Have a Nice K!

My New Source for Creative Inspiration

It's funny how each craft store has its own vibe.  

Hobby Lobby, being the vast and eclectic store that it is, is filled with large aisles that you often do not have to share with other shoppers, and has employees who are helpful, but not too helpful.  I don't know if I've ever been asked if I need assistance, but when I need to have fabric cut, there is always someone there.  

Michael's is definitely a large store, but I still always feel like everything is crammed in, and I always feel like I'm missing something because it is being overshadowed by seven million other items that are all within five inches of each other, and I love it!  The customer service is always very pleasant (with the exception of one store manager who is always in a rush and only gives half answers, ex: "If we have it, it will be over by the scrapbooking section," not too vague, huh?!?!).  One of the Michael's stores by my house always manages to be playing music that I love, so there I am for 60+ minutes bopping along while I dig through their merchandise; it's as though they have scanned my brain upon entry and know exctly what it takes to keep me there for the maximum amount of time.  The seemingly customized playlist usually involves some Billy Joel-esque soundtrack to keep me company as I wander through a wonderous aisle that is magically stocked with tempting treasures waiting to be unearthed from the rubble that is the clearance section.

Jo-Ann.  This used to be my go-to craft store, especially before I moved to my current town.  My original experience with Jo-Ann in my youth was a kind of messy, mostly fabric store that also contained a lot of seasonal chachkies that were usually on a pretty good sale.  I was awe-stricken when I went into the Bloomingdale, IL location.  My first thought was, "This is Jo-Ann on crack!"  All of a sudden I stepped into a brightly-lit, well-organized wonderland that had an abundance of materials for any project you could think of and a practically hidden clearance section that made me feel like I was busting into their secret stash. My heart would race as I plunked fifty cent stickers and scrapbooking supplies into my basket.  The experience was intimate, even though the store was huge.  Every time I'd go it felt like I was having an alien encounter because I'd be convinced that I'd only been in there for ten minutes, but 40 minutes later I'd come out with a huge bag that I could not hide and would discover a very unhappy husband who had been waiting in the car the whole time.  Oops!  SO, this may sound insignigicant, but about a year ago they re-arranged the store, and it totally messed up my Jo-Ann groove.  I definitely still frequent the store, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their app for my smartphone that is filled with awesome coupons, but I'm still hoping that they re-re-arrange my favorite location and return it to its previous awesomeness. 

So now, let me tell you about my newest temptation, Paper Source.  It isn't really a craft store, perse, but it contains so many unique and fun materials that inspire endless projects.  If Archiver's and Papyrus had a baby, it would look just like Paper Source.  Last week I took a little trip to the Paper Source located in Oak Brook, IL and quickly had to come to terms with the fact that it is my new guilty pleasure.   The boutique feel draws you in as soon as you see the gorgeously dressed windows.  The thing is, you don't go to Paper Source for something specific, you go there for inspiration.  I especially love the people who work there, they exude a sweet coolness that I never thought could be applied to crafting, and the best part is that they were of all ages.  My favorite score from this trip were teal 12x12 sheets of  scrapbook paper that are shimmery with a swirly red design.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but I love the color combo, and part of me just wants to frame them and hang them on my bedroom wall.  Did I mention that I picked them out from their 50% off section?  Love it!

 

Happy Father's Day!

In addition to Soda Stream accessories, I've made my dad a wall hanging of all (most) of the places our family went on vacation while I was growing up, and then I put our home in the center (idea courtesy of my husband).  I'm loving the new trend of using maps, hopefully my dad will like it, too!  The song I danced to with my dad at my Wedding was The Beatles, In My Life, so the words I used have special meaning.  I apologize for the blurry pics, I really need to get a better camera!  If I could do it over again, I'd probably put the font in white instead of blue, if only for the sake of it showing up better in pictures, but in-person, the blue is pretty cool.

I was thinking it could be cool to do something like this with all the places we've lived...so may possibilities, and so easy.

I hope the special dads in your life have a very happy Father's Day!

Like, Love, Loathe

For the past six months, or so, I've been keeping a running list in my head of all the things I like, love, and loathe.  Many of them are craft-related, some of them are just a lot of randomness that makes it onto my radar.  So now, I present to you, my first attempt at unloading these random musings from my mind.

LIKE
1. Baker's Twine- There's just something so wonderful about something so simple.

