In Loving Memory...

This month has brought a lot of heartache to my family - a week before Christmas my grandpa passed away. In his honor, I dedicate this post and would like to share a lovely poem my grandma selected for his service:

The Broken Chain by Ron Tranmer

We little knew the day that,
God was going to call your name,
In life we loved you dearly,
in death we do the same.

It broke our hearts to lose you,
but in God we put our trust,
In times as difficult as this,
faith is such a must.

You left us peaceful memories,
your love is still our guide,
And though we cannot see you,
you are always at our side.

Our family chain is broken,
and nothing seems the same,
But as God calls us one by one,
the chain will link again.

 

Doll Tutu's - Revised!

Last year I ventured into the world of tutu's!  Huge hit with my girls, but not so much at our craft show last year.  For this years show, I decided to add a leotard with each tutu and jazz them up a bit - huge success!!!  On the Saturday of our show, I sold all the ballet costumes and had to make more for the next day.

These tutu's could not be any easier to make.  I simply use an elastic hair band and slip knot the tulle around it.  The leotards were a swimsuit doll pattern that my mom helped me to perfect (I made many before they fit the dolls properly!) 

I'm still undecided about whether the tutu's are a bit too long and foofy for the dolls; I may try a few a bit shorter and see which I like better.

  Holiday tutu with green sparkle leotard.

One of my favorites!  Burgendy and gold tutu with roses and a matching leotard.

Dark purple velvet leotard with white roses and a purple and white tutu.  Another cute one!

Green flower fairy tutu - yellow and green sparkle tulle with flower and pearl accents.
I am having so much fun creating these; each one is unique and fun!! 

Happy Crafting!

Ocean Cuties Baby Blanket

To get my Etsy shop running; I decided to make some unique embroidered baby blankets.  I typically sell these at work and thought about how I could enhance them to be even cuter than before!

In the past, I would embroider designs onto anti-pill fleece; then sew it together with a flannel.  Once my wheels started turning, I figured the next step into cuteness for these blankets would be to finish them off with a satin blanket binding or a quilt binding. 

Success!!  I think the binding gives the blankets just the right finishing touch, don't you?!
This Ocean Cuties blanket is one of my favorite.  I choose a soft white bubble chenille fabric for the top layer with the most adorable ocean embroidery.  Each corner has a different character: Octopus, fish, seahorse and a whale.

The back of the blanket is a snuggle flannel ocean print that is new at Jo Ann Fabrics!  I was beyond excited when I saw the bolt of this flannel!  The quilt binding compliments the colors in the print just perfectly!

Just one look at these ocean cuties makes me want to smile!! 

Happy Crafting!

My Etsy Shop!!

After months of good intentions and "I'll list stuff next month"...I finally got my Etsy shop up and running!
Over the next few days I will be listing more items - so please keep checking back.  Once a week I will also feature one of the items here on the blog.

I am so excited to be taking this next step with my crafting and sharing my passion for creating with others.

Happy Crafting everyone!

                                

Poky Little Puppy Party

Wow - so much time has gone by since my last post!  And so much has happened!  Right after Madailein began kindergarten, I received a promotion at work and started working nights.  What an adjustment this has been for all of us!

But what better way to get back into the swing of things than with a party!  In October our little one turned two (I can't believe it!).  She is so in love with puppies so we decided to do a Poky Little Puppy / Little Golden Book theme. 

 Here's my silly girl getting her birthday pictures taken.  She was so ornery and rotten that day!!  I absoultely love her dress from TheSmockExchange.com.  Light blue polka dot bishop dress with handsmocked puppies - to die for!! 

Ready to open presents!

A friend of my sister-in-law made this wonderful cake.  10" square double layer cake - and it was delicious!!  Time really does fly and I am so grateful to have these wonderful memories of my little ones!

I have lots of crafting planned for the next few months; so stay tuned for more posts!!

Happy Crafting

First Day of Kindergarten!

These past few weeks have just been hectic trying to get prepared for the first day of Kindergarten!  However - day one went much better than I expected.  :D

The week before school started; Madailein had an opportunity to meet her teacher and go on a "treasure hunt" throughout the school.  She just sat right down at a desk and made herself at home - as if she's been doing this for years!!

Here we are the night before the first day reading Little Critter's Best Teacher Ever. She loved this book!

Of course, no first day of school would be complete without the perfect outfit!!

I got the idea for the "When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A..." chalkboard from Pinterest (my new addiction!)
Most kindergartners will probably say they want to be a fireman, policeman or teacher - not my Madailein!  She wants to be a wedding planner when she grows up!!  I think someone has been watching too many episodes of Project Runway and Say Yes To The Dress with me! 

