Reflecting On 2013

Howdy!
So yeah, I've never done one of these look back mosaics of all the things I've made in the previous year, but this year I thought I would, I think it might help light my fire a bit and help me accept that I'm not quite the lazy chump I sometimes feel like, I've been struggling with that lately.

Less than some years, and more than others. I've only got two hands and I work full time so I can't (and not sure I'd want to) pump out the number of projects a lot of folks can, but then again this has never been a competition. I make things that interest me in the moment, for fun swaps, and gifts for my family & friends - because it makes me happy. Making makes me happy and like the hokey pokey, that's what it's all about.

  I don't really plan ahead very much either. If you'd asked me what kinds of things I was going to make in  2013 at about this time last year, I wouldn't have guessed any of these things. Whimsy & inspiration are powerful joy rides!

I've found it's been fun to take this look back, some of these things (like the Valentine's Day makes) have been packed away for almost a year already, seeing them again has given me some neat "oh yeah! I made that!" moments. Let's peruse, shall we?

These things are more or less in about the order I made them, it made putting these mosaics together a heck of a lot easier, links to details about each photo are listed below.

1. Crazy Quilt Heart 2. Valentines Door Wreath 3. String of Hearts 4. Pennie Pockets 5. Scrunchies! 6. Just A Dash Quilted Table Runner 7. Organic Tea Towel 8. Celtic Knot Pillow 9. Hexie Hand Towel 10. Fabric Covered Binders 11. Super Butch 12. Dear Deer 13. Felt Flower Pincushion 14. Homemade Laundry Soap 15. Sashiko Rainbow 16. Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

1. Felt Circle Bunting 2. Burlap Bunting 3. Paulette's Pincushion 4. PAM 5. Hockey Hexies 6. Dez's Tiny Cake 7. Embroidered Birdie Bunting 8. In A War 9. Striped Pants 10. Summer Stitching Club 11. Impromptu Quilting 12. Double Hourglass 13. Pumpkin Pincushion & Fimo Pins 14. Vintage Inspired Halloween Box 15. Halloween Kitty 16. Vintage Trick or Treat Bag

1. Boo Bunting & Pipe Cleaner Cats 2. Coffin Curio 3. Halloween Poppers 4. Embroidered & Beaded Halloween Pin 5. Halloween Door Wreath 6. Lighted Halloween Garland 7. Fancy Witch Hat 8. Fimo Pumpkins 9. Miniature Fireplace 10. Dia De Los Muertos Skull 11. Hexie Mug Rug 12. The boot!

13. Painted Sunflower 14. A Little Blackwork (and scissor obsession) 15. Mermaid WIP 16. Embroidered Candy Cottage

1. Pipe Cleaner Snowman 2. Lil Cow Poke Pillowcases 3. The Big Tote 4. Embroidered Felt Christmas Stocking 5. Batik Dream Pillowcases 6. Sparkly Forrest 7. Whimsy Christmas Pillowcases 8. Vintage Inspired Christmas Ornament

Not too shabby, eh? I've enjoyed seeing these things again, a lot of them have been sent all over the world and live with other people now. That makes me feel a bit warm & fuzzy.

I cooked a few extremely good (read picture worthy) things too!

1. Ham, Potato & Corn Chowder 2. Cinnamon Muffins 3. Salsa 4. Greek Cous Cous Salad 5. Ricotta, Baby Zucchini & Penne 6. Birthday Margaritas! 7. Minestrone 8. Zuppa Toscana 9. Mexican Pizza

(These are all here)

Food is goooood.

 And then there's these guys...

Oh yes, these babies o' mine. They do consume me. I'd bet that dollars to donuts every stitch I've stitched, is equal to one or more kisses on their furry little heads. I love them ever so...

I guess I wasn't as lazy as I thought I was this year... That chunk at the last part of the summer was a real bummer, I don't recommend fracturing any part of your body, friends. Its a drag and that walking boot was no joke. Also, it takes forever to heal. I'm still having problems with my ankle, in fact I'm going back into treatment for it shortly, it's not acting right and I have a lot of years ahead of me, so it needs to get with the program.

I'm looking forward to seeing what will materialize in 2014, there are some big things underway! Ok, so mayybe I plan a little... *wink* 

I hope you'll stay with me on this journey, it's fun to share and I love seeing what you're up to, too!

oxo,

Lisa

Trick or Treat!

