Craft Show 2009

I was talked into doing a craft show, by a good friend, and I am so glad that I was! It was a couple weeks ago and Parkway Central High School. I shared a both with three other fabulously creative new friends. I wasn't too sure how I'd do but as it turns out I'd chalk it up to a success. I didn't have a ton of product but here is a glimpse of some of what I took with me. I didn't bring all that much home which was kinda nice!







Thanks for checking me out :)

Kimberly

Teacher Gifts

Well, having sick kids for about a month has given me some much needed craft time. I was asked by Kammy's teachers to whip up some notecards and such for a student teacher who has been in their classroom all semester. She leaves this week so here is what I delivered this morning. I think they turned out cute and had a little bit of a hard time letting go :)











And here is what all the teachers are getting for Christmas. My fabulously talented friend, Roxanne, made the cute "snow" shovels. We added hot chocolate, a yummy chocolate bar, and some marshmellows for snow :)



Thanks for looking! Happy Crafting!

Kimberly

Boxes, Boxes and More Boxes

I had a moment of insanity or spurt of creativity and bought a ton of cigar boxes. I got some on ebay and some on craigslist. I had no plan whatsoever for them. I had never done anything with them prior. I just felt like I needed to have them and thought I was getting them for a steal -- which I have confirmed :) They are so cool! Lots of different sizes, shapes; some cardboard, some wooden. And I have been making jewelry boxes! The insides are covered in felt, some have dividers to keep your jewels nice and tangle free, and they include a mirror on the top cover to check out how beautiful you are :)

What do you think??? I am going to charge $15-$25 per box. Anyone want to order one??







Thanks for looking :)

Sew, What's New?

I purchased a sewing machine from a family friend's garage sale sometime in the early 90s. The machine itself was her first sewing machine and dates back to 1975. Almost as old as me. She took fabulous care of it. I had grand ideas about learning to sew and, I don't know, making curtains for my residence hall room or something?? Anyway, I have moved this machine too many times to admit but it has been in several states! My children have done a number on my couch and pillows ... juice boxes, bottles, spit up, throw up, etc. So I purchased some fabric on sale and thought maybe, just maybe, I'd pull out that old sewing machine to make new pillow covers. Well, that was months ago. And yesterday I got the urge ... not sure why! Coupon from JoAnn's maybe?

So, thanks to the organization of this family friend, I was able to reference all the original instruction manuals and such. After fighting with the bobbin for a very long time, I finally mastered sewing in a straight line. WooHoo! So here are my first two creations ... SNAKES :) A girly snake for Kammy and a boy snake for Teagan. Just used some old fabric I had lying around. Cute, huh? Hee hee!



Well, then for the second reason the sewing machine came out. I have always wanted to donate to Locks of Love. I have very curly, very thick hair, though. And my hair has been short since grad school. My hair does not just get longer, it gets wider. I am badly in need of a hair cut but this LOL thing has been on my mind so yesterday I decided that I am going to *TRY* to do it. And in order to get through the hell that this will undoubtably be, I need to have some nice tight and wide headbands. Viola! Another sewing project. I made three of these :)



I might even attempt one of the 6 pillow recovers today ...

Happy Crafting,

Octo Purse

Morning! This is gonna be a quick post, as my kids are parked in front of the TV and we are all still in our PJs. Definitely need to be productive today! I made this card for a friend who was so kind to give me birthday present last month. Thanks, Sandy!




I also made a set of four cards for a Party Lite friend. She had mentioned maybe buying some cards from me a while ago but we just kept talking without any specifics. So, I decided to be assertive and just make her some to see if we could "make a deal". And it worked :) So, these were a gift. I didn't get a good picture of them unfortunately. They are square cards with a window in the center. I punched some scalloped squares from printed paper and cut out the window. Than, on the inside, layered another scalloped square of printed paper, a smaller solid colored scalloped square and than the candle party stamp which I thought worked perfect for this occasion. I popped up the candle stamp so it comes through the window a bit. Than tied a ribbon along the side, after running the front of the card through my Big Shot to add the embossed polka dots. Not sure you can see any of this in the pictures so hopefully this will give you an idea. I like how they turned out and were actually very quick to do!



Thanks for looking! Happy Crafting :)

One Project Finished

I have actually had a lot of time in my craft room lately. Not sure exactly how I managed that?? And Tim starts his marathon of work in August. So, that should continue for a while. I am officially a married single mom. Just until after Labor Day.

Anyway, next Tuesday, I start a book club at Kammy's preschool and wanted to have something to take notes in for that. Plus I wanted to post some altered composition books on my etsy store, Creations By SeaStar. So here is my finished project!





We are reading, No! Why Kids - of All Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It by David Walsh, PhD. I have only read chapter 1 so far, but it is really good! I am super excited about the club and the book. So, now I am already with my cute journal, too!

I have also made some progress on the other two projects on my craft table, but not enough to post yet. I want them to be completed -- who wants to see another sneak peek at the same unfinished project, right? Besides that gives me a little incentive for finishing them up.

Thanks for looking! Happy Crafting :)

Works in Progress

I don't usually start more than one project at once, but for some reason I was feeling a little ADD at my craft table this past week or so. Nothing is finished, of course! Thats what happens with too many things in progress at once. But I didn't want to disappear from my blog again for too long, so here is a super sneak peek!

