Leaves & Stitches

Chocolate spa goodies

2011-02-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

I made up two of these Chocolate Spa Sets to send to friends for Valentine's Day. They each have a large container of Chocolate Lavender Bath Salts, Chocolate Walnut Body Polish, Chocolate Mocha Facial Mask and Chocolate Peppermint Foot Soak Salts. Yum! I think I got as much benefit from smelling all the goodies while I was making them as my friends will when they use them!

I'll be listing the full set in my Etsy shop later today but I also wanted to share the recipe for the body polish. It's very easy to make and most of the ingredients are right in your kitchen cupboard.

I started with this recipe from Herb Companion magazine and modified it slightly because I didn't have walnut oil. Instead, I used:

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup safflower oil*
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

*I use safflower oil with vitamin E. It has added benefits for your skin and the vitamin E acts as a preservative for the scrub so you can store it longer.

Just mix all the ingredients together and store it in an airtight jar. To use it, hop in the tub or shower, scoop out about a tablespoon or so of the body polish, and massage into your damp skin, avoiding eye area. Rinse well with warm water. If you let your skin air dry instead of towelling off, you'll leave a nice, light layer of moisturizing oil behind. You can also pat dry very lightly to still leave some of the oil.

One word of caution: This mix makes your feet and tub SLIPPERY! Be very careful in the tub and stepping out onto bare floor. I stand on a washcloth in the tub and put an old towel on the floor in front of the tub for when I step out.

Enjoy!

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Too old for fairy tales

2011-01-31T16:01:00.000-08:00

The Little Guy looked around his bedroom recently and informed me, with his hands on his hips and in his most serious voice, "Mom, I am TOO OLD for fairy tales. We need to change this NOW."

This is the wallpaper border in his room, put up just two weeks before he was born. He's 7-3/4 now, so this statement wasn't entirely unexpected. And the rest of his room has been a mishmash for a while, with space posters, a Snoopy nightlight and an odd fleece blanket that he likes because it's soft, but it didn't match anything else in the room. See?

We started browsing catalogs and web sites to come up with a new theme. I had two rules: 1) no licensed characters, and 2) no red walls. He lobbied hard to change my mind on the second rule, but I don't like painting well enough to tackle red!

So, after much debate, he decided on an outer space theme and picked out this border:

Next, we headed to Joann's, 50% off coupons in hand, and he picked out this fleece:

To humor his request for "lots of red" (his favorite color), we picked red binding for the blankets and plain red fabric for window valances.

This week we started stripping off the old border and tested some new paint colors for the walls.

It's going to take at least another week or so to finish, but I'll be back to show off the finished project!

Valentine's Day crafting

2011-01-30T16:09:00.000-08:00

The Little Guy saw a Snoopy treat bag kit in a catalog and decided he wanted to make them for his classmates for Valentine's Day. I thought they were cute and they weren't very expensive so we went on the company's web site this weekend to order them...and noticed the shipping time was 10-14 BUSINESS days, unless I wanted to pay another $16.99 for faster service. Um, no.

So, I raided my craft stash and found these little bags:

Then I got on Google and searched for Snoopy images, spent 30 minutes in PhotoShop, and voila! - our own version of Snoopy treat bags. Never underestimate the power of an aggravated, crafty Momma!

I thought I'd share a printable version in case you'd like to make your own. But since Snoopy is copyrighted and I don't want my little blog to go to jail, I made another version with free clip art (found here, in case you want the original artwork).

(Click here to download the PDF from Google Docs.)

These will print out with 4 different tags on a single sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 paper. Just cut them out, fold them in half, write the "to" and "from" names on them, and staple them to the top of your bags. If you use them, please come back and post a comment. I'd love to see them in action!

I'm sharing this on a couple blogs:

I'm so far behind I think I'm first

2011-01-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

One corner of my sewing table tends to be a catch-all for things that need to be fixed or completed - hems that need to be raised or lowered, shirts that need buttons replaced, and all manner of unfinished projects. I cleaned it off this afternoon and ran across a placemat I bought at Target before the holidays, intending to make a throw pillow out of it (thanks to the inspiration from Jellybean Junkyard). Rather than leave it in the pile to be forgotten until next January, I took 15 minutes to open up a seam, stuff it with some fluff left over for another project, and finish it off.

And look how nice it looks on the new couch! :o) It's now packed away with the rest of the Christmas decorations, all ready for next year's festivities.

The Prince approves

2011-01-21T09:56:00.001-08:00

Sonny seems to like the updated sofa!

In which my sofa gets a makeover

2011-01-20T09:58:00.000-08:00

We purchased our living room furniture in 2004 when the Little Guy was not quite a year old. Fast forward through toddlerhood and two dogs, and the sofa is really beginning to show its age. Last fall I started looking longingly at furniture ads but, budget reality being what it is, quickly realized a new sofa was out of the question. I thought slipcovers might be an option but it turns out that we have a somewhat odd sofa and none of the ready-made ones were going to look good. They'd cover the old upholstery, but it wasn't likely the fit would be very neat and I knew that would make me a little nuts.

After estimating yardage to make my own and pricing upholstery fabric (and subsequently picking myself up off the floor when I figured out how much 16 yards of fabric would cost), I found an online coupon for cotton duck at Joann's - it was a great deal IF you bought a full 20 yard bolt. Sign me up!

A few things I failed to take into consideration at the beginning of this project:

Cotton duck shrinks. A lot. And since washability was a huge part of the whole slipcover deal, the fabric had to be prewashed. 20 yards of canvas is heavy. 20 yards of WET canvas is really heavy. I spent one full afternoon wrestling it around the local laundromat.
There is no flat surface or floor space in my house big enough to roll out more than a few yards of fabric at a time. So cutting out the pieces meant rolling out a small area, ironing it, drawing out the pattern, cutting it out. And then repeating that process about 17 times.
Upholstering (which I've done before) is, at least in my book, easier than slipcovering because you don't have to fiddle with the fit as much. Folding and stapling is a lot more forgiving than actually sewing a removable cover.

