Stormy Weather

Wooo! Northern California is getting a series of intense storms this week. Today began the first of 6-7 storms. The blue sky is peaking out for now, but soon the rain clouds will come pouring back in.
I recently got a Flip camcorder for Christmas here is a video of the rain....

The dark clouds remind me of the Pixar short "Partly Cloudy" on the movie "Up!" if you haven't seen it yet, go watch it!!! The short was adorable and I just can't look at a grey cloud the same way again :)

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

Well, I promised pictures of some Christmas presents, and now that it is no longer 2009 or Christmas time I think it is safe to post these beauties!

Exhibit A: The homework monster for my cousin Thea. He is adapted from an Urban Threads design. She is currently attended UC Berkley getting a double Masters! I feel her pain and made her the amazing homework monster. The best part is I made him bendable and magnetic!!!

Exhibit B: This is an old Speech Therapy card from 1974! I found it while doing my student teaching. My uncle's John and Garrett have three chickens I helped take care of. Thus, I thought they would enjoy this, I made the chickens true to life (Henny-Penny red, Pumpkin is Orange and Claudia is Black & White!)

I am currently on vacation in San Diego and did not bring my crafts with me so I had a chance to truly relax. However, when I return to San Jose school starts back up again with hurrican force and I am afraid I will not longer have time to craft :(

5 more months until I am done with school and will have more time and money to CRAFT! I can't wait!

and the frenzy continues....

Well, Merry Christmas "Steve" everyone! It's the day before Christmas Eve, therefore "Christmas Steve". Don't ask, it was a childhood tradition still carried on today! To celebrate I ran errands with mom, caught up on some televison and made these:

Both patterns are Urban Threads, sewn with inspiration by me! I was shocked how fast I got them both done. Just started both of these this evening and am working on a third.

I apologize for the dark quality, it's hard to take good pictures at night.

Smells like Christmas

Well, my room smells like Christmas that is, fresh balsam to be exact (bath and body works). It is the only candle that smells just like a fresh cut tree! Speaking of trees! Here is my white seashell tree. I have yet to create a tree topper (starfish) been too busy, but I will get around to it later.

I strung pearls on the pretty ribbon and then used a glue gun to attach. Martha Stewart suggests using a tiny electric drill. A. I do not own one B. That would take a while!! C. shells might crack. So I used my own ideas.

I had some failed projects this week but nothing was worse than this:

My embroidery thread that is organized in numrical order decided to throw itself up all over my floor...sad. I let it sit there for a while before cleaning it up!

PS. I have more pictures coming the day after Christmas! One present I finished today and actually suprised myself with how cute it is! :P Come back to see the Christmas Presents, Dec. 26th!!  

Suprise Vintage Project!

I started working on this a while back, when we had a Sunday "Crafternoon" with my cousins. Crafting runs in the family! I actually worked on it for soo long that I hurt my wrist! haha.

I wasn't able to work on it for a few months due to school, however now that I am done I finally finished it.

It is a vintage postcard I found through searching the internet. I adore vintage mermaids, bathing beauties, classy pin-up type artwork. I fell in love with this and decided it would be fun to make! I am very excited it is done, wish I had used a better fabric that didn't pucker but I am happy with the end result! It will be hanging in my room once I find a good place to have it framed.

Here is the original postcard artwork I used for the pattern (wish I knew who made it!):

Let the crafting continue!

I started making holiday candles last year, I believe they were on Bugs and Fishes but not totally sure. They are probably on this blog or my previous blog. They are cheap to make, but time consuming and patience testing! I have two that I love and have burned the last 3 years and are still going strong. Made some for my mom and grandparents. However my sister requested a "sweater snowflake pattern" because she wanted one! I starting looking up patterns from Swedish and Swiss patterns, with no luck. After much searching I found out it was Norwegian! I just love this pattern and I am pleased with the way it turned out. Candle: $1.89 cinnamon Puff paint in white: $1.29 Pattern Free! So about $3.00 to make.

So for those of you who know me it is no suprise that I adore GLITTER. I found 16 colors of glitter at Michael's. I knew there had to be a project in which I could use it, and I remembered Martha Stewarts graded glitter seashell tree from her December magazine. I loved the tree and decided I would make some! For about 6 dollars total, I made ALL of these fabulous shells. I need to figure out a way to hang them, but for now they look beautiful sparkling on my floor. Warning: you will be covered in glitter for days if you make these! And make sure you spray them with a finish so the glitter stays!

                                   

Alright now back to my sewing projects!

The gifts, glorious gifts!!

I have been working on this since I began my blog. This is a vintage stitching pattern found at an antique store. It uses single stitchs and I have never done a craft like this! It was a bit difficult to define the pattern using single stitches. I am used to cross-stitch! After thousands of beige stitches I am finally done! To get the perspective I included a pen...ugh soo many beige stitches!!!! The poor thing is warped and I need it framed! But I got it done by Christmas and will be giving it to my grandpa.

Another gift was for my Speech-Language Pathology supervisor. Her name has been blurred for privacy. If you didn't notice she loves tea. The patterns are via Sublime Stitching (love their stuff!) I had fun with this quick project. I think personalized gifts are my favorite thing to make!

My next project will be one for myself. I have another fabulous vintage postcard project in the works and something christmasy! I am also dying to try needle felting! It seems like felting wool is hard  to come by in San Jose....I will try it eventually!