Holiday Berries Into The New Year

If this is Jennifer, read this when you get the box.

Or risk not being surprised in a day or two...

I made this to share the love with my Bloggy-Bestie-Forever.

It's Grape Vines and some Christmas Berries in Fuschia and some festive ribbons.

Have you visited my Linky-Party Directory?

I like to link my projects up on all the places there!

If your linky party is not listed because I have not linked there, or maybe don't know about it -

Please Feel Free To Add It! :)

Holiday Trees

Hello from Sunny Florida!
But unusually cold...
We had a really lovely Christmas and I hope all of you had just as lovely a holiday!
I wanted to share the last few of my Holiday Decorations!

Mostly, because we have been SO busy, I wasn't able to get them on the blog!

This year my mother was totally into Snowmen Christmas decorations, but I was all about the trees!

So, I did a few trees.

There were more that I was working on, but since there are not 36 hours in a day,

I was unable to finish them.

Here are a few:

The candy tree:

Holiday Lifesavers, Ribbon and Burlap

The Ruffle Tree:

Ribbons and more ribbons. Get a fabulous tutorial HERE

The Berry Tree

A Styrafoam tree form and 600+ floral berries…

The GrapeVine Tree

A grapevine tree form, some ribbon and about 10 or twelve clusters of berries

I think that next year I will be in good shape with all of my trees!

Rugs, Family, Friends & Dogs, Oh My!

So, we have a busy few weeks coming up around here!  I hope that I can keep up with fun posts!

First, my little brother, Jason, and his best bud (our extra little brother), James are back for a couple of weeks.  They have been SO helpful. And pleasant.  I am sure, mostly, because their girlfriends, Ashley and Addie are around. But maybe (fingers crossed) they are growing into pleasant young men... I know, I wont hold my breath. Second, we have my bestie, Hollie and her girls visiting from Utah for a week.  Her little girls have never been to Chicago and we are going to try and do some fun things while they are here!  Like see the fireflies, try and cope with the stifling humidity, see a museum and maybe get some crafts done!  I will definitely share our fun happenings with you all!

Then, we will be off to drive us all back to Logan to see friends and visit! I am so excited!  

Next, I finished the rug.  I have been wanting a rug in my living room area, under my couch, but have found that to get the size rug that would work, would cost at the very minimum $400.  I certainly don't have that.  So, when I came across a stack of clearanced rag rugs in the EXACT colors of all the paint in my place, I had to grab them up.  I purchased an extra to take apart and use to bind (tie) them all together.  I am SO pleased with how it turned out!

And we are dog sitting one of the most precious sweet dogs on the planet. Now, if you know me, I don't hate animals or anything, I just dont like living with them.  So, to hear those words come from me, is well, monumental.

Anyways, the litle fluffy thing in the picture above is Gunny. And I will admit: I like her. But she also doesn't make more messes than the 3 year old in the house, in fact she doesn't make any messes.  And more importantly, she does NOT lick me.

Ashley

I have this little brother, Jason.  OK -Younger brother, he is barely taller than me now. But not prettier.  He has this FABULOUS girlfriend, Ashley.  We love her.  We might like her more than him. She is like a little sister to us. But that's what happens when your funny, sweet, smart, helpful and kind.  OK, I like him too...

Well, when Ashley was getting ready to graduate, Jason asked me if I would like to make her graduation day dress.  I was very happy to do it.  We went to our local corporate craft vortex and she picked out the fabric she liked.  And I put this together for her.

Thanks Ashley for taking the pics!

Slippahs Part 1

We LOVE all things Hawaii.  The first time AuBrynne went, she sat back in her stroller (for the first time EVER) and said, "Ah... Home." That's exactly how I felt the first time too! And I have been wearing Slippahs ever since. Almost year around.  If it is snowy outside, I wear them around the  house. 

But here is the really funny thing: the ones bought here on the mainland are just not the same.  First, they are CRAZY over-priced. Second, the patterns of them are definitely not the same. 

So, I decided I wanted to see if I could make AuBrynne some Slippahs with some Hawaiian style.

I made a little tutorial as it was SUPER simple!

You will need the following:

6mm Thick Fun Foamie

Foamies Craft Glue

Fabric of your choice

Ribbon for the part that holds onto your foot

Separate Ribbon at least 12mm thick

Sharp, Accurate scissors

Modge-Podge

First, if you have an old pair of Slippahs, trace one four times onto your foam:

Second, Trace and cut out two fabric pieces.  Make sure to cut mirror right sides of each.  After doing this once, I would also suggest making it so there is over-hang.