I started the project the week of Christmas and finally finished today. I LOVE how it turned out, and I'm just proud enough of my work to share the whole ugly process.

1. The before photos. Note the lovely chewed corners on the throw pillows. My dog apparently has a taste for polyester fluff.

2. The first glitch in my plans - there were no inside covers on any of the cushions, so taking the covers off meant completely unstuffing them. I ended up making permanent inside covers for all of them out of assorted fabrics and mismatched sheets. Not pretty, but it worked and it will make it much easier to remove the new covers to wash them.

3. Work in progress. Since making the inside covers had a side benefit of letting me really fine-tune the fit before I tackled the canvas version, I decided to make a test version of the main slipcover the same way. My mom came over for an afternoon and helped with the figuring on this. Thanks, Mom!

4. And finally, after nearly four weeks, a little swearing, two broken needles, multiple spools of thread and three pin-related injuries, it's done!

Still needs throw pillows but I haven't decided whether I'm going to buy them or make them. And now that I see how close the color of the cover is to the color of the walls, I'm thinking of painting the living room...

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This Moment - Friday, August 20, 2010

2010-08-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. Inspired by SouleMama.

"How to Preserve a Husband" - advice from 1969

2010-07-12T07:30:00.001-07:00

I borrowed my Mom's 1969 edition of the Ball Blue Book over the weekend. Among some rather frightening recipes and instructions for home canning (smelt in tomato sauce, anyone?), I found this little bit of advice for "modern" homemakers:

How to Preserve a Husband

Be careful in your selection. Do not choose too young. When selected, give your entire thoughts to preparation for domestic use. Some wives insist upon keeping them in a pickle, while others are constantly getting them into hot water. This may make them sour, hard and sometimes bitter; even poor varieties may be made sweet, tender and good, by garnishing them with patience, well sweetened with love and seasoned with kisses. Wrap them in the mantle of charity. Keep warm with a steady fire of domestic devotion and serve with peaches and cream. Thus prepared, they will keep for years.

Something new from something old

2010-04-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

I've been helping my mother clean out her attic and came across a box of odd dishes that belonged to my grandfather and and great-grandparents. I brought home two little custard cups because I liked the colors, but I knew I wouldn't use them for their intended purpose. I didn't want to just pack them back in a box, though, so I decided to make pincushions out of them.

I've seen lots of other pincushions made along the same lines but with teacups or small garden pots. They were really quick and easy to make.

To keep needles from sinking through to the bottom of the cup, I started out by cutting two cardboard circles big enough to fit in the cups about half an inch below the rims.

Next, I cut circles out of some scraps of quilt batting for the stuffing. Since my cups get wider at the top, I cut four the same size as the cardboard circle and four slightly larger for each cup. I just kept stacking them up and squishing them down until they seemed about the right thickness. I wasn't very scientific about it!

Time to pick out fabrics. The blue print is left over from making herbal comfort packs (like the ones here and here). The pink is from a thrifted sheet.

I cut a circle from each of the fabrics about twice as wide as my cardboard bases, then stitched around them by hand with a double thread to make a gathering thread. Next, I laid the fabric on my table right side DOWN and stacked the larger batting circles, then the smaller batting circles, then the cardboard circle on top.

I pulled the gathering thread tight and knotted it to make my cushion. See how the stack of batting squished down? It made a nice, firm cushion but not too dense to stick pins in.

Finally, I added a couple beads of hot glue around the bottom of the cushion (along the edge where the cardboard is) and popped them into the cups.

Aren't they cute? I gave the blue/green one to my sister and kept the pink one for myself. I love having a little bit of family history on my work table!

Cleveland Handmade giveaway: Stoneware Buttons from CMS Designs

2010-02-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

Every week Cleveland Handmade has a giveaway to spotlight one of their members and thank all their wonderful supporters and customers. It's a great opportunity to win some lovely items and check out the high-quality handmade art in their member shops. Entry is easy - full rules at the Cleveland Handmade web site.

This week's giveaway is for a set of stoneware buttons from CMS Designs. These would be great for crafters or sew-ers!

My 15 minutes of fame

2010-01-29T07:00:00.001-08:00

Audrey from Audrey's Country Crafts was nice enough to feature my Etsy shop on her giveway site. She did a very nice question-and-answer style interview and she's offering lots of ways to enter to win my new Spa-aaah Gift Set. Check it out at Audrey's Give Away Blog. And, of course, check out all her other great giveaways while you're there!

Sweet Tidings giveaway: Some very non-traditional fragrances!

2010-01-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

Blogger Sweet Tidings is sponsoring a Valentine's Day giveaway for a five-vial fragrance sampler from The Poison Apple Apothecary. They have an awesome collection of scents with names like "Bloodlust," "Scorned," "Death by Sugar" and "Burial Bouquet." The full descriptions of the scents make a very entertaining read! These would make a great Valentine gift for your non-traditional sweetie, or even an anti-Valentine's day gift for yourself or a Cupid-boycotting friend.

Personally, I think I'm going to have to give this one - called "Gwyllion" a try!

Valentine's Day challenge: Shopping for a good cause

2010-01-25T14:53:00.001-08:00

With so much in the news about Haiti and fundraising efforts, I did a bit of sleuthing on Etsy to see what other causes shop owners support. A search for "fundraising" brought up 1,771 results for products ranging from jewelry, t-shirts, and notecards to baked goods and teddy bear. And the causes and organizations they support are just as diverse: adoption organizations, support groups for parents who have lost children, Haiti relief, animal shelters, cancer research and camps for disabled children, just to name a few.

