Happy New Year

Wow! It's already 2011!??! Last year I did a little photo round up of all of the fun and exciting things I had done the year before so I decided to do another one this year. I tried to put them in order but then I got frustrated and just winged it without caring about the chronological order. Here goes:








1. Visiting Zeke and Shannon in South Carolina. Loads of fun. Wish they still lived down the street.
2. Sammy and Keith's wedding.
3. Passing Comprehensive Exams. Yahooo!
4. Getting Engaged! Double Yahoo.



5. Moving and exploring our new area.
6. Graduating!
7. My Dad and Mary Lou's wedding.
8. Christmas Party 2010.



9. Going to MOOD in NYC. 
10. Spending time with good friends.
11. Going to New York City (again, these trips were more spread out than the pictures lead you to believe.)
12. Running my first marathon. ( Did I just say "first" yikes, I must be crazy.)

It's pretty surreal to realize how much has happened and changed in just one year. I hope 2011 brings just as many good memories and fun times as 2010.

Happy New Year everyone!

Lauren

Happy Holidays!

Hello! Just popping in to tell you all that I am almost done with all of my holiday projects. Only hand sewing left to do, and a bit of last minute painting....why I do this to myself I shall never know. Having a sewing blog is very hard around the holidays. I have been sewing and creating like crazy but cannot share any of it with you. You'll just have to wait until the New Year I suppose. Until then,  here's a picture of me and Charlie that was included in our holiday card this year (more on that later.)

Merry Christmas!

Lauren

Holiday Traditions

Last year I posted about how Charlie and I discussed traditions we wanted to carry on from our families or start when we were "older". I guess that a year later we are "older" and the traditions have begun.

Searching for the perfect tree in the freezing cold; saw in hand. 

 

White lights in the windows.  

Advent calendar to count down the days. 

 

Searching for locally crafted ornaments.

As well as a few homemade ones.

And the cookie cutter ornaments. 

Big retro light bulbs on the perfect tree.  

Now all we needs is a tree skirt. Maybe next year. Oh, and a roaring fire would be nice too, but I think that will have to wait until we move into our 1000 square foot home.


What traditions have you carried on or started this year? Whatever they are I hope you're enjoying them.

Lauren

p.s. I downloaded this cool program to make my pictures look like this. Try it out!

Felt Ornaments

Last Christmas I asked my Mum to get me a kit (or 2) to make felt ornaments. I had found the kits with instructions, felt, and all of the other supplies included at Posie Gets Cozy. My Mum did indeed buy me the two kits and I made one kit while I was still in Maine for the holidays last year. I posted two of the three here. This weekend we got our tree and pulled out the box with decorations in it and I realized that I still had a whole other kit to make three ornaments. After setting up the tree I got to work making this kit. I watched "Little Women" and "Gone with the Wind" while making these. Does that give you an idea of how long they took? And I only got two of the three done!

Super adorable ice skate. The kit gave yarn to make the pom pom but I ran out of steam on Sunday night and didn't make it. I'll get to it someday, until then I think the state looks pretty darling without the pom pom.

Little gingerbreak girl. She reminds me of the woman from "The Sound of Music" who keeps bowing after the concert so the von Traps can escape the Nazi's, but all that aside I think she's awful cute too.

Lastly, here is the house from the other kit that I did not show last year. This one is Charlie's favorite, I think because he would like to live in a house like this one someday. I guess I wouldn't mind that, after all it is quite a charming little house. Definitely under 1000 square feet.

Hopefully the last felted ornament will be finished soon. I just need to think of another long movie to watch while making it, and perhaps one that won't make me cry; it's harder to sew with teary eyes!

Merry Merry!

Lauren

Sew N' Tell - Pot Holders

December is a hard time to have a sewing blog, mostly because (almost) everyone I am making presents for reads this blog. I did manage to make a few gifts for non-blog readers though. Pot holders! I forgot to add a little tab to this one. Oops.
The person getting this pot holder will also get a snazzy trivet:
After experimenting with that quilted pot holder I made two more.
I think my brain was not working because I did the binding on all three at the same time and I smacked myself for not adding a tab to the first one, then did the binding on the second one and forgot again! Luckily, I remembered by the third one. My one other mistake was that I wanted both side of the hand pot holder to be the white Christmas pattern but I accidentally cut the pieces out wrong so now the back looks like this:
Oh well. I think it looks good anyways and hopefully the person receiving them will not care.

