Scottie dog

Scottie on my knee



On my sewing bench



With Zoe and little Chimpy friend




Made from this pattern Jenny's blog, allsorts. It was pretty easy to make. First I enlarged the pattern 150% and used a really soft, plushy material, black craft thread for the eyes, poly fill, sewing machine, and a plaid wire ribbon as a bow around the neck. It's a gift for baby Kaegan.

I'm so enjoying making these softies. Going to make another one soon.

Pincushions & my crafts and thrift finds on Flickr

These pincushions are made from soda bottle caps, felt and craft thread. Very easy and fun to make. Sorry about the blurry picture, though. It was cloudy that day.

Inspired from a Flickr pincushion group member, verybigjen. Check out my flicker photos for more crafty things I made and thrift finds over the weekend and past few weeks.

My very first softie!

Has it been a month since I last posted? Busy with life, work, reading other blogs, and getting to know my sewing machine - made my first softie!

Right side:


Left side:


Front:


It was a bear making this little lambkin. Guess it had to do with the fleece material I chose to make and being such a beginner. This pattern was soooo easy, however. The fleece material is a light minty-green color. I used brown buttons for eyes, pink embroidery thread for the nose, and made a little tie from the free Kitty-Craft material they give with your order because it's a little boy lambkin (also to hide unsightly stitches on the front). I'm so inspired I'm going to make another using a lighter cotton material. Well, what do you all think for my very first softie?

More flower pins - for sale in my Etsy shop

Just two flower pins or brooches out of six - two different styles - $3 each. Can't seem to stop making the fabric yo-yo's. Blanket stitched pin to back. Will be in my etsy shop this week.

Thrifting fabric

My sisters and I went to a thrift store a couple Saturdays ago. Saw some cute calico and polka dot fabric. I don't know if they are vintage or not because they had that crisp feel like not having been laundered. But I laundered and already made some flower pins with some of them (shown in next post).















The last photo is of a handmade dress (no tags, seams not cut). I bought because I like the print and the bottom design looked just right to make fabric cuffs.



Can't forget these cute buttons came in the same plastic bag with the fabric. Pretty good for under $5 bucks, huh?

A horse is a horse of course, of course . . .

This horse was part of a card I made along the same lines as the flower card below in the previous post. I forgot to take a picture of the finished card before I mailed it out. I eyeballed a miniature plastic toy horse I had when I drew it, and this is how it came out. I'm having fun making these, thanks to Abby of While She Naps.

A small rendition of the Rocky Mountains

I tried to paint this from a photo postcard of the Rocky Mountains with acrylic paint, and mailed this painting to my uncle in Houston, who's been in remission from cancer, and who loved to fish and camp up there in the mountains when visiting here every summer. He, my aunt, and cousin Abby was a much anticipated visit growing up here in Denver. Being that my uncle originally came from Georgia, he was an accomplished fisherman and loved stream fishing. My parents weren't much into the fishing and camping scene so when they came to visit, we would sometimes spend a week up there, our first taste of living outdoors. I remember one year, oh, might have been around 1975 or 1976, we were camping a few miles from the tragic Big Thompson Canyon flood. It was raining and thundering so hard that night but we were warm and dry in our tent. And the next morning we heard what happened on the news. Despite that, we have many fond memories of fun times with my uncle Joe and his family.



I'm trying my hand at painting landscape scenes - this is my first attempt. I think too much green for the forest at the base of the mountains. Just need more learning and practicing.





I also made a necklace and earrings, and a flower bird card inspired from Abby - While She Naps blog - for my aunt in Houston, who's been under the weather lately. Hope she likes them.

Fabric Flowers

My inspiration for this flower pin came from Blair. Here is the tutorial she has on her blog - scroll half way down the page. I also used a little bit of fabric stiffener to form the petals. A good way to use up fabric scraps. I love this bright, cheery, paisley design and also the vintage button. This is going to be in my etsy shop, along with more like it on the way. There are many ways you can use this - pin on your fav fabric purse, blouse, jacket, pillows, etc. - to brighten up your day a bit.

Unconditional Swap March 2006

Whew! Finally finished for Amanda.



Her wish was for a robot-themed craft because she was taking part in a school competition related to robots. Couldn't find any robot charms so got a car, sewing machine and thread and needle charms for a bracelet. I also could not find any robot fabric so saw this bike parts fabric and made a fabric bracelet, idea came from molly chicken's blog. She made a tutorial on this. From the same material, made a wrist cuff closed with velcro. Also, Amanda likes Bob the Builder thus the BTB embroidered patches T-shirt I ironed on. Here's the back:



I think that's a crane from BTB, a character I'm not familiar with. And I threw in extra bike parts fabric. I'm mailing them out tomorrow. I hope she likes the stuff I made for her. Starting off small with my new sewing machine.

Two more Japanese craft books

This one is called Nuigurumi Style ISBN4-05-604179-2, ordered through Amazon.jp. Nuigurumi refers to "hand sewn" in Japan.



So cute -- a Book in Book - Swedish and Danish style.



Cute panda -- tucked away in a jewelry drawer.



Design collection for kids - ISBN4-529-04204-9 - also from amazon.jp - has the most cutest embroidered designs for children.



