Happy Birthday Mom...

I lost my Mom to Throat Cancer on August 2nd. Today she would have been 62. She was beautiful, smart, witty, crafty, loving...everything a mom should be and so much more. I owe who I am today to her. Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you.

Dino Backpack

My daughter asked me to make her a backpack / purse like this one I made her sister a while back.  I used a different pattern, and Taylor requested fabric with a slightly different motif.  She loves dinosaurs, especially T-Rexes.  Here is what she picked out.

I think it turned out really cute...

 

Using the webbing for the handles was much easier than sewing fabric ones - I always have trouble getting my straps to look nice,

There's a magnetic snap for the flap...

...and lots of room inside all kept secure with a drawstring closure.

She loves it.  Did I mention she's almost 19???

I'll be linking up to some great parties this week - come take a look!

First attempt

I was at Joann's yesterday and found purse frames in the handbag section. I was pretty excited because I have been wanting to try making a little snap frame coin purse. The frames they have at joann's are the sew in style. I think I will order some of the glue in ones and give them a try too. This little purse was easier to do than I thought it would be and I'm happy with the end result. What do you think?

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Butterfly Art

I have been seeing these butterfly specimen art pieces all over blogland and decided to give it a try. I found and SVG file of a butterfly and started cutting out butterflies with my trusty Cricut. I then went on a shopping trip looking for a frame and mat with enough depth that my butterflies would still have some dimension when the glass was put back in the frame. I found this framed artwork (I guess it could be considered artwork) at Dollar General for $10. I removed the "art" from the frame and covered it with a piece of linen I had left over from another project and got to gluing my butterflies. My original plan was to spray paint the frame and mat ivory and antique the mat. After thinking about it though, I decided that I liked the dark frame and left it as-is. (It may have also been that I am an impatient crafter and I didn't want to have to wait for the paint to dry.)

So here is it...my version of the Buttefly Specimen Frame...




A close up of some of my butterflies.

I'll be linked up to

Have a happy Day!!

Time sure flies...

I can't believe it has been over 3 months since I last posted. A lot has been going on in my world. My mom has not been well, we went to Illinois for my father-in-law's burial services, and on Monday I am starting a new full-time job. In between all of that I have been trying to keep my sanity by doing some crafting and sewing, but not a lot gets finished. I did make a bunch of drawstring backpacks to bring to my nieces and nephew in IL.

 

These are actually the ones that they did not choose so they are now up for sale in my Etsy shop.  They are lined with water resistant nylon jacket fabric so they are great for bringing wet bathing suits home from the pool.  I plan on making more of these to add to the shop soon - they make up very quickly and are a great way to use up some of the novelty fabrics I have collected!

So Cute - Baby Hats!!

I made these hats because I love all things baby.  I had no baby to give them to though - until a coworker became an Aunt! Now I have a baby to send cute little things to whenever the mood strikes.  Here are 2 hats I sent to her over Easter.

Too stinkin' cute!! The crocheted cap is from a pattern I found on Ravelry, the sewn hat is a McCalls 4478  and the shoes are from a free tutorial I found on this website.

I'll be attending all of these fabulous parties this week - you should come too!

Spring dollar store craft

I bought these white plastic frames at the Dollar Tree the other day.  They were too white and "plasticy" (is that a word?  I guess it is now!) for my taste so I sprayed them with black spray paint.  That ended very badly.  The paint bubbled up and looked horrible.  I tried to glue twine to one (the letter G - you can still see the remains of the glue and twine hair) which was equally disastrous.  I finally went and bought some of the Krylon Fusion spray paint made specifially for plastic.  I got one witha kind of a sandstone texture and a touch of sparkle.  It turned out well - but I will say that the paint was a bit of a pain to use.  The nozzle kept getting clogged and I had to keep taking it off.  I finally did get this all put together, and except for needing to get a new frame for the letter G, I like it!  I think I will change it out for every season - I never realized before that every season has 6 letters - that works out very nicely!  Without further ado, here is Spring:

I'm linking to the following parties: