Crunch Time

I've made significant progress (note my last update was in 2009!), but we're closing in on December 1... I still need to determine how I want to 'hang' the 'ornaments' on the tree, but I might be able to finish up a few more pockets. One down, and 23 to go.

Play Day

Had the day off today, and after some morning chores and errands, and a nice lunch, got right to crafting with my mom.

Had seen a friend post a similar bracelet she'd made, so checked out a few tutorials, then we gave it a shot. These are inspired by the trendy Chan Luu leather wrap bracelets. Need some leather cord, beading thread, beading needle, beads of choice, a button or bead to use as a toggle, and possibly some jewely/beading glue to secure the knots. One tip is to use a binder clip or clipboard to secure the two ends of the leather cord while adding the beads.

They were pretty fun to make, and not bad for a few hours of work. Looking forward to making another :)

Accessorize

Once again, Lauren seems to be making more progress on craft projects than me... She made this cool button bracelet at school the other week.

Sew What?

A few weeks ago, Lauren learned the 'sewing work' at school. She has brought a few of these home so far, and I think soon I'll need her to take over my Christmas Advent calendar project which I fear I will never complete...

Just 3 months left....

till Christmas arrives; I'm not sure I am going to finish this project. I have all the 'ornaments' completed (still one more set to post), but the calendar looks like more work than I thought. Plus, I want to do a slight redesign which will add some 'additional' time - which I don't have much of these days :)

Xmas Project Update

Here's the next batch - just a dozen (plus the calendar itself) remain. Making these tiny ornaments is very relaxing. Lauren likes to check them out too, and match them up with the pictures on the kit....

Christmas Countdown

Last December, I purchased a felt Christmas calendar kit from overstock.com. I started working on it last month, because I'm sure it'll take me about six months or so to complete. It is actually more time consuming than I thought; you have to cut out each individual piece of felt, add the decorative stitches, sew on the sequins, then applique the pieces together. I started with the tree 'ornaments' - here are the first 6, and more to come... I work on them as I am waiting for Cole to fall asleep in his crib at night :)

Monthly Mini Album

Got this idea from my mom - to make a mini-album of our monthly pictures of Lauren. It's fun to flip through it and see how she has grown. It is hard to believe she is already over two!


Lauren loves to look at the little album too - or really any video/photos for that matter. "Want to see pictures!" she says. And she refers to anything on TV as a 'movie'. Cracks me up.

To Quilt or Not to Quilt

I'm finally thinking about starting on my first quilt. I purchased these fabrics (from Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy collection for FreeSpirit) last year, and they've been sitting on my desk ever since. This week while my mom was visiting, she helped me figure out the measurements I'll need, and I just finished washing all the fabrics. I plan to use a simple 4" block pattern for the piecing, and I'll figure out the quilting design later (I would like to try machine quilting). Wish me luck!

Hello Dolly

My mom's friend Pam made these beautiful Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls for Lauren. What a special gift, and the colors coordinate so perfectly with the colors in the nursery! Lauren can't wait to play with them when she's a little older.

Crafty Fall Fun

I finally got a chance to put together an autumn wreath this weekend. Made it using a 24" grapevine wreath, an assortment of fall flowers/leaves, and a trusty hot glue gun. It was a little difficult keeping the cats away during construction (they love to nibble on any plant-like material be it real or fake). And I only suffered one slight burn from the glue gun - oops. I think I now have a wreath for each season.

Creativity & Chaos

I created some more cards while assembling a stamp order for my mother-in-law this weekend - here are 3 samples.

I'm finding this quite addictive - guess it is about time I put all my supplies to use anyway.

Also found time for a little shopping. Picked up some cute shirts, a cool ceramic leaf tray for the dining room table, a pomegranate scented candle, and a couple of other things.

Snapped this shot in Marshalls - I feel badly for the worker who draws the short straw for toy aisle clean-up.... Notice how items on the higher shelves are still relatively orderly :)

Yum

Tried a few new recipes in the last few days. We enjoyed Giada De Laurentis' chicken florentine, very easy to prepare and good flavor. Also decided to try a chocolate-ricotta icebox cake I saw in the latest issue of Everyday Food. The cake is quite dense (since it uses ricotta), but it looks quite fancy - would definitely impress your friends :) I ended up substituting dark chocolate (from Trader Joe's) for semi-sweet, which made the cake more rich than sweet - I think the semi-sweet would have been better.

Oh, and Project Runway Season 3 has started! We've only watched the 'pre-show' so far (love TiVo!), but looking forward to all the crazy designs (and drama).

And finally, now that my 'craft corner' is semi-organized, I can craft once again. Made the card below this evening.