My post is super late to the Sew N Tell, but there are some really cool things posted, be sure to check them out.

The Mrs. Kenney Milkweed Pod Santa Claus Ornament Tutorial

This is my Mrs. Kenney Milkweed Pod Santa Claus Ornament Tutorial. It is named after my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Kenney, who showed me how to make them.

What you need:

• paint
• paint brushes
• Snow Tech, or other snow like paint.
• milkweed pods (don't say I didn't warn you)
• a surface to paint on
• decorative ribbon
• hot glue gun
  

I usually just pick a whole bunch of milkweed pods and then sort through the good and bad ones once I get home. Good pods for this project are skinny(ish) and still have a rounded appearance. Bad choice pods are flattened, or curved in a funny way.

Steps:
1. Clean out all the fluff from the inside of the pods and clip off the stem.
2. Paint the inside gold, this is optional, I just think it looks nicer.
3. Paint the top part of the pod red like a hat.
4. Paint a cream/skin colored circle (ish) shape under the red, this makes the face.
5. Paint the rest of the pod white. It might take more than one coat.
6. Now the fun part, use your Snow Tech paint and make a band across the bottom of the hat and top of the face, a pompom at the very top of the hat, and a beard and mustache on the face, and two eyebrows. The eyebrows are hard to do but they really make the Santa look more complete, trust me. It's okay if the eyebrows look like Andy Rooney. It is a little tricky to "paint" with this consistency, I used a palette knife, a snazzy oil painting tool, but I am sure the opposite end of a paint brush or even a toothpick would work just fine.
7. Now with some pinkish paint make a mouth, (also optional, some of mine have mouths, some don't), rosy cheeks, and a red button nose.
8. With the tiniest brush you have, or a toothpick, make two black dots for eyes, let dry, then make two even tinier white dots inside the black dots. This part really makes the Santa's come alive.
9. Cut a piece of ribbon or decorative thread, loop and tie, then hot glue to the inside of the milkweed pod at the very top.
10. Hang on your tree and enjoy! Or wrap them up as gifts for your friends and family.
Happy crafting!

Lauren

Christmas Card Conundrum

I have a problem. I started making Christmas card to send to my friends and family back when I was a sophomore in High School. Seems like a nice idea huh? Not so much. It seems that after making my first holiday card I built a name for myself and became the "girl who makes her Christmas Cards." Now I feel such pressure to make a new holiday card and sent it out to everyone I know and make it bigger and better than last year, and oh the agony of getting Charlie to take a decent photo to include in the holiday card! Oy! I am getting nauseous just thinking about it.

Then, it struck me, does anyone even care if I make them a holiday card? Would they notice if I sent them a store bought card? So I am asking you dear friends and family, how much do you look forward to getting my holiday card? Would you care if I recycled old ideas because I can't think of any new ones? Would you be offended to get a store bought card? Is this enough questions for one blog post? Please be honest.

Also in case I am overrun with post about how my relatives would throw themselves in front of a moving bus if they did not receive a holiday card made lovingly by me, what oh what should I do? I am fresh out of ideas.

Here is a list of what I have made over the last 8 years!!!

• snowflakes
• snowmen
• mittens and ice skates (cutest one by far, just ask my Grandmother, she's been raving about that one since 2002.)
  
• gingerbread men
• Christmas trees
• stockings
• I can't remember one of the years
  
• reindeer

The reindeer one was last year:
Cute huh? Crap, I think I just reminisced myself into make more holiday cards. Ideas are welcomed!

