Tile Trivets

Well I had a blast spending basically a whole week with my mom. The added bonus was that my baby sister (360 days younger) took off 3 days and we all crafted until we couldn't craft anymore. I watched her make gorgeous flower arrangements that she is putting up for sale and also giving as gifts. I continued to stamp a few muslin bag orders and tile coasters while I was there too. We made tags and cards and wall hangings and all kinds of things. One thing I did that I really like is stamping trivets. These are 6X6 stone trivets and they have more area to work with than a set of coasters. Looking forward to giving some as gifts. I also bottled my homemade vanilla. Will take pics soon. It smells wonderful! I also ordered more alpaca and silk yarn to make a few more fear of commitment cowls.

And now the tree

Well I finished the tree and sort of hung the banner up (it needs to be glued shut and in place on the string) on the picture so you could get the idea. I just found the paper tree tutorial over at Little Birdie Secrets after I wondered why they didn't have a tut for the sweet little tree in the picture with the subway art. They also have tutorials for fabric and ruffled ribbon trees. Check them out. Oh well, I think mine needs a bigger star on top, but otherwise it is pretty cute. I used a Fiskars circle puch and just cut a bunch of them out of different Christmas papers. I used straight pins, but I think I may stick some red glitter brads in every so often. Pretty simple, but I think they would make neat mantle decorations.

Some borrowed subway art

Little Birdie Secrets had the cutest downloadable Christmas subway art the other day so I bought a couple of discounted frames, some red and silver paint and here you go. I decoupaged the one to the backing because it was missing the glass. I used the silver glitter all over the thinner frame, but just along an edge on the larger one. I still have to make the cute pendant banners for them, but so far so good. These will make lovely gifts for some extra special family members who just love to decorate for Christmas.

Felt wreaths

The ladies of our church met last night to make Christmas crafts. We worked on felt wreaths and one of the ladies made one that was cute as a buttom and used gingham red and white ribbon to hang it from. It is made like this one from Better Homes and Gardens, except we added some cute beads in between the felt aquares every so often. They have a great slide show of felt ornaments which range from simple to not so simple to make. I love the tree garland above.
One lady also made cute scrapbook paper snowflakes and then glued them to a felt back. They were adorable. I played around with several projects and came home with nothing but unfinished ideas. I hope to finish them this weekend. I had co-op all day yesterday, so my brain must have been tired. I also bought a frame and red paint to work on the subway art picture from Little Birdie Secrets. I am excited about that! My other project is trying to recreate the tree in the subway art picture. I bought a foam cone and started cutting circles out last night. We shall see how that goes. Have a great weekend. I have to go stamp some more bags.

Fabric envy

No I am not talking about all of the fabric I drool over on the internet! This is a new shop that I heard about on Little Birdie Secrets. She has gorgeous fabric and gives discounts to people who use fabric for an etsy or ebay store. I was drooling by the time I had looked through all of her collections. Check out her store.

Bookmarks

You know bookmarks are fun to make and they can be any size or shape and made from a variety of materials. I sent off 3 to a lady uesterday who ordered Christmas bags for teacher's gift. I used some beautiful paper, twill ribbon in teal and a lovely bird stamp and ended up with 3 gorgeous personalized bookmark gifts. I also used some manilla tags that are 2 1/4 X 5 1/4 inch and hand stamped them with a cute umbrella man and a quote. Top them off with some black satin ribbon and Voila! These are really inexpensive ways to say thanks or even Merry Christmas!

The bag lady

That is what I feel like lately, but it is a good thing. I have been stamping muslin bags like crazy here for the last couple of weeks. It is very fun and neat to meet (only through conversations of course) new people online. I am enjoying finding out what they like and getting to create one of a kind projects for them. I was under the weather this weekend and missed our cookie exchange at church. I made Andes mint bark and red velvet mini cupcake bites with cream cheese frosting. My youngest daughter made a double chocolate mint chip cookie and my oldest made buttermilk sugar cookies. My son made candied bacon chocolate chip cookies. They brought home several kinds, but I haven't felt like eating any yet. Probably a good thing-I really don't need all those cookies anyway. I have been machine quilting some UK coasters for a friend and got those finished, but I sent them and forgot to take a picture. I am working on a sleep mask but have only cut it out so far. I think it would be nice to fill it with flax and lavender. Anyone ever try this before? How about good cookie recipes? Have a lovely week.

