crafting this and that

Hi again!  I'm so excited to share my first tote bag!  I really love it and it's such a cute size, perfect for a little toddler.  After looking at so many sewing blogs on how to sew a tote bag, I finally sat down and made one.  I guess the tricky part for me is making sure everything comes out the right way and not inside out! I started this bag last night and finished it this morning.  I thought I could finish the whole thing last night but I messed up on the first handle and then had to rip apart the seam and do it again.  Nowadays, it seems like the seam ripper is my best friend and not in a good way.  It's only about 5.5 inches tall, not including the handles. I had to really pay attention to how I attached the handles so the fabrics matched. Here is a side view.  It has a flat bottom. I have another sewing project on my list to do.  Hoping it comes out cute too. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hello!  Wow, it is so hot again here.  We had some nice weather recently but now it is sticky and muggy again.  And it didn't help that I had some chores and cleaning to do. Gosh, there are like a million ga-zillion things to look at online about sewing and projects and what not.  I don't know where to start sometimes.  It's fun to just sit and stalk everyone's cute creations but after about 2 hours I feel guilty that I haven't done anything productive! Finally I decided to make a pin cushion since I have these cheap-y pins I bought years ago that are kind of small and can get lost so easily.  And I still have some left over baby food jars.  Yes, my youngest is now 6 so I've had these jars for quite a few years but I knew I'd use them one day.  Plus the little ones are so cute I didn't want to toss them out. So here is my first pin cushion.  I added some cute hat pins I've had a while too just to look pretty.  And I was so happy ...

Hi all!  Just wanted to share another coin purse and a smaller pencil case I sewed a while ago.  I actually haven't been too creative lately.  I've just been stalking some sewing blogs and looking up tutorials to see what else I can try to sew.  There are so many cute things!  One thing always leads me to another.  Anyway, I really love this fabric store on Etsy called Beautiful Work .  They have the cutest fabrics and they ship so quickly even though they are in Japan. I got this fabric from the store I mentioned.  Super cute, right?  I love that it has so many different Sanrio characters. I made this pencil case for my daughter for school.  It's an inch shorter in both directions than the previous one I made so I think it's a better size.  She added her little heart clip to it.  I made sure to have Tuxedo Sam showing some where since that is her favorite character. Here is the case opened.  I think I should t...

Hi everyone!  Thought I'd share some of the things I've been sewing.  I was totally frustrated the past couple days with sewing.  It was driving me crazy!  So many things were going wrong even though I was sewing the same coin purse I had shared here before.  The only difference was the fabric design.  And yesterday I took apart and actually scrapped another coin purse.  So today I took a break from it before I got more frustrated.  The only thing that I got irritated today with was trying to learn GIMP to edit my photos.  Ugh, what a headache too. So here are the two same ol' coin purses.  But while I was sewing one of these, the needle on my machine actually popped out!  I think it couldn't handle the thickest part by the little tab.  Good thing I could just pop it back in and didn't break the machine. This is a different pattern that I found HERE .  The only difference is that I chose not to sew the zipper the...

Hi again!  I think this may be my last post for a little while.  I am trying to do a lot of my stamping and coloring now before my new cutting mats arrive tomorrow for sewing.  I bought larger mats so I could cut my fabrics easier.  Then I plan to make a bunch of coin purses and maybe larger make up bags or something.  When I make a bunch I'll share them here but I don't know how long that will take me since I'm kind of slow with sewing.  Anyway, I'll keep you posted.  Here are a couple calendars featuring Sister Stamps Yoichi.  I thought I would make calendars for my son's taiko teachers instead of just a thank you card.  Hopefully they'll be able to use them in 6 months!  Haha.  I matted the washi paper in gold so sorry about the reflective glare. Here is a close up of Yoichi.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hello!  Hope you all had a great holiday!  We spent our day at home just relaxing.  I was able to finish putting the Miyakos from Sister Stamps onto some calendars.  That was my being crafty everyday part for Friday. Each one is a little different.  I like the purple one best. Here's a close up of the saying.  I thought it was fitting for the image and the calendar.  I do plan on selling these calendars just haven't gotten to opening my Etsy store yet.  But if you're interested just send me an email! Thanks for stopping by!

Hi!  So I am telling myself not to be too lazy this summer because before you know it, it'll be Christmas!  These days are going by so fast.  I want to try to do something creative everyday.  I hope I can keep up with that goal.  The other day I finished up 9 more little Year of the Sheep calendars using Sister Stamps Sheep stamp.  I think I shared one before so I didn't photograph the set I just made.  Yesterday and today I stamped up Sister Stamps Miyako and just had fun coloring her up.  Now that I have less DT commitments I have more time to just create whatever I feel like!  I kind of missed that.  So here are the 4 I colored up.  I tried to use colors that I don't use too often for kimonos.  I think mostly I pick pink!  Miyako is such a cute stamp!  And I have a plan for her to go on some calendars along with a cute saying I found on the internet.  Yup, she's not just for Valentine's Day! I also sta...

Hello again!  Can you believe it's July 1st already?  This summer is going by too fast.  But at least Sister Stamps latest release is available today!  You can pick up these cute shave ice kiddos.  I wanted to share one last little project I made with this release.  I have 3 kids so this release reminded me of my own kids. I took some ATC sized water color cardstock that I had and used gelatos again in the background.  I really bought the ATC sized cards cause I thought the size was just so cute!  Thought these little guys would be perfect for that.  I am thinking about doing a mini scrapbook/planner kind of thing so I may use these cards to decorate some of my pages. Here is Anuhea to represent my daughter.  She loves purple and strawberry shave ice. This is Ekahi and he has vanilla shave ice like my middle one loves. Here is Leilani who not only lost her shave ice but her pigtails.  Haha.  My youngest is a bo...