{busy, busy}

I've been running all day! But it feels good to have accomplished so much. I finally got around to taking pictures of a few projects-- thank you weather, so expect some new posts soon.

And I made Easter eggs! I tried to use the techniques from the most recent Martha Stewart Living, but it didn't work out quite right... Oh well.

I also made an apple pie-- well... am making. It's in the oven right now, and I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. I kinda ran out of crust, and I didn't feel confident enough to try to expand it on my own. I guess I'll have to wait and see. All that matters is how it tastes!!

The cards pictured at the top were also part of this morning's endeavors. These Easter-- well, more like spring-- cards are just a few hand-cut pieces glued to a Liberty of London card from Target.

I hand drew the flowers, trying to match them to flowers on the cards. Then I cut around the drawings with a craft knife.

I could have saved myself some time and just used a printed drawing, glued to the back and then cut around.

I'm working on a few cards now with bird's nests and eggs. They are pretty cute!

Valentine's cookies!

I didn't get around to making my Valentine's cookies until Valentine's Day. I'm a bit disappointed in myself, but I had fun, and that's what counts!

I tried a new recipe, which is always hit-and-miss. They weren't as buttery as I would have liked, and they really needed to be refrigerated for several hours before rolling. But then again, they were supposed to be drop cookies.

I don't think I'll use this recipe again, but it was worth the experience.

My icing also didn't turn out perfectly; it was extra runny, and it ended up Pepto-pink, instead of a light pink like I wanted. I made the best of it though, and drizzled or dipped most of the cookies, as to avoid neon shock.

If anyone has any delicious tips for me, please let me know!

Down-to-the-wire valentines

Here's a little link love to beat the Valentine's Day rush.

I did pretty good about getting my valentines out early this year, but it's a miracle. I mailed them yesterday, and I'm praying the arrive in a nice condition!!

I do wish I had seen some of these lovely projects before I had finished!

Printables

• Valentine's Day goodie bags from Twig and Thistle
• candy orchard mixed tape packageing via Chronicle Books
• cute printables on style crush
• adorable printables for sweet treats via Martha Stewart
• conversation candy wrappers on Creature Comforts

Gifts

• heart-shaped zipper pouches viathe purl bee
• rose clips via Twig and Thistle
• wire-wrapped photo holder on //Between the lines//

Handmade

• an adorable kiss-in-your-pocket flipbook fromColor Me Katie
• heart covered wax paper from Martha Stewart
• paper heart garland onHow about orange...
• stamped fabric spool message viapaper n stitch
• valentine lei from Craftzine
• doily valentines from avie designs

Sweet Treats

• edible cupcake stands from Giver's Log
• heart toothpick cupcake decorations on My Crafty Mess
• chocolate strawberry ice cream sandwiches--I can die happy-- on mint

handmade valentines to bring a smile

I think making valentines is one of my favorite parts of Valentine's Day. I've made my own cards for a few years now, and I love them more each year.

This year, I took a little inspiration from avie designs. I also got a little stamp-happy with my new stamp set, thank you Mr. Cupcake!

I had all my stuff spread out Friday and Saturday, paper scattered every where, and glue on everything. I used bits and pieces I had let over from the Christmas tree decorations. It was fun and childish, and it just makes me happy. And giving a homemade valentine makes others happy too.

I'm mailing a few out this year, and I'm going to hate putting them in the mail, but I'm hoping those hearts will pop back to life when the card comes out of the envelope!

Tea inspired napkins

A friend of mine is a great tea aficionado, which she's been striving to turn me into for years. Her love of tea, along with this download from A Print a Day, inspired her Christmas gift, a set of embroidered napkins to go along with her tea.

I drew my cups instead of using the template, so that I could personalize them. I tried to make each one unique and specific to a time period.

I started by drawing the designs onto the napkins. I measured to make sure they were in approximately the same spot--I'm bad at guessing distances. I drew mine in with pencil, but that probably wasn't the best idea on my part. A washable fabric pen probably would have smudged less.

After I embroidered each cup, I washed the napkins, ironed them, and folded them into the gift box.

I'm guessing that she liked them, because the day after I gave them to her, they were already on her dining room table! I wish I could have found such perfect and thoughtfully handmade gifts for everyone, but perhaps if I start early this year, I can make the next year a handmade Christmas!

P.S. Other cute ideas for embroidered napkins could be birds or trees--especially at Christmas--mixers, cakes, or other kitchen paraphernalia. Check out this sweet free downloadable from LollyChops for more ideas!

P.P.S. Here are just a few sites to check out-- along with Flickr-- for some great embroidery ideas and patterns.

