Homemade Gifts

This year, like many in the past, I made a lot of the gifts I gave out for Christmas.  I know I teased you a little with last week's post of all the wrapping I did, but I didn't want to give away any clues to my family in case they were reading!  So here are some of the gifts I crafted:

I started off with this blue box that housed something in it's former life, then sanded it and painted it black

I bought some pens

a booklight

(I stole borrowed his a couple of years ago)

and found some great printables online including library cards

library envelope templates

bookplate templates

and some cute little list books (this gal also has some super cute books for sale in her etsy shop!)

and put it all together to make a little library kit for my son:

He and I share a love of books and feel a twinge of sadness that it all seems to be going digital, so I thought he'd appreciate this for the books he already owns.

When my son was in town for Thanksgiving, we went to a craft fair and he saw a scarf that resembled this one, but it was grey and it was crocheted.  He asked me if I could make one like it in black; I told him I could try knitting one and see how it turned out.  He loves it!  I'm so glad- it looks great on him, too.  It's an infinity scarf, so he can wear it like a chain, or double it up to keep warm. 

I decided to "tea stain" some coffee filters and flour sack towels for a few projects.  I live in an apartment, and it was 30 degrees out, so I opted to dry them right there in my kitchen window.  Once dry, the filters flattened out nicely and held a little texture to make these snowflakes that I used for wrapping the presents.

 And with the flour sacks, I ironed them and used freezer paper stencils to make these cute little kitchen towels for my sister:

Other than that, I just printed out some other "freebies" I got off the web, cut them out accordingly, and packaged them as nicely as I could so they could pass for a gift:)

We hope your holidays were filled with warmth and joy and that this new year brings everyone great happiness.

Hannah moved to a new home with her fiance and son over the New Year's weekend and her sewing studio is no longer in the dungeon (the basement)!  She couldn't be more excited- so no more pictures with bad lighting- at least from her house.  I'm still a night owl, so I'll have to work on that!

Cheers to a great new year!

Hannah is Rockin'

Hannah came over today and showed me her new wares in person, and can I just say that I'm damn proud of this girl?  She only learned how to sew about 5 months ago and you put that skill together with her keen eye for design, and she just ROCKS IT!  Here are a few of her new things, all patterns except for the pillow covers via the very talented Noodlehead (though some may be modified, or as I like to say "Hannahfied").

pillow covers

coin purse/business card holder

(these actually hold our new business cards, unlike my first attempt at a holder)

wallet using leftover fabric from pillow covers

diaper pouch

and... the aftermath...

Love you, Hannah!!!

Seriously, though, I am so proud of this girl.  She's got a good thing goin' on!  Don't you agree?

Just a Little More Organizing

While my son was over at his aunt's house today, I got a little more organizing done in my studio.  Ahhhhh- it feels so good to get things done that you've been meaning to do for a while, ya' know?  I finally put my silver-leafed frame to good use.  Of course I forgot where I saw this idea, so if anyone happens upon it, please let me know so I can give credit.  So what I did was get some heavyish guage wire (no clue what the size is) and a hot glue gun.  I cut three strips of wire, straightened them out the best I could, and hot glued the ends to the back of the frame.  I turned it around, and with some clothespins and some things that I find aesthetically pleasing (and useful!), it becomes an Inspiration Board- or rather, an Inspiration Frame!

fabric sample, post card of one of my fave artists (Egon Schiele), sea inspiration

some stuff I'm saving for a super secret art project (I promise I will share later), more Schiele art

my first business card inside a "paste paper" heart, another Schiele with a paper silver frame around it, a botanical print

and... my poor, neglected work table- I will get back to you soon!

Update

Hello all those who are still hangin' on and actually reading this blog.  Now, not only is my camera shot, Hannah's is too!  So I thought I'd share some pics that were shot before the cameras decided to be the last straw in a very stressful day.  But before that, just want to share with you all that the Boutique in St. Louis that our goods are at has sold out of all the bags (purses and totes) that we brought them.  Yea!  But also, that means Hannah needed to crank out some more.

