Blast from the Past Saturday

I love that I made this dress a year ago, and it still fits her as a tunic. Not that she will wear it. It's missing the required pockets.

Dang, I was really, really hoping that I would get to dress her for a little bit longer, but I'm going to have to give it up. She's even starting to not like the flowers in her hair, instead demand the little store bought bows and plastic barrettes. Must breath evenly. Must not make big deal out of this. Must let daughter dress herself.

Anyway, I love this recent picture of her and David. She loves to ham it up for the camera now, and did the folding arms, lean against the fence thing herself.

From August 3, 2009

Another reversible dress--this one fits Aubrey. I hope.

I sized down the pattern I used to make the reversible dress and made one for Aubriana today. She would model it for you, but she is sick (fever and fatigue is all so far) and so she's been doing this all day:She's content at the moment, so I'm not going to even go near asking her to put on a new dress. Poor baby.

One side. This striped fabric came from my great-great grandma's stash. I still have quite a few yards left.
A close-up of the bow:
The other side, which has to be some of my favorite fabric ever. Picked it up a while ago--I'm pretty sure from Hancock, although it might have been Jo-Ann's.

The bodice, so you can see the pattern on the fabric better:The bow:I can't wait to see it on her! I love this pattern. It whips up so quickly (I think I spent about 2 hours on it this morning, between interruptions and sewing machine problems).
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Hey, don't forget, there are still a few more days to enter the bracelet give away! Your odds are still really, really good! Just leave me a comment. Couldn't be more simple. Seriously. Go go it!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Project Progress: Kitchen Update Week 9

I know. I can't believe I'm still working on the kitchen. It seems like such a huge project. And I'm sorry to report that things at our house have not stopped breaking. One of the boys broke my tripod, which puts a wrench into the whole blogging thing, since I use it nearly daily to take pictures. I won't mention which boy it was, because he felt really bad about breaking it. So, that will have to be replaced soon too.

Luckily, it's not nearly as bad as replacing a dishwasher, which we have now done! So, yay, new dishwasher! It does great. Except, there is a leak under the sink in the line that goes to the dishwasher. So the water to the dishwasher has to be turned off until David can get to fixing the leak, and turned on when I want to do a load of dishes. Yeah, not too great.

David will fix it soon. David will fix it soon. David will fix it soon.

The home ownership gods are laughing at our rather eventful initiation passage.

Anyway, I finally went out and bought the primer, spray paint and clear vinyl I needed to recover my chairs. We got these chairs from an ad on KSL. For some reason, in Utah, KSL is the place where all the ads get put. It's a local news station. You can find some things on Craig's List, but KSL is where everyone goes. Anyway, we saw these chairs for $8 a pieces and bought 8 of them. I knew I could make them amazing.

Yeah, that's green metal and bright orange vinyl. Picture in our old basement apartment.

When we got there, the lady selling them said they were related to the people who ran the Provo Leatherby's, which sadly closed a while back, and that is where all the chairs came from. We loved Leatherby's. They still have a few Utah locations open. Anyway, when we were living in Provo while I was pregnant with Griffin, we used to walk to Leatherby's several times a month and eat there. They have good food and the most amazing ice cream EVER.

Once, I went to a Two Peas in a Bucket Utah gathering and we met at Leatherby's and I totally did a caramel "shot" which means I drank straight caramel out of a cup. It was yummy.

Anyway, it's pretty awesome that these were the chairs from Leatherby's.

So I took off the seats.

Lightly sanded the metal. Primed it.

Then David sprayed the charcoal metallic finish on for me, because we are discovering I'm not very patient with the spray paint when it comes to a big project like this.

Then I recovered the seat cushions. Added clear vinyl because have you met my kids? Well, probably not, but you've heard about them. They are not neat and tidy children and I want my seats to last more than 10 minutes.

I cannot even describe the process I went through to pick out this fabric. I could write a full-length novel on it. It would be the most boring novel ever, even worse then Ulysses by James Joyce, but maybe read by more people, and it could rival it in length. Anyway, when I found this fabric, I liked it a lot and thought it might work, so I called David to come check it out, and he liked it, so I bought it, and now I love it and can't image anything else. It's Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry for Westminster Fibers.

