Loving the embroidery machine!

This embroidery machine has been soooo much fun! I've got all kinds of future projects dancing in my head! These are not the best pics cuz I had to quick snap them before heading off to the baby shower! But I'm proud of myself because I've been trying to take more pictures of my projects.

New Toy!

I have been wanting to purchase an embroidery machine FOREVER!!!
I finally found a fantastic pre-owned machine on Craigslist. The lady I purchased the machine from is super talented and an awesome person!! She spent HOURS showing me how to run the machine and giving me tips for future projects. She included tons of extra stuff with the machine including bunches and bunches of beautiful embroidery threads...many brand new-I haven't counted the spools but I'd guess there are over a 100.
I haven't had nearly as much time to play with the machine as I'd like...so busy with family, work and classes. But I was able to do some practice projects, which lead to me creating these super fun appliqued burp cloths. My niece's babyshower is this weekend and I can't wait to create a few more to give her along with her gift!!

Paintcase

When ever I have a free moment and there's a Goodwill near by, I am magically drawn to visit! LOL! My last trip there I picked up this adorable little case for $1.99. I don't know what it was used for in it's previous life: but I seem to be obsessed with boxes, containers and such. I think it's my deep need for organization. At the time of purchase I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the case. When I realized it was the right height for paint containers I was eager to see if my meager paint collection would fit. Can you believe it...I have 22 bottles and they fit PERFECTLY into this adorable box! Successful shopping combined with organization...what more could a girl ask for?!

Craft Robo Vinyl Lettering

I am having sooo much fun with the Craft Robo!
My friend gave me oodles of vinyl pieces and scraps to play with.
I've love this saying and have been wanting to add it to one of my studio walls. The only problem, was that I insisted on centering the phrase...which put the last word smack dab over that knot in the wood. Oh well...over all I'm quite pleased!
So easy and so much fun!

Ruffle T-shirts

I've fallen in love with the ruffle t-shirts showcased all over blogland! So of course I had to recreate the idea. The general idea is to purchase two t-shirts of the same color and make the ruffles from one shirt to sew onto the other. But I was looking for a little more "POP" than the tone-on-tone. So I used patterned t-shirts to make my ruffles.
I made three shirts total. Two were for gifts and one for myself. On my shirt I made the ruffle longer-because it was a fave T of mine that had a small hole in dire need of being hidden! I hand sewed the decorations on the gift t's and used the sewing machine on my own. The difference? Well, it was actually faster to hand sew but neater to machine sew. Therefore, I would definitely machine sew in the future for gift giving!

What great way to recycle old T-shirts!!

Busting out the Craft Robo!

After much encouragement from my BFF I dusted off the CR over Christmas break and re-learned how to use it. I'm looking forward to cutting some vinyl words for my studio walls in the near future. But, in the meantime...it was time to plan a bridal shower for my niece. I stumbled upon some adorable wedding dress favor boxes. But at $1.00 each it didn't seem practical. So I searched the web and landed at cuttersmarket.com where they had the EXACT pattern. I paid a total of $2.36 for the file and had ALL of the other materials already on hand. I cut the patterns from medium weight white cardstock, embossed with my Cuttlebug, creased the joints, filled with Valentine M&M's, and tied the ribbon around the waist. No adhesives needed!

Adorable!!

Hammered Silver Stringers

My first attempt at hammering silver wire. I love the texture that it gives to the wire and the way the light reflects from the dents. The crystals help too!

Teacher Christmas Gifts

I saw this done on another blog...shame on me for not saving the link! I made up a "practice" one to see if I liked the final concept. I need several gifts for each of my third graders teachers and I thought these Christmas ornaments would be a good idea...now I've got to stamp them all out and find some different ribbon.

Christmas Tree

I'm obsessed with switching out my Christmas decorations each year! This year my tree is silver, mercury glass, blown glass and deep purple.

I LOVE it!

Crystal Garland

So I totally fell in love with this Pottery Barn Chandelier Garland. But with a couple of drawbacks; price, no longer available, and length. I was able to find it on ebay for around $30, but it was only 60" long. Definitely not long enough to drape over the doorway I had in mind.

So what's a girl to do? Make my own!! The best part I had two ways to go about it. I have glass chandelier drops that I picked up at a sale a while ago...but alas there were not going to be enough to do what I wanted to do. Option #2: Dig through my current stash of goodies and see what I could put together!! Best option of all since there was 0 new out of pocket cost! I had all of the acrylic beads left over from last summers projects, I had the pearl necklace and bugle beads in my stash, and of course the never fail fishing line! :)

I am pleased with how it turned out! And mine are 106" EACH in length!!