Closer to home, a co-worker is raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with her shop, Team in Training. That's her Curvy Pop-Tab Purse in the photo above. And fellow Cleveland Handmade team member JMT Glassworks supports a different animal rescue group each month through the sales from her shop.

With so many items and causes to choose from, I'll bet you could find a Valentine's Gift your sweetie would love AND support his or her favorite charity or cause at the same time!

At a loss for gift ideas?

2010-01-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

This is a great post by Scoutie Girl: "A Dude's Guide to Shopping Handmade". It's written for guys shopping for Valentine's Day gifts, but there are some great tips here for anyone who's ever felt at a loss for unique gift ideas for any holiday.

Cleveland Handmade giveaway: felted scarf from Knitgrrl Studio

2010-01-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Every week Cleveland Handmade has a giveaway to spotlight one of their members and thank all their wonderful supporters and customers. It's a great opportunity to win some lovely items and check out the high-quality handmade art in their member shops. Entry is easy - full rules at the Cleveand Handmade web site.

This week's item is 100% one-of-a-kind wet felted scarf made from fine local Great Lakes–area wool, created by Knitgrrl Studio. Check it out!

Long overdue update

2010-01-18T11:54:00.001-08:00

The holiday craziness seemed to spill right over into January. Whew! I feel like I'm finally getting back into a semi-normal routine. I made some shop updates yesterday and posted some new items. Any of these would make nice Valentine's Day gifts - drop a hint or two to your sweetie!

Spa-aaaah Gift Set includes a small herbal comfort pack, lavender eye mask, terry bath mitt and soothing Lavender Bath Salts.

Bath Salt Sampler/Gift Set - includes one 2-ounce container of each of my bath salt blends: soothing Lavender, energizing Citrus, refreshing Candy Cane, calming Lavender/Rose Geranium and Lavender Lemongrass. Each container is enough for two baths.

Bath Salt Mini Sampler/Gift Set - Your choice of any three bath salts in a 2-ounce trial size.

There are lots more new products in the works!

This week's Cleveland Handmade giveaway

2009-12-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

Every week Cleveland Handmade has a giveaway to spotlight one of their members and thank all their wonderful supporters and customers. It's a great opportunity to win some lovely items and check out the high-quality handmade art in their member shops. Entry is easy - full rules at the Cleveand Handmade web site.

This week's item is a lovely pair of silver and brass hoop earrings from Jewelry by Francine.

Cookie-baking marathon

2009-12-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

Spent this weekend (all weekend!) baking Christmas cookies. I got a recipe for lime cookies from my sister - she made them last year but somehow I missed out on the taste testing. Anyway, I made them this year and they are YUMMY. This is my new favorite Christmas cookie recipe: Lime Snowflakes & Ornaments.

Holiday Tradition: Men in Tights

2009-12-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

I saw our local ballet company's performance of The Nutcracker for the first time about 13 years ago and have been going to performances every year since then. I love the grand old theaters, the music and seeing all the little girls dressed up for the occasion. For a long time it was a solo tradition, but over the past few years it's evolved to include my Mom, my sister and my niece. Last Christmas we tried adding my Little Guy and my nephew to the mix, but at five years old they just weren't that impressed. They agreed the fight between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King was pretty cool, but neither of them could understand why the characters didn't talk. So we're back to our "girls' day out" today. Bring on the men in tights!

Memories and Giveaways

2009-11-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

Remember the Hallmark commercial from a few years ago with the woman going through the box of ornaments in the attic and remembering when she got each one? That's me. Every year when we get out the boxes of ornaments, there are always those special few I've had for years that have to go on the tree first. For the past two years, I've been trying to explain to the Little Guy WHY they're special to me.

This ornament was tied to a present on my first Christmas. (I won't tell you how old that makes it!) My Mom passed it along to me when I moved into my first apartment. It's been the first one to grace the tree every year since then.

These two were made by my Grammy. When I was little, her whole tree was covered with beautiful ornaments she made herself - snowmen and Santas, beaded ornaments, crocheted snowflakes. She passed away three years ago and the cousins divided up all the ornaments so we'd each have a few that she made.

Snoopy was a gift from my Dad when I was 9. He loved watching the Peanuts specials with us; Woodstock was his favorite. This is our third Christms without Dad. I'm not sure it's getting easier yet, but the ornament always makes me smile.

And full circle from my first ornament to the ones that commemorate the year the Little Guy was born. The teddy is a "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament; the angel was a gift from a friend.

How about you? Tell me about your favorite ornament in the comments. I'll pick one commenter at random on December 15. The winner will receive a Luscious Lips Gift Set from my shop. Let's hear those stories!

UPDATE: And the winner (chosen by highly scientific random drawing) is... Vintage aka Vinty. Congratulations!

Cleveland Handmade Weekly Giveaway: Cranberry Bracelet

2009-11-29T05:53:00.000-08:00

Cleveland Handmade is hosting a giveaway to thank all our wonderful supporters and customers, as well as give you the opportunity to check out the high-quality handmade art in member shops.

This beautiful red and purple glass bead crochet bracelet from Leah Ana Designs closes with a sterling silver clasp. The crochet design allows it to stretch slightly from 7 to 8.5 inches.

WIN Cleveland Handmade: Lucky Wishbone Earrings from La Petite Fleur

2009-11-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

Cleveland Handmade is hosting a giveaway to thank all our wonderful supporters and customers, as well as give you the opportunity to check out the high-quality handmade art in member shops.