Fa La La

I have been putting together some Christmas cards today. I love projects that use sheet music and I had a scrap piece of scrapbook paper that incorporates sheet music. I traced stars and then used stamps to decorate these Christmas cards. I also finished a crochet cowl tonight and I sewed a wool and flannel cowl, but need to figure out some finishing touches for that one. I want to get some pictures of them outside because the lighting is so much better, but we have had solid rain for 2 days. What about you? What Christmas goodies are you working on?

Muslin Bag Advent calendar

I just finished this order tonight and I thought it turned out pretty cute. I think the idea of having treats every day as you count down to Christmas is very fun. It would be a neat way to give hubby or kids a special surprise everyday for 25 days of Christmas. This project was fun and I hope the customer likes it as much as I do!

Wedding favor bags

I have been working on multiple orders for these muslin bags for Christmas, but this one is for a wedding. These are so sweet as wedding favors. She wants them in peach, but said gray would work too. I like them both. Can't wait to experiment with some other stamps and colors. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and survived Black Friday.

I want to try it all!

This seems to be my attitude lately when it comes to crafts. I have refused to get a pinterest because I know I would spend way too much time looking at everything and wanting to figure out how to do it myself. Etsy isn't helping me much either.  I see such cute ideas and want to try them too. I have made a few crochet bangles, a ruffle fabric scarf, owl burp cloths and have also been decoupaging cute baby themed clothespins. Then I saw these cute little drawstring muslin party favor bags and wanted to stamp some myself. It is all fun but way overwhelming. I have stuff everywhere! I am no longer an organized crafter. I need to spend less time crafting/sewing and organize my goods! Hope everyone is planning for a great turkey day! I get to go see my mom which is super exciting. I am also getting my hair chopped today before the holidays come. Going back to super short after my kids actually took a vote in the car and said get rid of the long hair. I must be the short sassy hair type.

Baby Wall Tile Art

My husband's cousin is expecting a baby boy in January and I wanted to do something special and different than the typical baby gifts. She is registered at a couple of places, but I thought a personalized gift would be much nicer. I am working on doing his name on wall tiles for his nursery. She is painting the nursery chocolate brown and the bathroom baby blue. I used some very handsome and boyish scrapbook papers along with some decoupage, Stazon and distressing ink to do all the letters of his name on natural tiles. It isn't done yet, but I like it so far. They will have blue or brown ribbon to hang them from. I will try to remember to take a picture of the final tiles. Hope to have them on Etsy for custom orders if they turn out nicely.

My own little "block" party

After I read Samantha's post over at The Handmade Dress about "blocking" her knitted items, I decided to do a litlle investigating. I read several articles on blocking your hand knitted and crocheted items and I now understand the purpose behind it. So I set up my padded quilt board and put a flannel backed tablecloth over that. Then I laid a towel down and proceeded to pin my items into place. I sprayed mine with lavender water until saturated and then waited the whole weekend to let them dry completely. They will keep their shape now. It makes things look handmade with care rather than homemade messes. They smell good too.

Love this thread holder

I saw this cute tutorial today over at Ucreate. It is a framed thread holder. I like this because you can make it the size you need or you could do a couple of them in contrast colors. I want to do this soon.

I did manage to "block" my headwarmers I made this weekend. I have never blocked any project. I used lavender water like Samantha over at the Handmade Dress. The house smelled so good.

I plan to get that sweet potato casserole recipe up to day in case you want to make it for Thanksgiving.

I made potato soup yesterday and wanted to share a few tips. First I sweat onions and celery in butter in the pot I am using for the soup. Then add chicken stock and chopped potatoes. Boil just until fork tender. In another pot of water boil additional chopped potatoes for mashing.  About half the amount you use for the soup.  I drain these and then mash them until fairly creamy. Add this and 1 can cream of chicken soup to your soup pot. Once incorporated, add milk, salt and pepper. Just before serving I add sour cream thinned with milk (otherwise it clumps). I serve with bacon bits and cheese. The mashed potatoes help to give the soup more potato flavor and also gives it a thicker consistency. Enjoy!

Vintage Sheet Coasters

I really wanted to do something with some of the vintage sheets I have accumulated. Although I didn't use a whole lot, I did cut out and make a set of four quilted coasters. I love vintage sheets. They are usually so soft and worn and they make the cutest things.

