My last day of being 22 is here!

That means it's birthday eve for me, kids!

22 was a pretty good year for me. Let's review:



I became an Aunt!




I got hitched!



I conquered my fear of zippers.



I was lucky enough to go on a beautiful, beachy honeymoon with my homie Chainsaw.



I made my first reptile friend.

I joined my first quilting bee.

I opened my own etsy shop. There's still a 15% off sale going on there, folks!

I had my second (almost completely) handmade Christmas.

Getting older is starting to feel weird. Please don't smack me over the virtual head for saying "older" about turning 23, but you know, a few years ago I was still a teenager! When you're a teenager you look forward to turning 18 and being an official adult. Then you look forward to turning 21 and being an official of legal drinking age adult. Then what? Retirement? Senior discount?

So this year leaves me with nothing to look forward to except the glory of getting older and (hopefully) the wisdom that comes with it. I hope 23 is just as fun as 22!



Me with my Grandma's cat.



Me with my kitchen! I totally remember that plastic ice cream that's by my foot. I loved that stuff!

Cottage Quilting Bee

Here are my blocks for Nettie:





My pictures aren't the best, but these were definitely fun to make!

Felix's birthday

We couldn't have hoped for a more beautiful day to celebrate Felix's third birth anniversary.



I made him a rainbow cake using this tutorial, and it turned out AWESOME. I suggest all lovers of rainbow and/or tie dye to make one. I love his totally unenthused look in this picture. He was probably frowning because I told him not to finger swipe anymore frosting. For the record, I did not make him a diet cake.



See that beauty?!



Felix looked super handsome in his Super Felix cape and loves his new bike. And yes, the PBR did flow like wine, but only for the grown ups!

To continue the birthday fun, I'm having a 15% off sale in my shop in honor of MY birth anniversary, which is this Friday. I did change the prices because I'm lazy and that takes FOREVER, but I'll send adjusted paypal invoices or refund the 15% to anyone who pays right away.

Happy last couple days of being 22 to me!

Happy Birthday Felix!

The glorious day of his birth.



First birthday!



Felix's second birthday complete with dirt cake!



Now.

Holy smokes! Where does the time go?

Monday Mission

Wow. I totally dropped the ball. Let's have a look at last week's goals.

1. Finish 3 purses for the shop
2. Finish my two quilting bee blocks for the month
3. Complete 1 craft book project

I managed to make 2 bags for the shop. Quilting bee blocks have gone untouched. I also managed to buy another craft book, but not to make anything from one.

First things first. Super cute spring bags!



This fabric reminds me of a vintage sheet, but it's not! I lined it with an orange gingham and added a strip of it to the front of the bag. I frayed out the edges of the front strip and added a bow.





I also added a lanyard clip to use as a key clip. I am always paranoid about finding/losing my keys, so this is a great way to keep track of them!



This bag is made with one of my favorite fabrics. I made my own Simplicity 3835 out of it a while ago, and I can't stop using the extra fabric. It's so soft and has great colors!



I dressed it up a big with some lilac lace. I thought it turned out so cute that I covered one of the straps with it also!

I also somehow lost track of the fact that it's a birthday week around here. Friday Felix will turn 3, and I have been promising that I'd make him his own Super Felix cape. We are WAY into super heroes right now.



I think it turned out pretty well. No action shots until the birthday party next weekend, sorry!

Ok, next Monday mission:

1. Finish quilting bee blocks. I pretty much HAVE to do this one by now. March is half over, and we'll be taking a trip to South Dakota soon.

2. Make one craft book project. My new book looks awesome, and I'm thinking about making Felix more handmade birthday goodness out of it.

3. Make a cover for one of those couch cushions. I think I should be able to fit at least one in the car with all of us this trip, so I better get to work.

4. Finish up my pay it forward gifts. I'm almost there on this, but I'd like to get them done. That way I can move on to having a give away soon!

I hope to do much better this week. I'm not feeling so hot today, but I think it's from a not so good night's sleep. I woke up in the wee hours to Chainsaw snoring like a...chainsaw. It took a long time to fall back asleep, and I think I'm paying for it today!

