Welcome 2010!

Wanted to wish all my blogland friends a very Happy New Year!!

I sincerely hope you all have a joyous, healthy and prosperous 2010.

Reading creative blogs has been a fun and happy part of my life over the past year. I have also enjoyed using this blog as a way to keep track of all the creative things I have been busy with. I know my posting has slowed a bit, but I am grateful to all of those who have stuck with me. I appreciate so much all the kind comments, and your interest in my endeavours.

I was reminiscing today, looking at photos from 2009. To be honest I had completely forgotten about some of the things I have made! I picked some of my favorites and thought I'd share them again, I guess you could say "the year in review" ;)










If you celebrate tonight be safe! It will be a quiet one here, my boy has strep throat =( but we will watch fireworks off the back patio. Here in Florida, people shoot fireworks for every holiday! LOL

Take care and see ya next year! xoxo

Carrie's Christmas Workshop

I have been a busy elf for the past month! I am really trying to make all my gifts this year, well, except for the men in the family....they just don't seem to be interested in all my crafty things...

I have been sewing, sewing, sewing, with some more sewing still to do but I wanted to post some pics of some of what I've made so far.

My awesome Mommie gave me a Moda Jellyroll, and yardage of Mary Engelbreit Christmas fabric and I used it all up and made...

Purses big and small and quilted covered journals:



I had just enough of the strips left to cover these Christmas journals I found at Michael's.
There is a tutorial for covering journals at MODA BAKESHOP.


Those last little purses are so cute and easy to make!! Find the tutorial for personal use HERE.
The pattern does not call for quilted fabric, I just chose to use fabric I had quilted =)

Then I made some fabric covered monogrammed 2010 day planners.

These day planners came from Michael's, and they have a nice cardboard cover, and fit in your purse and were only $1! I used the NO-Sew HeatNBond to attach the letters, and they will be stuck for good...

Then for the dogs lovers I bought some new leashes that have reflective threads weaved into them, and added bows and attached via split ring, little fabric bags to hold the plastic bags we need to take with us.

This is one for my friend Frannie who loves Mickey so much her beloved pooch is named Mickey =)

I still have several bags to finish and some other goodies to bake...wish me luck because I NEED it!! My first holiday guests arrive Saturday!

Happy Kitty ;)

Okay, another swap done! Only 2 more to go woo hoo!
This was the Sock Doll Swap on Craftster....now I love making creatures from socks, so even though I NEED a sock creature like I NEED a migraine, I couldn't resist.
Here a couple sock cuties I created in the past:


You can't go wrong with socks, they have great patterns, colors and are soft. And, if you get them at your dollar store they are CHEAP!
My partner for this swap wanted something "cute A/O pretty" and she like cats, so this is what I came up with:


Hope she loves her! My partner should receive it today, so we shall see...
I heard from my partner in the Book Club Swap and she loved her goodies, and has already been using the patchwork bag and wore one of the headbands, yay!
On the Christmas front, last night I cut out and interfaced all the fabric for 10 bags! Now I can start the sewing. I am so proud of myself, but must confess I stayed up too late and today I am dragging. Oh, well, no pain no gain right?
Hope you are having a great weekend!

It's November?!?!?

I am starting to feel the panic already. =) Seems like I just put up all the Halloween decorations and today they are coming down! =(
I have a LONG list of projects and things needing to be done by Christmas...hope I can manage it. I am also in the middle of 4 swaps, why did I do that to myself?? But one more swap is done yay!!
Here are the pics of what I sent:
Patchwork Bag for her knitting projects

A knitting needle case, here it is rolled up:

And unrolled:

And some fabric headbands made with Heather Bailey's Tutorial

I also sent 3 skeins of Vanna's Choice yarn in her fave colors.
Now they are off to the opposite end of the country, San Jose CA. Safe travels!
I winged the needle case, so hopefully it will work...the headbands are quick and fun to make and will definitely be on my Christmas gift making list. The only issue is you kind of have to know how big the person's head is you are making it for. Hopefully these will fit her.
My goal this year is to make most/all of the gifts we give...do you think I can do it??

