A Quick Reminder

Just a quick reminder....Craft Night is TOMORROW!!!! 

Hope to see everyone there!

Word is that we're having Chilli, Corn Muffins, and Pumpkin Bars!  Yummy! 

Come hungry and bring a friend!

-Jack

Greeeeeeeen Acres...

Happy Almost Thanksgiving to you all!!!

I'm just about ready to burst...I'm so excited to stuff myself with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, dressing, pumpkin pie...the whole shebang!  In my haste for Thanksgiving, however, I've quickly realized that Christmas is almost here!  I need to get moving or I'm never going to get all my gifts made!  On that note, I'm kicking around having TWO craft nights in December to help facilitate some more time to work on things...if you're interested, let me know!

I've been doing some Christmas shopping this last week...I'm trying to stay ahead of the crowd and not have to spend the last minute days of the year cramming in manic shopping for last minute gifts.  While I was out, I popped into Barnes & Noble and cruised through the bargain section...well....let me tell you...a bargain did I find!  Who would have ever thought that you could find such a treasure in the bargain section?!

When Halloween is your favorite holiday, you're always looking for the next awesome decoration/craft...well, needless to say, I've found mine!!!!!
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On Sunday, we celebrated the hubby's birthday, so I got to see my family for dinner.  Momma made some AWESOME fried chicken per the hubby's request, and we got to play with my little Nephew!  He's walking now, which is crazy, but so fun to see!

After the evening's festivities subsided we spent some quiet time watching the old original Batman movie!  Let me tell you, the shark attack at the beginning of the movie might be my new favorite scene of all time...classic! 

Anyway, while the boys continued to watch Batman & talk motorcycles, Momma & I pulled out her Christmas present from last year so that I could get her started on it again.  We made some good progress once we got going, and I think she probably went to bed thinking..."yarn over, go through the V, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through two, yarn over, pull through two...chain one...yarn over, go through the V, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through two, yarn over, pull through two"....poor thing...but I think she's got it!  Check out her progress!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone....I'm thankful for all of my fellow crafters!

Weekend with Momma

You know the expression when the cats away, the mice will play?....well, this weekend, my Momma and I got to play!  Our guys were gone on a motorcycle weekend, so we got to have some quality mother/daughter time...and I must say...it was wonderful!  We ate, we shopped, we watched gobs of gooey chick-flicks...and we crafted! 

After our long day of shopping on Saturday, we made a final stop to Michaels because I needed some more toggle clasps for some Christmas presents I'm working on.  While there, I found some neat chain links that I thought would make a good substitute for a copy-cat bracelet I wanted to try.  While shopping earlier in the day, we stopped in to Bergners to use our $10 coupons...I found a really neat Fossil brand bracelet that just begged to go home with me (I really liked the vintage/charm look that it had to it, and truth be told, I wanted to try and copy it myself!).  So, after a successful trip to Michaels I had all my supplies and we had another movie to watch at home!

Here's what I came up with...

The top bracelet is the copy-cat version that I came up with...the bottom is the one I bought for about 5 times the cost of making it myself.  Not bad, huh?

I also tried making a similar bracelet with this double brass chain that I had lying around...I really like how this one turned out...I'm even wearing it today!

 

On Sunday, our fun had to come to and end so I spent the rest of the weekend on the couch watching Sons of Anarchy (love that show) and trying to finish up a project that I had started in my mind weeks ago. 

I'm starting to really learn a lot about myself from this blog...I'm noticing that I am VERY visually oriented!  I can make pretty much anything...or at least a pretty good copy...if I can just see it first. 

So, like so many times before, I bought a bracelet at the Loft with the intent of bringing it home and trying to make my own in other colors...here's the result!



The lighter one is my copy...the darker is the original





I love these!



Back to Jewelry...and a Few Pumpkins

So after the craziness of Halloween settled down I went back to the craft store with the intent of getting some more fabric to continue with the flowers.  They've been a huge hit and I know they'll make great gifts for the holidays.  I have this ambitious goal of trying to hand-make the majority of my Christmas gifts this year.  I know, it's probably unrealistic, but I'd really like to try.  It seems like every year Christmas gets more and more about buying presents rather than the thought that goes into them...so I'd like to try and redeem myself a bit by making gifts that I can give that truly come from the heart.  We'll see how I do!  :)

So anyways, I was at the craft store and bought a ton of new fabric to hurry home and play with.  I of course have to check out all the other aisles that pertain to my craft interests, and what was supposed to be a quick trip turned into 2 hours at Hobby Lobby...seriously people, I need an intervention! :) I ended up back in the jewelry aisle and discovered some new crystals/beads that I thought would make an awesome bracelet.  I'm usually more into making necklaces but for some reason I was feeling like trying a bracelet...go figure. 

