Busy Little Elf

Each night I diligently work on Christmas presents. It is always a big undertaking to hand make most of the gifts but the final projects are well worth it. Above is my "Soups in a Jar" gifts. I plan to make some more, just need to buy the ingredients.

These are very simple gifts to make. All you need is a jar, ingredients, small amount of fabric, and ribbon. I used a recipe book specific to Soups and Chilies in a Jar, but I am sure you could do the same with your favorite recipe. Measure, layer, seal and decorate with fabric on the lid and Ta Da, your done! I hope the receivers of these love them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Not My Cup of Tea

A good friend of mine invited me out the other night to attend a Reverse Print Making class. We were told to draw a design that would include three colors. You start by drawing your design on the rubber thingy...(she didn't tell us what any of the tools or materials were so thingy is what I will call it) and carve out only the parts that you want to stay white. You then apply the first color of ink, which will be your lightest color, mine was the pink and "stamp" as many prints as you'd like. Once you have made enough prints of the first color, the thingy is washed off and you carve more away from your design, anything that you want to stay the first color is now taken away. You repeat this process till all three colors have been applied. My first color was pink, then green, and then black.

I had a very hard time carving away at my design. The whole time I kept thinking why can't I just create three of the same design, each with a different part carved out. The teacher also in my opinion did not teach the process very well. She just kept saying you'll just have to see, I can't explain it you will see when you do it. Print making reminds me of stamping and I will say, I prefer stamping to print making...print making is just not my cup of tea, but learning a new skill and spending time with friends is alway fun.

I Heart Crochet

Every time I try other crafts (which I love to do), I always come back to crochet. I am so glad that my mother taught me at the age of nine this wonderful craft. Granted she only was able to show me the chain and double crochet stitch, but that is where my love affair with crochet began.

In only two nights this lovely hat was born.....


The pattern is, Swirls Cap by by Sophia Kessinger. I found the pattern on Raverly. It was easy to follow and the pattern was written perfectly. I added one row to the increase rows and one row to the decrease rows. I really like how it turned out...a great new addition to my hat collection.

27 Days

There are 27 days for me to get all my handmade Christmas presents done. I have decided to do mostly handmade gifts this year. Some will be very simple...a jar of jelly, crocheted snowflake ornament and handmade card. Others will be more take a little time, but I hope by starting and planning early, I can get it all done and mailed off in time.

Here is my start, decoration for my jelly jars...

Another One Bites the Dust...

Craft Show #2.....I definitely won't be quitting my day job anytime soon. Although this bazaar was much better than the first one, it still wasn't what I am used to. The ladies running the bazaar did a great job. They advertised in the newspaper, on the radio and put out sandwich board signs along the roads. The layout was very shopper friendly. They went around and talked with each vendor. And they played Christmas music the whole show. It was very well put together.

Dissapointment

My first craft bazaar was anything but successful.

All last week I worked myself to the max, crocheting, cutting, tie dyeing and sewing...and all this happened after long 8 hour workdays at the office. The night before the show, I stayed up till 3:00am to get the final touches on some of the product. Like I said I worked myself to the max! My alarm clock screamed at 6:30am the morning of the show. I got ready, packed the van, and picked up my friend I was sharing the booth with. We arrive at the show with an hour and a half to set up...plenty of time. We both were very excited.

Within an hour of the show opening up to the public, the place started to get packed. Looking good I thought, should be a good show....then....no sells. Lots of people but no bags in their arms. What is going on I thought?

The 6 hour show went on forever! Our booth wasn't a total bust, we did have a total of 8 customers buy. But 8 customers in 6 hours is just not enough. For the biggest bazaar of the season, it was just not what I expected, and quite frankly not worth it.

After asking around to a couple vendors, we weren't the only ones. Most people said that they were down from last year. We both went home feeling very much defeated. All that work for practically nothing in return and for our first show, very disappointing......

Working thru the Pain

I am signed up with a friend for the Annual Holiday Bazaar at the local high school. I was too indecisive toward the beginning of planning for this that I don't have as much product as I would like. My mother has been selling her crafts for over 20 years and has always taught me you need lots of product! So needless to say each night is spent working my fingers to the bone. Up until now I haven't realized how bad my arthritis and carpal tunnel is...but I will force myself to work through the pain because I have to get out there. It was my fault for not planning better and that is why they make pain killers, right?

