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Craft Heaven

Posted by christy in Craft | House - (0 Comments)

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The photo above does not represent Craft Heaven. It is the opposite, in fact. This is where my craft projects went to die and for over a year I did nothing in this room but contribute to the mess.

Part of my therapy included hiring an organizer to come and help me get my house in order. Did you know that if you’re depressed and lie around in bed all day watching Dr. Phil that the house doesn’t clean itself? I found that out.

I found my organizer through Google. I’m more apt to hire someone if they have a good website. Wendy is the woman behind Organize by Design.  She helped me turn that mess into heaven. Check it out.

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Isn’t that beautiful? If we hadn’t organized that room, I probably would still be avoiding my blog. Having a nice space to work in really makes a huge difference.

If you’re in Lincoln and want to hire Wendy, tell her I sent you–I’ll get a free hour of organizing and you’ll get an amazing lady to help you clean up your own mess. Win/win.

Crochet Flower Necklace

Posted by christy in Craft - (6 Comments)

It’s pretty difficult to take a picture of yourself wearing a necklace when there is nobody else around to help. Here is my best effort. I made this necklace over the break and it didn’t take me too long at all to complete. It is basically just a few crochet chains hooked together with a flower added on the side. I sewed a button on the flower and one for the closure and that took me about as long as it did to crochet the whole thing. ]

I’ve been getting compliments on it all day.

What do you think? Would you wear a crocheted flower necklace? I’m thinking of making some more and having them available in my shop.

Be Clean Canvas

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I spray painted a canvas over the break.  This is hanging in our bathroom. We can all use a little reminder of this now and then.

The canvas is 16 x 20 and I used my cricut to cut out the letters in vinyl. Once the spraypaint was dry, I peeled off the vinyl letters and it was done!

Family Motto

Posted by christy in Craft | Life - (2 Comments)

 

For the past few months I’ve been spending a lot of time on our family dynamics. It isn’t the kind of thing that makes for good blogging. Well, some of it does– police visits, lots of therapy, crying, deep soul searching, lots of appointments. It’s just that it’s not the kind of thing I want to blog about. Hence, the silent treatment around here. I’m starting to feel a bit more in control of my life so it’s time to come back.

For 2012, our family has come up with a motto to live by. Most of you know, I’m a Mormon. The phrase, “Choose the Right” is pretty common. In fact, that is the Primary theme for the year. My kids are very familiar with the phrase and know what it means to choose the right. It’s all about making good decisions. We decided to add a little bit to that phrase to help us make the right decisions at the right time.

I spent some time yesterday designing this vinyl cutout using my Cricut and my Gypsy. I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge using the Tall Ball font. I used a 12X24 mat and brown vinyl. I had to divide the design into 2 parts. “Choose the Right” was done using a 22″ width for both lines.  The lines, “right away without delay” were done using a height of 3.5″. I got the vinyl on sale at Hobby Lobby so this cost me around $5 to make. I have it on one of our largest walls next to the piano in our living room.

I hope having this visual reminder in our house will help us make the right decisions. Here’s to an amazing 2012!

Christmas Wreath Disaster

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My wreath lasted 2 days on my door before the kids destroyed it. They were shatter proof ornaments so it can be fixed. I’m just going to mourn its loss for a few days before I start over.
Santa might remember this. They better watch out and better not cry.

Holiday Ornament Wreath

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Thanks, Pinterest, for the idea for this super easy and cheap wreath! I bought some shatterproof ornaments and then strung them around a clothes hangar. I got the bow from a craft shop and twist tied it to the top to hid the hangar. Seriously, that is all. I’ve made several holiday wreaths over the years and this is by far my favorite.

So, even though I haven’t been blogging much these past couple of weeks…I have been doing things. Here’s my proof!

 

Flip Pal Scanner Sale

Posted by christy in Craft - (1 Comments)

I fell in love with this product at the Craft & Hobby Association trade show a while back. I’m not being paid by them to write this post, but I am using an affiliate link (so if you click and happen to buy the product, I get a small commission). Full disclosure, you know.

