Olive and S puppet theatre and holiday recap!

Brotherly love on Christmas morning at grandma's house.

Had to share this one because as my husband put it, Luke looks like he is about to poop a turd of happiness. Hahahaha.

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. We did. It was nice -- and also so very tiring and hectic! We had things going on and people to see Friday, Saturday and all day Sunday, and then we were both back to work on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was spent sorting through my house, trying to get this disaster area in order. The aftermath of Christmas is always a mess, isn't it? Boxes, wrapping paper, twisty ties, toys everywhere. Thing must be put together. Old toys must be stored. New toys must find new homes. And of course, everything must be played with. It's all intense. I was still wearing my robe and PJs yesterday at 2 p.m. And I was pretty much fine with that.

The hectic-ness of the last two weeks did me in when it came to handmade gifts. I had so many plans for handmade gifts. I accomplished only two of them. The Olive and S puppet theatre for my boys and an apron for my mother-in-law. The apron was finished around midnight on Christmas Eve because I scraped my first totally finished apron and started over from scratch at about 10:30 p.m.. I do not recommend this. Stress! Hello, stress!

I'll share more about the apron fiasco later. For now, can I show you the finished puppet theatre?

I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Of course, I know every little thing that is wrong with it (uneven bottom anyone?). But overall, I think it looks cute, and it's completely functional, and Luke took right to it.

If you plan to make this project, know that the instructions are great, but there are many many steps and this is something that takes hours. I'd guess I put at least 10 hours into this. Not a quick turnaround by any means. But I have a feeling we will be playing with this for years and years.

Did you give any handmade gifts this year? Did they get the reaction you hoped for?

Merry and bright... and really really busy

Sorry I have been a bit MIA. It's that time of year. I'm sure you're feeling it, too. So many things to do during the holidays. Does anyone else wonder why we try to cram so much into a few short weeks?

The last few years, I've taken a week off in early December to try and get all my shopping, decorating, mailing and baking done. I am now working just part-time, but decided to keep the tradition alive. It's nice to have so much out of the way early in the month. So I have been off for an entire week now and don't work again until Sunday. I wish I had more sewing done in this time to show you, but mostly, I've just been checking other holiday stuff of my to-do list.

Here's a big ol catch up post to show you what I've been up to. 

We got the tree up yesterday! We get a real tree. I love it but man, it's a lot of work. Getting the tree is truly an all-day affair, and we're not chopping it down or anything. Just picking it up in nearby parking lot. But anyway, it's up and I love it.

 I made this wreath yesterday. Super easy. We can't do a green wreath anymore since we painted the door green this summer. So I thought red might be nice. All I did was wrap a wreath form in red yarn, hot glue some small ornaments in one corner, and attach a wreath bow in the other. I plopped that twig of silver balls in for the last touch. Super fast to make and cost about $12 for all the supplies (I already had the wreath form.)

On Saturday, my Mom and Aunt and I went shopping in Detroit. It was a great day. I'm still planning to show off the stuff I bought at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair!  I forgot to take photos all day though, except for this festive light display in a store front downtown. So I need to snap some shots of what I bought, then I'll post!

On Sunday night, we took the kids to the Wayne County Lightfest. Which mostly, they slept through. But it was something I've been wanting to see for years. It's a 5-mile long road with more than a million Christmas lights set up in elaborate displays. It's about a 30-minute drive for us, but worth it. I hope when the kids get older they enjoy it more.

 On Monday, we hit up the mall to see Santa. If you want a professional photo with Santa, it's $30 at our mall. Or it's $5 if you want to take your own. An easy decision, if you ask me!

I also made our Christmas cards. I feel like a flipping genius this year, because I made this custom photo card and printed 75 of them -- for $5! I just used Picasa to make a collage and Snapfish to order .09 cent prints, which I might stick to a piece of cardstock. Or not. I am pretty excited about this though. $5?? I feel like an idiot for ordering such expensive cards in past years!

I've been working on a tutorial for the Scarflette! I hope to have it finished next week, which still leaves some time to make one or two or five for your friends for Christmas. Stay tuned!


