A Night View

I thought I'd share this amazing night photo. It was taken right outside of my apartment building. We were in the car on our way somewhere and I looked back at the building and saw the bright, shining moon peeking through the clouds and thought it was postcard perfect. I can see that big oak tree from my bedroom and living windows. I love that tree! I know it's a little fuzzy, but I like the shot alot!





~Beth

A little new inspiration

Recently, I've been getting into paint by numbers. Not the kits common in craft stores of kitten in a basket and such, but older ones from the 50s and 60s. I don't think I did too many growing up, so I'm not sure why I'm turning to them now, but I'm hooked. I work at an independant bookstore and the other day I found this little gem:



The kit includes eight little "canvases" which measure 7 inches by 5 inches and features all different scence. The one I just started is supposed to look like this in the end:



So far I have this:



Obviously, I have a long way to go, but it's quite relaxing. There's a great store that carries vintage housewares and clothing nearby in Lancaster called, Mommalicious, that has quite a few older finished paint by numbers. If you live near Lancaster, Pa you should really check out this store. I always find such great things. Most of the paintings there are of nature and trees, which is right up our alley. The last time I was there I found this great double sided one. One side had Jesus on and the other side had Mary. The only problem is it's impossible to display both sides, so you'd be forced to pick one. And how can you pick one? So I have not bought it...yet. If you haven't look at vintage paint by numbers, you really should. They're full of great inspiration and ideas. Not to mention they can look extra amazing in a nice wooden frame.

Brand New

Happy Spring!
Just the other day, I posted a brand new item that I'm particularly proud of......


The mini quilt!

This wasn't too far of a stretch from what I usually make. As anyone can tell just by looking at most of the clutches and bags in the shop, I enjoy layering and juxtaposing different fabrics. Also, I've been really into quilts the past year. I love looking at quilts in antique stores and flea markets. The types of fabrics and designs of older quilts are really inspiring. I also love looking through the Denyse Schmidt's quilt book I have. If you haven't seen the book, I strongly recommend that you pick a copy up. It's full of great quilting ideas that even beginners can do and it's not just all quilt projects. There's a beautiful patchwork scarf project in the book. The quilts are amazing and would look great in any home. Unfortunately, I have not made a full quilt yet. I've been wanted to for a while and even once bought certain fabrics that I would use for it, but never got around to making it.



I decided that while making a quilt for our bed might not be an option right now, I could make a miniature one to release that built up quilting energy. So this quilt came as a result. It's based off the little clutch series I've been doing lately and features the forest floor. The entire quilt is about 8 inches in size and is completely hand sewn. I thought hand sewing and embroidering would make it a really special piece and the end result I think made it worth it. The whole process was very relaxing to do and I was able to sew most of it in my living room on my favorite chair. It was a really nice change of project to do and I can't wait to start a new one soon. I'd love to hear what you think of this addition. Thanks and enjoy!

~Beth

A Week Full of New Items!

Well, I've been very busy working on a ton of new items. Some are different variations of old favorites, but most are completly new things I've never done before. I really excited about all of them! I will be listing a lot of these new creations all during this week in our Etsy shop, so keep your eyes out for them!

Here's a little peek of one thing to look for......

Potholders! Great for the kitchen or if you're like me, they make great little pieces of art to hang!







I worked on some new potholder designs today. I really enjoy layering together different fabrics and prints! We have so much fabric now, that it can definitely be overwhelming to make a selection. I really enjoy making potholders because you can use up smaller pieces of fabrics you have laying around. We have bins full of scrap fabrics, so it helps to clean things up a bit and use them! This batch I did today is probably my favorites ones I've done. I'm loving the fabric combinations! Look for them in the shop soon!

~Beth

Cookies!

Thought I share some pictures from the wonderful cookies I made last night.

These cookies had a mixture of everything I had in my cupboard. Chocolate chunks, walnuts, toffee bits, cinnamon chips...a great combination.




If it weren't only 8am, I'd have some now....but maybe I will anyway.

Yesterday, I went to my local Michaels store and marveled over the beading aisles. It's really amazing how much craft stores lately have been expanding their selection and style of beads. When I was in high school, I worked at AC Moore (the competition...although Michaels wins by a landslide if you ask me!), and the beads offered were okay. There were a ton of seed beads and findings, but as for charms and such, they were non existent. Except if you like cat or dog jewelry. I remember seeing a TON of those types of charms. Anyhow, the selection is so much better now!

These little wooden beads I picked up yesterday:



I think these will be perfect for a few necklaces I have in mind!

Here's a few charms I got a while ago:






I love this cute bird charm! I came with four other birds as well, but this one was the reason I bought the pack.

Even if you don't have a good local bead store around where you live, it's getting easier and easier to find the beads you want at Michaels or another craft store. Although, if you're planning to make and sell your creations, be warned....it seems like everyone else is discovering these beads too! All it takes is a simple search on Etsy and these charms pop up all over the place! So the trick is making yours look really different from the rest.
A good example of a store bought bead popping up all over Etsy is this charm I bought yesterday:



Just try and search "branch bird necklace" and you'll be overwhelmed! Regardless of how many different necklaces use this charm, it is beautiful! I couldn't resist making one for myself!



It's really nice to be able to see what other crafters are doing with the same beads you have. That's one of the really great things about being crafty....there's so many different way to do things!

A few days ago, we went on a trip to our local Home Depot and found our current new love......Wood grain contact paper! I'm not sure why we never bought any before or why we never decided to experiment with it, but we're hooked now. Our store had about 5 different grains, which ranged from the very realistic to the very artificial looking. We opted for a darker grain roll and barely got in the door before we started our first project. Here's what we did:

Supplies:
*darker grain wood contact paper
*stool
*scissors
*pen


I have purchased this stool a while ago from Target and while I liked the colors, I decided it was time for a change.



Ready for the directions? Okay....Trace the area to be covered, cut, and then smooth the contact paper over the measured area! That's it! How easy is that?




Needless to say, we are eyeing up everything in our apartment that could be covered with this roll of magic.