Lots of new giveaways!

I have been scanning blogland and found a wonderful collection of giveaways over the past few days. Check the giveaway page and visit your blog friends!

After Christmas Sale on Etsy

I just marked down a few items in my etsy shop. Hop on over and take a peek.

Michelle

My niece's present....

I just have to share this with you because I was happy with how it came out and I know at 5-years old she isn't on Blogger....yet. Oh to be 5 again! I think I might even make a set for  myself.

I bought the pattern from LuckyNielson on etsy and used what felt I had. I had purchased the little wooden peg dolls/game pieces from Michael's to use with a pattern I saw on Wee Folk Art, but decided on the Forest Friends instead. I guess I purchased the boy wood turnings as they do make them with a flared body/dress for a girl.

A painter I am not, but I tried. Hopefully my niece won't look too closely.

I also decided to hand stitch everything together because I am not that great on the sewing machine and it would take me longer to figure it out than to just go ahead and hand stitch. This gave a little extra detail to the flower teepee, but made the hats flare out a bit in the back. We'll just call that dimension. : ) I used pinking shears on the leaf as well for added detail.

Michelle

Only two days to go....

Boy did December fly by! Christmas is always on the 25th of December, but it seems to sneak up on my every year.

This year I was a little more organized than most. I decided to put together kits (can't say what just yet!) and purchased almost everything from etsy. I only had a little bit to do on my end (painting jar lids, bagging "ingredients"). It didn't involve any crafting on my part really, and that was a nice change. The hubs was even surprised at what I came up with and wants one for our home! Now that's a first! I can't wait to share a picture with you of what I gave this year as I think you will enjoy creating one for your own home. Just a few more days!

Until then, I better get back to cleaning the house before I have to go to work this evening.

Merry Christmas!

My holiday photos...

I have enjoyed looking at everyone's holiday home decor photos on their blogs and getting so much inspiration for our home. We have lived here for about three years, this is our first home, and have yet to make it ours. Hubs and I have both decided to make that a priority in 2011. So since I don't have any home photos to share, I thought I would share some photos of cookies that I've decorated over the last few years when I had a cookie business, Sugar House Cookies. Happy holidays everyone!

Latest crafty creations

Wow, two days in a row of no school for the kiddo. Needless to say he is in heaven, though his basketball game and the school band concert were cancelled as a result which he is disappointed about (the game more than the concert of course).

I finally found some wax at the craft store and dipped a batch of salt dough bowl fillers. I need to work on my technique a bit, but I love the way it ages them even more!

I also stitched up a little pincushion for my middle sister's birthday. My stitcheries always start out bigger and then end up smaller than expected just by stitching. One of these days I will remember that when I'm cutting out my material and not after I'm done. : )   This is 100% wool and then I used scraps of 100% wool to stuff it. An upcycled button topped it off. I think next time I will add leaves to make it look like a flower.

Unfortunately I took a bunch of pictures and then shipped it off to Colorado before looking at the final pictures. It's a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Now I'm going to bake sugar cookies for a memorial service on Thursday. A a dear member of our community passed way too early in his life. Take care everyone.

UPDATE: I've added a set of these salt dough bowl fillers to my etsy shop. As Christmas is too close to ship for, if you would like a set of snowflakes please let me know. I will also be making them for future holidays/seasons as they are just too much fun!

Question for you prim painters....

When you are painting furniture or home decor items (dressers, tables, wall shelves, etc.), what type of paint do you use? I can't see using those little bottles of craft paint. Do you use wall paint? I'm totally clueless here, obviously. : )

Giveaway page added!

Check it out for links to beautiful prim giveaways!

I think I need a support group

Bloggers Anonymous. No really. I visit one blog and add one or two from their list to mine, and on and on. I've read on a few blogs that I am not alone. It's a problem. Now there are worse things I could be doing with my time, but there are better things I could be doing as well. I do love looking at everyone's holiday decorations and crafty goodness. We have lived in our first home for about three years and other than painting one room, we have yet to make it our own. We do have plans, but we all know what that takes. I'm going to start setting a timer and when it goes off that's it, no more blog time!

