2 weeks December 18, 2008

It doesn’t seem even the least bit possible that there are only two weeks left in this year. However as unlikely as that seems, even more unbelievable (for me) is the fact that theres also only 2 weeks left in my 22 year. This year has literally flown by and I don’t know where it went.

We’re finished with all of our Christmas shopping and I’m nearly done with all my Christmas crafting. There will probably be a large section of time after this coming Thursday when I won’t want to even set foot in my craft room- thats how sick of all this work I am. However I still need to finish 1 purse, 1 crayon/colored pencil carrier, and about 50 bajillion of those silly picture ornaments. I had been sewing them by hand in the evenings while watching tv but I was watching my little stash of embroidery thread diminish at an alarming rate not to mention that I would only finish about 4 each night before saying Screw it I don’t want to do this anymore. So today I broke down and started using the machine.

I walked into a shelf this morning. I was coming out of my husband’s game room and he has some display shelves on the wall and I happened to be just the right height to narrowly miss my eye and hit my eyebrow instead and now I have a big old bump. We have a family Christmas get together on Saturday and I’m just praying that it doesn’t bruise too badly because its actually step family and I don’t want them leaping to the worst possible conclusion. Seriously who’s going to believe I actually ran into a shelf? My husband tried so hard not to laugh when I told him. Especially because when I walked out of the room after telling him, I ran into our bathroom door. Can we say accident prone?

Speaking of Jarell, he got me Christmas and Birthday presents this year which may not sound like much, but usually in all the rush of Christmas he has a hard time remembering my birthday because his family doesn’t celebrate due to the whole Jehovah’s witness thing. This year he got it all done ahead of time and I have no clue what I got and I’m ecstatic. I’ve always been good at guessing gifts and always considered it a curse. For me theres nothing worse than looking at the present and knowing what it is, especially if I know I won’t like it, and having to still act surprised and happy when I open it. One notable exception being when he got me my sewing machine for Christmas last year because I just couldn’t wait to get it open and start playing with it.

I guess thats enough random babble for today. If I can get the internet to function again tomorrow, I’ll try to post again, but we’ll see.

Happy Holidays folks!

Picture Ornaments Tutorial December 11, 2008

I am sure these are a dime a dozen out there and I am certain someone has made tutorials for these as well, but I haven’t found (or looked for for that matter) any so I’m going to share my particular version of these. Actually this is more suggestions and a trial and error list of lessons than tutorial with step by step instructions.

Supplies

White cotton or linen fabric amount varies but you’ll need a square slightly larger than each one of your photos

iron on transfer paper- I used Avery and was very pleased with the results

iron

printer and computer

digital pictures or old photos and a scanner or both

felt

embroidery floss

scissors and a needle

a little stuffing for each photo to make a little ornament pillow

 

I started by cropping a selection of each photo that I wanted in my free photo editing software, Gimp. I don’t save the changes to the original photo but instead transfer the changes to a new empty document. However you choose to go about this part is up to you. I saved all my pictures into documents with a page size of 8 1/2 by 11 so that when it came time to print they would all fit on and use up one sheet of the iron on transfer paper.

I changed all my photos to black and white and lightened some of them that were darker. I then tinted them to give them a sepia tone but you could print in full color, black and white or even crazy Warhol inspired tones- its entirely up to you.

Once you have all your pictures edited to your liking print the pages out onto the special paper. I went into my printers preferences (on the print screen) and set the paper type to Photo Transfer paper but I don’t know if this makes a difference. We’ll assume it does and say thats an important step. Also since you’re using photos for this project set the quality to best or photo or whatever is the optimal print setting so that these babies come out looking fabulous.

Once they’re printed separate your photos, cutting off any parts of the picture that you don’t want included in the finished project.

Prepare your surface and read the instructions on the back of the transfer paper packaging. I did make sure that there was no water in my iron and shut off the steam but I didn’t check to make sure there were no bits of string stuck to my fabric and a couple of my photos have blue spots on them from random stuff in my craft room. Make sure that there is an even surface under your photo- if you have a pillow case under it, make sure that it is all the way under the picture- the reason being that uneven surfaces equal …. unique textures that aren’t quite right in the finished project.

