Friday Find – Vista Print!

Posted on June 25, 2010 by SewTara| 2 Comments

Last month I was at a rather dead craft show and got talking to a lady a few tables down and she saw my Moo cards and started showing me all her cards and said she gets her things printed at Vista Print.  If you go and sign up to receive their email newsletters (the privacy policy says they don’t share the list) you get chances for some awesome deals.  The site has a drop down with oodles of countries listed but I was being my Canadian self of course. I figured I’d actually give it a try, but I love my Moo cards so when I got a Vista email about tons of FREE products I gave it a go.  All I had to pay was shipping so I decided to get a small banner, which is actually pretty big, because then I can have something hanging at my table at future shows.

The banner seems huge! It’s 90.2 x 50.8 cm (sorry for being metric) and I stuck with the really simple one figuring I can add my own grommets and such. It seems really durable and would be great for indoor or outdoor use, I even got it wet on my kitchen counter and no harm done!

Just to be silly, as though I’m some sort of big rock star, I also picked up a small car magnet!  Here it is stuck on my fridge for now.  It says to stick it to a clean car . . . my van is so not clean right now! This is the small magnet and it’s about 28 cm x 21 cm.

I chose the ‘slow’ shipping option, trying to keep my costs down, which they describe as 21 days.  I placed my order on the 11th, it was shipped the 22nd and arrived on the 24th!  So not bad at all for all that fun stuff for only $10-ish.
The site is really easy to use, I found it got a bit wonky with the images I was uploading but had I paid attention to the requirements and pre-organized myself a bit better it might have gone more smoothly. You can also keep projects ready to go in a ‘portfolio’ and go back later to finish up. Once you’ve created something you’d like to order there is a bit of clicking to get through before you actually finalize. They try to upsell more things with crazy deals. But a few extra clicks and an email here and there are totally worth it, in my opinion, for the products you get! I sent one of the emails onto my hubby a few weeks ago and he came home and said, ‘why are you sending me spam?’ then today when he walked in and saw my stuff he was pretty impressed. So there you have it FREE Vista Print = a good thing!

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I’m not really this slow!

Posted on June 22, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

So while it seems I haven’t been very crafty lately I have been working on stuff, honest! The sad part is some of the projects are secret gifts so I can’t share my progress, which is icky. So I’ve been puttering on other little things as a break from the bigger crafts. I finally used my lovely bookplates and stuck them in my crafty/sewing books. Now that Handmade Beginnings has arrived I’ve only got 1 bookplate left! Time for another visit to Cabin and Cub.

I was almost afraid to actually stick them somewhere, they’re so lovely. Now that I’m a bit addicted to collecting fabric I’m noticing that sometimes I can’t bear to cut a piece! It’s so silly, why have it if you’re not going to use it?

Thanks to Ravelry I started a cute little apple cozy only to discover (after taking it apart 3 times) that I crochet really tightly and I’ll need to use a bigger hook so that it will actually fit an apple and not a plum!

So is it ‘cosie’ or cozie’ or ‘cosy’ or ‘cozy’? I think I use a different one every time.

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Friday Find – Craft Hope and Craft Hope the book!

Posted on June 18, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

So Craft Hope has been up to good for a while now. Being a teacher I love project 7 with it’s educational focus. Currently one of their projects, Project 8 is helping tidy things up with the gulf coast oil spill, another noble endeavor. Here’s some of the little blurb about the project,

Craft Hope Spreading seeds of hope one stitch at a time

“Here is what we are going to do… They need hand towels and wash rags to clean all of the nooks and crannies of the dolphins and sea turtles. They only need small hand towels and wash rags, no large towels please.

If you can sew, knit, or crochet this project is for you. We are asking that you create sets of hand towels and/or wash rags to send. Preferably in sets of 10 or 20. These do need to be handmade since we are ‘Craft Hope.’ If you are crocheting or knitting, please send whatever you can. You don’t have to send a set unless it is something you are up for.”

