Category Archives: uncategorized

Cute handmade buttons

I bought these the other day.  They’re really cute.  The shop is called From the Red Kitchen and the buttons are lovely.

 

She’s also got some other fun goodies, including bias tape that I’m working really hard to not buy.  I’ll add learn to make bias tape to my list.

Finally catching up on some projects.

Waaaay back I got these awesome frames from Amy in a swap and I finally got around to doing what I wanted with them.

She sent me cute little sewing stamps and some nice frames. I cut out some scrapbooking paper and stamped some of the images.

Scrap Swap Buddies!

Well I was going to take a cute video and have my kids run into the room each with a name in hand and match us all up in a fun and silly way.  But Nate’s been sick all day and went to bed at about 6:30 looking very exhausted and hubby put Wesley to bed about a half hour ago.  Ooops.

Soooooo using the very high tech system I used last time I have written our names on tiny slips of paper and pulled them out in pairs at random to match us up!

Kristy S & bonitarose

SewSare & Virginia

Sara & Barb

Victoria Paige & Tara

Tara & Ali

Annabel & Leela

Cassidy & Anita

Lorna & Jennifer

Lauren & Earl-Leigh

There was a name left over so I’m very sad to say I think I’ll play twice.

So go ahead and chat with each other, maybe give a few details that might help make a package for you, if you have a son/daughter, certain project on the go or anything else.  Make sure there’s 10 ounces of fabric and anything else you want to toss in is just bonus.  Have fun and make sure to post your goodies in the flickr pool I want to see what everyone gets!

Goodbye old! Hello new!

I’ve made the transition. I now own 3 idevices.

Still learning how to navigate this little thing. But it sure is pretty.

DIY – Adding a zippered pocket while lining your tote!

Ok, welcome those of you who are feeling adventurous!  Here’s my little part 2 on lining a tote where I’ll walk you through the steps to adding a zippered pocket to the lining.

I cracked open my Bag Making Bible for this part and followed the instructions for inserting a zipper.  Lisa Lam explains very well,  I’ll give you enough information, hopefully, to tackle it yourself.  I used the panel of fabric I cut off the bottom to make my pocket.  I just folded it in half and cut it to have 2 squares to use for the pocket.

Decide how big you want your pocket and cut 2 pieces of fabric to that size, allowing for a 1/4 inch seam.  The zipper should be placed with about 3 inches on either side of the pocket pieces.  I didn’t know this, but you can just cut off the end of the zipper if you need to shorten it.

Place one of the pocket pieces right sides together on the lining piece where you want to have a pocket.  Trace out a rectangle the same size as your zipper.  Mark a line down the middle and those cute little triangles at the ends.

Sew along the outside of the rectangle, this will sew the pocket piece to the lining piece.

Cut along the guide lines you drew inside the rectangle, the half way line and the little triangles.

Next turn the pocket piece through the hole, as Lisa says “like you’re putting a letter in the post”.  Press to get a nice crisp seam.  Lay your zipper on the wrong side of the pocket.  The book suggested using double sided tape stuff to secure it, I don’t have that and just pinned it.  Use your zipper foot to sew along and stitch the zipper in place.

Lay the lining piece right side down and place the other pocket piece, right sides together, on top of the pocket piece with the zipper in it.    Sew around all four sides with a 1/4 inch seam.  This will stitch both pocket pieces to the lining fabric.

Flip it over and access the pocket through the zipper!  Voila!

Now head back to post part #1 to finish lining your tote.

Late to the party.

Sadly we haven’t been properly introduced yet.  A few hours before your arrival I started to feel a tad icky.  I’ve spent the 4 days since in some sort of flu haze, finally feeling sort of ok today.  Pretty sure I’ve never been this sick in my life.  It’s been horrible.  To add to the misery my hubby was sick and eventually Wesley started burning up too.  Luckily he just had a fever for two days and it didn’t progress into what we had.  But let me tell you, it’s no fun when Mommy and Daddy are sickly and the young children are not.

In four days I didn’t clean up the post holiday mess.  I didn’t tidy, do laundry, cook a meal, return to work or leave the couch really.  Today I started to feel a little bit better.   I didn’t get out of bed until about noon but it happened.  Took Wesley to school, finished my bucket bag, finished and packaged some orders and made some soup!  Now it’s couch time again.  Promise to be back tomorrow.

image via we heart it

Just wanted to say,

Dear Blog,

I think this picture says it all.

Had my craft show today . . . yesterday?  It went well, met some fun people I’ll share more about later and completed some orders while I was sitting there.  Now I’m just making a list of what I still need to finish and send out and it’s longer than I’d like.  Then there was a ‘missing pillow’ incident today that needed attention.  I love my Etsy shop and my whole selling online experience, it’s been super awesome, but I must say it really stinks when shipping goes wrong!

But now that it’s 12:30am-ish I think I’ll go to bed and greet this nice clean workspace tomorrow morning ready to go and get some of these items to done!  Good night anyone who’s awake.

It’s chilly out there!

There are some snow flakes blowing around too!

It’s a big day today, lots going on. It’s Mollie’s bday and blog party fun is happening in celebration! So happy birthday to her and hello if you’re popping over from her lovely site. Also, in her shop today it’s the 3rd Annual Mollie’s Turning 29 Sale! EVERYTHING is 29% off when you use coupon code MOLLIE29. Just enter the code at checkout, a fun new feature from Etsy. It’s a big weekend in the US and I’ve got my craft sale tomorrow so I’m rushing around like mad!

Getting in sync with the holiday season I whipped up a cute little gingerbread cup cozy.

I also have another nerdy one, with black rimmed glasses but I haven’t had a chance to get to the photo and posting bit yet.

Random awesomeness

Today I did something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. There’s a great little tea shop near where I live, Cup of Tea Bakery and Cafe. They do loose teas, organic and gluten free baking and free trade coffees. My friend Joanna displays her photography there from time to time and ages ago she had suggested I take some cup cozies over and see if they’d sell them in the shop. Today I finally did just that.

Since I’ve been building stock for my shop and upcoming shows, and the whole madness of being linked numerous times in September has worn off I actually have a nice little stash of product ready to go. I ran over straight from work, regretting on the way that I was in my ‘gym teacher’ outfit. I started my little pitch and pulled out my stash of cozies and Nichole immediately started sifting through them. Then she said, “How about I buy 12 of them from you right now?”. I was a bit shocked, I was expecting to show them to her and then we’d work something out and I’d come back with them later, maybe all nicely tagged. Instead there I was as she made a little pile of 12 that she liked. In my shock I said “Oh” instead of something much more savvy. But then she explained that with the holidays coming they’d be a great stocking stuffer, and I couldn’t argue with that. I feel so great that I can do some local business, get my cozies out there and help the earth a little.