and just announced that she is expecting a daughter as well! I'm sure Grandma is already revving up her sewing machine pedal.

I got to choose one of Corinnea's beautiful pencil pouches, but their shop also boasts pretty key fobs and adorable garlands for your next party along with many other handmade items that you just need to go check out for yourself.

Look how nicely everything was packaged! They even sent me a card and a freebie to go along with my freebie - 2 cute little notepads, perfect for stashing in my purse to record crafty inspiration when I'm on the go. I got this package just in time for my 30th birthday, so it was extra special :)

Didn't I choose a cute one? Do you see that little beaded zipper pull? The details and sewing are just perfect.

and the back of her label was just too fun not to share:

Then of course, there's my biggest win of 2011.

There might come a time when my every blog post doesn't include a picture of that sweet little face, but that time is not now.

2011: A Casual Review

2011-12-31T09:23:00.000-05:00

In crafterhours world, 2011 was a busy year. In sorta random order: we held Skirt Week. We joined Pinterest. We began accepting sponsors. We hosted Spoonflower I Spy Swap 2. We welcomed a baby ourselves and those of close friends. One of us moved. One of us got our husband back. And all the while we made things, the bulk of which were inspired by our little offspring. (And Adrianna now has 33% more inspiration than I do. That's how that works, right?)

Here're just a few favorites:

puffer shrug, exposed zip twirly skirt, all-in-one facing, presumptuous potholder

custom grosgrain labels, reversible playmat, personalized pencils, long sleeves to short

wall hanging maps, record-your-own audio books, big girls' romper, knit princess aurora

baboon costume, military hat, tee-to-tank with Upcycled Education, ornaments

pretty pleats tank, pjs, I-know-where-it-goes stickers, santa bag

I'm not one for resolutions. The minute I make them I break them just because I feel constrained by them. I know I need room to change my mind. But I have lots of hopes. Hoping to get a handful of new business idea off of the ground. Hoping to improve daily life balance --always a challenge. Hoping to keep the family healthy and rested so that we have the energy to do when we want. 2011 was a long year. A hard year. And still a beautiful year.

There was a brief discussion 'round here of making "I survived 2011" shirts, but the idea was squashed by superstitious anxiety of making such a claim in advance of the close of the year. Nothing like asking for a last-minute catastrophe that would surely involve news photos of said shirt on whoever was being carted away.

What's next? Nowhere to go but forward, with a needle, thread, scissors, mod podge... and coffee in hand. Intrepid crafters always.

Meet the newest member of Crafterhours

2011-12-23T07:12:00.000-05:00

In addition to moving across two oceans, waiting months for my stuff to arrive, unpacking it all, repacking it all due to threats of imminent flooding, then unpacking it all again, I have one more little tiny excuse for not posting since May.

It's this:

I was busy crafting a person.

I'll have to jump back into this space to show you guys some of the stuff I've been making for this little one. There's not very much, between being girl #3 and my instincts to "nest" translating more into an instinct to "nap" this time around. But the baby is only 4 days old and I'm already feeling my energy return, so if I get an uninterrupted 7 or 8 minutes without nursing, I might get back to some sewing and blogging. I'm just glad I haven't been fired from Crafterhours yet. Fortunately, Susan has picked up the slack in a big way. Stay tuned for exciting stuff from her....and something...maybe.. from me.

Miss you guys! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Every One

2011-12-22T15:48:00.000-05:00

Most of our Christmas preparation is done. We're at that point where I let things fall off of the to-do list in favor of chilling out and enjoying the holiday. It's always hard for me to let go of those last ideas... I have this picture of how cute/funny/yummy it could be... but it's not worth making myself nuts in order to make it all happen. I don't have to make it all happen in the same year. At least that's the mantra I'm trying to digest and repeat.

Marjorie and Mikey are ready for the holidays. Marjorie doesn't always wear chunky jewelry. She's generally a minimalist.

When she's not on my work table she's standing guard over the living room in this corner. But since it's the season and all, she's feeling festive. Mikey's a dude. He's too cool for Christmas jewelry.

Hope your holidays are warm, involve a reasonable quantity of yummy things and include a crafty break here and there. Oh, and be sure to check out Adrianna's crafty post. Yes, a crafty post from Adrianna! Team crafterhours expanded! (You don't want to miss it.)

Record Your Own Kids Audio Books: A Tutorial

2011-12-16T08:20:00.000-05:00

My girls will get a bunch of things this Christmas. It's exciting to me to think about what they're getting and wonder which things will be hits and which will be misses. There are always some of each. We're finally past the point, though, where the kids think the boxes are funner than the gifts. I think we are, anyway. And as much as I admit to loving the toys and glittery flashy things, I myself am more excited about a gift I'm helping our families give the girls together.

I thought of it as I was driving one day. I've found that listening to audio books in the car is a sanity saver for all of us. They tend to sit more quietly and focus on the story which means that they're not asking me as many rapid-fire questions and I, in turn, am a less stressed and better focused driver. It's a winner all around.

I know that this year there's a wave of recordable book options. I think that's cool. I just don't love the price tag and the bulk of them and the knowing that there are batteries inside that will die and need to be replaced. Or worse, corrode and kill the recording. And if that were the book that my Grammy'd read and I lost the recording, I'd be super sad.

So I thought about how I could have my family members, who are spread out all over the place, read books for my kids. The kids would love the story and also love to hear it in a familiar voice.

Then, thinking about how it'd be technically possible, I thought about my working days, when I'd have to sit through long conference calls. I remembered that there was an option for recording the calls and downloading the files as MP3s. Which I never did, because the calls were so long and boring in the first place that I sure as h---eck wouldn't want to listen to them again.

But... I could use that function to let our family and friends call in and read books. That way there's no recording device to pass or ship around and worry about getting lost. Not that my Grammy would be able to figure out how to make it work. Or my parents, for that matter. But on the phone... folks can read whenever and wherever they're ready. They've all got a phone. And it won't cost them anything. It'll only cost me a little.

So I dug up a conference calling site that charges 7 cents a minute. Pay as you go, no monthly or startup fees or anything. And will allow me to download the calls as MP3s that I can burn onto discs or sync with my iPhone or whatever. Perfect for sharing with other little relatives to come, too.

So far my family has called in and read The Lorax, I Like Myself and If You Give a Dog a Donut. These are the task-oriented list-making to-do-list-conquering family members. The ones who ask for a Christmas list before Halloween. The others will likely call in on Christmas Eve. Which is totally cool with me.

I think these are on the to-do list for my looover and I to read for our girls-- they're the stories we've read to death this year.

So, here's how:

1. Set up a conference calling account.
I used Toll Free Conferencing. Only took a few minutes to set up. Not only are they not sponsoring this, I can't imagine the way I'm using this is going to make them a whole lot of dough. But I'm sharing it because it worked for me.

2. Pick a book. Or a dozen.
I made a "Wish List" on Amazon to give the further-away folks some ideas, but also encouraged them to feel free to go thrifting for books. The girls have no idea whether a book is brand new or not, nor would they care. As long as there isn't crayon scribble all over it. That they tend to notice. And then ask me why I tell them they can't color on their books when there are clearly other kids with funner mothers out there.

3. Call in to record.
I tested it first. Then I sent an e-mail with the instructions for the readers to follow. There's a conference call-in number, and a group number, and a "host" number, since each person serves as their own host, and then a code to record the call. A lot of buttons to push, so... my Dad helped my Grammy through that part. And then she did a fantastic reading.

4. Download the calls.
Burn them onto a CD. Play them on a computer. Play them on a handheld gadget-y thing. Maybe this one. Wherever you like. Here's the screen where I can label the calls and download them. It's all web-based, no software to install.

And the rest... is gravy. I'm putting them all on my phone since that's the thing that's always with me in the car. But a CD would be easy enough to burn. And I'm backing up a copy, 'cause you never know. I'm so excited to hear what they think of hearing the voices they know and love reading the stories.

And so, as usual, when I've got something even sort of crafty that I'm excited about, I share it here. Hope this is helpful to someone out there!

Unrelated:

- I was interviewed last week by the Wall Street Journal. Why, you (might) ask, does this not warrant its own post? Well, that would be because none of my (20 minutes of) actual words made it into the article. But our holiday card made it into the slide show. So my mom gets to brag at holiday parties. And, I admit, it was super fun to get an e-mail asking for an interview. With the Wall Street Journal. Because that was so fun, I can let go of the fact that the few words I uttered that made it into the photo caption were kind of out of context.

