crafting this and that

Hello!  Oh, it has been a while since I last posted.  December was busy with lots of Christmas activities and crafting.  Then we went on a vacation and I closed up my Etsy store for a couple weeks.  I have been trying to get back into crafting but feel like I need to recover from vacation!  The only thing I really love about traveling is not having to cook or wash dishes.  That was the best! Here are some projects I didn't get a chance to blog about. I made this fabric basket for our cousin's baby.  I was happy that the diapers fit so nicely in this basket! Also made this little tutu.  I switched out the stuffed animal later since the bear belongs to one of our kids.  Just wanted to see the fit.  This was quick and easy to make. Oh, I also won some cute prizes from Stacey Yacula Studio !  She designs some amazingly cute stuff!  She has a wide range of products for sale too and an Etsy store . Also won this sup...

Hello!  I had a lot of fun at the last craft fair talking with one of the vendors next to us selling fabric.  She is so nice and friendly!  And wow, she sews very well!  I think we did fairly well at the fair.  Sold a lot of cards and sequins and a little of this and that.  Slowly dwindling down on my used stash of stamps and dies.  But I still have some!  Totally wish I could sell them all before Christmas but looks like they'll be taking up some floor space still.  I am thinking that was my last fair for the year.  I'll be trying to keep my Etsy store better updated and supplied. A while ago I hurt my right hand.  More specifically my thumb.  Every now and then the pain comes back and now it's back.  I guess I have been crafting more but everyday activities aggravate it.  Stuff like turning on the car ignition, pouring water, typing, using my phone, cutting vegetables, etc.  Even now!  I really want to r...

Hello!  Our third craft fair was at the Rubberstamp Expo again and I think I like this venue better than the 99 Ranch fair.  Mostly I guess because there is light!  It's kind of important that people can actually see what they are buying!  I will be signing up for the November 15th Rubberstamp Expo as well.  Not sure if that will be my last fair for this year or if I should go into December.  I think my hubby is getting burnt out!  He misses his Sunday naps.  It is nice talking with everyone and seeing familiar faces.  It's nice to talk about stamping and crafting with others who share that same interest.  People ask me about my coloring and all I can say is "practice!"  If you look at my early cards, they didn't look how they do now.  I think my style has changed and evolved.  Less papers and more about the image than the background.  These are a couple of cards I was trying to complete for last week's fair but...

Hello!  Wow, it is a hot day today!  Spent the morning with my youngest at a small pumpkin patch.  It was so hot we couldn't stay very long but we got strawberry lemonade and that was yummy. You would think that going into my 3rd craft fair I'd be better prepared but not really.  There is always something more I could be doing but I think I'm just gonna stop for now.  I'm so tired!  Plus today is laundry day and I have to cook dinner so the most I can do is take inventory and pack everything for the fair tomorrow. Some cards that I'll have at the fair.  Sorry for the reflection, I already packed them into their clear bags. I love these cards! I love these too.  I think she looks great in red.  All stamps from Sister Stamps. So if you are local, come stop by the Rubberstamp Expo at Blaisdell Hawaii Suite on Sunday, October 18 from 9 am to 3 pm.   Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello!  Welcome back!  It's Sister Stamps release day!  Get your cute peek-a-boo stamps today!  I have a couple more projects to share today so I'll get started. I made these little shaker boxes to use on my next cards.  I added a pinch of this and that, and they are so fun and cute. I turned the shaker boxes into Christmas presents by adding a big bow on top and added Peanut on the side to have him peeking out from behind.  Then I used an alphabet set from Lawn Fawn to create the sentiment at the top. Then this is the sentiment on the inside. This one has a red bow with Peanut. Then a green bow with a gray Peanut. I also made more desk calendars but they are shorter and wider than the ones I shared yesterday. Here is Bobo.  I love the way these peek from the side.  So cute! More of Peanut. Lastly, we have Pixie and she is my favorite.  I love the expression on her face!  So cute!  I layered the ca...

