10 things I love...

1. Finding a bag of wooden acorns at the thrift store:
2. Black Apple's beautiful new kitchen.

3. These faux bois blocks from something's hiding in here:

4. This fun fabric that was delivered to me today. :)

5. Old sheets swaying in the breeze
6. Instructions on how to develop film using coffee and vitamin C... where was this when I was taking all those college photography classes?!

7. Sharon Montrose's fantastic photographs:

8. Babies!:

9. This ingenious craft from How About Orange.

10. Oh, and the sun, the sun, the sun! It's out and it's warm!!

... have a great weekend!

new in the shop

After a couple of weeks spent hanging out around here in various stages of completion, these two bowling sets are finally finished and in the shop. Um, I'm totally loving these. Wouldn't they be perfect in an Easter basket? I made two to start with, a girly pinkish set with a butterfly bag and a boyish set in blue with a cool striped bag.

colorful

This past week, whenever I had some extra time, I was busy working on a few things for my shop, including the bookmarks in the photo. I'll be listing them over the next few days. I wanted some colorful ones and I really like how they turned out. I'm also working on a couple other fun things but they're not ready for their close-ups yet. :)And I have something free (and colorful) for you all : labels you can download and print. You can print them out on sticker paper, or print them on cardstock and make tags. I also made a sheet of all red labels and one of all black. :)

Download the colorful label sheet here

Download the red label sheet here

Download the black label sheet here

Hope you like them.. Have a great weekend!

spring greens

I tried getting a treasury to feature these pretty green items I found on Etsy but I missed it by two minutes! So I made a poster sketch instead. Aren't they lovely? I love the bunnies. Have I ever posted a photo of my rabbit Charlie? I'll have to 'cause he's just about the cutest thing you'll ever see. :)

Here are the links:

1. Madeline Ivory Chrysanthemum Necklace 2. New Growth Green- handspun handdyed 2-ply yarn 3. Landscape 285 (I just realized this is sold, sorry!) 4. Avocado Jar

5. Original Oil painting Bunny Peeks In 6. Layered Circles Felt Flower Brooch Pin in Avocado Green 7. Heart Serving Bowl 8. Elements of Craft Eco Bangle Bracelet Set of 3

9. Vintage Button Ring--Spring is Here 10. MOSSY STONE in Superwash Wool and Nylon Yarn 11. Pretty Vintage Buttons - Lime Bright Green 12. vintage mint celadon green bunny rabbit with carrot

randoms

I know I've mentioned this before, but Brian and I have annual passes to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn. I really (really!) love the village, but it's closed this time of year, so in the winter we go to the Museum. I like it when it gets later in the day and all the kids on their field trips go home so I can do things like this and not feel completely ridiculous (just a little ridiculous):


Yep, that's me. A hot dog. A Wienermobile was right next to this little ingenious photo-op, but silly me didn't get a shot of it.

One of my favorite things at the museum is the Dymaxion House. It's crazy to think how different the suburbs might look if these houses had actually gotten manufactured.

Other randoms:

- Check out this yarn. Yum!
- And check out this etsy shop, Thrush. It's full of fabulous vintage clothing and other goodies. I love how she names the items.

- I love this rag rug tutorial from Moda Bake Shop.

- Oh! An update on the cloth pads: Awesome. They worked really well and were super absorbent and really comfy. I had no issues with bunching or sliding around. At first I was rinsing them out in the shower, but it took a while and the cold water was torture, so I started filling up the sink with cold water and letting them soak for a while in there first, which helped a lot. Once rinsed, I put them in a glass jar filled with water until all of them were used so I could wash them all together. When I buy/make more I think I'll rig something else up for storage. I felt pretty weird saving them, which is normal I guess when you start saving something you're used to throwing away.

My favorite one was the "medium" size from gogreengirl. It fit really well. The liners seemed a bit overkill, a little too thick for me. I think I'll try making my own liners. Anyone know where I can find organic, undyed/unbleached cotton flannel?

day 20 : paint chip notepads

Today I made these cute matchbook notepads out of paint chips and old computer paper (you know the kind that's all attached with ridges on the sides?). I love them. Don't they look perfect for spring and Easter? I have them available here in my shop.

day 16 : yellow

I don't know about you guys but I'm ready for spring. Only 20 more days until daylight saving time starts again.. Why do we stop with daylight saving time anyways? That would certainly make winter a little easier to handle, don't you think?

