And now for mine

Since I know that my partners have received their boxes, here's a peek for everyone else!

Another beauty

"How many of those are you supposed to get?"
"Three."
"You don't even like birds."
"They kill people but these are so freaking cute!"

Another Nesting swap, this time from Christine.

Isn't it sweet?

Vintage lace pieces.

Inside

I just really love this. I can't wait to find something to do with it.

Look at the sweet little pearly comb! I think I'm going to frame it.

I've been busy!

I received my first box from Speckled Egg's Petite Inspiration box swap yesterday. Piper put together a beautiful box!



I am absolutely in love with this little set of vintage Christmas ornaments.

And the button flowers!


Teeny chicks! (For some reason, whenever I say teeny chicks! I hear a "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" in my head.)

a valentine received

put a little love in your heart

valentine's

Valentine's for various swaps and Valentine's gifts. Left is the box, right is the valentine.

WIP

This year's Valentines Day card. Maybe.


Doll quilt for a swap, a true WIP.

swap it

A Valentine's Day swap you can find me in. (But the sign up ends tomorrow!)

Booklets!

Folding paper and getting it to line up perfectly is NOT my strong suit. I love making books but my lack of skills in the folding department make me shy away from them.

These are a little on the crooked side and I couldn't get the tabbed part for the pocket to work out, but I do like how they came out! I did two plain paper, two graph paper.


The tabbed inside pocket -- I ended up just taping it together. Works just as well. I also bound it together with my sewing machine rather than by hand.


Originally found here.

Video of the creator cutting it out and putting it together, here.

4 of hearts

winding down 2009

Clicking on the image should take you to the download of the mix made for Pigeon Post's Great Mixtape Swap.

Look at what I got!

Fab ornaments from Anna!







Yes, there is a tree. After having to go to 5 different Lowe's for one, one was finally purchased. It's still in it's wrapping in my dining room, but I assure you in the next few days these ornaments will grace it's branches!

More ornaments. And a stocking

Mini stocking for a swap over at Swap-Bot. Filled with scrapbooking stuff as that's what my partner is into and it wasn't a stretch to fill it with supplies I had around. I love this fabric and wish I'd gotten more than a 1/2 yard; too bad Hobby Lobby was out when I went back to get more.





More ornaments...this time little wooden snowflakes painted pink and blue, then coated with clear micro-beads, then glued together back to back to make a little hanging snowflake.

Snowflakes from this Etsy shop. Microbeads from here (and they come in so many fab colors!)

Swaps!

Swaps where you can find me this holiday season:

The Brooklyn Bride's Card Swap

Free People Ornament Swap

I do believe there is time to join these except for the one at Pampering Becki if you want to join. Also, if you want to exchange ornaments or cards with me one-on-one just leave me a comment with your email and we'll set it up!

Christmas in July

Let the record show that I don't really quilt. I can never get my seams to line up (not a big deal, I know). I simply find the whole process to be daunting and maddening, especially when I get to the let's put it all together part! I do like to make small doll quilts, though. What I enjoy the most, though, is the putting together of blocks part. There's just something fun about starting out with a square and adding to it to see what you get.

I joined the Scrappy Christmas Block swap at modernJax because I really wanted to try the tutorial being used for the blocks. So, so simple and once I got my fabric scraps down to the colors I wanted, I managed to whip out 8 of these in two days! The tutorial was clearly written, easy to follow, and I had no issues what so ever. I did, though, only use strips of one size.


And if you are wondering: yes, Christmas at my house is usually a pink, lime green, aqua, green dotted, stripped explosion.

I used the last of what Christmas fabric I had and threw in a few pieces of non-Christmas to balance it out. I think they are fun and colorful and so not the traditional holiday fare. I love them and I can't wait to see what everyone else in my group comes up with!

See the rest of them here.

whimsy!

For a swap that I have yet to be assigned a partner for: a whimsy jar. I figured what the heck, why not get it done and have it ready to ship for when partners do come out. You know, be ahead of the game for once.

It's just an old sauce jar filled with misc. notions from around the craft room. A lot of it I bought a few weeks ago from Layer Cake Shop -- I bought one of their bag of bon bons for inspiration.


I covered it with paper, then ric-rac, then some felt flowers to match the paper. I was at a loss for the lid, so I just covered it with a piece of fabric.


It was so much fun to put together and while it doesn't look it in the pics, it is stuffed to the top!

tin quilt

You know what's sad? Creating a swap and then being late with yours. The whole head cold/tonsils/sinus thing blew me way off track (and sucked!) and I finally got this done and out yesterday.

I found the mini quilted tin idea in a magazine and had to try it. My quilt piece was actually a piece from a vintage quilt I found in my garage that was far too damaged for me to repair, but usable enough for small projects. I goofed, though, and started making a pin cushion. I remedied that by running it through my machine and giving it more of a flower look by quilting each hexagon.

I love how it turned out.


My lid. Just a square from the Recess Charm pack and a felt flower. (Seriously, if you are looking to buy fabric online, check out Pink Chalk Fabric. Not only is she super nice, she's got a great selection and I swear the woman runs a post office out of her house because I get my orders usually within a DAY.)


Instructions from the magazine if you'd like to make your own!





Edited to say: I honestly did not know that Kathy Mack, the woman who created the mini-quilt tin, was the same Kathy who run Pink Chalk fabric.

Just a mish-mosh of things

I just made that word up, mish-mosh. Either I made it up or I've heard it before and dredged it up from my depths of my mind. Either way, I think it's a cute word and vow to be using it more often.

Answers to the questions I've gotten recently:

1. Yes. That's my real hair color. (I'm kidding. I didn't get that as a question.)

2. Where do I get my felt flowers? I had a supply of the American Crafts Greenhouse felt flowers, but ran out of those. Now, after an exhaustive internet search recently, I buy all my felt flowers on Etsy from these stores:

Basketgirl68
Crafty Craze
Kutz (which in my opinion makes the most delightful felt cuts in the world...only downfall is they are in Italy and sometimes shipping takes forever.)

3. Where do I like to buy fabric online? I have a couple of favorite Etsy shops:

Mountain of the Dragon
Latelier

And I also really like:

JCaroline
Pink Chalk Fabric (quickest flipping shipping EVER)

4. Do I swap things? Yes! I gladly do swaps privately should you ever be inclined to want something I've made. I also swap on Swap-Bot.

5. Do I have an Etsy shop? I do. You can find it here.

5a. You can also find my wares in the November Sampler and at Needles + Pens in SF.

6. My favorite craft item? Seriously. Has. To. Be. RIC RAC. I can't get enough of it.

And since we're not project-less here, the doll quilt I made for a recent swap:

Mission: abundance

For an artists/crafters challenge, the theme was "abundance". I wanted to do some kind of mini-quilt thing but couldn't make it work. I wanted to do flowers, lots of them, but I couldn't get it to translate into fabric. So I switched to paper and felt, with a floral background.