Hello!  Wow, I think I need to nap from the 3 day weekend we had.  Either that or drink some coffee which I think I need to start up again just so I can have some energy in the mornings.  I had some coffee over the weekend and I felt like crafting all day!  I purchased these cute drawstring burlap bags and added the fabric joy sentiments onto them.  I made something similar to these before on smaller muslin bags.  These burlap bags seem much more practical since they are larger and can even hold a gift card, perfect for the upcoming holidays. I also made small kraft tags with red twine to go along with these bags.  You'll have to practice some small handwriting as these tags are small but this size seems more proportional to the larger burlap bags. Here's a giftcard hanging from the top of the bag.  I'll be posting these photos onto its Etsy listing which is why I have that disclaimer up there.  Can't be too careful these days as ...

Hello!  In an effort to gear up for the holidays, I started making some Christmas cards.  Now that I have reduced my stamp stash, I have more time to use the stamps I've neglected for so long.  I held onto some Wild Rose Studio stamps cause they are just too cute and I felt I never gave them the attention they needed. Here are some Christmas elephants.  I stamped them on to watercolor cardstock and colored in the image with Copics.  I used distress inks to water color in the background.  Then of course I realized I didn't have to stamp the one on the left onto watercolor cardstock since I didn't do anything with the background, just kept it really simple.  Coloring on water colorcardstock with Copics not as smooth looking as the X-press It cardstock.  But overall I like how these turned out.  I also stamped some stars and heat embossed them in white.  There's some glittery-ness to the stars but difficult to see on here. And here ...

Hello!  Thank you all for the encouraging comments and support of my Etsy store opening.  I'll be adding more items soon. Today I am sharing my finished Christmas tree skirt.  I know it's May but I had only finished the top half of this skirt last year and was looking for red fabric for the bottom half.  Finally found some at a good price at Walmart.  The Walmart I go to doesn't seem to restock very quickly.  Red seems to be a popular color also.  I bought whatever was left of the red fabric and when I went back today they still hadn't restocked it. Here is my finished tree skirt.  I purchased a pattern from HERE .  The patterned fabric is a Doodlebug line from Riley Blake that I purchased online.  And I'm pretty much proud of this skirt!  I can't believe I made it.  And I made the binding also and sewed the back of the binding by hand.  I thought it would take me forever but the hand sewing wasn't too long. I di...

Hi again!  I had plans today to take my boys for a haircut but the weather didn't agree with me.  It has been raining all morning and not just a light drizzle either.  It's pouring and the water is puddling around the yard.  So we decided to stay in and make our traditional ornaments that I'll share another day.  Today, I want to share the treats I made for my boys' classmates.  My daughter doesn't pass out class treats anymore but just a handful of gifts to close friends.  They all got calendars this year!  While I was looking for simple crafts to do with my youngest one's class, I came across candy cane mice.  I'd never seen them before and my boys loved them.  Of course, because they like rodents.  I wasn't too sure if girls would like them but I thought since it is their treats to give I would let the boys decide.  There are tons of templates online.  I used this one HERE and found a cute poem HERE .  If I ...

Hello!  I feel sometimes scattered wanting to do so many different crafts.  I wish I had this huge crafty room where I had lots of large tables and each table would be designated for a specific craft.  Like sewing, coloring, paper crafting.  Then I wouldn't have to clean up everything to start another project.  Sewing definitely takes up a lot of space with the cutting of fabric, space for the sewing machine and even ironing.  That is the only ironing I am willing to do!  Anyway, I finished this cute ornament yesterday.  You've probably seen them around blogland ever since PTI introduced their latest kit with the clear domes.  PTI's kits are so enticing with all the fun stuff included in them but they are just too expensive for me especially if I'm not sure I'd be using them often.  But I had seen the clear domes before at my local Ben Franklin store so I knew I could make those ornaments/tags without spending so much money.  Plus...

Hello everyone!  I feel like I still have a lot to do including cleaning the house again because I've been neglecting all the cleaning so I can finish all the Christmas stuff.  Today, I got a lot of organizing done and donated 4 bags of clothes, toys and books to Goodwill.  But our poor bathrooms and kitchen are still neglected.  Hopefully, I can get onto that tomorrow.  I wanted to share the goodies I made for my son's Kindergarten class.  I spent about 4-5 days to finish these. I used the stocking die from Sizzix to cut out 19 felt stockings.  I hand stitched them and added a loop so the kids could hang them on their tree.  I hot glued the red pieces.  Originally I was gonna do red stockings with white trim but the green felt was on clearance so I went with those and changed the trim to red. Then I used the gingerbread die from Sizzix to make 19 felt gingerbread men.  They are double sided since the die cuts all the eye and b...