...and the Winner is...

Yesterday did not seem like Friday, so sorry I'm a day late :) I threw the names in a hat and the winner is Beth, who said, "Love following your blog. You are so inspiring!" (thanks). I need you to email your mailing address to crafterella(at)hotmail(dot)com and I also need to hear from you by Monday, the 2nd. or I'll have to pick another winner.

And because I can't have a post without a picture, here is the craft room all cleaned up! You can see the floor and the table top AND the ironing board is clutter free (not pictured). I had a crafting party here last week and that proved to be the incentive I needed to get it all cleaned up. I am super excited and I keep reminding myself how nice it will be to just shut the doors when I'm finished working and the kids and cats won't be getting into my stuff.
Happy New Year everyone!!!

Happy Holidays + a Giveaway!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Winter break (from school) has officially started and I still have a few projects that need to be finished and some presents that need to be wrapped up. We finally put up the tree, we used all the vintage ornaments from the 70’s, I love it! I am also having some friends over next week for a post holiday crafting day (so I need to do some MAJOR cleaning), so what I’m saying is I won’t be around much next week.
I hit a lot of milestones this year: 500 blog posts, 200 followers, and lots of new friends and to say thank you I’m having a small giveaway. I happen to have an extra planner with my newly designed planner pages bound and ready to help you get organized in the new year! For a chance to win all you need to do is leave a comment on this post, that’s it! One entry per person, you don’t need to talk about it on Facebook or tweet about it or anything else. I want this to be for my regular readers, not random people looking for a freebie. It has been such an exciting year and often I am surprised that anyone is reading my blog, but I know a few of you are and I just wanted to say Thank you :) I’ll be drawing the winner next Friday, so make sure I have a way to get in touch with you, I want to get it shipped out right away.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Keepsake Ornaments

I spent the weekend making our keepsake ornaments. Every year I like to make photo ornaments for myself and Grandma. At the last minute I found this great tutorial to make snowmen photo ornaments and since I was already planning to make the hand print snowmen I decided to make my Mom a set of a dozen new ornaments.Here’s my set, I just LOVE them! Now I need some fancy ribbon to tie on the loops.Here is my Mom’s set. I included some plain round glitter ornaments and some embellished cube glittered ornaments. I can’t wait for her to see them!
I loved making all these ornaments and the kids liked helping a little too. I have a ton of packages to wrap and a special surprise planned for this week, it’s going to be a busy week!!!

One Week of Pre-Christmas Crafting Left

I haven’t put my tree up yet and I have about 10 projects that absolutely have to get done. I did finish these felt and embroidered ornaments.What is everyone else working on for the holidays?
Have a super crafty (and productive) weekend!!!

Glitter Ornaments (and 1 Wreath) with Friends

Today was a crafting with friends day at my house. We decided to make the glittered ornaments that are all over Pinterest. I had Future floor polish (instead of Mop and Glo) and plenty of clear ornaments and glitter.
This is serious crafting! As you can see Lisa (oobbles) had to be different and make a wreath like we made last year (minus yarn balls). The glitter ornaments are super fun and easy to make, we all wanted to rush out to get more ornaments and glitter.
Here are some of the finished ornaments, Sheena’s on the left and Kashoan’s (kraftykash)on the right. We had good luck with every glitter we tried, but you do get the best coverage with super fine glitter. Here are mine all ready to be embellished further, I’m thinking monograms and snowflakes.
FYI there is a rainbow of glitter all over my house!

Friday Favorites the Pattern Edition

These are all on my list, now only if there were more hours in the day…Have a super crafty weekend!!!

Knitting Weather

I am so predictable, the minute it gets cold I have to have a new knitting project to work on. I am a big fan of The Jane Victoria patterns her unique style really makes her patterns appealing to me. Yesterday I cast on for The Silmarwen Súrion Hooded Cropped Mozzetta Pattern and have furiously knitted my way through the first 12 rows of 2x2 ribbing.My favorite thing about these patterns is the symmetrical shaping, I have knitted a lot of different patterns and hers are the only ones with this sort of perfect shaping. Usually I have to learn a new stitch, but it is completely worth it.
I do need to mention that I have had problems with her patterns: The Alassë Míriel Hooded Cowl Pattern turned out way too small (completely my fault for not checking gauge) and there were some sleeve sizing issues with The Enelya Linwëlin Sleeved Mantelet Pattern (once again, my fault for not checking the finished measurements) I am not alone in my challenges with these pattern, but the designer has listened and edited both of those patterns to make things clearer and help with sizing. I have learned to pay attention to measurements and gauge. The designer has also been quick to answer questions.
I have frogged the Mantelet, I will restart again someday. For now the yarn will be reused for this project. I love knitting in the round, it seems to go so fast and I don’t have to concentrate so hard.
Does anyone have a special knitting project started for the winter?

