Start Jingling

I finally finished my Christmas list, much later than I intended.  The problem was deciding on gifts to make for a couple of relatives.  Why are guys so hard to craft for?  And age makes no difference, when a little boy thinks everything plush is too “girly”, it really narrows down what toys I can make for him.  And clothes are still okay but no fun for small children on Christmas morning.  The one guy I know who appreciates hand made gifts is even harder to decide on simply because he appreciates them.  Anyway, the list is ready and all that’s left is to get it all done.  So here it is:

Holiday Craft List #2

• Doll jacket
• Tissue pouch
• Pins
• Scarf
• Boxes
• Purse
• Ornaments
• Wreath
• Sweatshirt makeover
• Mascot
• Stickers
• Robot
• Collar
• Red skirt
• Tie
• Christmas cracker
• Dress

I plan to have it complete by the 21st, is that too unrealistic?

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For Today and Tomorrow

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

To help things go smoothly,  here’s a list of several holiday recipes from CraftZine, many of which can be made very quickly for those last minute dishes. 

And for tomorrow, here’s some recipes for the leftovers from Living on a Dime.  Enjoy!

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Decorating and Launching

I managed to finish everything on my list within the past few days.  Yay!

 

First up, this wallet.  I decided my old wallet was getting a bit cruddy, so of course I had to whip up a new one.  I used some scraps leftover from the skirt I made and decorated it with some bows and a scrap of lace.  It has a bill fold, two roomy pockets on the inside, one on the outside and…

 

…a zippered pocket for change.  This is a necessity for me.  I love getting change, but seldom have a place for it in store bought wallets.  Guess that would explain why I bother making them instead of buying them, not just because it’s fun. 

Next is a notebook.  I got this notebook as a promotional freebie some time ago and I never leave the house without it.  It is the perfect size to tuck in my bag and has a pen holder that actually works.  Of course years of being tossed into my bag has left it a little roughed up.  Easy to fix that.

 

A touch of paint, some adhesive gems, glitter and Modge Podge all come to save the day.  This photo doesn’t do it any justice, it looks so good now in person.  Now I love taking it out to jot something down.

Now this basket, I rescued it from being tossed, a good basket is always handy to have around.  I thought it would be a great place to store all my laces and other trimmings, but it needed some “trimming”.

  How’s this?  A glue gun and scraps of lace are all it took to turn it from a plain Jane basket to, well what would you call it?  I wish I had more baskets lying around now to decorate, these would look lovely on a dresser or in the bathroom.

Now the last and most ambitious project, a forum site.  Click the image to check it out, hope you all like it.  It isn’t too much at the moment, these sort of things are never fully “complete”, but that’s what makes a forum so much fun.  They are always changing to fit the user’s needs, evolving into a better being or whatever.  I just hope I can keep up with the future needs, it should be a blast.

Here’s the updated list:

Sunflower dress

Black headband

Update pioneer dress

Prettied up shoes

Pleated skirt

Wallet

Makeover notebook

Trim basket

Forum

Nine down and out.  No time to rest though, I now have a forum keep up and two holidays to plan.  My Christmas project list should be up in a few days, look forward to it. 

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Of Pleats, Weird Clothing, and Hiking?

Oops, I knew I forgot to do something last week, like posting for instance.  Actually it has been more than a week, but it could be worse.  I do know of a few bloggers who have gone two months without so much as a sentence, of course when they came back they had so much to talk about that it was so worth the wait. 

Anyway, the next project on the list was a skirt that I wore church last Sunday to show off.  Lately every piece of clothing has been something I can only pull off at church.  Maybe it’s time I either start making casual stuff again or start wearing the weird stuff while grocery shopping or whatever.  Now back on topic, all the skirts I have made before were gathered at the top, so I thought it would good to try pleats instead.  I am now regretting that thought since it took way more time than usual to do and the end result wasn’t what I expected.  And I messed up on the back pleats which is why I didn’t take a photo of the back side.  On the bright side, the skirt still looked cute with my capelet, and a strange woman said I looked adorable as she drove by.  At least I think she was talking to me, no one else on the street at the time.

Here’s the updated list:

Sunflower dress

Black headband

Update pioneer dress

Prettied up shoes

Pleated skirt

Wallet

Makeover notebook

Trim basket

Forum

Five down, four to go.  Here’s a bonus, my Sunday school class joined up with a local hiking group this weekend.  It was the first time in years that I went hiking, so I was understandably slow on the trail.  I did manage to take a quick shot of the area just as the sun was setting.

