my box is cuter than your box

i love this idea!!

http://cateholst.typepad.com/aworkinprogress/pillow-box-template.html#tp




will definitely be trying it for the holidays.

the business of fun!

i feel like i should start this post by saying i understand proper grammar. i just don't choose to practice it. lowercase letters are visually more appealing to me and thus, i choose not to write with any caps. something about typeface font with no big friends to throw off the streamlined look of it all. if i type a capital letter, it's purely by accident. hey, it's a quirk. my husband reminds me i have a lot.
and back to the subject at hand! for someone who doesn't actually have a baby, i certainly have been making lots of baby stuff. this time, it was for one of jason's co-workers. she saw what i made for my sister and asked if i could make her the same set for her sister's baby shower. and like...pay me money...what!?! get paid to do stuff i would probably do anyways? okay! the only real direction she gave me was that the baby is a girl and the mom-to-be isn't really into girly-girl, frilly, pink stuff. it was easy for me to design since i feel like i'm the same way.
went to stonemountain and daughter fabric store (see link from previous post) and found the CUTEST (caps can be used to covey emotion) owl fabric. owls have been on my mind a lot lately, reasons i'll dive into in another post, but i had to have this fabric.
i did the same set: 3 burp cloths, 1 bib and 1 nursing cover (i forgot pics of the nursing cover, but it was in the same owl fabric used on 1 of the burp cloths)...and i got paid. it was pretty awesome. so, in light of all this, i decided maybe i should do this more. if i like making this stuff, and i am going to do it anyways, why not make a little money? now, i'm not quitting my day job or anything but hey, it's fun! so, i've started thinking about setting up an etsy shop. i haven't done it yet, because i want to be sure that i do it, and continue having fun with it...but i'm pretty sure i'm ready :)
one thing i thought about adding are pacifier clips. never done it, but super easy and one of those helpful things i feel like moms need.
so that's that. look for a post on the new shop soon. tell your baby friends. that is to say, friends who have or will have babies.
here are the pics from the stuff i made jason's co-worker:




i will post our halloween pics by this weekend!
xoxo

splish splash

okay, i really need to post more often. it's not like i'm not doing things that are post worthy- i totally am! i just need to make more time for blogging.
i wanted to post final pictures of the shower curtain. it's been done for a couple weeks now, but again, i got too busy to actually post the final pictures.
it's been absolutely great, i'm so glad i made it. it fits perfectly, and i love love love the fabric i chose. i think it could definitely be mistaken for a store bought curtain, and quite honestly, it was pretty simple. the hardest part was dealing with the huge mass of fabric and finding a space large enough to work with it. i also got very comfortable with making button holes, as that's how i did the holes for the rings....and side note: my machine does them automatically- yours probably does too! most people probably know this, but if you haven't seen it before, it's pretty amazing and awesome.
so, here it is:




next, i'll be posting our halloween costumes and the latest in baby gifts.
xoxo

it runs in the family...

this past weekend, i did something any crafter is usually horrified by. i let someone else, someone with no experience, touch my sewing machine and...are you ready...my scissors! gasp!
jason was recently invited (by a very cool group of 4 dudes) to join their motorcycle club, the Throwbacks. they all ride and appreciate vintage motorcycles just like jason. part of being in the Throwbacks means you have to have a denim jacket with the sleeves cut off (a cut), along with a nickname patch.
jason has always been vorhese, since long before i knew him so it made sense for the nickname to continue.
when we went to grass valley last weekend for a BBQ with the guys, they gave jason his patch and very strict instructions for him to sew it on all alone...no help from me!
so, i showed him the very basics on saturday and sent him on his way. and hey! he did pretty well...for a newb. i may have found myself a new assistant.

behind the curtain

so, i started a new project last night.

once we moved into our house, we realized that our shower curtain rod is an odd size. it's "L" shaped, as there is no back wall to block water. because of that, we need an extra wide shower curtain....approximately 95" x 72".

you wouldn't believe how hard that is to find. apparently, it is a lot more common to need an extra long curtain (ie- your curtain rod is hung really high) as opposed to an extra wide.

the best advice i could find online was to use 2 curtains or have one custom made.

so, per usual, i took that as a challenge.

i knew that i would never find a peice of fabric wide enough and long enough, so i will have to piece 2 pieces together. the good thing, is most bolts of fabrics are 45"-60" wide so all i needed to do was buy enough length to piece together 2 panels that are 72" long. the fabric i found is about 51" wide, so finished product with seams will be about 98" wide- perfect!

i found this really cute eyelet fabric at Stonemountain and Daughter Fabric Store that I found out is one of their newest offerings. it seemed made for a shower curtain and I really liked the butter color.

anyway, all i've done so far is cut to the correct length. i will be trying two new techniques with this project. i'm going to use french seaming to piece the two pieces together, and i'm going to try my hand at making buttonholes for the shower rings.

will update on my progress...for now here are some pics of last night's cutting and close-ups of the fabric. i don't think the pictures do the color justice...will try and adjust settings next time.

xoxo

oh baby (crafts)!

