Monthly Archives: July 2010

Friday Find – JewelzyBug Designs GIVEAWAY!!

Posted on July 16, 2010 by SewTara| 16 Comments

As if playing around on etsy isn’t dangerous enough already, the other day while poking around I clicked ‘shop local’ and stumbled onto some pretty neat stuff. My favourite was JewlezyBug so I’m sharing her first! Julie has created some really cute characters and uses some interesting materials. She paints on rocks to make neat pendants and uses pages from old books and phone books as the canvases for her whimsical paintings!

I sent her a message on etsy and she seems really fun and agreed to do a GIVEAWAY!!!!! Soooo free stuff to someone who’s in need of cuteness! Julie is willing to giveaway one of her prints, see them all here in her flickr pool, just leave a comment here telling us which one is your fav (they’re numbered 1-90). I like this little guy.

I asked her a little bit about herself and she sent this little blurb, thanks for sharing!

“I have always doodled and painted for as long as I can remember. I am drawn to bright colours and happy motifs that catch the eye and make you smile. I like my art to make you feel good and brighten your day. I use old books and phone books as my back drops because they visually stimulate the eye and provide texture to the art. I feel my art is a reflection of my inner child just wanting to play. I take inspiration from colour, from my day, nature, from the people in the my life and from my furbabies (4 cats and 1 dog: Jewels (hence the name!)”

She also has a blog where she shares her new creations, fun crafts and her cute animals. I love these ribbon curtains she made.

I’ll do some magical random winner picking Sunday night and announce Monday morning! Ohhh the suspense, I’d better set my iphone alarm . . .

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Posted in fun finds, other crafts, papercrafts, repurposing

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Beyond Thread and Floss begins!

Posted on July 13, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

Starting yet another online class!! I think I’m addicted.  This one is all about cute stitching in fun and different ways.  I just love keeping the creative ideas rumbling around in my head by keeping projects on the go.  So Mollie, over at Wild Olive, is our lovely teacher and I just joined the flickr group in anticipation of needing to post things there.  Then I found these cute little fellows!

You can hop on over to her blog to download and print them for yourselves. She posted them waaaaay back in November when my blog, this creative journey of mine, was still just a little baby so I guess I totally missed it. I can barely keep up with all the crafty/arty/fun blogs in my RSS let alone go back and see what they were talking about pre-SewTara! On that note, off to be creative.

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Posted in beyond fabric and floss, embroidery

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Craft swap fun!

Posted on July 12, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

So I worked really really hard to get all of my pincushions done, even worked on them while the hairdresser and make up lady were getting us ready for the wedding last Saturday. I’m being inpatient and sharing now.

The swap is run by Amanda. I headed out last Monday with my box squished with 16 pincushions to mail them far, far away to Colorado. The nice man at the post office had icky news. To get the package to her before the weekend it was going to cost just under $60. Technically it was due to her on Wednesday! I could use the 5 day option for $25. It was a sad, sad day.

Luckily Amanda took pity on me, and some other people facing similar problems and extended the deadline nto the end of the month! Now I can send my cute little goodies for less than a zillion dollars. AND I’ll get a nice and fun box full of 16 camp themed goodies in the mail! It’s going to be so fun.

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Posted in other crafts, sewing

Finally a beginning to the Handmade Beginnings projects.

Posted on July 11, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Finally decided to take some time to tackle a project from Handmade Beginnings. I vowed to use things I had on hand so while they aren’t as colourful as the ones in the book they’re equally as cute once they’re on my little sweetie. I used some IKEA fabric and some red with little white polka dots and just plain yellow.

It’s been pretty hot lately so Nate sort of objected when I snagged him to put some pants on for a photo op. So it only lasted a few shots. I had to distract him with toys and stealing his suckie to get him to stretch up for a nice back shot.

The instructions were really easy to follow.  I was surprised by the way they laid out the patterns, to save paper I understand, and I had to tape it all to a window and trace the pieces onto graph paper.  I went with the 24 month pattern, even though Nate’s only 18 months, they’re a little big so they’ll fit him for a while.  I turned the cuffs up twice so they wouldn’t be too long.  He was napping when I was finishing them up so I used Wesley as my model.  The pants would fit him perfectly if there was another inch or two on the bottom.  I’m hyped to make some more.

