Crafting Progress

A small update on the progress of my first craft project of the year. Here are the postcards that I have chosen to use for the vintage postcard calender that I have previously written about. These postcards are from my collection that has accumulated over the past few years. My favorites are the postcards that were sent to members of my family. The postcards from Washington DC and Egypt were sent to my great-great aunt Catherine from an aspiring suitor! Oh the scandal! In case you are wondering, she never married him. In fact she never married. But he sent her lovely postcards from his travels and always ended with, "I see your face in every flower and moonbeam!" Pretty heavy stuff for 1927. The other postcards are to various people that I have no relation to but found in antique stores across the country. A strong coincidence is that two of the cards (from Venice) are sent to the same lady within a month of each other to a lady in Roby, Texas. For those of you who aren't familiar with the thriving metropolis of Roby, its a small town of less than 1500 in West Texas. I bought one of the Venetian postcards to the Robyite in Lubbock and another in Holland, Michigan! Isn't that weird? Not sure how the one ended up in Michigan.

Now that I have selected the postcards, I need to buy my index cards and date stamp, stamp the dates on the cards, and then arrange in a chosen basket. I am very excited to see how it all turns out.

Year of Crafts

A few days ago, I wrote that one of my resolutions was to make more handmade in the following year. As I was surfing the blogworld, I found a few women who broke down their resolutions into monthly increments. I thought this was such a great idea, especially when making things. So here is my breakdown of things to make in 2011:

January- Vintage Postcard Calender- such a great idea & so easy!
February- Camera Strap- my camera strap is in serious need of love. Hubby has requested that I not make the fabric too girly, as he takes lots of pictures with the camera too!


March- Cover for my sewing Machine- My poor little machine needs a cover so badly. I love how Jade over at Chikaustin made this cover with vintage pillow cases & other fabric.


April- Make homemade roast chicken. I have always wanted to roast a chicken and create my own stock. I will do this! Plus, Nigella (oh, yeah we are so on a first name basis) has the best recipe!

May-Entryway- Our entry way needs some TLC. All we have in it at the moment is an old church mirror. I am looking at antique stores and thrift stores for an old metal R...I have plans!

June- Miss Mia's wall art- Miss Mia's big girl room has been in owls. With the new house, she has extra wall space and needs a big statement piece. I have a large canvas that I got for 75% off at Micheal's. I've been talking to Hubby and I have an idea for what I think I would want. Picture a big owl in corresponding room colors with Miss Mia's name on the bottom. This project will take help from the Hubby who is MUCH more artistic than I am. He has already sketched it out and it will be beautiful!

July-Homemade pesto- with the summer comes the herb garden and so much basil! I have wanted to make homemade pesto for years. Every summer I say that I am going to make it and then usually get some from a friend. This year, I am going to make my own, and freeze extra to have in the winter months!

August-Sock monkey- I have seen these everywhere & really want to make one. We have quite a few friends expecting kids in early August & I think a sock monkey is a great gift idea!


September- Craft Space- Right now all of my craft supplies are in big boxes in my closet. It is quite the challenge to get everything out when I need to hem something or make a quilt baby blanket for one of Miss Mia's "babies." I'm not sure where this is going to happen but I have some ideas. Love these ideas that could just be somewhere in a corner!


October- T-shirt quilt- This is of my father-in-law holding his Christmas quilt from his mother. He is Michigan State grad and she made him this t-shirt quilt for Christmas. (Word has it, our family is in for a Texas Tech version! woo hoo!) I have seen these before and loved the idea, especially for the special shirts that I don't wear anymore, like those from high school. I graduated from a small school where everyone participated in virtually everything. I have state cross-country shirts and basketball playoff shirts that are sitting in boxes in my parents house. My brother is the same. So I've been working with my mom to get big brothers football and basketball shirts from his golden days and turn them into a scrapbook quilt. Very excited! Mom is also excited, in that I have 5 boxes of shirts as does big brother...that is 10 boxes folks that are cluttering up her closet!



November- Crocheted Blanket- this blanket is destined for Miss Mia's 4th birthday! Its a tiny bit ambitious b/c there is a tiny flaw- I don't know how to crochet! Oops...But I bought some DIY books at Half Priced Books and have a tutor. The idea is to make the basic design & add extra white around the edge every year. Very excited to get started.


December- Christmas stockings for the family- I have a stash of vintage pillowcases and fabric that have a holiday flare. I have yet to use them but think that I want to make Christmas stockings for the family. The past few Christmases we have had some fairly generic store bought stockings that matched our tree skirt. We changed out the skirt this year and the stockings need to follow!

Calling all Crafters..Or Buyers of Crafts!

The fabulous ladies at Craft Hope are getting together to raise money for the people of Haiti. They are asking those who craft, or even have fun accessories to give to donate them to the Craft Hope Etsy shop. ALL proceeds will be given to Doctor's Without Borders going to Haiti.

For all details go here.