- Are you into the Elf on a Shelf thing? Or do you think it's creepy? If you think it's creepy, you might enjoy this. If you love it and don't think it's creepy and would like to avoid seeing it as creepy... don't click the link.

- Out of 112 Spoonflower I Spy Swap 2 fabrics, 102 are in my hands and I've been in touch with the owners of the remaining 10 and they're all working things out to get them to me. Not sure whether the packages will make it out before Christmas. I'll do what I can on this end. But maybe it's better, in the end, for the packages to wait until the holiday rush has passed. I'd cry if any of them didn't make it back home. It's been a whole lot of work. Oy.

Ornament Factory

2011-12-08T11:23:00.001-05:00

Yesterday morning was spent making piles of these with the help of a super fun crafty mom friend. This time around, instead of photos, there's a school graphic, the name of the school and the year on one side, and it's blank on the other.

Since I had about 50 to make and didn't want to be bothered with hanging them to dry, I laid out freezer paper, shiny side up to do the podging and let them dry. The podge doesn't stick to the shiny plastic side. And I have 150 yards of the stuff. I will neeeeever run out. (The least expensive place to buy it is probably your local grocery store, but you can also get it here.)

Now they're all ready to tie onto shatterproof ornaments.

Like this! As a mom, I happen to know that all of the other moms and dads are suckers for their kids and this school. I'm banking on them making a few dollars. Fingers crossed.

They'd also be cute with several tie-ons. Hmmm.... like maybe a photo of each of the grandkids... or images of the kids' art from this year... the wheels are turning...

Fast, Easy, Inexpensive, Cute Photo Ornaments: A Tutorial

2011-12-05T10:23:00.001-05:00

I've taken on a fundraising task for K's school. We're making ornaments to sell at the upcoming Holiday Bazaar. I've spent a while trying to come up with a recipe for ornament-making that required little financial investment and a reasonable amount of time with awesome results. That's the goal, anyway.

And while thinking about making ornaments of my kids for the year, I realized that the way I'm making ornaments for the school would work just as well for my personal project. I've gotten a trillion e-mails since Thanksgiving offering 50% off of ornaments, but even at half-price they feel expensive to me. And this is super, super inexpensive if you already have a few supplies on hand.

Supplies:

Card stock

Printer

Sewing machine/thread

Ribbon

Mod Podge

Double-sided tape

I did the layout with the Silhouette software. I've posted this before, but it's worth repeating-- the software is free and can be downloaded from the Silhouette site. You don't have to buy anything to get it. You can print to your regular printer. Whether you're planning to get a cutting machine or not, I think the software makes layout simple. You could also use PowerPoint, Gimp, Photoshop, Picnik... lots of ways to do it.

At the edge of each ornament I added a very thin grey line to use as a cutting guide at the end of the process. This line will help guide you to keep your stitched line straight and even.

Cut out your ornament and a matching back-side piece of card stock. Give yourself plenty of room to manipulate the ornament under the presser foot. Then cut three pieces of card stock that fit inside your ornament shape with at least 3/8" all the way around. Your sewing machine can probably handle sewing through two layers of card stock and ribbon, but more card stock than that under the needle could be problematic. If you're concerned about your machine, needle, try it first on some scraps by advancing the needle with your hand control.

Use double-sided tape or scrapbook adhesive to stick your 3 smaller card stock shapes together. Stick the ribbon in there too to make a hanging loop.

Put your back-side shape on. You've got a sandwich with a front and back, three pieces of card stock and a ribbon in the middle.

Put your ornament under the presser foot. On my machine, the general purpose foot has marks that make it easy to choose a guideline to follow. I haven't studied other machine's feet, but I'm guessing they're similar. Or you could mark your foot with a bit of tape or something. You just want the distance between your stitch line and cut line to be consistent.

Now it looks like this.

Cut! Just be careful as you approach the ribbon. Don't want to cut that. You'll have to peel back the sides and cut them separately.

Mod Podge it! I thought glitter podge was appropriate here. But really, when is it not?

Not sure where to hang it to dry? How about on the tree! Once they're dry they're surprisingly rigid and sturdy.

These photos have captured the girls, I think. M is in full-time playful and silly mode, and K is in somewhat reserved thoughtful smirky mode. Daily. And now it's Mod Podged for posterity.

Holiday Notes

2011-11-29T11:46:00.002-05:00

Not a long post, just a few thoughts. Not a sponsored post, either. Just something I think's worth sharing. I spent a few hours yesterday looking for a holiday card design I liked. Sometimes I design a card myself, and sometimes I go the must faster route of picking one and dropping our photos in. I chose one on Shutterfly and one on Zazzle that I liked, laid them both out, and checked in with my better half to see what he thought was a better fit. We agreed on the Zazzle design by Fine And Dandy, but then when I was looking for coupon codes I almost fell out of my chair. There's a code for 50% off that's for a limited time, and there's another code - LOVEPEACEJOY - that takes 75% off of your greeting card order if you're ordering at least 75 between now and the end of December. Okay, we may not need that many, but it made my order-- for full-bleed front-and-back 5x7 cards on a metallic paper-- under $50. With free shipping. And they don't slap a logo onto my card. That bugs me about some of the other card printers. I've always been happy with previous Zazzle print and paper quality, so I'm anxious to see this one arrive.

The photo shoot for this year's holiday card consisted of a backdrop of the reverse side of my I Spy quilt and a pile of glittery shatterproof ornaments. In the end I loved two of the shots of the girls individually, but the shots of them together were pretty useless. For example, when M decided that pulling hair would be fun:

In other holiday news, as far as developing your own crafty holiday wish lists, you can find some of Adrianna's and my own favorite crafting items on the "Stuff We Use" page that you can see by clicking the tab below our header. My sewing machine is still my favorite all-around item, and I was thinking to myself again over the holiday that I'm so happy with it. It's not high-end, but comes with so many extras that have been helpful to me. Often I've gone back to look at the accessory feet and realized that I already have the one I'm going to need for X project because it came with the bundle. And the quilting table has been quite useful. Just a thought if you're not sure what to put on your own list and are considering a sewing machine.

An I Spy update: Packages are arriving and I'm cutting my own yardage and a few yards for others. Sorting early next week!

And now I'm off to work on a new project. A big, big, big project. More on that... eventually.

Make a Santa Bag: A Tutorial

2011-11-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

[This is a re-post from September when it was included as part of the Holiday Bake, Craft, Sew Along series.]

Today I'm showing you how to make an item that can fall into all four categories-- a Santa Bag. It was inspired by one I bought at Pottery Barn Kids before I started sewing regularly. Once my machine and I became BFFs, I realized they'd be far less expensive to make myself and I've loved watching my girls play with it. It comes out as a decoration after Thanksgiving, and then gets dragged all over the house for imaginative play. I don't think I finally managed to put it away until June this year, because they kept finding it and filling it with things. It has been on my to-do list because I think several of my friends with kids would also enjoy it, and as far as holiday decorations go, it's pretty compact when it's time to pack it away. If you can convince the kids it's time to make that happen.

Here's what we're going for:

And here's a not-to-scale graphic of our pieces to make the bag:

One yard of red fleece is more than enough, and whatever the smallest cut your shop will allow of the fuzzy fleece will work-- really all you need is one 3" cut from the bolt!

Since the body of the bag is cut on the fold and doesn't need to be stitched, we'll start by stitching the sides closed. A 1/2" seam allowance works well. Use a slight zig zag or stretch stitch (looks like a lightning bolt) to give your seams a little stretchability in case kids decide to climb in it themselves so that a friend can slide them around in the bag. Just sayin', that might happen. And you don't want those side seams to snap and spoil the fun. No worries about finishing the edges-- fleece doesn't fray.

At about 5" in from the top edge, pin your casing onto the inside of your bag. Stitch all the way around on the top and bottom edge so that you've got a channel to thread your drawstring through later.

It'll look like this:

You can flip your bag right side out and put it aside for a minute. Now grab your drawstring and fold it in half. I used a pin to get it started under the presser foot, but you may or not want to bother to pin it all the way down. I tend to avoid pins when possible. Whichever way you do it, stitch all the way down the length of your drawstring with a 1/4" to 1/2" stitch allowance. You want to leave enough room inside the tube to be able to turn it. If you hate tasks like this, you might decide to just stitch it and not bother to turn it. Up to you. Either way, you want to use a stretch stitch here, too, 'cause this will get tugged on a good bit.

Now I used my ball point threading bodkin to turn this inside-out. Or right-side out, in this case.