Hannah's studio had a change of location (to the basement of her house) and the tables she was using were borrowed and taken back:(  So we have been on a mission for the past week trying to find the right furniture for her sewing station.  Both of our sons endured a hot Saturday last week spent driving around to different garage sales.  It was really funny because Hannah's two year old kept saying "Gamma's house?" every time we pulled into a driveway, but he doesn't even call any of his actual Grandmas, "Gamma"; confusing? yes, hilarious? yes.  And each time we pulled away, he would start to cry and say "I wan go to Gamma's house!"  His older cousin assured him it would be okay and that we would see his actual grandmas soon.

The garage sales turned up nothing, so at the end of this past week, we went to Lowe's and bought two sawhorses and got a 4'x8' sheet of MDF cut down to a 3'x6' piece that we laid on top for a cutting table/surface.  Then we found the perfect sewing table on Craigslist and spent about half an hour in front of the seller's house trying to fit said table into the back of her car.  When we realized that wasn't going to happen, we spent another 20-30 minutes affixing it to the top of her car with one strap and a prayer!  When we finally got back in the car and on the road, Hannah's son looked up, pointed and exclaimed, "There's a table on top of the car!"  Thank god for our kids, because, among a host of other great things, they provide a lot of comic relief in life.

Oh- we also made a really cute shirt that we patterned off of a sheer, flowy shirt that Hannah got at a local boutique.  We got pictures and everything, but of course, they are lost.  Here are some pics of a night we had a few weeks ago when we went out.  They are also "shout-outs" to a couple of blogs- the clutch shown is one Hannah made after a pattern on a blog called Noodlehead.  And the card with the quote on it is printed off from one of my favorite blogs called Kind Over Matter- it's all about being kinder in this world, which I'm all about!

For some reason, I had our old tags that we ended up not using in my purse that night.  We didn't just want to throw them away, so we wrote our blog site on the back of them and just sort of scattered them around and handed them out to people.  I also left those little quotation cards all around.  I've printed out a bunch and am keeping them in my purse for when I feel the inspiration to leave them somewhere anonymously.

Tomorrow we are dropping off a new shipment of purses and totes (along with some really cute checkbook covers and headbands!)  So if you are local, stop on by Cha, and if you are far away, leave us a message or a comment and we can do a custom order.  Happy Summer and stay cool- it's in the mid 90's all week here!

HaHa Hannah!

Okay, just a little ribbing from an older sister to a younger one- only because I have before pics of her workspace, and she doesn't have any incriminating pictures of mine! But I promised I wouldn't post the before pics without having the "after" ones handy.  So here are the before (and I will say that some were taken during the "in-between" stage when we were trying to figure out how to organize everything!):

this is what started it all...

I told her I couldn't work like this:)

this is when we thought we might need professional help

this is also when we got the bright idea to go to the Dollar Store for some organizational supplies

okay, starting to get somewhere...

much better

oh yeah, starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel

sorry this pic is a little blurry, but just look at those cute little jars from the $1 store that we used for spools of thread and rubber bands (they were so cute, I bought 3 of them for my studio but haven't yet figured out yet what to use them for!)

folded fabric! Folded!

Okay, all joking aside,  I am super-proud of my little sis.  The only reason her studio space got like that is because she's been cranking out products for our shop like crazy lately.  She's still working on back orders on purses.   But coming soon to the shop are some very stylish checkbook covers and business card holders.  I look forward to carrying a couple, myself!

Emily's Studio/Workspaces

So... I recently rearranged my apartment and got rid of some extra "baggage" (i.e. ex-boyfriend's stuff) to make room for my Dream Studio.  It is still definitely a work in progress, but I thought it would be fun to document a little bit of the process.  I'll show some pics of where my creative prowess strikes, and through future posts, hopefully it will improve and keep me accountable for making it the way I want! 

Sewing area

Drawing/Drafting of Ideas Area

Painting Area

Organizational and Supply Area

(My couch separates the studio space from the living room)

So... I'd say it's maybe halfway to where I would like it to be.  Stay tuned for improvements:)

Also, Hannah and I worked on her workspace on Monday, but all I have are "before" pics and I think she might kick my butt if I posted those without posting her new and improved and ORGANIZED space!