I love making kids' clothes!

I finally used up this cotton chenille yarn by making this little girl's cardigan from the book big fish, little fish by Jil Eaton. Then I just happened to have a new sewing book from the library- Stitch by Stitch by Deborah Moebes- that had instructions for this cute skirt made from 2 packs of charm squares. And... I happened to have 2 packs of charm squares lying around that even matched the cardigan! Perfect!

My sudden tomato collection

After my visit to Oh So Charming, my favorite vintage store in Littleton (that is only open 1 weekend a month) I suddenly have a tomato collection! The only thing I had before in this photo are the bowls and 1 tomato swanky swig glass. I just love Oh So Charming! And my sister and I will be having our own store like it soon! (in Riverside, CA)

Felting Frenzy!

Lately I've been addicted to felting. It started with knitting and felting clutch purses. While I try not to indulge in any new crafts (I already have so many supplies for the crafts I currently do) I just had to try needlefelting to decorate these clutches. The supplies are basic- a needle tool, brush, and wool roving- and it is so much fun!

Here are the clutches I made for table gifts for the Fashion Doll Club of the Rockies mini-convention. I made zipper pulls from bottle caps and images from old Barbie booklets. It took awhile to find the right epoxy to fill the bottle caps that kept the images sharp- Easy Cast clear casting epoxy.

My not-so-creative craft room makeover

Straight from the pages of Country Living magazine!! I copied the closet makeover idea, even duplicating the wallpaper pattern and paint colors! Well, I liked it!! If I get the rest of the room cleaned up, I'll post more pictures!

The turquoise sugar tin was purchased from Oh So Charming cottage in Littleton, my new favorite shop. (It's only open one weekend per month) The other items on the shelf I've had forever- the cute blue box is a present from my friend Nadine. Hanging on the racks is a vintage Barbie case I got on Ebay (stuffed with vintage clothing of course!) The brown tank is embellished using a pattern from the book Sew Darn Cute and the teal shug I knit using Berroco Weekend and a free pattern from their website. The turquoise storage ottoman is only $20 at Target, and the little stool I painted and decorated with cut out portions of the wallpaper.

You can click on any photo on the blog to get a closer view.

The Last 5 Weeks

After 5 weeks of recuperation following surgery on my fractured 5th metatarsal, tomorrow I am going back to work!!

I survived the weeks by making an impossible list of things I could do without standing or walking... mostly working on all of my craft projects. One of the things on my list was posting on this blog... so here goes...

To stay motivated and not succumb to laying in bed in an oxycodone stupor, I wrote down almost everything I accomplished:

16 scrapbook pages
4 knitted placemats
2 knitted sweaters
1 crocheted sweater
too many stamped cards to count!
3 almost finished knitted clutches (I need to felt, embellish, and add zippers)
1 knitted cardigan about 1/4 done

I also did some organizing and cleaning of my craft room. Now I'm ready for the next step- adding shelving, wallpapering, and decorating. I'll need to wait a few more weeks until my foot heals completely, though.

A bit of history...

I come from a long line of crafters. My maternal grandmother and my mother were avid quilters. My sister has carried on this tradition but I found all that precise measuring and cutting too much of a bother. My grandmother also crocheted and that was really my first foray into the needlearts at age 13 (besides sewing in Jr. High home ec classes).

Todd's dad did some woodworking, which Todd now does a lot of, and his mom was an accomplished knitter.

Here are some photos of some of the handcrafted things around our house: my grandmother's quilt & the leg of Todd's first woodworking project- a dropleaf cherry table done in woodshop back in high school!

Embellishing clothing

Lately I've been trying to embellish some of my old clothing instead of buying something new. The easiest project was using fabric glue to attach some felt flowers and leaves from Stampin Up! to a sweater. It turned out pretty cute and I even washed it on the delicate cycle and the flowers stayed intact!