I added a few items to my etsy shop. I have plans for more, and plans for adding 100% wool items in the new year as well.

To keep the holiday spirit going (I tend to be a Scrooge around the holidays), I made up a small batch of salt dough bowl fillers. I will bake them tonight when I get home from work and paint them tomorrow. That's the plan anyway. : )

Stay warm everyone. It's definitely winter in Ohio!

My first rug hooking project

I honestly can't remember how many years ago this was. I didn't have a real rug stand yet, so I had hubby help screw some 2x4 boards together and then used those decorative upholstery tacks to hold the rug in place while I hooked. The rug was for the Yahoo Rug Hookers group. The mother of a member lost her home to a California wildfire I believe, and there were actually two groups that put together rugs, an east coast and a west coast, so she ended up with two beautiful rugs for her new home.

The finished East Coast Friendship Rug



My square was a dragonfly.

 My local rug hooking friend Jeanette helped me with finding some wool and loaned me some of hers. She was next on the list after I was done so she also saved me the shipping cost. Jeanette has since passed and her husband blessed me with some of her wool. I've been working on an applique project for him for way too long. I'm very embarrassed about that and have made it my mission to not let it go beyond Christmas before getting it to him.

I've since only made a few small Christmas ornaments/door hangers, but I would like to get into it again. I have a nice frame and strip cutter (Bliss I think) that hubs bought for me. I guess I should put them to good use. : )

Well that's it, I just wanted to share.

Thanksgiving goodies

No crazy Black Friday shopping trips for me today. I've only done that once and I was in middle school. I guess if there was something we really wanted to get and there was a super fantastic deal, I would bundle up and wait in line, but that has yet to happen. I'm excited to have another night off and maybe I will clean up my craft room since it looks like a tornado hit. Wool bits, embroidery floss, paper scraps.... it's a mess.

I wanted to share the candle mat I made for my mom and the salt dough bowl fillers I made for a centerpiece for the table. This is only my second time making salt dough creations, so please forgive the rustic look. I didn't seal them either, and I think a dipping in wax would make them look a bit nicer. I'm still playing around with the "antiquing" part of it, not sure how much I really like.

Here is the candle mat. Nothing fancy, just light tan pennies on an off-white backing. I couldn't decide on a color and I figured she could just swap out the candle for the season/holiday. This is my first 100% wool project and I loved working with the wool!



And here are the salt dough bowl fillers:

 I tried to make this one look like a penny:

Well that's it. I'd really appreciate your comments.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm stitching a candle mat for my mom's birthday and baking some chocolate whoopie pies. Yep I know, not  a very traditional holiday dessert, but that's me. : )  I will dip the sides in some leaf sprinkles to make them more festive. I'm also putting the final touches on some salt dough bowl fillers (pumpkins, leaves, and sunflowers) to put somewhere tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day with their families. Travel safe and stay warm!

Thoughts on a rainy Monday...

I can't believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner! We are having very strange weather here in Ohio. It is in the 60s! I'm trying not to complain, but it just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving when the sun is shining and it's warm outside. Knowing Ohio weather, we could have a white Thanksgiving yet! : )

My mom's birthday is this week as well. She was born on Thanksgiving and the story goes that someone snuck my grandmother a turkey dinner while she was in the hospital. She was not going to miss out on having her turkey! I'm working on a little candle wrap for her and possibly a mat to go with it.

I'm anxiously waiting for three new patterns that I purchased from Wooden Spool Designs. Have you been to the website? The cutest penny rugs I have ever seen! I can't wait. There is even one in the shape of a button that I will be purchasing soon. Just too cute.

What are you working on today? Anything crafty or just trying to get ready for the holiday?

Words To Live By

While visiting Brenda Gervais' blog, With Thy Needle and Thread, I saw these words and thought I would pass them on. It's a new quote to me and I love it.

