a Valentine's monster

If you're interested in joining my i spy fabric charm swap go here.
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I figured my son wouldn't get to make a Valentine's box until next year when he was in kindergarten so I was pretty excited when he brought home a note from daycare stating we should make a Valentine's box at home to bring to school for the party.  I have fond grade school memories of making my Valentine's box every year.  My son and I decided a monster box was a good idea and I had visions of a cute little Valentine's monster with hearts and other such stuff.  His box:

In case you can't tell, it's a rancor from Star Wars.  You know. . .the monster in the dungeon of Jabba the Hutt's palace.  (Because it's all about Star Wars at our house.)  Not what I had in mind but we had a ton of fun making it and he was pretty proud of his creation!

i spy fabric charm swap

I've been wanting to make an "i spy" quilt for a long time.  I'm too impatient to slowly collect enough appropriate fabric and I keep missing out on all the charm swaps.  I figured the best solution was to host my own swap!  Want to join in the fun?  I'm looking for 55 participants (US residents only for my first swap).  You send me 56 charms of one fabric and get 56 unique charm squares in return.  What a deal!

If you know of anybody that may be interested, please pass this along.  I'm fearful that my first swap will be a huge flop!

to join the swap:

• Leave a comment on this post if you want to join the swap.  Leave an e-mail address if you are a no-reply blogger.  I will e-mail you to confirm your spot in the swap.

• Purchase one yard of 100% cotton, designer fabric appropriate for an "i spy" quilt.  (No Hancocks or JoAnns and no licensed prints.)  We will be exchanging 5 inch charms so make sure the scale of the print you choose is appropriate.

• After you purchase your fabric, upload a picture to the Flickr group.  Do this as soon as possible so we can make sure there aren't any duplicates.

• Do not prewash your fabric.  Cut your fabric into 5 inch charms.  If you need a tutorial on cutting your fabric into charms, please read this tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman.

• Place your 5 inch fabric charms in a plastic zipper bag along with a 3x5 card with your name, mailing address and e-mail address.  Mail your charms to me (my address will be e-mailed to you) and be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope so I can mail your charms back to you.  The tentative due date for me to receive your charms will be March 15th.  (I've never coordinated a swap before, so we'll see how quickly the group fills up!)

• Try and wait patiently for your charms to arrive in the mail then create something amazing!

I'm so excited I've already ordered my fabric!

Red Fish Odyssea by MoMo for Moda

There are so many cute fabrics, though.  Here are some of my favorites from Fort Worth Fabric Studio (my new favorite on-line fabric source):

Helicopters Blue / Scoot by Riley Blake / $9.50/yard

Weiner Dogs Ebony / Citron & Gray by Michael Miller / $9.35/yard

Metro Market Apples on Black by Robert Kaufman / $6/yard

If you have any questions please leave a comment below or send me an e-mail.  Thanks for stopping by!

embroidered quilt block

My aunt recently invited my mother and I to embroider quilt blocks for her new granddaughter's baby blanket.  They have a wonderful tradition where all of the women in the family embroider a block which are then made into a baby blanket.  I was honored to be included.  My quilt block:

I typed out the saying on my computer using a variety of fonts and upper and lower case letters.  I am happy with how it turned out and am excited to see pictures of the finished quilt.

a quilt pattern {by a 5 year old}

Excuse my absence from blogging.  Sometimes life gets so busy. . .

My son and I have the day off today (me from work and him from daycare).  I always love days off though I never get as much accomplished as I want to.  This morning he was very excited to show me the quilt pattern he made for me the day before.  I was a little surprised when he pulled this from his backpack.

At daycare yesterday he made me a pattern for the next quilt I make.  And he informed me if I don't have all the right colors of fabric we can go buy the right colors of fabric.  Now I am not anything close to a perfect mom.  I am impatient.  I raise my voice too much.  I get frustrated.  But there are two things I/we have done well.  

1. I (or my husband) have read to my son every single day since he was very young.  Even when he didn't have any interest in being read to, we continued to read to him.  Even when he chewed on books and ripped pages, we continued to read to him.  Because of that he has a wonderful imagination and incredible vocabulary for a 5 year old.
2. I have included my son in my crafting adventures.  We color and paint.  We sew and make cards.  He appreciates my handmade gifts and he understands the amount of love that goes into making them.  He always wants to be included in my crafty projects and that warms my heart.  (The down side of this is he wants to save every little thing I try to throw away because "maybe we can make something out of it.")

So I haven't quite figured out how to translate his pattern into an actual quilt, but I will.  (Though it probably won't be anytime soon.)  For now, his pattern will hang on the wall in my sewing room as a reminder of how lucky I am to be Mom to this sweet boy.

thank you card

I haven't made cards in such a long time.  I used to be a regular at many of the card-making blogs but as I started sewing more I made cards less.  CPS is celebrating their 5th anniversary and I wanted to take part in at least a few of the sketch challenges.  (I'd like to participate in all 15 and be entered in the grand prize drawing but I know it's not gonna happen!)  Day 2 uses CPS sketch #166:

I made a simple thank you card for my grandpa.

I used cardboard and embossed the bottom with my Cuttlebug.  It's hard to tell, but I used Tim Holtz soot distress ink on the embossing.  I spray painted a piece of cardboard black and sanded the edges.  The heart is a Sizzix die cut and I spray painted it gold.  The stamp is an old one from the $1 bin at Michaels and I finished it off with a piece of twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas signs

I didn't do a very good job of sharing the few Christmas projects I did complete.  My favorite project is the two new holiday signs I made:

Remember all those cabinet doors I bought?  I used two matching doors to make the signs.  I sanded them then painted them with spray paint (Rust-Oleum American accents Claret Wine).  It took about 5 coats to get the color I wanted and this is probably the first time I haven't painted the back of my project.  After the paint dried, I sanded the edges and added some stain to give it an aged look.  I purchased the vinyl sayings from JanDee Crafts on Etsy.  The hardware was leftover from my hutch makeover.  The hardware had been sitting in the garage for over a year, and I'm glad I saved it because the knobs were perfect for my signs.  I hung my signs on either side of the picture window in my living room.

Earlier this fall, I made another signs out of a piece of wood and a Cricut stencil:

I think I prefer the vinyl wording since it takes me forever to cut the stencil, get it to stick to the wood then paint it without messing the whole thing up.  

Christmas cards

I know it has been forever since I've blogged.  (Once again, one of my resolutions in the new year is to be a better blogger!)  I did manage to accomplish a few Christmas crafts, and I'll try to share them all.  Every year I make my own Christmas cards.  I love using a photo of my cute little son, and here is this year's card:

Every year I contemplate having photo card made, and every year I decide to make my own to save money.  (I always forget to factor in my time, but I do love making them myself.)  This year I was really frugal and used cardboard I rescued from the trash at work.  I did spray the cards with a light coat of gold spray paint to jazz them up a bit.  I had prints made at Walgreens (5 cents each) then cropped them to fit the card.  I saw the photo idea on Pinterest--the inspiration photo is here.  I stamped each photo with Staz On ink and a "joy" stamp (purchased several years ago for $1 at Michaels).  The corrugated cardstock was from my stash.  I added a printed tag with our names before I mailed them out.  I love the clean and simple look, and I think my recipients enjoyed the cards, too.