• Sublime Stiching, adorable patterns for a small price
• Pimp Stitch, plenty of cute ideas and patterns
• Feeling Stitchy, chock full of lovely and comical inspirations
• doe-c-doe, new/vintage patterns each week
• So september, cute free downloads and tutorials
• LollyChops, the aforementioned and ever-so-lovely

Cleaning Day Challenge

The handsome dog in his new coat taking a walk in the snow
I've been cleaning for a week. Well... at least it feels like I have.

I took down the Christmas tree and decorations and packed them up for next year. It's now so sad and bare around the house. I need to find or make some winter decorations, so wish me luck!

I cleaned all the floors in the house yesterday, and I thought my arms were going to fall off. If they didn't look so shiny and beautiful, I would be mad that I had spent hours doing it.

I'm still working on finding places for all the things that we accrued over Christmas. I should go with the theory "out with the old..." but I am a pack rat by nature, sadly. I did work on organizing my growingly messy recipe collection in an adorable little book! This system is much better than the stick-all-my-recipes-in-other-books system that I had before.

I still have some sewing to do, taking up sleeves and taking in shirts, but I have finished one minor project, adding velcro to our pug's new jacket! Which he hates. Everytime we put it on him, he gives us the saddest face imaginable. But too bad for him, it's going to be under 32 all week.

The snow, although beautiful, is keeping me inside; so hopefully, I can finish more this weekend! Here's to getting things done!!

Happy New Year, All!

hope everyone's Christmas celebrations were as happy as mine! I had a ton of fun visiting family and enjoying the festivities. I've been sort of off the radar, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things.

Until then, I hope all your New Year's are happy and joyous! See you in 2010!!

Wrap it up!

The title applies to both the year and the few Christmas presents that I have left to wrap.

I love the cute gift wrap that you can buy at Target, but it really doesn't hold up well. But it's too late for this year's bunch. Next year, I'm just going to buy some heavy duty kraft paper, or use brown paper bags, and accent with the cute paper and bows. If only I remember during my Christmas frenzy in 2010!

Sadly, this should be my last post before the holidays, and I just might be able to squeeze one in before New Year's, but I can't make any promises.

But until then, I leave all you last minute wrappers with a little gift wrap inspiration, and a lot of FREE downloads!

Gift Wrap, Anyone?

• free printable gift wrap from Creature Comforts
• gift card wallets via Screen Prints
• fabric gift envelopes from Paper n Stitch
• monogrammed letter gift wrapping on Design*Sponge
• snowflake pillow boxes on Creature Comforts
• printable holiday packaging via How about Orange...

Bows and Tags

• a gift bow from a magazine via How about Orange...
• free printable gift tags via Creature Comforts
• brooches as bows on Bugs and Fishes
• bows from felt on Twig and Thistle
• adorable deer tags on Creature Comforts
• button tags and bows from Bugs and Fishes
• twist tie pom poms on Craftzine
• vintage photo gift tags from Nice package
• free gift tags via Creature Comforts

Holiday Cards

• free printable holiday cards via Creature Comforts
• another free printable on Creature Comforts

Something for Your Sweets

• a sweet holiday tag available on The Long Thread
• a goodie bag topper from Love.Obsess.Inspire.
• revamped hot chocolate mix from Lolly Chops

Ten and Counting...

With only ten days until Christmas-- Yay!!-- I thought I'd go ahead a share these before time runs out! I made these Christmas stockings a while back, but it's been so busy lately, that I hadn't gotten a chance to take photos.

The story is... I absolutely fell in love with a stocking set and tree skirt at Pier1, and since it was pretty simple materials, just felt, I thought, "why couldn't I make that?" So, I did!!

1 I drew up my pattern for the stocking and appliques-- I had to simplify a lot from what I had originally planned, but I think it looks better that way.

2 I cut out the pieces from felt and fleece, and the stocking are actually made from fleece, and glued them to the surface to keep them in place as I stitched the edges.

3 I stitched around the edge of the stocking, making sure to leave a half an inch edge. Then I scalloped the edges, just with my scissors, for a cute finishing touch!

4 The cuffs were just two rectangles the width of the top edge. I stitched the trim on first, then stitched them together, and stitched them on to the top, where I added a loop of ribbon at the side seam opposite the toe.

Sadly, the accompanying tree skirt that I had planned to make will not be joining us this Christmas. All that hand-stitching takes time.

I had also planned to put up a template of the design with this post, but it's not here. It'll be up sometime though!!

Deck the Halls

[left to right, top to bottom]1Design*Sponge 2Scissor Variations 3Scissor Variations 4Thompson Family Life
I've definitely been in the decorating mood. Not only have I made three adorable paper trees, but I've also got my tree up and decorated, and I made a wreath for the front door! I feel very on top of everything, which probably won't last very long.

