Hola amigos!
Check out this shirt I got last summer from the Goodwill. It cost me a whopping $2.50. This month I finally did a little re-fashion project with it. To see the "after" click over to Michael Ann's blog where my tutorial is featured as part of her Becoming a Confident Crafter Series.
Hop on over there and let me know what you think!
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I ordered the Laduree cook book Sucre since it was translated to English and it arrived packaged up so nice and pretty! It came with its own box surrounded in purple tissue, the gilded pages are bound together with supple pistachio green velvet.
Well of course the first recipe I tried was their famous macaroons. I made some lemon with lemon curd, coconut lime, and strawberry French macaroons.
Then I had to package them up and send some in a Parisian inspired birthday care package to my bestie Jenn. In the package I also included a little tin from Paris I found at the local antique mall, some Parisian hotel cards from etsy, and a little silk scarf. Hopefully the macaroons found their way to her house in one piece.
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I don't know about you, but sometimes it seems like I am more productive when I'm sewing things for others. I have a stack of things I want to make for myself, but I seem to sew more for others. I just love to give something handmade that I know they will get a lot of use out of. Kerry's project today is a gift for her new nephew.
I had ordered this houndstooth quilt pattern from V and Co. Then when my brother had his first baby and it was a boy I knew this would be the perfect quilt to make for my new nephew. Since my brother is a Nebraska football fanatic I found this 13" patch on ebay and appliqued it to the quilt. I think the final results were pretty great.
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Kerry shent me several blog updates and I'm so excited to share them with you!
My sister's wedding is coming up this weekend and that means bachelorette party! My other sister and I are hosting it so we are putting together a little survival/gift bag. Here is one of the items I made for the gift bag:
I took some old expired aeronautical sectionals from work and cut them up. The cute little airplane decal on the front is the work of my sister Kate and her creative genius. After she made the airplane towing the banner on adobe she sent me the file and I just printed them out on envelope label stickers. I then mod podged the sectional and stickers onto some flasks I purchased on Amazon. I used the outdoor mod podge but after a few days of drying it was still tacky and had a little more ridge lines then I wanted. So I took some light sand paper to it and then sprayed it with the mod podge matte sealer and it was much better. Since my sister is a navigator in the Air Force and most of the bachelorette party gals are aviatrix of some sort I think they will really get a kick out of these!
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Sometimes I pin something that I want to make or eat and I feel compelled to do it immediately. This was NOT one of those projects. I pinned these cute containers 31 WEEKS ago and finally got around to making it this weekend. I purchased a couple of jars and two little toys from the trusty Bargain Center and they sat around for a few weeks on my countertop. I finally grabbed the paint, paint brush and glue and got to work. Here are my supplies:
I used Martha Stewart Crafts paint (beach glass & pond), and some of her labels from Staples. The black ones are chalkboard lables and the white ones say they are dishwasher safe!
Here is what I started with:
After I attaked with paint and glue (I did wash them all first) this is what I ended up with:
and I made these too:
These are planned to be reusable water bottles. When I was a kid, my best friend Emily's mom kept plain glass bottles in the fridge filled with water for us to come and grab when we were thirsty. I always thought this was the coolest thing. Emily's mom also kept a large packet of gum in the "gum drawer" right next to the fridge and I remember sneaking pieces of gum from that drawer. Oh the things we remember from childhood.
A couple notes about this project:
Check this one off the list of the 477 pins I have on my DIY pin board! This one was super easy and fun I don't know why I waited so long.
This month long blog series is meant to help us ALL, no matter your perceived level of skill, become a little more confident in our crafting capabilities!
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This past weekend was a whirl-wind. Our base hosted the Thunder over Louisville air show aircraft. I helped out on both Friday and Saturday. I stayed up WAY too late and got little sleep... I was still tired come Monday morning. It wasn't until I came home and was looking at Twitter, when I remembered that today was the start of Week in the Life...ooppps.
No worries, I still remembered most of my day and managed to snap a few photos that evening.
6:30am Alarm goes off and I hit SNOOZE (several times)
7am I finally get out of bed and manage to be out the door by 0745. I stop off at Heini Brothers for a latte and make my way to work. This week I'm working in the Training office helping get some training programs organized and easier to implement (that mainly equals office work)
8am-4:30pm I spent at work. Also took care of scheduling a home inspection (I'm trying not to get too excited about the house because it's been a long process and who knows how it will go)
1pm I finally broke away for lunch. Panera carry-out. I love me some mediterranean veggie sandwiches
6pm I made mini penne with meatballs and ate some dinner with Andrea. We caught up on life and hung out for a bit. Hilarious quote from Andrea, "I have three weaknesses: hippies, hispanic men, and captain morgan... not necessarily in that order." Love that girl... an awesome friend and great roomie.
