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"cool blue- an altar, a shrine, a sculpture? Anyhow i really like the blue house-y thingie...."
Here's a peek:
If you want to see the whole she-bang then CLICK HERE :-)
Friday, December 11, 2009
Gauche Alchemy
I blogged over at Gauche Alchemy today with a cute, some what versatile project. A lady on Flickr said it's:
Here's a peek:
If you want to see the whole she-bang then CLICK HERE :-)
Here's a peek:
If you want to see the whole she-bang then CLICK HERE :-)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Daily December Pages
Just a quickie post of my Daily December pages as we all have fevers and flu. Yuck. Me I understand as the steroids lower my resistance to germs. The boys are just unlucky I guess. But, they are finally sitting up and have consumed a huge pot of soup and a pot of hot cocoa. That's a good sign, right?
Keeping the DD pages simple and not time consuming has been hard. I keep struggling with the concept and then I don't want to do them at all. Focusing on the memories is key.
Dec. 3rd and 4th:
December 5th and a card I got from my mom. I don't know about you but I never know what to do with holiday cards. This year I'm hole punching them and sticking them in the album. We'll see how it goes:
As you can see, I didn't take any pics. Oh, well. My twitter feed is a good glimpse into our lives too.
December 6th, the hats and scarves side of the page (left) is glued right onto the back of the card from my mom. Weird but makes me happy.
Also, a special thank you to Nina for the shout out. You are a sweetheart!
Keeping the DD pages simple and not time consuming has been hard. I keep struggling with the concept and then I don't want to do them at all. Focusing on the memories is key.
Dec. 3rd and 4th:
December 5th and a card I got from my mom. I don't know about you but I never know what to do with holiday cards. This year I'm hole punching them and sticking them in the album. We'll see how it goes:
As you can see, I didn't take any pics. Oh, well. My twitter feed is a good glimpse into our lives too.
December 6th, the hats and scarves side of the page (left) is glued right onto the back of the card from my mom. Weird but makes me happy.
Also, a special thank you to Nina for the shout out. You are a sweetheart!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Warm, Soft and Handmade
As you've all heard, ad nauseam, we're on a fierce budget trying to take down our mountain of debt before we get clobbered by spinal surgery bills. It's going well, in fact this month we've budgeted 40.3 % of our income to debt reduction - which is major.
You can't throw that sort of money at a problem without squeezing other areas of your life pretty dry. I needed a scarf, but our clothing budget is routinely chewed and swallowed whole by boy shoes and boy jeans. Those children grow each and every month - it's nutty. At first I went to Micheal's and picked up some yarn on sale with plans to (knifty) knit it into a scarf. $7.48 isn't much of an expense, right. Good one. Well, no.
I looked through our scrap bag and saw a lot of wonderful, soft t shirts and promptly returned the wool. Instead I made a totally awesome, very "me" Pearl Jam themed scarf. Both sides are equally finished so it can be a gray and black striped scarf if Pearl Jam isn't appropriate for the setting. I even put a lot more stripes on the plain side for interest.
Pretty neat, huh? And Chris's holey Pearl Jam shirt and a Google swag give away have new life.
Tips from the project:
* I cut my pieces about 8 inches wide. It is a nice width but if you like your scarves skinnier or wider go for it.
* The length is roughly 68 inches.
* By mistake I cut a piece 7 inches wide - OOPS - and then didn't have enough material to finish the scarf. Since old t shirts are all faded differently I couldn't find a match. Instead I used the sleeves, cutting each into a ring that worked beautifully as stripes. I had no idea that sleeves don't have pesky seams to work around.
* Once I had sewed it all together and turned it right side out, I topstitched around it again about 5mm in from the edges. It gives the scarf a very finished look.
* I used white thread on top and black in the bobbin. The adds to the reversible feel as even the stitching is different on each side.
Hope you like my scarf and maybe you'll be inspired to make one of your own. It's a great use for classic but battered shirts.
You can't throw that sort of money at a problem without squeezing other areas of your life pretty dry. I needed a scarf, but our clothing budget is routinely chewed and swallowed whole by boy shoes and boy jeans. Those children grow each and every month - it's nutty. At first I went to Micheal's and picked up some yarn on sale with plans to (knifty) knit it into a scarf. $7.48 isn't much of an expense, right. Good one. Well, no.
