Caden's Easter Basket

I stopped by Marnie's house this evening to help her with a little sewing project.  She had already stamped the fabric and had most things cut out so the process was super easy.  I didn't get to see the finished product before leaving, but am so glad she sent me a picture.  She did a great job!  This is for her son's easter basket, but can also be used year round for toys, diaper supplies, etc.  Such a great idea!  

Creative Reuse Pittsburgh

I recently heard of Creative Reuse Pittsburgh and decided to check it out with a crafty gal friend of mine.  At first we were a little taken back.  When you walk in and see this picture, it can be a bit overwhelming.  

There were piles of random items that made no sense to us.  Luckily, Erin had the great idea to ask for a brief tour of the place which helped tremendously.

The store is based on donations so it's not like going to a regular craft store.  They had anything you could imagine and then some.  I'm pretty sure Erin left with 5 tons of craft paper haha.  I snagged some, but tried to contain myself since I knew I already had a bunch at home.

This is what I came home with.  5 pieces of 12"x12" scrapbook paper, 3 smaller pieces of scrapbook paper, 3 fabric scraps - bigger than fat quarters, especially the black polka dotted one, 1 new spool of white thread (can always use this - especially for 50 cents!), and about a dozen buttons.  Total cost?  Less than $5!  :)

New Wreath

I come from a family that always has something on their front door. Naked doors are just something we don't do. I have a few seasonal wreaths and plaques. Problem is leaving a Christmas wreath with a snowman on your door until spring doesn't fly. Especially when we have had an unseasonably warm winter with barely any snow. So what's a girl to do when the next thing to put on her door is too "springy"?

Thanks to pinterest, I've become a huge fan of rag wreaths. I bought a wire wreath frame, a few bucks worth of white/beige fabrics, and cut up old linen pants and used burlap ribbon I had to make this wreath.

About $10, a bit of a mess, and a few hours later it was done! I love the way it looks with the different color tones and textures.

My new "winter" wreath:

Craft Show #2

I did another craft show!  This time it was just me, but Peter came along to keep me company.  I sold much more things this time!  It was a craft show at a public library which I think is much better than a festival setting.  It was much more encouraging that people want to buy the crafts I make haha.  This was my table set up that we prepared the night before.  Not too shabby.  :)  I was thinking of doing a few more shows in November and December, but our schedules are already so crazy so I think I'll wait.  Maybe in the spring I'll do more.  :)

First Craft Show!

Well, I had my first craft show.  I sold some items, but not as good as I had hoped.  It was more of a "fall festival" than "craft show" so I think that had something to do with it.  All of the vendors were saying that they didn't do so hot, either.  There were too many free activities for the kids that kept the parents occupied haha.  I think I'll try again, but with more of a craft show than festival.  My aunt Paula came too and had some of her own items to sell.  She sold a bit, but also not as much as we thought we'd do.  At least our table looked cute, right? :)

Fat Quarter Sale

Today I wasn't feeling well at all.  I basically just layer around all day doing nothing.  The only thing I dragged my butt off the couch for was to stop at Joann for a few minutes.  Their fat quarters were only 99 cents and I had been waiting for a while to get some.  Exciting, I know.  Back to the couch!

Craft Night Alone

Tonight has been a relaxing evening for me.  Peter's gone with some guys form the gym at a fight and I stayed home to get some crafting done for my upcoming craft show.  My craft show is my "happy place" right now because it's where I can do all of my crafting, but we also closed it off during our battle with the fleas so we didn't see many, if any at all, there.  (And in the past week we haven't seen any in the house!! But we don't want to declare flea freedom just yet because we're afraid we'll jinx ourselves.)

I was able to get some onesies and burp cloths made as well as a bunch of flower clips/pins.

Now, onto vegging on the couch...

Wedding Decorations

I'm finally finished with all of the decorations I was to make for Mark and Jackie's wedding! It took a while to make all of the treat bags since I scalloped the edges of the bag, had to punch 2 circles per bag, stamp one of those circles, then glue them all together. 208 times! Whew! I also Steelerfied (Is that a word? If not, then it should be!) the guest book, ring bearer pillow, and flower girl basket.

I think they look pretty good, don't you?

Randomness

I love crafts. Possibly a little too much because I see great ideas online and want to make everything haha.