Then I put the seat covers back on.

And I had one chair finished.

Only seven more chairs to go!

Linking Up Here:

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Share-A-Craft Link Party!

I can tell this is going to get harder and harder. Picking three from last week's party was tough. Almost as bad as trying to pick out baby names with my husband.

First up, I picked this amazing spa party from Autumn at The Fickle Hobbyist. I love my mom and all, but I'm tempted to ask Autumn to adopt me. I would have died and gone to heaven at this party at age seven. Or now. I would still have loved it at age 28. The details are amazing. Go check it out.

 

I adore these leg warmers from Patricia at If Life Was Like a Cupcake. They are fun and funky and made from adult socks! What a cool idea. I actually have a pair I should do this with, because it turned out that they wouldn't go up my calves. Bad sock design? We can only hope. Anyway, she has a great tutorial on this quick, fun project.

Last of all, I just couldn't resist this quilled jewelry from Ann at All Things Paper. Swoon. Swoon again. I love quilling and I think I need to do more of it. Especially if I can wear it. She has a bunch of examples on her blog, along with a tutorial. My favorite is the 2nd one, done on a magnifying glass, but I also quite like the thumbnail she chose (the one pictured below).

Link party rules:
Link to the actual post, and not your blog main page. I'd appreciate a link back to my blog, but it's not required.
Comment on one other link.
Please, link us to something you made, not something you are selling or an unrelated post on another topic.

Yep, that's it.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Scribbled Owls Digital Scrapbooking Kit Freebie

New to digital scrapbooking? Never downloaded a digital kit before? What in the world are .rar files anyway? Get your answers here: How to Unzip Files So You Can Digi Scrap. (Applies to any compressed files).

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a really addicting scribbler tool. Basically, you draw a basic line drawing freehand with your mouse and it scribbles on top of it, turning it way cooler looking than your original drawing. David and I kept running back and forth from the desktop and the laptop showing each other our creations. I started drawing owls. Lots and lots of owls. Of course, I couldn't leave it there, I had to turn it into some digital art.

And then, I put my owls on colorful squares. And then I printed it out and put spray adhesive on the back and put it on a piece of mat board. And then I started grabbing pieces and arranging it on a console table. It's not going to stay like this, because I stole one of my art pieces from the kitchen. And I want to eventually frame my owls, but not having a 12x12" frame on hand, this will have to do for now.

I hate to play favorites, but I think this one might be my favorite. I want to pinch his cheeks.

And then I put the owls on a bunch of colors, and stuck them in a folder, with some png images too, so if you want they can end up on your scrapbook pages or cards or whatever.

I had planned to skip this week's download, but sometimes you find something cool and it takes on a life of its own. And you also get a lot of blisters from using your mouse too much.

Click To Download

Kit Contents: 6 Owl Pattern Papers, 4 Owl Stamps

Don't forget to enter the give away!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Bracelet Giveaway!

I am finally ready to do a give away. It's about time. I've been meaning to do this for weeks. Weeks! I just needed to get something ready, which I did in the great bracelet making marathon last week.

On a side note, if you've got a business you want to promote with a give away, feel free to contact me at karah99 @ gmail.com and we can work something out. :) I'd love to make it a more regular feature.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff!

I'm giving away this soda can bracelet.

It's pink and green with vintage buttons down the center. It's also got some khaki pleats and a cute button closure. Dang, I really like it. I made myself a similar one, but I like this one better. It's jean on the inside. It fits me and I have medium wrists, so hopefully it will fit whoever is lucky enough to win it (it's elastic closure, so it has some leeway).

It's easy to enter.

1. Comment here to let me know you want to enter.
2. 2nd entry by becoming a fan of the facebook page and commenting back here on the blog that you liked us. (Yep, I set up a facebook page last week and I'm super excited about it!)
3. 3rd entry by tweeting or blogging or posting a status update spreading the give away news and commenting back here on the blog (only one entry by this method, although I'd love it if you did all three!).


