Blast 64 :: Something more (and a winner!)

Soooo many bookmarks...the girls helped with some too. I love seeing their take on something I'm working on. At first, I often try to guide them into "the way" to do it, but they always remind me that they have their own way.
And its pretty awesome.
These are made from more of those beads from A Greater Gift. Handcrafted in India. Love it.
Today, I popped together some more buttons to send off for other folks to make some loveliness with (please, send me updates! :).
The 'so many bookmarks' tale? They are for something special I have in the works. News on that coming soon...
Today's news?
A winner!
Our middle G drew this one from THE BOWL....and she is....
Hallie (again!) Ha! Too Funny lady! Sew up that pillow and send me some pics, please ! ;)
Goodness, I love it.
Can you guess what this week's drawing will be? Hmmm.....I wonder?

Blast 63 :: Topping it off....(and a gievaway!)

Or...something like that.
Not quite sure where these quilted pieces are going but, I had a jellyroll of Moda's vintage inspired "Punctuation" that I was itching to use so whipped these up.
I'm pretty sure the oranges are going to be sprucing up my kitchen as a cover for the counter where we serve food when guests are over.
The black set will likely be a purse...the red, white and blue? I am thinking bedding for the girl's doll bed (?) and lastly this school themed one? For you!

Kindly leave a comment here and I will draw a winner and announce her (a she, likely ;) in Monday's post!
Good Luck!

PS. The 365 is currently not running on high speed ;) Still chugging along but it's likely posts will be WIPs and possibly not daily. Still here ~ just here as well ;)

Blast 62 :: Wall Hanging Redo

A fourth time....this is a keeper though (thanks to Cindy for the inspiration! - you're getting some buttons, girl, just for the help! :)

It's an 8x10 (agreed upon size) so not too imposing on any wall (hopefully! ;).
With a wool felt front and back this hangs much more nicely than the crocheted piece. I think I should have felted the crocheted wool prior to sewing on the embellishments. Oh well, live and learn! Now, what to do with that...?
Most importantly, I'm happy with this and feel it is a nice piece to gift to someone rather than just something to just get done which is what I was having a hard time with before.
Thanks again to Cindy for sending along that photo! It was perfect :)
xoxo

Blast 61 :: Skipped a beat

Whoops!

Late nights with a little teething somebody and busy days with a rockin' preschooler - (not to mention their sibs!) makes for one tired mama these days.

Monday?

I crashed. Head to the pillow and gone kind of crashed.No crafting for me that day...

Same with last night. So while I did craft up some pants for Little Miss...I about passed out before posting my ...well nothing post for Monday.

Truth be told, it was something though...some serious goodness of other kinds.

Little Miss and I had a crazy good time making oodles of goodies (passing on the pics of the chocolate chip cookies - mama can't have a camera in her hand every second now, she might look kind of weird) and generally having a focused, nicely flowing day.

Skipped a beat in the 365 but making my mama's heart totally skip a beat or two.

It was a good day.

And Tues?

Well, yes in fact. There was crafting.

Sorely in need of pants for Little Miss, I poked around for some fabric that would make durable and comfy pants (sometimes tough to come by both criteria in the same pants) and found an Ecosport skirt a lovely lady had sent along my way. The backside had a tear which could have been repaired but, I thought they'd enjoy a new lease on life covering the booty and leggies of Little Miss and her sidekick, Little Miss Jr.

Not to mention that I had a minute to snap some shots of these gorgeous garden flowers gifted to me by a sweet friend...

Sometimes I wonder...just how blessed can a girl get? Feeling pretty darn lucky these days.

Blast 60 :: More buttons...(and a winner!)

Guess what I did for crafting yesterday? I had a little help too. Goodness, is she fun to do this with to boot...

I cut the circles and she created the little buttons (as we call them....). Then once we had enough circles...(do you think a gallon sized baggie is enough? Big things in mind for these, I tell you) I joined her.

That is, until we could no longer keep little Godzilla at bay (and the circles from her mouth ;).

