Contributing Post - DIY Cardigan Guards

Hi Friends! I'm doing my first contributing post over at The Lovely Cupboard today.

Drop by to check out the DIY Cardigan Guards (aka sweater chains) I made!!

Date Night Coupon Book with Tutorial

Wednesday night is 'Date Night' in our house. Jake and I try to get out and hit new restaurants, stroll around the park, take advantage of our favorite happy hour or just stay in with delivery and a dvd.

We usually manage to come up with at least an idea or two but now and then we have a conversation that goes something like this;

Me: "What do you want to do?"
Hubby: "I don't know. What do you want to do?"
Me: "I don't know. I asked you first."

To help us get inspired on those nights we're feeling stuck, I created this simple coupon book! We've filled it with ideas for date nights and can take turns selecting coupons then hitting the town (or the couch).

I started by cutting 2 pieces of micro suede approximately 2.5" x 5.5". Then I cut out about 25 old book pages slightly smaller than the cover pieces. I decided to use book pages because they are sturdy but still thin enough that I could sew through a stack of them.

I ran the pages through my sewing machine after I had removed all the thread (top thread and bobbin) so that I'd get holes in the paper. This perforated the pages so they could easily be pulled out and cashed in on date night. I used a binder clip to hold the pieces together so they didn't slip around in the machine.

I stamped a label onto a piece of card stock and glued it to one of the suede covers. I sewed around the edged with a zig-zag stitch a couple of times.

I clipped together the book pages and both sides of the cover. I stitched through all the layers using a heavy duty needle. Once everything was together, I cut a piece of book scrap and glued it on the spine of the book to hide the stitching.

I had fun decorating my date night idea pages but since Mr. Lime isn't particularly crafty, he has blank stickers to fill out.

Guess where we're going for date night when it's my turn to pick a coupon?!

This was one of the projects I created for the Master Crafter campaign over on Craftster! Pop by if you still haven't checked it out.

The Kitty Cat House - Finally Ours

This post has been a long time coming but I'm SO happy to finally share it with all of you!

The past few months have been a roller coaster of highs, lows, moments of quiet anticipation and periods of hair-on-fire PANIC. But I'm happy to report that we signed the final papers (from Mexico) to close on our new home last week.

We dubbed it the "Kitty Cat House" because the peaks in the roof and the front windows reminded us of a kitties face. We knew right away it was the perfect home for our family but we had to overcome a few hurdles (credit clean-up, competing offers, IRS delays, miscalculations) before we put pen to paper. Fortunately, the house gods smiled upon us and we made it through!

Welcome to our new home :).

And here is the location of my future craft room! I can't wait to get moved in. 

As noted above, the final signing had to happen from Mexico as we weren't able to wrap everything up before we got on the plane. I would not recommend this method of closing but we were able to work it out and then celebrate with a margarita (or 7) :)! 

Thanks for all of the kind words you shared in my Holding On and Letting Go a couple weeks back. Your thoughts and support helped carry us through the last legs of our home buying adventure. 

I'm anxious to get caught up with all of you now that I'm back from vacation! Hope you had a great week. 

The Girls

Gosh, I'm sorry to keep boring you with MORE felt badges but I just can't stop making them! They are such a fun and flexible craft.

These girls were made for the Felt Badge swap over on Craftster. My partner mentioned that she liked "odd Ripley's type themes" so I ran with it! I did a Google search for "Sideshow Posters" and found inspiration in a painting that I'm kicking myself for not being able to locate now!! I'll keep looking.

I used wool-blend felt and 1 strand of DNC embroidery floss to put her together. She is roughly 2" tall. Jake couldn't wait to get her out of the house. He thought she was a bit creepy but I liked her and was sad to have to send her away. Hopefully she's happy in her new home.

In other news, I'm excited to share that I'm going to be the monthly craft contributor on The Lovely Cupboard! Heather has gathered some impressive gals for her team and I'm so honored (and intimidated) to be part of the group. I'll be doing my first post there later in June. In the meantime, check out the sweet introductory post she did for the team today.

Holding On and Letting Go

I saw a nice quote the other day, "Life is a balance of holding on and letting go." Some quick internet research tells me that Keith Urban was the original author.

Jake and I are currently in the midst of some stressful times (more to share on this soon) and this quote is serving as a great reminder to hold on to the things that matter and just let the other stuff go. These Artist's Trading Cards (ATCs) were inspired by the saying.

I used all kinds of goodies from my bin-o-crafty-junk for these including; book pages, buttons, water color paints, fabric and paper scraps. I used an old Rainier Beer can and my newly acquired metal stamps to make the words. I added some decorative stitching with my sewing machine.

Things I'm holding on to right now...

- My perfectly wonderful husband
- Our silly dogs
- My always loving and supportive parents
- Our group of friends that make us laugh, no matter what
- The community of online pals I've made in recent years
- The fact that we are healthy, happy and have everything we need

Things I'm letting go of...

- The 5 lbs I wanted to lose (but didn't) before our upcoming trip
- The fact that my new blog template isn't close to being finished
- The stress of getting the house spotless for in-laws
- Anything that's out of my ability to control!


What are you holding on to and letting go of this week?

PS - sincere apologies for the weirdness you will likely see around here while I customize my new layout and update all of my old posts :)

Wee Bee Badge

We have been having so much fun in the felt badge swap over on Craftster. There have been some truly awesome badges created. The gallery is filled with felt goodies ranging from VW busses, to zombie bull dogs and even an opera singing ear of corn! I can't wait to get the next round up and running.