Lauren

Sew N' Tell - Infinity Scarf

I've been seeing infinity scarves in stores and online a lot lately. I saw one at J. Crew last weekend that I really liked but couldn't justify buying one for $40! A while back I have bought some faux wool fabric at Joann's for 50% off. I had been planing on making a scarf kind of like this one, where there is a slit and the other side of the scarf can slip though to hold it together. This was my intention yet the fabric ended up sitting either on the floor or draped over my sewing chair for the last 2 months. I finally took that as a sign meaning that I probably didn't want to make a scarf like that one if I hadn't gotten around to it yet. Then last week while my friend Lorelei was visiting I told her what my intention was and then went on a rant about how I didn't exactly want to do the original idea but still wanted to make a scarf and then I remembered seeing the infinity scarves and was struck with an idea, talked it out and finally got excited about the idea. Isn't it funny how just talking to someone about something can help you solve a problem without the other person having to say anything?

I got excited about the project after talking to Lorelei but then I got sidetracked. Figures. Darn you real job! Yesterday after sitting in a 3 hour meeting and getting home after dark, meaning it was too late for me to go running, I decided it was time to make the scarf. It was super easy and only took me about 30 minutes, hand sewing time included.

Next time I think I will make it with less length so it loops closer to my neck and can be more of a warmth scarf than an accessory scarf. Making an infinity scarf was so easy, I think I will make 10 for Christmas presents.....get ready friends.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love casual Fridays at work? The only problem is people always mistake me for a middle school student and ask "where is your hall pass?", then get embarrassed when I turn around and they realize I am a school employee!
Now I am ready for work. Sorry for the cheesy photo booth pictures, I can't find my camera and whenever I use photo booth I can't help but act like a goofball.

Lauren

P.S. This has been added to she Sew N Tell for the week, check it out!

Sew N' Tell - Gathered Clutch Remix.

I had a bunch of fabric left over from making my Bonsai Bag so I decided to make another gathered clutch like the one I made a few months ago. I remembered that I wanted to add a handle to make it a wristlet.
I also decided to try my hardest to make the zipper look presentable. I think it helped that the zipper was too short, so I had to add fabric to the ends to make it fit. I also only sewed one side at a time to make sure I was doing it right. Typically what happens is I sew everything together then flip it right side out and realize the zipper is wonky and then say to myself; "Meh, you just spent all this time sewing and turning it right side out, why go back and fix the zipper?" But with a little extra caution I think the zipper turned out great
Besides the handle I did make one other change. Instead of making the body of the bag gathered I switched it and made the stripe across the middle of the bag gathered. I didn't think the corduroy would look nice gathered up. I wish I had made the gathered piece a little bit longer so I could have scrunched it more. I'll know for next time.
Happy Friday!

I get the day off from work, but we're going to help Charlie's parents move and unpack at their new house, so I'll be working in another sense. Who knows, we might even get some left over furniture.

Don't forget to check out the other Sew N Tell Finishers.

Lauren!

Bedroom Artwork

When I took pictures of the bedroom for the tour I get discouraged about the progress. I think I still need to do some work in there. I started by doing some of the laundry piled in the corner, but I am not as happy with everything as I would like to be, alas there will be no bedroom tour today. But I can show you the bedroom artwork thus far.
The first is what I like to call my 30 cent art display. The frames were Lorelei's when she was in Iraq. Her mom sent them to her to spruce up her room. They were blue and green and held pictures of light houses. When Lorelei was getting ready to pack up and come back she sent me these three frames as well as a few others. I think the shipping from Iraq is a little questionable because the box was pretty dented and even wet in a few spots so the frames were dinged and scratched, so I decided to paint them black. The pictures inside are postcards of famous paintings. I got them at Ocean State Job Lots for 10 cents each. All and all, this display cost me 3o cents, and I bought a bunch of post cards so if I get sick of them I can always change them.
They hang on my side of the bed above the nightstand.
Next I have two of my most favorite pieces of artwork, also hanging on my side of the room. (I think that's why I was unhappy with the pictures of the bedroom, Charlie's side lacks personality and pizazz. I'll work on that.) This peacock print was made by my dear friend, Cait. She took a print making class in college and this was one of the prints she made. I love how the colors in the print go with the wall color.
Next to Cait's art is a pastel drawing done by my other dear friend, Beckie. I have had it since college and have displayed it everywhere I have lived since then. In fact it was the only piece of artwork in our bedroom last year, because there was only room on one wall, for one piece of artwork.
In case you can't read it; it says "Live to the point of tears." It makes me happy to wake up and see these pieces of artwork that remind me of my friends. I like how all of the pieces have black frames, it makes everything look like they go together.

