new in my etsy shop

did you have a good thanksgiving weekend? ours was nice. really nice. we had good friends come over, and my turkey turned out ahem... awesome good and juicy. brining the turkey is the way to go! so thanks amy for showing me the ropes and telling me where to find recipes and instructions. we will do that from now on!
i'm doing an online holiday boutique that U-Create is putting on. such an awesome idea kari! and excited to be part of it!
so i made a new pdf file.
introducing strawberry shortcake with frosting.
edited: i'm honoring the buy three pdf patterns get one free.
the felt food craze has been around for a while, and i like it...but... i like how with fabric you have so many MORE options on shades, and design.
this pdf file will give you step by step instructions on how to make your short cake AND your frosting. which, by the way is detachable. so if your little one wants plain shortcake and no frosting...you can have that. or if you want to make lots of different shades or "flavors" of frosting...you can do that too!
options, a girl needs options! ;)
katie's obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake right now. so i was inspired to make this cake to go along with her obsession. she's quite happy with how it turned out. and i have to admit, i love hanging out in her kitchen soooo much more than i do my own. mr. v and co. is sure that one day he's going to find me playing in her kitchen when she's not even involved. so far i've made sure to do such things when i know he's busy at work.
also last week the theme for sytyc was turkey. you were correct if you guessed the aprons as mine! i made it into the next round, phew! it's getting harder and harder to stay in! dana wowed us ALL with her absolutely gorgeous, worthy of being in a magazine as a gap ad skirt. i have to admit when she showed me the picture after we turned in our pictures, i just sat there and stared with my mouth open wide catching flies. seriously, amazing. what an honor to be in a contest with these talented women!
it feels like sudden death over there, we're down to just 6, i don't know how much longer i can keep this up! well, whatever the outcome, it's been a blast and i'm lucky to of made it this far!
now off to make something for this next weeks new theme! wish me luck.

on this thanksgiving day

just so you can make room for pie.

from our home to yours, happy thanksgiving, we're so thankful for all of you.
we'll talk soon ;)

i bought this here the whole calendar is hilarious and i can't wait to use it next year

a no craft kind of day

yesterday.
that's what i had.
i can't remember the last time during the week that i didn't "work" on something.
i spent all day in my sweats and flip flops.
i kept my blinds down.
had the fire going.
i folded laundry.
i watched a little max & ruby with katie.
talked to a friend on the phone.
i got to pick up a little around the house.
it was nice.
today though its all about starting the preparation for the big thanksgiving day.

and back to reality that i don't do "not working on something" for very long well.
oh well it was nice.

sytyc:week four

hello!
new moon:
it.was.great.
i don't know if it was the whole being with a couple of friends i haven't really been able to hang out with in a while, or weather it was the big city lights and excitement, but the whole day was GREAT. we laughed a lot. the company was nice, the movie was good, the abs were AWESOME. no longer a team edward household...totally a team jacob gal now...we'll until the 4th book and then no longer a team anything...too weird. oooh wait, anyone want to start a team emmet club? he's cute. AND funny! bonus! okay moving on.
okay so we're in week 4. seriously, this whole crafting on demand and weekly thing is starting to get kind of rapid bowel movement stressful! ;)
yes, you guessed right:
me=necklace.
it was all i could do that week. as i mentioned before i had a few other things going on that had to be done, (yes, to be shown later on... sorry about that, and i promise not to bring it up anymore till they "happen").
but i have to admit, even though it didn't even come close to the votes the top three got (whoot! way to go girls!!!!!) it was nice to have an easy project for "green" done. and i do love my necklace! a.lot.
i'll show you how i got an even finish on the beads with the spray paint later on sometime.

and now well, you get to vote for the new theme "TURKEY" oh this was hard seeing that my turkey creative juices were used up already!
but can you spot me anyways?

this week will include some much needed CLEANING. ugh, i feel like the monthly crankies are right around the corner and much needed de-cluttering and actual cleaning of the house must be done...so i can enjoy my bag of chocolate chips and dvr'd smut tv in peace (yes, i get made fun of relentlessly for this by the husband). oh yeah and not to mention that big holiday THIS week! here's to hoping my turkey looks half as good as katie's when i'm done with it!
any words of advise?
i mean besides eating out.
;)

look at you guys go!

to say that i've been busy these past two weeks would be an understatement.

i've been multi-crafting for different places, people, and things (on top of sytyc) (you'll hear more about that in the future for sure). i've also been multi-volunteering at the kids' school.
being on the community council takes a lot of hours, sometimes during the school time and sometimes after wards as well. not to mention, being mom, wife, homework warden, dinner cooking lady, and laundry avoiding gal... well, basically i've been multi-tasking in every aspect in my life, even when on the toilet, and in my sleep it seems.

i don't mind being busy...actually i think i thrive in it...but these last two weeks have felt like i've been running a marathon. i'm tired. and am feeling quite accomplished. and am happy to be at this end of the tunnel.

but check you guys out! i'm not the only one that's been busy...look at you guys go with the v and co tutorials!
i love getting links, emails, and pictures of things you guys have made with my tutorials! here are a few but not all of them:

little miss monica of the happy zombie made the cutest version of my turkey. look at her potatoes and carrots!


my super talented friend rachel made the pinecone wreath... um her hutch is amazing as well.

long time reader and someone i consider a friend as well lambie-pie, made her pinwheel quilt with my pinwheel tutorial.