Halloween Gifting

One of my best friends here has 2 daughters, both of whom have October birthdays. I am in such a Halloweeen crafting mood right now, so I went that theme for their gifts! They received sock skeletons, cat zipper pouches with gift cards inside and other Halloween trinkets.

Robert Mahar of Mahar Dry Goods was recently on Martha and featured his sock skeleton. If you are a fan of making sock dolls I highly recommend giving this a try! I had a lot of fun making them.
Then I packed them up in some Halloween boxes I found at Target, just added a felt ruffle to the top.

If you are interested in the zipper pouches, they are from an Indygo Junction pattern, I make them smallest size, but I don't add any polyfill, makes it easier to put things in the pouch ;)

So true ;)

There is a blog I follow called Whimsy Love, the author Nikki is very inspiring and talented and I always love to see what she is posting.
Her post today really rang true for me, as I am enjoying a surprise visit from my Mother and Grandmother. Both of whom are very creative and talented and have made me many wonderful things over the course of my life.
Anyway, take a peek at her post, I think you'll like it ;)
Whimsy Love

Coraline!

Happy Friday! Okay, just a warning, this post has a ton of photos in it so hang in there =) My partner just received her package in the Coraline Round 2 Swap on Craftster so now I can post all the pics! I loved this swap and making all these goodies, I think it was one of my fave swaps ever!

So, my partner's fave character in the movie/book was Coraline's Dad and since he wore a Michigan State sweatshirt in the movie, I made a bag for her from a sweatshirt I bought on eBay:

I used the Birdie Sling pattern from Amy Butler, but had to modify it a little because of the size of the sweatshirt. The pattern also called for pleats, but that wouldn't work so I skipped them entirely WOO HOO, I hate making pleats.

I added a fabric flower with a Coraline button in the center since her Dad was such a great gardener:

It's on a pin back so she can remove it if she wants too.

Next I made a little Pink Palace pouch. The Pink Palace is the old Victorian house split up into apartments that Coraline and her family move into:


This is the back, I embroidered Pink Palace, just in case she was like, "What the heck is this??" HAHAHA I used the tutorial HERE but made some modifications. OOOH how cute would a haunted house pouch be?? Okay, I digress...back on task!


Then of course I had to make some sort of plush, so I went with the circus mice! This is how I packaged it, cute little circus mouse with little gray rats:


And here he is on his own:


Then I was kind of stuck on what else to make so I went back and read through my partner's questionnaire...and saw that she really wanted a t-shirt. Woops..totally missed that one. Off to Joann's for fabric paint and a t-shirt. Then spent the next afternoon painting this on the top front of the shirt:

I tried to make her smirking....eh, not so great but not so bad. I just saw a pic of my partner wearing it and it actually looks great and she loves it!

Then for good measure I added a pumpkin pin cushion I made because she is a sewer and they are just too darn cute!

Here is a tutorial for the Pumpkin. When I stuffed mine I used plastic pellets in the bottom and made the shape of the pumpkin a little more round. Oh, and I added a vintage button on top for the stem.
Okay, I think that was a long enough post! Thanks for hanging with me =) Have a great weekend! xo Carrie

Wow, it's October!

Hello everyone! Happy fall y'all. Hope it's fall where you are, here in Florida we are still steamy. I miss fall!
But, I am still crafting for fall of course. And big time into swapping right now. Swapping seems to go in cycles for me...I swear off swaps and then there are times, like now I have been signed up for 6 swaps.

My most recently completed swap was a Halloween Altoid Swap on Craftster. My partner is a horror movie fan, as am I, especially the movie Halloween. Now, I am an old school Halloween fan, so I went with that.
This is the outside of the tin:

I attempted to make a pumpkin like that shown in the movie (notice I wrote attempted)haha and a street sign for Haddonfield which is the town the movie took place in.

