the summer hiatus

You might think that I have no good excuse for my lack of craft posts from the summer.  Well, you'd be wrong in a lot of ways.  In fact, I have the best possible excuse: Best Excuse Ever

I have some projects.  In fact, I was just working on one yesterday afternoon. I just couldn't share most of these with you until the Best Excuse Ever was at least 12 weeks old.  You would have guessed my news before I was ready to share.  See.  You can't be mad with me now, can you?!

New projects... well, there have been a few.  I finished the card rack.  It looks lovely in my craft nook. 

And I finally perfected my lip gloss recipe.  I used buttons from my great- grandmother's collection to decorate these little containers.  I'm really pleased with this project!

This laminator was on sale at Hancock Fabrics.  It is awesome and I used it for my latest project.

I found these alphabet cards at Michael's.  I knew immediately that my baby needed them.  I also laminated a set for a friend's sweet little girl.  Here you can see the cards before being laminated (on the left) and after (on the right).

This is the Snoogle.  Be jealous, as it is an amazing curved body pillow.  My mom got this one for me at Babies R Us.  I haven't needed much until this week.  My back has started aching more and more- and now it's unsafe for me to sleep or lie on my back for long periods of time.  So, this weekend and probably week, I'll be sewing (I'm terrible at sewing!) a pillow cover.

I found this pretty fabric at Goodwill a while ago.  It will look perfect in our bedroom.  I think it's meant to be a bed sheet, so re-purposing it to the pillow isn't a far stretch.

I'm looking for more projects.  And I'm seriously thinking about getting some things ready for craft fairs this fall/ winter.  I'm starting to plan some nursery projects.  One involves a dining room buffet type piece of furniture.  The other involves a mirror and a giraffe.  I'll try to give you some better direction for those in the upcoming weeks. :)  Happy craftin'!

I have to admit that during my 5 day weekend, I forgot what day it was more than once. :) I intended to blog on Sunday night, but we went to the movies instead. Monday was full of zoo babies and fun family time, and then there was Tuesday (the highlight was dinner with Mom, Tiff, and Jas). So, Wednesday morning isn't so bad, right?

This past week I've been working on a set of paper dolls. My beloved Cricut is one of my favorite tools in the craft lab; however, the cartridges were very overpriced. Michael's had a great sale on a couple of the cartridges a couple of weeks ago and I bought the paper dolls! Here's my first little couple. I'm creating large dolls so I can see where the small pieces fit before creating smaller greeting cards.
















I started this project with cardstock- 1 piece each blue and green to create the background. I used these wavy scissors and a tape dispenser to put it together.

Then, out came the Cricut. I really love this thing. It was one of my favorite Christmas gifts (thanks again, Mom!). As you can see, I made two people to begin- they are 4 inches tall.

And then, I pieced everything together. What I love most about these dolls is the clothing. It's surprisingly complex. Each piece is cut individually. For instance, the groom here requires: body, hair, hat, 2 shoes, white shirt, vest, coat, bow tie, and flower.









I'm close to halfway through the characters as I build my little guide book. I will post more photos once I have those completed. I'll also be sharing my card rack, which now holds greeting cards for every occasion. And finally, I have another project from the Big Ass Book of Crafts that I'm finishing. I'm not too great with the sewing machine, so bear with me as I work on this project: an artist sketchbook cover with holders for pencils and utensils. Tiffany asked for one as a birthday gift, which gives me a couple months to perfect this sewing adventure. See you soon, craft-tastic friends!

Blast from the Past Crafts

I know it's been a while since I posted. I thought with my classes ending, I'd have plenty of time for crafting. Jason's new photography adventure was a pleasant surprise to fit into my schedule. And work has just plain been crazy for the past month... Rest assured, my lack of posts does not mean that I haven't been crafting. In fact, I've completed a few things that I started a looooooong time ago. Last summer, Jason and I built this dollhouse. The photo isn't the best, but you get the idea...

Well, this week, I asked Jason to show me how to finish wiring for electric. We moved the house into the craft lab (formerly the office/ craft nook/ library). I took over the computer desk in order to work on the finishing touches. I have the room wallpapered and floored, except the attic. As you can see, there are several slopes, so I'll be taking my time to get those angles cut precisely. Additionally, the stairs haven't cooperated, so I still need to secure those in the dining room. All that said, I think the house is looking awesome. I'm really pleased with this first effort. I have some plans for making the decorating process easier next time. And yes, there will be plenty of next times for making dollhouses. :) Check out the progress so far...

This is the bedroom (second floor). You can see the hole for the stairs. I'm brainstorming a piece of artwork to go on the wall to break some of the lines.

And no bedroom would complete without a bedside bible, right?

Bathroom is pretty straight forward. Notice the tiled floors. :) I need a tiny rubber duck.

Dining room (first floor)- The front door enters here. There are two place settings, a basket of bread and lemonade in small glasses on the table.

