Over the Top.

So, round these parts we don't go all out for the holidays.  Unless it's Halloween or Christmas, there are no decorations, no fancy dinners.  It's just me and the guy, sometimes the roomie, so usually it's just another day.  A day that we happen to have off from work.  On the other hand, birthdays are pretty fun!

This year mine was a bit extravagant- over the top, if you will.  Food, thrifting, fabric, fun- all rolled into one fabulous weekend!  We kicked it off on Friday night with the most amazing Mexican food we've had in a long time.  And chocolate, there was a ridiculous amount of chocolate.  There were M&M's, Godiva Chocolate Pretzels and my sweet honey made me the yummiest cake.  I think it's pretty funny that I went on a chocolate bender, considering when I was a kid, I hated chocolate.

My guy also gave me this awesome Betsey Johnson Dia de los Muertos ring.  Yeah, I know, I have such conservative taste, huh?

Then we went thrifting at one of my favorite stores ever, the one that only sells craft stuff.  Just heavenly!  I bought a ridiculous amount of vintage fabric, about 11.5 lbs actually.  On the way home we scored some expensive dishes for next to nothing, it was just pure luck.  I knew that they looked familiar, so I looked into it a bit more.  They're a discontinued and highly sought after style of Denby Dishware.  I couldn't believe our luck when I saw replacement sets go for $95+ per place setting.  And we got 6 place settings for $8!  And that's not 8 bucks a piece, that's total for the whole set.  Craziness.

Back at home, when I started unfolding all the fabric for the laundry, Chunk appeared out of nowhere and burrowed in.  He didn't seem to mind when I kept piling it on, so I left him for a while.

So, yeah, I guess this is was 26.5 lbs looks like- 11.5 lbs of fabric and 15 lbs of cat.

After short stints of sleeping and failed attempts to burrow all the way to the bottom, he just resorted to planning sneak attacks on everyone nearby.

Followed up with the yummiest breakfast for dinner, celebration drinks, and cuddles with a movie, I had the best birthday!  A big thanks to my honey for making it all fabulous for me.  Love you, Cakes.

I had such a great time, I just had to share it with you.  Now I've really got to get ready for my stitching escapades this weekend!  I'm giddy with excitement.  I hope that everyone out there has a craftastic weekend, I know I will!!!!

Kitschy Kitchen

I finally got around to upgrading my kitchen a bit.  For the longest time, I've planned on making new curtains.  I had the fabric picked out, the measurements taken but no way to hang them.  I have to confess, we just had sarongs tacked up (I know what you're thinking....hippies.)  Well, they served their purpose but they had seen better days.  We finally got some "rods" that are actually super cool wires with clips.  My honey hung them and it was my time to shine.

I whipped out some of my favorite vintage fabric and transformed the place.  It was super easy, just hemming squares really, but I was still pretty chuffed with myself when it was all said and done.  It's so light and airy now!

Boris is giving me the crazy eye in this photo.  Since I wanted him to look, I asked, "Boris!?  Is that you?!"  He turned around and looked at me, as if to say, "Of course it's me, woman!  Who else would it be?  Great, my mom's losing it."  Oh, and please forgive the overflowing recycling, I can't very well be cleaning my kitchen and making curtains for it at the same time.  

The black frames are coming down and the new wall art will match the new kitschy theme.  Speaking of matching, I made a Lazy Susan.  Dillon said it would be "a bit much" but I thought it would be perfect.  I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric, added a couple coats of Mod Podge and a clear coat.  Voila!  Matching Lazy Susan!  Using the spray adhesive and cutting slits on the edge before I tucked it under, made the fabric perfectly smooth.  Even on that ridge, it was super easy.

And check out my new candy dispenser!  Isn't it great?!  I've had one like it in my etsy favs for a long time and now we finally have one, just in time for the kitchen upgrade.  It was a surprise gift from a friend.  It was the perfect Earth Day, B-day, Easter pressie all rolled into one.  I love it!!  However, I am a bit frightened to think about how much candy that jar holds.  I poured in an entire bag of M&Ms in there!  I have to be careful with this thing.  Dillon said I'm not to fill it or my teeth will fall out.

Anyhoo, that's just one of the projects that's been keeping me so busy lately.  More to come soon.  Hope you have a craftastic day!  I'm going to be spending some time getting ready for the long awaiting Stitch & Bitch that's happening this weekend.  I'm so excited!

Flower Power!

Ok, so I promised Nicky and Becky that I would post this over the weekend.  However, I'm a fat liar.  My pant's are on fire as I type this.  There was just far too much celebrating going on for me to finish stitching it, so I didn't finish it until today.  Celebrating, you ask.... why, yes!  We were celebrating my birthday!  Not so much an excuse, but an explantion for my tardiness.

Yep, this pattern has been done a million times, but I thought I would try my hand at it.  The tinting was more of an afterthought, but it turned out ok.  My honey suggested it, and it did the trick.  Also, this was my first time using my new Q-Snap.  Baby, I'm in love!

Had to get that metallic floss in there somehow.  Always.

Not sure what I'll do with it.  Originally, I had intended it for someone who told me to surprise her.  However, it doesn't remind me of her at all.  It's much too Lisa Frank/60's.   I've been in pillow mode recently, so it'll probably be it's fate.

More on my b-day later!  It was such a fab time, can't wait to tell you.  Have a craftastic night, guys!

Caturday!

A few weeks ago, the guy bought fancy new sheets and pillows.  They are so comfy!!  I haven't slept this good in years.

 

Although I'm sure that I know someone who thinks the upgrade was just for him.  This pic is an oldie, but it's still Chunky's favorite way to sleep.