Cereal box packaging tutorial

I know I've seen this type of packaging elsewhere on the internet, and now that I know what the government does to people with good ideas, I'm glad it wasn't my original good idea!

I love doing this. We all know that the only thing better than recycling is reusing, and I love this method. The box gets reused, and once it reaches its destination I can only hope the recipient will recycle it.

So here we go..

First you need to find a box. Cereal boxes are my favorite, although cracker boxes are good too. I've been saving almost every thin cardboard box that's around for making packaging.



I use a lot of these awesome Honey Bunches of Oats knock off boxes because that's what I'm digging right now. Anyway, the first thing I do is open the bottom flaps of the box. Then I cut up one corner. I cut up the one with the seem where the box was glued together to eliminate bulk when I'm sewing it.



Now your box should look like this. Cut off all those flaps that used to keep the box closed.



That looks better, right?

See that score line in the middle? Fold the box there printed sides together.



Ta-da! Now all you have to do is sew it! The folded side doesn't really need sewing, so I start on one side of the folded line and sew a zig zag stitch that closes two of the open sides. Make the stitch a bit long. If they are too short the holes perforate the cardboard, and it will tear.

Remember that paper and cardboard will dull the crap out of your sewing machine needle. I always keep a couple old, no good for sewing fabric needles in my pin cushion. Then I just pop one of those in for these bad boys. No use wasting a perfectly good needle unless the one in your machine is on its last legs.



Now you have this. At this point you can throw it in your pile of envelopes if you're not sending anything out today. Otherwise I like to first write addresses on it and then pop my item in it. Then I sew up that last side.



Item, ready to be cozy in its shipping vessel.



The glorious finished product. Addresses blurred out to protect the guilty. By guilty I mean my friend Kelly who is in Italy as we speak. Consider me jealous.

Now you just have to go to the post office. Maybe wear a shirt that says "this was not my good idea, please don't abduct me government!"

You can always do some awesome decorating to your box. See that box of crayons your toddler left out? You could grab some and draw something silly that makes you embarrassed about your art skills. Or maybe you have good art skills? If you do, don't be embarrassed. Either way, send it with pride!

Feeling knotty

Today has been spent working on my purse goal (3 this week, for those who just tuned in!). I wanted to experiment with some new shapes and decorations, so I decided my first try would be a small bag with a big ol' flower embroidered on it. I uh, also had some shows to watch, and if I embroider while I watch I don't feel like I'm wasting time being a couch potato.



That's what I've got so far, and she's not finished yet! This was my first stab (haha! stab!) at french knots.

I've had a couple questions about how I sew my packaging, so I'm putting together a small tutorial for tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Shop Update

Scottie Dog and Flower Pouches



Topless Lady Tattoo Pouch



Red and Aqua pouch

These plus more are either in the shop or are being added presently. Check 'em out!

Also, things are looking up today compared to yesterday!

New pouches

I'm going to keep my words short today. This morning Felix hit his head on the corner of our granite counter top, which resulted in a bloody head wound. Luckily the cut was very small and I was able to stop the bleeding myself.

This afternoon while I was taking pictures of my new pouches he did the unthinkable. Let's just say he practiced his artistic skills all over the walls of his room using the contents of his diaper. Nuff said.

I am counting the seconds until sweet, sweet bed time.

So, new pouches!



Plaid! Scottie dogs! A flower with a vintage button center!



Fairy pouch

and



The other side. I made two of these. I think one is going go Grandma just for being awesome (and she might have said she wanted a pouch!).



Appliqued owl pouch

I'm aiming for a shop update tomorrow afternoon. I have more pouches to share, but enough excitement for today, I think!

Monday Mission:
I decided to make Monday a mission day where I'd set some weekly goals. It's too easy to get caught up in the lazies sometimes. So I'm starting to hold myself accountable!

1. Finish 3 purses for the shop
2. Finish my two quilting bee blocks for the month
3. Complete 1 craft book project

Post Office Scaries

When I'm shipping things, I generally look for the right sized cereal or cracker box, cut it into a nice sheet, put my goods in, and sew it up. I think a lot of us crafty ladies do that. I know I didn't think it up myself, but I think it's a great idea for reusing and keeping packing costs down.

