announcements.

after making a lot of christmas gifts this year

including multiple scarves

and some other goodies

yet to be seen,

i've decided to create an etsy shop.

unveiling of the etsy shop

anticipated

early january 2010.

keep your eyes peeled!

as of now, i am only creating favorites.

got any favorites i should check out?

xmas 2k9.

i sent out my christmas cards monday.

i thought it would be cheaper to get them done on etsy

and print them at ritz camera

and buy envelopes from staples.

bad idea.

next time, i'd rather just do them on minted

but i thought i was running out of time.

i won't even go into the fact that i couldn't find a single picture i liked.

we took 84 thousand.

h & v were tired of me.

so i just picked an older one.

i was so exhausted from trying to do it myself

i just sent them out

there is no personalized message.

my apologies.

i do love you all dearly.

i just wanted them to be over with!

but they did turn out lovely.

thank you krysta.

xmas+crafts=fun.

so i did finally get my act together and get my stockings & tree skirt made.

i bought the fabric weeks ago... 

the felt was nearly out of stock...

 i had to go to 2 places to find the pinking shears...

and the lady behind me thought i was going to make the ugliest curtains on the planet out of my silver & gold home decor fabric (hehe)... 

my inspiration for the felt stockings came from this stocking from hable construction for $76 (eeek!) 

and the tree skirt.

let me put a little disclaimer. 

i love sewing. looovvvveee it. 

but:

i cannot for the life of me use a pattern.

i'd say i did pretty good. 

my plan is to put the tree overtop of the skirt. if i need to, i'll cut a slit in the back. 

it's felt so it won't tear. 

i was pretty pleased with how everything turned out. kind of shabby chic.

i'm glad the edges are all raggedy.

i'm glad that not everything matches. 

it just feels right.

it just feels like christmas. 

rainy days.

it's nasty out here today... makes me glad that i flew back from ithaca last night instead of today! they've even closed some of the schools east of us... 

i'm sad that v & i can't go out for our morning walk, and she's sitting her moping around all day, but i love listening to the rain on the skylight above the steps. i'm curling up in my favorite cuddly sweater, my warm slippers, with a cup of hot cider and enjoying an hour or so to myself this morning (yesterday was a long day) to plan out some craft upcoming projects: 

• a fabric covered cork board (mine is plain menswear fabric) for my necklaces which are currently in knotted balls in my jewelry box with some fabric covered push pins (of funky fabric), of course
• plotting where i can find a headboard to repurpose and fabric to make a funky fabric covered headboard for our soon-to-be empty 2nd bedroom
• cinderella inspired buttons for a scarf and hat set for my favorite 4 & 1/2 year old for xmas (all i can find were these)
• make vintagey christmas ornaments like the ones farbs had on her blog a few weeks ago
• figuring out how to make gloves like these delightful fingerless ones! 
  
• and finishing up some christmas presents in the making... 

...back to work... have a great day! ( :

happy howl-o-ween!

we only had a few trick-or-treaters before we hit up our list of parties... but a good time was had by all!

 

mr. green & miss scarlett in the hall with the knife and the rope, respectively.

and after hours of searching & hot gluing, c became a very successful chiquita banana lady: 

 

how to: paper garland

 

i got this idea for paper garland while at my favorite paper store, paper source in washington, dc, last year, and finally got inspired when i saw it here on design*sponge a few weeks ago. ginkgo leaves are one of my favorite designs - a symbol of love, peace, hope, and longevity. and in glittery brown and gold, green, and yellow, they're a perfect fall decoration! (this would also be great for tree garland!)

paper garland

materials:

- sewing machine (if you don't have one, some stores, like g street fabrics in the dc metro area, will allow you to rent, and some cities have sewing cafes, like honfleur home's sewing cafe in the marimekko store in silver spring, maryland)

- thread (about $2 at your local craft store)

- paper cut outs (you can use scrapbook papers, die-cuts, or recycled paper or magazines. i used these ginkgo cut-outs from paper source - they also have fall leaves, flowers, and other holiday designs).

 

directions:

after you've cut your paper, use a sewing machine to feed the die-cuts under the needle, one at a time. you can either feed them in directly after one another or slightly overlapped for a more rigid look, or leave some space in between for a looser, random look. keep some thread at either end to to hang or add ribbon for tying.

 

 

coming soon...

i'll be out for a few days, but stay tuned for a tutorial on how you can make a t-shirt blanket like these ones: 

 

love this!

super cute prints from lisa marie norton on etsy or on her website l.m.n.o.p. this one just happens to look like venus! ( :

it also reminds me of super cute ceramics from appalachian spring.

hip to be green.

just got these super cute green sleeves in the mail from etsy! love them! can't wait to use them for snacks!

09 . 09 . 09

"this is the first day of the rest of your life," said sharon, the most wonderful lady ever who sold me my babylock grace sewing machine this morning at all brands sew & vac in the west end(highly recommend this place). i'd been researching for a while (as you should to drop 1/2 a grand on a little machine). they were having an amazing sale, and the sewing machine came with unlimited instruction hours...

SO excited about starting my projects with these:

future outdoor cushions (thanks ewl!)

future bedroom curtains...

...and t-shirt blankets! ( :

the fabric i bought this weekend at u-fab in carytown, a fabric outlet that i mentioned a few days ago.