And tomorrow, my ornament will be featured in the Sew Woodsy 12 Days of Christmas event! I thought I was Friday, but nope, it's tomorrow. This is actually the back of my ornament. Just wanted to give you a sneak peak.

So that's what I've been up to. How about you? Are you ready for Christmas?

Handmade, quilted Christmas stockings.

Last year, this was a big, milestone project for me. The very first thing I quilted. Our Christmas stockings! So even though the project is a year old, I want to share it here.

I know, I know. Where's the green and red, right? Well, I fell in love with the cheeky blue print and bought it online. I had just redecorated the living room/dining room with a blue and orange color palette. I didn't think red and green would go with it, so I searched for holiday prints that used blue. Then I matched the flowery print with it, simple because I like it and it coordinates. My husband thinks it looks like how they'd do Christmas in Hawaii. I can live with that. 

We don't have a holder for the cat's stocking, so Luke volunteered. I think I'll leave him there all month, ha.

The inspiration for these came from Prudent Baby. 

I saw this tutorial and became instantly obsessed. Does this happen to you? I HAD to make them. (In my defense, I was about seven-months pregnant and totally in that nesting phase.) I stayed boarded up one Saturday or Sunday and sewed the entire day away. It was worth it. I love these. I felt so proud that I had quilted something.

It was sweet having J.J's up last year, even though he was just on the way. So hard to believe how time has flown by. Look at my little guy now.

He turned 10 months old this week. 

Crazy. 




So we're doing a lot of this these days. Getting into everything. Especially things we shouldn't get into.

He's been going up and down the stairs now for more than a month. He's pretty adept now. But definitely keeping me on my toes.

I'm feeling blessed right now. Feeling thankful. It's nice to have four big stockings to fill.

Happy weekend everyone!

Detroit Urban Craft Fair and kickoff to Handmade Ornament Event

I'm so geeked for this weekend. It's a big weekend.

Why?

It's Detroit Urban Craft Fair weekend!

Also known as one of the reasons I fell in love with the handmade community. One of the biggest inspirations that led me to explore my own creative side and take up sewing. I owe a lot to this event, truly!

If you're in Detroit, you going? You should! There are 60 vendors and I swear, something at each and every table will strike your fancy. You'll be blown away at the collective creative energy and talent you see. And the friendliness. That too.

I'm extra excited this year, because I've turned my annual trek to the craft fair into a Day O'Detroit Shopping. My mom and aunt are coming with me. We're going to fit up many wonderful shopping places in downtown Detroit. The biggest problem will probably be remembering to buy for Christmas gifts and not just for me me me!

I really cannot wait. I'm going to take a lot of pictures this year and will recap the day o'shopping fun next week.

Also next week (on Friday, to be exact), I'll be sharing a handmade Christmas ornament tutorial over at the 12 Days of Handmade Ornaments event at Sew Woodsy. It kicks off today, so click on over there when you get a chance. The first ornament is up, and it's cute. And really easy, too.

Announcements and what have yous

I was really excited to see how many others are loving the vintage sheet trend. Always nice to know you're not alone. I'm definitely going to be sewing with my sheets in the near future. So stay tuned for that!

OK, two quick announcements. I joined Google+ yesterday. Is anyone actually using this social network? Seems like, mostly, no. But I had training at work and was encouraged (ahem) to join, so I'm there. If you're on there, leave me a note and I'll add you to my circles. Or whatever the lingo is. :)

And finally! Guess what? I'm taking part in a fun event in December. Katie from the blog Sew Woodsy is having a 12 Days of Christmas handmade ornament event and asked me to participate. Today she announced the event and the full line up of bloggers. I'd really honored to be included and will be checking out all the other participants' blogs soon! Look for all the handmade ornament goodness starting on Dec. 1. Yeehaw!

And because every post needs a good photo or two.... Check out these finds from an antique store I was in last week or so. I didn't get anything -- not the fabric or the vintage buttons. Mistake?!?

I seriously might go back for the fabric. If only the antique store wasn't a good 45 minutes away....