But since I have a bit of free time, I did some searching. And I found some beautiful holiday decorations!! But I don't have enough energy to do all mine over again... So, this is for you:

• adorable, and quite retro, felt scalloped trees from Thompson Family Life
• ribbon-wrapped tealights on A Studio with a View
• a wrapped rope wreath--try saying that three times fast-- via Design*Sponge
• a retro-inspired holiday wreath from Cathie Filian
• hand-cut snowflakes on Make it Do
• a cute pine cone garland via Scissor Variations
• a crafty, thrifty wreath from a t-shirt on Smile and Wave
• an adorable paper Christmas wreath from The Read Thread
• this lovely bottle brush tree display from Scissor Variations
• and a pom-pom wreath tutorial via Twig & Thistle

Sleepy Sunday Christmas Craft

I'm really excited about these adorable trees! I worked on them today and a bit yesterday, and I am loving the way they look. I might move them from the mantle to the table... but really, they look good anywhere.

I started with three Styrofoam trees, two smalls and a large, and several different scrapbook papers in greens, browns, blues, and a red. I tried to pick smaller prints so that they would be visible when I cut them.

For the large tree, I followed this tutorial from Thompson Family Life, but used paper instead of felt. The larger tree is the one toward the back, but I'm rather shorter than the mantle, so the scale is just a bit off.

1The smaller trees are made from leaves cut from the paper. The first row is one strip of paper, to cover the bottom edge of the foam.


2Pin the leaves onto the styrofoam with flat head straight pins. Each row should overlap the preceding row in order to hide the pins. I let my colors alternate rows, but it would also be cute in diagonals or randomly placed.

3For the snowy top of the tree, I cut a cresent shape-- like the tops used on the tree from Thompson Family Life-- then scalloped the edges. I glued the sides into the cone shape, then pinned it atop the tree!!

This project was so easy, and the results are so cute! Another addition could be a bell or bow to the top, or maybe use decorative head pins as ornaments for your tree. No matter how you do it though, this craft is definitely one to get you in the Christmas spirit!

Christmas Ornaments Unleashed

ell... I'm starting to get into the Christmas spirit, and this is definitely my favorite time of year!! I think my Christmas spirit has increased in the last few years, especially since I've gotten my own tree to decorate!

And since it's after Thanksgiving, and I've got my tree now-- I even put lights on it tonight!!-- I'm in the mood for some ornaments!! So here are just a few fun and easy projects to get me-- and you!-- in the festive spirit!

• a felt circles ornament tutorial from Craftzine
• retro, disco-inspired mirrored ornaments via Handmade & Homebaked
• a half-eaten gingerbreadman pattern from Elsie Marley
• another free pattern for a cute mitten on oliver + s
• yet another free felt mushroom ornament pattern via The Long Thread
• and perhaps my personal fav, a argyle applique ornament via So September

Drink Up

Winter is one of my absolute favorites times of the year, mostly because of all the delicious things to drink. Hot chocolate, coffee, tea, there's no better way to enjoy cold weather.

I'm not so sure how grown-up I want my hot chocolate to be... But here are a few quick recipes and crafts to help enjoy this chilly weather!!

• Grown-up Hot Chocolate via Craftzine
• knitted cup cozies on Meet Me at Mike's
• to top off your coffee, a coffee stencil from How About Orange...
• apple cider... in apple cups via Craftynest
• felt cup warmers on The Small Object
• a free tutorial for coffee cup cozies from mmmcrafts
• and to top off the deliciousness Cookie Cream Sandwiches on Design*Sponge

Ambition

This is my problem. I get too ambitious with my projects, and this leads to half-finished and literally half baked ideas.

My ambition this time led me to buy a monstrosity of a pumpkin to carve into a haunted house, like Martha... But alas, I am neither Martha Stewart nor any of the people who work to carve pumpkins for her.

I started by hand drawing my design on my pumpkin, and it looked pretty good. I was psyched. Then, I started cutting into the ginormpkin, and that is when the problems started. That sucker is thick.

By the time I got too tired to carve, all I had done was a few small bits, mainly some windows and the tiles on the roof. I may never finish this thing, but at least I tried, right?

Next year, if I blog about some harebrained pumpkin scheme, someone please refer me to this... But until then, here are a few things that I probably should have been doing first.

• salivating over these caramel brownie bites
• stitching a cute felt leaf garland
• tracking down the pencil skirt pattern from Angry Chicken
• carving out apple cups for apple cider
• freaking out about the spiders on Bakerella
• chewing on the eyes of some Halloween monster cupcakes
• or carving any of these other, easy pumpkins from Martha Stewart