greetingarts

hard to keep a secret

Whew.  Kept my lips sealed for over two months about this secret project.  And that was hard to do, I'm telling you!  Especially because I was so pleased with how my test version came out.

I gave this to Rebecca to use for her homework (Kindergarteners have a lot of coloring-in and picture-drawing to do), and every single time she uses it, she thanks me again for making it for her.  Seriously.  Since January, she has appreciated and used it nearly every single day, and I think that's just amazing.

Created entirely from my stash and scraps.  Gotta love that.

Even the button was from my button jar, and she had a fun time picking out her favorite. 

It's a fantastic pattern, as usual, and I'm so glad it can finally come out of hiding.  Now to go post it over on Flickr!

birds of a feather

Finally, something finished that I can blog about!

I'm not sure why these photos turned out so grainy, the cards aren't really like that in person.  I think they look a lot nicer in real life.  These are for the Notecard Swap 3, and went out in the mail today.  I made these with a rubber stamp, VersaMark watermark inkpad, Decorating Chalks and a couple of Kleenex wrapped around my pinky.  Oh, and a corner rounder.  It does a number on the palm of my hand, but I love that gadget.

Really fun, a nice quiet morning with the baby pointing out what colors to use and asking "Can I try?"  I haven't made cards in quite a while, but considering there's another birthday coming up in a few short weeks, I think it's good that I'm getting back into the swing of things...

happy birthday, mom

Taking some clues from the wonderful creations of Fluffy Flowers and simple sparrow, I made this little gift for my Mom.  I got some flack for not putting a mouth or nose on it (little people under the age of six sure do have strong ideas about the way things should be), but I thought it looked cuter and more ambiguous this way.  Cat?  Monster?  Little flower-wearing creature bringing birthday wishes and kisses?  Most definitely.  If you want, I can sew a mouth on it later, Mom.

Have a wonderful birthday.  We love you!

all over the place

That's me lately, totally disjointed, flighty, can't seem to settle on anything.  Does anybody else ever get like this?  I'm in some sort of dejected, dissatisfied funk, even though there are at least a dozen different things I could be working on.

A little bit of sewing, another block from Ramblin' Rose Meets Jamestown.

Putting together some crocheted hexagons for a baby blanket to give to charity by the end of the month.

Test knitting for a talented designer.

Trying to wrap up some embroidery I started many, many months ago.

Entertaining the girls with nests made from white chocolate and crispy chow-mein noodles, decorated with jellybean eggs, colored sprinkles and more chocolate.  At least this was one project we did manage to finish.

they said it better

I was going to do a little tutorial on making an embroidered covered button, but, honestly, I just don't think it's gonna happen.  Besides, it's been said and done before by many others, and quite beautifully, so why not just let their words and photographs show you?

The fantastic tutorial at The Purl Bee shows all the steps I usually go through to start embroidering the button covers.   If I have something simple and non-detailed in mind, sometimes I'll just wing it and not draw out my design, or I'll use a fine mechanical pencil because I find the line on the erasable pens to be a little thick.  Then, after cutting out the circles, I personally like to use the "No Tools Required" Half Ball Cover Buttons, the kind with teeth on the back.  There is a detailed, heavily photographed, amazing tutorial here by ruby-crowned kinglette (and she has a video of the process, too) which uses this kind of button kit, and though I don't usually use batting with my embroidered buttons, I *do* think the glue stick is a very useful and helpful hint!

If you don't want to go buy a kit, you can also make your own covered buttons using just a regular shank button.  There are directions (without pictures) here or a great one with photos here .

See?  Why reinvent the wheel and make a new tutorial?  Go see what they did, and then go and reinvent some buttons, instead.

most important thing I did all week

2 body parts + 1 needle + 12" of mint-flavored dental floss =

1 happy little girl.

ding dong, ding dong

The postman rang twice, and just look at what he brought!

First, there were the goodies from Kirsten and her very talented kiddos for Miniswap no. 3.  There were two almost identical packages, one for Jessie and one for Becca, but only Becca's photos turned out un-blurry.

There were embroidered and appliquéd thrifted tees,

beaded necklaces that all three kids helped make, Kool-Aid dyed playsilks, a book on color,

and my absolute favorites, these wooden dolls and embroidered angels.  You can hop over to Kirsten's blog to see more about what she sent, and also see better and more complete photos of what I sent.

And then, I got my coaster swap package, which, to be honest, I'd completely forgotten about.  I mean, I'd sent mine, but then forgot that I was supposed to be getting something, too!  And just look at the amazing ones I received from Rashida, one spectacular seamstress!  Love love love the tray, and the tidy little bundle it all makes.  I've got to confess, I haven't untied the ribbon.  I just think they look so wonderful like that, nestled snugly together, and since so little in my home could be described as "tidy," why not keep these that way?  I'll probably break down and use them eventually, but... maybe not.  I haven't used the gorgeous beaded ones that Regina gave me almost a year ago (yipes!), so what makes me think I'll use these?  Ha, maybe I should use two from each set, and keep two of each pristine and untouched.  By the way, at the time of this posting, Regina still has one set of beaded coasters available in her shop, for a ridiculously low price if you ask me (and she didn't, but I'm just saying)...

Ah, leave it to my internet friends and crafty swaps to elevate the ordinary, and allow the daily collection of junk-mail advertising and shockingly-high bills to be occasionally studded with some real gems and valuable parcels.  Thanks so much.

i'm a technological whiz

Oh yes, I'm quite the technological wizard these days.  Have you noticed my little favicon there at the top of your screen?   If you had me bookmarked before, you can delete that and re-bookmark me to have that little sweet tooth smiling at you from your Favorites menu.  I was so thrilled when Kathy had her post about how to make your own Favicon, and it was *so* incredibly easy to accomplish.

And now, look what I made.  Oh, yes.  It's a button for the swap.  With my own image, lettering, colored font, and it's even the right size.   Maybe I'll just join the Geek Squad, and go around spreading my technological know-how.

I don't think the world would ever recover.

embroidered button swap #2

So, it's 11:42 pm as I'm writing this.  Still Sunday, right?

I went to the Animal Fair
The birds and beasts were there
The old baboon by the light of the moon
Was combing his auburn hair

The monkey he got drunk
Fell over the elephant's trunk
The elephant sneezed, fell down on his knees,
But what became of the monk, the monk, the monk?

For the second round of the Embroidered Button Swap, the theme is going to be Animal Fair.  Like last time,
we'll be embroidering buttons of approximately 1" (the 7/8" ones are fine, too), but this time you can cross stitch, French knot or whatever you want, but the subject needs to be anything related to animals.  Each participant will be sending me six embroidered buttons (this is one more than in the first swap), and you'll be getting back 6 different ones, all from different people.  The variety is incredible, and these little gems are very very fun and addicting to make.  You'll need to sign up by March 10, and mail all buttons to me along with a self-addressed, postage-paid envelope by May 10. 

If you want to play along, just email me (the link is in the top left sidebar) with your name, mailing address and blog address if you have one.  If you're not in the States, just let me know, you can still join in, we'll just work something out to cover the cost of postage.

Oh, and I didn't forget about the giveaway, we actually have three winners.  The Random Number Generator picked numbers 2 and 10, Mirre and Regina.  But Regina already has one of my robot buttons, so I'm going to embroider a new button for her, and the second robot goes to Jessica.  Yay!  Send me your address, gals, and I'll get these buttons in the mail right away.

Okay, now it's past Sunday.  Bummer.  Sorry!