Teacher Gifts!

I finished up all of the teacher gifts last night! I had an order for a few & needed to make some for Audrey to take. I think they turned out great! They are keychains that say INSPIRE BELIEVE TEACH on them with a few pretty beads at the top.

Things for the shop are moving right along! We painted the main walls and now just have the window area to paint.
The signs have been ordered and we have the most AMAZING, talented artists/crafters who will be consigning with us. I'll post pics as the goodies come in.

Here is what I have been up to

I have been a busy little bee lately! I have a new style of pendant - here is a picture. It was hard for me to get a good pic, but they are really neat! They are now at Dainty Daisies & my shows.

I also made cool & comfy new winter hats. They are a cloche style, they remind me of the 40's. They are made of fleece so they are warm, and fit about ages 7-adult. Those are also at Dainty Daisies & my shows.

And a friend is opening a shop in Madison called the Glitter Workshop. It is located at 6138 Mineral Point Road in the Homestead Shoppes. The grand opening in Saturday Nov 13th. I have sent her goodies including these - hand stamped ornaments! I really love they way they turned out. They are about 2" diameter & are nice & light so they won't pull down the branches of your tree.

Well, we need to have breakfast & got some more sewing done. My next show is in 2 weeks. YIKES!

New cuff bracelets

So I have been working on new cuff bracelets & I just love them! I have them in silver tone (aluminum) and in copper too. They will be making their debut at the Craftacular this coming Saturday. Hope to see you there.

New Earrings for Michelle!

Tomorrow these fun earrings will be available at Dainty Daisies in Oshkosh. I have been making them for a while for Madison and will finally be bringing them to Oshkosh. They all have 2 hand stamped tiny discs. I can make them with a short name or word of your choice as well.

They will be $10. I plan on having them at the summer Market as well.

Have a great weekend.

Fun New Pennant Banner

So I had a birthday gift to come up with and I am not too sure what an 8 year old girl is into......So after pondering & questions my "peeps" I decided to make a fun banner for her - with her name on it!

I fell in love with the project - it was easy & so darn cute - the photos don't do it justice. I plan on making more for my house for sure. The girls room will be getting banners soon....maybe even an Easter banner?

Do I also foresee a banner tutorial in the future? I sure do.

Ugly Stained Shirt= Cute Tu-Tu Shirt

So Audrey enjoys tu-tus. She likes to run around with them on. She has a pink one that is attached to a onesie type shirt that is too small now & "goes into her butt" as she likes to say. There is also the one she got for Christmas that can be worn over anything.

But I knew she wanted one that was attached to a shirt......So........I took an old stained shirt that she hadn't worn in awhile (wow - didn't realize it was THAT bad!) and some leftover tulle and fabric (look familiar Kelly?) and made a little shirt for her. All I did was fold & sew the tulle along the bottom of the shirt and then I steam-a-seamed the leaf-shapes onto the stained area. I choose to top stitch the leaf edges - just in case. This photo is before I ironed & sewed the pieces on - I did move them a bit.

Viola - an old throw-out shirt is now wearable & fun!

Fun New Project- Book Marks!

So I have been trying to make new projects lately - expand myself a bit......anyways I had wanted to make cute bookmarks - so here they are! Technically they are "book thongs". They have waxed cotton cording so they don't slip out of the book and each has a fun handstamped piece on it as well as glass beads. They will be making their debut at the Craftacular which is just 1 short week away........ They would make great little Valentine gifts for any reader - maybe with a gift card for the bookstore??

New Pendant & Bracelet Sneak Preview

Here is a little peak at a couple of new projects I have been working on. There are new stamped bracelets that I am loving - the one I have on is copper & has the word PEACE on it and it is about 1/2" in size.

The pendants are all initials and remind me of typewriter keys or wax stampings.

I will have both of these at the Craftacular on February 13th.

A New Project - That I Don't Love

Have you ever made a project that you just didn't love? Well this week I did. I was very excited to make plant markers for the spring & summer. I thought they would be so cute sticking in a garden, or planter or in a little herb garden. I thought I'd put the names of plants on them & then cute sayings like "my garden" and "love grows here".

Well, I made some of them this week. They just aren't as cute as I had hoped they'd be. I had 2 real silver spoons & they were cute - but just because the spoon was. I also used a few newer spoons & they were kind of blah.

I was sad this wasn't a project that I had fun making or that was really cute, but hey - it happens!

Good thing I made cute new headbands and other goodies recently! Also there is a new initial pendant in the works. I am hoping to have some for the show! I will leave you a picture of my not-so-great plant pokes. Have a good night all.

Craftacular Goodie Bag

So for the Craftacular show the first 25 shoppers will get a goodie bag filled with all sorts of fun. Here is my goodie for the bags - I made flower suckers. I think they turned out pretty cute. I used my mom's scrapbook paper (thanks mom) and last night Audrey & I cut up a bunch of flowers with my Sizzix machine - I forget how much fun that thing is to use.

I attached my business card to them as the leaf.

I am also planning on making these for Audrey's preschool for Valentines Day . I think I will get a planter & put floral foam in it & then stick the "flowers" in it.

Busy Bee - Fresh & New!