Hello Ghoulies!

We're creeping ever more closely towards Halloweeeeeen, mwuah-ha-ha-ha-haaaa! Are you as excited as I am? I'm hosting a Halloween tea at my house this weekend, so I'm excited! I'll definitely try to get some pictures.

In the meantime I thought I'd share what I made for my partner in the other Halloween swap I participated in this year on Craftster, this was called the Weekend Trick or Treat Swap, and it was a mad dash! We were assigned our partners on a Thursday and had to send out the following Monday - craftapalooza!

My partner was the super fun lady behind I Sew Cute, who's name is June. Here's what I made for her. 

June mentioned to me that a treat or something for her two adorable kiddo's would be something she'd enjoy - what a good mommy! So I made a couple of stuffed "poppers". 

 I gathered up some Halloween goodies, small things like plastic skelly's, stickers, buttons, erasers and zombie finger notepads, along with some suckers. I jammed them into empty TP rolls and stuffed the ends with shredded paper.

 I rolled them up in polka dot wrapping paper and hot glued a squishy little pumpkin to the top of each.

Lastly, I used a couple of images from an old Mary Engelbreit  day-by-day calendar to add a bit of cuteness and a name tag for each of the kiddo's. These were really easy & fun to put together, I'm thinking of trying to make a couple more of them for the kids attending the Halloween Tea on Sunday.

For June I made a couple of grown up goodies, like this Halloween themed, felt & embroidered broach with a beaded edge.

I learned a new stitch for this one, it's called the Beaded Picot Stitch. My dear pal, Paulette is a master at this stitch and we were chatting about it recently, she sweetly sent me step-by-step instructions and I had to put them to use straight away, thanks P!!!.

This is the pin when I thought it was done, but I was unsatisfied with it, it was missing something... more beads & stitching!!

I added little beaded eyes and a small scattering of "stars". For the moon, I used DMC glow-in-the-dark floss and covered it entireley in big, uneven (on purpose) stem stitches, I wanted it to look almost like brush strokes (think Van Gogh), pretty cute, aye?

Speaking of the moon... 

The other thing I made for my partner is this little coffin... it holds a secret!

The moon, the magical moon!

It's a tiny curio!

I'll let the pictures to the talkin'.

A lot of steps involved in this piece special paint techniques, decoupage, various trims, Fimo sculpting,  and even a little bit of poetry, all worth it! My partner thought it was magical! Aww, thanks June!

It's funny, I made this little curio so fast and sent it out as soon as it was finished, now looking back a couple of weeks after the fact, I love it, too! I wasn't so sure at the time because I just don't have a lot of experience in this type of craft. Apart from the vintage inspired keepsake box I made for the other Halloween swap I participated in recently, I've never made anything else remotely like this, and didn't really know what I was doing, so I went with the "too much is never enough" theory and just kept adding layers and layers until almost ever surface was covered. *nervous laugh*  It all worked out in the end :)

I also sent June a little Barbie. Because really, when was the last time someone gave YOU a Barbie? And she was cute, her dress has candy corn on it!

So here are all the goodies ready to fly away to my partner, lol, Booger candy!!

This was a really neat swap, I liked the quick factor, very like trick or treating!

Next, I'm going to show you what June made for me, it's so great!!

Wishing you a happy, haunty Friday!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. I know there are a lot of details in this post, if you have any q's, hit me in the comments, I'd be happy to answer any you might have

More Vintage Halloween Goodness!

Hi All!

Weren't Nixiebum's goodies terrific? I felt pretty spoiled when I opened that package, and since this was my first Craftster swap, I wanted to spoil my partner, too. Here are the goodies I made for her.

First up, a little pumpkin pincushion and some Halloween straight pins.

I sculpted the three pins, the witch hat, the bat and the tiny pumpkin out of Fimo, I haven't used that stuff in eons! It was fun to play with that material again, and now I'm on a kick wanting to make several other things with it! The pumpkin pincushion came out pretty darned cute, especially since it was conceived to be a Halloween inspired hot air balloon...

Yeah, no.

All righty then, moving on!

