Christmas Decor

My sweet little maltipoo, Cooper, who isn't too thrilled to be wearing antlers (made for a cat)!

This is my entryway this year. We scaled back and I decided not to put up some of the decorations, but I still love the tree!

Christmas Decor

My sweet little maltipoo, Cooper, who isn't too thrilled to be wearing antlers (made for a cat)!

This is my entryway this year. We scaled back and I decided not to put up some of the decorations, but I still love the tree!

A few more things...

These are the cute little tags that are going on my sparkling cider for my neighbor gifts today! The top pic is the picture of the back. Just a couple of little stamps from Stampin-Up (Tags til Christmas) and some Bazill cardstock cut in a Sizzix Big Shot with the die "Tags, Scallop Combo #2" and adhered using a Xyron sticker maker. Love that little thing! Then, I just used a Martha Stewart fine tip glue pen on the places I wanted glitter and then used some of Martha Stewart glitter! My husband says glitter is herpes of the craft world because once you use it it never goes away. He does kind of have a point! :)

These are my letters that are finally finished this morning. 8 sets of these found new homes, and I am glad to be done cutting them. :) However, I especially love the glass glitter on the "o". Everything needs a little bling!

Crafts I've been working on...

Just finished this cute green and cream scarf for my sister for part of her birthday present. My daughters and I decided the green color is just so vibrant. Love it so much! Unfortunately, the hat is not finished yet. I am still working on it, so it will have to get sent later. Sorry, Afton.

These NOEL letters I just love. This particular set is going to Sandy to live with my sister-in-law, Nyla. We copied them out of a pic in Pottery Barn catalog, (they were not for sale, they were a prop in a pic), & had a girls night with all the Power side girls, along with a fun friend who came to do glitter toes! It was an evening to remember. And out of it all, we took home a fun, easy decoration.

This is actually 1 of 4 aprons of this kind I am in the process of making. This particular one is popping into the mail to go live in Portland with my sister for the holidays (& forever). Hope she likes it! I picked up the fabric in Salt Lake in October and when I got home, went to my local store to get a little more so I could make a few more aprons but they were sold out! Sad! Glad I got it when I did! Thanks, Nyla, for taking me with you to the quilt shop! Yours is also coming tomorrow!

Crafts I've been working on...

Just finished this cute green and cream scarf for my sister for part of her birthday present. My daughters and I decided the green color is just so vibrant. Love it so much! Unfortunately, the hat is not finished yet. I am still working on it, so it will have to get sent later. Sorry, Afton.

These NOEL letters I just love. This particular set is going to Sandy to live with my sister-in-law, Nyla. We copied them out of a pic in Pottery Barn catalog, (they were not for sale, they were a prop in a pic), & had a girls night with all the Power side girls, along with a fun friend who came to do glitter toes! It was an evening to remember. And out of it all, we took home a fun, easy decoration.

This is actually 1 of 4 aprons of this kind I am in the process of making. This particular one is popping into the mail to go live in Portland with my sister for the holidays (& forever). Hope she likes it! I picked up the fabric in Salt Lake in October and when I got home, went to my local store to get a little more so I could make a few more aprons but they were sold out! Sad! Glad I got it when I did! Thanks, Nyla, for taking me with you to the quilt shop! Yours is also coming tomorrow!

Fabric Birthday Banner

This is a really small pic. I should take another one, but it is late & I am tired. I love this little birthday banner. It is actually about 5 feet long on the "birthday" portion and the "happy" is just a little bit smaller. I whipped one out for my sis-in-law when we went up for Halloween. I love the multi-colors and that it is fabric so that it will last. It is a no-sew project as the flags are all glued into double sided bias tape with permanent fabric glue. The ric-rac and pom-poms are glued on as well. The letters were die cut from felt and then glued on. Super simple. Love it!

Fabric Birthday Banner

This is a really small pic. I should take another one, but it is late & I am tired. I love this little birthday banner. It is actually about 5 feet long on the "birthday" portion and the "happy" is just a little bit smaller. I whipped one out for my sis-in-law when we went up for Halloween. I love the multi-colors and that it is fabric so that it will last. It is a no-sew project as the flags are all glued into double sided bias tape with permanent fabric glue. The ric-rac and pom-poms are glued on as well. The letters were die cut from felt and then glued on. Super simple. Love it!

Superhero Capes!

I have actually been so busy...too busy crafting and organizing and cleaning to blog. But here are some pics of some superhero capes we recently made. I cannot claim creativity for the original idea, as my friend picked up the boy one from a garage sale recently for $1. However, to recreate them, you need about 3/4 yard of 2 fabrics, and some felt. The total cost works out to about $5, unless you have some fabric already. So cute!

This is my latest apron creation...love it!!! It is a gardening apron. I don't know if you can see it or not, but it even has two loops, one on each side at the waist. I also purchased this nifty presser foot, a hemmer foot. This one is 2mm so it turns the fabric twice as you sew creating a super small little hem, perfect for the side ties. It does take some practice to use, but once you get the hang of it, it is wonderful! I plan to look for the 4mm one and get it as well, which will give me about a quarter hem without having to iron at all, saving a step. Who wouldn't love that?

