One-derland

My sweet niece Sklya turned one this week and had the most adorable Alice in Wonderland party.  

I couldn't resist making her own Alice...dreaming of Wonderland. 

easter craftin'

I've got a new(ish) blog on my blogroll lately that you need to check out.  It is a collaboration of amazing women who share about life, growth, God, food, kids, crafts...you name it.  I love the variety I find from post to post, and am always encouraged by the talented bloggers who share there. Its called Beautifully Rooted.  Anyway, yesterday this post inspired me to make these adorable mason jar Easter baskets. Super easy, super fast, super cute. And I already had all the supplies I needed.  Except for the chocolate bunnies.  Which would have never made it though the crafting process anyway. 

And since I was on a crafting roll, I couldn't resist making these guys.  Fabric covered eggs.  Modge podge, fabric scraps and some regular old plastic eggs (tutorial here).  I love how they turned out.  So much that I bought more (larger) eggs to try out tonight.  Seinfeld reruns and The Biggest Loser inspire my crafting apparently. 

 

And I think this may be a world record.  Two crafts pinned and created on the same day.  

Can you believe it?!?

blowin' up

Source: inmyblessednest.blogspot.com via Erin on Pinterest

I had to change my Pinterest email notifications today.  Why, you ask?  Well, when you have it set to notify you when someone likes or repins your pin, and you are pinned 1826 times and liked 594 times, it creates a bit of an email backup.   That many people like this?  Something I made?  Wow!  It is seriously blowing me away.  And it is a perfect example of exponential growth.  10 pins one day, 50 the next, then 100...and over 500 just today!  I'm actually wondering when it will stop.  And also how I can capitalize on this new found popularity... ideas?

insta-christmas

Signs of the season...

carol singing,

gift wrapping,
sweet snacking,

Christmas crafting, 

hot drink sipping,

present shopping,

party planning,

baby Jesus worshiping,

each moment relishing.

a.  I'm back into embroidery.  Talk about relaxing.  I hadn't done anything since this and this, but am currently inspired and hoping to do more.  I'm picturing stitching by the fire with a hot drink every night this week!
b.  Made several of these signs as gifts for family and friends.  Way to use that old scrapbook paper eh?
c.  More embroidery...and my latest thrift store seal...the coveted plaid thermos (actually scored 2!)
d.  Felt wreath...lots of cutting for those scallops but much faster than the yarn wrapping for sure.

manthropologie

Brett asked for a not-so-extreme office makeover.  

He wanted to cool-ize the place.  

(I guess this means he's planning on staying for a while right?)

I told him I'd do it up Manthropologie style. 

I got to work...

sewing navy and white chevron print pillows,

making a dictionary paper covered cork board,

and creating a wall of clipboards.

He got to work...

cleaning out a lot of junk paperwork, 

computer disks (yes, I said disks),

and VHS tapes.

We got to work...

painting walls 

and creating these...

 

Love these lyrics that have been floating around on all kinds of blogworld projects.

Perfect for that artistic at heart worship leader right? 

And my biggest compliment from one of the girls on his worship team...

It looks like Pinterest in here!

Mathro complete.

christmas in a jar

 

On my last sale table/window shopping trip to Anthropologie, I found some adorable, but not necessarily affordable, mason jar snow globes.  Of course my crafting wheels started turning, and I came up with a rendition of my own (for an absolute fraction of the price at anthro).  So if you want a project to kick off your holiday decor...look no further...

Gather up those mason jars you've got in your stash...or if you're not an obsessive jar collector like myself, head to Walmart and buy a case of 12 jars for under $10.  Micheal's also sells single mason jars in several sizes for $1-$2.  I started with wide mouth pint jars. The wide mouth jars give you more surface area on the lid to work with, especially if you want to use multiple trees.

 Give them all a good shine inside and out before you start working.

Now, head to your miniature Christmas tree farm and pick out your trees.  I had to get a variety pack because Michael's was all out of the small trees (probably due to all those Christmas nuts setting up their miniature cities already). Anyway, I got a bag of 21 trees, 40% off for $13.  They range in size from 3-10 inches.  The small and medium sized ones work great in the pint jars.