This scanner is so versatile. I even saw it scan a tattoo from someone’s arm. It also has a stitch function so you can scan something large (like a map) and “stitch” it together so it is one seamless image. It’s so portable and lovely! If I had one, I could get rid of one of our printers that we just use for scanning because we’re sick of buying the ink for it.

You can scan photos that are stuck in those sticky back photo albums. You know the ones. You can scan photos that are adhered in scrapbooks. You just place this nifty little scanner right on top of those photos and PRESTO! They are scanned!  You can scan all of those documents you have hanging around for no other reason but to have just in case…and you don’t want them cluttering your house. Oh, the possibilities! Can you tell I seriously want one of these?

They are having a sale right now and you can use the code BDAY11 A to get 10% off of all your purchases. Click the image or this link to go to their site. This offer expires on November 13th so you’ll need to act soon to get the discount. I’m sure someone (ME) on your Christmas list would love to receive this!

 

Prayer and Crafting

Posted by christy in Craft | Life - (2 Comments)

This past weekend was the 181st Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We get to hear from our leaders on a variety of subjects and I look forward to it every April and October. This year was no different. One of my favorite talks was by Elder Devn Cornish from the Quorum of the Seventy. He spoke on “The Privilege of Prayer”. You can watch the whole talk on YouTube.  One of my favorite parts was a story about chicken. He was a med student and was riding his bike home from the hospital so he could spend the evening with his family. He was exhausted and thought that a piece of chicken might help him get through the ride and the evening with his kids. He only had a nickel and a piece cost 29 cents. He said a humble little prayer that “if in His mercy, He would let me find a quarter on the side of the road.”  He rode along looking intently. Wouldn’t you know it? He found a quarter right across the street from the restaurant.

He then goes on to talk about the real power of prayer and how we can use it (not just for chicken, of course) to enrich our lives. I was really touched by his talk and I think it was my very favorite from the whole conference.

What does this have to do with crafting? Well, I’m on a mission to make a hanging yarn lamp for my entryway. I need to find a balloon big enough and round enough to work. I was at a store asking if they had any and I came up with the idea of a beach ball. That would work! But…where do you find a beach ball in Nebraska in October? I was on my way home and was talking to my husband on the phone telling him about what I had been doing today and about my search for a beach ball. I turned a corner near my house and you’ll never guess what was right in the middle of the street.

A beach ball.

Seriously.

I squealed with delight and Carl was wondering what the heck was up! I told him what was in the street and we both laughed about how it was so much like the chicken story.

I now have a beach ball and I’ll be able to start my project soon.

Some of you may think this was just a big coincidence. I think it was God showing me that He loves me…and crafting.

This Yarn Hates Me

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I have no idea what kind of yarn this is but I got it from a friend a couple of years ago. It is beautiful and nice to work with. It just isn’t destined to be a finished product. I tried to make it into a scarf on my Europe trip last year. I ran out of yarn. I ripped it out and tried a different version.

I guess I realized a while ago that it wasn’t going to work because I put the project away. When I was cleaning out my yarn stash this weekend, I must have forgotten that was the reason I gave it up because I just spent all day trying to finish it. It was all in vain.

This yarn hates me. I’m done with it!

Jacqui’s Tote

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My friend Jacqui wanted a scripture tote for church so I started searching online for a good pattern. Instead of an actual scripture tote, I found this pattern for a super cute bag and Jacqui was sold! We took a little field trip to Hobby Lobby to pick out some fabric. I really love what she picked out!

The pattern is a free one from Sew Spoiled. I liked it so much I bought some fabric for myself (during my IKEA trip) to make one for me!

The inside has a couple of pockets and uses a magnetic closure.

I had a bit of fabric left over so I made a gathered clutch using this tutorial from Noodlehead.

That was a really easy tutorial to follow and resulted in my best-ever zipper installation.

Jacqui said she wanted the cutest scripture tote around. I think we came pretty darn close!