In order to thread the bodkin, I chopped one side of the tube off at the end, slid the bodkin in and....

Then fed the end through the eye. And started pulling. You can use a safety pin for this if you don't have a bodkin.

And that gave me this. The turning stretches the fleece, so it'll end up a bit longer than it was before turning.

Okay, put that aside for a moment and let's return to the bag. Pin the right side of the fleece to the right side of the bag and stitch all the way around.

Then flip the fleece into the bag so that you can barely see it from the outside. Pin it.

Stitch the bottom edge of the fleece to the bag all the way around.

Now fold the fleece portion in half. Half in, half out. Use a few stitches on each side and a few stitches in the center of each side to tack it down so that it doesn't fold in. Make a nice, chunky, fuzzy edge.

Snip tiny holes in the outside of the bag on one side. One on each side of the side seam, within the lines where you created a casing. Thread the drawstring through.

Once it's threaded, it'll look like this.

Now it's time to make those fuzzy balls that hang on each end of the drawstring. We've cut 6 marquis shapes, and we're going to use 3 for each ball. Start by pinning two fleece shapes together, right sides facing.

Stitch down one side.

Fold one of the shapes to the side to make room to attach the third piece the same way.

Now you've got one side left to close up. Sew this one half way.

Now you can turn it fuzzy side out and fill it with scraps or fluffy filler stuff. After stuffing, tack the end of the drawstring to the edge, then turn the edges of the fleece in and hand stitch it closed. No stress-- the fleecy texture is very helpful in hiding stitches. Make 'em sturdy stitches to avoid Santa bag castration later on. (I've waited a long time to have a reason to reference castration on a crafty blog. What an exciting day!)

And you're done!

Enjoy!

Giving Much Thanks

2011-11-23T14:20:00.000-05:00

We had a fun crafty bloggy playdate this morning. Jen from Upcycled Education came over with her little O. My kid isn't even in "real" school yet and I'm loving school breaks as a chance to connect with our scattered friends. Jen and I were talking about all sorts of blogging things that crafty bloggers love to talk about-- how this, that and the other work. She's scheduling some super fun crafty posts as she's about to head to her mountain retreat for a few weeks. I'm hoping to get to tell you more about her place soon. She's set it up for her own family to enjoy-- crafty and comfy and beautiful, and then she's made it available for vacation rentals, too. If I'm going to spend the time and money on vacations these days, I'm going some place with character. And hers looks like one of those places.

Since she was bringing little O with her today and I also had Juju, my godson, to help entertain my own two... the holiday crafting has finally begun. I've held off as long as I could-- the kids try to pull out Christmas stuff all year long and I resist because I want to feel like doing Christmas stuff at Christmas. The kids were totally happy to use a tapestry or canvas needle and thread to string cranberries. It's something I've never done before-- honestly, I don't think I've ever held a real, raw cranberry until I bought these. I love cranberry juice and cranberry sauce. I'd just not seen the real thing.

The kids were at it off and on for a few hours. And it was 95% less messy than I expected. Looking around, I don't see cranberry juice on anything. How's that possible? My kitchen table is already battle scarred from a thousand projects, so I wouldn't have thought to cover it anyway, but even if it were worth worrying about, the cranberries didn't do any damage.

Even M at 2.5 was able to string a few, but mostly she liked rolling them around and then wearing the strings the big kids had made.

I feel like I'm swimming in cranberries in my sewing area, too. Garnet, actually. My cousin and her husband had their first baby last week and I'm doing a garnet and black nursery for them. I'd started quite a while ago and a million things have slowed me down, but now that baby Luke is here I've got to get this shipped to them. I know he's not likely to actually sleep in his crib anytime soon, but I'm sure his Mama is ready to see it all put together. And now that he's out and we know that he is a "he" I can scrap any plans for ruffles I might have pondered adding at the last minute should the opportunity arrive.

Strange that I'm doing two nursery sets this year. Both are for a "Katie". And their babies are boys named "Liam" and "Luke".

I made two crib sheets with this fantastic tutorial and tried them on M's bed just to check the size and make sure they wouldn't spontaneously disintegrate or something. Isn't there always that irrational fear that something will be grossly wrong as soon as you hand it off to someone else? Or is that just me?

Cranberries and holidays and sewing for new babies. Life and craft and reflection on what has changed. On my kitchen table and on my sewing table. So grateful for all of it. Hope you get to do some heartwarming crafty things over the coming days, too.

Two (new to me) Places I Love to Shop

2011-11-18T11:30:00.001-05:00

I love reading other blogger's posts about the places they shop, especially if they're places I'm not familiar with. Okay, sometimes there's a big swell of jealousy to get over. I spent three years on the other side of the world where there were few fun shopping options, fewer affordable ones, and little to no thrift opportunity. Today I have two stores to talk about -- one that I think is even funner than the Forever 21 accessory store and you might have near you, and one that's the thrift store every other thrift store wants to be when it grows up. If you're ever near one or the other, I suggest you stop by.

First... Charming Charlie. Do you have one near you? I saw a friend mention it on Facebook. I'd never heard of it so I looked it up. There wasn't one all that close to me at a quick glance, so I forgot about it. Filed for later reference. And then, not even a week later, my husband and I were out for date night. We were in an area we'd never visited before - the National Harbor - and I was checking out the map of shopping and dining. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I realized there was a Charming Charlie not even a block away. My poor husband. We've been together for 14 years, so I guess he's not surprised when date nights are briefly hijacked by trash pickups and shopping excursions. He's not ever gotten upset about it. Bless him.

So we went. Well, I went, and he walked around to see what else was open and check out The Awakening. And? It. was. awesome. One of the largest accessory (+ some clothing) stores I've ever seen, totally affordable in the retail realm, and ORGANIZED BY COLOR. That's the best part. See? Here's about 1/3 of the purple section. Adrianna can just run on past it for blue.

Pardon the after dark cell phone photos. This is blog photography on the fly. I think my favorite section was the clear/almost clear stuff. But it's not as exciting to photograph as, say, the red section:

In the end I walked away with almost the same shirt in two different colors. And a few bracelets that I think I can mix and match for fun. And an intense desire to go back. Maybe with a plan next time. On to part 2 of this post...

So now that I live outside of DC and have dozens of resale and thrift stores to choose from, I'm even jealous of myself. I've found some fantastic stuff. I wasn't unhappy with my options.... and then this new store opened. My first thought was "Wow, that's a huge store space they've chosen. With all of the other thrift stores around here, how will they stock it?" Ha. I still can't really grasp how it happens, but somehow it does. The existing stores around here were a lot of Goodwill Superstores and Salvation Army stores. This new one, 2nd Avenue, is run by Purple Heart and... wow... someone really figured out how to make this work. The things I love most about it:

1. It doesn't smell funny. Seriously, for the first ten minutes of my first trip, I walked around smelling. How does it not smell funny? In every other thrift store I eventually get annoyed by the mix of detergent scents and dusty mustyness and occasional flat-out funk. I guess I was looking for hidden machinery that makes it smell better. Couldn't find any. I'm thinking it's partly because there's no carpet on the floor. And maybe partly because the store is new. And partly because it looks like they're working hard to keep it neat. And partly because they seem to be quite choosy about what makes it to the sales floor. Whatever the reasons, I really loved the lack of funny smell.

2. The shelving makes sense. See? Tchotchkes are difficult to neaten, and they've figured it out. You can actually see things because the shelves are tall, shallow and well-lit.

3. And then there's these bags. All that little ~~crap~~ stuff that's hard to price and sort and put somewhere, they've bagged and priced in clear bags hanging above the shelves. I think it's SO fun to look through them. They're not really sorted by theme, but they're much easier to look through hanging than scattered in bins with things getting squished and damaged and loss of important pieces. There are random craft supplies scattered throughout. (!)

4. Mostly ORGANIZED BY size and COLOR, on hangers that match. There's a theme to my shopping happiness.

5. The reason I won't ever bring my kids with me. Or if I got crazy, maybe I'd bring one at a time. LOTS of kid excitement. This was the least neat aisle in the store. I can let that go, given that *I* wouldn't be able to keep my two from wreaking havoc here.

6. The everyday prices are totally reasonable, but on Sunday and Monday? Almost the entire store is half-off. Just the newest items with the tags that are the color of the week are not, and on Monday even those are marked down a bit. If you're looking for refashion items, Sunday and Monday are the days to go.

My favorite find of my first trip: near-perfect Pedipeds for $2.90. Okay, they don't fit my girls, but I know one that they'll be darling on.

