Sunday Success

I've been busy! Making tons of things and enjoying my summer. I even got a nap on the beach the other day - life is good!


I made this fab pouch as a custom order. I'm in love with it and I want to keep it. Darn this making-a-living BS. ;)

I was invited to a trunk show in Battle Creek yesterday at Art Center Too. What an awesome place! And they set me up right across from Sew Unique Threads, so of course, I bought fabric. This was really neat newsprint-ish fabric with some red thrown in. I cut a woman right out of the middle of it and made it into the French Smoking Girl Pouch. Which will someday hopefully get listed in my Etsy shop.

I took a couple hours today to try this tutorial from Prudent Baby. I only made one wrong cut, which was no biggie, and now I've got 10.5 beautiful yards of mustard yellow double-fold bias tape! Thanks Prudent Baby!



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Tags!

This post is dedicated to Jenna from jennadesigns. She is so sweet and talented, always inspiring, motivating, and sharing great ideas! She's one of my fave Twitter folks and I love her blog (even when she's not blogging about me haha!). She has a fabulous Etsy shop and a great eye for fabrics and detail. I think if there wasn't a big lake separating us, we'd probably hang out everyday. :) Go check out her shop... then come back so I can brag about her more.

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It was great wasn't it? I especially love her sachets with the little birds on them and her photography - it's absolutely stunning! She recently posted a great tutorial for fabric tags that I HAD to try! My tags turned out great! I was able to make 600 tags for a mere $6!! I've also developed a serious obsession with printable fabric. I'm even researching printers since mine is broken and I MUST make more tags and design my own fabric. I've always have a billion ideas for fabric I want, I just have never had the means to print it myself. I changed a few things when I made mine. I used Microsoft Word instead of PS, had a different brand of printer fabric, and didn't set it like I should have. Luckily it's not too late to set it! Also, it says on the back of the printer fabric to only use one sheet at a time. For whatever reason all of the printers I tried said they were out of paper with only one sheet in there. Seemed to work out fine with 2-3 sheets in there. So if you try this and have the same problem, stop following the directions on the packaging and do as I say. :)


The awesomeness doesn't stop there! She also pointed me towards a blog tutorial to make awesome fabric baskets. See Jenna's here. I've been wanting to make these since she first showed me, but just got around to it yesterday. I should really not be sharing this since they are both gifts to a couple wonderful pregnant friends of mine. I'm going to stuff them full of baby goodies. I changed the pattern a bit by enlarging the squares to 3"x3" and making 3 rows so they turned out more like tote bags than baskets, but oh well. I have to be able to fit a large gift I'm making (that I can't share quite yet) in there!

I just love how they turned out! So bright and cheery! I might make a couple of the smaller version for them too so they can serve the original purpose I had in mind. A basket for all those little baby things that tend to get lost if not kept in one place. Nail clippers, butt cream, extra pacis, thermometers, etc. I'd have lost everything without a basket for it all. Lack of sleep makes me forget where things are. Babies cause a lack of sleep. It's a downward spiral from there. lol.

Enough about me and what I've made lately...

I was lucky enough to meet my husband's nieces from TN last week. All 4 girls are so sweet, it was nice to meet them! The oldest is 15, and loves to draw. I didn't know she was drawing me till she was almost done, but she did, and it's AMAZING. I oohed and ahhed over her whole notebook for a while. I so wish I could draw!! Here is her version of my son and I:


It's pretty accurate too considering most of the time her family was here David was hanging on me and crying. I think she wanted to keep it in her notebook but I shamelessly begged for it. It's framed on the wall in my living room right now, I had to get a frame that night! I also realized that I don't have any art on my living room walls that isn't local. I know the creator of each piece I have and it makes me happy to know so many talented people that have given/sold me pieces that all mean so much to me. I am a lucky lady. :)

Art Fair Finds!

Oh what to blog, what to blog...
I have been a busy mama! I've had LOTS of custom orders both online and locally, so I've been workin hard! I've got a couple new versions of wallets coming soon, with some tweeks done by request. I'm talkin checkbook wallets, zippered pockets, all the works! Here's a peek at the outside of one I made for a friend (see the inside) --


I hit up the Garage Sale Art Fair last weekend! It was great, but busier than crap, I usually go near the end of it when the prices are super low... I'm cheap... I know this. But I had to go to it before that wedding I blogged about earlier.

I got some great pottery from some guy named Tanja. I picked up a big cup and a planter. His work looked so familiar! I found out later that I have a bunch of his pieces that I've gotten from friends or around town over the years! Hopefully I can get something to grow in the planter. I don't have a green thumb, mine is surely black. Or dead and brown. I also got another genie bottle style vase for my collection. I should get a picture, it's fantastic! I wish I had a realllly long shelf that I could put them all on! You readin this Dad? My bday is coming up fast :) Shelf, shelf, shelf...

I also got some perfect handmade paper. I think it's truly insane to take all that time to make paper, then sell it for as little as they were, but who am I to judge? I love it and my friend and I bought up 4 rolls. Now I wish I had more. I used my boss's typewriter and spent Weds. afternoon typing tons and tons and tons of hangtags and thank you notes. I have always loved the way a typewriters typing looks. It's so much more fun to use than a computer as well. I think I had about 150 tags when I was done and I still have a whole roll of paper left!


My has-to-be-next project is Bonnie's diaper bag! I've thought about it everyday but I just haven't had the time with all the other orders I've had. She picked some fabulous Micheal Miller fabric and a fun, HUGE style! I want to get started on it sooooo bad! I was making Slapdash Wallets the other night, so I whipped up a wallet in the colors she chose, as motivation to once again make something pink. This is what I came up with --


The inside has the black and white damask and pink pockets. My opinion? Needs less pink. Needs more of every other color like my other wallets! :) BUT, it's for one of my very favorite people and it's exactly what she wants. I'm super happy to be making her dream bag! Now, I just need to make the time to make it! I have a feeling I'm going to have a real late night on Friday and very busy day on Saturday. Must. Get. Bon's. Bag. DONE.

Come on Christmas!

I've been crocheting non-stop lately. I need to make something new, hats and legwarmers are getting way to monotonous. I did find a nice chunky yarn that works up fast though, instant gratification always makes things more fun for me! I'm just out of it for now. This is the beanie that I made with the last of it!

I'm so ready for Christmas to get here! I'm itchin to give Dave his present and then show it off to everyone! I don't want to give anything away... but I worked on it with an amazing local artist who's almost like family to me and it was SO much fun! I had to wrap it right away to control myself from showing everyone. It's a good feeling to give a gift that has so much meaning, especially considering the gifts I gave in recent years that included lots of socks, underwear, and slippers.

My sis and I's Christmas of family from all sides and wayward friends is on for sure :) I can't wait! Come onnnnn Christmas!