When I got home, the majority of what I bought came from the fabric/ribbon sections...but, what do I sit down and do...I make a bracelet!  If someone ever figures out how my brain works, please let me know!  Lol!  I'm sure I'll get to the stack of fabric sitting on the table in my craft room, but for now I'm LOVING these bracelets.  They work up pretty quick, are very simple, and really pack a punch on the bling factor!  Tell me what you think!

 

I also had to post a couple of quick photos from my Hubby and I's adventures in Pumpkin Carving!  When he wants to be, my husband is actually really creative.  I don't want to do anything to diminish his Man-Card, however, so I'll only disclose his craft-savyness on things that are appropriately manly.  (He reads this blog after all!)

Check out our mad pumpkin carving skills!

 



Craft Night #3

So, like I said in the last post...I'm really late in getting this posted.  Sorry!

Craft Night #3 was a big success!  It seems like we get a consistent group of faithful crafters each week, along with a few new people.  I love it!  This time, I was so excited because I had a couple of family members that were going to join us.  My Mom and my Aunt Barb made the long drive to come craft in the cornfields, and they even volunteered to bring the main dish for our food contributions!  Needless to say, anytime someone volunteers to drive up here and bring homemade Chicken and Noodles crafters everywhere rejoice! 

One of the neat things that seems to be happening with craft night is that everyone is stepping out of their comfort zone and is trying new things.  That's something I never expected to have happen, but really appreciate now that I see how much people are enjoying it.  This week, there was a lot of interest in the jewelry making process as well as how to make the new fabric flowers that I just debuted.  Check it out...

 

If you could only smell the deliciousness coming from the Chicken & Noodles.  And there's nothing quite like a Pumpkin Pie flavored Caramel Apple!  Yum!!!

 

Autumn & Kim helped Renee & Diana with some awesome necklaces

 

The finished products turned out great!!

 

Sonja & Momma's flowers turned out beautiful!  Word has it that Sonja even wore hers to a formal dinner that she got to go too!  I love how Momma used some feathers to accent her flower...they're so cool!

 

I can relate to Aunt Barb so much because she is a perfectionist at heart just like me!  Her flowers turned out awesome and I love how the organza took on different colors when she mixed the red and blue together.  Gorgeous!

 



I made a quick flower headband for Renee's daughter who wanted to be a hippie for Halloweeen.  I used this awesome elastic velvet that I found at Joann's for the headband.  Danielle used a bunch of different fabrics to make this beautiful purple/gray flowered headband...it turned out awesome!

So...one more post coming and I think I'll be all caught up!  

The Long Awaited...Majorly Delayed...Procrastinated Post About My New Obsession!

First off, I'm so sorry to all of my loyal followers!  I hyped up this big new project and then left you hanging...not my style normally!  October has come and gone and it was a whirlwind!!!  I have enough material that I could probably have about 10 posts...alas, I don't seem to have the time to get them all together, so I think I'm going to go with an abbreviated 3 and see if I can get you all caught up on what's been going on in my craft world! 

A few months ago I was out shopping at one of my favorite clothing stores.  I love the style of the clothes at the Loft...they're fun, professional, and sort of affordable.  I sometimes struggle to find professional/respectable clothes that still make me feel like I'm young (I'm only 27 after all).  So, anyways, for me, it's the Loft.  I find myself browsing their jewelry very often and then return home only to try and copy what I saw for a fraction of the price!  (Yay for home crafting!)  Well, their end of summer styles were featuring really great dainty headbands that complimented the clothing with awesome fabrics and embellishments like satin, organza flowers, feathers, etc.  Here's the kicker...who wants to pay $34 for a HEADBAND!!! Not this gal!  So, I put my creativeness to work and did some research on how I could go about it myself.  Here's what I came up with! 

(This post has lots pictures, because, well, I had a lot of fun making these flowers, pins, and headbands!  Be sure to click on the photos to see the details closer up.  The lighting was horrible when i took these, and it was about 1am, so needless to say I was a bit out of it!  Enjoy!)

 

 

 

 

See what I mean...just a bit loopy... :)

 

 

 

Up next, I'll post pictures from Craft Night #3 where we had some fabulous new crafters join us, we ate awsome food, and worked on jewelry and the new flowers!!!