"Note"worthy

Wondering what I did with the twigs and the old hymn book?

Well.... we have this weird empty corner in our music room

where piano meets couch, (small room, big furniture). I've

watched enough HGTV to know that my weird corner is a

no no. The problem is....we don't have money to go out and

buy new furniture, so I decided that maybe I could at least do

something to soften the assault on the eyes.

It is important to me that the things in our home have personal

meaning. So I thought that rather than go to the store and buy

a fake tree, or a screen, I would make something from things

that mean something to us. So I snipped of a bunch of limbs

from our favorite tree and found an old hymn book (we have

a bunch of them) to make into leaves, and now we have a....

"NOTE"WORTHY TREE

It's not to tough to figure out how it's done.

Just make a leaf template and trace leaves onto a page.
I cut several pages out at a time so all of them weren't

outlined.

To remedy this I just went around the edge of each

leaf with a permanent marker.

Next you put glue on the back of two leaves.
Adhere them to the end of the branch, one being the front
of the leaf, the other the back.

I didn't try to be precise and perfect with the outlining.

Problem solved....weird corner is softened.

What On Earth....

...could branches from the yard, a piano and an old hymn book have in common?

You'll have to stay tuned to find out!

And here is another little dittie I'm working on.

Erika and I found the ugliest shirt ever created by man at the D.I.
(I forgot to take a picture of it before I cut into it.... but picture it with a round
t-shirt type neck and big loose short sleeves - ugh!)
We looked at eachother with glee in our eyes and nabbed that puppy up.
I'll let you see it when it's done!

THERE'S NOTHING MORE FUN THAN A TRIP TO THE THRIFT STORE!

Let The Games Begin!

Here's a fun way to participate in the Olympics.

Run over to Rikrak Studio, enter the "Handmade Olympics"

and you too could bring home the gold!

You can nominate one of YOUR creations (or someone else's) in 8 different categories.

There will be a gold medal winner, silver and bronze too, and get this.....

there are $2,000 worth of prizes!

Hi, my name is Bobbi and I'm a......

.....Fabricaholic!

I could care less about shoes, bags or jewelry, but set me loose in a fabric shop and well, I can really get carried away. I love designer fabric, but hate designer prices. I shopped around for super places to get the good stuff and look what I found.....

I guess you could call Fab Addiction my supplier!

She carries all the designers, flannel, fat quarter sets, wool sets, even silk sets for ties. But my favorite thing about her shop is the clearance section and the "last chance" section. HOLY COW! Designer stuff for 3.00 a yard? Really? There's nothing like a good deal.

THANKS FOR THE FIX FAB ADDICTION!!

Bless My Bloomers!

OH MY CUTENESS!!!

I received a request to make a yellow diaper cover with big silk

flowers just under the waist, on the bummy side (for a photo shoot).

I love how it turned out, wish my girls still wore bloomers!!! :)

I'm thinking I need to add them to my shop!

She's A Winner!

First of all, thank you, thank you to all who entered this giveaway. Liesl was so surprised that anyone would be interested in her art. She's decided that this crazy old mom of hers might know something after all and will soon be posting pricing for anyone interested.

As usual I used Random.org to find my winner and the number generated was ........

29, Patti!

Congratulations!

Last day for Liesl's giveaway!

Click picture at the left for more info.

Still Feelin' Felty?

I pretty much just hit the felt motherlode....thanks for the tip Jennifer!

If you're still feelin' felty, sneak on over to Paper and String!

Because I "Felt" Like It!

I think felt is to fabric what pasta is to food.....comfort food!

I'm stuck in a hotel in Logan (blizzard in Sardine Canyon) and have spent some of the evening surfing for crafters comfort......so, here are some FUN FELT FINDS from etsy.

Love this little needle felted waldorf doll necklace from Rosemary 4 Remembrance.

Little squirrel wristlet from Cherryland. Too cute!

Pamela the pink pig pin from Cherry Pip

Felt tea party from It's The Small Things.

And lastly.... Pink felt pom-pom's from Little Birdie Boutique.

3 Cheers for snowstorms!

Fluffy Valentine Frame

Inspired by this beautiful wreath on Tatertots And Jello, I whipped out the cupcake liners and went to town on this sweet little picture for our entry way. It was practically free too....gotta love that!!!

I wanted to see if I could do this project without spending any money and I almost, almost did it.

I ended up having to buy the cupcake liners, but still at 2 packages for 1.74 each, it was pretty cheap. I raided my stash of old frames in the basement and utilized a free clipart site, which I will link you to later in the post.

You will need:

• A frame
• A hot glue gun
• Cupcake liners

Begin by twisting the liners at the bottom to form a tiny little "fluff".


Glue them on the frame.
I used two packages of cupcake liners, exactly 150.

One of my favorite clipart sites is Karen's Whimsy. She has free stuff, .99 cent downloads, silhouette's and a lot of vintage pictures. Love her site!

HAVE FUN!

Portrait Giveaway

I've been trying to get my daughter to understand that her artwork is good enough that she could feed herself through college doing portraits for people. She doesn't believe that anyone would think she's that good. I talked her into doing a giveaway to show her that people would be interested. (Pardon the glare on the glass).

This is a self portrait she did. It looks exactly like the picture she drew from.

This is a portrait of her sister. Erika was in a group of people in the photo. Liesl singled her out and drew only her. Once again....exactly like the photo.


And this is her little brother hanging from the railing at Niagra Falls. An exact duplicate of the photo she drew from. I don't know where she gets it, I think its amazing.

So....here's the deal.
She is offering the winner of this giveaway one 8x10 drawing (unframed). The winner will email her a photo and she will draw the portrait from that.

