I made something tonight

I've been pining over reusable shopping bags ever since reading this tutorial. There's something about the square handles and the fact that it's reversible that I just love it. So tonight I decided to make one. I'm not crazy about how it turned out, I should've been able to match up the handles better and my topstitch could've been straighter. I wasn't even going to share pictures but hubby was so crazy about it that I decided maybe it wasn't so bad. He just kept saying, you actually *made* this??? I put it together in about an hour and a half from my first cut to my final topstitch. I was pretty sloppy with it, I could definately have been more careful to sew straight and I didn't trim anything or really do a whole lot of measuring even. One thing about a reversable bag though, it all gets tucked in the inside so you never see! One thing I did do that the tutorial didn't recommend is I put a topstitch along the bottom seam when I got done so the two layers of the bag wouldn't come apart. I'm amazed at how strong this bag is, I used cheap quilting fabric so I wasn't expecting this to be strong enough for a load of groceries, but I would feel comfortable with it. So here's pictures without further ado.

Merry Christmas to all

And to all a good night! Please remember the reason for the season. Even if you aren't a believer in God, remember those less fortunate and those who may be struggling worse than you with the economic times. Be generous and above all, be kind.

Confession

I could not stand David Archuleta when he was on American Idol. I was a Cook fan from the start and I could not stand the lizard lick or the eye thing that he did and he just drove me crazy! Dang I really like his song though. Like crank up the radio and sing along like it. Like putting it on my mix cd like it. Listening to it right now like it. Don't tell anyone, k?

another wreath gift

So I finally finished this fishing lure wreath I'd been working on for a month. Sam and I made the 'lures' out of salt dough ages ago and painted them and yesterday I embelished them and sprayed them with clear poly and today they became a wreath. This is a gift for my cousin who loves to fish, and she loves Christmas decorations. I don't think I could make one of these to sell, it was way too involved, too many steps. For the right price maybe. I'm not in love with it though. John gave it a solid *cute*. I trust him to tell me when he doesn't like something, so that means it's probably ok.

Finally! I can show Karen's birthday gift

I've been dying to show you this picture but I haven't been able to because it's a gift for someone who reads my blog. This is Karen's birthday gift and it was inspired by someone who made one on craftster. They were inspired by a wreath at Starbucks. Their wreaths were made on styrofoam bases but when I priced those, they were about $8 each, this vine wreath was about
$3 and I love the rustic look it gives the wreath. Super super easy, just time consuming. Wraping the yarn around the balls is the most tedious part. You can use full yarn balls, but since I had plenty of styrofoam balls, I wrapped the yarn around those and pinned it down to conserve the yarn. I have just been totally smitten with this wreath for about the last week while it's been hanging in my craft room. I hope Karen is now equally smitten with it, yarn freak that she is!Oh, something I learned from my skein of yarn. Did you know Vanna White is a spokesperson for yarn? You know you're getting old when you're advertising yarn, right? I mean, what little girl didn't want to be Vanna turning those letters when she grew up?

another sunday

Didn't do a whole lot today, just laundry and such. I have been catching up from yesterday. I worked for John yesterday all day and man did he wear me out!!! We were supposed to hook up a guy's computer first thing, then deliver and install a tv. Well, after we got those done and got back, we had a call for someone else who wanted a tv hooked up. Got out there and she decided she wanted another one done! So I didn't get home til like 8:30. That's okay though, work is work!

Hubby gave me an early christmas gift this morning. We aren't even really exchanging since we usually get what we want all year anyway. But this was on my morning paper this morning when I got up. It's a fancy cutter. He thought it would be good for leather or carpeting if I decided to get into upholstering.

This afternoon John decided he wanted to *build* something. He hadn't been doing much woodworking with the siding project and he had the itch! Here's what he came up with.Pictures can't quite show how beatuful this bench is. The frame is oak and the seat itself is black walnut, so it's quite a contrast. I am totally in love with this!!! I don't know if he's going to build a matching table next or a couple more chairs.

Couple gifts...

My candle colors still haven't come in! I was really hoping to get some more made tonight but unfortunately it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I sent my supplier a not-so-nice email already. So, I finished up Karen's Christmas gift. I can't show you pictures obviously because I want it to be a surprise. I took plenty though because I'm quite proud of it and because I've been working on it for 3 nights now.

I wanted to make a couple memo boards as gifts so since John cut out the boards for me a couple weeks ago, I figured I would go ahead and knock those out. Have I mentioned that an electric stapler is an arthritic girl's best friend? I've heard you can make these using just hot glue, but I get a 3rd degree burn just thinking about it. Sorry to all you single gal's out there, I'm so glad I have a husband who shares his nifty tools! These things go pretty quick with the staple gun in my hand, what usually takes me the longest is laying out how I want the ribbon.

So here's the one I made for my girl Sam. She's a redneck girl at heart, she's starting to get more of a girly girl side to her though. I thought this butterfly camo just screamed her name! Isn't it precious??? The browns would go with my office, I'm thinking I might make one for me too (provided I'm still working there in a month, more on that later).