These simple Lucky Wishbone earrings from La Petite Fleur are hand forged from 16-gauge* sterling silver wire into delicate thin blades in the front. Light texture is evidence of their handmade nature. The earrings are tumbled to a high polish. Wishbones gracefully hang just a hair shy of 1-5/8 inches from top to bottom in the front. The backs are a bit shorter. These elegant earrings are sure to become a favorite.

"So I Was Having a Headache..."

2009-11-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

Isn't that a great name for an Etsy Treasury? There are lots of great ideas here for cold and flu season, including my Lavender Eye Mask. Thanks for the love, NottyPooch!.

Maybe I should have a "Plan B"

2009-11-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

So I'm planning to make Thanksgiving dinner this year for the Big Guy, the Little Guy and my Mom. It's not like I haven't done it before but it's been...a while. Like at least ten years. And both my Mom and my sister have set a pretty high family standard, turkey-dinner wise. Think I could get away with this as a decoy if the turkey is a disaster?

Now Why Didn't I Think of That?

2009-11-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

Chalkboard tablecloths - what a cool idea! This would make sitting at the kids' table a lot more fun. And there are grownup uses for it, too. Like this, courtesy of Unclutterer.com:

Or this, from Elsie Marley's blog:

Bustin' Makes Me Feel Good!

2009-10-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Cleveland Handmade giveaway: spiral mug from SheaClay Pottery

2009-10-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a gorgeous mug? It's from SheaClay Pottery and it's the current giveaway item from Cleveland Handmade. Handcrafted on the potter’s wheel, this stoneware cup measures 4″ H x 5-1/4″ W and holds 12 ounces of your fave concoction. It is dishwasher- and microwave-safe, as well as lead-free. Visit Cleveland Handmade and enter for this giveaway by noon on November 4. And while you're there, check out lots of other talented Cleveland crafters!

Featured in an Etsy treasury

2009-10-30T06:41:00.001-07:00

My lavender eye mask is featured in an Etsy treasury by Unique Beads and More. This is the first treasury I've been included in and I'm ridiculously excited about it. There are some lovely items in this one - don't the slippers look cozy?

Cleveland Handmade custom necklace giveaway

2009-10-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

Cleveland Handmade is hosting a giveaway. They're giving you the chance to win a custom stamped and domed sterling silver charm necklace generously donated by Cleveland Handmade member Lori Paximadis, aka virtuallori.

The necklace is lovely - a stamped silver pendant that can be customized with any name(s) or word(s) in all lowercase up to 14 letters around the lower edge of the circle. You can add dots or dashes between names, too. The disk is 1 inch (2.5 cm) round before doming; the final diameter is approximately 7/8 inch (2.25 cm). A gray patina is applied, and the pendant is rough sanded for a natural but refined look.

Visit Cleveland Handmade to enter; check here for full contest rules. Entries accepted until noon on Wednesday, October 28. Happy browsing!

New Halloween Decor

2009-10-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've been in the mood for a Halloween sewing project and this pattern caught my eye. I've only done paper piecing once before and had a few false starts (the fact that I started at 11pm didn't help!) but once I got the hang of it the pillow top went together pretty quickly. The individual pumpkins would look nice on either end of a Halloween table runner, too. Maybe next year!

More items for the shop - lovely lavender eye masks

2009-10-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

A few more items ready to be added to my Etsy shop. These are also lavender eye masks, minus the removable fleecy cover of the previous version. All the same good-smelling stress and headache relief benefits, outfitted in lovely cotton prints.

There's a teal-green swirl version, a colorful batik, light blue stars, a feathery sortof print, blue and turquois fern print, and a funky dotted batik.

New for the shop: Lavender Eye Mask

2009-10-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

Putting the finishing touches on some new Lavender Eye Masks for the shop. These have a super-soft, zip-off fleece cover that can be washed, and they're filled with flax seed and organic lavender buds. They smell wonderful and they're great for headaches. I keep one stored in the freezer and use it when I'm feeling a little under the weather or just need a little extra help unwinding at the end of the day. I gave one to my mother to try and she's already given hers away and ordered two more for friends. She's my best sales rep! :o)

Like Father, Like Son

2009-10-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

We visited a local greenhouse over the weekend to check out their Fall Festival. The Big Guy and the Little Guy had lots of fun with the Halloween displays...

Little Red Riding Hood

2009-10-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Little Guy pointed out the other day that his daddy and I both have cozy bathrobes but he does not, and he asked me to make him one. How can you turn down a request like that? :o) So off we went to Joann's, sale flyer in hand, to pick out a pattern and fabric. This went together pretty quickly and I'm really happy with the end result. But even more important, the Little Guy loves it. He's showed it to everyone who's visited our house in the past few days, and models it every chance he gets.

Experimenting with product photos

2009-10-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm discovering that getting good photos of products for my Etsy shop is harder than MAKING products for my Etsy shop. This is the third or fourth attempt and I'm getting closer to what I want. Natural light is definitely best, different color backgrounds make the shop more interesting to look at and I like the little touch of nature in this one.

I'm having withdrawal...

2009-09-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

With the garden in full swing and a dozen other things going on over the summer, I haven't had a chance to do much sewing lately. We had a rainy Saturday and I was looking for a quick and easy project to get back in the groove. I found this apron panel in the bottom of my stash. I've had it so long I honestly can't remember where or when I bought it. I ironed it off, cut it out and had a finished apron in less than an hour. I even made it double sided (the other side is a fall print) instead of just hemming the edges to give it a little more heft. I'm thinking it will make a nice pre-Thanksgiving gift for my sister. Shhh, don't tell her!

Leaves & Stitches Etsy Shop is open!