I have been eyeing the elephant prints in this etsy shop, especially this one, or maybe this one, or maybe there are too many I like to even decide. Although I would want them to go on my side of the room too. Sorry Charlie, find your own artwork!

Maybe if the sun comes out anytime soon I'll show you the (almost) finished living room.

Lauren!

Ideas Galore!

In case you aren't already really excited for Christmas, here is something that I am sure will have you wanting to start crafting right away! An online Christmas Idea Magazine. My mind is racing with all of the fantastic ideas. But alas, it is past my bedtime. I'll just have dreams of yo-yo Christmas trees and felted ornaments. Only 51 days until Christmas!

Good night!

Lauren

p.s. Tour of the bedroom coming tomorrow.

Sewing Room Tour

Welcome to my completely finished creative space!
When we first started looking for apartments in this area one of the requirements was a 2nd bedroom. When the landlord asked us during the tour of this apartment why a couple needed a two bedroom apartment (as he eyed my stomach for signs of a baby) Charlie replied; "She likes to sew and I hate the sound of her sewing machine." To which I replied; "Well, it is held together with electrical tape, what do you expect?" As you can imagine I did not complain when Charlie suggested that we get a 2 bedroom apartment. I did however complain when the apartment we got looked like this:
Have I mentioned before that all of the walls were baby blue and all of the trim was navy blue? Yuck. I did manage to live with the colors for a few weeks, but we knew all along that we'd have to do a lot of work in this room to make it look like we (I) wanted it to.
Luckily Charlie took on the task of painting the trim in this room. After having to endure me complaining non-stop about painting the kitchen cabinets I think he felt it would be less bothersome for him to paint the trim himself than to listen to me complain anymore. After the trim was painted we did the walls. I was unsure of the color at first but now I really like it.

Two weekends ago my Mum came to visit and she said that the color looked a lot like one of the colors my bedroom was when I was younger. We then stared talking about the other similarities between this room and my childhood bedroom. The most obvious is that the "guest bed" is the bed from my old room. My Dad built it for me before I can even remember.
What I love most is that it has storage underneath:
It's almost like my Dad knew I would be a fabric hoarder from an early age. Or maybe he just thought it would be a good idea to have somewhere for me to put my mountains of Polly Pockets and art supplies. Either way the extra storage space is ideal for hiding my fabric, patterns, and scrapbooking supplies.
In one corner is my purse collection, which was displayed for many years in my bedroom. I also re-used the curtains from two of my old bedrooms. The patchwork valance was for my old bedroom at my Dad's house and the white curtains were from my bedroom at my Mum's old house.
The book shelf that holds my sewing books, scrapbooks, sewing notions, and my Harry Potter collection was also from my childhood bedroom. It was painted purple several years ago and although it looks somewhat childish I can't bear to paint it, 1. because I am sick of painting and 2. because I like the color, it reminds me of being little.
Last but not least is my desk, where the magic happens. My Dad built that too. When I was a junior in college I moved off campus and needed a desk to do my school work at. Instead of spending lots of money or searching high and low for a desk at yard sales or stores, I did what I always do: asked my Dad to build me one. We designed and built it together and I have loved it ever since. The chair was found in the garage of the house I moved into and has been painted and recovered several times. I think both the desk and the chair are overdue for an update, but like I said, I am sick of painting right now.
Notice the unfinished project on the chair? Not sure which will get finished first; painting the desk and chair or finishing that tote bag.

Overall, I am very pleased with how the sewing room turned out. I am sure many more projects will come from this room. Maybe tomorrow I will show you the (almost) finished bedroom.

Goodnight!