I loved this fabric so much, I made one for my sister as well. As I was sewing, I kept thinking of people who I could make it for, but decided I can't sew for EVERYone! So, to all you sewing people out there, get busy! :)

Happy crafting!

Super cute! I love these bibs! Too bad I can't wear them...they are for my little niece Addie. These are from this pattern book Sweetly Stitched for Kids by Gooseberry Patch.

I altered the pattern a bit, making it a little simpler, but love them, simply for their fabric. This is a great way to use up fabric leftovers...hmm, why haven't I thought of that sooner? :) Happy crafting!

I've been kind of busy.

Ok. So I got a new toy! A new sewing machine! Love it! Who knew having a new sewing machine would be so much fun! I actually think I love to sew now. It sure is nice to have the right tools for the job.

Anyway, I found some fab fabric and patterns up at Scrapbooks Etc. (http://scrapbooks-etc.com/2009/) and have been sewing away.

I made my friend Kim & I matching aprons and headbands for while we were at girls camp doing the craft. The aprons were reversible and so fast to put together. I love the scalloped edge and the big pocket. If I was going to sew this pattern again, I would make the pocket into 2, not 3 as is shown here in this photo.

Here is another example of the bottle cap charm on a very awesome necklace that my friend Kim came up with. She is so talented! We got so many compliments on them!

I just finished this cupcake apron tonite and need to clip all the strings off of it. I just love this fabric. I plan to make my niece a few bibs from the matching scraps of these. Maybe in a couple days I will have some free time to do that.

I found an idea online and I can't remember where, but when I loved the idea of a little needle book made out of felt to keep your needles in. This is my quickie version.

One more thing...

Check out this sign...quickie cut out for our ward camp.

Planting Season

As usual per this time of year, I have been outside planting and doing general cleanup activities. Unfortunately, I am not completely finished. Mostly, because I can't decide if my broccoli is finished producing this season and whether to pull it out or not and I still have plenty of carrots left and am not ready to pull them up yet as I still have a bunch in the fridge. My husband is rooting for the snow peas to go, as he is very tired of them in everything we have been cooking.

We have had so many rainy days along with a little colder weather than we are used to, that the asparagus have been slow to come up this year and are just now coming into their full season. I am planning to try a new recipe for an asparagus frittata that I found in the newest issue of "Hobby Farm Home". The strawberries are tasting rather delicious. I haven't ever planted them and had them do well, so I have been so pleasantly surprised to see that happening. I am really loving this SFG thing! Out here we have such clay soil that with the SFG you don't have to worry about that and it is amazing what you can grow.

Speaking of that, a few posts ago I mentioned that I was trying an experiment in growing celery. Well, unbelievably, the celery is almost ready. So funny that it actually worked. It is still rather small compared to full grown celery, but I am impressed. It looks like if you plant it from seed in October, it will actually grow all winter and do well.

I have plans to spend the afternoon out finishing up some cleanup projects outside and putting up a frame for a support for the Bayberry and Blackberry plants that I finally got planted on the north side of my house.

Happy planting!

New Valentine's Day Craft!

So this little cutie was done last friday. My sister-in-law came up with the idea one day, and it is super cute! Love it! The large heart is out of 1/4" plywood, so it won't be too heavy. The birds are out of 3/4" pine, and then the stick is grapevine from my backyard.

Bottle cap charms

This is the second option we are doing at our girls camp this year. We are tying these bottle cap charms onto a chinese cord necklace and every year the girls can add to it, if they want. Or they can take this and attach it to their keychain or their scripture bag. Some of the older girls may not want to have jewelry like that, so there are other options. And it works out to being so inexpensive. The little alphabet letters were run through the printer on shrinky dink paper and then shrunk down and how cute they are. The sayings on the bottle caps were also printed on the printer, put into the bottle cap and then covered with crystal laquer. We punched holes into the bottle cap with the crop-a-dile. That thing punches through anything! Awesome.

Nativity Book

This is a book I have been thinking about for several years now, and truthfully, wasn't quite sure how I was going to do it. I have been very frustrated with reading the scriptures on Christmas Eve, because I wanted to do the Nativity, but nobody wants to wait while you find it and also while you flip back and forth between Luke and Matthew. My kids are getting older and they don't want to dress up anymore, either. A friend of mine, Caroline, (her blog is http://www.fuzzypear-caroline.blogspot.com ) who does some amazing books, had the idea to use canvases for the front and back cover, so that is what you see here. The interior pages are simply chipboard covered in cardstock on each side. The binding is accordian style and glued in place. It is a very sturdy book, and we actually used it on Christmas Eve to read the Nativity from. The scriptures are copied right off the online scriptures of the King James version of the Bible off of www.lds.org. In addition to that, there is info. on the wise men, the magi, angels, and all the names that Christ goes by with scripture references, as well as some other interesting details. It really is a keepsake. I am thinking about making it for gifts for my family next year. We will see how energetic I am feeling.