My Golden Post

Well... I made it post 50. That is only 1/2 way to the 100th post contest that is now almost expected out in blogland. Well, I think 50 is monumental enough...

DO YA'LL WANT A FREEBIE??

The jars above were sent to me by the lovely Leah in our April Affair Swap a few weeks ago. Could a girl get any luckier?? I mean seriously! Look at all of those vintage matchbooks and vintage buttons. And, what about that "Jar of Whimsies?" EEP! Need a closer look?

Yes... I find it all quite amazing. Dear Leah is the sweetest thing EVER and is more generous than anyone I've ever met. She sent me the most amazing stuff. But...we'll talk about that later. Right now we're talking about what I want to send you now.

Would you like your own little "Jar of Whimsies"? You should...even if you can't do anything with them, they sure look cute sitting on your shelf. I'll send a mini version of what Leah sent me, but it will be packed with an equal amount of goodness.

So, here are the rules. Comment on this post, and you have until MAY DAY (May 1st) to do so. I know there are only, like, 10 of you out there, but that only increases your chances, right! I'll have Cohen draw your name out of the jar before I stuff it!

Craft on (because I sure don't have a lot going on in my craft room lately!).

Inspiration

I have a few projects going that I am not really into so they are sitting in the W.I.P. pile and probably will for awhile. The paper piecing project is getting monotonous. The pieces are small and I am bored making little windows. Only 3 more...sigh... I cut out a quilt that I am making for a friend's baby. I was really excited about it and now sewing strips together seems boring.

I started browsing Craftster, Etsy, and Flickr for ideas of a new project, but I am stumped! Don't get me wrong... I am OVERWHELMED with beautiful things, but I just don't know what to start.

Bummer. I hate being in this mode. Potty training is wearing me out! Maybe tomorrow I'll have a great EUREKA! moment. Till then, do any of you have any ideas?

April Showers

What a surprise it was to see snow today... I don't know why. I've been glued to the nightly news to watch the coverage of the Virginia Tech tragedy. It seems like it would have slipped in my conscience (is that spelled correctly?) somehow. So, out I go in my flip flops and no coat like always. Sheesh. I'll figure out how to dress weather appropriate eventually.

Of course, I planned today to be "run-around" day. Nice. I headed to my cousin Lauren's office to pick up the stuff for her invitations marble magnets. She has such a cute invitation for her wedding. I am making 400 marble magnets using the same paper that the invite is printed on. She is sending them along with the invitations. A very cute idea, I must say. Listening to her talk about wedding plans made me want to re-plan mine... but only for a few minutes.

Then I ran to JoAnn's to pick up Mod Podge and E6000 (the magnets are sooooo strong). I think everyone else in the valley thought they'd run over there, too. Cohen was a trooper waiting in the long fabric cutting line (of course I bought fabric even though it wasn't on my list) and in the check out line. I am SO GLAD I put a diaper on him. I am sure it would have been tragic.

Now we are in our nice warm home. Cohen is watching Monsters, Inc. and I am deciding whether or not to work or craft... or sit on the couch and watch it with him. Days like this I wish I had a fireplace to lay in front of. Oh well... someday.

Speaking of fire, I made these matchbook sets for dear Leah. She loves Halloween and has a themed dining room, so this is the set for that room.


She has a teal kitchen, so I made a red and teal set for that room, too. These little buggers are addicting.
I decided to package them in little drawstring gift bags. I got the tutorial from a link on Craftster. I wish so badly I'd saved the link... I'll have to dig back through the thread I found it on. I would love to package up everything I give away in cute little coordinating bags.















Anyway, I thought they were cute. I need to post what I got from Leah. She sent me the MOST AMAZING package. Have a good snowy day!

