Sunday, November 27, 2011

journals and notebooks

after all of my family left and i had a bit of the empty house syndrome, i decided i needed a little crafting time.  I made a cover for a composition book.  you know those cheapo books you can buy for like 20cents during back to school sales.  (mark your calendar for next august to stock up)


the measuring tape on the side is just a ribbon i had.  scrapbook paper and some stamps youve got yourself a pretty fabulous journal!!!  there are a million different things you can do to these compo books.

this lead me to my next project.  have you got those fun smaller moleskin journals lying around?  mine was like 5x8 ish.   i had one for craft room ideas already, so bing bang boom here she is all decked out. this holds ideas i see on the internet and pinterest for decorating ideas and organizing ideas. 



last, my son always has codes for his PS3 games written on scraps of paper.  well when i clean, it all gets chucked.  so his fabulous mom (thats me) made him this book today.  he helped me design it.   funny thing we printed that picture of a game controller out like that in error.  it turned out to be the best part of the book!  (coming from the bottom of the page)


these projects would be a great stocking stuffer or xmas present for kids, teens and adults. 

ok, time to go finish decorating the house for Christmas. 

Saturday, November 26, 2011

craft projects

shewwww its been a busy week.  are you all sick of turkey and stuffing yet?  i think i officially am.

ive been busy making a few projects this past month for my sisters bday.  i had promised to share them once she got her gifts.

I made her an embroidery hoop for her sewing/crafting room.  the fabric represents the fabric we used for our quilts shown HERE from last summer.   (Happy Campers by Moda)


All I did was print out a photo of us onto iron-on transfer and put it on linen. added the fabric banner and it was done.   EASY PEASY!

then i made her a bag with hometown canvas by sweetwater with some corduroy.  adorable!  I even cut into the middle of my yardage to make sure her town was on the bag.  ya, im that nice.

She even got a cottage pincushion .  here is a link for the blog/tutorial.  its a super simple design.  you can make it fun and wonky too with fabrics from your scrap bin. 


My sister flew in for the holidays and what a fun thanksgiving weekend we had!!!  lots of food and laughs, just how i like it!  she loaded up her new bag and even left one behind she had made and used on the plane. 

we even braved the crowds and did some shopping. (which i NEVER do)   can i just say WOW Joanns is scary on black friday.  some GREAT fiskars deals tho!  when we got there at 930am there were over 120 people in line just for cutting!  UFF DA!

do you all brave those crowds for some great deals?

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Friday Night Sew In signups

yep, we almost plum forgot about FNSI this month.  its in 3 days....WOAH!

my morning started off something like this:
snooze, snooze, snooze, yawn......wow....i cant believe next week is thanksgiving.  turkey, stuffing, taters, grav....grav...omg....wait....WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST!!!  Whats the date....whats the date?  OH CRAP!

grabbing my phone, still half asleep, 80s hair and all.  (my morning look).
call to my co host Heidi......um HELLO isn't FNSI in like 3 DAYS!?!?!?!!!? 
silence....yep i swear she dropped the phone!

so ya, over 2 years and we finally are worthy of a visit to donald trumps board room.  but hey, i don't know about you, but I'm mildly impressed we have pulled this off every month for like 28 months!  LOL

click HERE and get on board....we only have 3 days to plan our projects :)
see ya Friday night :)

Friday, November 11, 2011

Sweetwater Hometown Canvas Bag

Hometown by Sweetwater.  I will never get sick of this fabric line!  no, i still haven't finished my quilt i started a few months back......its in my pile of WIPS. 

but check this out!  my new favorite bag EVER!  of course its got to have some corduroy!  i used canvas hometown, black corduroy and linen for the lining along with some yardage for the handles and inside pocket.

i always make a large pocket on the inside and sew a seam down the middle, it holds paperback books perfectly.  you could even measure for a nook, ipad etc.  (shucks, why didn't i think of that before blogging!)  the linen for the lining is simple but goes with almost every fabric.  It also saves your yardage for other projects.


The handles are corduroy on one side and fabric on the other.  its a simple technique shown HERE in a bag tutorial i did a few years ago.  (forgive me but those tutorial pics are terrible--note to self to redo that tut).


see how cute the black cord is with the canvas.    i.heart.corduroy!

 
the bag measured 18 x 15 before sewing.  that's a pretty good size even for everyday use.

i have some authentic canvas (another sweetwater line) that screams this bag!!!  i think i have some xmas presents to work on today.