Owls

I made these little guys last week. I can't remember where I found the original idea I copied them from, but I basically just traced a picture I had saved. I put some stuffing beans in the bottom so they'd stand up better, but apparently they're just too stubborn for that to work! 

Project Wedding Album: Complete!

I picked up my last picture from Costco this morning, brought it home, and put the last page, which just happens to be the first page, together! It's a pretty simple page, but I wanted it to be more than just a picture and our wedding invitation. I found I had saved one of the postage stamps we mailed our invitations with, and created a tiny little mock envelope our of scraps to jazz up the page a bit. 

Completed, the album starts with our wedding pictures, goes through our wedding and reception, and ends with our honeymoon. If you want to flip through it, ask me the next time you're over! 

Another Step Closer!

When we got home from church today I decided to make another valiant effort at completing our scrapbook. I got some pictures sorted and put a couple more pages together. 

This is the layout I was most looking forward to, mostly because I love the pictures in black & white, and I think the paper is cute! I found this paper last year, covered with little vintage valentine drawings of hearts and polk-a-dots in colors I love! Somehow over the past year I've noticed that I lean towards a little bit of a vintage look, especially if it involves the color red! 

Now I only have one page left to make the book complete. I just have to swing by Costco to pick up my last picture! 

I made this little bee out of scraps I had from framing the pictures on these pages. 

Scrap Scrap!

I started working on our wedding album about 2 1/2 years ago... and I'm still not finished! At first I felt overwhelmed because there were so many pictures to choose from and I wanted it to look somewhat classy. I've now spent all that time gathering red papers and such, which is harder to find than one would think! The best time to find red is around Valentine's Day, because most of the wedding specific stuff is white or silver or gold. I've finally picked out enough papers that I can finish the album! I only have a few pages to go, so I pulled the album out this evening after a year of neglect. I still need to print a few more pictures, but I'm hoping to finish it this month! 

A few years ago my mom gave me a book by Becky Higgins called Sketches. It has helped me implement new page layouts so that all the pages don't look like repeats. The book gives examples of pages she has made, accompanied by sketches that make it easier to visualize with whatever photos you're working with. 

I've found cute embellishments all over the place the last few years, and have made a few of my own. I found velvet rickrack, brads with little pearls on them, red and silver glitter, fabric, and stamps. 

Here are a few pictures of what I've worked on tonight! 

I made this title by using a couple different pens in different tip sizes to write out the words, traced a few times, then went over it in some places with a bottle of red Stickles.

I made these little hearts because I felt like the page needed a little filling in! 

The Purse Bag Thing

A few weeks ago I stumbled across Anna Maria Horner, a somewhat new fabric designer. I fell in love with her designs and colors, and even her patterns. I flipped through her book Seams to Me at Barnes & Noble one day, and then went home to find it for half the price on half.com! After ordering, it arrived a few days later. 

There are some super cute patterns in the book I'd like to try, including a skirt, some 9 inch storage tote cubes, another bag, a dress cover, and a few ideas for some hand applique. The book overall is a great beginners how-to-sew guide as well. I learned a few new things about clipping corners and curves as I worked through the purse pattern I used. 

In the end I settled on the "I'll have one of everything bag" pattern. I ordered a few fat quarters from Anna Maria's new line of fabric called Good Folks, and a couple half yards from laniejane when they had a free shipping sale last week.  I started cutting it out on Saturday while Tom was working on our new computer, and spent the afternoon on Sunday sewing it all together. It was so easy! 

While I was working on it, Tom thought it was a hat for some reason, which I find pretty funny, because I'm sure everyone could picture me wearing a hat as vivid as this! 

It is lined, but has no pockets. I think it would be pretty easy to add pockets if I make this pattern again. I absolutely love the braided straps! 

(They actually inspired another project I've been working on that I'll try to finish and post in the next couple days as well!) At first I wasn't sure if I liked the tassel ties on the ends, but I think I've decided they're fun now. :) The size is great, but I think without pockets I'll need to find a little zip-case of some sort to put things like my chapstick in so it doesn't get lost in the bottom!  

The Scarf is Finished!

I spent most of the day yesterday trying to get this scarf finished! I ended up with a cramped hand, but I'm happy with the outcome. Although the sample picture I was working from showed tassels, I decided to leave them off because I'm not a huge fan of them, plus I know my kitties would have a hay-day if I added them.

Granny Scarf

When I was about 10 my Grandmother taught me how to do the chain crochet stitch. My brother and sister and I spent many hours one summer making yards and yards of chain jump ropes, cat's cradle loops, and doll hair bows. Since then, I hadn't done more crocheting until I found a magazine at Wal-Mart last fall called Interweave Crochet. There are so many cute projects in it! I decided I'd better start with something easy, so I chose an afghan pattern that uses a bunch of circles all stitched together. I had a hard time understanding the directions, but my friend Heather was able to help me out over tea one day. That project it going to take a LOT of circles, so I'm working on it in between other things.  Oh yes, crochet is far easier than knitting! For Christmas, Tom's parents gave me a book called Teach Yourself Visually Crocheting. It is the best how-to guide I've found so far with pictures (the way I best learn things!) and a multitude of stitch patterns and techniques. 

In January, I went to the Lucky Brand outlet store in Marysville and fell in love with this scarf! I used to think that Granny Squares were cheesy looking, but then I realized that didn't have to be the case. It just depends on the colors! This scarf has mini Granny Squares in fun colors, and I thought it would be fun to try to duplicate. I took a phone picture... yes, that's why it's fuzzy. Then my next adventure began. How does one make a Granny Square? I googled around and found a hat pattern that may have worked, and a pattern in a book called The Cool Girls Guide to Crochet that Heather had given me for Christmas. It had a super cute pattern for a Granny Square scarf, but the squares were bigger than I would have liked. I again had trouble understanding the pattern lingo, so Rebecca and I met for a coffee and crochet date at Cafe Ladro, and she helped me struggle through the pattern in the book. I came

 away with a good idea of what I wanted and how to read the stitch abbreviations! I then spent a little more time googling, and found an amazing tutorial at the Purl Bee.  

I have now made about 30 mini Granny Squares using random yarns I've found in bright colors, using rounds 1 and 2. I'm just starting round 3 now, which will be my final round, in a taupe colored cotton yarn. I'll post a picture of the completed project soon hopefully!