**EDIT** The tutorial for the bags is found on the HappyThings blog. Here is the link! Enjoy!

Crafty Potty Training

So, I have been forced to stay pretty close to home the last few days because we are potty training the boy. He's doing really well and I am proud of him. Hopefully I'll get brave enough to take him out some day! ;-)

Being home has led to him watching a lot of television and me doing a lot of couching. Couching can be defined as crafting while sitting on the couch. Yesterday morning during Little Einsteins, I found myself sitting in a nest of scraps, pincushions, thread, and different scissors. It was time to get up!

The last few weeks of crafting have been strictly for a swap. I had SO MUCH to do, that I couldn't be distracted until I was finished. Well... the giant box went in the mail yesterday morning and is on its way to South Hadley, Massachusetts as we speak (type? read?).

First, I'll start with the crafting apron. I love this apron and have already begun planning my own.

I don't know where I collected so many black, white, and pink fabrics. This is not my normal color palette, but I just have a huge stack of this stuff right now. If I can pat myself on the back, didn't it turn out just great?? There are several different sizes of pockets for all sorts of crafting goods.

This pincushion is not my idea. I saw it once on some show on HGTV and then I saw it again on Craftster. My partner is diabetic, so I thought of a way to send sweets without sending sugary goodness. Do they kind of look like truffles? Fabric and puffy paint are always a good team.

I also experimented with ruffles. I've never really added ruffles to anything. I don't think I did it correctly, but I did do it, and you can tell it is a ruffle.

Isn't that Popsicle fabric wonderful?? I love it. I got it from ReproDepot (read: best store on earth!) I really really wish I would have purchased more, but I only bought a yard. Anyway, this apron is a three paneled apron, with pockets that ties in the back. I bought the pink and light green for Easter crafts, but I never got around to them, so I cut it up. Maybe next year I can use the scraps.

(Well... that alignment is weird, but I am having issues fixing it...so, WHATEVER!)

This is an embroidered and quilted table runner. I took these panels on my trip to Disneyland last month and I almost completed the entire thing on the trip. This project has been through Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California. It was a lot of fun to do, and very very hard to package up and give away after all of those hours of crafting. It ended up being bigger than I had hoped, but the finished measurements are 16" wide and about 60" long. I'm always so off on my math when doing this kind of thing. My mother used to tell me, "Measure Twice, Cut once." Maybe I should have listened to her. Haha! Sorry mom!

Cohen just informed us he needs to go poo... off to the toilet to witness the first big boy poop. That sounds bizarre. I'll be back later.

HI FRIENDS

My home has become a workshop over the past few weeks. I have a lot of projects. I know I stated that last time, but it really is true. My friend's mother in law is teaching me how to do paper piecing appliqué and it is fascinating. I love it! I have to buy some basting glue before I can continue my project and I cannot wait for 9:00 am when Piper's (hello Nicole - I know you live over there somewhere) opens its cute little doors!

After my trip to Pipers, I am headed to meet my father in Ogden. He is buying me new tires. I love that I have a dad who still worries about me enough to pay for some new tires. Woohoo! After today, I'll have a lot of finished projects to share. The weather is gloomy and the light is not good, but I'll take photographs of what I've been working on before I have to send most of it off tomorrow. Of course it is for a swap! Haha!

So... the photos are coming! the photos are coming!

Love you all. Thanks for staying diligent for the last BORING month!

Plenty of Projects

Well, I didn't realize it had been nearly two weeks since the last time I wrote anything. OMY! I am such a slacker. We've been busy, and not busy, but mostly I needed a break. Where do I start?

Last week we took Cohen to Disneyland. It was such a good time. I wish I had a picture to go along with this post, but I am staying at my parents house for the weekend, so just words today. I could probably dig through the eight million pictures in my brothers "MY PICTURES" folder and find something, but I'll save myself the agony. Anyway, Cohen was the perfect age for Disneyland. It was all 150% magical. He was such a trooper, too. He was so patient in every line, telling us the entire time which color of flying elephant (Dumbo), teacup, or rocket he wanted to ride in. He would point out the different colors and blabber about each of them. He is such a stellar kid!

