Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have all had a fabulous Christmas Day!

I just had to share this pic of my beautiful daughter today.  
She has been the best gift we have ever received.  


Many blessings to you,

Friday, November 4, 2011

Craft Boutique Tomorrow

Hi all, I hope you are enjoying beautiful fall weather where ever you are.   I have been working like a mad woman to fill Etsy orders and prepare for a Craft Boutique tomorrow.  I have focused on home decor items for this boutique.

Here is a quick pic of my display set up in my living room as I was planning it out.


I got some of those adorable little frames from the Stocking Stuffer area at Michaels and framed some of my favorite quotes.





I also Mod Podged some square Ikea Mirrors and added a little paint to some of them for dimension.





I made some Pom Pom Flowers.


And the rest are all wreaths.











I will check back in after the weekend to report on how it went.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Gray and Yellow Love

I have made my next wreath for the craft boutique.  I LOVE it so much, I may have to make one for myself too.





I have been making wreaths covered in felt rosettes for a few months, and I love them.  But, I was trying to think of a different felt flower that would be cute on a wreath.  So, I decided to attempt it using this little puff-like flower.  (This Felt Flower Tutorial is linked to pic if you are interested.)


I used a little smaller strips than I used in the tutorial, about 4 x 9 because I was covering an 8 inch wreath and wanted the flowers a little smaller.  

The first thing I did was cover the 8 inch straw wreath in felt by wrapping and hot gluing felt strips.
Next, I made the felt flowers.  I made all but one of them using gray and one in yellow.
Finally, I used hot glue to attach all of the flowers to the wreath.

I adore this wreath, but I must admit it did not turn out the way I envisioned it.  I thought that you would be able to distinguish each of the little flowers.  But, instead the flowers just look like loops.  Oh well, I am still in love!  Maybe next time I will try spacing the flowers a little further apart, or maybe not.

Here are some other shots:







Here are some link parties that I frequent, I may link this project to some or all of them:





 Marvelously Messy,   Under the Table and Dreaming,   Flamingo Toes,   Lamb Around,   Cherished Treasures,  Petite Hermine,   Nifty Thrifty Things,  Skip to my Lou,   Sumo’s Sweet Stuff,  Making the World Cuter,   The Girl Creative,   Singing Three Little Birds,   Tuesday Treasures, One Project at a TimeMad in Crafts,   11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven,   Craftomaniac,   Creating My Way to Success,   Sew Can Do,   Embellishing Life,   C.R.A.F.T.,   It’s a Blog Party,   Me Making Do,   Sarahndipities,   The DIY Home Sweet Home Project,   Funky Polka Dot Giraffe,   Today’s Creative Blog,   Hope Studios,         Ladybug Blessings,   Tip Junkie,   A Silly Little Sparrow,   Giggles Glitz & Glam,   Not JUST a Housewife,   Reason’s to Skip the Housework,   Little Birdie Blog,   The Blackberry Vine,   Blue Cricket,   The Trendy Treehouse,   Lil’ Luna,   The Thrifty Home,   Seven Thirty Three,   Sew Much Ado,   Handyman Craftywoman,   Sweet Craft Cakes,   Tea Rose Home,    Twin Dragonfly Designs,   Elements Interiors,   Fun to Craft,   The Shabby Chic Cottage,    House of Hepworth’s,   Somewhat Simple,   Rhinestone Beagle,   Yesterday on Tuesday,   Kojo Designs,   While He Was Napping,   Tatertots and Jello,   Bubbly Nature Creations,   Funky Junk Interiors,   Creation Corner,    A Few of my Favorite Things,   It’s a Hodgepodge Life,   My Romantic Home,   The Shabby Nest,    Frugal and Fabulous Design,   Sun Scholars,      Whipperberry,   At the Picket Fence,  Fingerprints on the Fridge,   Home Sweet Farm,   Young & Crafty,   Freckled Laundry,   Iron Violet Designs,   Fireflies & Jellybeans,   Be Different Act Normal,    Craft Envy,    Along for the Ride,   A Vision to Remember,    Saturday Mornings,   It’s a Crafty Life,   Childmade,     Sew Can Do,  



Sunday, October 16, 2011

Fall Fun

Yesterday, we embarked on our annual tradition of going to Banducci's Pumpkin Patch.  We love this adorable place that symbolizes fall in every way.  I discovered it two years before we were parents, and it has been a tradition ever since.



Here is my daughter, marching in ahead of us.


This is me and my daughter.  They have little vignettes set up all over the place for families to take photos.  Actually, this year they had a really cool photo booth set up my a photographer.  She was also there offering to take family shots.  It was a pretty good deal, but I was on a mission to capture the day myself. 