Spoiled rotten, I tell you!  Do your pets have the run of the house?

Cups and Saucers

You guys know Lisa, right?  Good!  For those you who don't, she's a fellow CA crafty lady who can stitch with the best of them.  When she's not stitching and scootin' around on her bright red Vespa, she's an expert on all things tea.  Talk about a Renaissance woman!

Anyhoo, I wanted to make her a little something, just because she's great.  I started something a long time ago, using the same materials, but Boris had other plans for that.  Grrrr, that cat!  I'd glare at him now, but it's been too long and he's much too cute.  Second time around, even with the same materials, I went in a whole new direction.  And I must say, his destruction was a blessing in disguise, because I think it screams, "LISA!!!"

It's not perfect, but I still loved the results.  Behold, "Cups and Saucers."

I also loved that everything came from my stash.  The vintage flannel I used to make the circles is one of my favorite finds ever.  I wrapped the whole thing with some vintage trim to finish it off, popped in the mail and off it went to Lisa Land!  It has made it to it's forever home and lives on the wall of her crafty room.  Yay!  I can't think of a better place for it.

Want to know a secret?  Each cup has a permanent smile built in!  The way I stitched the ridges on the bottom of the cup inadvertently made them perma-happy.  This is what they look like on the backside.

The piece is mounted on a painter's canvas though, so you can't see 'em.  That's why it's a secret!

Well, that's it for now, my computer time is just about up for the day.  Less computer equals a more productive Jackson.  Besides, all this talk of Lisa and happy cups has me thinking it's time for a spot of tea.  Have a craftastic day!

Am I the Only One?

I can't be the only person that does this.  After a long stitching session, when I finally take a break, I paint my nails.  Not really sure why.  Perhaps it's that I've spent the last few hours having to look at my hands constantly.  Or maybe I just have to be doing something.  It's hard for me to take a break and do absolutely nothing.

I think part of it is, I'm forced to set down my project while they dry.  Otherwise I would sit there, examining it and wanting to fix every little thing about it that bothered me.  Stitching and stitching until it was finished or until my arm fell off.  So, whatcha think, do I seem wacky enough for you?!  Just keeping it real.

Watchful Eyes

So, I see things a little differently than most people.  I'm ok with that.  

For instance, we usually take the same path when we walk the dog.  (He leads the way.)  One of my favorite parts of the journey is getting to visit the alligator.  For everyone else, it's just a smear of paint from someone's tire.  Left there many moons ago, when the parking lot was redone.

For me, it's a gator.

 

Can you see him?!

Sam's Zine

Another project that I've never shared is the zine I made for Sam in the "7 Things in 7 Days" Swap.  The deal was you make something everyday for a week.  Then you make a little zine telling your partner all about your week.  It was tons of fun and was probably the most productive week ever!  I've shared some of the stuff I made that week already, like my hat and the arcade games.  The rest I'll show in a follow-up to this post.  I don't want to bore everyone to death all at once.

I decided to make mine more like an art journal and I loved the results.  It was huge!

I started by prepping the pages to match the item I was going to showcase.  Each page is made up of two 5x7 unlined index cards.  The front one is the funky, pretty side and the back one would have a picture of the item on it.  I glued them back to back, making each page pretty strong.

 Here are a few of the pages before I wrote anything on them.

Here's a few after they were finished.

This last one is my favorite one!

Again, some terrible lighting on this last group.  These were taken late at night.  Anyways, all the pages are held together by a metal ring in the upper, left corner.  Which works great since the pages were thick and some were oddly shaped.  I had a ton of fun making this!  Art journaling is something I've mainly admired from afar, but this swap definitely inspired me to do it more often!

What's your take on art journaling?  Yay or nay?

Speaking of swapping, I'm certainly getting in the mood to start up again.  However, I've got to get on the ball with my etsy first.  And I'm thinking about doing  my first craft fair this summer.  So those will keep me busy for a while.  It's ok though, it feels good to have bigger priorities.  On that note, I've got to get back to work.  The computer is a huge time killer for me!

See you soon, have a craftastic day!

The Blog Police

Hey, guys!!  I bet you're thinking, what the hey?! Didn't this used to be a craft blog?  What's with all the random pictures of cats and green benches?  Well, don't worry, the blog police came home for lunch and Officer Alwaysright wrote me a ticket for my lack of activity.   So, I'm back in the saddle again.

I've been stitching like crazy lately!  I've got so many things to show you, but first I've got to keep crossing oldies off the list.

 

I made this for a special lady I know.  Sorry, for the horrible picture.  Sometimes with presents, getting a picture is an afterthought.  I realize I don't have one right as I'm about to wrap it up and snap one quickly.  Obviously, with no thought to it's potential quality...or lack of it, haha.

I've been experimenting with painting the hoops, I rather like it.  Here, I just used black gesso, but it's matte quality was a perfect contract to the silver beads.  Yeah, you can't tell with the crappy photo, but that's actually green floss with silver beads.

Anyways, more fun stuff coming your way soon.  Gotta get back to work, I have an itch to stitch.  Have a craftastic day! 

Mean Girl

I just sent my honey a text that told him dinner would be on the table when he got home.  I don't think he's picturing this.  Poor guy,  I'm cruel.  Oh well, I had to do something!  After all, it is April 1st.  And it's not a total lie, that is dinner.  On my table.  It's just not an edible version of dinner.

He should know better anyways, it's burrito night. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Friday.  Did any of you get tricked?  Hope it wasn't too bad.  Enjoy a craftastic weekend, guys!  See you soon.