Crafting With Abuela

Hi. Remember me? I'm the one that used to blog... As with most of you, I've been busy and I let other things take priority over blogging, and I apologize. Blogging comes first from now on! Ha! Anyways, for the past couple of years I have been getting together with Zak's Gramma to make ornaments for my family. And the past 2 years I've picked pretty difficult projects. I made these last year. I made one for everyone in my family (I'm sorry to the few that haven't gotten them yet. If you're reading this, I do have them... just haven't sent them).

This is Zak, Zoey and I snowmanned

This year, we made clothespin dolls. They were really involved, but with great results. I feel like I didn't do much. Abuela came up with the idea and she got the supplies. I painted the faces and that's pretty much the extent of my involvement. She made the little clothes that are absolutely adorable. They just came out so great! I want to keep making them! But come up with an easier way to do the clothes. I'm thinking felt so they don't have to be sewn. Anyways, here are some pics. I did lots more, but the interwobs are being slow tonight and I can't upload them all.

Mom and Dad Clothespinned

Al and Ashley Clothespinned

Zak, Me and Zoey Clothespinned (I'm thinking about cutting her legs off a little so she's shorter than us)

Zak and I in our shadow box. Zak was my favorite on to make.

Next year, we are taking it easy. Going to do a project that can be finished in one day.

I'm on a Roll!

I have been on a crafting roll this week. I've started and finished 4 projects! They were little projects, but still! Now I have so much to blag about! Having a functional craft space has really made a difference.

The project I bring you today is this cute travel wipe case. I was going to do my first tutorial on it, but I was so excited to get it done that I forgot to take pictures. That and it's so easy that I don't think a tutorial is necessary. I'll tell you how I did it though. I've made a few before but I think this is the best one yet (sorry to those who have received one as a gift from me, because this one is probably cuter than the one I made you). So cute that I think I want to use it as a clutch for myself. Just half kidding. Anyways, here is how I made it:

I've used this tutorial in the past, but this time I made some minor changes. These changes include:

1. I used felt instead of batting. Instead of using the measurements, I traced the opened case onto the felt, cut it out and hot glued it onto the case.

2. The fabric can be cut slightly smaller and it's easier if the corners are rounded and the sides contoured like the case. To do this, I just placed the open case onto my fabric and cut around it leaving extra room to wrap around the sides.

And those were the only changes I made.





P.S. Zak was all put out that I didn't post pics of our computer areas (he's quite proud of them), so I'll probably be posting those soon.

I wish I was Tiny

Baby clothes are so cute and you can find them really cheap these days. Sometimes (everyday), I wish that I had an enlarger/shrinking machine so Zoey and I could share a wardrobe. She is getting quite the cardigan collection going on and almost has as many as me. I'm quite jealous. Most of hers are cuter than mine though... Anyways, my point in all of this is that I made a onesie and matching little shoes for my niece who is due to make her grand entrance into this world in about a month. I thought it was so cute that I might make a me sized t-shirt version (because an adult in a onesie is just creepy and I can't imagine that it would be comfortable). Here are pics! I used a pattern for the shoes found here. I made some fabric yoyo's (tutorial found here) and sewed them onto a plain white onesie. It was super easy.





P.S. I gave Zoey a NutriGrain bar yesterday. This is what happened.

Pimp My Craft Space

I have a post from last week that I didn't finish with my Friday faves, but I'm going to save that for this Friday because I am just so excited about other things right now! I just finished a really cute project that I will post tomorrow. Also today, I finally got my crafting space all organized and stuff and I wanted to show you! The room was originally the living room, but we sold all of the furniture in it so it was just empty. The room is good sized and I was taking over the office with my crafts, so we moved the office and craft room downstairs. We like to keep the office and crafting areas close because Zak and I like to work side by side - him raiding and killing things, and me crafting. As a result, he knows when I need to step away from the sewing machine and I can recite most of the in-game dialogue from his WoW raids. Anyways, here are some pics:


These are my new shelves. I love them. I got spice racks to put the jars of buttons on, but I painted them and they are drying.


Here is my shoe holder thingie that holds my tools so I don't have to search.
I didn't picture my desk or Zak's desk. I didn't want to kill you with awesomeness.

There are some up sides to having the office downstairs including, when we have people over and want to craft/game, we don't have to have them cramp into the little office so they can hang out with us. Also, the TV is down here so I can watch TV while crafting!

The downside is that we are right next to the kitchen. Zak and I just polished off a box of donuts in one night... this can't be good.