There are a few of these beautiful wagons filled with pumpkins set up around the farm.  We saw several families sitting their babies in the middle of the pumpkins for a photo op.  I'm sure they turned out SO CUTE!



I'm pretty sure that I got a very similar shot to this one last year.  Whenever my hubby sees these squash, he puts it up to his ear and calls our daughter.  Of course, she is 3 and thinks that he is the funniest man on the planet. 



My daughter just couldn't resist climbing this interesting tree.




I just couldn't resist all the photo ops, you wouldn't believe how many pics I ended up with from this outing.  Here are a few of my favorites.





Let's take this "Perfect Pumpkin" to the cashier!


I just love how this pic looks!  My daughter is making sure that Daddy is paying the man for that pumpkin she laboriously chose.


One last photo session on our way out.  Then it turned into a tickling session, because my daughter REFUSED to smile for even one more pic.



Wherever you are, I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful fall.  


Sunday, October 9, 2011

Craft Show Preparations

In a few weeks, I will be joining some lovely ladies for a Craft Show!  One of the stipulations is that no two crafters can duplicate items to ensure a variety.  So, I am trying to stick to Home Decor items.  There are so many fabulous fall creations out there in blogland that it is hard to think about making anything else.  So my first creation was a Fall Pom Pom Wreath.

 I was inspired by this wreath over at Did Someone Say Party.  
She has an Indigo and Gray Version AND a very beautiful Valentine's Day version.

Here is my Fall version




I started with a 12 inch Straw Wreath.  
I wrapped the wreath in felt and then began creating the Pom Poms.
I used this Pom Pom creator by Clover


I found mine at Joann's.  Here is a link to Joann Fabric and Craft Stores.
You can also purchase it here.

After making the pom-poms, I had to find a way to attach them to the wreath, since I didn't leave a long string on each one like the tutorial said to.  I just got too excited making them into perfect little balls and forgot to leave a long strand.  Soooooooo, after a few trial and error sessions, I came up with a plan.  I put hot glue where I wanted the pom-pom, but the glue wasn't really enough to hold the weight of the pom pom.  So, I then used 3 inch floral pins to stick through the middle of the pom pom while the glue was still hot.  This seems to have done the trick, because the pom-poms are now firmly in place.

It's hard to tell from the photograph, but this wreath is so full and plush, I just LOVE it.  I hope someone at the craft show does too.  Actually, I put one in my Etsy Store also, if anyone is interested. 

Here are the parties that I may link this post to:





Kuzak’s Closet,   Marvelously Messy,   Under the Table and Dreaming,   The Tattered Tag,   Flamingo Toes,   Lamb Around,   Cherished Treasures,  Petite Hermine,   Nifty Thrifty Things,  Skip to my Lou,   Sumo’s Sweet Stuff,  Making the World Cuter,   The Girl Creative,   Singing Three Little Birds,   Tuesday Treasures, One Project at a TimeMad in Crafts,   11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven,   Craftomaniac,   Creating My Way to Success,   Sew Can Do,   Embellishing Life,   C.R.A.F.T.,   It’s a Blog Party,   Me Making Do,   Sarahndipities,   The DIY Home Sweet Home Project,   Funky Polka Dot Giraffe,   Today’s Creative Blog,   Hope Studios,         Ladybug Blessings,   Tip Junkie,   A Silly Little Sparrow,   Giggles Glitz & Glam,   Not JUST a Housewife,   Reason’s to Skip the Housework,   Little Birdie Blog,   The Blackberry Vine,   Blue Cricket,   The Trendy Treehouse,   Lil’ Luna,   The Thrifty Home,   Seven Thirty Three,   Sew Much Ado,   Handyman Craftywoman,   Sweet Craft Cakes,   Tea Rose Home,    Twin Dragonfly Designs,   Elements Interiors,   Fun to Craft,   The Shabby Chic Cottage,    House of Hepworth’s,   Somewhat Simple,   Rhinestone Beagle,   Yesterday on Tuesday,   Kojo Designs,   While He Was Napping,   Tatertots and Jello,   Bubbly Nature Creations,   Funky Junk Interiors,   Creation Corner,    A Few of my Favorite Things,   It’s a Hodgepodge Life,   My Romantic Home,   The Shabby Nest,    Frugal and Fabulous Design,   Sun Scholars,      Whipperberry,   At the Picket Fence,  Fingerprints on the Fridge,   Home Sweet Farm,   Young & Crafty,   Freckled Laundry,   Iron Violet Designs,   Fireflies & Jellybeans,   Be Different Act Normal,    Craft Envy,    Along for the Ride,   A Vision to Remember,    Saturday Mornings,   It’s a Crafty Life,   Childmade,     Sew Can Do,