I recently saw ideas for appliques for onesies and whipped up these 2 as gifts for friends. The birdie was for baby girl Marando, now known as Laney.

The elephant was for Eli. Cute and pretty simple to do!

I now have a small stockpile of white onesies that I've gotten at Walmart and Babies R Us for pretty cheap. Now I just need to find some more ideas for appliques! I'm thinking a pumpkin and Christmas tree may be fun for the holidays!

Is there a limit on free samples for paint colors? I hope not! I got a nice stack to use my paper punches on for gift tags, etc.

Is this post random enough? No, not yet?

How about 2 random pictures of our dining room to add to the mix. I have the linens we got while in Italy out and have been enjoying them and thinking fondly of our trip last year.

A new centerpiece arrangement that I came up with a few weeks ago:

Well that about does it for what's going on here, haha.

Sewing Something New

So tonight I decided to attempt sewing something new: a skirt...with pockets. For some reason things like zippers and pockets sound scary. They're actually quite simple. The pockets were even easier than my first attempt at zippers.

The whole thing took me about 2 hours. I'm pleased with the end result, but feel like it might be a bit too wide. I could always take it in, but that would mean redoing the whole thing basically since it has pockets. I'll wear it this weekend and see if it bothers me or not.

The pattern is great and I love the black in it so it's easy to pair with things I already have.

This one is a bit blurry, but I wanted to show the pockets. I love pockets. Especially with skirts and dresses.

Joann is having their 25% off (entire purchase, including sale items!) Friends and Family Event this weekend. I was already planning on going for a few miscellaneous craft supplies, and now I think I'll need to get some fabrics for more skirts! :)

A weekend that's good for my soul

This weekend was just what I needed. After work on Friday, we drove up to New Castle for Pizza Joe's and games with great friends. Immediately upon arrival, I threw on my lounge clothes, chatted with the girls, and knew it'd be a fabulous night. The addition of BBQ chicken pizza from Pizza Joe's (my favorite!) and hilarious games were just a bonus! We, of course, stayed until very late, and went straight to bed when we got home.

Saturday morning started with sleeping in followed by a yummy breakfast. After that, we did some random things around the house. I read for a while, and watch 2 Lifetime movies while doing some crafts. I had a bunch of old file folder that were going to be trashed and thought I could use my 3" scalloped circle punch and make some punches to use later for gift tags, etc.

This:

Turned into this. Notice the stack of punched circles. I don't think I need to buy craft paper for these for quite some time!

I did some grocery shopping during the late afternoon while Peter stayed home and cleaned a bit. We made yummy steak sandwiches for dinner and watched "Cops" followed by "The Secret Lives of Bees". Such a good movie!

This morning we went to church and since Peter wasn't feeling well, came back home afterwards. We didn't really have any plans, but Peter definitely needed to rest up. While he slept some on the couch, I played Hallmark movies and did more crafting!

I made these 9 glass tile pendants for necklaces. 3 are being sold to coworkers tomorrow. I'd love to start an Etsy store or something to sell my crafts...maybe someday!

I also made this flower from scrap fabric in my stash. I made 3 of these last weekend and they are great. They can be used on headbands/clips, pinned to clothes or bags. Versatile and super cute! I just need to buy some more buttons for the centers. I don't like the look of the buttons with holes for the center and of course I have a thousand of those haha.

I picked up this canvas tote bag at Pat Catan's last weekend. I can easily swap out pins or whatever on it and it instantly matches any outfit. Love it!

This kind of weekend may seem lame to others, but it was full of things I love: Peter, friends, food, crafts, and rest. So good for my soul.

Tile Coasters

Remember my snowman coasters?

Well, while I was in Lowes today to pick up some more blank coasters, I found these beauties! They are 4 inch square tiles and were on clearance for 30 cents a pop! I scooped up four, put felt feet on them and now have great everyday coasters.

Christmas Crafts

I love Christmas time and all of the fun decorations. I also like to get ideas from stores, movies, and blogs on how to decorate my own home. I love making my own decorations because I feel like the not-so-perfect-one-of-a-kind decorations made by yours truly are the ones I end up liking the most. Anyone can buy/order a pre-made decoration. Lately I've been seeing tons of great ideas for new crafts and decorations. The only problem is that I would need a 5,000 square foot house to be able to display it all! So I pick and choose what to make for my house.

