Something a little extra

I love custom orders.  When time and inspiration allows, I will usually make something a little extra for my customers with custom requests.  And my last order for a honey bee journal really got my creative juices flowing.  I made a set of matching cards to go with the journal.  I was so excited to find a stamp that matched the fabric perfectly!  Here's one of the cards a made.  Turns out, I really do love this honey bee hive stamp!

the lil' extra something to go in the package...

Now I'm back to making stamps, busy as a bee... but I'll get back to my sewing machine soon, I have an idea for an apron.  Buzzzzzz......

Buzz Buzz - Custom Order

Woo!  Finally posted up some new things in my Etsy shop.  And I got a custom order.  I love working on custom orders.  It usually sparks up new ideas for me.  This is a quilted journal cover I made for a customer.  I love the fabric she chose.  And guess what - we even make a rubber stamp that matches the hive on the fabric.  How serendipitous!

Custom Journal Cover

The Stamp!  I get a kick out of things like this!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is the card I made for my Valentine.  Little steampunky, little lovey.  I've had way too long of a break from my craft room.  But it's fun to create for Valentine's Day!

V-day card.

I actually got on a bit of a roll, and have other projects ready to share!  I am even toying with the idea of auditioning for a design team....

Working On New Images for 100 Proof Press

So, I've been trying to catch up after the holidays.  And I must admit blogging if one of the first things  I ignore on my to-do list - a long with cleaning up the craft room.  But, at least I've been a bit productive for the stamp company.  I have been playing around with some new images, trying them out, seeing if they are good enough to include in the catalog.  I have fallen in love with this little owl girl.

I tried to make a Valentine with her.  I just think she's so cute and unique.  Soon I'm going to have to help my little ones make 50 or so Valentines for their classes.  Wonder what images they will choose.  . .

Let the advent begin!

Well, my father and I both made our deadlines.  He made the tree, and I got the fabric bins done.  Although I still have to do something about the numbers - so if December 1st is tomorrow, the tree is basically ready - oh wait, it IS tomorrow!   It's not like I've never stayed up late craftin' it out.  So, here is the ALMOST finished Advent Calendar.

One of my goals with this project was to use up some of the cute Christmas fabric I've been holding on to.  It's going to be fun taking this bad boy out every Holiday, and I know my kids will have fun remembering all the fabrics I used - er I mean the goodies they got each morning.

My father claims every cubby space is the same size...

Now it's time to get creative filling the bins!

Ok ok, so I have a few more finishing touches, but I am very excited about this tradition.  My sisters and I had an "advent fairy" stirring up excitement every December, and it's something we'll never forget.

I got side-tracked...

Did I get the bins done?  No.  Did I get half of them done, no, not yet.  I got into the craft room and got crafting ADD.  This is when I have a  million ideas in my head, and I start a few projects, and well, finish some.  I did get a few more bins done, but I will have to step up my bin-making game this weekend.

4 more, cute owl, a green to match a some little snowmen

So what did I work on instead of bins?  What - do you ask did I squander my precious nap-time on?  I made 4 aprons, I am calling them work aprons, because they are designed from the pattern I made up for the apron I use at work.  It's a full apron with an "X" in the back instead of ties.  I also jumped back into the goat phase, and make some little pincushion/ornaments with some goat fabric.  Don't they look busy?   I might even get them listed in my Etsy shop.

busy sewing goats 

 Do you have any unfinished projects you NEED to work on this weekend?

Happy Halloween!

How to confuse my children... make their Halloween costumes 5 days before Halloween.  Usually we are working on costumes right up until the first trick-o-treater comes to our door (I am ferociously working, as I'm being barked at by a little one as to how: THAT IS NOT HOW BAT WINGS LOOK!).  Seriously, that's how it usually goes.  Not this year.  I got 3 of the four costumes done a good 5 days early!  And the following 5 days were followed by a bombardment of questions as to why we weren't going door to door that night.

The Monster Mash!

Now it's no secret that owls have been an important part of our lives the past few years.  My daughters each wanted to be an owlie.  And thanks to the encouragement and inspiration from my Etsy OWLS teammate. Squarejane, they were the perfect little hoots!

The first-grade-smile owl

Hazel sat on the set next to her "owl pumpkin" hooting the night away

Another current house obsession is bats.  Thanks to my 5 year old son, we have learned a lot about bats, made bat-houses, been to bat festivals, crafted up a lot of bats, and made at least 2 official bat costumes.

The flying fox fruit bat

Frank 

The Monster Mash song is a very popular tune around our household, Halloween or no Halloween - hence our little Frankenstein.  I hope you had a Happy Halloween.  I must say I had a lot of fun making costumes this year - who knows what Handmade goodness I will be pushed into next year (the count down has already started)!