I am really excited, but then again really nervous about the bazaar. Maybe because I am a shy person, don't like being judged...I am not sure. I think that is where the indecision and procrastination came from. I am pushing thru it though, especially since this is what I really want to do, sell my crafts.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Pattern is from Knitty.com....the hallow wig.

The Spirt of Halloween

My favorite holiday to decorate for is halloween, not sure why though. Maybe it was because growing up halloween was always celebrated to the fullest. My mom decorated the house, dad helped make costumes, we as a family carved the pumpkins and rosted the seeds and my sisther and I trick or treated until we were way to old to be trick or treating. It's fun to dress up, get a crazy sugar high, carve pumpkins, roast seeds and decorate.

Untangled

Most of my jewelry ends up in my jewelry box in a tangled mess at the bottom, which means I don't wear any of it. I always mean to, but when it comes down to it at 7:30 in the morning it is not a priority. In the attempts to organize and decorate my bedroom I made two simple racks.

They were very simple to make. And I am very happy with the way they turned out.

Supplies:

• One 4' x 4" piece of wood, cut in half
• Craft Paint
• 14 nails

I wanted the racks to go with the theme of the room, "Starry Night". The white dots were created using the eraser end of a pencil. The rest is pretty self explanatory, but if you have questions please feel free to ask.

Working my Fingers to the Bone

Things have been insane at work. October 15th was a tough deadline with 150 returns to finish and get out the door. Which has meant this past week has been met with long hours and non-stop work. I got through it though, exhausting yes, but done with a smile non the less.

I was even able to relax a little at home and get some crocheting done. I am working on getting my inventory up for the annual High School craft bazaar.

I have definitely come to the conclusion, even though I love doing all different kinds of crafts my favorite by far is crochet.

Craft Shows

When you are walking thru a craft fair what items catch your eye?

The holiday season is approaching and that means holiday craft fairs by the dozen. I am ready to jump in with both feet and have ideas as to what I want to sell but need input from my fellow readers.

What crochet items are you more likely to buy?
Would you spend $15 - $20 on a handmade journal?

Email or leave a comment here.....all will be appreciated. Peace.

New Tattoo Warmers

Because Tattoos need to stay warm too....

I am slowly building my collection of handmade Wrist Warmers for my professional dress code. BLOGGED HERE.

Ooooo So Good! And I made it all by myself!

I am not sure I could pin point what I love most about Salmonberry Jelly.

Gathering is so much fun. I usually try to go in the evening when it isn't so hot and it tends to be quieter. Tromping thru the bushes, dodging spiders, filling up buckets with berries and even munching on a few. I have found the last two years the best place to go is the same place I got married, which makes the picking of the berries that much more special.

Making the Jelly....the kitchen turns into a huge production line. All the berries get smooshed, and smashed until there is nothing left of them except seeds and juice. I never quite know how much juice I will get. Measure this, measure that, boil then add that, it's like a science experiment, that your not sure you did it right till the end.

The final product....all I can say is........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Who Wants Cake?

I truly believe that a person should eat a piece of cake everyday of their life, because no matter what kind of cake it is, it gives you a sense of celebration...and in life everyday should be a celebration! And of course cake is just yummy! For my hubby's birthday I wanted to make the cake. I had in my mind an idea for a cake that was two playing cards, since he was playing a game of cards with his buddies during his party.



The cake.....
Two boxes of vanilla cake mix.
Two Cream Cheese frosting.
One Red frosting for decorating.
One Black frosting for decorating.
Candles.

Nothing to it...a piece of cake!

I Know I'm a Slacker

So it's been over a week which means I should have tons of projects to post right? Wrong. It is that time of year again where work is busy busy busy (corporate tax deadline).

This is our new gate for the dogs. Why do we have a gate you may ask...well last Monday when I got home after work, I let the dogs out in the backyard to go potty. I then left them alone so I could put my stuff down and go potty myself. In that two minutes Spade (the one on the left) disappeared.