New Planner Pages

After living with my new simple planner for a few months there were a few things I wanted to change and a few things I wanted to add. This weekend I took some time to rework the simple planner pages, you can download them here: Crafterella’s Simple Organizer (personal use only).
The new set is 12 pages (actually 13, but that last one is blank, I could not delete it for some reason). Pages 5 and 6 are week at a glance and weekly menu planner, so I printed out four for each month.
I made a six month planner and it is about the size of a regular, single section notebook. This time I had it spiral bound and I like that a lot better than the wire bound. I made the covers with cardstock and stickers. I also added a double sided pocket for papers and a zip-loc bag for other small bits. If you are interested in how I did that leave me a comment or email me and I will help you.
I’d love to hear what you think about the new pages :) This is also my first time using google docs to share a download, if you have any trouble downloading the document or any other problems, let me know.

Metal Tape Experiments

After watching this video about metal tape on Youtube and sharing it with a friend who had to take some time off work, we decided that it would be fun to give it a try.  I wanted to make a postcard and she decided to make her holiday cards for the year.
I found metal tape at Wmart, in the hardware section by the caulk and duct tape. It’s called waterproofing tape. Be warned, the adhesive on the tape is stinky, but it does go away after the tape is stuck down and has a chance to set.We decided to make a sample sheet, to see what worked and what didn’t. Basically I just kept pulling interesting things out of the craft room and putting metal tape over them. What we ended up liking the best was cardstock cut into shapes and mesh that you patch drywall with. I think that I need to find someone with a die cutting machine to make me some fancy letters and shapes.I cut out a bunch of shapes and some mesh strips and covered the whole thing with tape. Smoothing the tape with my fingers made the designs underneath start showing up. Using a variety of tools I accented the designs and added extra details like lines, dots, and scrolls. A bone folder is really handy for smoothing out wrinkles in the tape and to smooth out design mistakes. I also really liked using a wooden orange wood stick (pointed on one end and angled on the other, used for grooming cuticles and nails)
Adding paint really makes the different textures pop. On this piece I used black paint, copper paint, and greek copper rub-n-buff. I really like the steampunk look this technique gives. I think I went a little overboard with the layering of elements, the K monogram, in the center, seems to get lost with all the other elements.
We had a lot of fun playing with this tape and my friend did manage to finish a few cards too. I can’t wait to see what else we can use this technique for.
Have a super crafty weekend!!!

Crochet Chevron Cozy

I posted a teaser photo of the start of this cozy on the Facebook Page a week and a half ago and then vanished off the face of the Earth. Between Thanksgiving and the stomach flu (that the entire family had on different days) I have been offline a lot.
The crochet part of the bag is finished, I used the Moon Water Clutch pattern from Lion Brand yarn as a starting point. The pattern is free, but you will have to register with them to see it. I used Hobby Lobby’s I love this yarn and an I hook to get the perfect size to hold a notebook or organizer. I love this design, fun and easy! When I filled in the chevrons on the inside top I used black yarn only, I thought that if I made any mistakes that a solid color would help hide them.
I love how it turned out, but is still needs a lining with some stiff interfacing to give is some structure and to make it easier to slide my organizer out without snagging the yarn. That’s where you come in, I need help deciding what fabric to line it with.  I have narrowed it down to four choices: Chartreuse polka dots with fuchsia flowers, orange batik, sugar skulls on black, and that giant floral print that I have used numerous times before. What would look the best? I’m dying to hear what you think.

Making Stamps from Tub Toys

Yesterday I shared a link to a video tutorial from Traci Bunkers on making your own stamps on my Facebook page, if you haven’t already, you should go and watch it now!
I decided to use some extra pieces from some tub toys and now I’m eyeing all the flip flops in the house. This is a very quick project - in about 15 minutes I had a nice selection of new stamps. I really like that you can redo any that don’t turn out or that you don’t like (notice there is not a robot stamp). I do think that you get a crisper image (which is what I like) using a firm and flat object that won’t slide around. I would love to have a knitted or crocheted stamp, but you would have to use a stiff cord or something besides yarn to get it to work.The stamps are very realistic looking, my husband asked me how I got the prints to be 3-dimensional. It reminds me of photocopying things laid directly on the glass in black and white. My favorites are the buttons (of course), the washers, and the clothes pins. I can’t wait to make more of these. What would you use to make an interesting stamp?