Dish Cloth Apron

I was asked to teach a little workshop on how to make an apron for a church activity this month. I agreed. I have a few vintage apron patterns that I was wanting to try out anyways. Well, I sat down at the sewing machine and quickly realized that I'm not so good at sewing. Especially with a pattern. Anyways... I made the apron but it turned into a longer process than I had hoped. It ended up being cute (I'll post pics another time), but I'm just not a fast sew-er (side note: I typed that first without the hyphen and the sentence took on a whole new meaning), and it was just a plain bib style apron - not exciting at all. The next day I was chatting with a friend and she found a website with aprons made out of pillow cases and dish towels. Anyways... I went to Marshall's and found some cheap dishtowels and had at it. I didn't use a pattern or anything and I made the strings a bit too short (I either have to tie a bow in the back or a square knot in the front), but I love it. I might have to do my first tutorial on it next week. We shall see...

A long Time Coming

I suck and I have no excuses. Here are some of my fave things:

1. IKEA. We are going tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. I just love so many things about that store including: 50 cent hot dogs, organization solutions galore, Swedish meatballs, ideas for adding pizazz to my home, the crazy carts and dishes. I love dishes.

2. This recipe. So freaking good. Seriously.

3. Zak wanted me to add the pic from this article, but I thought I would just put a link to it instead. Just a warning, there is some mild, partial Wookie nudity and the image may be disturbing. I think it's pretty funny though.

4. Speaking of Star Wars, I loved how Zoey's costume turned out. I bought her a teddy bear costume and made the hood to turn it into an Ewok. She wore that thing like a champ.



5. The Office and 30 Rock this season. Some episodes have been funnier than others, but for the most part, I haven't been disappointed.

6. Laffy Taffy. Not only does it taste delish, but it also has stupid jokes on the packages. I love stupid jokes. I mean really... perfect in every way. Except the part where I feel like I'm going to rip my dental work out and feel like I am getting more cavities with every piece of the stuff. P.S. I don't like the yellow ones. They are disgusting.

7. Easy money. I know, there usually isn't such a thing, but every once in a while I qualify for a focus group at this market research firm. Basically, you are put in a room with 6-10 people and there is a facilitator that asks questions about products and your feelings about them in general and specifically. You tell them your honest opinion and after about an hour and a half of discussion, you leave and they hand you an envelope with money in it. You can't really earn a living off of it because this place only lets you do a group once every 6 months, but once in a while, it's a nice boost. Hence the going to IKEA tomorrow. I'm organizing my craft room this weekend!

Aaaaaannnndddddd.... That's all my brain can handle at the moment. I'll be back next week with some projects I've been working on and maybe some pics of my new craft room! Yayeeee!

Remember Me?

Yeah... I've been scarce around these parts lately. I haven't really had much motivation to blog. I've been too busy to craft due to having estate sales, parties, cleaning the house for said parties/estate sales, caring for a teething baby with a cold, being exhausted because of the latter, etc. Life just seems unblaggable to me at the moment. That and we got the new Apple TV and we synced Netflix with it, so now we can watch things other than 30 Rock. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE 30 Rock, but I have probably seen every episode at least 10 times. Consequently, if you ever play 30 Rock Scene It, you will want me on your team.

Anyways, I did do one craft project over the last couple of weeks. Here's a couple of pics.




I cut out some leaves on my cutter and strung them on some orange yarn. The house needed some festive"ness" added to it and I think this did the trick.

That's all for now. Stay tuned this week when I will post more crafty projects, tell some funny stories (I was going to write one today, but now I can't remember what it was), and show you some of my fave things!

The Crinkle Monster

Zoey loves to play with the bag of wipes because of the way it crinkles. She goes crazy for it - as a result, she doesn't have very many real toys. Why waste money when a bag of wipes or a shoebox will keep her busy, right? I saw this tutorial on how to make a crinkly toy and thought it was genius. I took it upon myself to make a different shape though. This is how it turned out. And you can see... Zoey likes it! I wish I had it a couple of months ago though. I have a feeling she is almost out of the "I love playing with the wipes" stage.

2 Fridays Worth of Faves

You don't have to tell me... I haven't blogged as much as I should have the past couple of weeks. I feel as though I've been in a crafting rut. Ever get one of those? I'd sit down at my desk to create and nothing came out. I usually think crafts all the time, but nothing came up last week. Kinda of weird. But don't worry... I'm back with ideas. I even crafted a little bit the past couple of days so I'll post pics in a couple of days. Now for my faves...

1. As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of the band Weezer. They came out with a new album a couple weeks back entitled "Hurley" (as a homage to the character on Lost), and I love it!

2. That Zak actually fell for the old snake in a can of mixed nuts trick... oldest trick in the book. I often leave little gifts for Zak in front of his computer and when I found the mixed nuts in the fancy china cabinet (yeah, classy... I know) I was cleaning out, I couldn't resist. I really didn't think he'd fall for it. As he opened it, he said "How old are these? The can looks ancient". Then, BAM! Snake in the face! Hahahahahaaaa!