That rose photo somehow made me think about these amazing moss terrariums I had stashed away in my Etsy favorites and I thought maybe you'd all enjoy them as well. Here's a photo of one:

(Photo by made by mavis)

You can find them here in her shop. And here's the one that's pictured above. I love moss. :)

day 10 : thawing

We had record highs today in Michigan. There are puddles and little streams everywhere... the massive amount of snow we had is rapidly disappearing. I love it! I'm hoping my garden soil will be nice and workable really early this year. We won't be getting any more snow, right? ha! :)

I was checking out Etsy today looking for Valentine's goodies.. there's sooooo many great things there. I pulled together a poster sketch with some of my favorite finds:

1. BE MY VALENTINE handspun novelty yarn 2. Love birds, letterpress card 3. PETALS - Winter flower - Unique Corsage Brooch Pin 4. Red Velvet Cake Balls
5. It's because of love - Necklace 6. My Dear - 5 x 5 signed fine art photograph 7. February No.2 8. I Wheelie Like You Letterpress Card
9. Heart Balloon - Printable Valentines, Notecards, Gift Tags and Stationery 10. Be My Vegantine Heart Cupcake Box filled with 6 Chocolate Ganache Dipped Mini Cupcakes 11. I LOVE YOU wood stationery set 12. FROM A PASSING CAR- Fine Art Print 8x10

day 9 : at my desk

I got that adorable calendar from Blue Tricycle on Etsy. It's comes as a PDF file that you can print yourself. Neat huh? She has cute cards and stationary sets as well.

maybe I've gone too far

Sorry if this grosses some of you out. I almost didn't post about this but I think it's awesome so I'm just going to assume that someone out there will agree with me!These came in the mail the other day... yep, cloth pads! I read about them in the Etsy forums (just do a search for "cloth pads"). You can find lots of info on the internet as well. I read that cloth pads can actually make your period shorter and less painful. Plus it's much better for the environment than all those disposables! I absolutely hate disposable pads so I can't really believe it's taken me this long to get some cloth ones.

I did a lot of shopping around on Etsy and I finally decided on these two sets to start with so I could test them out. The polka dot ones are from Pleat and you can find them right here. The white ones are from gogreengirl and you can get them here. I got the sets that have a liner, a regular pad, and an overnight pad.

I haven't been able to try them yet, but they all look very well made and up for the task. ;)And looking at them in person I think they would be pretty easy to make myself.

------

Completely unrelated... Julie from knitsational is having a really cute giveaway on her blog, so check it out!

shop update

I've been adding a few new things to the shop this week: custom baby rings (you pick the colors)...

Some new colors for the baby rings (more are in the shop)..
And some more matchbook notepads like the ones above, just in time for Valentine's Day. :)

in the mail

Today the mailman brought me new business cards for the shop. I ordered them from Overnight Prints and I'm really happy with them. I've never ordered business cards before (always just made my own) and I must say the quality is great. I'm all for doing it yourself but I just can't compete with actual business cards, you know? :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend and stays warm! I'll be spending it nice and snug by the fire.

felt food

I've been a little into felt food lately (never mind that I don't have kids!). They're so cute and the perfect thing to work on while watching a movie. I figured a purchased pattern would be a great place to start, so I bought this one from Etsy seller umecrafts (she has a bunch of really cute patterns. I'm still thinking about getting the veggies).

Pictured above are my creations. The banana has a removable skin.. neat right? And the apple has velcro on it so it can stick together, but I won't make any more apples like that. It wasn't fun hand sewing the velcro on and it looks silly all stuck together, not at all like a whole apple.

But anyway, when I was searching around for free tutorials and ideas for other foods I found a few links that I thought I'd share:

- A pattern for a loaf of bread from cherrymix. I just noticed that she also has a pattern for a cupcake and a fortune cookie (and more) on her site.

- A couple tutorials here including a strawberry. (This is umecrafts's blog.)