I looked through our scrap bag and saw a lot of wonderful, soft t shirts and promptly returned the wool. Instead I made a totally awesome, very "me" Pearl Jam themed scarf. Both sides are equally finished so it can be a gray and black striped scarf if Pearl Jam isn't appropriate for the setting. I even put a lot more stripes on the plain side for interest.
Pretty neat, huh? And Chris's holey Pearl Jam shirt and a Google swag give away have new life.
Tips from the project:
* I cut my pieces about 8 inches wide. It is a nice width but if you like your scarves skinnier or wider go for it.
* The length is roughly 68 inches.
* By mistake I cut a piece 7 inches wide - OOPS - and then didn't have enough material to finish the scarf. Since old t shirts are all faded differently I couldn't find a match. Instead I used the sleeves, cutting each into a ring that worked beautifully as stripes. I had no idea that sleeves don't have pesky seams to work around.
* Once I had sewed it all together and turned it right side out, I topstitched around it again about 5mm in from the edges. It gives the scarf a very finished look.
* I used white thread on top and black in the bobbin. The adds to the reversible feel as even the stitching is different on each side.
Hope you like my scarf and maybe you'll be inspired to make one of your own. It's a great use for classic but battered shirts.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Cute Stocking Stuffers
I love finding a cute project that meets a real need I have. Seriously, love it!
My boys are really into hand sewing right now. They keep making the cutest toys and having a blast doing it. I'd share pictures but they're never done, as an artsy person myself I know the feeling.
The down side of this creativity is keeping an eye on the needles and thread they have lying about. Right now they carry around a magnetic pin tray but there is only one tray and two boys. Plus it's unwieldily and huge.
In this weeks Cloth, Paper Scissors there was a tutorial for itty, bitty bottle cap pin cushions and I had to try one.
I made two in under fifteen minutes, on strong meds with shaking hands. These are SO easy. I could see making a dozen of these for gifts.
The basic instructions:
* Take a 2-2.5 inch circle of fabric and whip stitch around the edge. Pull closed (into a puff) and knot off leaving a little space to add stuffing.
* Stuff with fiber fill fluffy stuff (I know, I'm no expert at this). I used one of my BG mini files to pack it in tight. Don't worry if fluff is showing at the bottom. It'll be glued in to the bottlecap.
* Take 4 inches of elastic cord and tie the ends. Trim off excess. Put a lot of glue in a bottle cap, stick knotted end of cord in glue and then plop the cushion on top. Check to make sure no fabric edges are hanging out. Hold between thumb and finger for a couple of minutes.
* Let dry.
My boys haven't put their "rings" down all morning. They just love them.
In other news, I'm hatching a plan. A plan so user friendly I can do it while I heal. Hopefully it'll catch your fancy too.
Will post my Daily December and more later. Just had to show the cutie cushions.
Love to you all :-)
My boys are really into hand sewing right now. They keep making the cutest toys and having a blast doing it. I'd share pictures but they're never done, as an artsy person myself I know the feeling.
The down side of this creativity is keeping an eye on the needles and thread they have lying about. Right now they carry around a magnetic pin tray but there is only one tray and two boys. Plus it's unwieldily and huge.
In this weeks Cloth, Paper Scissors there was a tutorial for itty, bitty bottle cap pin cushions and I had to try one.
I made two in under fifteen minutes, on strong meds with shaking hands. These are SO easy. I could see making a dozen of these for gifts.
The basic instructions:
* Take a 2-2.5 inch circle of fabric and whip stitch around the edge. Pull closed (into a puff) and knot off leaving a little space to add stuffing.
* Stuff with fiber fill fluffy stuff (I know, I'm no expert at this). I used one of my BG mini files to pack it in tight. Don't worry if fluff is showing at the bottom. It'll be glued in to the bottlecap.
* Take 4 inches of elastic cord and tie the ends. Trim off excess. Put a lot of glue in a bottle cap, stick knotted end of cord in glue and then plop the cushion on top. Check to make sure no fabric edges are hanging out. Hold between thumb and finger for a couple of minutes.
* Let dry.
My boys haven't put their "rings" down all morning. They just love them.
In other news, I'm hatching a plan. A plan so user friendly I can do it while I heal. Hopefully it'll catch your fancy too.
Will post my Daily December and more later. Just had to show the cutie cushions.
