Cuff Love

I have a LONG list of crafty ideas and things I want to try and create, but do I ever have enough time??? No. :(
About 2 months ago I bought 12 two inch wide aluminum bracelet cuffs with the grand idea of making cuff bracelets for my Etsy shop. Well, hasn't happened yet ;). But, I saw a cuff bracelet swap on Craftster and joined knowing it would get me started!
Let me tell you I had so much fun making this bracelet!! Can't wait to make many many more, in fact I ordered 12 more cuff blanks.
Here is the cuff in action:


My swap partner likes butterflies and the colors blue and purple, so I am hoping she loves it.


I covered the aluminum cuff with fabric interfaced with heavy interfacing and fleece interfacing. So it is very comfortable on the wrist, and you can still bend the cuff to make it the perfect size.


The flower was made with batik fabric that I fused to itself and then cut with my Big Shot die cutter to make all the layers. It is hand sewn together with glass beads


My partner hasn't received it yet, so I am a little nervous. Creating these bracelets is very addictive, and I have 3 more in the works for my shop. Wish me luck! xo

Hangin' With My Peeps

I decided my Easter plush project for gifting this year would be little chicks.
My first little chick was super cute but very small and needed to be hand sewn. I decided that because the plan was to make and send several the pattern would have to be bigger so I could machine sew them. Much faster that way!
And in the end I think they turned out pretty darn cute.

Here is the whole peep party:



Sent a couple to my parents:



Me and the hubs (notice I get the pink tutu and rolled fabric rose! teehee):



All this peep making has tuckered me out, time for a nap in the hydrangeas:



One of the tags I made to go with the chicks:


Some of the other tags read, "to my peeps" "to my favorite chick" "to one cute little chickie" and so on.

Here's a little chick package ready for mailing:



They should all arrive by Easter and I hope everyone enjoys them! Happy Easter!! xo

Bright Blooms

Just completed my Mini Art Quilt for Round 4 on Craftster, and I was sorry to see it go! But I am really hoping my swap partner will love it too. :) She wanted something in the tree theme so this is what I cam up with:

My partner is also an owl fan so I added a little owl nestled in the leaves.

I sewed each leaf individually, then turned them right side out, tacked them on the tree and then added a button. It meant for a lot of hand sewing, but I wanted the tree to have that texture.

This is the back side:

The quilt measured about 18x25 when it was done I think.

And speaking of being a fan of owls....
Looky what my Mommie found for me at Goodwill for $6! A beautiful ceramic owl lamp:


Now I know this might not be for everyone, but I just love her!!! I named her Olivette and she perches in my entryway. She makes me happy :) it's the little things right?

Trying to find my MOJO ;)

There have been some big changes in my life over the last few months...the biggest being my family moving from sunny Florida to the Northern Virginia/D.C. area. I could go on and on about it but I am trying to move onward and upward, so no pity parties here!
But, with all the change I feel like I have lost my creative, crafting, sewing mojo...
In an effort to get it back I headed to a good source of inspiration: CRAFTSTER.ORG and joined in their mug rug swap. In case you are unfamiliar with a "mug rug" it is basically a small quilted place mat used to put your coffee or tea cup on. AKA a mini quilt. I figured this was something I could handle and it would get me sewing again.
I signed up for 2 partners and got to work!

Mug rug #1





This partner is a nature/owl fan, loved using my wood grained fabric! I also sent both partners a little goodie bag of tea bags and Starbuck's Via and made a matching tag.

Mug Rug #2





This partner likes kawaii, and I have had this cute fabric in my stash for a while and knew it was too perfect!

Here is a shot of the backs:



Luckily both partners loved their mug rugs, woot woot!

Did my plan work?? I think it did! I had a lot of fun planning and sewing these mug rugs. And it has motivated me to finally get my sewing closet organized and orderly...more on that later, yes I typed "sewing closet". I am not quite ready to photograph yet. ;)

I hope to keep my rear in gear, I appreciate everyone who reads my blog, thanks for sticking with me! xo

Auld Lang Syne - Mairi Campbell

Happy New Year to you and yours! Wishing you a happy and healthy 2011, may all your dreams come true!