inspiration

A few things inspiring me right now... Amy's glitter eggs.

I actually made these eggs when she posted them before. But I didn't finish them nearly so sweetly...

A bunny bunting...


The latest Anthropologie catalog... can I take some pictures now?


And I'm thinking about participating in Ali's week in the life 2010. Hmmm...


Here's hoping a chilly weekend ahead means some inside time spent crafting...

Easer Bunya

A couple months before each holiday, I start thinking, "this would be a good holiday to make my crafty holiday." I dream up all the possibilities, fill my inspiration journal with pictures of cool things I could make, and maybe even sketch something cool. And then life happens and it never transpires. The holiday gets nearer and I end up doing the same thing as last year, or very little to nothing to note the special day.

This year I wanted to make JT's Easter bunny. Easter is a good time to make something crafty, right? It's just one bunny. I should be able to knock that out, yeah?

Well, I did it!

JT calls him "Easer Bunya".


He's a little wonky and a lot whimsical. Which is my way of saying, "look, it was an experimental first attempt at making a softie."

But never mind that. JT went running to his Easter basket and pulled Easer Bunya out first thing! He got a lot of love until JT realized there was also chocolate in the basket...

It fills my heart when he loves on Easer Bunya.... and then asks for candy.

Trés Jolie

I have a project to share.

Last Friday, while scrappin' with my über cool gal-pal, Jenny... I finished this little minibook. It's made of Starbucks coffee sleeves. Making mini-scrapbooks is kind of addicting. I already feel like I need another one of these books for my purse with more current photos in it.

If you want to know how to make it and see more details of all the pages, check out the Trés Jolie minibook photoset on Flickr.

Here's a video from Fiskars demonstrating another way to make an album out of coffee sleeves...

More to come this week about our Friday night crop and the Scrapbooking expo.

glitter easter eggs

glitter easter eggs, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I love decoupage. Nothing like gobs of glue and paper to make me feel connected to past generations! And apparently covering objects with paper is my preferred method of decorating.

The idea for these eggs is from Inspire Co. Of course, hers are much frillier and prettier... and displayed in a much nicer bowl.

But that's okay... I'm loving how mine turned out. And if I want frills next year, I can do that.

Oh, you're wondering what the eggs are decoupaged with? And where did I get such things? Well back in 2003 I was enamored with altered art of all kinds. I ordered a pack of ephemera from ebay (the receipt was still in there - that's how I know it was 2003!). It's just bits and pieces of papers and things from different sources. So conveniently, I had an old map and a couple pages from foreign books with which to work. I loooooved the map eggs... they seem so worldly.

Now if I can pull myself away from the glitter, I can start some other projects!

weekend update

Last night I sewed a blanket for JT that's been in the works for a while.

This morning I made myself a cappuccino to go with my eggs. It was delightful. And I love my yard sale Starbucks Christmas tumbler.

Then we bundled up and went outside to play in the snow. The news is calling it "The Blizzard of '08". So that's what I'm calling it. It kind of cracks me up. What will they call the next one in this same year?

And hey, guess what?! I won a giveaway at Scrapscene. Pretty darn sweet...

should.go.to.bed.

I should really be in bed right now. I'm so tired! But I'm trying to upload some photos for printing so I have something to scrap this weekend. The girls and I are getting away for a weekend crop. I am so jazzed for it. I will miss my boy terribly, but I really need this time. Good friends, good scraps, good times!

JT's new foods this week are asparagus and peas. His diet was a little lacking in the green department. John fed him the peas tonight while I was getting my wig busted. He said JT loved them. Oh well, sorry that I've been neglecting to feed you peas thus far!

His nanny wrote in the journal today that he made a few motions like crawling. Hmm, we're skeptical. He has shown so little interest in it. He better not take it up while I'm gone this weekend... I'll cry!