When we made our way to the back of the park to Toon Town, and waited in line to see Mickey Mouse. When we finally got there he was so starstruck that he didn't know what to do. Haha! Mike was holding him and he just giggled. Mickey gave him a high five and Cohen looked at me like, "OMIGOSH MOM!!! Did you see that? I'll never wash this hand again."

He fell asleep in his stroller after lunch which allowed Mike and I to go on Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. Mike's parents came with us and it was so nice to have them close. They are wonderful in-laws (I know not all of us can say that) and stellar grandparents.

The rest of the trip was great, too. We spent a few hours lost, or turning around to find missed exits in the beautiful LA traffic. BLECH! We visited Newport Beach and made sand castles by the pier. We went to IKEA one last time before the one near us opens. I guess our days of introducing our Utah buddies to IKEA is over as the store in Draper opens in May. Oh well. I can't wait to have it close. We also spent two nights in Las Vegas with my older sister. Cohen loves his cousins. It was a wonderful trip and everything was perfect.

Well then, Monday morning I went to work to find horrible news. The company I worked for was shutting its doors after 8 years of business. The debt accrual just wasn't going away and we could no longer dig out from under it. This came as a surprise to all of us. Three of my coworkers were asked to stay for two weeks and close out accounts and sell of the remaining inventory. The rest of us were told that we'd be paid through the end of the week and to clean out our desks. How weird!

To explain our situation a bit, Mike has been a stay-at-home father for the past two years. He finished up his degree last year and has been interning with the Utah Children's Museum about15 hours a week since then. He does work part time in our apartment complex office and works off our rent. It has been a great situation for us. Mike has been on the job hunt looking for a career in Graphic Design. Unfortunately, every one else in Utah is looking for the same thing. Every interview he goes to has 50+ applicants interviewing and the pay is low. How sad!

So, we've got a lot of decisions to make. We do not want to put Cohen in daycare and prefer he is at home with one of us. However, maybe this is just a dream and not a reality. Should I go back to work? Should Mike go to work? Who knows?!? We're praying about it. Mike had some great interviews this week and will know today if he has been hired at a company that he really respects. Cross your fingers. If he gets the job, I think we'll have our answer. I think I could get used to staying home. ;-)

I thought I'd get a lot of crafting done this week, but I've mostly been numb. I've finished a few things for a swap, but that is all. I've done the dishes a lot and made the beds. Gotta love those chores. I guess I just need a week to sit around before it all really sinks in. Luckily, Mike's cousin, who writes curriculum for online schools, has some contract editing work for me to do that pays pretty well. If I can do that during naps each day, I can make a little extra on the side.

We'll make it through it. At least we had a great vacation before the bad news. :) I promise my next post will be full of pictures of projects. I've seen so many cute Easter crafts out in blogland that I am dying to try. Until next time...

Craftmania!!

What a weekend! I cannot believe how productive I've been. Well --- my bathroom still needs to be cleaned and the living room needs to be straitened. BUT, my poor sewing machine has been worked to the bone and has burned THOUSANDS of calories.

First, I finished all of my owls in the wee hours of Saturday morning. *Side Note* Waking up at 5:00 am all week ruins sleeping in on the weekends. I guess that is good, because I wasn't too affected by the time change today. *end of explanation* So, I made these little guys. I'll get them all packaged up and ready to be shipped as soon as I get my partner list.


Then, I made these wall pocket organizers for another swap. My partner lives in Croatia so I needed to make them light enough to ship and flat enough to not raise questions in customs. If I may pat myself on the back, I think they are fabulous and I really hope she likes them as much as I do.


One of the organizers is sewn to hold her knitting needles. She is a knitter and is making me a Panta (yay!) in return. The other pockets are big enough for journals and pens and whatever. I want to turn an entire wall in a giant fabric wall pocket, that is how pleased I am. I promise they are all strait and will hang even on a strait bar. All I had was this warped old bamboo to model them. I feel kind of cheap not sending her something to hang them on, but it will cost too much to send at $1 dowel. She said she'd cover that.