Third, Mark and punch holes where the toe thongy part will go and also where the two ends will go down back near the heel, on two of the four pieces of the foam and both fabric pieces.  You should have two foam pieces without holes.

Next, apply the craft glue to the top of the pieces of foam with the holes in it. Do Not Apply the fabric yet.  The glue needs to set up.  About 15 or 30 minutes.  Then lay down our fabric pieces. 

While your craft glue is setting up, prepare your ribbon that will go into the holes by folding a pre-measured piece in half then sewing it together at about 2 inches from the fold.  This will vary depending on the size of your slippah. 

Next, when your foamie and fabric pieces are dried up enough that you can bear the tacky-ness (this will be very messy), poke your thongy parts in. 

Apply some glue to the underside of your top layer and then also the bottom layer.

Let them cure for about half hour and stick them together.  You may need to hold them together until they stay together on their own.

When I got to this point, I let them cure over night.

Then I applied some glue around the edges, waited and applied some ribbon around the edge.

On the next pair, I would fold that extra edge over then apply the ribbon.

Let these cure for another 24 hours. In a safe place where little hands cant get to them and wear them around...

When they have cured to the point they are dry and not tacky, I applied modge-podge to the fabric part and let it dry.

Stay Tuned for Part Two where I will show you how to make a cute Plumeria for the clip on the top!

Freezer Pop Cozy

AuBrynne has had this summer cough growing for the last couple of days.  And she told me her throat "hurted".  So, it's keep hydrated and keep the fever down. You all know the drill. 

Luckily, AuBrynne loves a sippy-cupa-water.  But I know if she is telling me her throat hurts,

well, cold water isn't going to be enough. 

She loves the freezer pops, but within a few moments of handling them, her little fingers are frozen.  Now this really wouldn't be an issue if we were running around outside in the yard when its 90 plus degrees.  But since she is sick and we are in the ice-locker section of the house, the little fingers can't handle the frozen pops! 

I grabbed a couple of felt strips and sewed some fun stitching.  And Voila! Freezer Pop Cozy(s)!

This ended up being perfect to cuddle up and watch movies with a sick little one. 

And it was SUPER quick and easy!

Have a look to the right to check out the excellent cites with Link Parties I linked this to!

Ruby

This is the dress AuBrynne has named "Ruby".  I made it to test a technique out.  It was a fail.  So, I fixed it and she LOVES it now.  It looks very reminiscent of the little dresses that Ruby on Max&Ruby where.  I think it needs a bright turquoise sash and/or a hot pink flower, but she told me that she doesn't like it when she looks in the mirror.  Goodness sakes she has her own fashion sense!

And yes, she is wearing two different slippahs. . .

And a few that are too funny.  All models are the same: cranky and demanding. However, rather than imported spring water, she was demanding a trip to the pool with a slide. Models...

And for those who have seen the hysterical Kung Fu Hustle, doesn't this last picture remind you of Landlady?  Sometimes, I think she is channeling her and her Secret Lion's Roar and Super-human speed.

See where I'm linking this over to the right side-bar under "Wednesday Link Parties" and "Thursday Link Parties"

Functional Aggression

You know when you have those moments that you just need to get some aggression out? Because something or somebody has gotten to you? You just want to vent, but that's even not constructive. Not effective?  You know, not really something you want to admit upsets you, but it does.  And all you need is a Productive Functional release??  I have a friend that chuckles at me because he knows when something like that has gotten to me, because I'm cleaning. And not that I don't clean, but that it will have been 12 hours since something was cleaned...  And he knows also because of how it's said: "Cleaning(!-but not)" Not yelling, but the exclamation is implied.
Some people clean, some people hit golf balls, or tennis balls or go shopping or shut the door and flip quickly through the channels on the tv. I either clean or create. Luckily I can reign in any of the negativity and create pleasant things.  Mostly because creating, for me, actually can change my mood.  It's like I can change my minds' focus and let go.  Anyway, I call it Functional Aggression. I don't know that it is completely normal, but it is the way it is.
Here is an example of some recent Functional Aggression.  Most of my products aren't so deconstructive, but this one is and probably expresses how I feel right now fairly well- a little raw and deconstructed from the outside - Thank you world population... It is a little P!nk inspired, but that can be good.
I first saw this technique forever ago in Oahu.  It works out really neat on very artistic t-shirts with dragons and/or floral.  I thought I would try it out on this test t-shirt I had made for myself.