2. Doilies- I'm not sure if it's because they remind me of my grandmother or because they are so intricate and delicate, but I'm definitely a sucker for them.  I really want to make a 4th of July bunting banner out of them, like this one: Patriotic Doily Banner - The Scrap Shoppe Blog.

3. Chalkboard Paint- I know that this isn't something new, but a couple of months ago I found a bottle of blue chalkboard paint on clearance at Hobby Lobby, so I thought I'd give it a try.  This weekend I tried it out on a metal tray from the dollar store now Ia love it!  Today I bought chalkboard coating (which I didn't know existed), and I'm very anxious to slather my whole world in it and get good use out of my chalkboard pens (see Loathe Item #3, it really would have come in handy for these $12 markers!).



LOVE

1. Collies- Life feels incomplete since mine passed away almost two weeks ago.

2. Wax Paper- It reminds me of my childhood when my great-aunt used to bring me wax paper bags and register tape from her job at a high school cafeteria; those little gifts made me so happy.

3. My Nana- She is 90 years-old and I try to bring her over to my house every other week to spend time with me and my family.  She lived with me while I was growing up and was more like a mother to me than a grandmother.  When I was high school/college age, we used to stay up late and make brownies at midnight, we called it...wait for it..."Brownies at Midnight," although sometimes we'd make a cake. She is the most selfless person I have ever met and she would do anything and give up everything for the people she loves.  Plus, she and my grandfather brought the first collie I'd ever met into my life.  I love pineapple upside down cakes because of her, and she tolerated, maybe even enjoyed, car trips during the summer of 1999 with me when I would blast the new Backstreet Boys CD, Millenium, particularly the song, "I Want it That Way."


LOATHE
1. Katy Perry- Her music makes me feel like I'm slowly rotting away, and I thought she was a little witchy a few years ago when she was a guest judge during the open calls on American Idol.

2. Fruit Flies- Do I really need to explain this dislike?  I leave a bowl of fruit out for just a little too long and then all of a sudden I'm playing inn keeper to a pest party that is the size of the entire population of China - come on, is that punishment really justified?

3. Talking the time to print out a Hobby Lobby coupon and then forgetting to use it. Totally not cool.  Plus, it just burns a hole in my purse as I keep trying to tell myself that I just spent $80 at that store, I do not have to go back just to use the coupon.

4. The fact that Hobby Lobby coupons are only available if you have an Internet connection and the ability to print. One day, after I'd used my coupon, a little old lady asked me where I got it.  She looked so deflated when I told her it was e-mailed to me. Please correct me if I'm wrong and there is another method of obtaining these (this is one of those times when I'd love to be wrong).

 

Hair Barrettes

Since I have a boy, my 10 month-old niece is often the recipient of my creative outbursts.  I've become obsessed with making flowers out of anything, so that, along with my love for making things out of random scraps, has produced a series of hair barrettes for little girls.

Here is a quick run-down of my favorite technique for making a fabric flower, which you can see on flower #4, with the same principle applied to #1 and #5.

1. Cut six to eight circles out of fabric; they will each be a petal.  

2. Fold each circle into quarters.

3. Sew long stitches through the wide end of the first petal and then pull the thread to gather the fabric together.  At this point you will start to see the petal take shape.

4. Repete step three with each of the remaining petals.  I've found that six is usually enough to make a full flower, yet not create a large hole in the middle that is difficult to fill.

5. Sew the first petal and last petal together.

7. Attach a center to the flower.  In the past, I've used a large plastic gemstone, sewed in a piece of fabric, and insterted a decorative brad that I hot glued into the flower.

To turn them into barrettes, I simply just glued the flower onto the barrette.

So simple and with truely lovely results!  If I can do this, anyone can!

 

Happy Day!

My husband and son share the same birthday.  Yes, four years ago the newest love of my life was born on the same day as the longest love of my life, which makes May 26th a very happy and special day for me.

For the occasion, I've made a fun and festive wreath that was inspired by Steph at The Silly Pearl Blog.  I fell in love with her Party Blower Wreath the second I saw it!

This was so easy to make, and tons of fun!  I started mine about a month ago and have spent the past few weeks starting at it because it wasn't quite right.  I finally decided to make more party blowers and use papers with bolder colors; I kind of felt like some of the colors, while pretty as 12x12 sheets, looked muted and lacking once they were reduced down to rolled up one inch strips.  I'm sure if I keep staring at the wreath I will be able to find spots where an embellishment could be added, or even try to convince myself that I should whip up a few more party blowers, but tomorrow is their birthday, and this little homage to my boys is now hanging on my front door where I cannot be tempted.