The Craft Show Photos

I finally finished the roll of film in the disposable camera. I am really sad that I forgot my digital camera…the photos aren’t the best, but hopefully you’ll get an idea of how everything looked (it was at least 100% more awesome than the photos look). My table was in the gym with very little natural light and tons of florescent fixtures.My Mom made the snowflakes and I really like how they looked on the front of the table.I got a ton of compliments on my displays. The most looked at/touched was the business card holding slinky. I also saw several people checking out the vintage spool sign holders. It was a large show for a small town, there were over 130 vendors and they had a crowd of 1500 shoppers. There was steady traffic all day, but it seemed like there was a lot more looking than buying. I did sell enough to cover my costs and a little extra, I also handed out a lot of cards. The main reason I do this show it this is my home town and where I went to high school (they started hosting this show when I was a freshman), it’s great to see everyone and help support the journalism department, who organizes the entire thing.

Vintage Pillowcase Edging

As I dug through my vintage sewing notion collection, looking for spools, I found this:Yes, that is rick rack embellished with crochet! It is very dainty. I have no idea where it came from, but there are two of them which makes me think that they are pillowcase edgings. They have definitely been cut off of something (and not as carefully as they should have been). I did some internet searching and found this tutorial for rick rack edging and lace insertion and it seems to be this exact pattern, how lucky is that? I am definitely going to give this a try! Imagine red rick rack with white and/or turquoise crochet. I’m thinking fun colors would really modernize this design.
No, I haven’t forgotten to post pictures from this weekends show, I forgot my camera and I HAD to have pictures, so I bought a disposable camera. I need to finish the roll before I get it developed (doesn’t that take you back? remember when it took a week to get your pictures?). I now realize how spoiled I am by my digital camera and the instant results!

Friday Favorites

Still feeling a little spooky and mysterious, here are today’s selections.
Big craft show is tomorrow, I will have pictures of my display on Monday and all remaining merchandise will be listed in my stores next week! Have a super crafty weekend!!!

Craft Show Display Plans

My first (and only) show this season is coming up on Saturday and I have been working on all new products and all new displays. I have decided that a beautiful display is very important and so this year I’m going all out! I have been collecting inspiration and today I’m going to show you exactly what I’m going to use.

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1. The suitcase display: I have a vintage round overnight case that is in excellent condition that will be used to hold my hair flowers and pins.
2. The burlap table cloth: this one is available on etsy, with a lined top and ruffled cloth topper. I have 12 yards of burlap that is all cut and pressed and ready to be sewn up today during nap time.
3. Coordinating hat stands and heads: I love these Mod Podged heads and stands. I will be unifying all my hat displays by using either flat black paint or craft paper decoupage.
4. Spool Picture/card holders: I will be using these to hold some of my pricing signs.
5. Tomato cage ornament tree: The simplicity of this idea should really make my ornaments pop. The blog is pure eye candy too, you should really check it out! I was lucky enough to borrow some cages from my Aunt. I’m thinking of wrapping the wires with silver fun fur to mimic tinsel.
6. Slinky business card holder: It just looks cool and Target had metal slinkys in their “dollar spot” area.

I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I am really excited. Look for photos of my booth next week!

Halloween Gummy Kits

I am always in the Halloween isles of every store I go to and when I spotted these gummy brain and heart kits I knew that I wanted to give them a try.I am glad I did, they were super easy, only use the microwave, and were ready very fast. All of that added up to a super kid friendly Halloween activity and the molds are reusable!I sprayed the molds with cooking spray and the gummies popped right out. The only thing that I didn’t really like about these kits were the flavors, they weren’t exactly great, but they were edible and now I can make these gummies from Not So Idle Hands and reuse the molds. We’ve made home made gummies before and they really are good and easy. I guess the only thing I have to add is that home made gummies have more of a Jell-O flavor and not a gummy bear taste.
I had a short, unexpected blog vacation last week (did you miss me?), we have been enjoying fall so much and a lot of our time has been spent outside that I haven’t really been working on anything new craft wise. What I am currently working on is building stock for craft show season and you guys have seen these projects before. I have two weeks until my first show and I will be working on some new displays, I can’t wait to share them with you, if you want to see some of my inspiration check out my display pin board.