Christmas Sewing and crafting, a photo essay

Finally I can show you guys a couple things I made! It sure did seem like a lot more while I was actually sewing....

First up, a couple of Reading pillows for my nieces. These are huge pillows, 18" square, with a pocket on the front to tuck your book into and a handle for carrying. I suspect I'll be making three more for my own kids.



I didn't have another pillow form on this one, so it didn't get a formal photo shoot, dang it.



Then for my sister-in-law, this gorgeous pillow, if I do say so myself:



And another for my BFF:



Which is a lot squarer than it looks, but since most of my photo shoots turn out like this, you're lucky to see it at all:



For our other niece, I made another one of the plaid purses:



Totally crappy picture there, but at this point I was lucky to take one at all.

Then for the grandparents, I made photo canvases, using the tutorial found here:



Sorry, I failed to take a picture of them completely dry. They turned out GREAT. Unlike the tutorial, I added another layer of mod podge on top at the end.

We also made salt dough ornaments, but the only picture I took was this one, with Pajama Boy, Spiderman, and the Pantsless Wonder:



They turned out about as well as you'd expect with that crew.

And for the Pirate's Christmas party, some Brownie Trees:




And last, some Christmas sewing NOT by me- a Christmas dress made by my grandmother, at least 30 years ago:



Really, I should try to take a nice formal picture of that one, but who are we kidding?

Happy 8th Anniversary Mike!

Happy anniversary to the best husband ever! I love you!

For our anniversary this year, I shamelessly stole this art idea from Happy Together.

Source: happytogethercreates.com via Lisa on Pinterest

I even stole her quote idea!  I did change it a little bit by using a 16 x 20 canvas from Walmart, but otherwise followed the original poster's instructions.  I used a dark brown paint with a tiny bit of metallic gold mixed in and it turned out to be kind of a burnished brown, very pretty. Not that you can tell from my terrific photography! I really wish I could have found lower case letters, but you make do with what you have available.  (The top one is mine, if it isn't clear.)

This will count as my first pin in Trish's Pin It and Do It Challenge for October!

Monster cupcakes

The monster cupcakes turned out awfully cute, even with the Bug's help!  He really enjoyed helping me make the eyes, especially the part where someone had to eat the reject side of the oreo.

They did turn out to look more like a Jim Henson muppet than a scary monster, but the Pirate didn't notice and the Bug (thankfully!) didn't point it out in front of him.

We had enough left over to deliver them to all the nearby neighbors, which was good since we had a very loud weekend in our small apartment.


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Mama built a tent.

Less than an hour, ya'll. From walking into the hardware store to completed tent. (Helps that we live half a mile from the store.)

This morning before school I saw this tutorial for an A-frame tent. I made a list of the supplies and after dropping the Pirate off at school we headed to the store. I had them cut two 8 foot pieces of molding in half for me, and I bought a drill bit. We came home and got right to work. From start to finish- 35 minutes! I did cheat and serged the edges of my fabric (an old sheet) instead of folding under a hem, but I had to thread the serger, so that took up all my time saved.

It's pretty wobbly, so I added some fabric strips around the pivot points after snapping this picture. (I should have staged a better picture, made sure the fabric was all ironed and crisp and not saggy, but eh.) Totally proud of myself on this one, highly recommend the tutorial to anyone who needs a quick and easy kid project.(Plus, with a hardware store discount and a discarded sheet, cost me less than three bucks, including the drill bit!)





I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Craft Hope for Haiti

Looking for a way to help with the devastation in Haiti?

I found the perfect way at Craft Hope.   I'm going to steal their words, because I couldn't say it better.

Craft Hope community, it is time to Craft Hope for Haiti. The devastation in Haiti is catastrophic and we can help. At the encouragement of many people we will be opening a Craft Hope Etsy shop to benefit Doctors Without Borders. We are growing by leaps and bounds and as needs arise we will rise up to meet them.

The Craft Hope Etsy shop will allow crafters to donate products and allow folks to purchase them. With 100% of the proceeds going to charity. Having seen, firsthand, the beautiful items you have created I know this can be one awesome charity shop. The dresses, sock monkeys, quilts, blankets, beanies, etc. that you have all created are incredible. I know many of you even have your own Etsy shop where you sell you’re items. This is a call for all things handmade. If you can make it, we will sell it to benefit Doctors Without Borders. If you have a handmade item you’d like to donate, please read the guidelines below.
Many people have asked how they can support Craft Hope and it’s charities if they can’t sew, knit, craft. Well, this is the way. You can shop in the Craft Hope Etsy shop, get a beautifully handmade item, and rest assured that the proceeds from your purchase will go to charity. It’s that simple.

I donated two of my wallets this morning (they don't appear yet) but feel free to stop by and shop the lovely items that other crafters have already donated.

If you are interested in donating an item, you can find instructions at this link.






I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks.

Decorationing

I am busier than busy with all the Christmas prep, but I wanted to post a quick post of this little light that the Pirate and I made last weekend. I first saw the idea at Salt and Chocolate, where they made lanterns for Thanksgiving. We didn't have any leaves that weren't dead and crunchy, so we used tissue. I'd have loved to make a few more for grandparents but we ran out of time.

This is our tree. It's pretty bare, but it's unbreakable. There are actually more ornaments than appears- there are a lot of snowflakes you can't see in the picture.We have very few ornaments that aren't snowflakes or balls on it, what with the kids and the animals. The Pirate moves all the ornaments on a daily basis, so they often congregate on one side or the other.


As the Pirate says every time we see lights-we're getting ready for Christmas!

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