That's up to three entries per person! I will draw a winner next Monday, August 2, and entries are due Sunday August 1 by 11:59 pm.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Blast from the Past Saturday

My kids have mostly grown out of getting into things and spreading it all over. Instead, I hear my three year old sneaking in the pantry and making herself microwave popcorn while I'm in the shower, meanwhile I'm trying to get her to come talk to me and she's deliberately and carefully ignoring me. I know one of her brothers helped her. Usually I can get to the bottom of these things, but I got denials all around. But, at least she isn't smearing herself with powdered sugar like her brothers used to do.

I remember once they got into the pudding. I was finding smears of pudding for months throughout the house. At least, I really, really hope it was pudding. Pretty sure it was.

Fom July 30, 2007

It Only Takes 10 Minutes

For disaster to happen. Griffin pushed the chair over to the counter, then got into the cupboards and there was fluffy white stuff everywhere. Maxton apparently rolled it in. I had to shampoo the carpet and the couch, everyone needed baths and because the clothes I bought at garage sales on Saturday morning were still on the couch, I also had two loads of laundry. All this in the ten minutes between David going to work and me getting out of bed.

Sigh, somehow Griffin has turned into Mr. Mischief. I used to marvel at how good he was at staying out of stuff. Notice the use of "USED TO." In the past month, he has become a master at making messes and getting into stuff he shouldn't. He broke a dozen eggs the other day while my sister was here babysitting our kids.

Anyway, since Max was the messiest, here is a photo of him in the tub. See if you can guess what it was they got into.

PS The answer is powdered sugar. Go for the good stuff.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Share-A-Craft Link Party!

I cannot believe how much fun I had last week, looking at all your projects! I loved looking at your blogs and getting to know some of my readers a little bit more.

I got a little thrill each time there was a new link. There were disco moves involved. I really wanted to do some MJ Thriller moves, but, ya'll, I can't dance like that. I'm lucky if I don't trip. So disco moves sufficed.

Anyway, it was tough to pick three to feature today. So, this week, I'm going with the top viewed, a very practical idea I never would have thought of (and there were two of those, so I even had to narrow it down from there! this is difficult stuff, people!), and something my kids would love. But, it was tough to choose!

Top viewed project was these make up bags from Et at Judy Cat Crafts. That ruffle down the side and her fabric combos are to die for!

Next was this sewing machine pin cushion from Kathryn at I Can Find the Time. This is brilliant. I'm forever losing my pins while sewing, and worse, knocking the container onto the floor. Problem solved.

And lastly, there's this felt treasure map from Cheryl at Sew Can Do. Her link is packed full of idea for felt. David is building the kids a treehouse (better believe I'm going to be blogging about it), and there are going to be pirate/ship things in it, so a map similar to Cheryl's needs to wind up in our house soon!

As for me, I've so busy lately, I don't really have anything to share with you this week. I know, crazy, huh? I have projects I've been working on, but nothing really finished. Too many things started and not enough finished. So, I guess I really need your links this week to enjoy (finished) hand-made goodness!

Link party rules:
Link to the actual post, and not your blog main page. I'd appreciate a link back to my blog, but it's not required.
Comment on one other link.
Please, link us to something you made, not something you are selling or an unrelated post on another topic.

Yep, that's it.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Some Awesome Garage Sale Finds

In the past few weeks, I've lucked out and hit some amazing yard sales. Stars must have aligned or something. You know, if stars cared about yard sales. Which I don't think they do. Probably too busy with things that really matter, like crops and tides (just kidding, I know that's the moon) and stuff.

It's a nice thing that I've been finding some cool things at garage sales, because other things around me continue to break. I was just saying this on Facebook:

Count of things that have broken since we've moved: AC, dishwasher, laptop (luckily it's the hinges, so it works, just won't close anymore), David's car (it's the alternator, won't even turn on now), and all the tires on the van. It's like living in a farce. :D Maybe I'll get to meet Adam Sandler or Will Farrell.

Yeah, since then, our toaster oven is toast.

