just helen

Mix, Match and Revitalize

Creating "stuff" is always a process.  It goes from an idea, to a plan, to a follow through - and sometimes it goes around another time.  This time it all started with  some very cute fabric.

 
Do you recognize it?  Well, if you said Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird, you'd be right!  Isn't it the cutest?  And I have a fat quarter of each pattern.  Hmmmm...not enough to make a dress or curtains, but I'm sure that I can come up with something.  Some of you might remember a recent project that I was working on - pincushions.  Here I had this darling little pile of fat quarters that I had completely overlooked in the process of making them earlier this month.  I would revisit the possibility and...
 
Too cute!  Well revisiting the little fat quarters reminded me of something else I had...

 
The Early Bird paper line that was the start of the Early Bird fabric collection!  Now I had made the pincushion with someone specific in mind, but I'm not telling who because that would spoil the surprise.  But since it's a gift, I will need a card to go along with it. 

 
 
Can you think of anything more fun than cute fabric and cute paper that matches?

So while I was making the card, another idea came to mind.  It makes me sad to think that one of my little creations would end up tucked away in a drawer or worse still - tossed into the trash!  So I came up with this idea...paper revitalization!

 
I mean, a card doesn't have to hold together forever, right?  It's not like a scrapbook page.  Once the sentiment is received, why not give it new life?  So I used removable Dotto on the backside of the chipboard, wrapped over 30" of baker's twine around the center and tied it in a bow NOT a knot so that you don't lose any precious inches.  Instead of stitching the strips to the card, they are only stitched onto the  Cherry Pie piece. 

I had to try out my theory to see if it worked and...

 
with an extra piece of patterned paper and some chipboard letters, my card has taken on a new life.  Only problem? That card was supposed to go with the pincushion...drat!  I'll have to make another.  Only problem is, I don't think that the person I'm giving the pincushion to really needs any more Early Bird embellishments!  Oh well, it's something to think about!

Happy New Year 2011!

The chill in our house this morning did not encourage that "early to rise" motto that Ben Franklin famously gave us: Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man (I think I can substitute woman here) healthy, wealthy and wise. I was thinking that I could use a little more of all three of those things in my life right about now! I have delayed making any New Year's resolutions...I usually do.  Is it too late to do that on January 4th?

Christmas is calling for me to put it away.  My husband has already taken the lights down, so he's done...well, technically we still need to get all the Christmas bins down out of the attic so I can actually put all the decorations away.  There is a little part of me that wants to delay taking everything down, but at the same time I long to de-clutter all the knickknacks and make for easier dusting for that rare occasion when I actually DUST.  But my workroom is calling me.  There are fun projects I want to work on but I have delayed because I was busy making things for Christmas, and I try not to bury myself in my workroom when family is around (although they might argue that I still do) and all my children were home for Christmas. 

I'm grateful that everyone is still able to do that, that they want to come home.  I can't imagine not having a good relationship with my family.  I am grateful that my children love each other and get along...for the most part.  Disagreements always happen when you have any size family, and the more you have, the more opportunity for there to be different opinions.  I hear stories from my children of families divided, that have little to do with their children, either because the children are rebellious or they won't do what their parents require of them.  I'll take all the family I can get and I'm happy to have them around...even if, on occasion, they are being difficult, which my "practically perfect in every way" children rarely are.

But the out-of-town family have returned to their various abodes.  Now that we are back into a regular routine, I have found my way back to my workroom.  I am ready for some fun!

I am going to give the Etsy thing a go again.  Many, many moons ago, I did small craft fairs.  Now I can get creative and share without leaving the comforts of home.  I'm starting off small and we'll see where it goes!

 
This cute pincushion (sitting on top of my antique scale that Michael gave me for Christmas) is about 3.5" wide by 3" tall.

 
Here's another pincushion, measuring about 2.5" wide by 2.5" tall.

 
Here is the smallest pincushion, measuring about 2" tall by 2" wide.

These pincushions are not your grandma's garden-variety red tomato type.  But they will liven up any small space with a touch of color.  You can see other listings at my Etsy shop.  I'll be working on posting other items soon, including supplies that I plan on making into kits.  I'm so excited that CHA is coming soon!  It's always a treat to go see all the new product out there, even though I need to be careful what I bring home with me because space is limited!

A Slow Go...For Real

Megan actually did hijack my new Christmas present. But that's okay. I finally got it - my iPad - back and now I'm in control. This is going to be a little harder for typing until I get used to the process. One of the nice things about having this new tool is that learning how to use it will make my ability to blog easier...thank you Jake and Christian!!!  I promise that I will figure things out, maybe with a little help from the manual you left behind.  It's that "teaching an old dog new tricks" routine again - slowly, but surely!

So here it is, a few days after Christmas and I've survived another one. The meals, which were many, were good on the most part.  We've gotten some great deals at the dollar store (99cents only store) and are hoping that we can still get in on some good after-Christmas sales since we stayed away from the stores on Sunday, as usual.  I've got a gift certificate to Cool Scrapbook stuff from Liz that might just burn a hole in my pocket - and they're having a big sale right now. Christian cut Christie's, Matt's and my hair and highlighted and cut Megan's...we all look beautimus!

My out-of-town company are all on their way home.  We've had a super fun time doing things that we don't usually do...except for the 99cents only store!  We played a lot of fun games (my favorite was Blokus, but I think that Snorta might grow on me!) There was lots of time for chatting and we even went to the ocean for a quick walk on the beach.  But now, since we have so much besides blogging to do, I will leave you with some parting shots of one of the Christmas presents that will no longer spoil the surprise!

 
 
I think I may have found a new obsession!