Sunday, October 29, 2006

3 Fat Quarters + One Hour = My First Apron


Introducing my very first apron! This was made for my Handmade Apron swap partner and I hope she likes it!! One fat quarter is the middle part, then the second fat quarter I cut in half and that is the side pieces, then the last fat quarter was used for the pocket and the waist band and ties. I love how it turned out. I really hope my partner likes it - it will be on its way to her in DC after I get to the post office tomorrow:):)

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Miss S's Fall Party

I was in charge of the Fall Party for two kindergarten classes yesterday - we had 30 kids and a good time was had by all!

We started off by reading a story about fall...then broke up into 6 different stations for crafts, coloring, singing and decorating cookies.



One of the stations was leaf rubbings - here's Miss S with her creation:)

Singing time - we learned Mr. Oak Tree (to Where is Thumbkin) and Leaves are Falling (to London Bridges)

Monday, October 23, 2006

Some more stuff...

Here are the ATCs from the recent Halloween ATC swap I hosted through Paper Crafts Magazine - I think everyone did a great job. My contribution is the Frankenstein one on the top - I titled it "Frank's Big Night". I have three extra to trade for one of your atcs - leave a comment if you are interested:)


And my newest stamp set (from Hero Arts) ...I LOVE acrylic stamps - they are so easy to use and I love being able to see exactly where I am stamping:) I also love my initial:):) The biggest "R" is almost 4 inches tall and I have so many great ideas for this set.

Inspiration strikes!!

At the Play Day I went to last weekend with my new artsy friends, I picked up a whole stack of free CDs to make altered art with. Inspiration finally struck and here is my very first altered CD! It is a gift as part of the Secret Sister swap I just sent out with Swap-bot. She has a new baby boy named Jack and I thought this would be SO cute hanging on his door or above his crib. I hope she likes it! It was very easy - I used Tim Holtz paper forthe background and for the cutout letters and I distressed both with my Tea Dye Distress Ink pad. It took all of about 5 minutes to put together. I plan on making more as Christmas ornaments, with a longer hanger so they can hang on the tree. What do you think??

Sunday, October 22, 2006

A Little Craftiness and a Friday's Find

So this is really a Thursday find, not a Friday Find but I still wanted to show it. I was a few minutes early to work and there was a garage sale right by the office with ridiculously low prices - not very much good stuff though, lots of really old stuff, and not in the good was:) Then I found this probably 2 ft by 2 ft of hand basted crazy quilt with about a yard ofthe gold fabric you can see in the triangle on the right....price was $.75!!! The sweet little old lady having the garage sale said "Hope you can make something beautiful with it" and I sure will!! It's time to fire up the decorative stitching on my machine and go to town:) I might make a few Christmas stockings for the not one, not two, but three vintage Christmas swaps I am in:):)

Here is my red and black swap all ready to send out to my partner in Alaska.. I made a potholder, two pouches - one using Moki's tutorial and another top zippered pouch. The flower pin can be added to the pouch or worn alone, and a tissue holder. Also in the box are some scrapbooking goodies, a black composition book, buttons and cardstock. I hope she likes it all!!!
Miss S and I made this haunted castle from a fun foam kit from Michael's. All the pieces had sticky backs on them so it went together really quickly and easily. I love it!


And lastly, my little corner of homemade pumkins made at various church activities the last couple years. The ones in the basket are made of fabric with a real wood stem, and the one on the books is an orange raffia style pumpkin. I love these guys and I love that I can put them out in September and they can stay out until it's time for the Christmas decorations:)

Happy Sunday so you all!!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Congratulations!

Congrats to Jacki, Rohanknitter, Knitting Mama and LauraJ for scoring some vintage zippers! Please send me your snail mail addresses at raeshadrz at yahoo dot com and I will get them on their way to you! Have a fabulous day!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

A Rainbow of Zipper Flavors


I love vintage sewing supplies and these beauties caught my eye at Goodwill yesterday - they were a little pricey - I paid $12.00 for 28 zippers, but I just couldn't resist and with names like coral, lime, cranberry, melon, and lemon, how could I!! I'd like to share my bounty with you so I have 5 of these zippers up for grabs. Leave me a comment if you would like one and if you are one of the 1st five you'll get one:) I may also throw in some other vintage sewing goodies:):)

Friday, October 13, 2006

Pink and Brown loveliness

I participated in Mary Ann's Pink and Brown Swap and my package arrived today from Leslie. OH MY GOSH!! I love it!!

Just look at all these awesome goodies! Alphabet stickers, scrapbook paper, Moda Dea and Feza warn and BAMBOO needles! She read on my blog that I am working on knitting and that was so thoughtful of her - she is a fantastic knitter! A beautiful bundle of ribbons, a patchwork tissue holder and a personalized clipboard! I have been wanting one of these forever and wow...this one is awesome! I've blogged before that I love stuff with my name on it!! Thank you so much Leslie!

Catching Up


Monday when I was off of work, and Miss S was off of school we went to McCall's Pumpkin Patch about an hour outside of town and had a fantastic time! Moki and her kiddos were there too, as well as several other dear friends from church. We had a fabulous day even though it was abuot 50 degrees out! We got nice and muddy and cold pretty much to the bone but enjoyed ourselves none the less:):)

T Man took this shot of me - I love it - very candid and windblown:)


My snuggly Miss S - this is what curly hair does after three hours in damp, cold and windy weather:) I knew I should have worn a hat:):)

Miss S was the only one with proper footwear - her pink thrifted galoshes which I was so excited to find! They've been in her closet for over a year and made their premiere at the pumpkin patch. I was able to just hose the mud off them when we got home. We got to chose out own pumpkins and Miss S picked out this petite little beauty and added it to the pumpkins on our porch when we got home. I made her little matching hat and scarf last winter and I think it's about time to make her a new set as the hat was a little small.