Ironed, starched and ready to be cut:

All ribboned and hung:

I found this fabric at JoAnn's last week on clearance (!!) and it just screamed my Mother in law's name. Boy does she like cocks (okay, that was just rude). This is going to go perfect in her dining room though. She is doing a red wall and she has the gold in her attached living room so I really hope it pulls it together. If she loves it as much as I do, I might make her a couple plain boards with the fabric on them to hang in lieu of pictures (she has issues with decorations, you've got to know her).

Ironed and starched:

Ribboned and ready:

I didn't intend with the pattern to make it look like the cocks were caged (okay, that's the last one) but doesn't it kind of look like chicken wire? Too cute right? Did I mention that this was a remnant and it was like $2!! Totally keeping my eye on their remnant rack. I got another one too, I'll be sharing it soon, promise! On both of them I put a dab of glue periodically under the ribbon so it will hold cards and pictures properly. Not bad for a couple hours work.

Since your night isn't complete without a dog belly. The lighting was bad, that's why her color is so sickly. I was sneaking up while she was asleep. Hilarious with her head on the pillow though! Life must not be so bad for that old stray doggie!

Happy Friday!

For the first time, in my 29 years...

I had a nose bleed. And boy, was it a nose bleed! I finally made it to work, I feel like I should drink a carton of liver or get a transfusion for breakfast or something. Ugh.

candle making again

I'm so excited, my votives popped right out of their molds after 5 minutes in the freezer. I was afraid that it would be more than a notion but that was not the case! So tonight Sam and I made some more votives. I tried to make brown colorant because the colorants I ordered haven't come in yet. Yeah, Brown and orange make a funky green, not brown. Oh well, Cinnamon can be green this time of year! Oh, and in my box o' scents that I've gotten randomly from people, I found the (wait for it) WORST.CANDLESCENT.EVER. Any guesses as to what that may be? BACON! What frightens me is you can use it for soap too, in case you've ever wanted to marinate in a tub full of bacon.

Actually.... I was never a girl scout.

So today I baked cookies. Sorry, no pics of these, they were plain ol chocolate chip, you know what they look like anyway. Diane hosted a cookie exchange this afternoon and it was really a lot of fun! There must have been 40 different kinds of cookies there. Even though we voted on our favorites, no way could anyone taste them all! The ones I had were all delicious! If I didn't thank you earlier, thanks Diane for doing this today, it was great!

So driving home with all these cookies, because I still had a few of mine that hadn't been taken and tons of other cookies since I was the next to last to leave, I was thinking that there was no way I'd ever eat them all (I was feeling a little sick from all the cookies I'd already eaten!). So I stopped and got some little tins. I was thinking about baking cookies for my neighbors, we don't exchange gifts or anything, but I do appreciate them and I do have some awesome neighbors. So here they are, all packaged up and ready for their doorsteps tomorrow morning. I was telling Karen that I was doing this and she said: You're just a grown up girl scout aren't you? To which I believe I replied, fuck you, I was in 4-H. She thought I would be offended by the 'grown up' part of the statement, and the more I thought about it, maybe I am.

Anywho, got home and it was still fairly early. I got some Stearic acid last week and I wanted to make a batch of molded candles with it to see if once they set they would be solid enough for votives and pillars. So I whipped up a batch of candles, just 1 pound so they can be curing and hopefully I'll have my answer tomorrow. I'm really learning a lot about this whole candle process. The stearic acid really takes a long time to melt. I was gentle with the heat last time because the flash point of wax makes me nervous. This time I was more confident with the heat and cranked it up! It helped a lot with the colorant mixing but it took a loooong time to cool to the point where I wanted to pour. I still don't think I waited long enough. Next time I will try to be more patient. Here's what I made though. The silver pots are the votives I poured tonight and the blue mold in the back is an oval I poured tonight as well. The glass jars are candles John and I made last weekend that I never got a chance to post.

Here's my faithful helper Starsky.

I promised a coworker like a month ago that I would make her a wine cork board. I don't know why I've put it off so long, it only took about 20 minutes (and one giant blister from my very hot glue gun). Here it is though. I made some little cork tacks for it too, it looks very cute on my wall, she still might not get it any time soon. ;o)

Finally, I wanted to do something *different* and I saw these sequins sitting around. Wow, glad my balls are only 2" (heh heh). This took for-freaking-ever. Yeah, it's pretty damn cute, but I don't think I could make these to sell. I'd make them for friends, but I'm feeling all whiny now after making it. I should have used a thimble. Each of those sequins I put in with a straight pin. There's like 4000 sequins on that little ball I swear! I do love the different shades of green and since I do a lime green tree, I think it will look lovely on my tree. Don't know that I'll be making any more of these though.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and let's hope that next week is better than this past one!

All ya had to do was ask...

DH is so wound up about wanting to make candles. We really had a good time making them last weekend and our house smells quite lovely. I've been holding off buying more soy though because I hate to keep buying it a pound at a time. However, the first major price break you get is with a case (50 lbs) and the shipping is really high. So this morning I decided to sit down for a few minutes and do some research and put it all in an excel spreadsheet. I feel like I've finally acomplished something now. I found the cheapest supplier with the best shipping price. Now I can go back to work.