Madailein (and Mommy!) have survived the first week of school!  Yea for us! 

How did your first day of school go?  Did you do the chalkboard idea too?  I would love to see your pictures!

Happy Crafting!

Two By Two

With fall fast approaching, I am now in full swing crafting mode!!  For the craft show, I decided to do some of the embroidered blankets that have been selling so well at work.  There is so much snuggle flannel in my fabric stash; this was the perfect way to use up my stockpile!!

For the first blanket, I found some adorable Noah's ark designs.  Usually I embroider on anti-pill fleece; however I am trying a new version of the blankets for the craft show.  Now I am using flannel on both sides and plan on using a satin blanket binding around the blanket to finish it off. 

The animals are too adorable - but I would change the colors used for the zebra's if I use the same designs again. The zebras looked cuter in my mind then in reality!!

 You can't have a Noah's ark blanket without the ark!!

Next step, I just need to find some blue satin trim to make complete the look.
Happy Crafting!

Easy Abstract Painting

Creating a one of a kind abstract painting is easier than you think!!  I personally am not much of an abstract artist and typically struggle in this area - so I can definitely vouch for this method. 

First - take some photographs of random objects.  It can be flowers, furniture, appliances, the staircase, dishes...anything that looks interesting to you.  Don't get too attached to the photographs because now you are going to print them and cut them up.  That's right - cut them up!!  Take a handful of your favorite pictures, cut them into squares and rectangles, then rearrange into a large square.

Next - start painting!!  Your mind won't be so focused on trying to paint the exact objects that you photographed.  Instead, you will start to just see lines, shapes and colors.

In my abstract painting above, the photographs that I dismantled were of chairs and vases - though you would never know it!  This technique works really well with black and white photos also to create beautiful gray scale art.

There you have it - an easy way to create a unique masterpiece of your own!! 

Happy Crafting!

Join me at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday!

My entry into Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Party is sponsored by Appliances Online and the Best Range Cooker.

Turtle Love

I had the honor of creating another baby blanket for a coworker. She did not have any theme in mind, just that it had to be for a boy. I love having so much freedom to come up with a cute blanket!! To start, I rifled through my supply of baby flannel and found the perfect turtle material. Who doesn't love adorable turtles?! I knew I could find the perfect embroidery designs with baby turtles. 

The back of the blanket is a blue turtle pattern snuggle flannel and the front is a white anti-pill fleece.  Three of the corners are graced with these super cute turtles; while the fourth corner contains a message to the new baby.



 

 

Overall this blanket took me approximately 4 hours to embroider and sew together - but it turned out so cute it was worth the time! 

Happy Crafting!! 

Join me at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday!

My entry into Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Party is sponsored by Appliances Online and the Best Range Cooker.

Owl-dorable Coat Tree

It's been a year - but I finally painted the coat tree in Madailein's room to match her owl decor!!  Yea!!  :D
Originally, this coat tree was in my sisters room and had baby Minnie Mouse on top. When Madailein was born I painted it to match her Classic Pooh nursery.  Super cute but definitely in need of an update!

 To ensure this would now fit in with her ubber adorable owl room, I decided to paint the coat tree brown and paint some leaves on it. 

 

The leaves and ivy started to take on a life of its own!!  I'm very pleased with how this turned out.  However - it wouldn't be half as cute without the little owls I found at a local craft store.

Who's ready to do some reading?!  Madailein's little chair looks perfect in the corner with her new Owl-dorable coat tree!!!

Happy Crafting! Linking Up at:

Mermaids This Way!

Now that we are back for our lovely and relaxing beach vacation - it was time for Madailein's mermaid birthday party!!!  I had so much fun decorating for her party, and with more time and a bigger budget I would have gone overboard!  :D

We decided to go with a color theme of aqua green, turquoise blue and a light purple; which all complimented the Little Mermaid party decor Madailein wanted.  In our living room I used crepe paper and balloons of similar colors and stretched them across the ceiling.  I was going for the look of being under water!

To carry on the "Under the Sea" theme, my mom made adorable jellyfish out of paper bowls and curling ribbon.  Such a super easy and frugal party decoration - and you can reuse the bowls if they are not too destroyed, lol! 



I debated on whether to make a cake or order a Little Mermaid cake from the bakery.  With the amount of people coming to her party this year, I gave it my all and made a cake!  Considering I am by no means a professional cake decorator, I was proud of my cute Under the Sea cake!!

The hit of the party was the surprise visit from Ariel!  If you live in the Northeast Ohio area, I highly recommend Tiaras and Treasures for kids parties.  Ariel did a wonderful job with the girls! 

Party was a success and we had a very surprised and excited little girl that day!  :D

Happy Crafting (and party planning!)
Nicole