So if you love to craft, please help, or if you're not a crafter and more of a buyer...then this is a great way to help too!!

Tis the Season

We had a beyond fabulous Thanksgiving. We spent time with family, met new members, and sat in Tony Romo's locker! (more on that later!) With the past week being Hubby's sister's wedding, we had a new brother to welcome to the family. With the wedding, cousins and family came down to celebrate in the festivities. We met some of the spouses of cousins that we had yet to meet due to their living Far North. We had so much fun meeting and spending time with the family, playing Apples to Apples a billion times and found out that Monopoly on the Wii can be very fun.

Saturday, Hubby and I left Miss Mia with her grandparents and drove to Dallas to attend the Texas Tech/Baylor game at the NEW cowboys stadium. I won us tickets and a tour of the Cowboys' locker room. I will post more about the trip and pictures soon, becasue they are amazing. Lets just say the game was great, as was the outcome, and I sat in Tony Romo's locker!

But now that Thanksgiving is over, my schedule is about to get nuts for a few weeks with the semsester winding up. But luckily our presents are all bought and the tree and all decorations are up, but I still want a few more traditions to take place before Christmas arrives!

While browsing the blogs last week I came across a great list for your advent calendar. I really liked it because it was experiences instead of things. I tweaked the list a bit to fit our needs!

Advent Calendar

• Exchange gifts
• Make Christmas cookies for friends
• Watch Meet Me In St. Louis and sing out!
  
• Address and mail Christmas cards
• Go the bookstore and pick out one new Christmas Book
  
• Make thick hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows
• Put up a ribbon sash for Christmas cards
• Put up a wreath
• Make a gingerbread house
• Make a popcorn garland
• Sing or listen to Dean Martin's Christmas Carols!
  
• Drive around to see neighborhood lights
• Go out and see public light display
• Open a gift (new stocking, pajamas, or pillowcase)
• Make a family traditional dessert
• Exchange ornaments with my family
  
• Eat out at a festive restaurant
• Go to a seasonal movie
• Host a Christmas dessert party
• Attend a city tree lighting event

‘Tis the season.

Show Us Your Life= Make it Yourself!

This week over at Kelly's Korner, its Show Us Your Life- Make It Yourself! I have been very busy making a few things. We'll start with Miss Mia's Texas Tech Red Raider Tutu! With football season here, it was evident Miss Mia needed yet another tutu, but this one needed to be Red Raider inspired. I had a few ideas I wanted to try on making the tutu, and got all the tulle for 75% off at Hobby lobby. The only part I had to sew was the elastic together. Everything else is tying knots and cutting tulle! So easy, a caveman coudl do it! = )
Miss Mia loved her new tutu..She stomped around the house and twirled. She has recently learned the words to ring around the rosey & this large tutu made it so much more fun!
Future Red Raider shirt with tutu!
All of the fluffy goodness! Even put a few red and black ribbons throughout just for some extra texture and color.

The bigger DIY project came two weeks ago with the purchase of these fabulous bookshelves at our favorite used furniture store here in Norman. I could see so much potential in these needy shelves.

So we had them delivered a week after we bought them, went to Lowe's and bought some gorgeous Martha Stewart paint! (Of course!) Then we got to painting!
Look at our little helper...I even dressed her in what I thought was a baby painter outfit!
Side note...there isn't anything really on her roller, but she painted like there was!
Here is the finished product! I think they look gorgeous! I love them so much!
I found these cute knobs at Hobby Lobby for .75 each! Added such a cute flair to the shelves!

Vanity Chair Before/After

A few months ago my Grandmommie bestowed upon me her old vanity chair. She wanted something a little different for her newly renovated bathroom. I, having spent hours and hours as a child sitting in that chair, jumped at the chance to own it! Our master bathroom has a small vanity area built-in, and thus I really 'needed' the chair anyway.

The chair came to me with a bright gold frame and 60s white (fading) vinyl covering. Although it is almost 50 years old, being from my Grandmommie, it was still in very good shape. My bathroom, however, is not really in golds and white vinyls. I have had my eye on some beautiful fabric at Hobby Lobby for a while, but wanted to wait for it to go on sale. This week it did!

So today I made the new seat cover and spray-painted the body white. I LOVE the finished product. It looks like a completely different chair. Now Miss Mia can start sitting in the chair making her memories of the torture of getting her hair done..haha

Crazy Chicken...