jenn made this turkey for her brother who's over in iraq right now. she made lettuce too but her puppy got a hold of it! my boys thought the camo was so cool. thanks a lot now i have to make three more turkeys with camo!

jenn over at lipstick and laundry made a turkey for her little turkey! i'm loving the little kitchen


karly used my spray painted pillows tutorial to make her pillow. way to go, it looks so cute!

becky had a rough go at it in the beginning, but finally came out looking great with her pine cone wreath! good job!!

donna senese made these fabric balls. very nice!

and gorillagirl5 made this lovely sign perfect for the holidays!


very nice, and always so rewarding to my heart that so many of you are being successful with the instructions i give!

now if you don't mind me i'm off get to bed so i can get up early to watch "THE MOVIE".
i've heard it's not the joke it was the first time, and i'm so excited because it's just a few of us moms driving up north so we can see it on the big screen...and eat cafe rio, and lolly gag around IKEA.
:) have a good weekend, i'll see you monday.

winner of shey [B] camera strap

random.org number generator picked #157

#157 is lindsay of: just me and z

congrats to you! email me your info so i can get you in touch with shey!

thanks to the rest of you for playing, and for making me laugh!
stay tuned later today (or tomorrow?) for a "look at you guys go!" post where i will show off all your guys' finished products using v and co tutorials! all i have to say loving the turkeys!!!! ;) talk to you soon!

sponsored giveaway

this months sponsored giveaway is by the ever talented *Shey* [B] .
i asked shey to tell me why she got started in making these lovely camera straps, her response was:

full details here

sytyc:week three

well some of you guessed right on my craft last week! but did you see how many amazing ones there were? wow. i definitely want to make some of those!

even bigger wow. i won that round even with all the other amazing crafts! (thank you!)

like i said this craft was a last minute "oh my, what am i going to do for this theme" craft. so it's easy to do and fast to accomplish. i guess kind of like all my crafts, if you can make it with kids jumping on you or in your lap as you do it...then well it's probably got my stamp on it.

here are the steps as seen on sytyc:
this no sew fabric wreath is super easy and super fast to make. using up just scraps, it's also a pretty cheap but classy way to dress up your wall!
what you will need:
hot glue gun
muslin square
scraps of fabric
a frame you can place you finished product.

first i went through all my fabrics that i might want to put in my wreath. i eliminated some and kept 6 that were going to be in the wreath.
then i took my frame and placed it on top of my muslin.
i want a guide line for my wreath so i checked my cupboards for the right size circle, which in this case was one of my bowls.
i traced with a pencil around my bowl. now i have a guideline for my wreath.
next i took my fabric and cut little strips (mine are aprox 1 1/4 by 3 inches.
i then folded in half my strips, and ironed down. these are going to be your leaves.
now i'm going to show you how to make the leaf. these two next steps will help you make all your leaves on your wreath.
first you are going to make sure your raw edge is facing down towards you.
then you are going to take one of your sides of the strip and fold down at the halfway point like the picture above.
next you are going to do the same thing with the other side. just like the picture above.
and now you have your leaf. now lets make the leaves on your wreath!
using my drawn on circle as my guide, i will fold and hot glue gun my leaves onto the muslin

make sure you do a small dab of hot glue on muslin, and in between fabrics (i even added a little dab in each layer of fabric so it all stayed put well)
next place your second strip laying across the other way, and make sure you cover your raw edge bottom.

continue your process of folding and hot glueing your leaves by alternating the way you lay your strip.
and make sure you use your penciled in circle as your guide.
see how easy!

when you are done you will have a beautifully simple wreath. i hung mine with some fabric from the frame.
and it hangs in my hall by the door. i think it would look great hanging alone on a wall or with a collage of other black frames with other artwork or pictures of family!
this weeks challenge theme is "green" oooooh man again so many AWESOME CRAFTS AGAIN! we will see if i can survive yet another round! shaking in my boots...can you spot mine?
wish me luck...i think i'm going to need it! ;)

come back tomorrow we will be having a sponsored giveaway!

tutorial: spraypainted wheat pillows

as seen last week on sytyc...here are my wheat pillows and the easy steps on how to make them!
you will need:
spray paint ( i had ivy leaf, and brown)
freezer paper.
muslin
scissors
pencil

first cut some muslin.
next trace your own drawn pattern (or you can download my pdf here)
make as many of your stencil as you need

next you are going to cut out your wheat.

and for the stalks you just cut long skinny strips of freezer paper.
place your stalks onto your muslin...SHINY SIDE DOWN!
iron on your freezer paper.
next get your "wheat" part and place it on top of your stalk(shiny side down)...not overlapping too much.
iron the wheat down.
get your spray paint can. and evenly distribute the paint.
repeat if you have any area that needs a little more paint.
do not over paint!
once you let your paint fully dry, peel off your freezer paper.
now you are ready to trim down your fabric to desired measurement so you can make your pillow!
i experimented and wanted to see what would happen if i washed the muslin with the spray paint, it held up pretty good. i wouldn't suggest drying it in the dryer as i don't know what the paint will do if it gets too hot in there. to iron it i turned the side that wasn't painted and put a towel in between the iron and the fabric (just in case!)
these are definitely not to be used as sleeping pillows or for pillow cases, but they do make cute throw pillows!
get creative and have fun with your stencils...i'm currently making my boys' room some throw pillows with circles and lines...we'll see if they turn out as cute! er not "cute"...awesome.
today is the last day to vote for this weeks favorite craft...on monday i will reveal which one was mine!! ;)