2009-07-16T20:13:00.001-07:00

After months of planning, experimenting and testing various recipes, my Etsy shop is officially open for business! I've listed several all-natural bath salts, lip scrubs and lip balms in various fragrances/flavors, with more to come. I have so many ideas for products, I'm not sure where to begin. My craft room smells like half a dozen essential oils and I keep finding lavender buds in the darnedest places...

Check out the shop and let me know what you think. Questions, suggestions or custom orders are always welcome!

Wardrobe Refashion - 1st official project

2009-07-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

I joined Wardrobe Refashion for a two-month stint at the beginning of this month but, aside from some embarassingly easy too-short-pants to shorts conversions for the Little Guy, hadn't had a chance to work on any projects. This is my first "official" refashion, beginning with this bag. I loved the fabric and the idea of a hands-free, cross body bag when I bought it, but discovered the bag's structure is just not functional on a very short, busty person. I never used it and had tossed it in the Goodwill donations pile before Wardrobe Refashion.

I dug it back out this weekend and took the bag apart to see if there was enough fabric to create a new bag. Here's the destruction in progress. Round bottom of bag and long strap have been removed, and lining has been separated from all the bag pieces. I was pleasantly surprised to find this left a nice, square shape that could be converted into a decent-sized box bottom tote.

Adding low-loft batting to the lining layer for added strength and structure; one long, wide strap converted into two short, narrow straps...

And the finished product, a much more usable tote bag with a funky button closure.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

I love small-town celebrations. Today started with parades, complete with antique cars, firetrucks, Boy Scout troops, gymnasts, Shriners in little cars, clowns, a high school marching band, local politicians and Uncle Sam.

Today was also the second day of the craft show with Mom. Yesterday was a slow day but more people came by the booth today. Mom sold several baskets and my “sore muscle soaking salts” have been popular. Mom enjoys craft shows as much for the opportunity to visit as she does actually selling her baskets. She still lives in the same small town I grew up in and I think she knew 75% of the people who’ve stopped by her booth. We took turns watching the booth and taking breaks to have homemade ice cream and watch the entertainment (clog dancers, country music and the local dance studio troupe), and we bumped into Abraham Lincoln and President McKinley at the barbequed chicken stand this afternoon.

We finished off our 4th of July with fireworks. This is the first time we've taken the Little Guy to see them. He's six but still really sensitive to loud noises, so we wanted to find someplace where we could see them clearly but still be far enough away to make the noise a little more manageable. He absolutely loved them, and it was so much fun to listen to him ooooh and aaaaah over every one.

Headed to a craft show this weekend

2009-07-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

I got a last-minute call to help my Mom display her hand-woven baskets at a craft show this weekend and decided to make up some extra bath salts, lip balms and scrubs to have in her booth. I’d already planned to take some vacation time this week which should have given me plenty of time to make up some products…except the containers I ordered were delayed and didn’t come in until yesterday afternoon…and the show started this morning at 11am. I started mixing bath salts at 3:00 yesterday afternoon and finished labeling the last batch at 1am. When I finally crawled into bed the Big Guy told me I smelled like an herb shop. Here’s hoping Mom and I have a good show! And if we don’t, I officially have enough items to start setting up my Etsy shop.

Here's Mom with her beautiful baskets. The crafty gene runs in the family!

Adventures in beading

2009-07-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year, the Big Guy went together with a few friends to get me a larger bead loom. I have one my Dad made me a few years ago that’s large enough for necklaces (like this one) or small wall hangings, but I’ve wanted to try some larger pieces. This loom can be used as a traditional bead loom or with a double warp like a tapestry loom, which will be nice for larger pieces because it will make them stronger. It took be a full day to figure out the double warp but I finally have it strung and am working on a little test piece. Now I just need to decide on a pattern for my first real project.

More herb harvesting

2009-06-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

I had enough lavender from my garden this year to dry seven bundles, plus oregano and thyme grown from starts my mother gave me last year. I spent this morning stripping leaves and buds off the stems and bottling them up. This is the first year I’ve harvested my cooking herbs and got enough of each for a nice-sized bottle of each. I love having herbs from my garden instead of buying them from the grocery store. Peppermint will be next, but it’s not quite ready to pick yet.

Dragonfly wall hanging

2009-06-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

I’ve been working on this stained-glass style, quilted wall hanging (from this pattern) whenever I have a few spare minutes over the past several weeks. I’m really happy with how it turned out and the colors are a perfect match for my craft room walls. I hung it up and realized that, in spite of all the years of crafting, it’s the first thing I’ve displayed in my craft room that I actually made myself. I either give things away as gifts or hang up things I’ve bought from other crafters. It’s so nice to show off my own work for a change!

Sweet grass braids

2009-06-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is sweet grass. A friend who’s Native American uses it for smudging in traditional ceremonies, but she wasn’t having any luck growing it in her garden. She gave me a little pot a few years ago to see if I could get it to grow. It seems to like my herb garden and spreads a little more every year. I can cut it back several times in early summer before the weather turns hot and dry, and it will come back thicker every time. I braid it when it’s fresh and let it dry for a few days, then send a batch of braids back to my friend. It has a wonderful, distinctive sweet smell when it’s cut. My craft room always smells so good when I’m drying a fresh batch!

Lavender harvesting

2009-06-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

I’ve been watching the lavender for the past several days, waiting for just the right time to begin picking. This is the first batch hanging up to dry. I’ll probably have 3-4 more batches by the time I’m done, depending on how quickly it begins to bloom. Once it’s dry, I’ll strip the buds off the stems and use them for bath salts and eye pillows. I never have enough for all the crafting I do but it’s nice to keep my homegrown lavender for gifts for family and friends.

