quirky cuff links tutorial

If you are a sewer/crafter I'm certain that when you look at things other people made you think to yourself "I could totally make that".

That's me.

Plus, I was "accused" by my husband a while back that I'm motivated by money. At first I was slightly insulted, but it's true and as long as money doesn't rule my life, I think it's ok. As a stay at home mom, instead of being motivated to MAKE money I seem to be motivated to SAVE money. I craft for the creative outlet, but another reason (among many) I craft is because I like to give gifts and it helps when I can give a nice handmade gift without spending lots of money. Plus, my time is priceless right ;)

Which leads me to a birthday gift for my sister's husband. I saw these Lego cuff links at a local handmade consignment shop, $25 for 1 pair, and thought of him. I also knew I could make them. Check out how easier they are:

Buy blank cuff links off Etsy here. You don't even have to buy a zillion of them. 4 pairs cost me $2.50.
Find Legos. I like these square ones, but I think the ones that are 3 nodes by 2 nodes would work too. Luckily I have a friend that has a big bin of legos that don't complete a set. She let me rummage through it to find what I wanted. $0. Maybe you could find some at a thrift shop perhaps?Super glue the lego onto the cuff link. Make sure they are going the same direction.
See, easy.

Total cost (with shipping) $4.95.

Now I guess I ought to let my sister know that she should give her husband a shirt for his Birthday that needs cuff links.

birthday gift

My Mother's birthday was this past month. She makes those fancy crochet wash cloths (her's are simple and square, but I thought these apple ones were cute).

I've been meaning to try this.

I even bought crochet hooks and yarn.

I'm not sure where they are at the moment.

Oh well.

I (loosely) used a tutorial I found on Sew mama Sew. There are enough pockets for a small notebook and pen (or pattern I guess), a small pair of scissors, and 5 hooks.

It fit nicely in a 8 x 11 manila envelope with a small ball of yarn.

Happy Birthday mom!

birthday shirts only the mom cares about

Isn't that so true?! What three year old can get excited about getting clothes for his birthday?? Oh well, I had a fun time making them...

Freezer paper stenciled (which I've found an new love for. I hated doing it at first, but discovered that if I cut the image with those tiny finger nail scissors, it's much easier than using a razor. That might just be me...)
My personal fave. He runs around the house "roaring" at his sister with his "scary pider shirt". Only, she's not scared and roars and chases him back. . .
I cut the hemmed edges of the sleeves and bottom to make them roll. (Above two shirts are "remakes" of shirts I saw in Mini Boden).
This freezer paper stencil was totally inspired by this brilliant tutorial I saw over at Made during her (and Rae's) boy month. If you are at all interested in taking your images (or ones found off the internet) and then converting them to larger images to freezer paper stencil, you must read the tutorial. It's awesome! I'm going to try the Lincoln image as soon as I can figure out how to make it smaller. I'm thinking of putting four Lincoln heads on the shirt and paint it sort of Andy Warhol like.

happy valentine day

happy valentines day!

i CAN finish this. i know i can. i will. i swear it.

Tracy always tells me how quilting is SO much easier then making clothes. Maybe. But my problem with quilting is that I'm impatient.

It's not quilting's fault.

It's me. Not you.

Tracy sent me a lovely quilt for Christmas that I snuggle in while watching t.v. It's just mine. Reserved for me. Poor shivering husband says to me the other night while under a different (smaller) blanket "maybe you should make another blanket".

Yeah, I guess he's right.

So I started looking at quilt tutorials online and decided on a Stacked Coin quilt. It actually looks harder than it really is. Mostly it's time consuming. The first day I cut all of the top strips and sewed them together. I even cut out all of the white strips too. And then. It sat. Here and there I've sewed a strip or two together. In between it all I've made some headbands - cute ones for moi, cut out two patterns, cut out PJ pants for the boy and just got my miniBoden catalog in the mail yesterday and tore out a bunch of pages of cute appliques that I'm just itching to, ahem, recreate (for personal use, of course).

