handmade + giveaway

Jewelry. Jewelry was the focus of my handmade gifts this year. It was something I played with earlier in the year, remember, and something i wanted to learn more about. My friend Amy knew this so she took me to her friends bead shop in Logan and while I've been to bead shops in the passed and actually had a game plan (idea) about what I wanted to get, I simply was not prepared for the amount of beads I'd have to choose from. The moment I walked in all was forgotten--I was completely overwhelmed.

Although i had a rough start, I am pleased to report I did make it through the experience and at least an hour into it I was able to find my groove and get the beads I was looking for. I have decided though, that maybe I am a better online bead shopper.


Here are a few of the pieces I made (I made a few more earring sets not shown her, but they were earrings much like what I made over the summer so I thought i would just focus on these. Here's one to give you an idea).

Since I had learned your basic jewelry making skills I was itching to learn something new so I started to play with chainmail. The bracelet in the top right I made for Adam's mom and it's the Byzantine design weaved with 4mm jump rings. Although tedious it was a lot of fun to put together.



The other thing I've been itching to learn is stamped jewelry. I went back and forth for months trying to decide whether or not it was worth spending the money on the supplies, they are not inexpensive, but I figured Christmas was the perfect opportunity. So like most things I do I bought the stuff and went for it. I only wrecked one blank which surprised me (i bought extra in case) and created a few other pieces just for practice--like this one for myself above.

Since I bought a few extra and have a blank left over like the "hope" charm in the bottom right picture I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway to start out the year. So if you are interested in having a name, initials, or your 2011 word stamped in metal make a comment and I'll draw for a winner Saturday January 8th at 8pm MST. After looking at the example above I think I could easily get 5 letters maybe 6 on the blank. So be thinking.

Have a great weekend!!


P.S. if you're not the winner but are interested in getting a hand stamped charm for yourself email me.

gratitude journals are ready

After all day in my studio I am finally done with the gratitude journals. I will have them posted on my etsy site tomorrow morning most likely around 10am. Because of the interest I wasn't able to do orders so they are first come first serve. I hope you like them.

Thanks to those who were interested in buying them. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it immensely.

handmade

I didn't make as many gifts this Christmas as a I did last year, but what I did make I was so excited about. I've been thinking a lot about gratitude the last few weeks. How feeling grateful actually changes your attitude which in turn changes the way you see life. So with that on my mind I decided to make gratitude journals that would help keep you thinking about gratitude all year long.





It was more of an undertaking than I thought, designing it all from scratch, but one of those projects for me that didn't seem like work at all. I created the book layout in Indesign. Here are my initial notes. I had to work out each individual signature (group of pages) before I could begin to lay it out. I told Adam there must be a program out there that does this for you, but didn't have the time or patients or money to go looking for it.



quote from book:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melody Beattie



You can't really see it so clearly in the picture, but each page has three days and a place to write 3 things your grateful for from that day. It was definitely a labor of love and hope Adam's sisters and mom will enjoy them this coming year.

And because I loved the way they turned out so much and the concept that I decided to make an extra one to sell. I know I'm cutting it close with the new year starting this week, but seeing as they were gifts I couldn't share this information until after Christmas. If your at all interested go here to see it in my etsy shop.

Have a great day!

march giveaway

Right now I feel like I'm running faster than I have strength. In fact, I'm not quite sure how I'm doing all that I'm doing, but I'm grateful that I am. I'm really glad I have this brief moment before dance to post my giveaway because yesterday I actually had an SPT, but not time to post it. Sigh! I hate when I'm this busy.

So without further ado, this month I'm giving away a small 4x5.5 inch book I sewed together and bound with ribbon. Let's just say it's my ode to spring.



To enter just leave a comment and I'll announce the winner Friday.

Have a great day!

projects

I was busy the last week working on a few Christmas gifts. There are some I can't show you, but a few that I can. Namely the ones I made for my girls. I was pretty excited about making each of them a different gift and hope they will be as excited to get it as I was to make it.



First of all we have welcomed in December with the same advent calendar we made last year. We put the finishing touches, the candy, on last night. It was a crazy event, everyone was fighting over the peeps (note to self buy more peeps next year), but fun nevertheless.



As promised here is the finished elephant I made for Bella. I was at the fabric store a month or so ago looking for fabric to make Megan a dress with and found this cute pattern for the elephant. Immediate I thought Bella would love having her own, she adores her stuffed animals, so I abandoned the dress project and spent the time I had getting supplies for the elephant. It was harder than I thought and I ask you not to look too closely. I fear that unless this elephant stays on her shelf the ears may fall off. I don't think they are sew on too good. Oh well, it's cute, original, and all hers. Here is the website it gave on the pattern if you are interested.


[German case binding is the method I used for putting the book together]

For Tess I decided to make a sketch book. She loves to draw and the only problem is I find papers all over the house. My initial instinct is to toss them, but I don't really want to. My solution, giving her drawings a place of there own, a bound place, so they can no longer get lost or accidentally tossed. I think it will be cool over the years to see where she started and hopefully she'll have several of these as she grows up.


[Knit hat]

Megan is very fond of hats. Really she's fond of anything you can wear, but she looks so cute in hats so that's the route I decided to take. I think its a little big and am debating whether or not to make another. I guess it all depends on what kind of time I have when I've finished with my holiday list.

Are you making any gifts this year?

Project 6 - accordion box

It's been a while since I've made one of these accordion boxes. The first time I made one I was in love with them. They were 2x2 and so very cute, but very time consuming. If you can recall I mentioned making one for Megan's photo ledge back in October 06 (I think), but so far it has just been a thought. This week I decided to tackle this project. I must say it was something I was definitely looking forward to. I actually didn't think it would happen because I'm still so congested. When I try to do anything my nose just drains. I wish someone could have taken a picture of me working because I literally had a wad of kleenex in my nose. I guess you could say I was determine.

I wasn't sure what I really wanted when I started. I mean I knew the colors (i thought they sort of changed) and pretty much the photos, but nothing else. So I grabbed some paper, rubons, and embellishments and told myself this was all I could use. I have to say that really made a huge difference for me. Usually I walk around wondering what I should use and this way I had no choice. This has got to be my new strategy because it couldn't have worked out better. I was able to do the whole thing, seriously, while Megan was napping and the other two were in school. Nice! I thought for sure I would still be working on this on Saturday.

Here are a few photos of the accordion box.

I couldn't be happier as to how it turned out. I'm looking forward to making more, which is good because Tess saw it and wanted one too. Go here if you want to see more detailed photos.

a day to celebrate.

My sweet husband made me this card that I love. I always love the cards he makes for me. He also gave me the new Jewel CD which I have heard is good. I haven't had time to listen to the whole thing, but will give my review when I do. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband that is willing to work with me and love me through it all. Love him dearly and couldn't do this life without him.

Here are the gifts from my dear sweet girls. Getting a homemade gift just couldn't get any better. I remember making things for my parents and being so thrilled to give it to them. I also was excited when I would go to my dad's office and see them on display. So receiving them now is such a treat.




from tess


























from megan








Mother's Day has always been the holiday where I reflect on how I am doing and what I could do better. All I will say now is I am pleased with my outlook on the coming year. I know what I need to do. I feel confident. Of course I am no fool. I know it is very hard...they sure can drive me nuts, but they constantly keep me laughing. Constantly keep me feeling loved. Constantly pushing me to be the best mother I can be. And that makes it all worth it.