I helped Kim make some headbands for her niece and I covered some match boxes for Leah. I've been crafting a lot for Leah, but I can't post pics until I send her GIANT package. We are partners for the April Affair swap and our goal is wow the crowd. ;) We're so vain.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your lovely weekend. I am off to dinner with my in-laws and then Sunday night treats at great grandma's house.

At least my sewing machine is getting a workout...

So, a loyal reader ***Hi Honey*** was quick to let me know that I had not posted in awhile. How nice... thanks. I've been busy. Really busy, and I haven't taken the time to photograph my work. Last weekend I worked until I could go no longer. Over the weekend, I finished a blanket for the Bowen's baby, sent some felt to dear Leah, and FINALLY got off Tara's winner package (sorry for the delay. No photos of it anywhere. Woops!


I took the afternoon off from work because I was feeling awful (girl stuff). I came home and made these totes for the Sweat Shoppe Swap 8 that I just signed up for. I don't know what is wrong with me. I can't go a week without a package in the mail. I'm an addict! I know I've mentioned that before, but I'm admitting it again. I am also offering the little owls that I made and posted about a few posts ago. It will be a good one.

Oh, and by the way. I am still doing my 5:30 am workouts every morning. I just counteracted a few weeks of work by eating a bowl of Cadbury Mini Eggs while finishing those totes. Woops!

Sorry for the short post, but I need to get back to the machine before my boys get home. Looks like we'll be having pizza delivered for dinner. I am SO going to be better tomorrow.

My Sleepy Valentine

I am writing this late. I just washed a bunch of laundry (well... Mike washed a bunch of laundry and I sort of helped fold it) yesterday and I was looking at the place mats that I made last week just in time for our Valentine's Day dinner. Seriously, I finished about one hour before.


I decided I wanted to make these as soon as I bought the Alexander Henry fabric a few weeks ago. It took me just a bit of time to find the stuff I wanted to coordinate it with. The piecing was easy peasy! I just did 3" strips of the hearts, 2 1/2" strips of the pink and black, and 1" strips of the white. I sewed them all directly to the red flannel (I bought 10 yards of it on the last JoAnn's after Thanksgiving $.99 flannel extravaganza) that I was using as a thin batting. It gave it the perfect amount of quilting. I backed them in a nice rosy pink and then did a piano key stiped binding. They are cute. I only got three done, because I calculated 3" short on the black and white binding. Good thing the Van Wagoner family is only 3. :) The unfinished was thrown on the WIP pile and will hopefully be done by next year.

We had a great dinner. I was in charge of dessert and Mike handled the rest. Boy, did he out do himself. Mama Mia!


We had a beautiful salad, asparagus with Parmesan cheese, and steak (no, those are not salad plates, the steaks were that huge). I also rolled my very first sushi. These were just simple rolls... cucumber, avocado, and crab in a delicious garlic sauce. Yummy. And, mine don't look so bad... not good, but not bad.


Cohen didn't last very long. He didn't want anything we were eating, so he ate yogurt and chicken nuggets. Delicious. He was, however, quite excited about dessert. I made brownies, topped with ice cream and hot fudge. Of course, after all that food, Mike and I saved ours until about midnight.

This is Mike (sorry I put this picture up - your blog premiere) announcing dessert... look at the excited kid in the background!

He is now heavily concentrating on eating all of it.

The rubbing of the eyes.

So drowsy he can't handle it.

What was left of his dessert.

Mission aborted. He put up a good fight against his giant brownie. This actually worked well for us because Cohen's early bedtime allowed for a nice, quiet evening. We had a great Valentine's day. We didn't buy gifts, just sat around the table and enjoyed each other... oh, and ate WAY TOO MUCH.

We have a winner....

But continue to leave comments. Someday I'll be like those magic bloggers that can announce a freebie and 100+ people comment. Wouldn't that be great??