I have a baby shower to go to this Saturday. I already bought some cream-colored fleece material and thinking of embroidering the pink and blue elephant design but in a light green and brown combo - as they are registered at Target and most of the items are from the amy coe collection - contemporary green, brown and off-white with lots of polka dots. Hmmm, adding pd's sounds interesting.



Aren't these iron print patches too cute? I'm participating in Craftster's unconditional swap this month and the girl I'm crafting for is in a robot-themed school competition, they're using Bob the Builder theme (Can fix it? Yes we can!) So I've been looking around for robot stuff and ideas, and this robot here kind of reminds me of the robot Robbie from the classic 60's show, Lost in Space (You can tell my age is showing). But that is just way cute!

Posting pics of finished projects later.

Craftster - Unconditional Swap - February

I asked for and received cute scrapbook and stationary papers - Hello Kitty, etc. from craft_t_chic in last month's Craftster unconditional swap:



She read in my Craftster post that I loved the art from french impressionism artists like Renoir, Matisse, Monet, Cezanne, etc. and made these awesome note cards and envelopes from a calendar!



And this is my all time favorite from the bunch:

Beaded hairsticks, decoupaged handbag, and ATC's

I've listed new stuff in my Etsy shop:









The longer hair stick is decoupaged with pastel-colored washi origami paper with interchangeable clip-ons. The dark one has a fancy sterling silver jump ring. I'm making more as I speak. Also pictured are individual clip-ons with lobster clasps to interchange.







I love the pastel colors on this hand bag as it reminds me that spring is around the corner. The darker pink or magenta painted on the inside with acrylic paint and stick on black felt offsets the lighter outside of the purse.

The hairsticks and bag are up for sale at my
Etsy shop just listed today. Go check them out!



Oh, and I finally sold my very first item from my shop to someone living in England and just mailed out this past Wednesday. I hope she likes it - pink and brown appliqued elephant felt pouch.

I just got a sewing machine (a Huskystar 215 model) and so excited to start making more pouches, flower pins, etc. I tend to go all over the place when making things as my interests are eclectic. I haven't quite put the finger on a certain style but looks like I'm tending to go toward decoupage and felt. I'm a beginner sewer so I am going to need a lot of practice before tackling on fabric handbags and purses. I still have to repair an old quilt my husband's grandmother made, it's tattering and falling apart all over. I'm going to salvage most of the original material and replace with vintage fabric I bought off of eBay. We'll see how it will all turn out.



These artist trading cards are going out to my aunt Rose, my father's youngest sister. She's been sewing and crafting for a long time. I just found out that she also trades these cards. Her husband, my uncle, has been sculpting wood creations for many years and has an avid interest in Civil War and hometown history. He also has gallery showings of his work in their hometown and places around Colorado. I have not seen yet but would love to. My aunt also has sold a few pieces of her quilts and recently has made framed Geisha fabric art and sold in the same hometown new gallery just opened this year.







These ATC's are decoupaged with printed old photos of my dad and aunt (as a baby) and their parents (my grandparents). My grandmother taught her how to sew thus the pieces of old sewing patterns. My grandfather was a very good cook so there is a vintage cake recipe and pimiento bottle. Also, origami, old sheet music and different colored tissue papers. I had a lot of fun making these - hope she likes them - ").

My Papa

He passed away on March 2nd due to complications from Alzheimer's dementia. He was 71. So it's been a very hard past couple of weeks (which is putting it mildly) for his wife, my sisters and brother, me and all of our families. I printed this picture (taken at my wedding in 1990) on regular paper and decoupaged this in front of a scrapbook I bought from Hobby Lobby, decoupaged more pics and painted designs with acrylic paint on both covers, front and back, and put this in his room at the nursing home to use as a guestbook for visitors to write a message in when they visited my father. I wish I thought of this sooner as I made this a couple of weeks before his death. He was in the nursing home for five months. Still he had quite a few friends who visited him and wrote in it.

I want to express my thanks and appreciation for the staff at the Julia Temple Dementia Center who took great care of him and was so kind and caring to us, too. My father will be sorely missed by all who knew him. Love you, papa.

On a clear day you can see . . .

. . . the mountains!





These were taken a few blocks from my house. It's been unseasonably warm here - 71 degrees today, 81 downtown Denver. Hmmm, global warming? Let me stop. But I'll take that any day.

I've been into Japanese zakka making craft books lately. This is one that caught my eye and bought from Amazon.jp from mollychicken's blog.

From the Kuri Kuri series.



I like these birdy and doggy handbags.



Different ways to use buttons.



This is a vintage 70's book about free stitching/embroidery and I can't remember which blog I saw this on. Anyways, I thought it looked pretty interesting and bought it from Alibris, a discount bookstore where you can also find rare and out-of-print books. I found the different stitching techniques and patterns fascinating.





Sometimes I have so many ideas I don't even know where to begin and then I have three or four projects going at once (Who said So much time, so little to do - reverse that . Willy Wonka!) My husband says to focus on one thing at a time which is fine but then something else catches my eye and then I begin another one. It's just that I have a variety of interests, not that I get bored but that this crafting world fascinates me. I guess you just have to jump in with both feet (and hands) and just do it - where did I hear that before? Well, everything within reason or else you'll get nothing done.