Hope the photo isn’t too bad.  We saw a cute rabbit too, but he was too fast for my camera skills :(

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Numbers Game and Perfect Heels

First off, I want to show off what I got at the rummage sale this weekend.  So by the numbers…

3 white collar shirts, 2 t-shirts, 4 pairs of socks, 2 ribbon belts, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pink sweatshirt (yay pink!) and…

3 videos (Spice World, Holiday Sports Bloopers, and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion), 2 fashion dolls, 1 dress pattern, 1 small loom, 1 length of black tulle (nice), 1 baggie of ribbon and gift tags and…

2 flat sheets, 2 fitted sheets and 2 pillow cases.  These will of course be cut up for crafts, it’s a cheap source for fabric.  Anyway, all of this came to a grand total of $3.  I win.

Moving on, I finished two projects from the list and wore them both to church yesterday.  Here’s the before photo for the first. 

This is a dress I snagged at Goodwill for a dollar.  I love plaid, but the style looked more pioneer woman than anything else, not exactly my cup of tea.

Here’s the after photo.  I cut down the neckline slightly since it was incredibly uncomfortable, then added a bib and some white bias tape.  That improved it somewhat, I also shorten the skirt and made a sash with the cut off fabric. 

Slightly more my taste now.  Funny thing is that the dress wasn’t what everyone at church complimented.

It was these, the second project.  I had this scrap of really pretty lace from a baggie from Goodwill, it was too small to do much with it.  Then I got the idea to use it for my shoes. 

Took less than two minutes to do, that’s counting the time to heat up the glue gun.  I had perfect strangers walking up to me to ask about my shoes.  Strange what some people will notice.

Here’s the updated list:

Sunflower dress

Black headband

Update pioneer dress

Prettied up shoes

Pleated skirt

Wallet

Makeover notebook

Trim basket

Forum

Four down, five to go.  Should have the rest done soon.

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“The Time Has Come”, The Walrus Said

I had a remnant of black fabric that came in a pile I got from Goodwill several years ago.  It was too small to use for the usual projects, so I thought “hair accessories!”  Nothing is too small for that.

So I made this stretchy fabric head band, it has just enough elastic on the back to keep it in place, but not so much to make it look like those scrunched up ones for babies.  I added a simple bow on top, it kind of looks like that one from that Alice in Wonderland movie, the animated Disney one.  Anyone remember that, I got it as a gift when I was about seven I think.  Maybe I should make the rest of the outfit?  Hmmm.

Here’s the updated list:

Sunflower dress

Black headband

Update pioneer dress

Prettied up shoes

Pleated skirt

Wallet

Makeover notebook

Trim basket

Forum

Two down, seven to go.  The next one will be up in a couple a days, assuming I can finally decide on what to do with it.  Speaking of tough decisions, I have been really working hard on getting that forum up and running.  I had the hardest time deciding on a name for it.  I had some help from someone on etsy, so it will be called……”Crafting Up”.   Not too bad right?  With that obstacle out of the way, it won’t be too long until it will be ready to show everyone.  Look forward to it.

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Hmm…Stuff to Do….

Just a few quick items today.  I forgot to mention this before, but Craftster is currently have their DIY Halloween contest for costumes made for Halloween 2010.  The details are here and you need to post them here by November 7th, so hurry while you still can.

Also, if you are in the Phoenix area this weekend, here’s a treat.  My church is having their bi-annual rummage sale this Friday and Saturday.  Tons of great bargains to score as always, no wonder why I have been looking forward to it for months.  I am finding it hard to stand waiting one for day.  If you are interested, it will be from 7:30am-3:30pm on both days and the church is on the south-east corner of 1st Ave and Center in downtown Mesa.  Special tip: stick around for the last hour or so on Saturday, prices tend to drop then.

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Sunflowers and Candy

I had intended to post this yesterday, but Halloween night kind of did me in, more on that in a second.

Here’s the first from my latest project list, and what I wore to church on Sunday.  I used the fabric and lace I bought last week and some white fabric I had on hand.  I think I might have made the sleeves on this one a tad too small, not sure how since I have been working to improve the pattern.  Hopefully no one noticed.  I had mostly the usually reactions to this one.  The “you look so cute” and the “you look like a little girl”, and I even got a “where’s your tuffet?”  What was odd was when someone asked me if it was Amish.  Huh?  It’s way too colorful for that, but I’ve heard worse.

Here’s the updated list:

Sunflower dress

Black headband

Update pioneer dress

Prettied up shoes

Pleated skirt

Wallet

Makeover notebook

Trim basket

Forum

One down, eight to go.

Now for the Halloween night stuff.  I went trick or treating with my sister and her kids again, and we covered way more ground than normal.  I came back with sore legs, but plenty of candy all around.  The rest of the evening was spent watching that new Sherlock Holmes series on PBS and snacking on all that candy.

Speaking of candy, here’s a warning of what not to do next year to all those giving it out.  Fairly early in the evening we came up to a house that had this…

The sign may have said to “take one”, but we all know why the bowl was empty so soon.  This left several little children disappointed and several older individuals snickering, don’t let this happen to you.

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