It took about 45 seconds per photo for the ironing and in case you’re wondering, no you can’t reuse the photos- the whole sticky side comes off on your fabric and thats that. Allow the photos to cool fully (about 2 minutes off the hot surface) before trying to peel the backing from the fabric. Don’t iron on a surface that might be ruined by high heat i.e. that antique sewing cabinet that belongs to your step mother. (learned this at 6 am one Saturday when I was in High School- serves her right for waking me up to do something she should have done the day before)

Now to the ornaments. I made a couple of these that were larger, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20 and I would make the pictures wallet sized or just slightly larger. Trim around the outside edge of your photo leaving an edge of about an 8th of an inch-ish. Cut a piece of felt to the same size while you’re at it. Place your felt and picture together with the right sides out. Arm yourself with needle and embroidery floss and blanket stitch around the outside edge till you have only a small opening left. Stuff the little pillow shape lightly- just enough to give it some dimension or more if you wish- and finish sewing the opening shut. For a hanger you can do several things. you could attach some ribbon and go that route, you could use some extra embroidery floss to make a loop as I chose to do, or you could even take a metal hanger and hook the little end through your blanket stitches and hang it that way.

I am making these with pictures of my nieces and nephews for my MIL and SIL, my brothers and I for my parents my step mom, and even a couple of family pets for our own tree. The subject matter options are endless. I may have one of each of my nieces and nephews on the tree for them to take home from Christmas this year so that they have them as keepsakes. In addition to family photos you can add sayings to these in a photo editing software- just go wild and have a blast.

My beautiful camera assistant

Happy Holiday Crafting December 10, 2008

I’m going to assume that I’m not the only one out there crazy enough to be making a bunch of my gifts and/or ornaments this year due to lack of funds or disdain for what is commercially available so I thought today I might share a few places where I’ve found some wonderful inspiration.

Saidos da Concha has a cute tutorial on making felt ornaments that gave me some ideas. This is a bilingual blog, but she has instructions in English.

Craftbits has a bunch of stuff, but I like a couple of their Christmas card ideas. Here and here.

Francine Clouden has a bunch of different goodies a wreath, several tags, a bird ornament and these felt ornaments.

I also found a bunch of goodies on flickr  just by searching Christmas ornaments handmade.

 A couple of my favorites were this one, this one, and all the cuties here. The last one being the inspiration for my tree ornament in my post the other day.

I know not all of you are as nutty as I am, but in case you feel the urge, this should give you some inspiration.

A couple of other places you might like are One Pretty Thing and The Crafty Princess Diaries because they have lists of goodies. But they can be a bit addictive so consider yourself forewarned.

Now I’m off to work on my next gift project- picture ornaments. Can someone out there come and knock me upside the head and maybe take away the iron on transfer paper before I go completely nuts?

Oh Christmas Tree December 8, 2008

The holidays have been a very special time for me for as long as I can remember. When I was little B.D. (before divorce) my parents and my little brothers and I would make the trip to Gramma and Grampa’s house for Thanksgiving. We’d all eat till we were stuffed. I would run around with black olives on each of my fingers or drag my antique baby doll who was as big as I was up from the family room in the basement. I’d then proceed to re-introduce everyone to Charlotte, the worlds ugliest doll. She had been found on the side of the road by my Grampa, with on arm broken off. That deterred him not at all and he cobbled her back together like some child’s forgotten Frankestein with a bolt that went through both arms. To this day she still survives as a somewhat grisly reminder of my wonderful childhood.

When it came to Christmas, things were different. My parents stopped celebrating Christmas for religious reasons after I turned 3 and so we didn’t celebrate per se. This lack of celebration never stopped my grandparents in Michigan from sending us several boxes of goodies and as December came I began my watch for the much anticipated UPS truck bringing its wonderful surprises. Always there was at least one box of homemade cookies and candies- oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, peanut butter, ones with gooey candied cherries in them, and many flavors of candy both homemade and store bought. The presents were still opened on and Christmas always yielded a Barbie or two and often ponies as well as homemade clothing and barettes or jewelry. My grandma never failed to make this a special day for us.

I remember as well my birthday that would always come a week later with more gifts and often a family get together. One year in particular I got one of those dolls that actually wet her diaper, a little table just my size. Another year a homemade piggy bank, my first embroidery set, and a doll with jewels in her hair. The cake was memorable in that it was frosted to look like a gumball machine with skittles stuck into the icing. That was a particularly special year.

