Welcome To The World - Baby Gift Idea

This past weekend I was supposed to co host a baby shower for a friend at work. She still had 4 weeks to go with her pregnancy and we thought we had timed it well. But things don't always go to plan! The morning of the shower her water broke and she was on her way to the hospital. Mum and bub are doing great! I guess we will instead do a "welcome to the world" party for the mum and baby (girl) since we couldn't do the shower. I'm looking forward to giving her this gift that I created though. Since I created the gift before I knew that she was having a girl I tried to keep the style gender friendly. I simply used a iron on transfer by Prima Marketing and transferred it onto a plain white onesie. Simple! And to compliment the tree on the onesie I packaged it in a repurposed Trader Joes gift bag that I had created and had published in GreenCraft Volume 4.

Home Decorating - Front Door View

When I walk down our downstairs hallway this is my view. And its also the view that you get from the front door. So when we moved into our house this one spot was really, really important to me.


I didn't want to put just anything on this wall so I decided to try and wait it out until I found just the right piece for the wall. Well I waited about 3 months and couldn't wait any longer. Luckily I picked up this colorful canvas at Ikea for just $50 which I love and although its not exactly what I visioned, it will fill the spot for the time being until I find "THE" piece that was meant to be. Hopefully I will find it... Anyhow, this spot for some reason makes me very happy for a couple of other reasons. The vintage crates. I seriously love these crates... I saw them at the Irvine antique market a number of times before I finally gave in and bought 2. I love how they add some vintage character, plus they are all kinds of awesome for storing books and puzzles! One other flea market find from Irvine that brightens up my day is the red pillow with the ruffles. It cost me just $2. Yep! It isn't vintage but certainly a deal for $2. I'm gradually working on the rest of my home (very gradually these days) but like I said earlier - this was one part of the home that need attention before any other. First impressions last so I like to open my door to my family, neighbors and friends with a good view.

Etsy Treasury - New Addiction

I'm seriously in love with the Etsy Treasury and creating my own treasuries just for the fun of it. I recently signed up for pinterest but haven't sat down to start my first board, I'm kind of worried that pinterest could be even more addicting! With Etsy treasury lists you don't have to necessarily do a certain color scheme but from the first three I created its obvious that a treasury with beautiful colors all blended creatively is what tickles my fancy! Here are the first three I have created, and if you haven't already started your own treasury lists then give it a try!

Must Have Mustard

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Color My World

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My Ideal Picnic

GreenCrafting Kind of Weekend

I'm busy greencrafting this weekend getting ready to submit some artwork to the next issue of GreenCraft. In the spirit of things I thought I would do a small post of a few of my favorite projects. Inspired by GreenCraft magazine I regularly create a green project for the Studio for Stampington & Company. I few of my favorites that i have done are probably the easiest. Happy GreenCrafting!

Tin Can Charm

Reuse something as simple as a tin can and turn it into something pretty (and useful).

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Don’t Fly Away

Primitive Bird Cages

Transform wire hangers into miniature decorative bird cages!

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Green Gift Wrap

Use old calendar pages to creatively wrap gifts!

Cover Girl x 2

I was really excited when I made the cover of the Summer 2010 issue of Take Ten. So when I made the Winter 2011 cover of Take Ten I was seriously excited, and simply felt so fortunate to make two Somerset magazine covers within such a short period of time. When the summer cover hit the newsstands I must of been going through a crazy busy patch because I never got to the bookstore or craft store to see it on the shelf :( which I really regret. But when the Winter 2011 issue hit the newsstands you better believe I was at Joannes and there it was on the shelf taking up not one but TWO spaces. YES! Unfortunately I was shopping solo so I didn't have someone to take my picture with the magazine but I was able to snap a quick picture with my phone. I could of asked a total stranger but I get embarrassed way too easily and would of felt all kinds of awkward... Anyhow, I'm just excited to be the cover girl of Take Ten not once, but twice!!!

A Handmade Girly Gift

We celebrated my nieces 2nd birthday yesterday and since I have been on a "handmade gift" roll recently I decided to alter this plain white t-shirt for my niece. Currently I'm crazy for gingham so I decided to do a few fabric flower yoyos in red gingham. I'm so mad for it that gingham will be the pattern of choice at my daughter 5th birthday party that is approaching... So I simply created three yoyos and machine sewed them onto the shirt, then with some thin strips of brown fabric I sewed the stems on. Finally I hand stitched a button onto the center of each flower. Just be careful using buttons if you are creating wearables for a small child (choking hazard) so if the child still a peanut then leave out the buttons. If you want to learn how to create the fabric yoyos then watch my demo in this free how-to video.

Artful Anthology Etsy Shop

A few years back I opened an Etsy shop but never really got into selling seriously. I decided that with the New Year i would make it a resolution to start selling in my shop and add some fun handcrafted projects (primarily accessories). I'm just going to dabble in it and the goal is more or less to have some fun and create projects that inspire me. I've been making a habit or giving handmade gifts recently and have had a number of people to me that I really need to open an Etsy shop so I decided to just go with it. To start out I have added a few different items including rosette brooches, hair clips and some ephemera packs. Stop by my Etsy shop and take a look (shop if you like) and enjoy!

One of my favorite items (lots of additional designs coming soon) are my yoyo hair accessories:

And my other favorite thing to create these days is fabric rosettes!