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Posted in crafty books, kid fun, sewing

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Pouch madness!!

Posted on July 10, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

The lovely ladies I worked with in my classroom love flip flops and someone brought in a little clutch and they thought it was really cute.  I instantly recognised it as one from KeykaLou and so, any excuse to shop, off I went to buy the pattern!

I had a harder time than I thought finding flip flop fabric but etsy pulled through for me.

The pattern was really easy to follow and I’m a sucker for bags, totes and now clutches soooooo I made some more. At the last minute, I think it was Thursday, I decided to make some for my BFF to use on her wedding day and for me to carry with my dress. I managed to make 2, I wanted to keep going but ran out of the clasps. I used some of my cute Michael Miller lovebird fabric. At the last moment I added some ribbon to turn them into wristlets. Had I thought of it earlier I could have made all the ladies in the wedding one, oh well.

Here’s mine with the shoes I was supposed to wear but didn’t (more on that later).

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Posted in sewing

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Friday Find – household tip, trapping pesky fruit flies

Posted on July 9, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

I won’t say this tip absolutely gets rid of them but it sure helps knock the population down a bit!

I was very industrious outside yesterday with the wonderful help of my friend Joanna.  Now my backyard looks so neat and tidy, better than it’s looked in the 3 years since we moved here!! It’s hard to do things with 2 little ones underfoot. Joanna did more work than me since I had to keep getting drinks/snacks/stopping quarrels . . . but the end result was great. Before and afters soon.

Today is a rainy gray day so we’re staying in and relaxing after a busy week. However, with that comes the horrible summer-keeping-a-compost-bin-on-the-counter problem of fruit flies. So I made some little traps.

That trap was near my compost bin for a about a week.  I suppose you could be diligent and free the little fellows outside.  I apologize for the fruit flies that were harmed in the making of this post.

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Posted in other crafts

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How will I top last year’s got-over-150,000 hits-XKCD cake?

Posted on July 6, 2010 by SewTara| 5 Comments

Last year I made this cake for my darling husband.

I just stole it from here.  I also doodled other little bits of the comics that I knew he liked, adding my own little geeky joke to the bottom right corner.

Hubby was absolutely thrilled! He instantly posted it on Reddit, and the world (well of geeks) started to notice. It got a bunch of  comments on Reddit, ended up on Digg as well. The image got over 150 000 hits!   Waaaay more attention than I thought, I was just baking my honey a cake he’d like.

His birthday is quickly approaching and I have nooooooo idea how I can compete with last year’s cake :(

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Posted in other crafts

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Kool Aid jammer beach bag fun!

Posted on July 3, 2010 by SewTara| 14 Comments

Someone at work mentioned she had attempted to sew juice pouches and kept breaking needles.  I happily offered to make her the bag she couldn’t make herself.  So I sat down to construct a bag and liked it so much I made myself one too!

It’s absolutely ginormous and can hold everything you need to head to the beach/park/swimming.  I’ve carried mine back and forth to work, swimming with the kids and yes, to the beach!  It’s great for things that are wet, like your water bottle that gets all condensation-y, or your wet swim stuff.  I used black nylon for the straps and I made them really big, I bought about a  metre/yard and just cut it in half to make 2 straps.

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Posted in kid fun, other crafts, sewing

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The wedding quilt revealed!

Posted on July 2, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Ok right now we’re dining in Toronto for the non-rehearsal dinner for my BFF’s wedding.  So I should be giving her this gift any moment and therefore I can finally show you all!!!

Here’s is the wonderful and eclectic snuggle quilt I have created for my lovely BFF and her soon to be hubby.  It took a while to track down and collect all these fabrics that mean something special to them and it makes for one colourful quilt!  The backing is just plain brown in case tehy want to flip it over and actually have it in their living room without it accidentally hypnotizing people.

Years and years ago I sat down and created a quilt for myself, which I never actually quilted.  This was my first time stitching through the layers of the quilt and it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.  I did stick to the easy route and just stitched around the boarder, the outside row of squares and a box inside to hold the batting in place.  I’m really happy with the result and I’m sure it will provide years of snuggily warmth to my dear friends.

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Posted in other crafts, sewing