I did it! I managed to make a ton of stuff, all in the MIDDLE of trying to pack and move our house. Every night i would (read: jason would) pull the sewing machine out, set up my table, clear off a tiny work space, then put it all away at the end of the night...only to do it again the next day. I had pretty good motivation because I was making stuff to send to my sister who is pregnant with her first girl. Her baby shower was this past weekend, so I had to finish and get the package in the mail on time. I actually was done over a week ago, but I had to wait to post until she got the goods!


I made 3 things: a bib, a nursing cover and some burp cloths. The burp cloths were super easy and actually got the idea while visiting my brother and sister-in-law who just had a baby (see enormous baby hat post from earlier). My sis in law mentioned that someone had made her some super cute burp cloths..the idea was simple, just take a strip of fabric and sew it on to a cloth diaper...makes something that is traditionally boring into something personalized and cute. Here are the pics of the ones I made my sister:













I cut the fabric, pressed the edges under, pinned, and sewed away! I used a zigzag stich just to make it more interesting.




Next, was the nursing cover. The purpose of this piece is to cover yourself while nursing a baby if you're out in public and don't want to bare all. (side note: i'm actually all for baring all cause: hey! you're a woman- hear you roar- and show off those baby feeders! However, I can see how there might be times you'd want to cover up and why the heck not when it's this cute to cover up!) I made this pattern myself by looking at others as a comparison. It's basically a rectangle + some straps. the straps fasten with D-rings and there is corset boning inserted into the top side so it bows out and you can see your sweet little baby's face. That way, you don't feel like you're just throwing a towel over your baby's head. Here are the pics...and yes, of course I tried it on.







Last, was a bib. Again, I made this pattern myself which was really simple to do. I used a cotton front fabric and a super soft chenille-type fabric on the back. I think it was polyester which i won't do again...not only do I not like the thought of polyester (although it was REALLY soft!), it was super messy when cut and left little furry pieces all over the place. Next time, i plan to use a super soft corduroy. Anyways, I also learned to sew on snaps for this piece. I'm not super comfortable with hand sewing, so this was good for me. I just watched a video online and tried it out! There is a video out there for almost anything, which is so helpful when learning something new! Here is the bib:








And here is the finished product, ready to ship:



One happy sister and one future happy neice.

Back in the Crafty Saddle

Soooo, it’s been quite awhile since my last post. Life got in the way and we were dealing with some issues and unfortunately, I had to put creativity on the back burner. But I’m back! And craftier than ever. I’ve been getting some inspiration from various sources, but the biggest being the house that we are in process of purchasing. This house in an amazing 1920’s craftsman with all the original detail and charm maintained.
The thought of crafting in the dining room with the hardwood trim and built in china cabinet and basement space (future crafting area) makes me squeal with excitement….not to mention makes me motivated to turn out some creative genius. Owning our own home is a big step for Jason and I, and we couldn’t be more excited. This house has seemed meant to be ever since the beginning. We had been looking for homes for 6+ months when we looked at this one. There wasn’t a huge bidding war like we had seen on every other house because they accepted our early offer and didn’t wait for other bids to come in to entice competition. The charm is fully intact, it has a full basement and garage for Jason. We casually mentioned to our realtor that we would LOVE to have any or all of the antique furniture/knick knacks that were still being housed in the basement (that had belonged to the previous owners) and BAM! – our wish was granted. We accidentally met one of the previous owner’s sons and had a great conversation with him regarding the warmth and love the home possessed.
Honestly, everything seems to have gone our way with this house so far and we couldn’t be happier. The fact that it’s felt like such a smooth, easy process has made it all the better.
BUT, I digress. I guarantee TONS of good craftiness to share in the near future.
I don’t have any pictures today but I’m in the middle of a new crobot project, starting back up on the afghan, and also making my sister some gifts for her upcoming baby shower.
More to come very soon!

Crafts and crossbones my little pirates.

Weekend Smorgasborg

I have a few things I've been working on/have finished that I wanted to post.
First, as I mentioned before, I did another baby hat for new niece #2, Emily.
This one, I managed to get the right size (AKA: made for a baby head, rather than a full grown adult), so that was exciting.



Next, I sent my dad a homemade father's day gift this year. If I would've thought of this sooner, I would have made him something cooler but since it only occurred to me about a week ago, I decided to make something simple. I decided on a can/cup cozy. It was a free pattern I found on the Lion yarn website, and very easy. I think it's a little endearing that I made him something that a 4th grader could have made...don't you?



My family is just going to have to live with the fact that they will be getting hand-made gifts for the rest of their life.