Good fun all around.

Speaking of fun...our winner!

Well, Hello to you Miss Mae!

"LOVE!! These would be perfect for some crowns I want to make for x-mas"  

Congratulations to you! Drop me a line at writeus4@yahoo.com with your address and I will send these along their happy little way! Enjoy that crown making - fantastic idea!

Good luck next week!
xo

Blast 59 :: Thank you ~

Little 'Thank You' magnet sets to some lovely ladies for sharing their time and love to welcome our littlest one into the fold. Thank you so, so very much. You guys are beautiful and the best.

xoxo

Blast 58 :: Round In Circles

Say hello to yesterday's crafting fun and today's drawing!  Two birds with one seed kind of post today....

I squeezed in some time to make a quartet of these little wool felt circles...not quite sure what they will become but, I think I see a plan forming...loosely. The possibilities may very well be endless with these and honestly, I have to admit, they are a bit addictive. I spent a good portion of this evening ignoring my sink of dishes to make even more of these little blastoids. Love seeing my bag of wool felt scraps dwindling down too...
And in honor of all our creative inspirations ~ this week's drawing!
How about 10 of these little do-dads? I would love, love to see what folks do with them too. So fun.
If you're itching to get your circular mojo on, please feel free to leave a comment and we (well, one of my littles) will draw a winner to announce in Monday's post.
Good Luck and Happy Crafting!

Blast 57 :: Seasons

Brrr...today was downright chilly around here!

No matter, I kept the windows open all day and loved that cool breeze (er...wind, perhaps) blowing in.

Time for a little nature table switch up.

I whipped up this acorn do-dad late into the night. I wasn't sure if it would be a bookmark or what little life it had intended for itself until today when I realized it would look pretty stinkin' cute hanging out by the nature table (which I sorely need to get crackin' on).

Love, love seeing how these projects have an intention all their own....

Blast 56 :: Tag it

Little extras to tag onto gifts this holiday season...

Squeezed this one in yesterday  -almost. She was actually stuffed today! Ahhhh, oh well.

We were happily busy loving up the house and readying to show our little man we love him so....

It was a good day.

Blast 55 :: This or that

or...sometimes neither....

I am so very late with my wall hanging swap...thank goodness for sweet and mightily patient crafters. Now, it wasn't for a lack of trying mind you. There was a collage type of wall hanging begun - then abandoned. Then I thought maybe I would give a banner a whirl, then dumped that idea. So now, I was thinking and thinking while crocheting for another project when I thought what a nice backing this thick piece would be.

And this is where it went....

Trees have been on my mind lately. The smell of them (pine), the look of them....missing them a bit (I think we need to get hiking more). And birds? Always. Love, love birds.

I was thinking this would be nice in a child's room. Maybe hung inside of a playstand area...it's certainly sturdy enough to withstand some play and wear and tear. Or maybe a pillow? Or possibly repurposed into a bag? So many possibilities if the wall hanging thing doesn't fly.  I love that about making things...the possibilities are endless....

Blast 54 :: Another season

Our family's birthday season wraps up this week ...time is short these days but,  life's plenty sweet.
Yet, annoottthheerrr owl from the basket...

or, baskets as it seems to be. Goodness, they're multiplying. I think I might be in trouble...

Blast 53 :: Cheaterpants (and a giveaway!)

Okay so, technically, this blast was not completed until today (tonight to be exact) but, it was mostly done last night...Still counts, right?

Funny little story...so there I was, with the idea to dress up this little box that we keep these 'goodnight' cards in. Sweet little things with a lovely picture on one side and a bedtime related poem or quote on the other. This was part of our bedtime routine a couple of years ago..
ahem, until the cards migrated to every end of the house that is.

Since the move, I've been finding them here and there. In game boxes, tucked into books and even mixed in with the playkitchen toys (did I mention they migrated?).  My answer to this exodus was a last ditch effort to keep them contained. We've had some oval boxes kicking around for a while so I thought one of those would do nicely.

