"Snow" blocks

Saturday we had "Super Saturday" at church and even though I was teaching two classes I managed to actually complete one of the three projects I signed up for.  I was so excited for this project because I actually don't usually decorate with traditional Christmas colors.  Last year the only thing on my tree was snowflakes that I'd crocheted and I used a blue and white tree skirt.  This will match my decor exactly.  I love it!  I'd actually been wanting to make a project like this with different sizes of letter blocks for quite some time.  My friend has a stencil cutter so the letters are actually stenciled on.  So much fun!

Fall Headbands

I've been asked several times recently if I've been busy making new products for my craft booth this weekend and the honest answer is "no".  I only signed up for one 6' table and I'm sure I could easily fill 4 tables that size.  I did, however, come across a couple of plain headbands last week buried in my pile of crafting supplies so I added some flowers to those.  {I love the Halloween one.}  I'll pack up my stuff tomorrow morning and if I have time Thurs. evening/Fri. morning I might make a couple of items (like winter headbands) to fill some gaps in product.  The baby items were a big hit before and I still have a bit of flannel so I might make some more burp cloths as well and see how they do.  I'm really looking forward to the craft fair this weekend and hope it's a great success for everyone involved!

Custom Order - Baby Shower Gift

A friend contacted me Saturday and was in need of a baby shower gift but didn't know the gender of the baby.  I sent her a pic. of the gender neutral burp cloths that I had made up and she picked the green/white plaid pair but wanted something else to go with it so I whipped up this jingle bell ball.  I love this cute baby mouse print that coordinates so well with the plaid.  Amazingly, the points lined up pretty well.  I've made a couple of these before but I have to say this is the cutest one yet.  Luckily I have more of this material so I plan on making another one to have on hand for my little bundle of joy when he makes his appearance next Spring.  I'm glad I was able to help my friend out with her handmade gift giving need even though she didn't have time to make a present herself.

Halloween Table Runner

I finally finished this table runner that my mom made for me a year or two ago.  All I had to do was hand stitch the back of the binding but I kept putting it off.  Thursday we drove to Billings so I knew I'd have a couple of hours of riding in the car so I brought this project along and easily had time to finish it.  The fabric is leftover from a quilt top kit that I purchased at the quilt show in Houston many, many years ago.  The line is Aunt Grace reproduction and it's out of print.  This is the booth I bought it from.  I'm so in love with 30s fabrics.  I have a posy quilt that I started ages ago that I need to find and finish and also this Halloween quilt top is somewhere waiting to be finished as well.  I'm pretty sure it's in CA.  What would I do without all my unfinished projects haunting me?  One U.F.O. down, countless more to go!

P.S.  I'm not sure where to find the pattern for this table runner.  My mom and her quilting friends have made tons of them over the last couple of years and I actually have several - one for everyday and a couple different holiday ones as well.  The cool thing about it is that somehow you quilt it as you go so when you're done all you have to do is finish up the binding.  (Sorry I had to take the pictures on the floor.  Of course the kitchen table and coffee table both are currently covered with craft supplies!) 

Countdown to Halloween

Last month one of my favorite bloggers announced that she was going to do a monthly calendar series.  I loved the graphics she used for her September  project and couldn't wait until this month.

Last year I helped a friend make some countdown blocks and I was wishing I had some of my own.  My wish came true when Kiki released her countdown to Halloween artwork.  As you can see from her example she intended it to be made a bit different.  I took the images into gimp and shrunk them down a bit and cropped them square to fit my blocks.  I also cropped the "Countdown to Halloween" image and squished it a bit to be the right size for my project.

After I got my images the right size I took them into libre office and put them on a page and then saved it as a pdf and took it to the local print shop and had them print it out on cardstock for me.  (There's probably an easier way to do this but I did what worked for me!)

To find out what numbers to put on what block I googled "countdown blocks" and came up with this blogpost.  I'm sorry I was in such a hurry to make it that I didn't take the step by step pictures for it but here are the basic instructions:

1.  Download artwork from kiki create website and resize it or make your own artwork.
2.  Cut the wood to size  (my blocks are about 3" square and the base is 3 1/2" x 6 1/2")
3.  Sand wood and paint it black.  (You can just paint the edges of the sides that will be covered with paper.)
4.  After letting the paint dry apply a thin layer of mod podge and apply the paper to each side.
5.  Once the mod podge dries sand the edges of the wood to distress them.
6.  Apply a final layer of mod podge over the entire surface to finish it.

I have to say that this is one of my favorite projects ever!  And it was so easy and turned out super cute.  I really liked not having to layer scrapbook paper and vinyl numbers like most of the countdown blocks I've seen.

Thank you Kiki for sharing your amazing printables!

P.S.  Today she posted a Halloween Pack full of amazing goodies that you can download for just $3.  Be sure to check it out!

Countdown to Christmas

Made this cute project the other day and wanted to share it.  The graphics are all from Pretty Little Studios.  I finally took advantage of having my husband work at a lumberyard and had him cut me a square board from a 2 x 8 (which end up being more like 7").  The background is the gift tag which is a free download.  I opened it up in gimp and added the title.  The red/white polk a dot square is also a free download.  I just layered that onto my image.  You can order the Santa cards and have them shipped to you or purchase them as a download.  I opted to do the latter and printed them out 3" x 4".  Initially I painted the wood black but didn't like it so I repainted it red after it was all done but you can still see some black showing through.  I'll probably just end up making a new one or try touching up the paint again.

Here are the basic instructions:

1. Cut a 2x8 board into a square and sand the edges smooth.
2. Design your elements and print them out onto cardstock.
3. Paint the board red and sand the edges if you'd like a distressed look.
4. Apply mod podge to the front of the board and adhere the background paper to it.  Allow it to dry and then apply another layer of mod podge on top to seal it.
5. Glue a tiny clothespin on to hold the countdown playing cards.
6. Cut out all the cards and you're ready to go!

I'm thinking about adding an envelope onto the back of the board to hold the extra cards while not in use.

Since I don't have a great printer at home, I use the local print shop.  I find it best to have my files in a pdf for easy printing.  After doing whatever design work I need to do with gimp, I create a document in open office and then save it as a pdf.  Probably going about this the long way but that's what my process is.

I can't wait to decorate for Christmas so I can have this on display!

Newborn Baby Church Pants

Since we found out Thursday that we are having a BOY I couldn't wait to make something for him.  I had some grey wool material that I knew would be perfect for little church pants.  I used a free pattern found here to make them.  They sewed up pretty fast.  The last time I sewed anything this small was when I made Cabbage Patch clothes 25-30 years ago.  I can't wait to make some more!