tutorials and gift ideas

Don't forget to enter my CSN giveaway for a whole bunch of chances to win a $65.00 gift code!  Go do it! 

You know you want to! ;)

I have to introduce you to two gals who have totally humbled me this week. I'm humbled because these two gals actually used two of my tutorials to make their own cute creations.  I often wonder if my tutorials make any sense whatsoever, and if people actually use them.  So I was totally thrilled when I was sent these links last week.

Kaylie at quiet footsteps made her own cute version of my fabric mailbox tutorial.  I LOVE the felt flowers that she embroidered onto the side!  She deserves a golf clap for a job well done! 

Sandy over at Oh Sew Sandy made two pillow buddies.  Go check them out and give Sandy a cyber pat on the back! 

Just in case you are interested in trying out one of these tutorials or one of my other crafts till Christmas, I've added a tutorials and gift ideas page (click on those words or click on link under blog banner) for easy access to help you . . . 

craft on!  

tuesday's true confession: GUILT and a $65.00 GIVEAWAY

**This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to everyone who entered!**

Someone once told me that there is good guilt and bad guilt.  Do you believe that?  I think I do. 

Good guilt inspires me to make a meal for a sick friend when I have the time but would rather watch TV.  Good guilt inspires me to sit down with my children and play rather than spend time blogging.  Good guilt inspires me to put down the spoon after eating more than a few servings of ice cream right out of the container . . . not that I've ever done that.  ;)

Bad guilt makes me add one more commitment to an already over-committed week.  Bad guilt makes me feel doubt my abilities as a mom when I watch "the perfect mom" down the street who seems to do it all without breaking a sweat.  Bad guilt makes me hate my hips because they aren't the same width as they were pre-kids . . . or even pre-eating-ice-cream-out-of-the-container . . . not that I've ever done that.  

And I confess that I'm having a pretty bad case of bad guilt right now because I have about 80 comments and e-mails in my in-box that I haven't replied to.  This comments and e-mails have accumulated since my daughter's surgery last week.  With everything that went on last week, I just couldn't keep up.  I tried.  I gave it my best effort.  I sent replies to many of you, but today reality set in . . . it's just not going to happen.  If you commented to a blog post last week and have yet to receive a reply from me . . . I'm sorry to say you won't.  (I WILL, however, respond to e-mails or comments that asked questions that need a reply.)

And I feel guilty about that because if you take the time to comment, I want to take the time to reply.  I love reading your comments . . . each comment inspires me and spurs me on towards my goal.

So today I'm hoping to help myself feel a little less guilty by offering you the opportunity to win a really great giveaway for a $65.00 gift code from CSN stores. 

By now you've heard of CSN stores because they have giveaways going on everywhere.  They have so many different departments.  Right now I'm obsessed with browsing the shoe department because I really need a new pair of shoes for fall.  I would never actually purchase that pretty pink shoe . . . the guilt of buying a pair of shoes that I would never wear would be too much for me. :)  But it sure is fun to look! 

What department could you spend hours browsing through?          

Giveaway Guidelines

So . . . here's how you can be the winner of a gift code giveaway for $65.00 to any of CSN's 200 stores . . . that's right . . . you could have $65.00 to spend from the comfort of your computer.  Woohoo!   

For your first entry (everyone must do this first before other entries will be counted):

-become a new follower and tell me that you are in a comment OR
-be a follower already and tell me that you are in a comment

For two extra entries (leave 2 comments and include a link to your blog in one of the comments):

-throw my button up on your blog until this give-away ends or blog about this giveaway in a post.

For one extra entry each (please leave a comment for each entry):

-tell me if you believe that there are such things as good guilt and bad guilt
-visit CSN and tell me what department you could spend hours browsing through
-tweet about this giveaway with a link
-put a link to this giveaway up in your Facebook status
-follow twelve crafts till Christmas on Twitter
-"like" twelve crafts till Christmas on Facebook

This gives each person 9 possible chances to win.  Woohoo!

Give-away ends Tuesday, August 25, 2010 at 11:59 PM (central standard time) . . . four months till Christmas!

Thanks again soooooo much for reading and entering . . .


craft on!

mini-sachet pillows tutorial

Last Monday I had the opportunity to kick off a guest post extravagance over at Sugar Bee.  Mandy, the creative genius behind Sugar Bee, has a great line-up of guest posters, and there is still one week left.  Don't miss out.  Hop over (after you read this, of course) and check Sugar Bee out.
In case you missed my guest post last Monday, I'm reposting it here too.  This tutorial will walk you through a simple process that you could use to get your feet wet in the handmade gift-making gig. 