T... you are the winner!! Email me at lori (dot) vanwagoner (at) gmail (dot) com and send me your address. Also, because our son's have the same name, HE WINS, TOO!

Marshie is from homestarrunner.com. Homestarrunner.com was the first website (besides my email services) that I visited on a daily basis. I love it, still. It is so juvenile. How embarrassing? But, everytime I eat a marshmallow I say, "Sup, Fools?"

According to wikipedia...
Marshie is infamously - and intentionally - creepy. His commercials have featured non-sequitur rantings, disturbing close-ups, inappropriate sound effects, faintly desperate pleas and even a behind-the-scenes nervous breakdown. He also tends to announce his appearances by uttering hackneyed slang phrases such as " 'Sup fools!" and "Oh snap!" in a heavy-handed attempt to convince kids to like him. However, this technique is essentially nullified by Marshie's innate creepiness, leaving the acceptance he seeks safely out of reach.

Oh wait - maybe I shouldn't love Marshie so much... I promise, bribing you to comment was not my attempt to convince kids to like me. Eeeps!

Anyway, congrats T! Send me an email and I'll get you a little goodie.

Sup Fools? Marshie Here...

Look what I got in the mail from Adrienne. Aren't they just the cutest things. They are the softest little stuffed marshmallows I've ever seen. In fact, they are the only stuffed marshmallows I've seen. But anyway, they are great diet food! Chewing on them might actually burn calories. ;)

I've received a lot of good mail lately. I've been participating in the Sweat Shoppe Swap on Craftster.org. The thing is, you make 5-10 identical items and then you get 5-10 items from others. It is a crazy time, but so worth it. My loot is awesome!
I got this pouch, and this pouch, and these Valentines, and this tool case, and these cards, and this little robot and rocket ship, and a little crochet monkey face (sorry no pics) so far. I still have stuff on the way. Yahoo!

I also got this cutest little pear pincushion from Stacy's shop. She has a great free tutorial so you can make your own, but I couldn't help myself. This little red velvety fruit was WAY tempting. My picture is way junkie. Look at her shop for a better view. Thanks Stacy!


This is the blanket I made in my alone time last Friday. It turned out pretty good and was a hit at the shower. I guess because I come from such a handmade family, I thought that is what you do. I forget that not everyone uses their free time to make things. I love the "where do you find the time to do this?" comments. I MAKE TIME TO MAKE THINGS. I got all of the fabric at JoAnn's. I hand stitched around the flowers and then did the binding with my machine.

I know there aren't a lot of you out there that read this thing, however, for those of you that do I have a little trivia. If you know where I got the title of this post from, I'll make you a prize and send it to you in the mail. Just post a comment with your best guess. Heck, if no one gets it, the best guess will get a prize in the mail. You all have a week! Good luck!

Moments of Silence

I just feel I need to make mention of the horrible occurrence last night at one of my favorite places in Salt Lake. An 18 year-old gunman shot up Trolley Square last night. You can read more about it here.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of the families of those who where murdered and to those who had to witness such an awful event.

I'll post my wonderful Valentines Day placemats I made in the safety of my own home last night tomorrow.

Alone. ALONE. Alone.

I am so wierd. I long for quiet moments when I am alone and I think I will get a lot done. Mike is off playing with his buddies and Cohen is already asleep. I have great plans to finish a few projects. However, I am watching What Not to Wear, eating Oreos and Milk, and checking email. I have a baby blanket that needs a little more work and it needs to be done before 9:00 am tomorrow. YIPES! I don't know why I can't just buckle down and get the projects done. But, I am much more productive when I have to multitask. Okay... I'll go finish the blanket. I think i am going to cheat and machine bind it. I've already hand stitched the rest, but it is crunch time. Plus, the recipient can't sew or quilt. Will she really know the difference? I'll post pics by the end of the weekend.

