Knitted Goodness

Y'all, my super talented friend Shannon is doing a giveaway on her blog.  Go look at it here.

She knitted several hats and some booties for Milo and also that SUPER CUTE pumpkin outfit he wore at Halloween.  Here.  Let me refresh your memory:

Oh my word.  He was so tiny.  And isn't that pumpkin just the most precious thing you've ever seen?  If he was still that tiny I'd totally get him one of her sock monkey hat/diaper cover sets.  Maybe I'll get one for my sister's little munchkin when she has him/her (probably a her).  :) 

Anyway, check out Shannon's giveaway, and check out her Etsy shop.  There's a link on the side of her blog.  She has awesome stuff (including knit Chuck Taylor type shoes!).  

Lest you think these things come easily...

When I was making birthday cards the other day, I thought I'd take a picture of my workspace to document that this is a P R O C E S S...and not a neat and tidy one. In the picture you'll note the following: laptop (to look up examples), at least two paper craft magazines to get ideas from (I almost never have the things that the people use in magazines or online so I have to wing it with what I DO have), boat loads of patterned paper, a LARGE DP, and other assorted crafty type implements.

Birthday Cards

We celebrated birthdays for some of the girls at the office this week - here are the cards I made. I hate the lighting - it doesn't do justice to the colors. :( Oh well. I had fun creating!

Crafting Again

Update: I found the pics of the third sign!!! Here they are!

After a lengthy hiatus (due mostly to the fact that I've been mourning the loss of my crafting partner and one of my bff's to the icy climes of Montana) I've started crafting again. OK, I spent one night crafting. I don't know if it means I'm back for good but it's a start. I made these for some of the girls at work. There was a third one that I made back in June or July but I can't seem to find a picture of it. I know there's a picture somewhere...maybe someday I'll find it. In the meantime, here are the two I took pics of yesterday.

Fun Stuff

Since I've been so boring in the post area lately, I thought I'd make up for it by sharing some websites with you...places you can spend your hard earned money. :) Recently I've been turned on to a few super fun websites. The three I'm sharing today are three super talented ladies (one of them right here in OK!) who make fun handmade products.

The first is The Vintage Pearl. Erin makes way cute hand-stamped jewelry mostly for women but she has recently added some pieces for men AND she has a "ready to ship" shop as well. I have the "dainty initial hearts necklace" (what N got me for Valentine's day) and LOVE it. You can check out her shop (link above) or follow her blog here. She does giveaways and coupons on the blog!

Next is Gussy. She taught herself to sew a couple years ago and she makes all kinds of things that all have her signature freestyle ruffle on them. This is my bag that I just recently ordered (I also have a checkbook cover and small zipped pouch!):

(And yes, that's it sitting on top of the bag and diaper bag that we have packed for the hospital and are NOT using.) Check out her shop (link above) and follow her blog here.

Last, but certainly not least, is Jessica at allorahandmade. She makes jewelry and accessories with pretty handrolled flowers on them...I just ordered a necklace and earrings and can't wait to get them! (Ruffles and flowers...I think maybe I'm "girling it up" for myself because I'm about to have a baby boy and will be very outnumbered in my house...)

Anyway, enjoy looking at all the pretty stuff! And if you have a shop/site you'd like to share, feel free to post it in the comments. I'm always hunting for fun new things!

Updates

So, I haven't posted lately because there really hasn't been a whole lot happening around here. I've been working and we have been doing boring projects on the house...getting ready to put on storm windows, sealing the patio, clearing brush in the backyard, fun stuff like that.

I have been doing a few crafty projects...this first one was a gift for my mother-in-law for her birthday, the second is my fall "Welcome" sign for our house, and the third is a little chalkboard/magnet thing for my niece Abbey for her birthday.

Also, our mums bloomed. They were so pretty! They're not as pretty now - the color has kind of faded. They were pretty for a few days though!

Lastly, Nathan's birthday was Monday and we celebrated by having dinner at home with just the three of us (Kona being the third) and then he got to open his present. First, a little background. When he was growing up my sweet husband LOVED playing with Legos. He built rocket ships and all kinds of things. He also loves architecture, in particular, Frank Lloyd Wright's designs (see earlier posts). Well, the good folks at Lego partnered with someone and made some architecture sets of Legos, three or four of which are FLW buildings. So, I got Nathan the Fallingwater set for his birthday. I was a little worried that he'd think it was silly or that he'd outgrown that kind of thing but as you can see below, my fears were unfounded. As soon as we ate dinner, he had it out of the box working on it. Now the only issue is going to be finding a place to display it after he's done!

We have Abbey's birthday party this weekend and then we are going on a cruise next week so I should have plenty to post after we get home!

Guest Room/Craft Room Makeover

As promised, here are the pics of the guest room which is now the guest room/craft room. It's not completely finished - I want roman shades on the windows but am probably going to have to make them as we can't find cheap/reasonable ones that we like AND that make the room dark.

Here are the before pics:



And this is the table that I got from my in-laws before I painted it:




And the after pics:

There's the painted table...it's black w/stripes around the top in the same teal blue that's on the walls.






Here's the light fixture which I just LOVE! I told Nathan he better save all the stuff that goes with it because I am taking it with us if/when we ever move!


So, we'll play a little game. Can anyone guess how much it cost to re-do this room? (This is not an original idea - Nester Girl does this often.) Just post your guess in the comments. I'll either update this post or do a new one w/the breakdown.

Lana has created a monster!

My friend Lana got me started crafting back in the spring. At first I thought - there is NO WAY I'm creative enough to do this...and that may be true, but I've been having fun anyway! Here are some of my creations to this point.

Card for a friend's baby shower.

Card for another friend's baby shower.

Thank you card.

Made this for a friend's baby's room.

Mother's Day card for my mom.

Thank you card.

Mother's Day card for my m-i-l.

Birthday card for a friend.

I made these for my nieces for Easter. Those are crazy straws and glow sticks (15 for $1 at Michael's!). The glow sticks were a HUGE hit w/the girls.

Some of the projects were based off of ideas in crafting magazines/books, some were my ideas. Can you guess which are which?

"And what is this" you may be asking...I know it looks like a toilet paper holder...

But if you punch some holes and add some brads and wheels, a pipe cleaner for reigns, and some cutouts from a teacher's handbook...

Turns out it's actually a chariot! This is Philip and the Ethiopian.

We are teaching the 2-3 year old class at church on Wednesday nights. We're doing all kinds of crazy crafts. None of them my original ideas of course...thank goodness for the curriculum that tells us exactly what to do!


With that, I'm off to get ready for work. More to come!