Then the inside of the tin:

What always scared me the most in Halloween was when Michael would look in the window at his awaiting victim. So I tried to make a window frame for Micheal to peer into. I painted Michael's head/mask on layered cardstock and use wood trim for the frame. Oh, and added a quote from Dr. Loomis about Micheal.

This is a pic of the whole package:

I had a lot of fun making this tin and my partner seemed to love it!
Next I will post the Coraline Swap goodies, they are currently in transit, so I don't want to spoil it for my partner =)

Summer break =)

Wow! I guess I've been on a summer blogging break of sorts...but I have been enjoying reading everyones blogs! We had a great beach trip, I turned another year older(UGH), and have been painting just about every room in my house. My sewing list is sooo long right now, I'm dying to get back to it! Hope you all are having a great summer!

Wanted to share some pics with you.... The first 2 are pictures of my fave bday gift that I got from my friend Cheri. She made me a set of 10 "Thank You" cards and this is the adorable box they came in:

And here are all the cards, look at the variety!

I love them, and it will be hard to part with them!

I have been able to squeeze in a little sewing for the "We Love our Blythes and Pullips" swap on good old Craftster. I decided to swap Pullip items this time around and had a lot of fun making 2 dresses and a chaise lounge for my partner who is new to Pullip collecting.
Dress #1:

Dress #2:

And a comfy chaise lounge for relaxing:


I love creating these chaise lounges, it's like building mini Ikea furniture, only you have to cut out all the pieces first! LOL
Hope she likes everything, I already received my goodies, so that will be my next post! =)

Something for ME!

We will be heading to our annual beach trip soon, and I wanted to make a new bag for myself for the trip. I wanted something bright and summery, and I found this wonderful fabric combo that I fell in love with. Here is a closeup of the fabrics and my quilting.

I quilted the whole bag and added sunny yellow rick rack.

I had just enough fabric left over to make a bag to hold my books and magazines for the beach.

I did a simple little log cabin pocket for the front.
My goal for the summer is to do some more quilting on bags. I have been totally inspired by a recent book purchase PATCHWORK STYLE. The photos and fabric combinations in this book are lovely. I love quilting, but I seem to have a short attention span, so quilted bags are quick and rewarding!
****I just found this link to Patchwork Style that includes 2 FREE PATTERNS in the top right corner of the page. Have a look HERE!

I'm back! sorta...

I know I've been gone a while...and I wish I could say I was on some fabulous adventure. But the truth is I had the flu which turned into bronchitis and I have been sick as a dog for about the past 9 days. Not fun or exciting =(

Prior to getting knocked out by germs, I was very busy making zipper pouches. Zipper pouches are one of my favorite things to make, super easy quick and take little fabric. First, I made these little cuties for a dear friend's daughter. She is having an "End of the School Year" bash and these will hold the invites and serve as the party favor too!





The zipper pulls are made with some cute pink peace sign earrings I found at Target.



Then, I was asked to do a personal swap with a fellow Craftster who is making her first trip to Disney and wanted 2 pouches to carry cash and cards in. I found this really cute Tinkerbell fabric.



For these zipper pulls, I used these cute Mickey beads. They sell these Mickey bead bracelets in the Disney parks, I always buy them when we go, because when you take them apart you can use them in so many different ways!

If you have some spare time make a zipper pouch! You won't regret it, there are about a million tutorials out there, but I found THIS ONE for you that is really well written and will make the perfect pouch. Go for it!

And lastly I leave you with a picture of how my dogs spend their day. They both sit on the left side of the couch in my hubby's office looking out a front window. They bark and growl at anything outside that moves....such fierce watch dogs!!


The pillows on that side of the couch are all squished....drives me nuts! =)

EtSy FriDaY FUN!

Happy Friday! I had a message this morning that my Chocochippies on Etsy were added to the HANDMADE J.U.N.K.F.O.O.D. Treasury on Etsy.



You can take a look at all the goodies chosen for the Treasury HERE. There are some really cute things on this Treasury, I really like that donut ring!