I love to swap!!!

I hope yall are all having a wonderful Wednesday morning!! 

It started getting really windy and down right nasty here last night and I haven't opened my blinds or been outside yet this morning so I'm not sure how horrible it is out there.  My oldest son has had the strangest illness for 3 days now, he has ran a fever in the evenings and complained of a headache throughout the day.  He was born with a rare birth defect that causes several problems with his right eye which has lead to 7 eye surgeries and when he starts to get these mysterious headaches things around here come to a screeching halt.  It seems though that he's just having Mommy's lovely headaches (thank you so much Mr. Migraine for hooking your claws into my poor baby).  Poor thing has missed 2 full days of school and today will make his third.  His Valentine party is on Friday so I'm hoping he feels better by then because it would be so sad for him to miss it.   My youngest son has had a snotty nose and a cough for several days and it seems he's not getting much better either.  Poor baby has thrown up a few times due to the congestion this has all caused.  It seems that I can't do enough disinfecting to get rid of all these horrible viruses. Don't you just love this time of year?  So while my 2 miserable little monkeys are still asleep I am sitting here enjoying my cup of coffee and the click, click clicking of the keyboard.

So now onto things that are less drap and more fun!! 
As some of you may already know, I love swapping my crafts and craft supplies!!  I've been swapping at swap-bot for some time now and never even thought to look for other places like it.

Well that all changed yesterday afternoon. It was brought to my attention by a friend of mine on facebook that there is a new place to swap your crafts.  It's called whoopdwhoop.  It's awesome (bringing back the 90's one word at a time)!!!  I started loading crafts on there as quickly as I could so I could get started.  I've been contemplating opening up an etsy shop so I was thinking that I could try this out first and see if people were interested in my crafts enough to want them and go from there.  It's fairly new so I'm sure as the number of members grows so will the amount of swap items.  You should really go check it out and open up an account, it's free to anyone who wants to swap.  Here is the link if you check it out let me know what you think, we'll see if you love it as much as I do.

I was not asked by whoopdwhoop to advertise for them, I just really thought some of you might enjoy it as much as I have in the short amount of time that I've been a member. 

If you're ever interested in doing a private swap with me, my info is up in the contact tab at the top of the page just contact me.  We'll see what we can do!!

Now just so yall can have something pretty and inspiring to look at today (I know I need a moment like this considering the day I will soon be facing)................

(Source) I REALLY want to make this quilt 

I am a Dr. Pepper FREAK!!! (If this is your photo please let me know so I can link it back to you)

This one is because my keyboard and I have become the best of friends.  I have loved to type since I took my first typing class in 7th grade (14 years ago, WOW that made me feel old). 

(Source)

(Source)  I love this card isn't it cool? (another flashback from the 90's)

Well I guess that's going to be it for me this morning.  I hope the weather is nice where you are and you have no little sick ones to tend to!!!  Until next time........

Happy Crafting!!!

Rosette hair clip tutorial

Good morning everyone, I hope you're enjoying your coffee, morning drink or breakfast (I'm not a breakfast person, but I am drinking me some coffee).

I was asked about a tutorial for my Mint Chocolate hair clip so yesterday evening when all the chores were done around here I sat down and put one together.  I burnt myself several times with my hot glue gun in the process so it took me a little longer than it should have, but I got it done.  I hope there are enough photos and explanation that you can understand my ramblings if not please let me know and I will clear things up for you.

So now onto the tutorial.  First off before we get started you need to gather your supplies.  You will need a hot glue gun, glass of water in case you burn your fingers,  fabric scraps, a barrette ( I used the kind you pop open and closed), some felt and some scissors or rotary cutter and cutting mat.

Tutorial:

Step 1:  My material for the 2 smaller rosettes on this clip measure 2" wide by 22" long.  So this would be the time to cut up your strips.  If you want to make the larger one you should cut it to about 3" wide and about 25" long (this is an estimate so just play around to see what works best for you).

Step 2:  Now you're going to fold the corner of your strip down to make a triangle shape.  When you have done this you're going to roll it up to make the center of your rosette.

Step 3:  This step is a little trickier to explain.  Your going to start twisting your fabric and wrapping it around what is your center piece until you have about an 1" to a 1 and a 1/2" tail.  The photos show it better than my explanation.  You may need to try this several times until you get it just how you want it.

