Blogging Break

Yes I am taking a little blogging break of a week, a time to spend with family & unplug. I'll be cooking, playing games, watching movies and enjoying family & although we won't all be together we will be with one another in spirit. May your week be filled with blessings~

Cleaning & Organization Craftrooms Inspiration

Honestly where does the time go? I have been crafting, journaling and painting meanwhile my house has been collecting dust bunnies, getting disorganized and just in plain need of assistance. If I had a magic wand I would wave it today to make my space look all tidy like these craft spaces. Our spare bedroom is the guest room / craft room so with Thanksgiving just around the corner this is where you'll find me cleaning~


Moline



almost bunnies


MayaLee Photography


Petis Details



yvestown


yvestown

Swoon~
What about you? Are you having company this year? Am I finding you cleaning & organizing too?

Handmade Projects

How many of you craft and sew handmade projects just at this time of year? Just for gift giving?
or Are you the ultimate crafter who enjoys creating things all year long including gifts?
Well here is a little round up of hand made / home made gift giving tutorials & links to the ladies who created the images in the photos.~
A little of this & that but all handmade projects to suit a budget~

Homemade Bath Salts

Re purpose a Sweater into a Purse

Pine Cone Fire Starter Gift Basket

Home made Vanilla Extract


made by agah

Thanks to the ladies who inspired my post today~
Made by Agah has a cute little etsy shop full of felt goodness and loveliness for gift giving~
Hann-Herz also has a shop on de.dawanda.
So be inspired to create or run off to shop. All I know is I am going to be on the creating end!
What about you? Creating or Shopping? Do tell~

Sweet Sunday Crafty Links

I created a little round up post for you of some very pretty, creative and free printable s and tutorials. I am out of town so this is just a quick post of some of the ones I really enjoyed out there on the web~ I hope you enjoy them and if you have any links to things you have created, is crafty and would like us to visit and possibly feature leave your link and info. in the comment section. We are always looking for new inspiration along with seasonal tutorials and such~
Wishing you a sweet Sunday filled with crafty inspiration! What are you doing for Thanksgiving this year?

Here goes:

Thanksgiving printable s *lots of things for decor, graditude to tabletop Tatertots and Jello.

Free printable s for the cutest place cards afancifultwist.typepad

Tee shirt (gobble, gobble) *so cute! tutorial The Cottage Home

Thanksgiving Garland Simply Modern Mom

Thanksgiving Finger puppet Tutorial (felt) Frog Prince Paperie

Non-Thanksgiving~

A tutorial for a felt business card holder Everything Etsy

Re- Purpose With Wool Sweaters

the long thread
the long thread

Here’s a quick tutorial for a felted sweater stocking.This makes a 12″ long stocking, but you could increase or decrease the pattern to suit your needs. Print the template here.

1. First, you’ll need 100% wool sweaters, washed and dried.
2. I cut my sweaters into 1 1/2″ strips (the width of my yard stick). I used about 15 strips in all. I sewed them with a straight stitch right sides together until I had a somewhat rectangular striped piece.
3. I then cut the pattern front from this piece, adding 1/2″ around the outside for the seam allowance. I cut the back from a solid color (with a band at the top). Be sure to cut the front and back in mirror image. I then inserted a quick loop and sewed it all together.

the long thread
the long thread creative commons

I am just dying to make some of these for around my house this holiday season!
This and the tutorial above is all thanks to Ellen Lucket Baker and here is what she had to say;
So get some wool sweaters, wash and dry them, cut 15 circles according to the template, string them together and hang them or add them to your miniature winter village. I’m hoping to make one of those this year, but we’ll see. You know, because everyone needs a miniature winter village, right? Template for the tree ornaments




Refashionso
Who couldn't use a little decor pick me up? Could you see using a sweater with a seasonal color and some special buttons to dress up your holiday decor?

every little thing
What little one wouldn't love one of these cute little critters to hug at bedtime while waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve?






TheDYIDish
And of course who doesn't need a two minute gift to make for the holidays? And with a how to get your sweater ready for any of these inspiring ideas that I am sure you are warming up to make! So don't throw out those old sweaters re purpose them & get new life out of them~
Have you used wool in any of your crafty projects? Have you tried to re purpose a sweater before? What was your favorite wool project? I sure would like to know~

Two Snowmen, Memories & Second Place!

Something about snowmen melts my heart! The memories of going to the snow & staying in a cabin, bundling up and going outside to play all afternoon, building a snowman with the soft, fresh snow. Then later sledding until we were so wet and our pants frozen we had to run in for a warm change of clothes, some hot coco and a game or two by the fire. So when I created these two snowmen I thought of all those heart felt moments and what they meant to me.

Although it was my first time using Styrofoam I thought what the heck I am always up to challenging myself and that is just what I did & entered the TheDYIDish Holiday Challenge "Make it fun for the holidays" sponsored by “Make It: Fun®” for the Holidays Craft Challenge is FloraCraft® Corporation. .

Well the good news is I found out I won second place for my entry!! Can you see me with a big grin on my face!? I was so excited about the news I had no idea that I even had a chance seeing some of the cool entries! You can get the full Dish right here & take a peek at the announcement!
Congrats to Heather for 1st and Jennifer for 3rd place! Well a heartfelt thanks to Kim & Kris for choosing me as one of the winners!! Also be sure to visit Make It:Fun for some Styrofoam holiday inspiration!
What have you created with Styrofoam? Do you have any fond memories to share of playing in the snow or building snowmen?

I Heart Snowmen

Remember I was telling you that I decided to create something from Styrofoam for a challenge on DYITheDish. I even had posted what the beginnings looked like on my table and some inspiration I found. Oh and the late afternoon when we (Sammie helping me) were trying to catch the last bright sunlight to take these photos to capture the entry for the contest. Wind was blowing, they were toppling, leaves and shadows to deal with but finally some decent pictures! & my entry was submitted! Well here are the snowmen all ready for the Christmas holidays! I hope you like how they turned out as much as I did! I think I am inspired to make them a little snow display where I'll set them for the holidays. maybe even a cape or hat will be added. Well, I have a secret to share with you later, so I hope you come back soon to see what it is! Can you guess? I promise to share soon! Have you started any holiday projects yet?

Christmas Inspiration "Inspired Ideas"

Is it too soon to talk about Christmas? I couldn't believe the day after Halloween all the Christmas decorations are up even in the parking lot of our biggest local stores! What happened to waiting to Thanksgiving for all that? Well I digress, when it comes to Christmas I only think of it early when it comes to inspiration of homemade items and handmade goods~ Other than that I can wait. (As a matter of fact I could use a few extra months for making the holidays handmade! ) So when I saw this I had to share! Yes, Inspiration galore!! If you are or aren't crafty you still will be swooning over this e magazine that has been published~ Thanks to Amy Powers. I hope you enjoy ~ Will you be making any hand crafted items?

Open publication - Free publishing - More happy

Felt Leaves Thanksgiving Napkin Ring

felt leaves thanksgiving napkin ring
Originally uploaded by urban paisley

Already November! It is almost so hard to believe that it is but, I guess with the autumn air, pumpkins and leaves falling I need to get in the mind set of preparing for things to come. When I came across this wonderful napkin ring it had Thanksgiving all wrapped up for me and hopefully my napkins. This is something I want to do for our table this year. I am so inspired by this design and the color inspiration! I hope it creates thoughts of a home spun Thanksgiving for you too! Do you have a favorite source for purchasing wool felt? Have you ever crafted with felts? Do tell~