 Get your lids ready...

 Play around with the trees to find a set-up that suits you.  Make sure the trees will fit when you put the jar on the lid, and that they fit inside the rubber seal around the lid so it will close properly.  I did some with three trees and some with just one. 

And on to the messy fun part.  If you are glitter-fobic, you could do without... but come on, who doesn't love glitter at Christmastime?!?  Totally worth the mess I believe (as I walk around the house with glitter on the bottom of both feet!).  I'm sure there are lots of different adhesives you could use with the glitter, but I had mod-podge on hand (like every good crafter) so that's what I used.
Dab it on and shake away (the glitter that is).

 Let these sparkling beauties dry thoroughly before you go any further (I speak from experience here).
I went ahead and glitterified all my trees at once to save myself form another glitter bath later.

Use a hot glue gun to glue the trees to the lid.  Again, make sure to stay within the rubber seal, or the jar will not close.   And once you stick these babies...they're stuck, so take your time
(again, speaking from experience).

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how gilttery are your branches...

And since I'm already singing...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

After you've got your trees on, you can add snow to settle to the bottom (or top I guess) of the jar.  I played around with regular sugar, which made the glass kind of dusty (not good) so I ended up using these sprinkles.  You may be able to find something else cheaper than these (almost $4 a jar, and it only fills about 5 jars).  Anyway, fill the jar about an inch, screw the lid on, and carefully tip the jar to avoid getting too much of the sugar on the trees.  Give it a little tap and shake to settle the snow.

And there you go.  Christmas in a jar.

And if you really get inspired, you can use your entire forest in all different sized jars.  

Make some for yourself and make more for giving. 

Happy Christmas Crafting!

get inspired!

I am super excited to tell you about an amazing online magazine I found.  It's called Inspired Ideas, The Christmas Issue and you must check it out.   They call it "a magazine celebrating the crafty life"...could it be more perfect?  The issue from last year, Christmas 2010 is free and has 172 idea packed pages.  I couldn't stop staring at all the loveliness.  You will be inspired to crack out those craft supplies that have been hiding out in your cabinets and get your craft on.  I'm chomping at the bit as we speak!  Enough talk...get crafting!

Don't think I wouldn't let you go without a sneak peek.....

 village houses (from cereal boxes!)

yo-yo tree (genius)

granny shares her granny squares

Okay, its decided.  I have the most amazing mother-in-law there is to have.  The only problem is she lives half way across the country.  And our visits are never long enough, or frequent enough.  But this week she got to come out and spend some time with us.  And as usual, she brought gifts.  And not just the kind she picked up in the airport gift shop either.  Ones that she spent hours and hours on stitching, sewing, crocheting, knitting, quilting (I told you she was amazing).  Adorable smocked dresses for the girls, hand quilted trick or treat bags, hand knitted beanies, a fall table runner, and a granny square pillow with a story behind it.  Please note the first picture.  This was back in the summer when we took a trip out to Tennessee and Judy showed me (for at least the tenth time) how to crochet.  This time my goal was granny squares, a whole blanket afghan of them (Judy informed me that blanket are purchased form the store, afghans are knitted or crocheted by hand).  I raided her scrap yarn bin and made off with a stash of beauties (fig. 2). And I began to granny.  And boy did they look pretty (fig. 3).  About 3-4 squares in to it, I decided a blanket afghan was a bit lofty for me so I decided it would be a pillow.  About 8-9 squares into it I decided maybe even a pillow was too lofty and settled for a pillow front.  About 12-13 squares late the entire project went on hold.  Like a 5 month hold.   Enter Judy and her completely perfect granny square pillow.  The granny-ing granny saves the day.  I guess this means I'm back to the original goal of a blanket afghan.  Maybe one for Leighton's baby doll crib is more up my alley.

props to pinterest

 

yarn + felt= endless possibilities

Pinterest has really become my go-to.  And from what I gather, it has become the go-to for many other voyeurs like myself.  People who love to look at beautiful, inspiring things and attempt to recreate their own rendition of someone else's genius.  No pages to scroll down, no information to sift through, just lovey images waiting to be perused.  So here's to pinterest and my new fall decor.  Inspired by this and this.