This is the badge I created for lindyv. She and I have been in loads of swaps together but were never partnered up. It was great to finally get to craft with her! She had a cute bee pincushion on her wish list that inspired this design.

It was made with wool-blend felts and mostly stitched with 1 strand of DNC embroidery floss. The black details on the bee were done with 3 strands of floss because I wanted them to pop a bit more. The two badges are attached with a thin satin ribbon.



Thanks for dropping by. I hope you all have a good week!

Mini Cork Board and Felt Thumbtacks with Tutorial!

My hubby and I are busy bees and sometimes we forget important things... like our lunches :)! We're always leaving sticky notes around the house as little reminders to ourselves and each other. I created this mini framed cork board and felt thumbtacks to help us keep track of our week!

I selected a frame and removed the glass and cardboard from inside. I used the cardboard as a template for cutting a piece of cork that would fit in the frame.

I cut out a piece of fabric approximately an inch bigger than the cork on each side. I covered one side of the cork with Elmer's dot runner glue and stuck it to the wrong side of the fabric.

I ran a strip of glue dots around the edges of the other side of the cork. I pulled the fabric tight and stuck it down, kind of like I was wrapping a present! The back side will be tucked into the frame and won't be seen so don't worry if it's a little messy.

Once the cork package was all wrapped up, I went back to the frame and added Elmer's glue dots all over the back. Stick the dots and then peel the paper. Easy and STICKY!

Then I stuck the fabric wrapped cork board into the frame and it was ready for storing our notes!

Now that we had our board, I wanted to add some cute thumbtacks to hold our reminders.

I started by tracing a few simple designs onto tracing paper and cutting them out of felt.

I added a few simple embroidery stitches to give the pins a little more character.

I added a dollop of glue to attach the designs to a piece of background felt.

Then I snipped around the designs to create a little border. On the larger puppy, I stitched the design to the border piece but that was just for looks :). The glue would have held them together just fine!

The last step was to add a drop of glue to the back and attach the thumbtack.

After letting everything dry sufficiently, the completed board and felt thumbtacks were ready for our reminders!

We hung ours on the front door so we don't forget a thing! I think it would also look cute on a desk or hanging in the kitchen where everything happens :).


And in case you couldn't tell from all of the shots of glue, this was another project I did as part of the Elmer's Glue Master Crafter series. If you haven't already, be sure to check out all of the great projects that the group made!

Thanks for stopping by!

Driftwood Cottages Tutorial

Jake and I are lucky enough to live just a few miles from the beach and when the weather allows (which isn't all that often in Seattle), we like to comb the shores for beach glass, pretty rocks, seashells and driftwood!

Using the Elmer's paint pens I received as part of the Master Crafter series, I turned our beach finds into a bright and cheery village.

These are really easy and fun to make! All you need is some wood and a package of paint pens. I've made other driftwood houses using regular acrylic paints as well to that's another option. If you don't live near a beach, check Etsy for driftwood packages available for purchase.

Before doing any painting, I start by giving the wood a bleach bath and good scrub. Once they are clean, I allow them to dry for a few days to make sure all of the moisture has escaped.

When dry, I draw an outline of the cottage features using simple shapes.

Then I color in each shape. I did one coat, let it dry and then went over the top again to make the colors extra bright!

Once everything is dry (which only takes about 5 minutes) the final step is to outline your shapes with a black marker and add any special details you want. I use a Sharpie marker.

And that's it! Now that you have a cute cottage, or maybe a whole collection of cute cottages, what are you going to do with them? Here are some ideas;

- Leave them around the beach for someone else to discover
- Glue a magnet on the back and use on the fridge
- Add them to potted plants as a home for bugs
- Connect them in a ring to make a wreath
- Line a row of them up on your mantle as a special decoration
- Tie a ribbon around one, hang it over a bottle of wine and give it as a housewarming gift
- What other ideas can you think of?

Hexagon Monogram Tutorial

Yesterday I let the cat out of the bag about the Elmer's Master Crafter campaign I was lucky enough to get to be a part of over on Craftster. Today I'm sharing one of the projects I made with the fun products I received!

I adore all of the hexagon quilts I've been seeing around lately. While I'd love make one of my own, my quilting skills aren't up for that challenge. Instead, I made a simple paper version over this wooden monogram!

I started with a 9" wooden letter that I found at the craft store.

Next, I cut 1" strips of craft paper using the X-ACTO paper cutter I received. I used coordinating papers from a collection but I think random colors and patters would also look great too!

I found a 1" hexagon pattern online, printed it and glued it to a pice of light weight cardboard to make a sturdy template.

Once I had my template and all of my strips ready, I cut and cut and cut and cut hexagons in all kinds of colors and patterns. I used an X-ACTO knife but scissors would work just as well. I would estimate that I needed about 50 hexis for this size letter.

When I had a whole pile of hexagons, I started gluing them to my letter. I took each hexi and rubbed it all over the top of my Elmer's glue stick to quickly and easily cover the entire shape.

One by one, I glued and then stuck the hexagons in a row, being sure I was alternating the colors and paper patterns. I attached the shapes right over the edges knowing I could clean that up later.

When the entire letter was covered, I flipped it over and used the X-ACTO knife and cutting mat I received to trim off the overlapping hexagons. This gave the edges of the letter a nice clean look.

Now I just need to find somewhere to hang it!

Keep an eye on Pam and Kira's blogs too! They were part of the series and I hear they will be sharing more about the experience on their blogs soon. You can see all of the amazing projects that were created over on Craftster. Swing by!