7pm the Blizzard Fairy arrives with a Reese's blizzard, YUM
8pm laid back with new Domino mag and some HGTV, did a little blog reading
at some point I fall asleep on the couch and wake up around 11pm and make my way into bed. Soooo sleepy.
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I've been out of town for practically THREE weeks in a row. I was already "behind" with Project Life before I went out of town. I came back home on Friday and worked Sat & Sun. Last night I dove into the pile of photos and papers I had strewn about my Project Life table. I knocked out 4 weeks worth and still have 2 more to be fully "caught up". I'm loving how the project is progressing and seeing my style develop more. I'm not a "scrapbooker", but I've always loved paper and scissors and stickers. I'm hoping to finish up the two weeks today.
If playing catch up isn't enough, it's almost time to do "A Week in the Life 2012". I did this project last year for the first time and I LOVED how my album turned out (part uno, part dos). I did a hybrid layout by making a photo book in iLife and then adding embellishments and writing into it after it was delivered. I kept up day by day with blog posts throughout the week. Go to Ali Edwards' (documentor of life extraordinare) blog to find out more of the details. I'm always inspired by her projects and it's really fun to follow along with everyone else that joins in for this project.
I don't know if I'm going to plan anything specific or just sorta wing it like I did last year. I am kinda liking her 8.5x11 digital templates. We'll see how it goes!
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Yesterday was a LOOOOOONG day. We flew for over TEN hours. All in all it was a 15 hour day (left hotel at 7am, back in room at 10pm). Flying Aeromedical Evac missions is rewarding though, Especially when we have a cute doggie on board!
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Last week I saw a call for pattern testers on the blog Michael Ann Made. The call for volunteers did not say what the pattern would be, but I didn't care. I had been itching to sew and I thought this would be a chance to get me moving.
Now, I am NO professional sewer. I basically taught myself everything I know. I did take a quilting class back in 2008, but pretty much everything else I know I learned from trying out different patterns. I would definitely call myself a pattern kind of gal. Sorta like cooking.... I am not a "wing-it" cooker; I prefer recipes!
So on to the pattern. It's a pdf pattern of a Little Bow Zipper Wallet that you can purchase on Michael Ann's blog. My first thought on seeing the zipper wallet was that it looked quite cute and easy to sew. I wasn't too sure how much I liked the bow, since I'm not much of a "bow person,” but I knew bow making would be good thing to learn. I liked the touch of the ribbon/lace that was added to the front; and I thought that the pattern had tons of potential for not only fun color combinations, but some pattern mixing as well. I read directions completely first and found them easy to follow. I don't sew zippers often, so I very much appreciated the tips and instructions on sewing the zipper. The photos illustrate the written steps very well and are especially handy for understanding the step of putting the outside fabric on the zipper.
This pattern is very easy to follow. There are photos for each step and it goes very fast. It took me about 2.5 hours to make including picking out fabric. I changed my mind like three times! I finally settled on some fat quarters of Lotta Jansdotter fabric. The size is not too small/not too big which makes it versatile. I can see whipping up a couple of these as gifts.
In the end I am super happy about how mine turned out. I even ended up liking the bow in the end. Head on over to Michael Ann's blog to see the other pattern testers and to get a pattern for yourself!
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Sunday was my birthday and it was a pretty fantastic day. I had a nice morning call from my roomie, Andrea & her son, Cam. Techonology is so great. I received texts and ecards too! I got to watch my team (GO CATS!) make it into the Final Four. I had a delicious dinner with my man and then saw a rainbow! I received a super sweet email from mi amiga and crafting partner in crime, Kerry. She hinted at a package coming my way... I can't wait!
I'm hitting the road for work on Tuesday, but I have a scheduled post coming up on Thursday. I got to test this pattern by Michael Ann.
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We are Jenn & Kerry, two long distance amigas who love to travel, sew, craft, go thrifting and re-purpose anything we can get our hands on. This is our little place to share projects, inspiration, and to keep in touch despite the miles between us. We thank you for stopping by.