Creativity on Parade

2009-06-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

"Parade the Circle" is a free community arts parade held in our city every year. It's sponsored by the art museum and includes guest artists, local artists, area families, schools and community groups. Everyone makes their own costumes and floats based on an annual theme. We hadn't been to the parade in years but decided this summer we really wanted to take the Little Guy. It's a wonderful, kid-friendly event and he just loved the stilt-dancers and music.

This phoenix costume was amazing, and she was surrounded by a group of little kids dressed as flames.

I love watching the giant puppets. Most of them have long robes that completely cover the puppetmasters, and they have to move slowly so the wind doesn't topple them. They look like they're gliding along the street.

These were my favorite puppets. Their expressions were so serene - they reminded me of colorful spirits out for a stroll among the rest of us.

Bath salts, lip balms and herb stuff - Oh, my!

2009-05-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

For my sister's birthday this spring I gave her homemade bath salts, lip balm and some other herb-y goodness. She liked them so much she asked me to make up gifts for her kids' teachers. Here's the result - citrus bath salts, a grapefruit body scrub, an old-fashioned French clay and lavender powder puff, beeswax lip balm and lip exfoliating scrub. I really like how they they turned out, including the labels for everything. I found some fancy canning jars for the larger items that made it easy to put laminated labels on top, between the ring and the lid.

A Little Nostalgia

2009-04-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

I've designed a couple small quilted wall hangings based on Celtic knot designs and want to do more. For some reason, the idea of creating a complex image from a single continuous line just fascinates me. I was flipping through my design inspiration files and ran across some photos that reminded me a lot of Spirograph designs. Remember Spirograph? I had one when I was a kid and loved drawing with it. I started checking Toys 'R' Us, Amazon.com and a couple other toy sites and realized they don't make the original Spirograph anymore. So, off to eBay and the start of a small-scale obsessive attempt to buy one for a reasonable price. After being beaten out at the last possible second on four different auctions, I finally won one. It's complete with all the original pieces - even the colored ballpoint pens and the little pushpins that hold the wheels in place. I can't wait to play with it!

Seed Starting, Round 2

2009-04-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

We have a second crop of sprouts AND I figured out a cheap light system. I found several tutorials online for how to build an adjustable system with fluorescent shop lights suspended from chain, but I didn't need anything that big and I didn't want to invest in a huge set of lights, lumber, chain and various other bits and pieces to build a set. My seed flat is 22" long. I found two 24" under cabinet lights at Walmart that already had grow bulbs in them, and used a cheap 24" wire shelf to make an overhead holder for them. For now, the bulbs are hanging from long metal ties about 1-1/2" above the plants. As the plants get taller, I can shorten the ties. And when they outgrow that, I'll just have to prop up the ends of the shelf on something. Took me 5 minutes to assemble and cost less than $20, and it will be easy to store for next year. Works for me!

Starting Again, from Seed

2009-04-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry, bad pun. We're giving the seed starting another try. The Little
Guy was not interested in helping, having indulged his need to dig in the dirt and play with peat disks on the first attempt. I was able to salvage the seed starting mix from the peat disks from the first round and just crumbled them up into peat pots for this batch. I definitely like working with peat pots better than the peat disks. The disks were awkward to place seeds in, especially the really tiny seeds, and nearly everything that sprouted ended up with a tap root poking out the side of the disk mesh. At least I learned something new in the first attempt!

This time, I tried all the same herbs plus calendula, violas, zinnias (which I'm hoping will deter the deer from my garden), cherry tomatoes and green peppers. I think I'm going to wait on the lettuce and start it directly in the garden boxes we used last year. Oh, and I have poppies to plant directly in the garden when the time is right.

We cleaned out the garden area last fall and pulled out boatloads of peppermint to make room for a true herb garden. Right now it's empty and sad looking. I can't wait to see it full of herbs and veggies this summer!

Coloring Easter Eggs

2009-04-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

We did color traditional Easter eggs but, of course, I can't find those photos. So here's the paper version, made to decorate Easter treat bags for my niece and nephew. Every once in a while, a little coloring book action is good for the soul.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Easter

2009-04-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

Here in our little corner of the world, Easter weather is a tricky thing. Some years it's balmy and mild with lots of blooming things, and other years it looks like...this. Good thing the Easter Bunny has a fur coat!

First Attempt At Seed Starting...

2009-04-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

...was officially a failure. While the Miracle Grow made for some nice, healthy leaves, every one of the little buggers is growing horizontally due to too little direct light. Yanked 'em all out, recycled the seed starting mix and will have to try again. I still don't have grow lights but don't need to get the seeds started just yet, so I have time to figure something out.

First Signs of Spring

2009-03-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

I attended a lecture on seed starting a few weeks ago and, in spite of the overwhelming amount of information about which seeds need to be soaked, which ones like to be covered, which ones don't like to be covered, what soil temperature is best, the dangers of overwatering and underwatering, and the dire predictions of failure without the right lights, I decided to give it a try. Last weekend the Little Guy and I planted lettuce, sage, parsley, cilantro, forget-me-nots and morning glories in peat discs, which are now taking up one entire end of my craft table. As of today, everything has sprouted except the morning glories. I've been using a desk lamp with a CFL bulb for a grow light, and I think I made the fatal light-too-far-from-the-seedlings mistake. All the sprouts are reeeeaaalllllly tall and floppy. Sigh. Oh well. I gave them a dose of Miracle Gro hoping that will toughen them up, and if not, we'll give it another try. Seeds are cheap and I think we started everything too early anyway, considering our last frost date here is late May.