On a recent trip I found a bag with two large action figures for $2.90. And on Sunday, so it was half-off. I knew K would love them, but they were a little scuffed up. (Flash and Batman in a bag together-- and apparently there was a brawl.)

So I told her I'd be like the little old man in Toy Story 3 that makes the toys new again, and got out some cotton swabs and nail polish remover.

I was a little too rough on the poor guy's chin, but otherwise he looks much spiffier.

And that's my Friday post full of randomness. It's been that kind of week. Coming my way any time soon? Just give me five minutes notice and I'll meet you for a shopping date.

Worth Reading: A Field Guide to Fabric Design

2011-11-14T14:49:00.000-05:00

Back in the day when Adrianna and I lived about 4 miles from each other, I found the "How It's Made" episode that showed how fabric is made. It was good... but disappointingly brief. I think it was about a basic cotton lawn or something. At the end we both said "that's it?!". We wanted more. I myself could watch a dozen hour-long episodes on the subject. I already love to know how things are made, and when we're talking about crafty things? I'm engrossed. Which is, I guess, what makes DIY crafty blog reading so much fun. Learning more and more about how things come together, and applying those things to the projects we want to tackle.

When I saw "A Field Guide to Fabric Design" available for pre-order over the summer, I put my order in in under 20 seconds. I knew that I'd love it, and had an inkling it might help me with a project/business idea that's been bouncing around for months.

It finally arrived not long before the wisdom teeth thing. So it was on my bedside table, and with the kids taken care of by a combination of my husband and my Mom, I was able to really, really focus. (That might be why I don't read as much anymore? Constant interruption? That and persistent exhaustion, so that if I do sit down with a book after the kids are in bed I'm as likely to fall asleep as read it.)

There's a whole lot of ground covered in this book. Some already familiar to me, but the parts I enjoyed most explained how repeats in commercial prints work-- and the limitations of presses, digital fabric printing options other than Spoonflower, and minimum quantities required for a traditional commercial run. Holy moly. So glad there are so many other options for fabric printing today. Also glad I got a photo of this book before one of my kids managed to draw on it.

I know it's sort of a nerdy crafty book. Not everyone is interested in printing their own fabric. But if you are, the guide is comprehensive, thoughtful and beautifully designed. And Aneela Hooey's Sherbet Pips on the cover felt like a welcoming face to me.

In the realm of fabric design, an update on Spoonflower I Spy: Swap 2. I think we have our final list of 56, and we're so very close to having the Flickr fabric set of 112 prints finalized. The process so far is much smoother than last time, with a few things I think could be improved if there were a third round. Some day. Beyond the organizational aspect, I've got lots of folks saying that they've either already ordered their fabric or they plan to within the next day or so. I'm excited to see the fabric begin to arrive. And also to get it back out the door before I manage to misplace any of it. Not that that happened last year. Shhhh, Care!

Learning to Sew at 5

2011-11-11T09:20:00.000-05:00

My recently-five-years-old daughter seems to be at least as interested in crafting as I am. She's always been curious-- wanting to touch and try everything that I have around, making for some nervous moments. Also some cringe-worthy moments, like when she saw me temporarily using my lips to hold pins as I was removing them from a garment. She was probably three and a half at the time, and said "uhhhh... Momma? I don't sink dat's a good ideeeeea." Ooops. You are soooooo right, kid. At least I know where she gets that habit?

She and I are both pretty ~~relieved by~~ pleased with her growing battery of fine motor skills and lengthening attention span. She can finally do more things on her own. She's done a number of embroidery projects, but... it's taken time for her to get to the point where she can remember that if the thread is coming out of the front, it's got to go back through the front to get to the back. It can't go around. For what felt like a long while her projects were more mommy-intense than kid-intense, which I could only take so much of. I've never ever ever considered being an early childhood educator. I know that my patience runs out pretty quickly.

Since she's finally ready to work a little independently, when Ann from Elle Sophia Design offered to send a sewing bag and Learn To Sew Projects for K to try, I didn't have to think too hard about it. I knew we'd both love it.

The Learn To Sew kits are packaged and ready to be given as gifts. I think of this as the higher-end alternative to the mass-produced kits kid's craft sets at the chain stores. There's a lot more love in the details to this, and I'd feel much better about giving it. As much as I'd love to give only gifts I've made this year, I'd rather add in gifts made by other thoughtful hands than go the mass-produced route. At least that's what I'm aspiring to this year. (Odds are you'll see some indication of my success around here.) The directions for the kit were well-written and would make it easy for any non-sewer to follow and help a new sewer along.

The My First Sewing Bag was personalized and contained a pair of child scissors, a felt needle book and a tape measure. As soon as I put the camera down she used the measuring tape to tell me that she's 9 feet tall. We'll work on that.

She's made a whole lot of progress in terms of remembering how the needle can't take the long way around.

Here she's starting what she says will be a candy cane pillow for her Mimi. Sorry to spoil the surprise, Mom.

The greatest threat to K's new organizational tool: Little sister.

Ann is currently offering 10% off with code ELLESOPHIA10 at checkout. I think the project kits would make thoughtful small gifts or stocking stuffers, and the "My First Sewing Bag" is a lovely invitation for a growing girl to make sewing their own.

Completely unrelatedly, the Spoonflower I Spy Swap 2 is full and participants are placing their orders now. Amazing how much learning happened in the first round that's made the second round much less challenging. We have swappers from all over the US and from Canada, Australia and the UK. A number of US swappers have offered to help cut fabric for perfect strangers overseas so that they too can participate without crazy shipping times and costs. That makes me feel warm and fuzzy to think about. All in all, so far, so good.

Spoonflower I Spy: Round 2!

2011-11-07T08:01:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! I really enjoyed reading comments about this post over the weekend. And once again appreciated the wide variety of experiences people have. Everything from:

"I don't even really remember it hurting that much afterwards... It wasn't really that bad"

"I kicked (the doctor)... But it was purely instinctual/reactionary. I just flailed and he was in the way."

I'm still laughing about that one. One of the reasons I wrote the post is that someone you and I both know still has wisdom teeth that've gotta come out. Wait, some of you may not know her yet. Her name is Adrianna and I think you'll love her. I hear that things are on the mend on her side of the world and she'll be back soonish. (Yay!)

So for this week's excitement... let's talk swaps! Did you see last year's I Spy Spoonflower swap? You can read more about it here. If you're at all interested in I Spy projects (the queen, in my opinion, is Care) or in trying out Spoonflower, this could be great for you. But this is one that's going to fill up in a hurry. And here's why:

1) Spoonflower has a bazillion fabrics you won't find anywhere else.

2) While yards of fabric on Spoonflower aren't cheap, if we all swap, it's more reasonable to have an assortment.

3) By limiting the swap to Spoonflower fabrics, we can be confident that the wash/wear of the fabric will be uniform, whereas with traditional mass-marketed fabrics wash/wear differently. And the fabric quality will be uniformly great.

4) Spoonflower is offering swap participants 20% off of their total order!

Some of the round 1 haul

Check out Spoonflower and see what you like. Here's how this swap will work:

Sign up by commenting on this post including your e-mail address. The first 54 commenters are in and commenters #55 and #56 will be alternates.

I'll e-mail instructions to you and invite you to the new Flickr gallery which will be closed to non-participants until after the fabrics have all been added.

You choose two prints and add them to the NEW Flickr gallery.

A moderator will approve your choices, or discuss if there is a question. (We're looking to make sure the scale is appropriate for I Spy and to ensure that we don't have duplicates or very similar prints. For example, only one print that includes an item like a "sewing machine".)

After seeing the approval, you order 2 different yards of quilting-cotton fabric. (~~$18/each~~ $14.40/each* + $6 total shipping in the USA ) *special I Spy Swap discount!

Each participant cuts fifty-six 5"x5" squares of each fabric and mails them to me along with a self-addressed stamped envelope. (No cash please!)

I sort them and send them out so that each participant gets 112 different Spoonflower I Spy squares in return!

Your squares must be uploaded to Flickr by Saturday, November 12th and must be received by Susan by December 5th. They will be mailed out on or before December 8th.

If you fail to follow the swap rules, you'll be replaced. Sorry, but that's the fair thing to do for all of the other folks that ARE paying attention.

International participants are welcome. You'll ship your fabric to me or to another participant to cut. Relatedly, if needed, I'll be asking for volunteers who wouldn't mind helping with the international participant cutting.