Finish what you start

I finished my knitted headband/earwarmer and have started another one in mulberry wine yarn. I also made some funky crochet bangle bracelets today. I put a pic in here of a scarf I made from Bernat puffball yarn in Breast cancer awareness pink too. I love getting projects finished. I am working on some crocheted boot cuffs for my daughter now. Couldn't find too many crochet patterns for them so I am making my own. They look pretty cute so far. We had our first fire of the season tonight. So cozy to knit and crochet by the fire. Put quite a few things on Etsy tonight. There are so many talented people out there! Love looking at all the goodies. Hope you all are looking forward to an excellent weekend.

Back to the knitting board...

I feel like I have almost been cheating on my knitting needles with all of this crocheting going on. I found a cute cabled ear warmer on Ravelry yesterday though and the pattern is pretty simple. I can't wait until it is finished. I also completed a hat with crochet flower order from the local craft fair. I stamped some cute hoot owl coasters yesterday as well. Will be listing those today on Etsy. We finished 2 more walls on our barn last night-Yahoo! It is so exciting to see it come together. We had our 1 family meal for the week last night. Everybody is running in different directions the rest of the week, so I made some yummy comfort foods. One of them was sweet potato casserole-YUM! I will be posting my recipe for that tomorrow. Off to a college dinner this evening for the son. Hope to get more info about the engineering program and also about additional scholarship money. Looking forward to it. Praying for my mom who is having a second surgery today on the shoulder she broke last year when she fell on ice. Have a great Tuesday.

Pumpkin Muffins

I made these the other day for breakfast and I think they are pretty good. I really like the streusel topping. You could easily make these a dessert by adding cream cheese frosting or whipped cream.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp. cold butter cut into pieces
1 1/4 cups pumpkin
1/4 cup apple butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400. Grease 12 muffin cup pan. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt into medium bowl. Cut butter in with pastry blender.
In another bowl, combine pumpkin, apple butter, evap. milk, egg and vanilla. Combine this with flour mixture. Fold gently-don't beat this to death!
Fill muffin cups 1/2 to 2/3 full. Make sure they are all pretty evenly filled so they cook at the same rate. Sprinkle with topping below.

1 Tbsp white sugar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Bake about 20 minutes then check with cake tester. If not done, check in 5 minute intervals until tester comes out clean. Let cool. Enjoy

A crocheted flower garden

I promised I would post some of the work I have been doing of late. Yesterday after church, I came home and finished up making a few crochet flowers into pins and snapped some shots. I have already listed a few things on my Etsy, but I am waiting to get some pics with my girls wearing the pins to list a few.  I haven't taken a picture of my skirt yet, but I have already worn it. It was a simple 4 panel elastic waist skirt that I made from a really soft tweed like knit. I will try to get some pictures today. Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Barn Raising

Busy weekend. Haven't posted much lately because we have been busy trying to get our new barn up before it gets really cold. It always takes longer when you do it yourself. I have made many things over the last few days-a vintage skirt, several hair clips, yummy pumpkin muffins and more large crochet flowers. I'll be sharing pics and recipes soon, but for now here is a look at our barn in progress! These are mainly walls for the 2 story apartment/office that will be in it. It will have a full bath downstairs and a room upstairs. I will be so happy when hubby has a new home for all his tools.

Cloche Crochet

I have been making quite a few crochet flowers, but haven't ventured much beyond that until today. I decided I would try a hat to go with a new flower. I did find out that I am not very good at following patterns, so this just kind of happened. I am the same with recipes-hee hee. It only took a couple of hours to do in between school and laundry and packing. I would do little bits and pieces. It is made from Wool-Ease Thick and Quick so it is very warm. I may have to try another one. My youngest daughter looks so cute in it, but she thinks it is horrible. Maybe my oldest will wear it. These look so much cuter on people with long hair. I'll have to wait til she gets home.

Ahhh! To sew clothing again...

As much as I love crafts, I really enjoy sewing clothes and I have missed doing that while working on all the craft fair goodies.  I did make another crochet flower yesterday and I put together a potholder that I like. I am hoping to put together several sets of these for Christmas gifts. I put buttons in the center of my other black and white flowers I made last week too. The most fun part of my evening though was cutting out and starting the serging/sewing on this Maggy London dress pattern in a robin's egg blue knit. I have loved the cutting, pinning, serging and marking! Hope to get it done by this weekend. Today I will be spreading seed and straw over all of the newly landscaped area before rains and snow wash all of our smooth dirt down the hill. Maybe I will get a little more done tonight if I am not totally exhausted.