If you want to help out with that one, go here for the shipping address. Deadline is July 3rd.

AND now there’s a book on pre-order all about the wonderful good Craft Hope has been doing, and some of the crafts in case you’re feeling crafty yourself!

Book blurb: Some of the top designers offer 32-projects that can be made and donated to specific charities. You’ll also find helpful tips on how to give locally and globally, how to give thoughtfully and appropriately, and how to empower those you are helping.

Here’s the Flickr pool if you want to see what they’ve been up to in visual form.

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A happy beginning with Happy Beginnings!!

Posted on June 17, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Wheeeeee!  My copy of Happy Beginnings arrived this week.  I’m soooo exited.  I can’t really decide which project to start with but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be either these baby pants of the scrappy nap pillow!

Someday I’m tackling this peek-a-boo quilt.

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Tell Your Story catch up.

Posted on June 16, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Yeah, I’m a bad student.  Finally sat down and completed a few more pages in my Tell Your Story art journal.

Here’s the ‘Today Felt’ pages.  I used some paint chip sample thingies and just wrote over top of all the colours.  I tried to be creative with my doodles but I’m not happy with the results.

Then I finished the ‘I want more than anything’ pages.  I used some woodgrain shelf lining paper I had to make a tree and turned the pages into a fun little outdoor scene.

Finally, for now, I finished the ‘3 wishes’ and ‘Deep Down’ pages.  I tried to make them sort of fit with each other since I couldn’t think of a way to stretch those prompts over 2 pages.

It’s strange, I like scrapbooking and painting and stamping and all the things that I thought would be useful for this class but I’m having a hard time being satisfied with my work.  I’ll have to make some time to sit down for a big chunk and finish a bunch of pages at once.  Build some momentum and go with it!

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Another tote complete . . . many months later.

Posted on June 15, 2010 by SewTara| 2 Comments

So I finally managed to finish my tote I’d been working on for ages. Now that I’ve been sewing more and more things I got some ideas on how to finish it well. I was going to do things a certain way but now I’ve discovered much better ways to go about it. It’s actually a squarish bag but I didn’t use interfacing (in hindsight I should have) so it’s a tad floppier than it should be. It was a great use of some fun scraps and I love the vintage doily touch.

There’s a pocket inside with 3 compartments and then there’s one big one on the back. I’m sure it will be super useful! Now I just have to find time to use it with my growing collection of totes and bags.

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Dear Ravelry, you have stolen my evening and my heart.

Posted on June 13, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

So I joined Raverly waaaay back when but didn’t do much with it. I don’t even know how to knit and can only crochet squares (in one colour) so I didn’t do much with it. BUT I went on to check out the bag my friend Joanna finished and got clicking around and saw things I’d like to make. So I logged in and started favouriting, which led to putting patterns in my library, and going on a yarn buying run to Michael’s today *sigh* Nevermind the gazillion projects I’m in the middle of right now, like I need more!!

Here’s some of the things I fell in love with, it appears links won’t help you as you have to be signed in so I’ve linked to blogs instead.

Love, love, love this sweater by Flint Knits. Probably because it’s green and that seems to be my new colour bff but it’s really nice and I fully intend to make one.

I love this brilliant idea for it’s eco-friendliness and cost effectiveness. I stopped using our swiffer (it was left in the house by the previous owners) because I never remembered to get, or could be bothered to pay for, the little refill thingies. Problem solved with this little pattern!

I NEED to make my boys some of these hats. I had been looking around the net trying to find a nice free pattern. Silly me forgetting about Ravelry. Thanks to Coffee Bra for sharing.

This bag by Lykkefanten, who is apparently only on ravelry, so if you’re a member seek her(?) out.

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Friday Find – Dress a day with the wonderful Marisa

Posted on June 11, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

So a fan/friend Heather gave me a bag of fabric the other day, people are starting to do that, it’s great!  So she dropped it off and I started to sort through the pile.