So, to look for I Spy fabrics on Spoonflower, I suggest starting with the "whimsical" section. Then view a fabric as a "test swatch". That will give you the best idea of the scale of the print to be sure that a recognizable object is included in every 5"x5" section, remembering that at least 1/4" will be lost on each side for seam allowances. Because of the cost, we want to avoid fussycutting, unless you want to buy extra yardage for fussycutting. The two yards assume you'll only waste an inch or two on the edges and that you'll cut very, very carefully. For demonstration purposes, here's an example. When you're looking at a fabric to determine whether it'll work for the swap, be sure to select the Test Swatch 8"x8" view.

Then use some scrap paper to limit your view to the 5"x5" area. Is there enough of your imagery in that space that the items will be recognizable? Would a child be able to say "I spy some... stamps?"

Spoonflower quilting cotton is 36"x42" for a yard, so when it's cut into 5" I Spy squares it'll need to be cut something like this. The 2" strip on the right and 1" on bottom are the scrap fabric that will be left over.

So... enough with all of the details. Can you deal with the rules, and are you in? Be sure to leave your e-mail address so that I can send you more info, including the Spoonflower discount code!

What I Didn't Expect...

2011-11-04T13:59:00.001-04:00

Happy weekend! A bit early. I know that this is a crafty blog and all, but for today, let's think of that as it's day job. On the weekend, it can do whatever it wants. And today it wants to talk about my teeth. And how they came out.

Given that most of my friends had their wisdom teeth removed quite a while ago, I've heard a lot over the years about what should be expected. Rather than go over the things you've probably already heard a thousand times, I thought I'd share the things that surprised me about my experience. I know every mouth and every person a mouth belongs to is different, so not all of this will necessarily apply. And maybe none of this would surprise you?

And... uh... if you're squeamish, you won't hurt my feelings if you don't read this. Although I have tried to keep it reasonable.

So, here we go.

1. X rays are digital. Okay, so I've seen this in other medical offices. It's not crazy new. And my kids may not remember anything OTHER than digital. But I still can't believe how fast we see the images now-- no waiting for the films to develop. I walked down the hall from the exam chair, did a quick panoramic X-ray, and TA DAH! Here's my whole mouth on the computer screen. If you like to examine this kind of thing, you can see that I only had three wisdom teeth. There never was a fourth. So my mouth was always asymmetrical. Well, ever since the bottom one came in a dozen years ago. (This isn't the first time I've shared an x-ray.)

2. The doctor did not prescribe antibiotics. Instead he prescribed some sort of prescription mouthwash. He said that studies showed that the efficacy was the same without the intestinal upset side effects. I was stoked that I didn't have to worry about how to deal with taking them, puking them up and then trying to decide how/when to take them again.

3. I only needed gauze the first day. For some reason I expected I'd be a mess for days, but 24 hours after surgery, the bleeding had stopped.

4. The top teeth are easy to remove. The bottom ones are so difficult that they drill it into four sections first. Because I was alert during the process, I saw that it took them 90% of the total time to get the bottom one out, and the remaining 10% to do both of the top ones.

5. My problem with eating wasn't the chewing. Chewing didn't bother me all that much. My problem with eating was that for a while I couldn't open my mouth enough to fit both a fork and food into it. I needed really small bites. I guess all of the jaw swelling kept me from opening it.

6. I was eating pretty normal food the next day. Just in small bites.

7. I accused the doctor of attaching my cheek to my gum where it hadn't been previously. At my one week follow-up I was convinced that he'd changed the anatomy of my cheek. He promised that he gets accused of that all the time and that it's just the swelling and it'll be gone in another week or so.

8. I failed to realize that yawning would be bad. So I yawned. Yawning is bad. At least for 4-5 days after. For me.

9. I still don't know what I think about the anesthesia. There were 3 options. Local. Local + gas. IV sedation. I didn't want to get completely knocked out. That freaks me out. But I knew local alone would not make me very happy. So I chose the middle. I guess the answer is that there is no perfect option. I guess I'd do it that way again. I'd just like to be able to forget a few little details. Like hearing the doctor say "you're about to feel a ridiculous amount of pressure." But I don't remember hearing much else-- I had my iPod in my hand and would crank it up when I didn't want to hear something.

10. I still puked. I tried so very hard to make sure I was eating before AND with the Ibuprofen and Percocet, and I was actually kind of excited to think about the Percocet just letting me sleep for a while and not feel anything. But I still felt. Loopy, not good. And it made me puke. I'd done everything I could to avoid it, but didn't end up missing out on that. So I only took it that one time. There's precious little that's worth puking for. Precious littles, that's all.

11. I got nothing crafty done. Well, I read one crafty book that I'll be talking about soon. But I thought I'd have a few days worth of sketching/planning. In reality, I was showered and dressed and out the door 48 hours later. I realize the insanity of having plans for "down time".

And now that I'm mostly normal again, I am so so so relieved to have this done. I'm hoping to be done with the ibuprofen in a few more days. And so glad wisdom teeth can't grow back!

And completely unrelated to the above but TOTALLY CRAFTY and a nice little treat for those of you who bothered to read this far: We're posting the next Spoonflower I Spy Swap on Monday! Finally!

A Puppy Party for the Newly 5

2011-11-03T12:30:00.000-04:00

K and I spent a lot of time talking about her birthday party theme. It's now a process of finding something she likes that works for me, too. She'd talked about doing a party at the nearby inflatable place, for example. I don't have a real problem with that, but I figure we'll end up going there a few times with other birthday kids and she'll get her fill, and she also didn't make a big deal about it. If she'd petitioned strongly for it over a length of time, I'd go with it. It's her party and all.

But one of her ideas for this year was a puppy party. Since I already had puppies on the brain related to another project, it was a theme I could jump into pretty easily. And she really is a puppy nut. Her teachers at school suggested that she may replace Cesar Milan one day. She's always the kid that wants to run around the classroom on all fours sticking out her tongue and wagging her behind. So a puppy party it would be. Since her dad had just made his safe return from a year away, and since the invitees for a party for each of them would be 95% the same, we made it a combo birthday/welcome home party.

For the party I made puppy ears for the kids to wear. I used this tutorial. To make the invite, I took a photo of K and uploaded it to Picnik. I added the face paint in Picnik! I love that feature! Especially since I hadn't bought the face paint for the party yet. After adding the face paint, I framed the photo several times with the "border" frame and each time I increased the caption height to make myself a spot to put the invite text. Easy peasy. I could have printed it for snail mailing, but because I'm ~~lazy~~ efficient I e-mailed it out.

The party decor was fairly simple. The most complicated part was the "5". I saw a homemade pinata here and thought I'd go with a non-pinata version. Super simple. Cardboard base. Fringed tissue glued on.

I made a whole lot of these balloons that I've already blogged about here.

Since this was also a party for K's Dad, I made him a Whisky Bar (inspired by this) where the art wall usually resides. The party was at 5 pm-- late for a kid party and early for a grownup party, but for this it worked. (Do you know the difference between "whisky" and "whiskey"? I didn't either, until after I'd made the banner.)

K's shirt for the party was just a comfy knit tee from H & M. I freezer paper stenciled a heart with a paw print in the middle. She's not a party dress kind of girl.

K requested a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. Not so exciting, but it must've tasted okay, because I never got any! Recently a friend made cake pops using candy melts from a craft store. Apparently I'd missed the memo letting me know that candy melts actually taste good now? I remember them tasting like wax. Like, only wax. But because she re-introduced me to them I was inspired to use them. And while I was on that aisle I saw the squishy bottles you fill with the candy melts, drop it in hot water for a few minutes and... voila! Squeeze the chocolate out to make whatever you want! (You probably already know this, but I was amazed.) I drew the "5" shape I wanted and put it under a piece of wax paper. I popped it into the fridge once or twice to harden it so that I could do another layer. There's a rectangle of the same candy stuff underneath the "5" that's shoved into the cake for stability. The dogs flanking the "5" also came from the craft store. I also made her name with the candy melt stuff. Way less pressure to do it on wax paper and then put it on the cake. (Cake people are rolling their eyes, I know.)

Generally, when K knows people are looking at her she does anything but smile. I knew she liked the cake and had not noticed people were looking at her because she was actually smiling. She smiles a lot, just not when a bunch of people are looking at her.