Well, I've been a busy bee lately.....I have been getting ready for the Valentine Craftacular in Madison on February 13th (more info & pics on that later). I have a couple of new bracelet styles and new skinny headbands (they are my new love). There are also new hair clips & rings. There are stylin' new girl onesies in the works as well as book marks & plant pokes/markers. If only sleep wasn't so important I might have a shot at getting my to-do list done! HA!

In addition to my new goodies I also have new display cards and shop banner(see photo) that were designed by http://www.juliehoogdesigns.etsy.com/ she has been so nice & helpful to work with.

And for cooking news - I have had some really GOOD LUCK with recipes lately! I will be posting more keepers soon (and they are really good!)

Bird Seed Ornament Tutorial

The other day the girls & I made ornaments for our little birdie friends.
Here is an easy way to do it:

Gather you supplies-

A dish of birdseed (we had 2 - one for each)

I used rye cocktail bread (leftover from an appetizer)

Peanut Butter

Skewer - or something to poke a hole in the bread

String - something to hang the ornaments on

First, spread peanut butter on the bread

Second, dunk the bread PB side down into the dish of seed

Third, poke a hole in the bread with your skewer & put your string thru

Then hang out on a tree or bush in your yard & watch the birds flock to them

A Few Handmade gifts...

Here are a couple photos of some gifts I made this year. I love the way they turned out - I usually don't like my "paper-crafts" so I tend to not make them.

The first one is a photo of my dad as a baby (well, a copy of one) and then I took a copy of his hospital info & a baby bracelet of his I found in a box of random things. I put it all into a shadow box & was really happy with the way it turned out.

This is a simple letter silhouette that I made using my computer (I found a pretty font in Word) and a piece of scrapbook paper. I did cut the letter out with tiny scissors & then used double-sided tape & a glue stick to attach it.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday season - we sure did!

Filling Orders...

Here is a look at the orders I filled tonight - I did the same thing last night.....I feel so very lucky to have people wanting my handcrafted goodness for their holiday gift giving. And I am also elated at the fantastic local shoppers that have been popping up. Both online (thanks Kelly!), at the Appleton Market & at Dainty Daisies. It is so great when people support local artist/crafters and businesses.

I am also mailing my dad his holiday package tomorrow. I have it all here, hiding on my porch, I have all my orders filled so I can now wrap & package his gift up and mail it all the way to sunny FL.

A little something new...

I have wanted to make these for a while now....I have had the discs, made a few here & there for Dainty Daisies & the markets & here is one I custom made on Etsy and I fell in LOVE with it!.....I have made more for Michelle's shop & am taking some to the market tomorrow - which will be my last day there until next summer! The Appleton market will run from 9-1. I will have some ornaments & new magnets and girly onesies too.....stop by & check it out.....

It is absolutely frigid here today! I just finished loading up my car & am going to take a scalding shower to try & heat up.

I stopped by the thrift store today on my way home & scored a few shirts for my mom, a boat-load of zippers for her & a little bag of mini deer for Michelle.

A Productive Morning....

So I fell asleep early last night.....and woke up wide awake at 4. Sigh......While I would usually enjoy this by getting my grocery shopping done or going into work early I was not able to do that today. We have a "parent-teacher" meeting this morning at 8:30 for Audrey's preschool so it really didn't make much sense for me to go to work & then have to come back home to drive back to work again (little too much back & forth for me).

So instead I painted some cute little girl onesies, had a pot of coffee & polished up some fingerprint jewelry. I had made a few of the fingerprint pieces & the weirdest thing happened when I fired them - the sides curled up. I wonder if the temperature change was too dramatic for them as I usually have done this in the summer/fall and I had the pieces drying out on the porch. I do like them, they have a nice natural look to them. The one in the photo is mine. They are made of silver, and yes if you are local I can make you one too :)

Also here is a photo of our tree at night (or early morning as the case is)......

Swap Bot

Here is my send-in for the first swap I am participating in thru http://swap-bot.com/

It was a swap for 4 vegetarian recipes........I also decided to put in a cute pot-holder, as my mom had just made a few & they turned out so nice so I borrowed her pattern (and some fabric too!!)!!

Project From My Mom

Here is a SUPER gift from my mom! She took a few pictures of our babe Audrey & put them on tiles & made me a great shadow box for me.

I am so thrilled with it.

If you want to see more of her work please check out http://squigglesandsquares.etsy.com/

Kids Art Work Notecards

So, my girl just LOVES to paint! My fridge is overflowing with her artwork. So I was thinking - what can I do with all of these paintings? I decided to turn them into fun notecards. All I did was go to the store (Target) and bought a pack of blank inside cards (18 for $1.98). They had a cute little "frame" on the front so I just measured the space on the front & cut up some of the paintings to fit. Then I glued them to the front & viola - mini art notecards!

I am going to start sending them out soon - hope the family loves getting them!

Etsy Shower

So, FickleFairie on Etsy hosts fun online baby showers! I decided to participate - both to give a gift & receive one (since I'm due in May)

Here is a photo of the gift sets I sent out to 2 expecting mommies....

I hope they like them I had a lot of fun making them for sure!