Here are three new additions to our Christmas decor this year...

1. Christmas Pillow Covers

I posted about making these here, but here they are in all their glory on the couch near the tree!

2. Snowman Coasters

How adorable are these little guys?? Total cost for a set of 4 is about $2. They are so cute and super easy to make! I just used some 4"x4" tiles from Lowes for 36 cents each, stamped the snowman on it, painted over with a layer of craft polyurethane, and added 4 little felt feet to the bottom so they don't scratch any surfaces. The felt feet can be found at the Dollar Tree. I made a bunch of these to sell at a local Arts Center and will also be giving them away for Christmas presents. Cute and easy...love it!

3. Dollar Tree Hurricane

I've seen all over blogland how to make these hurricanes. I made some for fall, so I just took the fall stuff out, and added Christmas stuff, and voila! I bought some of this garland a few weeks ago at Kohls. I snipped one end and emptied the garland into the vase, keeping the twine for future projects. (As a side note, I loved that it was on twine that I could use later.) I added a $1 Joy ornament from Target and tied it around the front with a piece of the twine. I love it! Please don't mind the antenna or speakers - those are Peter's "decorations"!

Here's a close-up:

To see more great Christmas crafts, go here.

Christmas Pillow Covers

My sewing machine was out of commission for a couple of weeks, but I finally have it back. First project that I accomplished? Christmas pillow covers!

I had been searching for fabric to make Christmas pillow covers, but I didn't find anything that really jumped out at me. I didn't want to buy Christmas pillows because then I'd have to store them. When I was in Boscov's 2 weeks ago with my mom, I saw these napkins that I loved and thought would be perfect to make a pillow out of!

So I took my two palm tree pillows, the 4 napkins, 2 zippers, and went to work!

And ta-da! Christmas pillow covers. Exactly what I was looking for!

I had 4 napkins so I made two pillows. I could've made 4 and used solid for the backs, but honestly, I didn't think of that until after I was all done. haha

And a hidden zipper! Not bad for my first zipper project!

I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. They're Christmassy, but not overbearing and will match the rest of my decor just perfectly!

Storage boxes on the cheap

Everytime I see a cute storage box, basket, or whatever, I feel like I want to buy it. I think that I may have a mild case of OCD with organizing things and making it decorative at the same time. The tv stand in our spare room as an open space that I just haven't been able to use efficiently. I had some frames and other decor in there for a while, but I felt like it was wasted space. I don't feel like spending money from my budget to buy some sort of baskets, etc. right now so for now this is what I have...

I have 2 identical boxes from drugstore.come orders as well as a plethora of fabric scraps. I took some chocolate brown fabric and covered one of the boxes. Looks pretty good for what it is and for supplies I already had on hand.

I haven't been able to figure out what to do with the stack of luggage beside my dresser yet. The suitcase already has two other pieces in it so there's no more room for stuffing anything else in there. In any case, the fabric covered cardboard box is doing the trick with holding yarns and other miscellaneous stuff. Maybe I should add a handle or some kind of hardware to them so they don't look so dark. Decisions, decisions...

Weekend Treasures

I was very happy with some purchases I made over the weekend...

$5 for a new tin canister set in the kitchen. My old canisters needed replaced and I wanted something more decorative. Since I keep my sugar, flour, etc in snap n close food containers in the cupboard, I didn't need the canisters to be so big either. Thanks to Joann's clearance section, these were perfect!

25 cents for a nice little pumpkin :)

$2.16 for a great tray from Sears. It looks more teal and brown in person and has a cool crackle finish. It's also microwave and dishwasher safe which are added bonuses :)

Good Seasons salad dressing jar. I've been on the hunt for one, but they only sell plastic ones nowadays. Thanks to GoodWill and 50 cents, I now have a glass one like I was looking for :)

I also bought this tray for 50 cents at Goodwill. I thought the size was nice and loved the details on the edges and handles. I didn't like the colors or picture on the front, but saw its potential.

And thanks to my aunt's awesome painting skills, I now have this! I helped, but not much haha.

Now I love the details on the edges and handles and love the picture! We sealed it so we could use it for food items, etc., but I'll just be using it as a decorative piece.

$8.41 later and I have many new fun things to add to my kitchen collections :)