Calling to Me from the Shelf: The Allure of Scrabble Tiles

 

Last October, my mother offered me an untouched Scrabble game that had been laying around her house for years.  As I quickly took her up on this little gem, my sister piped up, "She's just going to use it to make jewelry!"  To which my mother replied, "I don't care."

I'd been anxious to try my hand at this clever little art form, which I had discovered in a cool little earthy shop in Door County, WI last summer.  I spent a month going crazy with excitement at the endless opportunities I had with how I could decorated each tile.  Some only took an instant to create really cool designs.  I enjoyed getting out my really detailed rubber stamps and using the tiny rectangles to focus in on a smaller element of the design.

While I had purchased the bails needed to turn them into pendants, I'd only used three to make a key chain, which I attached to the purse I gave my mother-in-law for her birthday, choosing tiles with her initials as the back, and then customizing the decoration on the front to go along with the trip to Ireland that she would soon be taking.  The key chain was visually adorable, but that's where the success ended.  Within a couple of months, to my horror, one of the three tiles had fallen off completely and another had lost the front design that I'd glued on and covered with an adhesive resin sticker. 

Feeling a little dejected by the lack of durability, I've been collecting my finished tiles in a glass jar that sits on the bookshelf in my living room, where they await their new destiny.  I walk by them every day and sometimes take them out and arrange them in patterns, or check to see how they are holding up.  The designs where I used thicker papers or fabric were going the way of my MIL's key chain; the resin was peeling up.  I'm not so bummed out about this anymore, because my new plan is to make a piece of mosaic-y wall art using all the tiles together.  Right now I have about 50 finished tiles, I think I want to double that number before I put everything together.  Perhaps I will challenge myself in May to complete one tile each day.  What do you think?

 

The Journey Begins

I creep up the stairs, thoughts furiously flying through my head. What am I going to do? How did I get myself onto this situation? How am I going to get out? I flip on the hallway light, only to be met by the hissing zap of the light bulb burning out. With only the glow of my cell phone to guide me down the hall, I come to an unsuspecting linen closet. Painted in a hideously putrid shade of brown, I can feel the cool, aged brass pulls of the double doors beckoning me to tug on them and expose the truths that lie within. I shouldn't dare, for I know that I'm not prepared to encounter what is behind those doors. "Face your fears," I goad myself aloud, half wishing that my subconscious angel would show up on my shoulder to combat the devil that had just arrived to tease me on. 

THUMP! THUMP! BUMP!

What was that noise? There's something in there! Before I have the chance to decide for myself, the double doors open and..... AAAHHHH! I can't look! I feel something heavy at my feet, but my cell phone light has gone out and I am paralyzed by fear, unable to find the button to bring the phone back to life.

I feel a presence behind me, as a deep voice begins to grumble. "You need to use the craft supplies you have before you buy anything new," my husband says as he reaches down to pick up a pile of miscellaneous card stock, glue sticks, fabric glue, wood glue, Super Glue, brightly colored gem embellishments, my new Zutter Bind It All, several Martha Stewart paper punches, along with a Hobby Lobby bag still full from the trip I'd just made over my lunch hour that day that had all just tumbled out of the overstuffed linen closet and onto my feet.

Over just a couple of years, I've managed to acquire more crafting supplies than I can handle. I finally know how those little old ladies who live with hoards of cats feel; I love all of my crafts and would feel horrible if I had to get rid of any of my supplies. But I know I need to be more motivated, so this blog is a challenge to myself.

I'm a part-time-on-the-weekends-during-the-wee-small-hours-of-the-morning-when-the-stars-align crafter. Technique? None. Patience? It waxes and wanes like the phases of the moon, it ebbs and flows like waves in the ocean. Passion? Spaceships and boatloads full. I'm an amateur, that's for sure, but there is something about making something lovely that keeps me coming back for more. 

My intentions for this blog are to:

1. Put a dent in my craft closet(s)
2. Finally commit to the projects I've already started to create in my head
3. Come out of my creative shell 

Even though I'm not at the skill level of the supremely talented, seasoned craft bloggers who are so inspirational, it's ok to want to share this love from my point-of-view, right? I want to share triumphs and tragedies, and maybe get some good advice (craft-related or not) along the way.

First up: festive birthday wreaths (unless I change my mind)