Check it out, I got crafty with paint and Mod Podge! This vintage inspired keepsake box was the plain, brown, paper mache variety you can get at most craft stores, I changed it up a bit starting with a coat of black spray paint all over as a base coat, then a coat of acryllic black, then crackle coat, then a coat of a sort of creamy white that I blended myself. Mostly white with a couple of drops of a two other browns. This was the first time I've ever used crackle coat (I know, super late to that party) and I thought it was magical! Now I want to crackle everything!

Next I layered these cutie pie vintage Halloween girls over some scrapbook paper that looks just like handwriting. Mod Podge is awesome, I will never bemoan it's price again. I trimmed out the papers with sparkly, silver pipe cleaners and a few rhinestones. 

I'm not sure if it was because of the layers of moisture (several layers of paint & Mod Podge), but after all of those layers were applied, the box didn't stay closed, so I added a simple elastic-over-button closure so the box would stay closed by drilling tiny holes and using one of these cute fabric brads I bought a some time ago from Stampin Up. Worked like a charm!

I also glittered the bottom, inner ledge of the box, yay glitter!

The inside of the box got the full treatment, too. More paint, scrap booking paper & Mod Podge, woo! 

A couple little vintage looking Halloween ornaments were quick and fun to put together. I could make these all day.

BOO!

You know I had to make a bunting, I have a thing for buntings. These cool letters came off the bottom of a fabric panel that I'm using for another project, they started out like this, in case you're interested in making one yourself. I trimmed the top of the bunting with polka dot ribbon and added some large, felt flowers to inbetween each with some stripey ribbon, too. Then I blinged out the bottom corners of the individual flags with buttons, rhinestones and tiny felt flowers and trimmed the very bottom of the bunting with black pompom trim. I'm really happy with the way this lil bunting came out. 

♥

Every trick-or-treater needs a new candy bag! I made this one out of some pretty, Halloween fabric, the very essence of "Vintage" Halloween, me thinks.

A simple drawstring bag, start to finish - 15 minutes! I used the same polka dot ribbon for the handle as I used on the top of the bunting. 

Lastly, I made this little kitty sweetheart!

 

I sculpted her head & ears from Fimo and painted her tiny little face the next day after it had plenty of time to cool. That was hard, I don't think I'm a very good painter as far as itsy bitsy details go. Her body is made from fluffy pipe cleaners and she's perched atop one of my stash of antique thread spools that I trimmed out with pompom and that same polka dot ribbon.

She looks like she's leading a Halloween parade, doesn't she? Her baton is actually a toothpick that I painted white & black and added another of the teensy pumpkins I sculpted from Fimo to the top, and an an orange wooden bead to the bottom. Oh, and I added a tiny bit of purple, metallic DMC up under the pumpkin for extra pizazz. A small felt flower and purple rhinestone on her lil ear make her a fancy kitty.

Her shirt is another pipe cleaner wrapped around the main portion of her torso, and her skirt is a bit of ribbon that I gathered with a running stitch until it looked about right, simple & cute!

I think she might be my favorite thing that I made for this swap, I've never made anything like her before. Fun stuff!

So here again is my entire package for Nixiebum, I like to think it has a theme and is cohesive, I can get a bit obsessive about things, can you tell? *wink*

Anyway, like I said this was my first Craftster swap and I was tickled to pieces with the whole process, the moderators were great and communication with my partner was excellent which made the whole process a lot easier. I still found the high level of craft a bit intimidating truth be told, the folks involved in this swap make some incredibly detailed, imaginative and amazing items! If you'd like to see the picture gallery of the items from this swap, click here. I still get major swap anxiety (which I think is pretty common) every time I send out something I've made, will they like it? Did I hit the mark, etc, etc. But my Nixie liked everything, and I'm so happy that she did. Swapping is good, keeps you on your toes - keeps your skills sharp!

Once wasn't enough, and I love Halloween, so I joined another swap after this one! Once again I was blessed with an awesome partner and I can't wait to show you what she made for me! I've got a whole bunch of Halloween posts lined up, so stay tuned, folks!

I hope you've enjoyed this little peak into what I've been up to, do you have a favorite? I'm still crushing on the Halloween Kitty. ♥

oxo,

Lisa

Halloween Swap Part I

Hi All!