Saturday I went to this weird little post office location that's in a bank. There's a REAL post office close by, but this one is just a little closer and usually line free.

The lady who helped me saw my packages and told me she liked them. She asked me how I made them. She obviously liked them, but was not excited about it at all. Her voice was flat and emotionless. I thanked her.

As I was waiting for her to finish, this conversation happened (please imagine po lady to have a flat, emotionless voice for maximum story goodness):

PO Lady: You need to watch out for the government.
Me: Uh, why?
PO Lady: Because they might abduct you.
Me: Really? Why?
(It kind of felt like a warning I needed to listen to right away. Like the government was going to storm in and grab me, and she was using such a flat voice so they might not know that she was warning me.)
PO Lady: Because of your good ideas.
Me: Luckily it wasn't my original idea.
PO Lady: Oh, good. Have a good weekend.
Me: You too!

So uh, if you have any good ideas, you best be careful that the government doesn't abduct you to steal your ideas or study your brain.

THE END

The bus

I did end up falling off the wagon yesterday. Oops!

I also did not get around to taking pictures of the projects I finished yesterday and the day before. Oops again!

So I thought I would show you something cool of my dad's. Behold the bus!



That is Felix driving the bus.

As you may or may not know, my dad was in a motorcycle accident almost 2 years ago. It was a pretty scary time for us, but my family was so lucky that my dad got to stick around with us in this glorious life. He is now in a wheelchair, but that doesn't stop him from rocking out in his band.

My new Aunt Brendy and her sister Benita used to run a balloon business. They would make super cool balloon sculptures for events and used the big blue bus to haul their stuff around. Benita kindly offered to sell my dad their bus as it has a wheelchair lift, and my dad and his band now use it to haul stuff to their gigs.

Felix loves the bus, and we try to take him for a ride in it whenever we're their. If it's during the day when my new step mom Kris (bus driver for non band related bus travels) is at work, guess who ends up driving that beast? ME!



Felix's car seat gets strapped in, and off we go! Driving the bus is a truly terrifying adventure. It's kind of like riding a roller coaster, although I'm in charge of where we're going. The wind blows us all over the place, and I have to do my best to keep the bus going straight down the road and the speed down. Although I must admit that I always prefer the highway driving to the in town driving. I am not used to the height, length, brakes, and wheel responses of the bus.

I do always get a kick out of using the handle thing to open the door!



That's how I feel about driving the bus too, dude!

Bonus tidbit: In the efforts of full disclosure, I feel as if I must admit to one time throwing up out the bus window on our way home from Deadwood. I may or may not have drank waaaay too much (in case you didn't realize this, I was NOT being bus driver at this point), as I am a young mother who turned 21 while breastfeeding and hadn't quite mastered the ability to hold my booze at the time of that fateful bus ride. Oops again, I guess!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and not doing anything gross out of a short bus window!

Can you believe I almost fell off the wagon already?

Seriously. I'm talking about my trying to post every day business. It's not the writing that's the problem, it's the pictures. I suppose this will help me get more into taking pictures, downloading them, uploading them... does it ever stop?? I especially don't have time for all that stuff now that I have a new job.



Yes, it's true. I am Spidermom. I spent all day spinning webs and having radioactive blood.

I did take a quick break from my spider job to run out and give my neighbor his mail. Don't tell my mailman I said this, but he is the worst mailman ever. I get more of my neighbor's mail than my own. I hope I'm getting all of mine anyway.

So back to my story. I'm running outside to catch my neighbor, I pass off the mail, run back up the steps, and then I discover that my Spiderkid has locked me out of the house. Nice, huh? I swear I was out the door and back in 15-20 seconds.

Fortunately I was able to talk him into unlocking the door. I would not have been happy if I had to break into my own house.

I promise pictures tomorrow. I've been very busy today and have some very cute stuff to show off!

Cowboys loose in the big city!