Holidays A.D. were a much different affair and I remember both halves of that first Christmas very well. My parents were both broke and we had just moved into a tiny basement apartment in a rough part of town. My dad was having a very rough time of it having lost his whole family in such a short time as well as a lot of money for the court costs and other bills. I’ll never forget staying at a friend of the family’s house one Saturday while my dad had to work and making an enormous paper chain of different colored papers. I was so proud of it and was very surprised when we got home that day to be taken out in the woods with my dad to find a Christmas tree. My little brother proudly hacked away at the trunk with his little hatchet and then let daddy do the last little bit of work. *wink wink* I was 7 which means he had just turned 5 and he was so proud to be helping.

We took our sad little spruce home and wrapped it round with the paper chain. From somewhere hidden in the basement my dad produced an old box of cherished Christmas ornaments and lights and  we decorated the tree as best we could with the little that we had. I don’t remember what he held it up with- maybe there was a tree stand too- but I do remember that the tinfoil star didn’t want to stay on the top because the tree was a little crooked. To this day I can’t see a Charlie Brown Christmas tree without thinking of that one.

Someone donated a tree to my mom- just a little 3 foot artificial tree and it stood on a box in our little living room. I don’t remember much about the decorations except for one little handmade angel that hung at the top in place of a star.

Gifts were sparse that year. Someone adopted our family and I got Barbie tennis shoes and an amazingly intricate crocheted Barbie ball gown. My dad got me a little digital diary/organizer and it still resides in a box of special childhood toys along with that dress.

I have been thinking back on that day this year as I decorate my tree with ornaments that we have bought as well as a few that I have made. It makes me thankful for what I have now and also reminds me that I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for how I grew up. I am thankful for that too.

Hats November 14, 2008

This week has started to feel a bit chilly here in the midwest and it got me thinking about Thanksgiving which brings the inevitable thoughts of Christmas right on its heels.

With those thoughts clamoring around in my brain I wandered through pages of projects in search of ideas for makeable Christmas presents- preferably projects that I could make with what I have on hand as much as possible. Stumbling through random webpages, I found a link on the side of the Threadbanger blog that was instructions on how to make a brimmed beanie because those are all the rage with teens and young adults right now. I wandered over to the instructions and found myself quite taken with the idea either with or without the brim included. Hmmm I thought to myself, Don’t I have some old sweaters hanging out in my craft stash waiting for something to be done to them? I checked and sure enough I found three right off the bat.

The first hat I made reduced the sweater used into only enough material for one hat but I learned my lesson for the next bunch and ended up making 4 more hats this morning after my initial attempt. The easy breezy part is that you use the hem of the sweater for the bottom of your hat, allowing you to make two adult size hats (probably 3 or 4 kid’s sized) from one sweater. Wonderful! I now have a project that takes me about 10 minutes per hat that will work wonderfully for all the kids in the family because in our neck of the woods the cold weather tends to hit after Christmas. Now all I need are a bunch of scarfs!

Hats! I especially like the white one with ears

Mexican Christmas April 22, 2008

Not the actual holiday altho thats a very unusual event in and of itself. But it sure felt like Christmas last night when I got to open the bags of our belongings that just came back to us from Mexico. Let me explain to those of you who didn’t live through this with me on myspace. Back in the middle of November my darling dearest and I moved to Mexico for his job with his father. It was an open ended trip that may have lasted for years. We came back for a couple of weeks just before Christmas and because it was supposed to be a short trip home, we didn’t bring all our stuff home with us. But we never went back (and for that I thank god every day. I still have nightmares where we had to go back down there.) Our stuff however was still there. Mostly clothes, but I needed those clothes especially the shirts. Also some really nice yarn that I bought for a steal down there. And my extra contacts. Well I was ecstatic to find out yesterday that this stuff all came home with my MIL and FIL. How awesome is that? So I happily dug out the clothes from the first suitcase that came upstairs last night and threw them in the washer and this morning they were dry and warm and so happy to be back in the US. They clung to the dryer which doesn’t surprise me because we didn’t have a dryer down there and everything was line dried. Oh I was so happy that got my spongebob pj’s back and my good cute shirts. I was almost crying over the stuff I thought was gone for good. Well enough of all this misplaced emotion. I’m off to dig through another bag of goodies.