Remember those lace sachets that you used to see in your grandmother's drawers?  Welcome to the modern version . . . perfect for your friend, mother-in-law, co-worker, etc.

Simple Mini-Sachet Pillows

What you need:
-fabric
-ribbon, other fabric scraps, ric rac, other embellishment ideas
-dried lavender, rosehips, assorted dried flower mix
-cheap white rice

What you do:
1)  Cut 3 to 4 pairs of 5 x 5 squares out of your fabric.

2)  Embellish squares using your creativity.  Options are endless . . . well, not endless . . . at some point the options will stop, but you get the idea.  

I tacked ric rac to one of the squares.

I also folded a ribbon into a ruffle on another square and used my sewing machine to sew a straight line down the center of the ribbon.

3)  Put square pairs right sides together and sew around all sides leaving a two inch opening for turning.

4)  Clip corners, trim off extra fabric and turn squares right sides out.

5)  Fill each square half with lavender or other dried flowers and half with rice.  The other option is to mix essential oils with rice and fill completely with the rice.  (Do you like my homely little paper funnel?  I'm thinking I'll find my real kitchen funnel in the bottom of the toy box during our next toy-purge.)

6)  Use a hidden stitch to sew up the opening you used for turning and filling.  (Or you can go the super easy route and use sewing/fabric glue . . . go for it!)

7)  Finish up any embellishments.  I made a little flower and put it on one of the sachet pillows.

8)  Tie with a ribbon.  Add a card.  Give a homemade gift that's been labored over and loved on!

Beverly from Flamingo Toes also posted a wonderful sachet tutorial using dryer sheets this week.  Go check her tutorial out as well!

Craft on!    

saturday's to-do list

You may have seen the to-do list I posted on Facebook this morning.  It went something like this:

1) play

2) clean make-up brushes  (It's embarrassing how yucky these brushes were.)

3) read books about kindergarten

4) laundry

5) make a pretend mini-van out of the couch and pack it full of every single toy in the house  (And yes, my daughter is not wearing a shirt.  You're lucky she even has shorts on in this picture because for the last two hours between dinner and bed, she was running around the house in just her unders.  The kid doesn't like clothes . . . kindergarten here we come!)

6) clean bathroom drawers and change out toothbrushes

7) play hide-n-seek

8) finish first bassinet

Can you believe I finished one already?  I can't!  One more to go.  Then on to the pillows and blankets.

It was a great day!

Craft on!

I may link to these great parties.

it's here . . .

I'm so excited! 

It's here! 

What's here? 

Well, thanks for asking!

The bassinet that I used to play with as a child has arrived . . . the one that my mom made me . . . the one that has inspired my fifth craft till Christmas. 

I've been studying it a bit to figure out how on earth I'm going to make my own version.  If you are following along on Facebook, you know I started cutting yesterday.  It hasn't been pretty, and my husband has overheard me mumbling a few choice words to myself as I try to figure out how my mom made this #$%*@ thing.

But now that I'm all riled up, I can't let it beat me.  So I hope to have something to show you soon.

Craft on!

pretty poppies tutorial

What do these things have in common?
roll-ups (crayon, marker, gel pen, make-up brushes)
felt food
play mail set
soda can jewelry

. . . and now flowers

Give up? 

These are all the craft-related obsessions I have had in the past seven months.  My sixth craft till Christmas in July was haircessories.  With that craft, my flower obsession began.  Recently, I googled "images of flowers" just to gaze at the source of this recent crafty-obsession, and these three images jumped off the computer screen.   

The first one and the third one are a poppies, but I'm not sure what the second one is.  Let's pretend it's a poppy too.  Either way these three beautiful flowers are the inspiration behind my newest flower project - super easy pretty poppy wall art.

Pretty Poppies

Here's what you need:
-a square art canvas (Find at Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Wal-mart, etc.)
-fabric (I went with a monochromatic look with various shades of ivory, off white and white.  I also used various textures, thicknesses, etc. - linen, tulle, twill, muslin, etc.) 
-beads
-straight pins

Here's what you do:
1)  Using four different sized circle items as a pattern cut 9 circles of each size from four different fabrics.  I used four different sized biscuit cutters at the patterns.  Cut 27 circles of tulle from the largest circle pattern. (Obviously, the number of circles you use will depend on the size of your canvas and the spacing you want.  My canvas was 10 x 10.)

