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Love Hoops

Just a little hoop obsessed around here, no excuses, just the facts.  And since I have more hoops stashed around the house I see a few more of these in my future.

Homemade Ornaments 2012

This years homemade ornaments-

for Ben, Bacon made from felt:for Emma, a cone with a vintage snow couple:
family cones:a San Francisco Giants cone for my brother:a felt hoop of Oregon that headed all the way to the Ukraine: a bird hoop that also went to the Ukraine:and hoops for my coworkers: And every year, despite my good intentions of working on Christmas all throughout the year, I always seem to be working on these until the night before I need them, but I love making them just the same.

You Are My Sunshine

I know spring is officially here but day after day of dark, rainy days has been getting me down so I decided to make a little piece of scrapbook art to brighten my mood, as well as the wall in Emma's room. Since her birth I have sung "You Are My Sunshine" to her- it was the song that soothed her when she cried and the song we now sing together nightly as part of her bedtime routine. The lyrics, that have become such an important part of our everyday life, seemed like the perfect choice to make into a wall hanging.  To make this project I cut 7 one-inch wide strips from different pieces of yellow 12x12 patterned paper as well as 1 piece of grey to use for the rays of the sun.  I cut the sun from a piece of yellow cardstock, glued it on a piece of patterned craft paper, then glued down the 8 strips at different intervals.  I used random yellow letter stickers, some chip letters painted grey, and my own handwriting to put the lyrics onto the rays of the sun.  Now all I need to do is slip it into a frame and hang it up in Emma's room.And I'm hoping the sun takes the hint and comes out a little bit more.

Easter Felt Hoops

The last two weeks have passed by too quickly as we try to get everyone in our household well again, but I wanted to share a trio of wool felt Easter projects I made last week- I used wool felt for the base, stretched it inside of a 6 inch embroidery hoop, cut an egg shape from wool felt, embellished them with bits of vintage white trim (except for the pink one- Emma insisted on pink for hers, go figure), and embroidered Happy Easter on each.  Wishing you all a Happy Easter and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things!

Faux Sew Love

Better late than never here are a few more Valentine's Day 2012 projects that I finished this February (before the 14th if you can believe it!)  The first is a little wall hanging for Emma's room, I have a reversible one that is on her bedroom door from Halloween- Christmas, when it came down this year she requested a new one.  I used one of the 5x7 flat backed canvases from my previous post, covered it with a sewing pattern and mod podge, punched with an awl around the edge, faux stitched with a marker, then embellished with ribbon, chipboard letters and buttons, and topped with a felt hand stitched heart.The second project is a love banner I created by covering 4 scalloped chipboard pieces found at the $1 spot at Michaels with a sewing pattern, sealed with Matte Mod Podge, faux stiched with a sharpie around the edges then embellished with buttons, ribbons, paper tape, and hearts.  The O and E are on top of 4x6 overlays from My Mind's Eye.  At this point I think I have a banner for almost every major holiday- I think the next one better be a birthday banner (luckily that won't take too long, I have the pennants covered with paper, I just need to add the letters.)  And after misplacing my Halloween banner for over 2 years I have started a banner box so I have a central place to pack and store them away after each holiday.

Valentine Canvas Collage

I thought I'd try another "clean out my button-flower-brad, etc. stash" project much like my Easter egg from last year:  http://kismetart.typepad.com/kismet_art/2011/04/easter-egg-project.html

Because of the time it took last year I started with a slightly smaller canvas this time around (5x7 instead of 8x10) and chose to use more elements that I could glue on, much easier than punching through the tough chipboard backed canvas.

This is still a favorite project, especially because it is one you can easily work on while watching a movie, hoping to make some different holiday shapes this year because I still don't see much of a dent in the old button stash!

For You, A.

I Felt Crafty This Christmas

Every year I handcraft an ornament for members of my family, and after purchasing the book Fa La La Felt last year (the book is full of fun felt holiday craft ideas), I decided to try creating some embroidery hoop ornaments.  I used hoops ranging from 3" to 6" for these projects, wool felt, and a varitey of different threads and embellishments.  Here are a few of my favorites:These are Ben and Emma's hands, I love that I have a record of their size from the end of 2011.
The first one in this series of 3 is a replica of my brother-in-law's company logo (he owns a landscaping business and uses a ginko tree leaf on his hats.)The first one is a replica of Ben's "Human Beans" comic strip series (it is one of his bean people), the second is a ladybug, not only Emma's favorite insect but also her Halloween costume this year.
The poinsettia was inspired by a pillow cover in the Pottery Barn Holiday catalogue.
I also make an ornament for my niece and nephew.  Earlier this winter I had covered some chipboard houses with paper and thought these felt gingerbread people made a nice addition (the other side has their names and the year).

As someone who often has a hard time sitting still to watch a movie at night I think in these felt creations I have found an activity that I can work on for all different seasons.

Happy crafting in 2012!

Pumpkin Card (And One of The Reasons I Love Crop Chocolate)

I wanted to share a Halloween card I made for a challenge over at Crop Chocolate, using products I purchased from their site.  The challenge this month was to use stitching on your project, I chose to faux stitch using both a black and a white pen. The pumpkin on this card was inpired  by a folk art pillow that my parents purchased for me last year. Earlier this year I purchased a basic sewing machine to use for projects such as this one but I have yet to use it in crafting (but I have a set of curtains that are not dragging the floor anymore and Emma is the proud owner of a small purse made from an old pair of jeans!)

And if you are looking to add to your craft stash Crop Chocolate is a several deal a day site that purchases products from different scrapbook maunufacturers and sells them at a deep discount.  When you purchase something from them you have the option of adding a package of "Hot Chocolate" to your order (HC is a mystery grab bag of products )for $2.49- I have yet to receive a bag of HC that was worth less than $20.00 retail. They are an amazing company with the best customer service I've ever dealt with and a genuinly nice staff.

Because of the demise of the small, local scrapbook stores in our area I often find myself shopping online for procucts that I am in search of, and most of the bigger online stores tend to either forget to pack items, send damaged goods, or take weeks to get product shipped to you. I have never had this be the case when dealing with Crop Chocolate, and with less money in my pocket these days to spend on supplies I plan on continuing to spend where I receive excellent customer service.