It is a busy week. Busy at work and lots to get done in order to go away for the weekend. And the new project ideas are swirling in my head at a fast pace. I want to sew along with the pot holders and a table runner for March. I'm thinking that since I'll have my craft area cleaned up and all the scrappin' out of my system, I can get out the sewing stuff next week.

play, play, play!

JT has been in bed for almost 2 hours now... I miss him! He was fun and adorable all weekend. He's teething pretty fiercely which causes some grouchiness, but overall... much happiness. The drooling and gnawing of teething has not been in vain, his first tooth came through this weekend!

On Saturday JT played with Ally and Nicholas most of the day. We walked in the park and played on the swings... it was beautiful outside! There was a LOT of baby laughter that day. We gave Ally the fleece blanket I started on around the start of the new year. I have a few more blankies lined up for the sewing machine... I'm pretty excited about how this one turned out and looking forward to some more:


John, JT and I spent a lot of time just playing. He is sitting up on his own really well now. He is launching backwards less every time we try it. :-) So we make little "baby nests" of pillows and toys and let him go to town.

So here's looking forward to another week of play and laughter... and no more growing up!!

I can't get enough of these photos. This one is totally "my parents are so weird". lol...

Ok, I'm committing. I signed the pledge to buy handmade this holiday season. Etsy is the place! Recently I bought this print which I framed and hung in my bedroom. And I love this quilt I got for JT just before he was born. Otherwise I have held back. But if you're on my Christmas gift list this year... watch out, it's gonna be a Crafty Christmas. muhaha.

I forgot to mention, I didn't make it past the second round of Last Scrapper Standing. I wasn't terribly disappointed. It was the week that John was out of town and JT and I were hanging out. So I was plenty busy otherwise. Plus, I was using that time to dream up the ideas that I'm implementing now for Thanksgiving. I'm also doing a scrappin' project at church this week, so there was some preparation to do for that. The demo layout I did for the church project is pretty cool. I'll share it after the event. Here is round two of Last Scrapper Standing. The challenge was to scrap 7 random facts:


Nana Sparkles surprised us with a visit this evening. We went for a walk. The weather is supposed to turn cooler after tomorrow, so JT and I are soaking it up while we can. We also lose daylight savings time this weekend, so it's gonna be getting dark on us in the evenings.

JT loves admiring the sky and the trees. The trees in our neighborhood are SO colorful. I tried to take some pictures the other day, but I'm not sure that I was able to capture it.

JT's Aunt Jen is coming to visit this weekend... we will probably be doing some crafting. I told her to bring stamps and stuff for Christmas crafting. I don't usually make my own Christmas cards, but I use a TON of homemade gift tags. I've been making gift tags since I was like 10 years old. My grandma was a whiz at making tags from last year's Christmas cards. Hmm, maybe I should post a how-to. It's like the easiest paper-crafting you could do. :-)

Here is a mosaic of fall photo inspiration from around flickr. What is inspiring you these days?

going batty

Today was a non-stop, action-packed day! I got NOTHING on my to-do list done and I will have to play catch-up this week. But it was good.

Becka called after church to see if we wanted to go to Boo at the Zoo. I had planned to make chili, clean house, and run errands while JT watched the Steelers with his dad. But it was SUCH a nice day... I felt like I was being a bad mom to deny the little guy a day in the sun... so we went. It was awesome.

And it's not many days that we see so many friends in one day. We ran into Allison at the zoo with her fam. Amy stopped by in the afternoon to bring John a birthday card. And Jenny and Robert dropped some stuff off in the evening. JT is feeling pretty well-loved right now. (It wore him out -lol!)

Last night I finished up the Thanksgiving decor project I started earlier in the week. It's letters that spell "thanks" for our mantle. Check out more details on Flickr. I'm loving these letters. Plus, the mantle is the only part of the house that got cleaned this weekend... only because I wanted to admire my finished work. Now, if I could just get the rest of the house in order, I could really get on with the decorating!

Here are some creepy "flying foxes", aka bats, to get you ready for halloween...