I got soul but I'm not a soldier

For a lack of a better title, now you know what I am listening to. My office has been so empty lately, that I decided to ditch the earphones and just turn up the speakers. Woo. I love it. However, when our box salesman came in I got a little nervous and embarrassed because I was listening to "Why Me Lord?" by Johnny Cash and he asked if I was in a sad mood today. Haha!

So, Mike just called to let me know that the wireless high speed Internet is installed and working. Yahooo! We've been mooching free Internet access from the University of Utah for the last four years or so, and suddenly we were shut off. What the? Okay, it wasn't sudden and we figured it was bound to happen. You see, the U is so nice and lets all enrolled students have access to their network for F.R.E.E. It is dial-up and it is always extra slow because I am sure there are quite a few kids using it, but it was FREE. So, the key to getting access to the free Internet is to be enrolled in school. Whelp, that disqualifies us right there on account of I graduated December 2003 and Mike graduated December 2005. We've just sort of been waiting for it to happen. One day while trying to log in, I got the "You no longer have access to this network." Oh well. It was good while it lasted, plus we got an extra year out of it. I am sure we'll eventually adjust to our new $40/month bill. Eek.

I am excited, though. I won't have to do all of my uploading of piccies from work (I'm sure my boss will be stoked about that, too) and I can sit and read your beautiful blogs at home in the wee hours of the morning (between the gym and work when all I can hear is snoring) while eating breakfast. I wake up at 5:05 am every day so I can meet Genell at the gym. I've been doing this for the past 2 years and I love it - although I love it more during the summer than winter. My favorite time of day is when the workout is over, I am dressed and showered and I can sit and eat my breakfast with towel around my head. It is about 7:20 am.

Although I am used to my schedule, yesterday I was soooooooooo tired. I had to leave work about 3:45 pm because I was literally dosing off while trying to format Supplement Facts labels. It just wasn't working. I went home and hurried to clean up Cohen's train set and then turned on HGTV and promptly fell asleep on the couch. I woke up just after 6:00 pm and wondered if it was morning. I then put dinner in (one of my 30 premade meals - veggie lasagna) and fell back asleep watching Design on a Dime. Mike and Cohen rolled in just after 7:00 just as the oven timer went off. We ate and then put together puzzles then put Cohen to bed. I kept falling asleep while Mike was reading. Mike had to wake me up to put me to bed and it was only 9:00 pm. Sheesh. The alarm went off at 5:05 am this morning and I was all better and ready to go. I was just so tired.

I think it is weird that I didn't make anything yesterday. A day without crafting seems so unfulfilling. However, obviously, I needed the sleep. But I did make this cute little guy on Monday night.


It is a surprise for Lori. She doesn't know it is coming (unless I just blew it). She's had quite a few past weeks. First her grandfather passed away and then she fell down the stairs and broke her foot the day after her husband went out of town for the week. Poor thing. The picture doesn't do this little man justice. He is brown and pink with a yellow beak and eyes. If you look closely, you can see my reflection in the (his) right eye. I love his crazy eyes. I got the idea from browsing your blogs, adding a cute pic to my wists, and then having Ginny make me one for the owl swap. I guess he could be a pincushion if he wasn't so cute.

I think I've yakked on long enough, even though I have so much more to say. Tomorrow I'll post from home now that I don't have to wait 20 minutes for one picture to upload to flickr. YEAH, again!!

Simple Gifts

I love decorating and crafting for Valentines Day. I don't know if it is the colors, the candies, or a naked cupid flying around, but I just love the decor. I'm not super big on the acts of Valentines Day. As a young single woman, I always thought it would be such a great day when I finally snagged me a nice mate. I would be showered with gifts, flowers, and a delicious meal. Now that I've snagged my mate (how horrible does that sound?), I am more concerned about using the money to pay ahead on a bill or saving up for that new muffler (blech - I hate car troubles) that I've always wanted.


