Candy Cane Reindeer

I cannot take credit for coming up with this craft on my own.  There was one of these little guys in my mailbox at work and I thought it would be fun to make these for my son's daycare friends.  Originally I thought he would be able to do them with me, but then I realized after I had made the first one that the dexterity required is more than his little three-year-old hands can handle.  No matter -- here's the results of my efforts.  Too cute!!

Incidentally, I love Photoshop Elements.  My flash had over-exposed the candy canes, so I used the little selection tool (and a whole lot of clicks!) and adjusted the lighting on the red & white parts.  And then finally I rotated it just a little bit.  The result is a much nicer picture!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My Garland Wreath

A shout out now to both Chaos Among Us and to her inspiration, We Are That Family, for this garland wreath idea.  I followed Jen's (Chaos Among Us) directions, but found that I needed to use two 20 yard strands of garland.  Maybe it (and I) are wound more tightly!  :-)  Not a bad end result nonetheless!  Thanks to both for the fun and easy project.

And in case you were wondering....  the stripes belong to wrapping paper I put on the back of a door that leads out to a enclosed room that is really only useful when I weather is nice.  The rest of the year it sometimes acts as a storage room or a "hide the presents" room.

A Pretty Christmas Bow

Some might wonder at my enthusiasm for my last post about how to tie a bow.  Perhaps everyone else is good at it, but I only knew how to tie the most simplest of bows - the old fashioned 'tie your shoe" kind of bow.  So here are the results of this lesson:

My Christmas Sled

I'm so happy!

How To Video for Bows

Love the Container Store!  Found a great video for making your own bows (there are several variations in this video).  I can't just read and follow a set of directions -- I need to see how it's done.  So easy!  I particularly love the poinsettia bow.  Happy Wrapping!!

Christmas Cards in a Frame

Here's a way to add some holiday decorations to your home for not a lot of money.  Take some favorite cards and put them in to a frame.  I'm sure it's been done before and this is nothing new, but maybe it'll re-spark the memory and you'll want to do it.

Ta da!  Posted for DIY day at A Soft Place to Land.

Meet Sophia

Meet Sophia.

This is the cover I made for Sophia.

My directions came from the Australian Craftblog.  These were extremely easy directions to follow and a very nice tutorial.  I think I did a pretty good job except my seams don't match up, but you can't tell from a distance. Not bad given this is the first time I've sewed in YEARS.

I'm satisfied.

So many project ideas; so little time!

Here are two projects, by way of Be Different Act Normal, that I wish I had time to tackle:

A cookie cutter wreath:

And a fabric rag wreath:

I think I have wreaths on the brain.

Between Naps on the Porch: Welcome to the 44th Metamorphosis Monday and the Perfect Gift, Give-a-Way!

One of my favorite bloggers, Between Naps on the Porch, is hosting a giveaway for Metamorphosis Monday -- check out the beautiful handcrafted jewelry from Lisa Leonard Designs.

Giving Thanks to Homebody

A shout out to Homebody who gave me this idea for Scrabble Tiles.  This is one of those projects that I actually completed!  Yes, I know it's an easy little project (which is why I loved it), but sometimes even the easiest projects can end up being annoyingly difficulty

Take this one for example -- I didn't think I had a Scrabble set so I of course searched Ebay and was surprised to find the prices so high.  A lot of crafters like to use those little tile pieces for their projects.  So then I thought I could find them at Goodwill (and similar places), which I eventually did.  However, I failed to open the box to check over the contents.  Big mistake and lesson learned.  The tiles were all mildewed and yucky and no amount of cleaning got rid of the smell.  To bring an end to this story, I found a set of scrabble pieces in my basement.

On a separate note....  don't you just love my 1960's/1970's flocked wall paper?  Bleah!  Another project yet to be done.

Baby Me - More Fun with Photos

My scanner is an Epson  Perfection v500 with ICE technology.  Whatever that ICE technology is, it makes scanning slides very cool because it automatically removes dirt and other picture "noise" so that your end result is nice to work with.  That said, a lot of my slides are dark or over exposed, so they are a challenge.  I have very few pictures from my childhood, so I focused first on one of those.  How'd I do?

Before:

After

Participating in Metamorphosis Monday!

Chair Makeover Inspiration

Here are the chairs I now have:

And here is my transformation inspiration:

Now let see what really happens....

How to avoid blisters!

Well now, this is something I will just have to try the next time I stupidly do something and burn myself. Jealousy Design put out a post on how to avoid blisters after a burn by using egg whites. I have never heard of this one, have you?

Photo Fixing Fun

Here is my semi-successful before and after photos.  It's the photos themselves!  I just loved this picture of my grandma and her friends in the roaring 20's.  And the sweetheart picture of my grandparents is just precious to me.

I used Photoshop Elements to sharpen and fix the pictures after I scanned them.  Any creative ideas what I can do with them now besides frame them?

Before:

After:

And another one.....

Before: After:

Centsational Girl Giveaway

One of my favorite bloggers and DIY miracle worker, Centsational Girl, has a great giveaway for some beautiful jewelry by Lisa Leonard Designs.  Check 'em out when you get a moment.

Curtains!

In our living room, we have 4 windows and we have gotten by with the neutral, white, roller shades left by the prior owners these last 4 years.  Each winter I swear I will buy curtains and reduce our heating costs -- it's a big room.  Did I mention our windows are original to our 1968 home?  Yup.  And they show it.  Especially in the winter with drafts.  Anyhow, we are on our second set of curtains and will be returning these too.  I don't know why the right ones are so difficult to find!  I'm very frustrated and could use advice.

Play Kitchens

There are two examples of awesome DIY play kitchens that I have found.  One I stumbled upon just recently at MommyWords that I think is just gorgeous and then the other one I found a while ago by someone who very cleverly transformed their old entertainment center.  Of course, you can always Google "DIY play kitchen" and find many versions including some very nice and affordable Ikea hacks.  Even though my son already has a kitchen he likes to play in, I would love to make the first one.

LLBean

Hooray!  

LLBean is finally coming to Rochester!  We heard rumors months upon months ago, but then nothing.  And then one day my darling husband stumbled upon this exciting little sign in the Eastview Mall.  He thoughtfully texted this picture to me and it just made my day!

Too bad it's not opening before this Christmas, but it will be in time for my birthday.  Hint... Hint...

How are these stores in other areas?  Are they as good or better?  Are there good deals to be found that you wouldn't find online?  I hope so!

Now I wish Ikea would come here....

An excellent use for old Scrabble pieces

Found this excellent use for old Scrabble tiles while poking at the links on Metamorphosis Monday at betweennapsontheporch.  I just love this simple use of old scrabble pieces.  So I set out to find me a set, however I quickly discovered that I'm in comptetition with crafters for those little scrabble tiles and they're a little over priced on eBay.  I posted to Facebook, but none of my friends coughed up a set for me.  I'll just have to keep looking.

It's been one of those days.

I have spilled coffee on myself twice and didn't manage to dodge numerous puddles walking through the rain to work.  It's been one of those days.