The party favor became part of the party entertainment. I'm not one to try to scream for kids to follow game instructions, so this is as close as I get to that sort of thing. I sent my husband and a friend up onto the giant hill behind our house to chase a bunch of puppies* around. They then called me and I put the phone on speaker so that the kids could hear them. While one was barking and yapping, the other said "Susan! I need the kids to come and help! There are all of these puppies lost on the hill and we need to rescue them! Please send the kids to help!" Each kid got their own "rescue blanket" to take with them to go and pick a puppy to rescue. *All of the parents were grateful that these puppies aren't the kind that eat or poop.

Each "rescue blanket" had the name of the rescuer sewn on.

Toward the end of the party I pulled out the face paint. I used this palette and liked the result because it dried quickly, didn't rub off easily and still washed off well at the end of the night. I loved getting so many colors in one kit. A little goes a long way and even after dong the party and several baboon faces I have enough left for lots more. I asked M whether she wanted a tongue. She must've misheard me.

Related to the face painting, I practiced my puppy face beforehand and told the kids "puppy faces are all I know how to do" lest they assume I can whip out a Spider Man or something. Puppy faces. That's it for today, folks.

The menu, other than cake? I am so not a foodie. I kept it simple. I made a huuuge pot of chili with this recipe and my only edit was adding corn. I didn't advertise it as such in order to avoid killing appetites but I thought of it first because chili looks a lot like dog food to me. I cut tortillas into bone shapes to make pizzas. Hot dogs. Spicy drumsticks. We also had spanikopita and chips and salsa and veggies and hummus and cake and... whiskey. (Whiskey, not whisky.) I'd bought Scooby graham crackers and totally forgot to put them out.

Finally, these were some of the big-hit birthday gifts. In case you're shopping for a curious, creative, puppy-loving 5 year old?

1. Learning Resources Magnifying Glass

2. Perfect Petzzz Golden Retriever Puppy (it breathes!)

3. Smencils 4. Picture Frame Pad

At the end of the day, this was my favorite photo. We'd finally figured out how and where to put up K's favorite swing that she hadn't seen since we'd moved the year before. Oy.

K's party feedback, after telling me she had fun? "Next year I want a pink puppy party, please."

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T10:18:00.000-04:00

I've had an envelope full of paci clip hardware sitting on my desk for about 3 months now. I'm still planning to make a few for Liam, but haven't gotten to it yet. I definitely didn't plan to use them for this...

But it is what it is. After my friends and I decided to dress as vampires tonight, we decided to dress the 2.5 year-olds as baby vampires. They'll each have the above paci, which they love because it means they're allowed to have a paci when it's not bedtime. The need for a clip is a no-brainer-- I'm not going to go digging around in dead leaves as darkness is falling trying to find a lost prop. By this time next year these kids will have big opinions on their costumes-- we're getting this one in just under the wire. If they'll sit still enough they'll each get a widow's peak painted on with face paint. K was invited to participate in the theme but she was wholly committed to the baboon costume.

I didn't bother making the paci clip fancy-- I looped it through the paci and the clip and stitched both ends on my machine. It's just this scrap ribbon, from here. Quick, dirty and creepy.

The vampire theme was not my idea-- and I had no idea when I agreed to it that I'd be having mouth surgery four days prior. I think I'm gonna skip the fake blood capsules?

Have a frighteningly fun day!

She Had to Be a Baboon

2011-10-26T17:28:00.001-04:00

While we were visiting family and friends earlier this month, we went to the zoo that will always feel like home, Riverbanks. The best part of going there as a child was that they had polar bears that swam in a pool, and steps that took you underneath so that you could press your nose to the thick glass and pretend to be one of them. The polar bears aren't part of the experience anymore, but plenty of other fun things remain-- the monkeys that swing around their islands, the flamingos that huddle together, the bird house where it thunders and rains, kangaroos that you can walk freely around with. If you're traveling through with kids, it's definitely worth a stop.

At the zoo, K was particularly impressed with the baboons. She looked at their red bottoms and decided that they must work like some sort of giant red-inked stamp-- they'd leave red butt prints anywhere and everywhere. Despite the fact that we'd already thrifted a perfectly cool pteradactyl costume a few days before and I'd already purchased pleathery fabric to attempt to fashion pteradactyl feet... she'd found a new love. She had to be a baboon. Specifically, a "baboon with a red butt, Mom."

I took some creative license with every bit of this, of course. There are a lot of source images out there. Some that are slightly disturbing. And fun reading. There's research and then there's just knowing too much about baboons.

She. is. delighted. Easiest photo shoot ever. I didn't have to bribe her to put it on or pretend to be a baboon. Friend Kyra says, however, that I need to make a video to prove later on that she asked to be a baboon and that this was not parental mistreatment.

She looks harmless, right?

Don't let that fool you. She's intense and she can gallop on all fours.

She's got her baboon faces and moves all worked out.

This face is pretty fierce.

And the requisite red booty, which didn't feel awkward to make or photograph at all.

But how could I say no to that face? That's the best sewing I do. Not necessarily anything that's all that blog-popular. But the stuff that keeps me creating. And laughing. And wondering what's next.

Some notes on construction, since there's most definitely not going to be a tutorial:

I used an existing raglan-sleeved hoodie of K's to copy the shape and use as a base.
The tail is made from a piece of boning that I cut and switched the pieces around, overlapped and re-sewed to make an "S" shape so that the tail would go up, down and then curl back up again. K was insistent that her tail could not touch the ground.
Fur is so very forgiving. I used white thread for all of this. You'd have to look for at least five minutes to find a thread. It just melts right in. Despite the piles of fuzz all over my house from cutting the stuff (way worse than minky) I'd use it again because it's so easy to sew and not worry about the stitches being obvious.
Speaking of the fur, the hairy-er looking fur is from a chain fabric store. It's super itchy. But it's use is limited. The base fabric for the costume came from a super soft and comfy blanket. I actually went shopping for a sweatsuit kind of thing to use as a base for the costume. I didn't get that lucky. But when I found the blanket, I thought it'd make a costume that she'd like and not go crazy after 5 minutes to wrangle out of.

Her baboon booty (previewed here) is acrylic paint on felt that I stuffed and reverse appliqued into the back of the hoodie. I added a gloss finish. 'Cause a baboon booty should be super red and shiny.

And that's K's costume. All ready for the parade at school. She's been warned that she can't pull it apart, spill anything on it or otherwise damage it-- I'm not sure whether I'll be feeling up to fixing it for a while. The wisdom teeth come out in the AM.

Somewhat kind of sort of relatedly, Riverbanks sells compoost. Which reminded me of this.

Finally getting rolling...

2011-10-25T11:51:00.002-04:00

on K's costume. The one that she proclaimed that she must have and that I must make. I waited a while, expecting she'd change her mind or find the NEXT thing she must have, but it stuck. And now I have to finish it today and tomorrow because I don't know how useful I'll be after Thursday's little removal of wisdom.

Here're the first two parts. Any guesses?

Unrelatedly, I have volunteers to help with I Spy! I'll work with them on the spreadsheets and flickr moderation, and then all of the packages will come to me to sort and re-mail. Whew, doing it with help sounds a whole lot easier than last year. Now I've just got to rope my sorting helpers back in! So... look for info soon.

This, unbelievably, and anti-climactically, is our 400th post. How'd that happen? I am as hopeful as anyone that Adrianna will be sorted out and back with us soon. 'Cause from the previews I've gotten... she's got a whole lot of awesome to share.

And the winners are....

2011-10-24T13:50:00.002-04:00

The handmade label competition has come to an end-- with FOUR winners to announce! I'm hoping that the designers who aren't on this list of four are still quite satisfied that they put themselves out there. I read lots of feedback in e-mails from entrants who'd been thinking of doing this for a while and the contest happily motivated them to get it done and cross it off of the list. That's the kind of crafty feedback that I feel all warm and fuzzy about.

First, the two judge's choice winners, selected by Jess of Craftiness Is Not Optional and Disney of Ruffles and Stuff. So nice of them to lend us their eyes. (Thanks, girls!) They chose...

"Handmade by Mommy" by Anna and "Okie Due" by Mikki

And our two reader's choice winners, selected by popular vote (as of 8 pm on Friday, October 21) via this Facebook album, are...

"Doo-Dah Kids" by Brandy and "402" by Lindsay

Congratulations, Anna, Mikki, Brandy and Lindsay! You'll each get to have your design printed by Twill Tape Guy on three yards of your choice of size and color of grosgrain ribbon. And then eeeeverything you make can be even more deliciously custom. Yum.

If this is the first you've heard of the contest, you can read how it was entered, how it worked and what the winners win. And if you're inspired to give it a go as well, here's info on how you might want to design a label.