Some may say oh no big deal, my dog gets out all the time and comes back a little while later. For Spade, it is a big deal. She never travels far from her chair and even needs coxing to go outside to go potty. When we travel to the beach she keeps a small distance between me and her, about 3 feet. She is 11 years old and doesn't move that fast. So for her to run away, it is a big deal. As soon as I noticed she wasn't in the back yard, I circled the house...no Spade, I looked under the porch...no Spade, I looked up and down the street...no Spade. At this time my husband got home and I told him what was going on. For the next 5 hours I walked and walked and drove around the neighborhood. She didn't come home that night and I did not find her anywhere.

The next morning I got ready for work with 3 hours sleep and holding tears back thinking we weren't going to find her. I couldn't stop thinking about her and decided to call in to work. The search began again....Animal Shelter, Animal Control, Vets office, radio station, newspaper and every stop sign I could get to got a poster. At 3 pm while I am walking around the neighborhood knocking on doors, Animal control calls.....

"Someone called about a black dog in their back yard since last night. I think it may be Spade. Go check it out and let me know if it is her."

I ran to that house, and the owner was out front. "Do you have a dark brown dog around here?" We walked to the back of the house and she opened her entry way...no Spade. My heart sank. Another dead end. Then there was movement to my left in the yard...it was Spade!!!

We now have a gate! Built out of some frames and fencing left by the old owner.

A Break From Crafts...or not!

The hubby and I took a drive out the road to one of the State Parks on the island. We wanted to let the dogs run around and I wanted to pick Salmonberries and Russian Berries.

After a while searching for something else, I found some yarn in the van and decided to search the forest for "knitting needles" aka sticks that were the same size. I used my husbands knife to trim down the nubs and create a point at the tip and a rock to smooth things out. Piece of cake and they work great too!



Spade didn't do much running around, mainly just slept in the van. Her age is really showing these days.

Of course crazy man Kane ran around the entire time we were there. He had so much fun, that his muscles were actually sore the next day.

All Dressed Up...And Can't Go Anywhere

There she is...Sexy Sadie in her very first handmade piece of clothing! It is not done, not even close, but I am so giddy over being able to work with a dress form. I can't even explain how it feels. I can pin the fabric directly on the model, nip here...tuck there.

The flowers on the fabric are my pounded flowers. I decided that if I hand wash in cold with mild detergent, it shouldn't fade that much.

Is that really me?

I have finally made my very own dress form, using the duct tape method. Now I didn't go as far down as they did mainly because I did it myself. After asking my husband to help me for the last decade, ok maybe not that long, I decided to just try and do it myself.


I grabbed my rolls of duct tape, put on an old t-shirt and stood in front of my sliding mirror closet doors. All by myself I wrapped the duct tape around my midsection and up my torso. I flung the tape over my shoulders, reached and grabbed and wrapped and taped myself up. This was no easy task, I highly recommend getting someone to help you with the duct taping of yourself!

The finished product...I cut off my duct tape mold, reinforced everywhere it needed it and stuffed it with shredded paper I grabbed from work, and ta da....Sexy Sadie is born.

Now looking at Sexy Sadie, she is not sexy, but magnificent none the less, (I definitely need to start working out), and she will make designing and sewing my clothes much easier.

How dare you steal my bed!

Chevy (the cat) has had a bed of his own next to my side of the bed for a long time. During the move his "Kitty Cube" aka bed, turned into a dog toy box. Their old toy box was the bottom of his kennel and I needed that to move him from trailer to house. Unfortunately for Chevy, I like the "Kitty Cube" as a Dog toy box...they can't dump all their toys out easily, it is foam so they can't hurt it and it is the perfect size. Don't worry about Chevy though, because he is well taken care of. Instead of his "Kitty Cube", he now has a deluxe Chevy Bed........

Here is Chevy checking it out, before I put the final reinforcements and cushion on it...

Looks like he approved.

Steps:

1) Cut Cardboard to form a cube.

2) Cut fabric to cover Cardboard.

3) Hot glue fabric to cardboard.

4) Hot glue cube pieces together.

5) Reinforce corners...drill some holes and use yarn to tie them together.

Cushion was made with an old tee shirt and stuffed will scrap fabric and old batting.

Final product...approved by Chevy. (I think he likes it, although I did rub fresh Cat Nip on the cushion)