Love to you all :-)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
December Daily Album
Last night I spent some time consulting with my pain management coordinator. He's the guy who has me running off for surgery etc. It's his job to keep straight all the fun I'm having. The conversation was depressing to say the least. My medication was increased again as the coccygeal injection was a cataclysmic disaster. His words, "Occasionally a spinal injection completely ruins a person's life. You're that person." It did something nasty to the bone and now I can't sit for more than seven minutes or stand for more than ten. The pain is exponentially worse and my quality of life is really in the toilet. I'm supposed to keep in mind that this is short term. "Only about a month longer" But that's a lot of special days with my family I'll be missing out on. I have to get the nerve to walk across the room - decorating trees and making gingerbread is way outside my scope right now.
So, with all that on my mind I decided to jump on the Daily December bandwagon. I'm terrified that I'm going to miss this winter entirely. Or at least not lock in memories of the moments.
Ali Edwards popularized the concept. Basically you make an album or notebook and add a note and picture each day. People often include envelopes for receipts, cards etc. I didn't want to spend any money and I can't go shopping so I made the album in about an hour from the chipboard back of a used legal pad and scraps from my paper file (including some awesome ouchless cardboard from Gauche Alchemy). You'd be amazed at how many piece I've saved that meet the 5x7 requirement I set. The covers are 5.5 x 7.5 to make room for odd sized items (like scallops).
This is a great recycling project. I plan to make some more inner pages from discarded manilla folders, cereal boxes etc. And don't think you need to be crafty for this. If you can keep a journal, you can do Daily December.
What I'm not doing is stressing out, spending a lot of time or expecting much of myself. I am adding at least one picture and a short note about what we did. Sounds good to me.
Here's some pics:
And here's my page from yesterday. As you can see, I haven't done my inside covers yet and I'm keeping it very basic. Simple is good.
So, with all that on my mind I decided to jump on the Daily December bandwagon. I'm terrified that I'm going to miss this winter entirely. Or at least not lock in memories of the moments.
Ali Edwards popularized the concept. Basically you make an album or notebook and add a note and picture each day. People often include envelopes for receipts, cards etc. I didn't want to spend any money and I can't go shopping so I made the album in about an hour from the chipboard back of a used legal pad and scraps from my paper file (including some awesome ouchless cardboard from Gauche Alchemy). You'd be amazed at how many piece I've saved that meet the 5x7 requirement I set. The covers are 5.5 x 7.5 to make room for odd sized items (like scallops).
This is a great recycling project. I plan to make some more inner pages from discarded manilla folders, cereal boxes etc. And don't think you need to be crafty for this. If you can keep a journal, you can do Daily December.
What I'm not doing is stressing out, spending a lot of time or expecting much of myself. I am adding at least one picture and a short note about what we did. Sounds good to me.
Here's some pics:
And here's my page from yesterday. As you can see, I haven't done my inside covers yet and I'm keeping it very basic. Simple is good.
Monday, November 30, 2009
48 Hour Bombshell Stamps Sale
Wooooooooo-hoooooooo! Did you hear that happy, happy sound? Bombshell Stamps, my favoritest, the most awesomest, the one-thing-I-really-really-hope-Santa-puts-in-my-stocking stamp company, is having a big, big Cyber-Monday sale.
Deets:
Read the NEWSLETTER. Even better, subscribe then you can get coupons and the inside info too. In case you aren't a big link clicker, the gist is that you can get 25% off for two days only:
25% off! Use coupon code “CYBR30” at check out.
Coupon expires Tuesday, 12/1/09
Does Shannon rock, or what? Now go shopping.
***
Still here? Want further motivation to get some Bombshell Stamps? How about this:
Bombshell Stampers Flickr Pool
My Bombshell Flickr Gallery
Visuals:
Deets:
Read the NEWSLETTER. Even better, subscribe then you can get coupons and the inside info too. In case you aren't a big link clicker, the gist is that you can get 25% off for two days only:
25% off! Use coupon code “CYBR30” at check out.
Coupon expires Tuesday, 12/1/09
Does Shannon rock, or what? Now go shopping.
***
Still here? Want further motivation to get some Bombshell Stamps? How about this:
Bombshell Stampers Flickr Pool
My Bombshell Flickr Gallery
Visuals:
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