My friend Lindsey and I got together a few weeks ago and made these for all of the people that we love (Kim - close your eyes. I have a pack of these at my house that I have yet to bring you). They are a very simple project. The instructions are as follows:

1. Gather Supplies
A. Staz-On Ink in desired colors
B. Sheets of small tile (they are glued to mesh for easy laying. I got mine at Home Depot)
C. Rubber or Foam Stamps
D. Clear Sealer (I used a spray by Krylon)
E. Magnets (make sure they are strong enough to hold tile)
F. Glue gun and sticks
2. Pop tiles off of mesh backing and wipe clean with damp cloth
3. Stamp away ensuring that each layer dries before the next is applied.
4. Spray with clear coat. I'd imagine something like Mod Podge would work, too.
5. Glue the magnets to the back.

EASY PEASY JAPANEASY!

We wrapped them up in tissue paper and put them in cellophane bags. I added a bunch of confetti to the bags to add a little color. Then, I tied them up with pink and red mini rick-rack. I gave some to my mom, my MIL, grandma, my sisters, and a few friends that I cherish. I also kept a few for myself of course.

Who needs diamonds?

I think I took the "no baby" news well... don't you? Haha. I went on a little binge yesterday after work. I thought I'd stop by JoAnn's on the way home because I needed about 1/2 yard more of the camo skull fabric for some swaps. But, you'll never guess who I saw while browsing the isles...

I was so happy to see two of the beautiful prints that I have been coveting from your blogs for so long sitting happily on the shelves. I am pretty sure they were excited to see me, too. They had their arms open, and I had a 50% off coupon, so it was fate. Yahoo!


They are so beautiful that I don't even want to cut them up. The hearts will be such cute, and yet nontraditional, Valentines Day pillows. I bought a few yards, so I'll probably make a Valentines Day purse for myself, too. And maybe some headbands for my sisters and nieces, and... and....

On the sale table I found this weird cotton (polyester??) lacy stuff for only $1/yd. It is machine washable and everything, so I think I'll make a simple A-line skirt out of it. It will look so cute over a dark brown satin. So cute I can hardly stand it!


Then, this red and white stuff was looking rather appealing on the shelf too. So, I grabbed a couple yards of that, too. And the gray and charcoal corduroy was 70% off so I jumped on that. It is a great combo and I would like to make some pieced pillows or something. But they don't really match anything I have, so I'll be scouting out my friends decor. Do any of you have any need for something red and gray?


And then, I just bought this weird green stuff. The stripes are actually green and navy, not green and yellow. When cut into strips (I made a headband last night) it resembles those horrible square ties from 1982.


Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I haven't fabric binged in a long time and boy did it feel good. To keep with my resolution to not just buy fabric because it is a 'good deal' I had a project in mind for all of these before I got to the checkout counter... except the weird stripey green. However, I justified all 2 yards of it by making at dinky little headband when I got home. Haha. I win. Fabric really is my best friend when I need it to be.

It is not bad news.

I leave the room for not even five minutes and I come back to find Cohen sitting on the love seat listening to The Bouncing Souls as loud as my little pink wonder can play. He's so cute. After I adjusted the volume to normal, he listened for about 20 minutes and just sat smiling while looking at the screen. Silly kid.

Without diving too much into my personal affairs, I have found that we'll be putting baby #2 on the back burner for awhile. Today I had an appointment and my doctor put me back on birth control to regulate my baby brewing systems. After a 1 1/2 years of trying for #2, I guess the last thing I wanted to hear was "let's wait 6 more months". But it is okay. It is not bad news. My body just needs to become healthy and that is good. My older sister is having a baby at the end of the summer so I can shower her little one with the bits and bobs I have been making.

I have quite a few small projects that I am working on. I am really eager to go home tonight and just cut out fabric. This is weird because cutting out the fabric is the part I hate most. It seems relaxing. I need a bit of mind numbing work to take in the fact that I don't have to worry whether or not I am pregnant. It will be kind of nice.

Besides... look at cutie up there rockin' out on the iPod. Who could want anything more?

What Fun!!