Step 4:  Now you're going to glue, glue, glue until you think it's as secure as it needs to be.  REMEMBER your glass of water in this step because when I was making these last night I forgot and I'm paying for it today. Ok now you're threw with your rosettes and now onto the hair clip tutorial.

Hair clip tutorial:

Step 1:  Your going to use your hair clip as a template to cut out the 2 pieces of felt that you will need to make your hair clip sandwich.  When your cutting out your pieces make sure you cut a little out side of your clip so you have some excess on the edges.

Step 2:  Ok now we're going to cut a little slit in the back piece of felt so it will be securely attached to the hair clip.  We're going to stick the little leg thing in the middle through the small hole we made.

Step 3:  Now we're going to use our hot glue (and watter) again and glue the 2 pieces of felt all the way around the hair clip.

Step 4:  Ok now we're going to hot glue our rosettes onto our finished hair clip.  Snap it in your hair (after it's cooled off of course) and enjoy it!!!

Now this is an additional step you can do if you decide to attach just one rosette and leave the rest of the clip showing.  Use embroidery floss or you could use regular thread and stitch around the outside of your clip to make it look much prettier and more finished like I did on this zipper flower clip I made for one my nieces.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, if there is anything that is not clear please let me know and I will clear it up for you.  So until next time.........

Happy Crafting!!!!


Check out my parties tab to see the parties I link to

Blog Face lift thanks to Erin at Crafts & Sutch

In case you didn't notice, this little blog o' mine got a beautiful face lift over the weekend!! Isn't she pretty??  Why is it that we refer to things in the female form?  I mean we call cars her and I could think of plenty of other things I myself refer to as a her, like my sewing machine for one.  Ok, ok I'm getting off coarse here.  Back to much more important things.

I must give credit where credit is due (and believe me she deserves all the credit).  Erin from Crafts & Sutch did such a wonderful job on my little slice of blog land!!  I couldn't be happier!!  She was so patient and made sure everything was just how I wanted it, all the way down to the text!!  I even had a question after it had been installed on my blog and she was more than willing to take the time out of her busy schedule to get back to me with an answer.  SO........If you're looking for a way to make your little piece of blog land more personal and just the way you want it hop on over to Crafts & Sutch and holler at Erin.  Believe me the prices cannot be beat she is very reasonable and very easy to work with.

Now I also want to say, even if you're not looking to redo your blog there are several other great things over at Crafts & Sutch!!  I've linked to her blog several times throughout this post so take this opportunity to pop in and say hello, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you!!!

Mint Chocolate Ice cream anyone

Well we reached 36 degree weather today finally!!!  I was glad to see the little bit of snow we had on the ground melt away. 

My oldest son didn't have pre-school today so the boys and I sat around and watched movies for a big chunk of the day after the chores were done.  While we sat and watched movies I crafted (I can't seem to sit still through any TV show or movie), I pulled out my scrap stash of fabric and started making rosettes.  Seriously I probably made close to 50 or more because once I got started I couldn't seem to help myself.  I did burn myself with the glue gun which put a damper in the process for a few minutes, but after a few "I'll kiss it for you mommy" comments and kisses it was feeling much much better.  After the rosette making process I figured I'd better find a use of a few of them right away before the honey came home and saw my lovely little stash (not that he would've minded, but he would have made a comment about the case of ADD he thinks I have) so I made a clip for my hair.

Of course it was almost impossible for me to get a good picture considering I put it in the back of my head, so my honey snapped some photos for me to share.  He did a wonderful job, So thank you honey!!!

Don't the 3 of the rosette's together remind you of mint chocolate ice cream?  I don't know why I'm thinking about ice cream, it may be warmer here today but it is definetly not warm enough for ice cream.  At any rate I hope you enjoyed this quick craft for the day and I hope yall have a great weekend!!  So until next time........

Happy Crafting!!!