Oh, I love this piece. I'm using it as the "buffet" in the dining room. Currently, it's holding the two additional place settings, the pitcher of lemonade, flowers, and more bread.

And here's the kitchen. The kitchen cabinets don't want to stay closed. I blame that on the slope of our own floors, not the dollhouse. You can see the toast in the toaster and the cookbook on the sink. There are utensils in the drawers. The fridge has eggs and Cola-- the essentials.

And this is probably my favorite... the stove has pots on the burners and one in the oven. Also, there are cookies baking on the bottom rack of the oven. The corner has two brooms and a mop. The rooms still need the lighting installed. Everything is wired, but the actual lights are expensive. I only buy them one at a time with the weekly Hobby Lobby coupon. :)

And just in case, you think I'm slacking off from the crafts. ;) I am sitting at my craft desk about to work on this other project after blogging. Jason and I freecycled this great card holder last fall. Jason spray painted the rust away last night and I'm filling it with the stationery that I have accumulated and made over the past few years. It should add some great color to my little craft nook. I'm also planning a surprise craft project today. Let's just say Michael's has some awesome coupons this week. My Cricut will be hard at work this afternoon. We are also still in the process of completing the felt and paper mache beads. You'll be seeing those soon. Happy craftin'!

It's like a line from The Sound of Music...

Lip Gloss and Toothpaste and something about kittens or somebody something like that... I just can't help but think of the favorite things song when I think about this week's projects.

Anyhow, here are the directions for my (failed) attempt at lip gloss.

You'll need:

beeswax

sweet almond oil

honey

peppermint oil

lovely little containers

something that can be used for melting the wax

Directions:

Melt the beeswax (I used natural from Michael's) and the sweet almond oil. I didn't measure everything precisely and that lead to my failure, so be sure to get these amount correct. You'll need 2 teaspoons beeswax and 7 teaspoons sweet almond oil. Melt these together then remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon honey. Whisk vigorously. This is essential, as I've read that the gloss will separate if you aren't thorough here. After whisking, allow the mixture to cool slightly and add a couple of drops of peppermint oil. I'd say you only need 3, but some recipes call for more. Peppermint oil is very concentrated and can be expensive, so decide what you're comfortable using. Mix thoroughly and pour into the container of your choice. Enjoy!

Onward... toothpaste = awesome success!


You'll need:
1 cup baking soda
zest of 1 lime
about 15 drops of peppermint oil (again, use to your liking)
a box grater
and a fabulous jar

I used this tiny box grater to zest the lime. I could have zested two and been happy, but one was enough work. Allow the zest to dry for a couple of hours. If you'd prefer, you can then crush the zest with mortar and pestle. Add the lime zest to baking soda and peppermint oil. Shake all the ingredients in your fabulous container. This recipe was easy and quick to make. Jason and I tried it last night and this morning. I'm totally sold... I won't buy toothpaste again.


Here's a close up of the tooth"paste"-- it's really just flavored baking soda.



And here is my fantastic container:



The dogs stayed up late with us last night as we prepared these recipes. Clearly, they needed a nap today from all their hard work last night...

I have a final exam Sunday and another on Wednesday. My craft adventure for this week will be paper mache beads... it might be a two week adventure with these finals, though.
Have a crafty week!

Pucker Up!

Projects for Week 1 of the craft adventure are all about the pucker! I've seen several recipes for lip gloss and toothpaste recently. Jason and I both like to know where our food and cleaning products come from... and what they contain! On the Food Revolution this past Friday, Jamie Oliver told parents to choose foods that contained ingredients that they recognized. A good rule of thumb seems to be: if you don't know how to say an ingredient (or if you don't know what it is!), don't put it into your body. Now, the Big Ass Book of Crafts claims that once an individual has used this homemade toothpaste for a week, you can actually taste the chemicals in regular toothpaste if you were to use it again. Uh, that's really gross. I'm certain I don't like the "taste" of chemicals. So, here are my first projects for the week. Let me know how you're eliminating nasty chemicals from your home and diet! :)

Welcome Back!

So, Jason has abandoned this blog for his own daily blogging experience, which somehow has ended up sharing with his following what I make for dinner and which tv shows we enjoy during the week. Married, sober, broke life isn't really all that exciting... at least not to everyone. We actually find plenty of ways to keep boredom at bay. To fight the boredom blues (and because I'm finally on some medication that allows me to live a normal life again!), I have been craftin' up a storm lately. I thought it might be fun to commandeer this here blog and upload some crafty creations. Last night, we purchased my new craft "bible" which has already provided endless inspiration. I'll learn how to blog from my iPhone later tonight when Jason tells you that (SPOILER ALERT) I made spaghetti for dinner and we sat around reading and listening to music tonight, so I can start uploading a weekly photo from the book on Sunday and then photos of my progress throughout the week. Happy craftin'!