Oh, and lucky winners? Please e-mail me with your contact info, including blog address if you'd like me to link it here.

Last week I'd noted that an announcement about a new I Spy Spoonflower Swap was coming up. Um, I retract that statement. I'm still thinking about if/when it's going to happen. I feel like a teenager admitting this, but I'm scheduled to have my wisdom teeth out later this week. Apparently, when I WAS a teenager and all my friends were having it done, I was planting the seeds for karmic payback by smugly announcing "I don't have to do that." 'Cause now I do have to do that. But if there's an I Spy swap participant-experienced organizing-type spreadsheet-lover out there who'd like to help manage the swap, that could be awesome and could help make it happen. If you think that's you, e-mail me at crafterhours@live.com. And if you have any good recipes for things that have the consistency of mashed potatoes, feel free to share.

Save the Voile!

2011-10-21T10:39:00.001-04:00

I really didn't intend for this to be my "I'm back!" post, but I guess this is what you get. It's me, Adrianna, the other blogger on Crafterhours. You may remember me from last year, when I used to post stuff. Since then, I've moved across 2 oceans, spent 2 months enjoying family and friends in the states, and waited and waited for all my household goods to arrive at our new home. Well, they finally did, and I finally got them all unpacked.

And now we're dealing with this:

image via

So, as of today, all my stuff is packed back up and on our second floor. My husband asked me if there was anything important from the downstairs that we should move upstairs immediately, and my answer without thought was "THE VOILE! SAVE THE VOILE! START WITH THE DOBBY DOT!"

You guys know how it is.

So, just in case you were one of the 2 or 3 people anxiously awaiting my return (hi mom!)...well, don't hold your breath. I was pretty close to blogging again. I even made a couple things in my brand spanking new sewing area. And I had all my fabric stored by color, which was really pretty. But now it's back to square one. I'll be back in this space...someday. Maybe.

In the meantime, if you pray, pray for all the people who are seriously affected by the flooding in SE Asia. We are blessed enough to have several back-up plans, including the resources to fly to America if it really came to that. So, I am not here asking for sympathy for myself or my family. All we stand to lose is time. Many others have lost and will lose everything.

Your Turn to Pick a Winner! Label Entries are In!

2011-10-17T10:08:00.000-04:00

The entries are in! Head on over to the gallery for a better look at the entries and to vote for your favorites by "liking" them. You can like as many as you want, but you can't like one more than once. If you are an entrant, feel free to add a comment about your entry. Now that the gallery is up our judges Disney and Jess can get to work, too, and the judge's choice winners and the reader's choice winners as of this Friday at 8 pm Eastern will be announced on Monday. (New to this contest? Read more about it here.)

And.... later this week... an announcement about an I Spy Spoonflower Swap. It will run much like the last one, so ponder whether you'd like to join, and watch for the post-- spots were filled in a big hurry last time, and I only expect to do it one more time.

Labels Done? And a near tragedy...

2011-10-15T09:01:00.002-04:00

My whole reason for jumping on the interwebs this morning is to remind you that you've got about 36 hours to get your label design in. Pleeenty of time... but get on it!

And while I'm here I thought I'd tell you a fun story. Recently we celebrated K's 5th birthday. I may or may not get around to posting about it, but the thing to know here is that there were a lot of balloons. And while I was running around cleaning up the day after the party I found this deflated balloon:

Before it popped the balloon looked something like this, but seeing it's new look gave me a momentary heart attack, believing that I was seeing some sort of vicious mold that was now going to overtake my house and take us all down with some horrible health crisis.

Wouldn't you have thought that, too? With that fuzzy particulate grossness that MUST be incredible to have grown so much in an exposed location overnight?

And then I remembered.

The balloon was filled with this.

I used Hi Float so that I could work on some of the balloons the day before the party and they'd last at least a few days. I knew I had a lot of party prep to do on the day of and figured that if the balloons waited until the last minute they might not get done, and that was planned to be about 75% of the decor. From a 5yo perspective, it also extends the balloon excitement some. All you do is squish one squirt of the stuff into a balloon and it dries inside to coat the balloon so that it doesn't lose helium nearly as quickly. If you're thorough with the squishing and the balloons are indoors, they can even last a week. Looking at the amount that's left, I can do three 5yo birthday parties with one bottle. And now you and I both know that when a balloon that is treated with this pops, you might think you're toast. At least for a split second.

Ahhhh, Home

2011-10-12T13:49:00.001-04:00

My family is finally home from three weeks of serious togetherness in North and South Carolina. A wedding, a baptism, visiting greats and grands and aunts and uncles and friends and doing vacation sorts of things like going to the the zoo and feeding the giraffes, taking the girls on their first trip to the Carolina seashore, playing pirate mini golf (where does that ball go on the last hole?), running though fountains, flying a kite, picking apples, getting a hermit crab, riding the SkyWheel, taking a Capital Pedicab ride, riding bikes, floating on a lazy river, sliding on bouncy castle slides, fishing, eating ice cream and eating every. regional. food. to be found-- boiled peanuts, she-crab soup, Bojangle's biscuits, Blazer's Shrimp Dip, Blenheim Ginger Ale, to name a few. And did you know that the Waffle House has Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Waffles now? They're crazy good. Good enough that I thought for a few seconds about making them the large image in this collage:

And now we're back! Sort of. There's still a whole lot of sorting out to be done around here and we have two more weeks before the breadwinner goes back to work locally and we all figure out what living together in America is going to be like. Once that happens I have a long-awaited baby shower to throw for Katie (hoooooray!), a new set of nursery bedding to assemble for my imminently due cousin and a loooong list of crafty to-dos. Really, even after a fantastic trip, home is heaven, isn't it? If ever I get annoyed about household stuff, thinking about leaving it for three weeks is enough to make me love it again. My crafty stuff and I are happily reunited.

Right now? The deadline for your label design entries is looming. Sunday night, 8 pm Eastern. I'm having fun checking our e-mail and looking at the entries so far. Here's the post on how to enter, how it works and what you'd win. Here's info on how you might want to design a label. If you've ever wanted to try it, now's the time to do it. A deadline and a possible prize-- what's better than that?! Okay, a peanut butter chocolate chip waffle. But that's much heavier on calories.

Design Your Own Label: A Tutorial

2011-10-09T18:50:00.001-04:00

Stacey requested a quick tutorial for designing your own labels. There are so so so many ways to do it, but no matter how you approach it can be completely intimidating to jump in. I have a degree in art... and I'm still often rendered useless by staring at a blank canvas. So let me start with this: take some deep breaths. Don't overthink it. Let it be fun. You're not labeling yourself and your work for the rest of your life. You're just finding a place to start. It's okay to change your mind later. It's a process. And since I'm not trying to turn our crafty blog into a therapy blog, let's get to it.

I'll show you how I made the rainbow label using flickr to find a background image and Picnik to edit it. Then I'll give you a few links to other tutorials with more options. There are so many ways to do this sort of thing, and I love learning from others how they do it.

One of the reasons I like Picnik for image editing is that it's entirely web-based. Nothing to install and my files are stored on their site. As I move from computer to computer I can still use the site and access my files. If I'm working on something complicated I use Photoshop and/or Illustrator, but I only have those installed on one machine, and I don't always have it with me.

In order to use Picnik you've got to start with an image file, like a jpeg. That doesn't mean that the end result has to include the image. It's just the place you've got to start since Picnik is, first and foremost, for photos. But you can completely cover any image with other stuff. I'll get to that later on.

Because I wanted to start with an image I'd include, I started by searching flickr for "background". Lots of fabulous photographer folks post their photos on flickr and indicate that they're free for non-commercial use. If you use the Advanced Search you're able to limit your search to images that you can modify-- here's the section of the search where you can do that:

From my search I chose this photo:

I uploaded it to Picnik. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. It's free, and then if you love it you can upgrade your membership to add more options. But there's plenty you can accomplish with the free membership.

Once your photo is uploaded, there are lots of options. I'll keep it simple here, but you could spend all day trying them out. Under "Frames" I rounded the edges.

I decided I wanted a little less green and a even less detail so I used "Orton-ish" under "Effects".

Once I was happy with this as a background I started playing with "Stickers" and "Text". Both are very easy to apply, manipulate and remove as you like. I liked the apple:

And looking at just the text options, depending on how minimal you'd like to be, you can go with just a name. Here's the font "Santo Dumont":

Or get wordier like in this one. Here I've used the "May Queen" and "Meta Language" fonts.