All you need to do (as usual) is leave a comment. Leave two if you are a follower. Leave three if you facebook, twitter or blog about it (I really want her to know that she can do this). This drawing will end Sunday January 23 at 10:00pm mountain time.

Leave an email address in your comment so I know how to contact you.
GOOD LUCK!

Giveaway Winner!

I use Random.org to choose my giveaway winners and this time the random number was

#57 Chantill Garn. I will contact you to find out which red thing you would like.

CONGRATS!

Help for Haiti

Like so many of you I am just broken hearted about the recent devistation in Haiti. It has been so impressive to see the blogging community come together to help. I have decided to hop on the band wagon too. Here is how I plan to help......

From now until the end of January I will donate .25 cents per comment and .25 more cents if you come up with a way to help and blog about it (remember to leave a link to your Haiti post in your comment). Every little bit helps!

Last Chance On The Giveaway

Last day to enter.

Click the picture on the left to enter to win anything RED from my shop!

New In Shop

Spending the weekend working on ties.

The Valentine tie is in the shop, others coming soon!

The 3 P's

Learn how to make a....

Picture Pocket Pillow

Hop on over to Rosies, get inspired to have some mommy/daughter time and learn to make a pocket pillow all at the same time!

Fluffy Flower

I saw a paper lantern today that sparked this idea for a fun little fluffy fabric flower.

Cut a strip of fabric 18" x 2.5".
Fold it in half and snip into it about every quarter of an inch.

Baste, by hand, along the unsnipped edge.

When you get to the end, pull on the string.

This will gather the strip of fabric into a circle.

There's your flower!

Just add a button for the center and you're done!

Shall We Do A Giveaway?

I think we shall!!

It's been a long time since I've given away something from my shop, so let's do this.....

....in honor of Valentine's Day, the winner of this giveaway may choose one RED thing from my etsy shop.

To enter: all you need to do is leave a comment.

If you're a follower leave a second comment....you get two entries.

The giveaway will end Monday January 17 at 10:00 pm mountain time.

GOOD LUCK!

Beaded Safety Pin Watch

Did you ever make beaded American flags out of safety pins? I did when I was little and then again with the kids right after 9/11. Here's a fun little spin off on beaded safety pins. The girls and I have been wanting a watch (one of the joy's of teenager daughters....sharing), one that was whimsical, fun and different from everyone else's. Here's what we came up with.

A beaded safety pin watch.

You will need:

• small safety pins
• seed beads
• stretchy jewelry floss
• a watch face
• needle nose pliers

I found all of these at our local craft store.

I cut two 10" pieces of floss, folded them in have and tied them to each side of the watch.

Next, I loaded beads onto the safety pins and then slightly pushed the large end of the safety pin together with needle nose pliers. This creates a small hole in the top end.

Next, I slipped the safety pins onto the floss. I would thread "every other" pin through the small hole I created with the pliers. Doing this will give the piece more stability and will make it look fluffy. I tried it only going through the middle and it ended up looking more like something you'd make at camp! Not what we were going for :)

Last.... when both sides are finished tie them together in a sturdy knot.

FUN, FUNKY AND DEFINITELY DIFFERENT!

Valentine Bracelet Cuff

Here's a fun little Valentine's Day project sent to me from Angie at Treasures For Tot's

You could make one for your little "somebody" or better yet have a little mommy/daughter date and make them together for her little girlfriends. Go here for the directions!

New Little Ditties For Valentine's Day

I just added a bunch of new things to my shop. Included are a few little fun ditties for Valentine's Day. That picture just doesn't do the ruffle bum diaper cover justice. Oh my goodness...it is so cute! I can't think of a sweeter Valentine's picture than a little baby wearing nothing but a bright red ruffle bum! Almost makes me want another baby! Can't happen....but still!

January Blues?

Here's a fun little game we play every January to stave off the January blah's. It's called "Where In The World Is Yo Mama?", the kids just call it "Yo Mama!".

I take random pictures around town of things we often drive by, then crop them so that they are just a little bit out of context.

I put a piece of butcher paper up on the door that leads out to our garage and every few days I post one of the pictures. You could get all fancy and use scrapbook paper and die cut letters, I just don't have time.

When the kids figure out where it was taken they come and whisper the answer to me. If they tell anyone else they are out of the game. When they get one right they get a candy bar, or the money that I would have spent on that candy bar since some of us are trying to be healthy.

The kids love this game, even their friends get in on it when they are over. It's a fun way to take the blah out of January.

Oh My Word

I totally despise New Years resolutions and never use the word goal. Somehow my little brain has attached those two things to another word....failure. Years ago I gave up the habit of writing down goals at the beginning of the year for the more pleasurable experience of writing down accomplishments at the end of the year.

My niece Mandy (her grown up, mother of 3.5 name is Amanda, but she'll always be Mandy to me) has also found an alternative to the dreaded "g" word. Every year she comes up with a word, which becomes her mantra for the year. Clever and positive....I love it. This year I decided that I would chose a word too, my word(s) is......

I really want to focus on living in the present moment. I want to learn to stop what I'm doing and truly listening to my children. So often I am looking at them, nodding my head saying, "uh huh, uh huh." But I don't hear a word they say. Alert the staff at "Mother of the Year", maybe I'm a candidate!

I was so excited to find a little necklace under the tree Christmas morning with my word(s) on it! My sweet Steve had gone to Katherine at Pretty Little Me (another niece and Mandy's little sister) and ordered it just for me. AWWWWWW.

Here's an example of another necklace she has in her shop. I love it, nurture....what a great word.


If you could choose a word for 2010 what would it be?