3. When my container of glitter exploded on Zoey. She was playing with some of my scrapbooking stuff and I guess the lid wasn't on the glitter very tight because now she looks like a Cullen on a sunny day. You know how it takes FOREVER to get rid of glitter because it sticks to everything! I didn't get a good picture because you had to see her in just the right light.

4. Homemade banana bread. I may or may not have eaten a whole loaf today.

5. Fall weather, minus the rain. Seems as though falls here have been more rainy than the springs. Oh well. This weekend is supposed to be beautiful. Love love LOVE sweater, boots and soup weather.

6. Did I mention my boots yet? It's pretty much the first pair that I've had that I have really loved. Really. I want to wear them all the time, but I don't have all that much they go with. I'm working on it though.



7. Target. When I go there (which is quite often), I can't just run in and run out. It seems as though I always end up spending like an hour or more. I have to look at everything. See what's on sale, see what's new. Not that I always buy stuff, I just have to look at it.

8. This sweater from Gymboree.



9. This hat from Gymboree. I have a gift card to Gymboree and I think I'm going to just buy Zoey hats with it. I went there the other day and I decided that I didn't like this years fall lines. Their winter stuff is a little cuter though.



10. This face.



11. And this one.

Card Challenge

I wrote in my previous post that I was working on a card for some challenge thing. Well, I finished and thought I'd share. I got most of the files from my mother-in-law. I think it turned out pretty well for only my second project.

Friday Faves

Again... It's technically Saturday here, but I'm doing it anyways. Tonight I have been working on making a card with my cutter to enter into a challenge thingie. I'm still learning about the cutter so it basically took me all night. And I'm still not done. I'll post pics of it when it's complete (hopefully tomorrow). Anyways... here are my faves from this week!

1. This necklace found at this Etsy Shop.

2. The Cheesecake Factory. Zak and I went for our anniversary and then again a week later with my sister. We got the Ahi Tuna Tempura Roll when Zak and I went and it was soooooo good. I would eat it right now, if I had the chance.

3. Project Runway. I loved Mondo's outfit this week. I would probably wear that.


4. Oreos. Nough said.

5. Making books on Mixbook.com and sharing them.

6. My KnK Max. I am learning lots about it and am starting to really get into the whole papercrafting thing - I even joined a forum (which usually isn't my thing, but I can see that it's going to be good for me). I just have to get some pics printed so I can start scrapbooking Zoey's life. So exciting!!!! I'll add photos as pages get made... don't worry.

7. This one is more like an anti-fave... That Top Chef Season 7 is over. I love the show and am sad the season is over, but I don't think this season was the best. I think that last season had the most talent. There were clear standouts from the get go. The first episode, I called who was going to be the final 4. I was routing for Kevin the whole time. He was so chill and seemed like such a nice guy... Zak and I want to hang out with him. This season seemed like most everyone was on the same level. You knew Angelo was going to make it to the top, but I couldn't tell who else would. Anyways... enough of my rant.

Welp, that's all folks. Have a good night!

Will I Make it on Time?

It's Saturday here on the east coast, but I am still calling it Friday Faves because it's still Friday in California :)

Here are my fave things of the week:

1. Doodle Jump - It's a game for the iphone and it's highly addictive. Really. You have to bounce the little guy pictured below onto platforms without falling or hitting bad guys.
2. The fact that I finally feel like the house is getting clean... such a nice feeling!

3. The weather here. So. Beautiful!

4. This pic of Zoey. So fashion forward! And I can't believe how big she's getting. She totally looked at the camera and tilted her head for this pic. Such a ham.


5. Listening to Zoey jabber. I could listen to that sound all day.

6. Chocolate chip cookies (made with really dark chocolate chips) topped with sea salt. Highly addictive and oh so yummy!

7. The below scarf from this Etsy Shop.


Thanks for reading! Have a good weekend!

Ba Ba Ba Bird is the Word

I was at the fabric store the other day and picked up some vinyl in the remnants bin because I was inspired by the tutorial found here. I wanted to make Zoey a headband that wasn't too girly because we aren't into that. I used the directions from the tutorial except I cut a little bird out of the vinyl instead of a flower. I think it turned out super cute!

Faves!

Hey friends! If I'm a bad blogger all week, at least you can count on a Friday post, right?