"Use the talents you possess - the woods would be silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke

Wool

I think about wool a lot. Probably too much. It's even stretched over to sheep. They are so cute. I even have a few sheep home decor items that I've picked up at various places. I don't like the cutesy sheep with the faces painted or stitched on, more prim looking without a face. I like my dolls the same way, like Amish style or the Willow Tree Angels. Anyway, back to wool.

Purists will say only 100% wool will do. I do like it, though of course it is more expensive. I've found wool blend felt to be a nice compromise. Definitely a huge improvement from the craft store felt. It's not an acrylic blend either; I believe it's rayon. Of course you don't get the wonderful mottling and textures with wool blend felt though that you get with 100% wool. How I do love a beautifully mottled piece of wool!

I'm playing around today. It's rainy and gray out, so what else is a girl to do. I took some of my wool blend felt and, well, felted it some more. It made it much thicker and gave it a slightly nubby texture. I'm going to stitch up a small candle mat and see what happens. I already like the texture. It's thicker and almost gives the appearance of 100% wool. Of course it shrinks quite a bit, but still a more economical alternative to 100% wool.

I do think that one day I will switch over to 100% wool, but I'm curious to see what my crafting friends think.

I know for rug hooking only 100% wool will do, but what is your preference? Does it matter to you what the material is made out of when purchasing an item?

Just another Sunday....

I work strange hours. Between two hospitals and seven days a week, I am up at all hours of the day and night. It works for us for now, though I do wish I could give one hospital up. My point is that the crafting bug hits and it's not always convenient. Like last night. Oh, say around 9:30 p.m. at work. So I pull out a piece of paper and scribble my thoughts. I carry a book bag instead of a purse and it's a disaster. I throw my lunch bag in there on top of scraps of paper filled with ideas and sketches. It's not pretty. I have grand dreams of having a beautiful sketch book. For right now it's a pile in the bottom of my bag. No wonder I can't get anything done. I think that will be my goal for Monday - clean up that mess and see what comes of it.




This is a mini journal that I covered with 100% wool bits and a button, which the hubs then claimed as his own.


My Mondays are usually lazy days. Due to my weekend work schedule I don't get up until around 11a.m. I usually check out the DVR list and the ever-growing blog list, cup of coffee in hand of course, and see what I might have missed. My M-F schedule is more "normal" so I use Monday to be lazy and get myself back on track for the rest of the week. Sometimes it works. : ) 

Cardinals, snowflakes, a poinsettia garland for the mantle (thanks to Wee Folk Art), and tiny felt people (again, Wee Folk Art) for a little girl's birthday were all running through my mind last night.

Where do you keep your ideas? To you have a special journal or sketchbook?

Saturday ramblings

It's going to be a quiet but productive day today...I hope. The morning is already gone and I haven't been very productive yet, but I'm stubborn so something will happen!

I was very happy to send out a package to a customer yesterday (I forgot about the holiday on Thursday, so embarrassed). I read a lot on the etsy forums how packaging is very important, and I do admit that I have received some gifts that I haven't wanted to open because the wrapping was done so nicely. I chose pink and white Cotton Candy Divine Twine and a flower and button tag from another etsy seller, Endless Inkabilities, to add to my packages after wrapping in white tissue paper. Here is a picture.

I am new to selling my stitcheries and I get nervous when sending out a package. Will they like it? Were my stitches okay? Did it arrive safely? Oh boy!

How important is packaging to you? How do you like to wrap your gift packages, either personal or business?

I guess I better do something productive now.   : )

Salt Dough

My parents made name ornaments for us girls when we were little and they hung on the Christmas tree every year. I never thought much about it until a week or so ago when I ran across beautiful bowl fillers thanks to Kindra at At Home With K. She directed me to the creator of the beauties, Colleen at And Baby Makes Five! She has great tutorials on her blog and beautiful pictures to follow. Hop on over and take a look.