There were some fun finds inside, including this fabric that made me and my bff had a big chuckle over this funky striped one.  Until Heather informed us she made shorts out of it back in the day!

So we kept sifting through the pieces of fabric and I was sorting into ‘keep’ and ‘donate’ piles, and then I reached in and pulled this little beauty out!  It’s so horrible!  It’s a silky shimmery thing and it was pretty hideous.  We couldn’t really figured out how the front would hang, I’m not sure it’s 100% complete, there seem to be some unfinished edges.

After getting over the initial shock of how remarkably icky it was I thought of New Dress a Day, which I’ve recently subscribed to.  Marissa has decided for 365 days she will create a new item of clothing from a thrifted item, all for the grand price tag of $365.   She does some really amazing things.  Some of her ‘finds’ I would just walk by as fast as possible.  Here’s one of her recent creations.

Starting with that she creates these 2 awesome pieces!

So I sent her an email and offered her the challenge of modifying the hideous dress I found in a gift bag of fabric.  She accepted and yesterday I was off to the post office and mailed her a big envelope full of ugly dressness!  Have fun Marissa.

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Posted in fun finds, repurposing, sewing

The fun of last weekend.

Posted on June 9, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Well now that I’ve been back into my jobs as Mommy and teacher I have time to write about my weekend away from all that!  We drove down south of the border to spend a fun filled day at Darien Lake, eat at Olive Garden and shop before driving back home.  I was a bit surprised at Darien Lake, I thought it’d be bigger.  The only amusement park I’ve ever been to is Canada’s Wonderland and I guess because I’ve been going since I was about 7 it seems old to me.  But now I think it’s pretty darn awesome and those of us lucky enough to live near it shouldn’t complain!

I absolutely love rides and before I carry on about my weekend I have to blab about the Behemoth at Wonderland.  Go here, check out the size of it, click the video part and ride the one as if you’re on the coaster.  The first drop is a 75 degree drop, we were in the front car, as you go over the top you can’t see the track below it’s that steep, it’s crazy!

Anyhow back to the weekend. So we rode most of the rides at Darien lake, some were closed. The Twister was crazy fun!It doesn’t look like much but it spins like crazy and all random,  you don’t know what’s coming at all, it’s great.  I didn’t have reception on my iphone once we crossed the border so I left it in the hotel room not thinking we might have wanted the camera and video taking abilities.  A video of us on this would have been great.

The Motorcoaster was also a blast! Again, it looks tiny and innocent compared to sprawling coasters but it was great.  You also get to sit on little motorcycle thinigies and after you get on it pulls around the corner to sit at a red light and wait for the green go and then it shoots you flying around the ride, it’s amazing!

Ok so onto my shopping!  Of course I hit Jo-Ann’s and grabbed some fun fabric.

Got more of this zoo print because I love it.  I bought 3 yards with no real plan in mind.  I’ll use it to revamp Nate’s room once we move the toddler bed in and ditch the crib.  The flannel on the right is for a rag quilt for his bed.

Every time I make a rag quilt Wesley asks where his is so I got some Cars flannel to start making him his own rag quilt.

Found this nice corduroy print, it’s a nice rich chocolate brown colour.  There was only a bit left on the bolt so I grabbed it all, just under 2 yards.  I’m sure a bag of some sort will come of it.

Ok now that it’s getting late I shall wander down to my machine and get to work until I’m too sleepy.

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Had a great weekend AND won a giveaway!

Posted on June 7, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Go me!! Good thing I decided to lug my lappy across the border on our little adventure (post to follow), not only did it give us all a way to check our email and waste time online, I won something!

Thanks to Sew Spoiled for pointing me in the direction of her sponsor’s giveaways I won a personalized vinyl monogram over at Baby Bunkins. It’ll look like this (but with my initials :))

You can buy your own in her etsy shop.

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