October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

One of the great things about having a child is the excitement surrounding the holidays. I'm the excited one. My son it still too young to realize what is going on. I've been waiting for Halloween so he could wear his costume trick-or-treating. I made him this Elmo costume because it would be nice and warm, but it was an unseasonably warm October day here in Omaha. I love this furry, silky fleece even though it's not fun to cut (huge mess) or sew with, but it makes the cutest costumes. The best part is the hat, and I've decided making costumes is one of my favorite Mom jobs. My mom always made us great costumes, and as the oldest I was lucky to always have a new costume. My poor brothers always had to wear hand-me-downs which is why I never got to be a princess. Anyway, here's the Elmo costume with a better view of the hat. Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

October 28, 2008

Caardvarks Initial Reaction Challenge

The current challenge at Caardvarks is to make a monogram-themed card. I had a few ideas for this challenge, and here's my first card--


I used my Cricut machine to draw the "S" on cardboard using these neat little markers I purchased. You replace the blade with the marker and can draw the designs. I decided to do that so I didn't destroy my blade trying to cut cardboard. I cut the "S" out by hand and spraypainted it with regular old silver spraypaint then added some ribbons. The snowflakes are $1 Michael's stamps from last year and are stamped in white ink (although it looks kind of silver/gray on the black cardstock). The "Let is Snow" sentiment is Stampabilities. I have another idea for a monogrammed Christmas card I hope to complete, but I wanted to get this one posted before I lost track of time and missed the deadline. Thanks for looking!

October 26, 2008

My Little Scarecrow

So I finally completed one Halloween costume. I made my son a scarecrow costume to wear to daycare because I was worried something might happen to the Elmo costume I was making for trick-or-treating. It was supposed to be a simple costume, but I turn everything into a major production. I bought a pair of denim overalls at Goodwill and sewed on some patches of homespun fabric. I put raffia in all the pockets--

I made this cute little hat to complete the outfit. He's not a huge fan of wearing hats, so I don't know that he'll actually keep it on.

I puchased a shirt at Target, but I didn't sew anything to it because I had to pay full price. And I never pay full price. He'll have it wear it after Halloween, too. I think he looks pretty cute, but I'm biased!


October 23, 2008

2S4Y Weekly Sketch--Laura's Sketch 11

It's my day off and finally naptime, so I had a chance to make my card for this week's 2S4Y challenge. Here is Laura's lovely sketch--


Much like last week, my first attempt didn't work out so well. I don't know what I'll do with all these half-made cards lying around! Here's my second attempt which actually went together pretty quickly.

I used brown cardstock (Making Memories), patterned paper (Making Memories mat pack--clearance bargain at Target), ivory linen cardstock and ivory ribbon (leftovers from my wedding four years ago), and "Miss You" stamp (Rubber Stampede) and script stamp (Stampabilities) in brown ink. I inked the edges of everything but need some work on my inking--it's a little splotchy. Maybe a cotton ball isn't the best thing to use! If I made this card again, I'd make the square larger because it looks out of proportion with my sentiment tag. I really like the wired ribbon because it's easy to work with and actually stays where it's supposed to. I didn't even attempt to make a pop-up card. I'm lucky to get a regular card finished. Now to try and make a few more cards before the little one wakes up. Thanks for looking!

October 19, 2008

An Enjoyable Weekend & a Fancy New Blog

After a stressful day at work on Friday, I was looking forward to having the weekend off and just relaxing. Now that my son is almost two years old, I've finally come to terms with the fact that I won't ever get as much accomplished as I did before he was born. And that's okay. He's growing up way too fast to worry about how many projects I've completed or how clean my house is. Saturday finally brought a Husker win. On Sunday, my son and I went to the fabric store to buy felt for his scarecrow costume. I hope to finish it this week and will post pictures. He's getting over his cold and feeling better, so it was an enjoyable outing. We visited Grandma and Papa, got a haircut, and just enjoyed the last of the beautiful weather. I also updated my boring blog. After looking at ALL the free backgrounds at The Cutest Blog on the Block and trying out more than one, I finally decided on this one. My big accomplishment this weekend was completing my application for the 2 Sketches 4 You Winter Design Team. I'm not expecting to get a spot on the Design Team, but I'm proud of myself for applying.

October 16, 2008

2S4Y Weekly Sketch--Kazan's Sketch 11

I don't know if it's the cold I've got or the cold medicine I've been taking, but I totally had a creative block trying to make my card for this week's sketch challenge at 2 Sketches 4 You. Kazan provided this great sketch for inspiration--

I made three attempts and ended up using my first card. I'm still not thrilled with the end result, but it's done!

I used some leftover red cardstock, patterned paper (Provo Craft), and a "thank you" sentiment ($1 Michael's stamp) stamped in black. The stamped hearts are part of another $1 Michael's rubber stamp. I colored just the heart with black marker and stamped it. I used a Sizzix die to cut two hearts from red polka dot fabric then zig-zag stitched them together with some batting in between. Thanks for looking!

October 14, 2008

Caardvarks Score! Challenge

After missing out on the last few Caardvarks challenges, I wanted to make sure I made a card in time for the current challenge. The challenge is to make a card incorporating a scoring technique. I used a butter knife and ruler to score strips of patterned paper then folded the paper along the score lines to make pleats. I really like the way it turned out, but it's not very practical! You can't really mail the card since the pleats would get crushed. I used textured blue cardstock, patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), "thank you so much" sentiment (Hampton Arts) stamped in brown, and blue ribbon from my stash. I've added the Scor-It Board to my Christmas wish list, so hopefully I'll be the owner of one soon. Thanks for looking!

October 8, 2008

2S4Y Weekly Sketch--Laura's Sketch 10

I had the morning to myself today since my husband took my son into daycare early. Even though I was tempted to go back to bed at 6:30am, I figured I was up so I'd make the most of my free time. I was able to clean both bathrooms (including the floors), wash a load of laundry, and drink three cups of coffee which is probably 2&1/2 cups too many. I was also able to make my card for this week's sketch challenge at 2 Sketches 4 You.


I used textured blue cardstock (Archiver's, maybe?), holiday patterned paper (Provo Craft), "happy holidays" sentiment (Katie & co $1 Michael's stamp), crimped die cut stars (Sizzix die and Fiskars crimper), ribbon from my stash, and zig zag stitching with my trusty Bernina.

On another note, my giveaway on the EtsyGreetings blog starts today! Just stop by the blog and leave a comment about my Etsy shop to be entered to win one of my handmade cards.

October 3, 2008

2S4Y Weekly Sketch--Kazan's Sketch 10

After not participating the last two weeks, I was determined to get a card made for this week's challenge. I figured I would have time this morning since my son would be at daycare, and I didn't have to work until this afternoon. Then my son woke up with another case of pinkeye--so no daycare and some phone calls to find an alternative sitter for this afternoon. During naptime I still managed to make up a quick card using supplies I already had. Maybe it's better to work under pressure! I used Making Memories brown cardstock, and all the patterned papers are from a My Mind's Eye slab. The sentiment is a new $1 Michael's stamp I treated myself to. The colors are really bright, but I like the way it turned out. Now my son is off to Grandma's, and I'm off to work. Thanks for looking!

Parrot Hat

My latest completed project is this adorable parrot hat I made for an alchemy request. It's made of furry polyester fleece. I swore I would never use this kind of fabric again after making my son's Halloween costume last year, but it's so darn cute I couldn't resist. If you're willing to put up with the mess, it's worth it. This is the first non-card item I've sold on Etsy, so I'm pretty happy about that. Hopefully it's the first of many!