Today I finished the entire top. I knew I would never get to it if I didn't just sit down and do it. Especially with all of the applique possibilities in my mind.

I love it.

It's beautiful.

I love seeing all of my fabric in one place, and I love that the white balances out the chaos.

Now to finish it. Hmmm... I DO have the batting. And a walking foot attachment for the machine.

And I DO love it.

I'll finish it.

Maybe tomorrow. Maybe.
Next time though, I'll make this quilt instead.

can i make up for the 1st trimester absence?

I was going through my iPhoto and saw some pictures that I took of a craft show I did in October. I had signed up to do it in September and then luckily sewed a bunch at that time because October through December was no-fun-for-me. First Trimester sickies.
I had sort of given up on craft fairs because I don't make much money and since all of my stuff has to be handmade it's not like I come up with a design and then pay someone to screen print it en mass on t-shirts or something. But this was a real craft fair at an Art Gallery in a nicer part of the Bay Area, not just a local craft show at the local elementary school or something, so I decided to give it one last shot.

I didn't actually make very much money (I'm not sure anyone did due to low traffic), but it was one of the neatest things to participate in. The other crafters were so amazing, true artists. I felt like such a geek with my head bands, hair clips and nursing covers. You could definitely tell what stage of life I was in by all of my mom/little girl items.

Some of my favorites were:

Ohmay - the most beautiful and creative knit scarves/ascots/accessories. Just lovely.

I would love one of these bird stakes in my yard.

This guy's insect art is a-maz-ing and beautiful and I must have some butterflies.

Oh yeah, it's funny too. Beetles walking dogs and riding bicycles, silly things.

and my favorite were these recycled paper earrings. Oh how I had to exercise some self control!

I was next to a girl who does craft fairs as a full-time job. She said at the big ones she makes $3000-$4000. The entry fee is around $300+. Do you know how many hair clips I'd have to make JUST to make up my fee?? Not worth it in my book. Most of her stuff is screen-printed (her designs), so it's not hard for her to mass produce. She was really nice and helpful.

It was fun doing the craft show (and hey - now I've got a bunch of items made to sell and gifts to give away), but mostly because of the kid free day away and being surrounded by gifted people. I'm not sure I'll be a seller at another craft show, but I'd love to go and buy next time!

i've been published!

If you ever thought you'd be a scrap-booker, then you know the guilt of falling behind. Way behind! Like you've had another kid since you started your first kids baby book behind. Well, that was me. And it turns out. . . I hate scrap booking. It's just not for me. I'd rather see pictures and know the story then have fancy doo-dads and cutesy paper. Plus, I just don't have a talent for it.
SO, this is where blurb comes in. There are plenty of website where you can get pictures made into a book, but the great thing about blurb is that they offer software that slurps your blog into a book for you. After that you have to go through and choose your book size (this is set in stone once you choose, so choose wisely), add more pictures (like when you have a zillion pictures and you know you just can put them ALL on your blog), enlarge font, etc. The software's not perfect, it's totally SLOW and is crazy time consuming, but it's worth it in the end. I have been blogging since 2007 and thought I'd start there. So yes, I'm still behind printing my books, but it's ok. The pictures and stories are still there. All I have to do is add more pictures and viola. Family history.

My book has 200 pages in it and cost $63. It is the Standard Landscape (I wanted to be able to fit it in a bookshelf. The bigger ones are awesome, but I'm not sure where I'd store the books later). I think the Landscape version is good because it makes the book more coffee-table-like (less text book feeling) and I think you can fit more pictures on the pages. Maybe it seems expensive, but when you figure the book has 360 pictures in it and at IF I got them printed as 4 x 6 prints (and the majority of the prints are 5x7 and 8x10) for $.11 each that's approx. $40 plus having to buy albums to put all of the pictures in. And no story. And then writing dates on the back of 360 pictures. I hate doing that!It was totally worth it and I hope to get some birthday money so I can print 2008. Oh yeah - if you have (grand)parents or family who want a copy, you can always make it available online for them to go to the website and buy.