Two Visits from the Tooth Fairy in Two Days

2009-03-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

After weeks of bugging the Little Guy to keep wiggling his loose tooth so it would come out, he finally lost the first one yesterday. It was so loose it was leaning sideways and it just popped out without any drama at all. (Very few things happen without any drama with this child!) Since it was painless AND it got him a dollar from the Tooth Fairy, he yanked out its wiggly neighbor at kindergarten today and came home with his little bitty tooth in a ziploc bag.

Tonight when I put him to bed he stuck it in his tooth fairy pillow. He told me he was talking about the tooth fairy with his friends at kindergarten. They decided 1) tooth fairies are girls, 2) they're veeeery tiny, and 3) you don't want to mess with them, 'cause they may be little but they're really strong from lugging around bags full of teeth and gold dollar coins. Now I can't get the image of a mosquito-sized body builder in a tutu and wings lurching through the air with a sack full of loot out of my head!

It's done, it's done!

2009-03-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

The "Mother and Child" necklace is finished with just a few days to spare. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, plus I tried a few new ideas on the straps and fringe that will carry over well to another project. Yay!

And the tooth fairy pillow is being called into action for the first time this evening. The Boy lost his first tooth! Big doin's at our house the past few days. :o)

Patches II

2009-02-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

I've been beading away on the "Mother and Child" necklace for the past few weeks but completely forgot to take any photos, so...no posts. I'll make up for that soon!

In the meantime, I ran across this post on Darling Petunia's blog a while back and just fell in love with Patches. I bookmarked it with the intention of trying to recreate the pattern when I had a free day to sew and no projects planned. Well, the Big Guy is out of town and I took a few days off work to enjoy the peace and quiet of an empty house while the Little Guy is at school, and (of course!) to enjoy a little crafting with no interruptions. When I was going through my inspiration file looking for something to work on, I ran across the post and decided to give Patches a try. I printed out the photo of Patches for reference, pulled out my quilt scraps, did a few calculations, and started cutting.

Here's the end result:

I'm very happy with how he turned out. My cutting/accurate seam allowance/piecing skills need some honing and this was great practice. He has a few wonky seams where the legs and tail meet the body, but overall this is easily the best pieced project I've completed so far.

I love him, and so does the Little Guy. Patches II goes back and forth between hanging out in my sewing room as my crafting mascot by day and sleeping with the Little Guy at night.

Learning something new every day

2009-02-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

Started playing around with offloom weaving this weekend based on instructions from the bead books I found at the library. I started with a little sample of flat peyote stitch. It came out a little uneven on the sides, partly because I used cheap beads that aren't a uniform size, but it turned out pretty well for my first attempt. It makes really drape-y bead fabric with a little stretch to it. I also tried odd-count peyote around a tube. That got frustrating REALLY fast because it kept slipping out of place. So then I tried it around an empty spool thinking the wider surface plus the rim at the top and bottom would make it easier to handle. That was better, but it still took several tries to get it started. I couldn't get the first row to stagger when I added the second row of beads. I finally ran another thread through every other bead in the first row and tied it around the spool, then pushed the alternating beads above the thread to hold them in the staggered pattern. That seemed to work pretty well. The instructions for the flat peyote mentioned you can do the same thing with a pin or fine wire, but I didn't have as much trouble with the flat stitch and didn't need to do it. I took a couple hours today to bead around the entire spool but it came out pretty nice. I'd need to do a lot more practicing to get the hang of patterns with different colors, but I at least have a feel for it now.

Bead book lust

2009-02-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

We're having a midwinter thaw so I took advantage of the mild weather and walked to the library on my lunch hour to look for craft books. I found a couple things that looked interesting, and then I found the beadwork section...SCORE! There were so many I wanted to check out! I made myself stick to a limit of two, and both of them are books I'd love to buy at some point. The first one is Embeadery by Margaret Ball. It has over 100 pages just of bead embroidery stitches plus about a dozen projects. It would take months just to try all the stitches once. The other one is The New Beadweaving by Ann Benson. It has several bead embroidery projects and a lot of woven pieces, both loomed and off-loom. The loomed pieces are amazing. My loom isn't big enough to handle most of them and I'm itching to find a wider one so I can try out some of the projects. There are at least 6 projects I want to try out of this one. Time to start hitting the used book sites to see if I can find a copy!

Waiting for the Tooth Fairy

2009-02-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

The Little Guy has his first loose tooth. Two loose teeth, in fact, so we're getting prepared for his first visit from the Tooth Fairy. In honor of the occasion, I made him a Tooth Fairy pillow. I looked at several ideas online and then made up my own pattern with "My Tooth Pillow" machine embroidered and a white felt tooth hand appliqued on the front and a little pocket on the back for his tooth and tooth fairy loot. And, of course, it had to be in his favorite color - red! Now I just need to remember to go to the bank for some gold dollar coins before the first tooth pops out.

The thing about creativity

2009-01-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

Wonderful post from Jen Grey: http://www.jengray.com/archives/001132.html.

I need to print this out, frame it, and hang it in my craft room!

Creative plumbing

2009-01-18T11:53:00.000-08:00

Not much crafting today. Instead, the Big Guy and I worked most of the day putting in a new kitchen sink and faucet. We made a huge mess and pretty much trashed the entire kitchen in the process, but it's in, it's working, and it looks so nice! Does figuring out plumbing from diagrams on the internet count as creativity??

I worked a few rows of the "Mother and Child" necklace and decided I don't like the colors. There are only two bead shops in our area and they're each an hour from my house, in opposite directions, so I took a chance and ordered beads online. Last time I did that it worked out fine; this time, the color numbers and names on the pattern weren't matching up to the numbers and names on the bead site so I tried to wing it based on the online photos. Obviously not a good idea. I really need to be able to see the colors I'm picking out. Drat! The next time I have $75 I don't know what to do with, I want to order Delica color sample cards so I can order online with a little more confidence. In the meantime, I'll just have to find time for a trip to the bead shop.