My sister won the "whats the weirdest thing you have used in a stamp project" question. She made a pencil box for her desk out a tampon box. In fact, she made three of them because they turned out so cute :)

So, here is a sneak at her "prize". When its all finished I will show the complete picture.



Then, I wanted to alter some composition books since school is coming up fast, I thought those might be quick sales on my Etsy Store. And I am starting a book club at Kammy's preschool so this will be used as a sample for the store and my personal journal for that.



And lastly, another work in progress using some fun flocked paper I found on sale at Hobby Lobby. This one is really rough but stayed tuned for the finished masterpiece :)



Happy Crafting,

Don't Count Your Chickens

I was given this very cute Southern Living wire basket a long time ago. I had decided (separately) to do my downstairs powder room with a garden theme -- seed packets and such. So this basket seemed to fit in with that theme. Up on the wall it went. But what to put in it? At first it sat empty. Then I stuffed some straw colored bag filler in there. Looked pretty blah. Still, it stayed that way for a L-O-N-G time. Then I had a vision of paper covered eggs. I think I must have seen this in magazine somewhere but can't remember exactly where. I have made pinecone Christmas ornaments but those are time consuming and hard on the fingers! These were much easier and super fast. I whipped out four of them, with the help of my neice who handed me the small punched circles, in less than an hour. That was working slowly, too, as I had four kids running around my craft area at the time.






Making them was super easy. I got a package of 4 styrofoam eggs at Michael's for a couple bucks (if that). I picked out four different patterns of designer series or printed paper. Cut 1 inch circles with my SU! punch. Than randomly attached the circles to the egg with a straight pin. On some, I used the same pattern for the entire egg, others it was totally random. These are fun to make and make a good filler for that spare basket or decorative bowl you have lying around.

Happy Crafting,

My Birthday Party

Yesterday was my birthday, and while I am not excited about birthdays anymore (as the number is advancing toward a milestone I'd rather ignore), I thought it would be fun to throw myself a party. I work really hard on my kids parties and I LOVE it, so why not do it for myself once to see how it feels. ** It was fun! **

I made cupcakes and put cute flags in them. I used a dollar stamp from Michael's, circle punched it and a back peice, sandwiched it with a toothpick in between using a pop dot. Viola! Easy and it really added a lot. The stamp I used said: "of all possessions, a FRIEND is the most PRECIOUS". I didn't want to be too self-indulgent so skipped the overly "happy birthday" stuff!



I also used my beloved Big Shot to make pillow box favors. I used almost all of my Robinhood Red paper which makes me a little sad, but it looked so cute with the fun polka dot ribbon I found at Michael's. Besides I have to make room for my new In Colors! I had also found some birthday paper supplies (plates, cups, etc) at Hobby Lobby on sale and so that color scheme went together, too. I filled them with M&Ms. I did use a birthday stamp from Eight Great Greetings but it said "You Take the Cake" so I figured that could be more about the attendee ;) I really like that set - I think it's going to get used a lot.



And lastly, I wanted to try to make a pennant banner, as I have never had the opportunity to do so before. What better excuse, right? Again, not wanting to go over board with the "birthday stuff to me", I opted for a WELCOME banner, hopefully, hung tastefully in the family room where we would be spending most of our time. It was fun and I will definitely make these again!




What I loved most about my party is that some of my very favorite people came to celebrate with me. It gave me a good excuse to craft for a reason and now I can share with you. I hope you do something nice for yourself today -- big or small!

Happy Crafting,

I am a TWEETER ....

Come follow me on twitter

By the way, this is a card I did for my swap group a month or two ago! I just love this little bird and the polka dot ribbon. Really, this might be one of my favorite cards of all time.

Thanks for looking,

Why, Hello There ....

Its been a while, huh? No promises when I will blog next since I keep making promises that I don't keep. I don't like it when people promise me stuff and then don't follow through, so no promises from me! Here are a few things that I have done while I was away doing God knows what :)






And I even participated in a challenge which I have not done FOREVER. This one is from The Cats Pajamas Co. and it was a fun color challenge. I was inspired immediately. This is actually a pocket calendar cover, but it could be used for a checkbook cover, also (although its a tad big -- didn't fit in my wallet). The image is from the Tickled Pink set from The Angel Company (circa 2008). And I have had those flip flop brads (from OTC) for almost as long as my youngest child has been alive. Okay, exaggerating ... but its been a long time. I thought they were cute and then when they arrived didn't know quite what to do with them. Does that happen to anyone else?





And I thought, as incentive to myself, I would pose a question. Answer the question and I will randomly chose someone to receive a small token of my appreciation for helping me get back to my blog. Let's consider this "baby blog candy" :)

QUESTION FOR THE DAY:

What is one "strange" item that you have used to craft with?

I will start:
I might try to stamp anything that will hold still long enough. But one that comes to mind is when I made the most adorable (IMHO) container to hold my tacks for my bulletin board out of those Laughing Cow cheese containers -- you know the circle ones with the lids? I also just bought some clear tubing from the hardware store with visions of bracelets dancing in my heads. I will have to let you know about that one.

Your turn!