'S ok. It will all be ok. We're just going to go through and replace them one by one. Hopefully STUFF WILL STOP BREAKING. Do you hear me, stuff? Knock it off. It's not funny anymore. I can laugh it off for a while, but a little piece of my sense of humor died when my sourdough bread refused to toast at lunch yesterday! IT DIED.

Anyway, onto my cool, cool stuff. I guess if I didn't buy all this stuff, I could have afforded a new toaster oven. I must stop going to yard sales for a few weeks. Duly noted, self.

Ok, first off, we got some toys for the kids. We'd been looking for a Fisher Price garage for a while. It would have been fun to find a really old one, but for $3 this will do:

We did find this adorable washer/dryer set. Maybe it will stop Aubrey from going into the laundry room and hitting the cancel button on our real set?

When we were in Logan, my aunt and uncle were going to hold a yard sale in a few weeks, and they had this globe they gave to us when David said he liked it. I think it belonged to my step-grandpa and it's from the 60s, which is bad for accuracy, but fun to look at. It will match my living room really nicely.

Then, we found this shelf for $5. I'm so excited, because it will worked perfectly in my basement family room. It needs a little makeover if you ask me. The lightly silver spray painted uneven sheen isn't working, and neither is the yellow. So, big plans for this beauty. It's pretty big, probably 5' across.

Also, picked up with shelf for 75 cents. It needs a makeover bad too, but I think it will end up darling.

Also snatched up this little dish for $2 (it had a $10 tag on the bottom). It's a whole lot more French than I usually go, but I love the filigree on the top, and that's the beauty of eclectic. I can just buy what speaks to me.

A whole stack of frames for 25 cents each, and there are some 11X14" frames in there! Sweet!

I also grabbed a cute little farmhouse stool for $2 that needs a makeover and somehow escaped pictures, and the old insulators in this photo, both for $2.50.

And my very favorite find of the both days? This post-war fan.

It was probably manufactured in the late 40s/early 50s. It's got a definite art deco vibe going on. Also picked up for $5. Magic price lately.

I was delighted to get it home and plug it in and find out that it still works. It's super quiet and blows out a decent amount of air.

Of course, there is a serious lack of finger guards here, so I doubt we are going to be using it or even leaving it plugged in at all. It needs some cleaning too, but I looked on up on ebay and the starting price for a similar one was $60. Not too shabby.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Smocked Soda Can Bracelets

Picture this.

Woman sitting a craft room, creating like mad. There are bits of fabric flying. Random buttons may be flung as projectiles at any moment. Elastic snapping. Sewing machine whirling. Faint whiff of hot glue in the air.

Woman muttering to herself. She probably hasn’t brushed her teeth yet. Hair possibly, but if so, it has not been attended to in some hours.

Two children are playing on the computer next to her. They may or may not have earned the computer time like they are supposed to have done.

Bits of elastic and trim litter the carpet. There are boxes piled around. The piano bench has been dragged in from the front room, and sitting on it is a smallish ironing board (thrifted) and an iron (not thrifted) and a pair of scissors and various other bits and pieces.

And the mad woman sits up from her chair, and exclaims, “I’ve got it!” with a sort of frantic, creative screech. The kids don’t notice. Too common of an occurrence to warrant much concern. . .

I’d been making soda can bracelets all day per this brilliant tutorial with a few modifications (since when can I ever leave anything alone?), and I suddenly envisioned a perfect marriage of her idea and my smocking tutorial. I have this impulse to start inserting wedding and light bulb metaphors, even Big Bang ones occurred to me, but I’ll just say that I really, really, really loved this idea.

It’s perfect if you’ve been wanted to try smocking but don’t want to give up hours of your time.


The red one I used a large swiss dot as marks. It didn’t take me long at all to work up.

The blue one I marked up with a quilting ruler. I stitched it while watching a movie with David. It was his turn to pick and he picked Pan’s Labyrinth which was a deeply moving, beautiful, very disturbing and brutal movie. It’s also in Spanish with subtitles. Yeah, not so good for the stitching. I still managed to miss very little of the dialogue and finish up the beaded smocking. Super easy. I just added a bead to the last step.

I've got about 5 more to show you, but I couldn't wait to show you these two smocked cuffs!

Linking Up Here:

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.