Today I thought I'd share the first part of  a Halloween swap I participated in with some of my stitchy friends, my partner for this swap was the lovely and crafty Jacquie of Maffiosagrrl, wooo! Today I'm going to show you the little package I whipped up for Jacquie, tomorrow I'm going to show you what she made me, it's pretty great.

Oh happy day, I love Halloween! Let's go through the package, shall we?

When I was in Portland, Pam and I got to do a little shopping and I found this great little craft paper casket, thinking it would be great for our Halloween swap I went ahead and picked it up, not knowing exactly how I'd spruce it up. Happy accidents being what they are, shortly after returning from my trip I was contacted by a representative of Scotch Duct Tape to see if I would like to try some of their patterned tapes. When I saw the cute colors & patterns they're making these days I happily said yes!

Orange giraffe and purple are you kidding me? I lurve it!

I cut some of the tapes into smaller strips that were more appropriate to the scale of the box I was covering, then I mummified that little box in a very professional style I like to call "willy nilly". Hee!

I left the inside of the box plain, just finishing the inner rim of the lid with a strip of purple. The tapes were really easy to use and cut and I would definitely use them for other projects, there's a plethora of ideas out there, I'm thinking of trying some of these next.

Being a sucker for all manner of buntings I made a couple of Halloween types for Jacquie, this one I made using my Sizzix Big Kick & my sewing machine. I cut loads of paper circles from Halloween scrapbook paper, then ran them one after the other through the sewing machine. It's the simplest way I've ever tried, I for the inspiration for this bunting based on this pin,the original source found here.

Mug rug! I whipped up a cute little Halloween mug rug too, a little embroidery, a little quilting, right up my alley! I also covered some tea lights with the duct tape, as well as some cool washi tape I've had in my stash forever. You can never have too many candles, right?

No fridge is complete without cute magnets, so I made a few little Halloween fabric covered buttons then hot glued magnets on the back. 

Eeeeeeek! A sparkly little sign just because ♥

A dramatic, black fan. Now this is my kind of drama! This fan was an extra from the bridal shower favors, but I couldn't send it out so plainly, so I thought I'd give it more of a Victorian/goth feel by giving it a spray with matte black spray paint. I really love the look of the fan painted black.

Oh look, another bunting! This one says Happy Haunting and is a really neat free printable I found (darn it, I can't find the link! I'll work on that and edit this post as soon as I find it). It has a neat, vintage/creepy vibe to it, and I really wanted to share it with you guys. I'm making another one for myself, I'll show here in more detail soon.

I also got Jax a cute pair of argyle kitty socks, some matching Kleenex and of course something sweet, a big vial of Reese's Pieces, yum! Altogether a pretty neato package ♥ I was actually on time sending out this swap, and if you know me you know what an utter miracle it is that I do anything on time, ha!

Are you getting ready for All Hallows Eve? What'cha doing? 

Tell me all about it!

oxo,

Lisa

Buntings Make Me Happy

Here's a little one I whipped up for a very special tea party I'm hosting this weekend.

I'm hosting a Creativi-Tea!

I've invited several of my girlfriends over and asked them to bring what ever it is their working on, or something crafty, sew-y, stitchy that they'd like to try and we're going to have a tea party then we're going to get our craft on! A crafty~tea party, is there anything better? I'm really excited about the whole thing!

I made this paper bunting to hang on the porch and welcome the girls as they come to the door. I used my favorite die cutter, and paper from my stash, printed and colored some fancy letters, and mashed the whole thing together one evening last week. I think it's kinda cute!

I also whipped up some pretty jars to use as vases to add some simple flowers to the tables. I used my friend Pam's tutorial. Only difference is that these are vases, not lamps... but I used all the same steps. Super easy and great results, and as an added bonus they're completely free as all of these jars would have otherwise have gone into the recycle bin. I like to use what I have and these little beauties were mayo, pesto, jam and bruchetta, jars in their former lives :) I also already had the other three components, food coloring, Modge Podge and twine.

The color of the jars are actually quite a bit darker than represented in this photo, I'm usually not a big fan of blue, but I'm over the moon with these. I'll make sure to get some pictures with flowers in them (and of all the goings on!) this weekend.

Can't wait to see what kind of creativi-tea results from Saturday, my only regret is that I can't transport all of YOU here for the afternoon, how fun would that be?!

Have a great day, lovelies!

oxo,

Lisa