Necessity, The mother of invention

This is so true!!!  I've called our local bank off and on today to get the temperature outside and through out the day the temps have varried.  We started at 8 degrees this morning with snow on the ground and now we're at 19 with a little more snow than earlier.  Now I know that some of you are use to cold weather, but here where I live this is a very Abnormal thing.  We've actually had 70 and even 80 degree weather this winter.  So needless to say we don't have a lot of cold weather clothing and we also don't have very many stores here in town that sale that type of clothing either.  Sooooo.........  I took 2 shirts, 1 that was a long sleeve shirt that was too small and a plain white t-shirt that had a stain on it, combined the 2 of them together and came up with this

I took the sleeves and the dinosaur off of the long sleeved shirt and added them both to the plain white t-shirt.  I sewed the long sleeves under the short sleeves on the white shirt.  I cut out the dinosaur and used heat bond to attach him to the shirt.  I actually stitched around the dino with my sewing machine just for extra stability (I tried it on him before I was completely done with it).  The word dino is freezer paper stenciled on a piece of the long sleeved shirt with white paint and heat bonded onto the shirt as well.  I used the Dino patch to cover up a stain that was on the shirt.  He really likes it and I had to pry it off of him so that I could finish stitching it up.  This was really simple and quick to make.

The best part about it is I didn't have to throw away either one of the shirts I was able to upcycle them both!!!

Oh and yes I know the pants don't match the shirt, but there was not getting him out of his car pajama pants today and it was too cold to go anywhere so I just left him alone.  Isn't he cute though and I think the shirt is almost equally as cute.  So until next time........

Happy Crafting!!!



Swap for Swap bot

Good morning all of my dear friends in blog land.  As I have mentioned in the past and as I show in my sidebar I swap on swap-bot and the most recent swap I'm in is called Support your partners blog.  We have 2 partners and the requirements for this swap is to come up with 2 ways to support our partners blogs.  So I figured 1 great way to support their blogs or etsy shop in this case would be to blog about it.  So I wanted to share with yall these 2 ladies blogs/etsy shop.  Please check them out and help them get some traffic on their sites!!!

This is the link to my first partner Barbi's blog on xanga please follow the link below and check out her blog

http://btvrdik.xanga.com/

This is the link to my second partner EarthArtisanMama's etsy shop please follow the link below to check it out

http://www.etsy.com/shop/simplybreathless?page=1&show_panel=true

Thanks everyone and I hope you have a great morning!!!

Brrrr it's cold (Quilt #2 is finally finished)

to all my blog friends!!  I am so happy to say that even though it is 16 degrees (which is actually 8 degrees higher than we started) here today I had a very productive day. I feel I should tell you that I am not a cold weather person, there is a reason I have stayed in West Texas instead of moving to a colder place, but enough of that.  I finished Quilt #2!!!
I am so happy and so proud it turned out great!!!

There is just something about finishing a project that you know you put a lot of time and effort into and knowing that it will actually be used and around for years to come!!!

I have to say that this quilt was a learning experience and much different in the piecing together process than my rag quilt.  There are a lot of things that I will do differently next time, but I wouldn't change how I did this or how I put it together because I think it has a sort of charm to it.  Like I mentioned in my previous post about this quilt, the seams are not lined up and there is no color or pattern scheme because I used scraps.  I can't wait to start on quilt #3.  Oh and before I show you the beauty it's self, I must give credit where credit is due!!  My wonderful honey volunteered was asked to be my quilt holder while I took photos.  Thank you honey you are the best!!!  Now onto show and tell, aren't you excited or is it just me?

He wouldn't let me take a photo of his face, but I did manage to get his legs in the picture so that counts for something.

All those bright squares were just what I needed to get over these cold weather blues!!

I kept the quilting simple because I need to work on my basting a little bit more.  I tried a mini quilt I guess you could call it (as practice) and the back kept wrinkling up and bunching all over the place so I will try something different on my next quilt.

Some up close and personal photos of the quilting on the top of the quilt.  I couldn't be happier!!!

Now onto a little sharing just because I want to and because it was one of those moments I will hold onto forever as a mommy.  This evening when I was cooking dinner my oldest son asked me if he could help, I don't usually let him help me alot in the kitchen because I am so afraid he will get hurt.  But tonight I gave in because the times that he has helped me cook dinner he has been so excited and talked about it for days.  I guess I am not the only person that realized this was one of those special moments because my honey actually took some photos of us cooking together.  Now I don't know about yall, but as the mommy I'm usually the one taking photos of all those priceless moments and it's not very often that I'm in any of those photos.  Which is why these will be cherished FOREVER!!!

This has been a very long and picture heavy post so I guess I will call it quits for now, but I hope you and your family stay nice and warm tonight because..............