There are geometric shapes that can be tooled all sorts of ways. They're "Stickers" when you're in Picnik, but they don't have to be used just the way you see them. You can use the rectangles to create stripes, for example. You can choose any color imaginable, and then there's a "Fade" slider that will adjust the transparency of each sticker.

After I got my stripes the way I wanted them, I "combined everything" so that I could re-round the edges. Then added text, this time with the "Global" font.

I decided I was done with that background and covered the whole thing with a white rectangle sticker. I added three yellow circles, three pieces of text and a flower sticker. Easy. Peasy.

If you know that you don't want a photo in the background you can start with any of Picnik's sample images, crop them to the size/proportion you want and cover it with a rectangle to create a flat background.

Whenever you've got your image the way you like it, you'll click on the "Save and Share" tab to save it to your computer.

There are a whoooole lot of other tutorials out there about how you can do this sort of thing. Here are a few that you might like if you're not keen on trying Picnik:

Gimp is a free downloadable program. I haven't used it myself but Adrianna swears by it. It's similar to Photoshop. The site has lists of tutorials sorted by difficulty. (Adrianna's edit: I must've misled Susan in the past, because actually I swear AT it. Gimp doesn't work for me, because I learned on photoshop. If you can figure it out, more power to you. I swear by PowerPoint.)
Microsoft Word works well for Dana.
PowerPoint works too. Here's a presentations guy who makes it simple.
If you're already familiar with the free software that comes with a Silhouette machine, it's fun to use for design. The cool part is that even if you don't have a Silhouette machine, you can still download and use the software for free.
This tutorial is REALLY simple, not program-specific... and kind of funny.

And a caveat: I've given you some thoughts on designing a label that you might use to make your own labels and/or in this competition. If you're trying to make something larger-- like t-shirt designs or signage-- the type of file we're creating may not work. The larger and more varied your uses the larger/higher quality file you'll need.

If you have helpful tutorial links or questions, please comment with 'em! If you'd like to tell me that the fact that I have an art degree is not particularly represented by these designs, no worries. I hear ya. That aside, are you ready to start on your own label design now?

Feeling Competitive? Design and Win Your Own Handmade Labels!

2011-10-06T08:26:00.001-04:00

Sometimes it takes a deadline to get you to do something you've been wanting to do and just haven't gotten around to doing.

I know that when I finally made myself sit down and design some handmade labels (and by handmade labels I mean, in this case, labels for items I make, not labels I made by hand) I was so very glad I did. So nice to be able to make it clear that I made it AND indicate which side should be facing the confused kid's neck or rump. For a gift, it adds a detailed touch that makes the item all the more special.

Have you thought about labeling your own work? You might like this nudge into getting your design down. Here's how:

Design your own label.
E-mail your design to us at crafterhours@live.com by Sunday, October 16 at 8 pm Eastern.
Beginning on Monday, October 17, view the designs in the crafterhours Facebook album to vote for your favorites.

There will be FOUR winners. Two will be chosen by popular vote (the number of "likes", which means each voter can vote for more than one but can only vote for each design once) and two will be chosen by our fantastic celebrity judges.

(Yes, there are still a few people in the world not on Facebook. It just happens to be the most accessible voting platform for large groups of entries. You don't have to be in Facebook to enter, win, or see the designs. You only have to be on Facebook to vote.)

Who are the judges? If you're dedicated readers like we are, you may know them as well from their photos as from their blog names.

Jess of Craftiness Is Not Optional and Disney of Ruffles and Stuff

And WHAT do you win? Well, beyond the obvious fame and prestige, you'll win three yards of your own winning design, printed on any of the grosgrain ribbon options we talked about yesterday. There are two different sizes and seven different colors available for you to choose from.

Here are more particulars, which may be updated as we receive questions:

your file should be a jpg or png.
your design should be of the sort that would be used to label your own handmade item. Doesn't matter what kind of handmade item. Clothing, quilt, pacifier clip, whatever you like. Feel free to write a description of how and where you'd use it and we'll place that in the caption.
each entrant may enter up to 3 designs.
there are two widths available-- 1 1/2" and 2 1/4". Doesn't matter how it's scaled, for printing TTG will fit the design to the width of ribbon you select. For judging purposes, the size doesn't matter.
feel free to tag yourself once the album is up.
voting will close on Friday, October 21st at 8 pm Eastern U.S.
winners will be announced on Monday, October 24 on crafterhours.
entries will be included in the competition at the sole discretion of Susan and Adrianna. If we deem an entry somehow inappropriate, it's out.

Are you in?

P.S. Want a button to add to your own blog? Here you are!

Grosgrain Labels in Full Color

2011-10-05T08:20:00.000-04:00

While I was working on my grosgrain label designs, Twill Tape Guy mentioned that he could print on colored ribbon, too. He seems to always have something up his sleeve that sounds like a crafty adventure or challenge to me. He's just adding these colors to his shop and sent some to me to roll around in.

My fave might be "lime juice", but... it's project-dependent.

The natural follow-on question was "how will full color prints look on it?". So I designed the full-color-est thing I could think of to test it. Also a design I thought someone in particular might like but wouldn't have time to make for herself since her life at the time was empty rooms about to be filled with walls and walls of moving boxes. Here's the file I made and sent to TTG:

Because it's a transparent ink process, the colors will be brighter on a lighter background substrate/ribbon, but I think even the "grey" ribbon is super cool as long as you consider that you'll need to use darker ink colors and a bold design.

Interested in trying it yourself? And in winning your own labels printed for free? More on that tomorrow.

Boutique Bow Ties

2011-09-29T14:49:00.000-04:00

It's not often I get to style four kids at once. Last weekend my girls and my godsons were all able to get fancy for a Fall wedding in the mountains of North Carolina.

I had fun putting the pieces together, but I knew I wouldn't be able to find the bow ties I had in mind. I did a little fabric shopping but before I got to the point of spending ridiculous quantities of time and gas running around I decided to head to my favorite thrift store that organizes clothing by color. Really, it's such a simple thing, putting things in color order. I was able to find what I wanted in about 30 seconds. Why doesn't every thrift store work that way?

Here's what I scored-- this looooovely Oscar de la Renta blouse for $3. I know, a pity to cut it up. But it was just the color I wanted and even had a nice subtle diagonal stripe. The highest quality polyester to be found, to boot.

To add the stripes that I had in mind, I first ironed interfacing onto the back side of the fabric. It gave the fabric enough body that it would stay nice and smooth for freezer paper stenciling. I cut strips of varying widths with freezer paper and ironed them on to the right side of the fabric. Then painted my black stripes with regular acrylic craft paint. Before the paint had a chance to dry I pulled the freezer paper off. Easy peasy, and exactly what I'd pictured. How often does that happen? Not very often.

To make the bowties, I followed this Lemon Squeezy tutorial. Exactly what I needed and I think I made them both in an hour.

But... I did cheat a little. It was a classic crafterhours project-- well after bedtime. I decided to use twill tape instead of making the matching fabric strips for the neck since the boys were going to wear collared shirts. And because the boys were not accessible to me for a fitting at that hour, I made the soft side of the velcro longer to make the bow tie adjustable.

What was really amazing about it was that the boys didn't immediately rip them off. I don't think they ever took them off. With anything I make for any kid, I start by assuming that they won't wear it at all. Keep expectations low and then you're pleasantly surprised if they'll even stop to consider touching it. You just never know.

This being one of the most kid-thoughtful weddings of all time, there were special lunch sacks packed with kid-friendly food and a whole table of toys and games for them to enjoy.

Since we were on a farm, the kids could make all the noise...

and do all the running they pleased.

The room to run and make noise was much appreciated by all. I'm thinking that's why there are so few photos of the bow ties. There was hardly any sitting still until they all collapsed into their car seats long after the sun went down and just after the S'mores came out. In my book, that's a celebration worthy of hot pink striped bow ties made just for the occasion.

Santa Starts Early, too

2011-09-24T13:19:00.002-04:00

Santa can't get all of his work done at the last minute, and neither can we. Ready to get started on that holiday crafty to-do list? Today we're blogging at Skip to My Lou as part of their Holiday Bake, Craft & Sew Along Series. You'll find the full tutorial for this Santa Bag there-- along with dozens of other ideas.

This bag could be used as a large gift bag, but for us it's holiday decor and a plaything more than anything else. My 2 and 5 year old each fit nicely inside of it for the alternate sibling to pretend they're carrying a reeeeally heavy Santa Sack full of goodies. Here's the inspiration for our version:

via

It's never too early to get started, eh?