I have been running around this week like a crazy chicken with no head. I have lists upon lists of what needs to get done this week but it feels like I'm making little progress. We leave tomorrow evening for vacation to Michigan. I am so excited to see Hubby's family and for many of them to FINALLY get to meet Miss Mia. We were gone last weekend to Texas to see my family and friends and now are turning around and leaving for 9 days! That is a lot of packing, planning, list making, cleaning, and laundry for this Mommy.
So here is the early attempts at packing early. I would like to note that MY bag is the big maroon one. Miss Mia's bag is the red one. The one with the flower is our our play bag with fun items for the trip (books, magna doodle, toys, etc)..the rest are Hubby's! That's right..those other 3 bags, (not to mention he has a fourth in the bathroom) are all his bags. I better not here anymore how I over pack! = )

Today after finishing up packing Miss Mia, I finally finished her new blanket. I made it two sided for her in her favorite color of pink. (or ping as she calls it!) Its super duper soft..I put two battings inside.
One of the other highlights of the trip is that I actually get to go to one of Hubby's cousin's wedding showers. Being 13 hours away, we rarely get to share these memories, and with her wedding coming on one of my Comps days in October, we sadly won't even get to go. Luckily, however, I will get to go to the wedding, so I've been putting together a special present for her. I got a few things off her registry (pizza pan, colander and glass oil bottle) and then filled the rest with fabulous Italian accessories to help make yummy Italian cusine and the best pizza crust!
In this envelope, I added several recipes, including my pizza crust, chicken soup, peanut butter cookies, and some great Southern and Texas recipes. With the couple being from Michigan they've always marveled at our spicy cuisine. I hope they love the gift and make many of the fabulous recipes!
Hubby has also been quite crafty for Miss Mia. He made her these two water tables and sand tables. She loves them so dearly. They are a perfect height, and have lids that actually snap shut!

Next time she plays out in them, I'll have to take her picture. The puppy also loves these tables height as he can drink from the water table when no one is looking. = )

Feeling Crafty

I have been feeling rather crafty. Sewing in my office has become the therapy I need to create something, anything really, that has nothing to do with studying for COMPS or dealing with ulcers. I have been finding so many cute ideas to make easy stuff for babies, and of course Miss Mia needs them all! Pillow monster is still a hit. Helga the doll sleeps with the Pillow Monster next to Mia every night.

Here are a few more things I have whipped up in the last few days. This is a place mat diaper-bag-to-go. This is my second one and I just loved this placemat. I bought all that my Target. (So going to the next girl I know who has a girl!) I got the idea from Unnecessary Necessities and the tutorial can be found here. The only thing I did differently was add velcro to keep mine shut. I have so much stick-on or sew on velcro and felt that kept the bag closed better. I use the one I made for Miss Mia as an insert to her diaper bag as well as by itself when are just running to the store. It easily holds a few diapers and wipes along with my wallet. When Miss Mia outgrows it, I'll probably use it for a tolietree case.


I have also been wanting to try my hand at covering a baby wipe case. One of my friends asked if I would try and make her one to go along with the small diaper bag I made. I had left over fabric from making the bag. The case was really easy. I googled "how to make a baby wipe case" and many tutorials came up. All it really takes is hot glue gun, fabric, wipes case, and some trim. I did the case in way less than an hour. Yet another easy and frugal gift to give your friend or to jazz up your own diaper bag!

A Day in the Life..

I found this print today and it was absolutely a perfect portrayal of my day. I have ironed, done the dishes (more sippy cups than dishes), put laundry out on the line, hand-sewn a project for Mia, cleaned the bathroom, and swiffered the floor! Just a day in the life. If only the print showed the housewife studying for COMPs, then it would have been my entire day!

Here is the "pillow monster" that I finished for Miss Mia today. The monster was not supposed to be a pillow, but Mia kept putting her favorite doll Helga on it to go "night night." So the monster became a pillow with eyes and a crooked smile. Of course, that is how all truly great creations begin! Pillow monster has yet to be named...but for now he's just pillow monster..and Helga's night night toy.

Grateful Friday

One of my favorite blogs is Artsy-Crafty Babe. She sews really adorable stuff for her etsy shop and on has "gratitude Fridays." I thought it was such a wonderful way to wrap up ones week and put it into perspective. Thus on my "Grateful Friday..."
I am grateful for:
-Some truly delicious summer moments alone with Mia this week clapping our hands, dancing to Backyardigans theme song, and falling on the floor and laughing (Oh if I can remember this moment forever!)
-Getting to eat non-clear food! Yay!
-Having a sweet hubby who gave me my anniversary present early so that I could craft while sick
-Getting my office finally organized
-Chatting with good girlfriends on the phone
-Reality TV to be there for me when I'm sick! (My TiVo was so considerate of me during my sickness and recorded all my shows plus new ones it thought I might like...they were all ready and waiting on me when I literally couldn't get out of bed.)
-Fabulous finds at Target (including $1.50 placemats that I converted into small on-the-go diaper or travel caddies for future gifts!)
Diaper case idea and how-to at Unnecessary Necessities

Feeling Crafty

Now that my papers are turned in, and all I have left is grading, I've been feeling crafty. I have been anxious to try to make Miss Mia some hair clips. So I went on ebay and got a huge stash of metal clasps for $3! Now I'm using up fabric, checking out other designs I want to put on them, and going through my craft boxes for felt and other materials to add to the buttons. Miss Mia loves them. She's been putting them in her baby dolls hair. Evidently, to an 18 month old the clips are "pretty girls!" You think she's heard this before?