I also started work on a full size afghan. I don't have pictures yet, but honestly, this project will probably take me at least 6 months to complete so there will be plenty of time for pictures :)

In other news, I found a pretty cool site, www.ravelry.com, where you can post pics of your work, search tons of patterns, see projects that other people are working on and just get some great ideas for future work. If you are into crocheting or knitting (this site caters to both), then you should definitely check it out. So far, I have added fingerless gloves, a dog sweater and slippers into my queue...so who knows what I'll be up to next...

xoxo

Cookie Monsters

This is a quick, drive-by blog post. I made the dogs some homemade treats this weekend. Our dogs are spoiled and needy so when we found out that Luka had an allergy to wheat that caused his skin to be very flaky, we started them on a strict no-wheat diet. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find wheat-free food and treats for dogs...not to mention how expensive it is when you do find it.

So, I started baking the dogs, homemade, wheat-free dog treats in tons of flavors. This weekend I made the old stand by: essentially a chocolate chip cookie for dogs...however, dogs cannot eat chocolate so these are made with carob chips instead. And brown rice flour + oat flour as opposed to wheat flour. These dogs have the life.

resting after a long day:

Aunt Attack!

I found out late last year/early this year that both my sister & sister-in-law (and thus brother) are having new babies this year! It's been about 4 years since there were any babies around so it's a pretty big deal. We also recently found out that they are both having girls. Now, this is the really big deal part because up until now, they've both had nothing but boys. I have FIVE nephews...and I love those boys, but dear god, i just wanted to buy a baby dress for once in my life.
Baby girls (or babies in general, but especially girls) also open up a whole new world of crochet.
I decided to make my first big project a cute hat and blanket for new niece #1, Katie. (This actually came before the crobot but I had to wait to post until I had sent it.) I found the pattern in the book " Stitch "N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker" by Debbie Stoller. This was actually the first crochet book I ever bought...mostly because of the title. It also has many patterns you wouldn't normally find in a traditional crochet book. I haven't made very many projects from this book but hope to in the future. It does have great information about technique, different stitches, etc.
Now, onto to the blanket/hat combo. First, the hat. I love these hats. I even have a few. But seeing a baby in this hat has to be one of the cutest things ever.


The hat was, by far, the easiest part of the project. I completed it in 2 evenings (which probably could have been 1 if I really wanted). It's made up of double crochets in the round.
There is a potential problem: I think I increased too much at some point and the hat is bigger than it should be....but hey, Katie will need a hat at some point in her life and now she has one :)

Here's the blanket:


Please ignore the crazy eyes...I was pretty excited. Now, does the blanket look a little larger on one end vs. the other? Well, that's because it just may be. You have to remember that the first few lines were some of the first few rows of a real project that I had ever done...so I *may* have missed stitching into a few turning chain stitches along the way...oopsie. The great thing is that Katie will never notice!

And here's the finished package, and proud crafter:


Despite the initial challenges, I am happy with how these turned out. It gave me the confidence to keep crocheting and now I have lots more projects to share in the next few days, including ANOTHER baby hat (hey I got 2 nieces!), a cute, quick father's day gift, and the start of something big.

xoxo

PS- it just occurred to me that if i ever start a business, i will call if Crafts & Crossbones....

In the beginning...

So, I'm starting this blog so that I can document all of my crafty escapades..good, bad and ugly.

I've tried to be crafty my entire life and I usually succeed about 50% of the time. In the last few years, I've tried my hand at sewing, but still haven't totally gotten the hang of it. I've made homemade dog treats which were fun but with my dogs as the only customers, only managed to make them fat. I also learned to crochet. So far, this has been the crafty avenue that I've found the most success. It took me quite a while but I finally picked it up, and before you knew it, I was learning different stiches and teaching myself new things and even surprising myself a few times with the way things turned out. So, needless to say, I'm now on a crochet kick since I've finally found a hobby I'm actually good at!

I hope to use this blog as a way to show off my work a little, but most of all I hope it will keep me motivated to continue to make cool things...with the intent of showing them off obviously.

So, without further ado, I present Hercomer. Hercomer is a Zombiebot. I bought a book of how-to crochet Crobots and this was my first attempt. I made him as a gift for Jason, since this was his favorite. It took me 2 nights: 1 night to crochet all the pieces, and another night to piece him together and add the accessories/notions. It was a little difficult at first since I had never worked with a crochet hook this small (size B) and since the bot is so little, you have to get used to fiddling around a bit. He is comprised mostly of single crochet stiches so pretty simple even if you're a beginner. If you can crochet in the round, you can make these! And even if you can't, you can learn pretty quickly! The book I got, Crobots: 20 Amigurumi Robots to Make, by Nelly Pailloux, even has a section at the beginning that explains all stiches and techniques that are required to make any projects in the book.

Okay, now for the good stuff. Here's Hercomer-

After the first night- all in pieces:

All finished:

One Happy Customer/Husband:

Next Post: baby gifts!

xoxo