Beading project

2009-01-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

Threaded up my bead loom this afternoon to start on the "Mother and Child" necklace. I have two looms - one my Dad made for me and one that a friend passed along recently. I like the new loom because it has a spring on either end that holds the threads in place much better than my loom, but I can't adjust the spacing between the warp threads. I got the entire thing strung and worked the first few rows, but it was just too awkward. I think with practice it would be fine, but it was too distracting for right now. Took everything off and strung my loom, which is always an exercise in frustration because the threads pop out from between the spacers and bunch over/cross up. This is the least fun part of loom beading!

When I wonder what to do next...

2009-01-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

I started a running list of ideas for creative activities for the year. When I hit one of those I-have-a-free-afternoon-and-don't-know-what-to-do moments, maybe this will help spark a new project or two.

Read a craft book

Read a craft magazine

Experiment with the different feet/stitches on my sewing machine

Sketch quilt ideas

Create a bead pattern

Take a class

Visit a bead, craft or fabric shop

Visit a craft show

Visit someplace that inspires me and capture ideas
- Trinity Cathedral
- Natural History Museum
- Art Museum
- Galleries/shops

Learn a new quilting/sewing technique or bead stitch

Try a new herb craft or recipe

Plan my herb garden

Look through new craft books at the library or bookstore

Call a friend for a crafternoon get-together

So many ideas, so little time

2009-01-15T11:46:00.000-08:00

No hands on crafting for various reasons the last few days but I've been browsing bead and crafting blogs at lunch and found several cool bead embroidery books I'd like to check out. That's definitely something I'd like to learn. The colors and patterns are just fascinating. I also found a couple articles on creating inspiration journals. Also something I'd like to try. I have a lot of pictures saved on my laptop and a lot more bookmarked online and browsing through those helps spark new ideas, but it might be fun to have a visual record of what prompted a new idea along with pictures of the finished piece. Might give me some insight into my own creative process, since it's been so sporadic up until now.

Fabric, fabric everywhere

2009-01-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

Got a random itch to go through all my quilting fabric last night and sorted it all by color, then spent all day today organizing my craft room and finding new homes for the piles of fabric I had scattered all over the floor. Tried a few different things and finally settled on putting the sorted fabrics in clear containers on a shelf. Some of them are just stacked loose, waiting for more boxes, but I like it. I can see what I have and I think it will spark some new ideas having everything out, plus I don't have to dig through a giant container looking for one little piece of fabric. I tried out some of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine, too. Lots of possibilities there!

Unexpected drawbacks to daily crafting

2009-01-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

I've been spending an hour or so in my craft room every evening after work. The upside is that I've started and finished several fun little projects and I'm really enjoying getting back to crafting on a regular basis. The downside is that I don't spend as much time with the Big and Little Guys in the evenings, crafting gets all these ideas swirling around in my brain, and then I can't sleep! Time for a few low-key creative evenings I think. And also time for a break from sewing. I ordered a pattern for a beadwork necklace from Margie Deeb. The design is called "Mother and Child" and I'm hoping to make it for a friend in time for the Spring Equinox.

Grab Bag

2009-01-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

I made a fun little bag from this pattern and some fabrics in my stash. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's very funky and I really want to try it again in some fun patterned fabrics. If I omit the pockets on the inside, it could be made to be reversible.

Boxy Pouch and a photo (finally)

2009-01-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

Yet another new pattern AND another project from the pink and green fabric originally purchased for the Lazy Days tote. I'm getting a nice collection of bags out of that 1/2 yard cut!

I made a boxy bag from this tutorial. It was very quick and simple. Even with making my own quilted fabric (same technique as yesterday's Humbug Bag - I love it!), it only took an hour to make.

Humbug Bag

2009-01-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

I finished the Lazy Days Tote and had fabric leftover, so I dug out the Humbug Bag pattern I've had forever and made the smallest size bag. It was very quick and easy, but I learned a new technique for continuous diamond quilting and made my own quilted fabric for the body of the bag. Used both the angle markings on my grid ruler and the zipper foot on my new sewing machine for the first time on this project.

Lazy Days Tote

2009-01-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

Started a quilted tote bag from this pattern. The pattern calls for pink and green print fabrics and I wasn't sure how it was going to look, but I found some fun prints with perfect matching colors and I really like the combination - very spring-y! The quilt blocks for the first side went together a little rough, but the second side looks much better. Guess I need practice cutting a straight line! I would like to find a tutorial on using my rotary cutter. I'm still not comfortable with it and I suspect there are better ways to use it. This is the first piece I made that I actually machine quilted. Nothing complicated, just diagonal lines across the patches, but it came out pretty nice and made a big difference in the look of the finished pieces. Ordinarily I get impatient and/or intimidated and skip that step.

The Year of the Mouse

2009-01-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

I've run across a number of blog posts about setting a one-word intention for the year, rather than making New Year's resolutions. I like that approach. I've gone back and forth about my word for 2009 and I think I've settled on "Nourish." It seems to fit in a lot of different ways and covers a lot of ground that I would normally have attempted to cover with a lot of resolutions, but in a gentler way. It's a sort of guidance rather than a "should," and that makes all the difference. What forms will it take for me this year? Well...

Being creative nourishes my spirit.
Finding a way to connect to the Divine that feels right for me and can become a part of my daily life nourishes my soul.
Eating healthy foods and making good lifestyle choices nourishes my body.
Finding a balance between work and home creates more time to nourish my connection to my family and friends.

It fits. And it feels like a wonderful, positive focus for 2009. Happy New Year!