2)  Ball up each circle into a little wad.  (Yuck, I hate using the word "wad".)  I stuffed my little wadded up balls into the corner of sandwich baggies and twisted the baggies up.  Then my kids woke up from their naps so we played while my little wadded up balls got nice and wrinkly.  If you need the instant gratification of wrinkles, I have two recommendations: 1) After pre-washing your fabric, dry it.  By the time you get back to it - if you are like me - it will be good and wrinkly after sitting in the dryer for a day or two.  2) After rolling your circles into little balls, place a hot iron on them. 

3)  Take wadded up balls out of baggies.  Layer circles - largest, tulle, medium, tulle, medium in a different fabric, tulle, smallest.

4)  Take straight pin and bead and put pin through the bead.  Stick pin and bead combo through the center of each poppy.

5)  Turn canvas over.  Use the cutting edge of a pliers to snip off the sharp ends of the pins.  Then use the needle nose end of the pliers to bend the blunt pin end down.

6)  Done!  Now I just have to figure out where to put it!

Craft on!

My no-sew headband ended up being number two in the first round of Trendy Crafter.  That means I'm in the next round as well . . . which is, yep, you guessed it . . . flowers.  I'll let you know when voting begins in round 2 so that you can head on over and vote for your fav.

tuesday's true confession: my similarity to Lady Gaga

P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face!  P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face!  
Today I'm confessing that I'm a pretty private person.  This shows up in my life in three ways:

1)  I tend to keep everything from my feelings to my deepest thoughts to myself unless I know someone REALLY well.  I've got this crazy-good poker face. (Hence, the reference to Lady Gaga.  Actually, this is probably the extent of my similarity to her.  And I'm pretty sure based on the rest of the lyrics of that song that we aren't using our poker faces for the same purpose.)  People can tell me THE MOST SHOCKING NEWS EVER right to my face, and I can pretty much act like I've heard it ten times before . . . and in my line of work, I've heard some pretty shocking things.  People only know what I'm feeling or thinking if I want them to know what I'm feeling and thinking. 

2)  I'm an expert at using the word "interesting" to mean everything from,

• "That could be the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
• "I need to think about that for a little while before I have an opinion."
• "I'm genuinely interested in that.  Tell me more." 

(If you are someone who has actual face-to-face conversations with me, let's just assume I'm always using "interesting" in reference to that last reason when I'm talking with you.)

3)  I try to get to know other people, but I rarely let other people get to know me really well.

 

I'm not sure why I'm like this.  I'm not sure if I've always been like this?  I'm not sure if I'll ever stop being like this.  I've used some of these tuesday's true confessions to be a little less private . . . at least with people in blogland, some of who I also know in "real" life (whatever that is).  

I'm confessing this today because it was a tough day and an incredible day all in one, and I thought I'd take another step in self-disclosure.  

After more than a year of doctor's visits and mystery symptoms, my oldest was diagnosed with kidney and bladder malformations at the age of 3 when she had her first surgery.  I've spent the last two years scheduling her bathroom habits, fluid intake, medications, renal function tests, etc.  Today was the second surgery . . . a surgery that we were told she would have to have every two years until about the age of 16 or so.  Ugh!

I've had my very best poker face on the past two years in response to this in spite of what I feel inside.  I had my very best poker face on last night as I was explaining to her what would be happening again today.  I had my very best poker face on as I held her in the surgical room while they were putting her to sleep.  (It's sooooo cool that they let a parent go into the surgery room now until the child is asleep.  That wasn't the case two years ago, and it was wonderful to be with her.)  I had my very best poker face on as the surgeon called us back to the consultation room to tell us how the surgery went.  

And as I listened to her report, my poker face was replaced by the largest, brightest, most amazing smile I've had in a long time.  In two short years, something rare happened . . . something she doesn't see happen very often, she's healed . . . for the most part . . . we think.  We're going to be cautiously optimistic over the next few weeks as we start to take her off her medication.  But for the time being, no more renal function tests, ultrasounds and surgeries.  

So for today . . . good bye poker face and hello super happy face!  I'm letting the whole world know that I'm happy.

How about you?  Do you have a great poker face or a face that every feeling and thought is written on?  Are you someone who guards your heart or who wears your heart on your sleeve?

Confess on!

**I'm not doing the linky because it takes so much time to set up.  I don't have that kind of time today, but I would love to hear what you have to say in the comments or you can post a link in your comment to your blog if you have your own confession post you want to share.