Miss S and C Bug - two precious angels!!

My Beaner


My bestest, dearest, most beautiful friend in the whole world is Tammy...we call each other "beaner" - I'm not sure how we came up with that but it was a nickname we gave each other shortly after we met our senior year of high school...we have been best friends since just about the first day we met and I will always be thankful to a mutual friend, Ryan, for introducing us. Tammy and I have been texting and playing phone tag all week and today we FINALLY got to talk to each other...it it always a thrill to hear her voice and our talks always refresh my soul and long for the day we can live near each other again...Tammy lives in Gig Harbor, WA and we only get to see each other about once a year. It will be a year in November since we've seen each other last and I am starting to go through withdrawals!! I am seriously thinking that Miss S and I should go to WA for spring break this year to spend a week with my Tammy (she is "Tia" to Miss S). This is a really old pic of my beaner...taken just a month or two after Miss S was born...but I couldn't blog about her without showing you all how beautiful she is...I LOVE YOU BEANER!!!

Monday, October 09, 2006

My little secret...

I LOVE Nip/Tuck! I have become completely hooked on this show though I don't get to watch it very often - it plays at 11:00 p.m. here and I am usually sound asleep by then. I just programmed my VCR to record it every week and I am so excited to get reacquainted with the characters. I am also asking for Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD for Christmas and I know that Santa (aka myself) already has Season 2 for me:):)
What are your secret shows that you love to watch?? Another one of mine is Big Love. We don't have HBO so hubby downloads it from the internet when he can.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Swaps I Am Hosting

I am hosting two swaps on Swap-Bot and there is still time to sign up for either one...

My Handmade Apron Swap


My Vintage Christmas Swap

AND I think I have finally figured out how to make buttons! I know these two are a little big but that will be my next thing to figure out:):)

The last few pictures for today:)

My third "R" arrived and I continue to be amazed by the creativity of my partners. This beautiful one is from Jen. It is a felted square in blue with the "R" embroidered with variegated thread. This picture of it does not do it justice at all.


I sewed up a little bithday ensemble for my friend's daughter who has her 4th birthday party tomorrow. She loves ballet so the fabric is ballerinas and I made a pillowcase (on the left), pajama pants, matching shirt and a little drawstring bag for them all to go into. I hope she likes it. I couldn't find my wonder under so the patch on the shirt is a little wonky, though I don't think she will mind:)

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures...

I have been so busy with work this last week that I hardly have had time to do anything else! I have a trial next week so I will be busy again...I have a fuor day weekend with Miss S so I am really going to take advantage of that time to finish up a few swaps, clean house, sew, and play with Miss S. Today she and I are going to the aquarium, then out to lunch, then to the Goodwill clearance center. Later today I am going to the "Devil Wears Prada" with my buddy....I am dying to see that movie and it is finally at the dollar theatre. Here's some pics of what we've been up to lately here...

ok - here we go! The coasters I won from this sweetie










Next is the fabric I stamped for Moki's hand stamped fabric swap - these have been mailed to my three partners along with a pouch I made using Moki's tutorial and some personalized notecards I made on my computer for each person.



My fall tags for the Fall Tag Swap I participated in through Paper Crafts Magazine - these have also been mailed. I was REALLY pleased at how these turned out:)











We decorated the house for fall last weekend and Miss S decroated the porch with a bunch of little pumpkins we bought. Here she is showing off her handiwork



















One of the "R" initials I received from Moki's inital swap - I LOVE IT!!!! I took this one to work and hung it up above my computer so I can look at it all day:)















The purple and yellow swap I received - I LOVE the scarf! It is knit in eyelash yarn and wool and it is so cool. I can't wait to wear it when the weather gets a little colder










My hot chocolate and a book swap - YUM! The chocolates were devoured by Miss S pretty much as soon as I put them out:)















My second "R" inital - again, beautiful and perfect! This one I hung above my sewing table.




Lastly, for now:), I made Miss S this Little Mermaid costume for Halloween - she was invited to a Princess Birthday Party last week and wore it to the party. I had not planned on making it so quickly so the back of the top wasn't even finished - I just put a safety pin in it to hold it together and off she went to the party! The hostess said she asked Miss S if I made it, to which Miss S replied "Yes, my mom can make anything":):):)

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

More Mail Goodness

I arrived home yesterday to a nice little note in my mailbox telling me I had a package waiting at the post office for me...I love when I get these notes:):) After standing in line for 20 minutes, with a lady behind me standing way too close and slurping her starbucks as loud as humanly possible, the post man handed me a package from Portugal....just wait until you see what was inside!! Go HERE!!
Her pictures are so much better than any I take:):) Isn't this amazing! I'm so excited to use everything she sent. AND today my Japanese craft books arrived. I am trying not to look at them too much as I won't have any free time until this weekend - I have a four day weekend with Miss S so I plan on making at least one thing from my new books.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Mail goodies!

Just look at what I got today!!! I was the lucky recepient of one of these packets of hand stamped fabric...thank you Creative Kismet!!!