Angel In Pink by Flor for my Tree

It's one thing to see art on your computer screen, but it's a totally different experience getting to open up a package with a unique one of a kind piece with your name on it.  I ordered a pink angel for my Etsy tree from Flor Larios.  I love the colors and the energy you see in Flor's work.    I always enjoy stopping by her shop and admiring her art.  I  fell in love with her Madonnas but when I saw the pink angel ornament, my Etsy ornament collection grew.

Second Ornament - Pink Angel by Flor

Some more pieces of from Flor Larios' Etsy shop that I love.

The Baby Boy Owl Mobile

I really love custom creations.  It means someone likes my work enough to customize it and put my idea with theirs and create something meaningful and personal.  This past weekend I got to make an owl mobile for a little boy's nursery.  I made the felt-style owls with the moon and stars.  Here's how it turned out.

Hoot hoot!

Owls & Moon Mobile

Fabric Acorn Tutorial

I thought it would be fun to create some fabric acorns made with real acorn hats.  So, we headed out on a family hike to gather some nuts like little squirrels.  After we got home, we carefully pulled the tops off the acorns and I played around with some fabrics until I got the acorn-look I wanted.   Here's a quick little nature-inspired craft tutorial on how to make fabric acorns.  I had fun making these, and I couldn't make just one,  my kids had fun helping  me collect and choose fabrics, and my husband just thinks I'm nuts!  

colorful fabric acorns 

supplies needed

 cut out a circle with 2.25 inch diameter
 snip the circle 4 times just up to the center

fold the circle in half and sew a seam for each section you just cut - be sure to back stitch

(you will sew 4 seams)

when you are done sewing the 4 seams it will look like a cone - this is the bottom of the acorn

sew a running stitch about a quarter inch from the top of the bottom of the acorn

leave a little bit of a tail at the start of the running stitch

(i usually use a matching thread, i used black here to illustrate this step)

after you sewed all the way around the cone you should have two tails, the start and the end of the thread

pull the ends of the thread together so the cone closes up a little bit

stuff the acorn bottom with a little bit of stuff 'n fluff

(do not entirely close the cone once it is stuffed- it will fill the acorn hat better if it is not pulled all the way)

 put hot glue into an acorn hat

quickly press your acorn bottom to the hat and squeeze the two together

and there you have it - a quick, fun, and festive craft

Right now my acorns are being used as Nutkin's snack.  But I think they would make a very cute brooch or look fun in a bowl as a decoration for Autumn.  I am thinking of stringing a few and making an acorn garland.  I would love to see your nutty creations!

Etsy Treasury - Meteor Shower Inspired

It's mid August and that means it's time for the Perseid Meteor Shower. So, since it was way to hot in the sewing room last night I made an Etsy treasury with an Astronomy theme. I have always been interested in Astronomy and I had a lot of fun looking on Etsy for items to fit this collection. A few owls snuck in there, but they go with the theme!



Tonight I'll be outside in the back yard looking up - I am hoping for a clear night tonight!

Back to School Time

It's back to school time. For the first time in six years I am going to have to wake up to an alarm! My daughter is going to be going off to Kindergarden. She is very concerned about every detail concerning. . . her lunch. I told her I would make her a little coin purse for her milk money - oddly enough she choose a fabric with owls on it!



One thing Etsy introduced me to was imported Japanese fabric! So CUTE! I order a bunch of the little prints for snack bags, and I am going to use some of the smaller pieces for these little milk money purses... I will be listing some new ones in my shop soon.

Tiny Fabric Art Quilts

So after completing my Frida Sardine can altered art piece I was quickly reminded that I am not just a maker of aprons and purses. So I started laying out all of my special fabrics to make an art quilt - then I got distracted by the cute Little Red Riding Hood scrap and needed to turn it into something quickly! I started making these tiny art quilts, then I decided they would make great brooches. And now I can't wait to make more!

I tried really hard not to make an owl-related item, but a little hoot snuck in! But my favorite is the sewing one. They are on sale in my Etsy shop now.

New Pincushion - Crafty like a Fox

This week I told myself I was going to create something new - with a new pattern and everything. I am so into Japanese fabric right now and I had this piece of fabric that was floating around my craft room and it needed to turn into something. I thought it would be cool as a pincushion, but I could not use my regular pincushion pattern or the fox would get all cut up. So, I came up with a new one that featured the crafty little fox and purple polka dots. I think I'll have to make myself a scissor sleeping bag to go with it.