pottery revelation...the finale

Remember this?  You were probably wondering what ever came of those unfired lumps of clay.  Well, after only 4 months, we were finally able to track them down.  My friend and fellow potter Eli, is taking off on a long and permanent journey to her new home in Japan and just couldn't bear to leave without seeing the fruits of her labor.  And because she is such a good friend, she left hers in my care while she is in Japan (you do remember me saying its a permanent move right?)  She practically left them on my doorstep wrapped in a newspaper like forgotten little orphans.  I don't blame her considering hers weighed nearly as much as a forgotten orphan and would've had to go in her carry on... her only carry on... for 14 hours... at her feet no doubt.

 mine- think Anthro is hiring designers?

 hers- the two ton mug? vase? pencil holder?

ours-neither of us will take credit for them- believe me they look waaaay worse in person- 

the camera works wonders

inspired by...

If you've spent any time browsing Pinterest, (come on now, don't deny the hours of your life it has consumed) you've most likely seen this...

so very lovely isn't it?

And if you are one of the thousands of fans of Ashley Ann, you may have also seen this...

again, so lovely

Well, I was inspired by these to create a little something similar for our home.  Most of the time I'm on my own in my hair-brained ideas, but I actually employed Brett for part of this one (I may be skilled at the electric sander and power drill, but I'm still a bit wary of the power saw!)  I picked up the wood from Home Depot (in the garden center of all places, apparently its some sort of landscape wood).  Perfectly thin and weathered and less than 2 bucks for an 8 foot piece.  My skill saw man cut it into 6 pieces and used a scrap to glue them together on the back.  I painstakingly cut out all the letters (someday maybe lucky enough to get one of those high fallotin' cutters) and mod-podged them on.  

A nice little reminder of what who the real priorities in my home are.

paper dolls

 

 Meet Betsy and Barbara McCall...

view their adorable wardrobes...

 

get them ready for a big party...

send them off in vintage style.

I guess Barbie dolls may have been what knocked paper dolls off their stands.  They just aren't treasured or played with like they used to be.  I picture little girls in the 50's and 60's spreading out the wardrobes and gently bending the tabs to dress their fragile dolls in outfits they dreamed about wearing themselves.  Yes, unfortunately paper dolls may have fallen by the wayside over the years, but what little girl can't resist these adorable paper dolls?  And you can download a ton of these Besty McCall dolls for FREE (the downloading is free, but the printer ink may cost you a small fortune).  

Anyway, this weekend we ran out our printer ink making dolls and dresses for the girls to play with.  These are the ones Brooklyn chose (and cut out all by herself!). Pretty cute right?  I have no pictures to post of Ellie's because of all the mutilation and amputation that occurred to her dolls.  What do I expect considering this is the same girl who earlier that day brought me a legless Ken doll and said, "Mommy I forgot to play gentle again, and broke his legs off."? Maybe its actually rough and tumble four-year-olds who knocked paper dolls off their stands.

revealing...

Went from this to this.  In only a few hours.  Gotta love what spray paint can do.  Give an old dresser a new look and get rid of the musty Ocean Beach smell.  You would only know what I mean if you've ever lived in OB.  How can every single house smell that way?  My guess is mold + ocean air + lots of weird pets + street people + partying college kids.  Not a good mix I tell you, not a good mix.

pretty, pretty

I've been bu-sy working in my big girls' room this week...painting this and that, Craig's-ing this and that, crafting this and that, thrifting this and that...and I think I'm nearly done (but can you ever really say that?!?).  The thing still looming over my head is the bedding...try to make it, export the job to my genius quilting mother-in-law, buy something vintage... jury's still out on that one.  Anyway, I'm a huge fan of free printables and found these two adorable prints I had to use. You can find them here (along with a couple other cuties).  I also had some vintage hangers (thank you amvets 25cents each!) that I wanted to use but had to girlify them to fit the room a bit better.  In comes two old faithfuls- mod podge and scrapbook paper.  I left the other side wood in case I ever need them for something else, but I think they look pretty pretty indeed.