1. Fresh, cold pineapple on a hot summer day. I was at the store and a whole pineapple was the same price as a peeled and cored pineapple... Who would opt for the whole pineapple in that situation? Not me! Thanks, Stew Leonard's for peeling my pineapple!
2. This outfit from Anthropology. Went to a new-ish mall with my sister this week that we love/hated. Loved the amazing stores/hated that almost everything was out of our price range. This outfit was the perfect example. I fell in love with it, but the skirt and cardigan alone was more than $200. Sigh.


3. This hat from Gap (at the same mall). Zak thinks it's stupid, I think it's cute.


4. And finally, this little hat from this Etsy shop. I feel a project coming on!

Welp... I'm off to get ready for our 3 day weekend! Don't really have much planned, so maybe I can get some crafting done. Yay!

New Shoes!

I made another pair of shoes... I know what you're thinking "Is that all shes makes?". Well, no it's not. I've just been on this kick. I promise my next project I post won't be shoes. These ones turned out so cute!

Slacker

Yeah... I know. You don't have to tell me that I'm a slacker. I haven't posted all week. I'm not one for making excuses, but here are my excuses:

1. My sister was in town visiting so we spent some time together.
2. I've been cleaning this house full tilt (have to make the most of the dumpster while we can).
3. I got Suzanne Collins newest book "Mockingjay" and have been reading that in my spare time.
4. The weather has been absolutely beautiful this past week and I've been trying to get outside when I can.

That being said, here are some of my favorite things:

1. Turning off the AC, opening the windows, blasting music and cleaning.
2. This apron from this Etsy shop.


3. Brownies. I made some awesome brownies this week. Here's how it went... Made a brownie mix and baked it for 2/3 of the time called for in the directions. Then I took them out, poured a can of sweetened condensed milk over them, a small bag of coconut, a few butterscotch chips and a few chocolate chips. Put it back in the oven until they were done (it took a little longer... like an extra 20 minutes). So good. So sweet though.

4. Blowing bubbles with the girlie.


That's about all I can think of now. More crafting projects to come so stay tuned!

Friday Faves

I'm kind of stressing out today (so much to do, so little time) and I don't feel like doing anything but sit in front of the TV and eat my cup-o-cake (more about that below), so this is going to be short.

1. The little robots from this Etsy shop.

2. The cup-o-cake recipe found here. I am eating it right now. Honestly, it's kind of a weird texture, but if you're craving chocolate and don't feel like busting out the Kitchen Aid, it will do. As my husband keeps saying as he eats spoonful after spoonful, "I'm addicted to it's weirdness".

3. And last but not least... this bathing suit from Janie and Jack. So cute, right? I wish they made it in big.

Just Peachy

It's peach season! Yahoo! I love peaches. Probably my favorite fruit. We went peach picking a couple of weeks ago but they were so unripe,that I finally just made baby food out of them yesterday. It was delicious though. I made some plain and some with blueberries. Zoey loves them. "Om nom nom", as she would say.

I wanted to make freezer jam too, but I didn't have enough peaches, so I went to a different orchard because they were advertising buy one bag, get one free. Turns out, they actually had some really ripe ones in, what I like to call, the "As Is" or "Crash and Dent" section. Some were slightly bruised, but overall, not bad at all. I think out of the bunch, I had to throw one out. They also turned out costing less than the ones that were buy one get one free too. Oh, and I also might add, they were way cheaper than when I went to pick my own. And I didn't have to break a sweat to get them. Bonus!

The peaches were so sweet that I only used less than 1/4 of the sugar that the recipe called for. Seriously... the recipe called for 4 1/2 cups of sugar for one batch and I had double the amount of peaches. The thought of putting 9 cups of sugar in them was a little sickening. I added 1/2 cup at a time and tasted... it was perfect after 2 cups. I guess you have to have some pretty tart peaches or a real sweet tooth to need the full amount of sugar.

I couldn't resist, even though it wasn't set yet (and on a homemade roll).

Zoey and I in a peach tree!

Can't Win!

I finished another pair of shoes tonight. Yay! I decided that I want to master one style of shoe before moving on to the next, so I made another paid of kimono shoes. They are so cute and took a lot less time to make than my last pair, but only one problem... one is bigger than the other. Like noticeably bigger. I suppose I can rip the seam out and resew the bigger one to make it smaller, but I'm too tired for that. I'll have to try them on the babe tomorrow and see if you can notice when they are on chubby little feet. I was proud of myself because I even did a little top stitching this time (Yeah. I just used a fancy sewing term. No biggie. I'm pretty much a pro at sewing now... yeah right). I think it makes it look a little more finished.

Maybe I should start exploiting my mistakes and make a shop for children with "special" feet. My commercial would go something like this: Does your kid literally have 2 left feet? I have the solution! One foot 2 sizes bigger than the other? No problem! Come on down to Weezie's store - A Shoe for Every Foot - to get your right fit!