- Ravioli, lemon slices, tomato slices, ice cream, egg and orange slices all from One Crafty Mumma

- Finally, here and here you can find a ton more ideas, photos, instructions, and tips.
Oh, and about the felt. I used this ecospun felt that's made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles which I think is awesome. It's a good quality, nice and thick and strong. I bought it at Joann's on sale for 8 for 96 cents or something like that. If you want real wool felt (which I love.. maybe someday I'll make some out of wool..), you can find a large selection here, or here if you want to shop from Etsy.

three thistle dusters

Oh, I'm loving these mice... :)

This year I'm really trying to reduce my waste for the holidays.. I do it throughout the year but for some reason I haven't really tried to be more environmentally friendly at Christmastime until this year. I guess I just assumed I needed to use wrapping paper to wrap gifts? So it's a process. :)

I found this cute little book at the bookstore a few weeks ago and I've been reading it when I can.. it's pretty good so far, but I think I'm just getting into the fun stuff now - like decorations, packaging, etc. So I'll check back with how I like it.
They had this one at the bookstore too, but it's HUGE! I don't know if it's printed on post-consumer recycled paper or what, but it just seemed like a waste. And it looked like it had lots of photos.. (I was looking mostly for information).
And when I searched on Amazon for those books, I came across this one for children. Looks cute!

Oh! I almost forgot, today one of my fabric bookmarks is the "Etsy Item of the Day" on the Etsy Item of the Day blog! Thank you, Jackie!!

Thanksgiving: Etsy Finds

Last Friday night I was able to grab a treasury in treasury west and I filled it with yummy Thanksgiving inspired items.

Handmade Thanksgiving Garland, Pumpkin Pie Handspun Yarn, Pumpkin-Ginger Marshmallow Clouds

Bliss Soy 16 oz Mayo/Jelly Jar Candles, 3 Needle Felted Wool Acorns - Squash, Turkey Note Card (Letterpress)

PUMPKIN PIE Soap with Pumpkin Puree and Brown Sugar, 1/2 lb Pumpkin Pie Caramels, Squash Recycled Banana Silk

Two Vintage Indiana Glass Amber Gold Footed Goblets, Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Votive Candles Set of 6, Pumpkin Pie handmade soap

added to the shop: felted wool baby rings

Dreaming

It's been dark and rainy (and snowy!) here and the weather has me dreaming about warm, sunny days on the beach...

...I just have about seven more months of waiting. :)

I love this photo by Alicia Bock, available here. And here's her Etsy shop. Lots of beautiful photos there. She's a fellow Michigan girl so her photos remind me of my own summertime adventures. Oh, it seems so far away..

Little house ornaments & Bookmarks

Itching to start some Christmas crafting? Well this adorable house ornament from Pimp Stitch would be a great place to start. You can find the tutorial here.

And, just added to the shop: Holiday bookmarks! (I'll be posting regular bookmarks too.) :)

I'm ready for Christmas...

Well.. not really but I do have lots of red and white baker's twine, which I found right here. (The site is kind of crazy, but scroll down, its there I promise. They also have it in brown, green, and blue.)
Um, I'm a little overwhelmed with this huge mass of string. It weighs two pounds!
Oh, but isn't it wonderful? The little guy's cute too, isn't he? I found him at a garage sale a few weeks ago. I brought him home and washed him and washed the paint right off his nose! oops! :)

If you're not looking to own two pounds of string, you can find 20 yard lengths in the shop (direct link here). And you get Santa to boot!

I won an award!?

The other day I got an award! What a surprise! I got it from The Ordinary Housewife!

So in order to accept the award I need to pass it on to six blogs I love and list six things that I love. Here are the blogs:

Average Jane Crafter

Green Jello

Holiday Queen

Lulubeans

Pimp Stitch

Turkey Feathers

And six things that I love:

1. colors

2. Pearl Jam

3. peppermint tea

4. the smell of apple blossoms

5. being outside

6. old movies

Thank you Ordinary Housewife!

Also, I posted my lunch bags in the shop. Man, I went through so many different designs/sizes/fabrics before I decided on these! It's nice to finally see them finished. I wish there were some school-aged kids in the family, I think they would be great to use as gift bags for Christmas. But adults would love them too. ;)

Oh, and about Christmas.. I know it's not even Halloween yet but I'm starting to get ready for the holidays.. like making lists and planning and such. That's all I've allowed myself to do so far (I'm trying to hold off until after Halloween)! I'm one of those people that think Thanksgiving doesn't get the attention it deserves.. but really, how can you get everything accomplished between Thanksgiving and Christmas? There's just too many crafty projects I want to do. So once Halloween is over, get ready for some Christmas posts every once in a while.. I have some fun things to share.