Lauren

Stats

I'm on a map kick today. Have you fellow bloggers heard about "stats"? It's a feature on your blog that lets you check who has been reading your blog, and when, and where they live. I am currently obsessed with checking my stats. My favorite is the map that shows where your readers are. The most popular areas are dark green, but other ares are light green, can you see them? America makes up my dark green section, 149 hits this week! I secretly wonder how many are my Mum. But there are a few scattered across the world, and some I have had to look up online because I had no idea where they were, Slovenia being one of them. I seem to get about 3-4 views from Slovenia a week. I just like saying Slovenia, and also saying that people from Slovenia read my blog. It makes me feel really cool. So thanks Slovenian's! You rock. And a shout out to Clare, who keeps my Indonesian count right up there with Slovenia.

Goodnight world!

Lauren

Start Collecting.....

Milkweed pods. It's just about that time of year. When the milkweed pods start to crack open, release their seeds, and dry out. That means it is time to start collecting them if you want to make ornaments for your Christmas tree with my coming-soon tutorial. I know it's a bit early to be talking about Christmas, but I wanted to make sure everyone gets their milkweed pods before they are past their prime. Here's a map of where milkweed grows:

Woodrow Wilson Foundation.

Sorry if you live outside of the red areas. To my 4 blog readers from Sloveia; first, hello, and second, you guys sure are lucky because I just looked it up and I think there is "Giant Milkweed" in Slovenia. You're ornaments should be awesome!

Stay tuned for my milkweed ornament tutorial!

Lauren

Sew N' Tell - Bonsai Bag

Last week Rae of Made by Rae sent me a tester copy of her Bonsai Bag pattern to test it out. I had already bought all of the supplies, or had them on hand, so when she sent it to me I literally dropped everything and started working. I got to send her some suggestions for the pattern release. It was pretty cool to have this opportunity and to be able to help out a fellow blogger. I also liked doing this because along with Amy's blog, Rae's was one of the first sewing blogs I started really reading and was one of the reasons I decided to start a blog. And now I have a snazzy Bonsai Bag of my very own thanks to the inspiration and patterns of Rae and the Sew N' Tell gang!
I found the corduroy at Joann's during a sale for about $3 a yard and the fabric for the lining and middle was also on sale. I added piping instead of pom-poms or ric-rack. I have finally figured out how to sew piping onto a garment or purse and make it look good and wanted to show off my new abilities. (Now I just have to tackle those zippers.)

The only change I made from the pattern was to add an inside zippered pocket. I am good at those, thanks to J Caroline steps 12-16, I am now a pro at lined zippered pockets.

I love this purse and would recommend Rae's Bonsai Bag pattern to anyone who wanted a cute medium sized bag to carry all of your daily necessities in style. Or at least that's how I feel when I use mine.

It's my 3rd week in a row on the Sew N' Tell. I am on a roll. Thank goodness I have settled into a routine and work and now have time to sew again! Can't wait to see what the others have to post.

Lauren

Shutter Shelf

Have you ever seen an idea in a magazine and said; "Oooo! I want to do that!"? Have you ever held onto the idea for 3 years until it finally became a reality? I have. And boy am I glad that I can now use that space in my brain for remembering something else, like how old I am, or my address; two things I seem to always struggle to remember.
Anyways, about 2 years ago I saw a shelf for an entry way made out of two shutters. We never had room in our old apartment for this to anything like that, or anything in general, but when we moved here I knew we would have to make a shutter shelf. I had seen shutters at yard sales a few times but they were all pretty pricey. Then the other day I went out to go to the grocery store but promptly decided to skip getting food when I saw a sign that said "Barn Sale." I'd never been to a barn sale before but it was pretty neat. I bartered with the old man there and bought two dirty shutters for $4.

While Charlie and I were visiting my Dad and Mary Lou last weekend we went to my favorite hardware store and bought the other supplies for about $30 and I put it together while my Dad and Charlie made the bathroom shelf.

Here's a before shot. This is after one spray down with the hose. I told you it was dirty.
I had planned on painting the shutters, but after scrubbing them they looked nice and I liked the color of them. I also realized that painting shutters would really stink and I got lazy so I just sprayed them with some Pledge, screwed in the hardware and called it a day.
I like the black metal touches and the swirlyness of the brackets. I also really like the heart shaped hooks. They are perfect for holding a coat and scarf.

I can't help but smile in the morning when I put my coat on. Other reasons to smile today: our new couches are coming and it's a half day at school. Yippie!

I hope your day is great!

Lauren