This morning I was minding my own business outside of Hobby Lobby waiting for it to open when I ran into this fine cowboy specimen.



Howdy ma'am!



I thought he looked more like a farmer, but he insisted that he was, in fact, a cowboy. Didn't I see the hat? And the boots? Come on!

The cowboy also has made a part time hobby of photography.



He took 3947 super blurry pictures of his sheep pug Hand Banana before he finally got this one gem.

One lesson learned this morning: Never trust a cowboy in the grocery store. If you let him hold a 6 pack (of yogurt drinks, but he wishes it was beer) in the front of the stroller, he will announce, "I'm done! Throw this away!" before the stroller pusher realizes that the cowboy was partaking of unpaid merchandise.

While the cowboy was taking an afternoon siesta, I got a little work done too.



Four undies on the line pouches all lined up. I like how it looks like a huge tree with a lot of lines, but alas, it actually four separate trees.

Tomorrow brings owls and scottie dogs.

Creature Feature!

Somebody I know who lives in my bathroom and takes part in activities that truly disturb me has finally gotten ready for his close up! Ladies and gentlemen, behold Mr. P:



For the record, last night was the first time I ever wore him like a glorious snake necklace, and I am not ashamed to admit that it actually felt pretty cool!



He's looking pretty handsome except for a small still shedding section on his neck. He decided to get ready for his close up last weekend by performing the world's fastest shed. It always seemed like it took forever for him to finish shedding (as in, he would just get done and start again), but he got it done lickety split aside from a little bit on his neck.

Some things to know about Mr. P:

1. His full name is Monty Python. He needs a middle name, right? I was thinking Fluffy, but feel free to throw in ideas.

2. He measure's approximately 2.5 feet. I tried to measure him with the help of Chainsaw, but he wasn't holding still enough.

3. He eats mice every couple weeks. I like to name them. They are all named Lunch. They used to get a number, like Lunch #4, but I have forgotten how many he's had since he came into our possession.

4. Monty has a crush on me. He slithers all over my arms and tongue sniffs me wherever he can. He likes smelling me way more than he does Chainsaw. I think his crush on me has helped us become friends, which we are now. I will officially take him out of his house all on my own, sometimes when Chainsaw isn't even home. See? We're friends.

Look at these glorious scales!



I think it would be really hilarious to make him a snake cozy, but I also think it would impossible to get him into it. I am thinking about crocheting him a scarf or something someday.

Now I must get the Chainsaw to clean his house. He has old skin all over the place, much like a man tosses his socks wherever and expects you to pick them up, only this time the man will do the clean up. I refuse to have anything to do with snake poop or snake astro turf cleaning.


Stay tuned for some crafty goodness tomorrow. I'm going to try the ol' post every day routine for a bit and see how it goes.

Snug as a pug in a rug

Felix is making the best out of the pile of couch cushions I accumulated last weekend from a very nice lady on freecycle. I'm going to make them some pillow cases and put them to use as floor cushions at my Dad and Kris's house. They don't have room for lots of extra furniture, and a few of these would be great to sit on when the couch gets filled with butts. Then they could shove them under a bed or something when they don't need the extra seating.

For now, they are being used as a bed on the living room floor. Chainsaw and I are horrible parents who bought a couch with cushions that don't come off, so Felix has so far been without the joy of playing with a pile of cushions.



Holy smokes! Someone come vacuum my rug please!

For Valentine's day I did something kind of naughty. I can't remember who/where this came from, but I saw this cute card on etsy. I loved it so much that, instead of buying it, I flat out traced it and embroidered it for Chainsaw. If this was your card, sorry I didn't buy it. I loved the idea, but I wanted to MAKE something for VD, you know?  Edited to add- the artist is Gemma Correll.  Her stuff is awesome!



A good problem to have:

After not touching my machine for weeks, I made that quilt block last week. Then I got a custom order for a few zippered pouches. This weekend I was bombarded with glorious inspiration, of course. It makes me want to work on new stuff so badly, but alas, first I must do custom orders. Here's hoping I get a ton done today!

Have any good problems lately?