So the next day I mixed up my dough and had at it. I loaned some of my fall and winter cookie cutters to a friend so I had a limited supply, but I made a large mitten, a few snowflakes, a few mini pumpkins, and some leaves. I also got rid of a lot of my craft paint when I was cleaning and organizing this summer so I was limited on colors as well, but I had so much fun! As you may know, I had a sugar cookie business for a few years and I do miss it (but not the mess and the stress!), so it was thrilling to be able to dust off those cookie cutters and decorate, even if I couldn't eat the broken ones. : )  I will post pictures when I make more this weekend after I expand my palette by a few colors.

Amazingly I couldn't find anyone selling salt dough bowl fillers. Hmmm, I might have to add some to my etsy shop. Anyone interested? I just get a kick out of anything reminding me of decorated cookies!

Do you have memories of making salt dough ornaments as a child? I don't remember making them with my parents, but I do hope to continue the tradition of making J an ornament for the tree, even if he is already a teenager. Better late than never!

Oh Google.....

You confuse me so.

I couldn't figure out why my favorite blogs weren't showing up in my list. Turns out I have two Google accounts. Hmmm, not sure how I did that. It seems that I "followed" a ridiculous amount of blogs under the other account. Oh boy. So I just spent an amount of time I will keep to myself following all of the blogs with the correct account. Now I can't figure out why the picture in my Google Friend Connect is different than I have it set as. lol. Too much computer magic for me today. I think I better take a step away from the computer and give it a rest.

Oh, and by the way, I have a ton of new blogs in my list now (ha ha!) and I encourage you to visit them all. So many blogs, so little time!

Goodies

I just love getting mail, especially when there is a box of felt included! I ordered a few shades of pink (getting ready for Valentine's Day), a teal and purple that I think will look great together, and more green and red for Christmas.

In the last few days I've made some Christmas ornaments and a candle/jar wrap that I will soon add to my etsy shop. I'm also considering adding a shopping cart to my website for those that don't want to join etsy. That involves more html stuff that I don't understand, but I'm hoping the program I chose to use plays nice.

We had a crazy storm run through yesterday with 70+ mph winds and I discovered a design flaw to the cat house I built with my dad for the kittens that showed up on my deck in May. That's a long story that I will save for another day. So since the sun is shining and it's a beautiful day, the cat house got a cleaning. New hay and clean blankets, and left the lid/roof open to dry out. Good thing we decided to put down that sheet of vinyl flooring as it made clean-up a breeze. Yes that's right, the cat house has vinyl flooring...left over from a bathroom remodel at my parents' house. Thank goodness my dad saves his scraps! It also has insulation and a shingled roof. Only the best for my feral cats!

I'm hoping the beautiful weather made the kiddo's school field trip to the national park that is practically in our backyard a lot of fun. I'm not even sure what they were doing there, but that seems to be par for the course with a 13-year old.

I hope you are having beautiful weather where you are!

~Michelle

Blog changes

Thanks to ShabbyBlogs.com, I've added a fun new background to the blog, then threw in some buttons from some of my favorite blogs/sites and even made my own button to share. Whew! That's nothing for some of you html wiz kids, but now I need a nap! I'm going to continue playing around with it, but if you happen to see something that doesn't look just right or a link that is broken, please leave me a comment. Thanks!

Another great blog

I found this blog a few months ago and just started "following" it. I'm a sucker for a good flea market find and have been known to bring a few things home off the curb. A dresser, a piece of wooden fence, a small table. You just never know what you might find driving home.

Check out At Home With K. She has a great eye for what something can become with a little bit of elbow grease and paint. Her style crosses many different decorating styles, so you are sure to find an idea to fit into your home.

Etsy Shop!

I decided that I would set up a shop on etsy. It's a safe and secure way for purchases to be made and it gets a lot of traffic. Have you ever been to etsy? Well, why not?! There is a wide range of handmade items to be found, anything you could possibly think of. Some wacky, some you won't be able to do without. Stop on over to my shop, www.etsy.com/shop/sugarhousecreations , and let me know what you think. It's a new shop, but I am adding items as fast as I can create them.

So what is Sugar House Creations?

I am fascinated by wool felt, buttons, trims, rick rack, embroidery thread....and love to put it all together in a creative way. I'm not a huge blogger, but will share with you my little creations and links to other creative people I find along my journey.