I received my package from Lori yesterday and it was just so awesome. Everything was tailored to me and my decor. I loved it all.

First. Lori and I share the same name and have since adopted "Thing 1 & Thing 2". While on vacation over the holidays, she picked up these little ditties.


Cohen loves trains. Lori was so cute and made him a picture frame with trains and painted a small wooden train set for him. The words read the colors of the corresponding car. Look at Cohen back there "patiently" waiting for me to photograph his trains so he can steal them and add to the 10 he already carries around.


Lori is an amazing paper artist and has made me great things before. This time I got two wall hangings which are just beautiful.

The house:

The bird hanging that will go in my bedroom. It matches my pink and brown bird pillows perfectly. As you can see in the picture, it is paired with the match books she made me a few months ago. OH! I just love this stuff!!

I also got these great magnets to match all of the rest of the papery pink and brown goodness. The word pairing is great.


And then, as if she hadn't done enough, she sent me a pile of ephemera to play around with. I'll never be as good as her. She's a genius paper artist.


What a great swap! I couldn't have been more pleased with everything that she sent me. Thanks Lori!

Jamboree

If you read regularly, you know I am a bit addicted to the swaps on Craftster.org. I have just finished up all of my January Jamboree stuff and took pictures of about half of it. I hope my crafty swap partners aren't reading, because they haven't quite received them yet.

I'll start with Lori's loot:

Lori loves birds so I made her this great bag:
I also made her this needle book from corduroy and felt, and I appliqued a bird on the front. The button is from my mother-in-law's stash. I successfully made my first button hole. I am sure my mom showed me how to do this a million times, but I haven't used my own machine to do it yet. It is functional, but my future button holes do need more work.


I made Lori and her daughter matching headbands using Heather's simple pattern and tutorial.


This is my first knitted Panta. Yeah. I had a few issues with it because I am a beginner and I had never increased before. I used a soft, cream wool. I haven't figured out quite how to take photos of light stuff. But, it is such a fast knit and I am already working on another one for myself and then I'll start one for my sister, Lyndsey.

We also agreed to craft and send stuff to the kiddies. Her son is getting a 14" pillow cover with vintage firetrucks printed on them. I feel kind of lame that I only sent the cover, but the JoAnn's by my house was out of 14" forms and I had to get this in the post.


Lori informed me her daughter is all girly-girl, so I embroidered these flowers on some bright pink corduroy to make a tote and lined it with the most amazing Popsicle printed quilting cotton. I have no good pictures of the full bag, but here are the flowers. The leaves and stems are bright green.


And last... they both get one of my chalk mats. One side is a chalk cloth and the other is oilcloth. These are great for taking to restaurants because the kids can draw on the chalk side while they wait, and then flip it over and use the oilcloth side for a place mat. They work well and I always get good responses out of them. Here they are all rolled up with little pouches containing chalk and an eraser. Cute!
Then I stuffed a few more goodies in the pouch where I could fit them.

For Amy. I didn't get all of it photographed because i was finishing up a few things last minute. However I am sending just as much stuff. I started knitting a pair of wrist warmers for her before her birthday (which is also Christmas) that I wanted to get sent off. Of course, I was super late and just included them in this package. I made her some cork and oilcloth coasters and included a drink recipe and a few other random treats. This is lot of headbands I made. They are so fun and easy which always equals satisfying.

I love the skull camouflage the best. I think it is really cute. I also made her this bag out of the same bright pink corduroy that I used for Lori's daughters bag. I lined it with some bandanna skull fabric (after all - Amy is a pirate) and added the fabric yo-yo embellishment. I love the big sparkly button.



Anyway, I told you I was crafting...and still taking horrible photos of all of it. I am working on a pretty amazing craft tote for another swap...I KNOW...that I am pretty excited about. I got all of the inner pockets, needle rolls, and pincushions in there. I just need to sew the lining and the outer part together to make it a tote. That is the scary part. Mike wonders when I am going to make something for myself. It will come in time.