Orange Gift Set

I have a friend who loves orange! She also has the most precious little baby in the entire world. So, I made her this orange cloth baggie, with a brown swirly pattern for the lining, for her little girl's diaper bag and added this scrap flower in creams and greens for a splash of color. The bag measures about 8 by 10 inches. And, because I fell in love with the browns, oranges and creams I also made her a matching fabric coffee sleeve for her purse! I really like the cream button as an embellishment and am hoping that attaching the two sides in the middle will allow the sleeve to better fit various size cups. I can't wait to give them to her on Tuesday but wanted to share them with all of you as well :)







Happy Crafting!

California Dreamin'

While many of the Hollywood "perks" of living in California simply aren't true...it IS true that we have sunshine most days and, at least for those of us who live in the flatlands, we have the unique ability to have fresh produce in our gardens year round. Even in February, which I know for many parts of the Northern Hemisphere is blistering cold and sparkling white, we can grow root veggies, lettuce, beans, peas, citrus, broccoli, and cauliflower. There are more winter offerings but these are the first that come to mind.

This afternoon, Chris and I ventured into my parent's garden and were awed by the post-rain beauty and magnificence of Northern California's bounty.

Kitchen Towel Upgrade

Scraps are my friend :) I LOVE them! This time I decided to use them for a kitchen towel upgrade. Chris and I bought some organic cotton towels from Crate and Barrel which I really like (they are so soft) but they were kind of boring. So, twenty minutes and a few scraps later and we have an upgraded towel that adds a fun pop of color to the kitchen. Maybe I will actually look forward to drying the dishes now! Yeah, probably not. But a girl can hope :)





Made some for my mom tonight in blues, yellows and greens for her mountain kitchen :)



Happy Crafting!

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

The people in my life wander a lot. I mean...A LOT. We are not a stationary people :)

As I type, my friend from Michigan who now lives in California is flying home from Chicago and my friend from California who now lives in Washington is flying home from the Bay Area. On Wednesday my Dad will drive 600 miles South to San Diego and my husband will fly the same 600 miles South to San Diego on Saturday. My Brother and his wife are driving all over CA this weekend and my in-laws and sister-in-law took a quick trip down to my home town in Southern California to catch the Scottish Games on the Queen Mary. Some of us travel more for work or oblications (an awesome word meaning an obligatory vacation) than for fun, but however you look at it...we wander extensively.

I'm a fan of traveling in style...whether that means a comfy car or a comfy plane or comfy sleeping bag or simply using some travel gadget that makes life a little bit more enjoyable throughout the whole process. Hence, these adorable luggage tags. They are simple but I think they make traveling that much more fun and I'm for anything that can bring a splash of color to the hours we've all spent waiting for a delayed flight!

I also have plans for cute matching reversible fabric catchalls to use in hotel rooms for corralling miscellaneous travel items :)





Safe Travels and Happy Crafting!

Measure Twice, Cut Once...or not

Those of you who know me will be in no way surprised when I say that I was not born with a great deal of patience nor have I developed much over the years. I try, I really do, but manuals and patterns and measurements tend to make me roll my eyes and want to pull my hair out so I decided to try a little experiment. My dad has always taught me "Measure twice, Cut once." I decided that seemed like too much work so I changed it to, "Cut first, Measure not at all!"

And hey...it worked!!! I made this cute apron over the last few days by just cutting a square here and adding a ribbon there and sewing on some buttons there and turning the fabric here for a pleat (didn't feel like actually learning how to make a real pleat!) and the end product actually resembles an apron!



I even put a back on it and for a few moments it resembled a very oddly shaped pillow case but after top stitching the top closed and sewing on some recycled string for a tie I'm calling it done! Who needs a pattern anyway ;)

Happy Free-Hand Crafting!

Birds, Birds, Birds

I'm on a bird kick. Just ask my best friend who spent all of last weekend pulling me away from bird dishes and bird cards and bird necklaces and bird...well, you get the point! In my defense, I have always loved birds but this year the world caught up with me and decided to put birds on everything :) So, in sticking with this avian theme I made some of my own bird cards in bright spring colors...









Happy Crafting!

Off to the Market...

One of my close family friends, Kathy, made this amazing market bag for her daughter-in-law, who also happens to be one of my best friends, Sarah, this Christmas. I absolutely adore the fabrics that Kathy used! The food fabrics are just perfect for grocery shopping and even better for use at the various Bay Area Farmer's Markets that we all frequent :) Kathy gave me the left-over scraps and Sarah and I are brainstorming about how best to use the wonderful lime, strawberry, cucumber, tomato, carrot, lemon and blueberry fabrics. I'm thinking that they would be adorable on kitchen towels or an apron! Any suggestions?

Going Green In Style!

I can't help it...I'm in love with going green. And, I'm especially in love with going green when I can do it with such pretty fabrics and projects! I know I've highlighted these baggies before but they are too cute paired with these drink sleeves to not post about them again :) My mom and I have been crafting like crazy making each of these to replace all of those single use Ziploc bags and cardboard coffee sleeves...



Please excuse the fuzziness of the pictures...I am taking the pics with my iPhone until our new computer is up and running and I can use an actual camera again! I just couldn't wait until the new computer was hooked up to share all of these sleeves and bags with you :)

















Check out the adorable corset stitch that my crafty sister-in-law, Carrie created on this sleeve!



I have no idea why these little bags and sleeves make me so happy, but hey...I'm going with it :)

Happy Crafting!