In function, yes? Aesthetically speaking however? Eh, not so much.
Enter the felt.
Well, and some thick burlap/muslin/needlepoint cloth I had on hand as well as some trim.

As I was saying, there I was...kids in bed, sewing away. Almost done.  My plan was to create a cover to glue down on the existing cover to the box, just to dress it up a bit.

I didn't like it.

I had cut the burlap fanbric just big enough to cover the oval and was planning on using the trim to go around the edges - on the top. Not such a great idea. Maybe it would have been for a square, but not at all for an oval. So, my bird and moon were complete, it was 1am - it was time for bed.

Phase 2 - I cut out around the bird and moon with the burlap sewn on the back. Perfect! The backing gave it a bit of heft and I loved the rough edge look. Then someone....a little someone...decided she really liked the texture of that bird so I let her chew away. And chew some more. Until I had a very wet mass of felt there. I guess I could have just sewn it on, dripping wet, but decided to opt out of that choice.

Phase 3 - The felt bird was popped in the wash - but not the dryer. I was worried it would shrink up too much. So in the end? I still ended up sewing with a wet.little.bird. Silly, silly me.

Phase 4 - Bird sewn on? Check. Cut out piece of burlap placed over oval? Check. Bottle of E600 ready? Check.
Let the gluing begin.
I tacked down the bird image portion first, then the sides of the oval where the fabric would overhang  a bit, then finally, the trim onto the top of the fabric.
Done.
And then? I fell asleep with the babies.
Now?
Hello 1am. Goodness, I almost missed you.
Very much looking forward to using these cards tomorrow night. Or...tonight as the case seems to be.

And our drawing? Of course! I had a young someone who really, really wanted to help with this one. She seemed tapped into the universe and was super eager to pick this week's winner. Funny thing too as I found out later in a general email that its this lady's birthday this weekend....funny world!
Congrats Hallie!! That little mermaid is all yours! Happy Birthday sweet lady!

Good luck to you ladies next week!

xoxo

Blast 52 :: Mermaids on my mind

Must be all of this chilly fall air making me think of....Christmas. I know...not so fast, right?

Still, I found myself looking into the basket of yarn that I keep next to the couch and was just itching to whip something up. Kind of funny since, truth be told, I have a ridiculous stash of wool and wool blend yarns for someone who can only crochet a chain stitch (albeit, a mean one ;).

My list of to-dos this winter includes teaching myself how to knit. And also learn a few more crochet stitches. That would be nice. Really nice.

'Til then, I'll whip up some chains and figure out how I can use them. Like...mermaid hair for instance. Now, I know this is not a complete craft that I have finished here but, it is one complete head of hair, for one soon to be competed mermaid doll, for one special little girl. Not to mention that I now have one less ball of yarn in the stash to worry about.  Life's little pleasures....

Blast 51 :: Another page...(and a giveaway!)

It's chilly tonight. As we sat around the campfire this evening all of us could feel the shift in seasons that has been hinting it will come...here and there...
Our days have been so full as I imagine others' have been as well. This is a busy time of year full of transitions and new beginnings. I have been feeling not quite ready to let go of summer...or should I say, all of the summer plans I had that we didn't quite make it around to doing. Those days do slip by so quickly, don't they? Next year, most assuredly, yes - next year.
Until then, here is a bit of summer ~ for anyone who might like to be reminded of this glorious season full of hot days, lots of sunshine, a little Irene, and bountiful gardens ~ our weekly drawing!
If this little mermaid bookmark is calling to you, please feel free to leave a comment and that will enter you into the drawing (winner to be announced in Monday's post)...
Good Luck!

Blast 50 :: Memory

So, I just happened to mention the memory game idea to a certain little someone I know and she as all over it.

Rather than waiting to go thrifting (and remembering my pledge to try and use what I have here) I poured through some scanned images I had on hand and found some matches - lucky!

I love the sweetness of these images...