Sharing ... Chilling on a Chilly Night!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since a blog post ... I've been here, and I've been crafting, but busy with other things too!  Today I did all the laundry and cleaned and purged the kitchen pantry.  Fun times!

But tonight it's a chilly and rainy night and I'm sitting cross-legged on my bed, watching The Voice with a bag of yarn and a J/10 crochet hook, working on an afghan!  Here is the color scheme ...

This picture doesn't do the colors justice, they are Red Heart yarn (yes, the cheapy kind is all I can afford these days) and the colors are Baby Pink, Delft Blue, Soft White, Hot Red, and Light Blue.  They are what I call 'Cath Kidston' colors.  I am making a basic 'Granny Square' afghan, but not making small squares, just going round and round.  Three rows of pink in center, then 2 rows of each following color.  Here's what I've got done ...

I'm sorry these pictures are so bad, but the lighting in my bedroom isn't the greatest, so that's what I get for being lazy tonight!  But it's a good night to be lazy and watch TV and listen to the rain on the windows and crochet to my hearts content!

I hope you are enjoying your night too ... wherever and whatever you are doing!  Blessings,

Sharing ... Just Finished Project ... Teaser!

Hi there! For the last few days I have been busily working on a project I've been making or a gift. I can't share the whole thing on here until the recipient actually HAS the gift, so I wanted to share a big 'teaser' with you so you can see I haven't just been sitting around watching Christmas movies and eating bonbons! Here you go ...

Just a collage of some of the elements of the project I've been working on.  It turned out really cute, and I can't wait to share the whole thing with you, but most of all, I can't wait until the recipient gets it!

I'll be back soon with something new ...

Sharing ... Challenge at Anything But a Card!

It has been a really long time since I took part in a challenge, but today this one spoke to me!  It is Anything But a Card's "Anything Goes ... with a Holiday Twist" challenge.  I have been working on some very cool Christmas themed goodies, and thought this one would be cool to share with you today.

 Our budget is extremely tight this year, but I still want to decorate and make gifts, and one day a couple of weeks ago I had this great idea to use the cotton muslin I had in my stash and make some muslin ribbons (wound on the spools) for a gift.  They are very easy to make and uses few 'ingredients' to make some pretty ribbons ...

• cotton muslin, preferably cut into 1 yard lengths
• scissors
• holiday themed stamps (and an acrylic block if you are using unmounted stamps)
• pigment inks 

 ... and that is it!  Take your length of muslin and find one of the two 'selvage' edges.  That is the edge that is more tightly woven to keep the fabric from fraying.  Then, about 1/4 to 1/2" from the edge, make a short cut ... about 1/2" long, down from the already cut edge of the fabric.  Grasp the corner and the side next to the cut, and just rip it down, all the way to the end.  This will do a couple of things ... get rid of the selvage, and give you a straight, raveled edge, which is what you want!.  Now, go in about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2" and make another cut, and pull down to tear off the narrow strip of fabric.  It's kind of fun once you get into the rhythm!

Next, lay your strip of fabric out flat and get out your stamps and inks.  Use whatever designs, words, etc. that you want.  If you have some mini alpha stamps you could even make a personalized ribbon for each person on your list!  On the picture above I used the sentiment "May Your Holidays Be Merry and Bright".  If you have small stamps you can put several together like this ...

Once you have your ribbons stamped, you can wind them onto cute thread spools, or just wrap them around a tag or piece of card stock.  I even covered some buttons and attached them to some printouts of some vintage button cards to match the ribbon.  A bow with a matching ribbon on top would be a really special way of embellishing a gift.

Buttons for covering can be found at your local fabric store, but I ordered a big bag of them a couple of years ago from an ebay vendor.  I simply stamped images on the muslin and covered them according to the manufacturer's directions.

I also made some more prim / shabby styled ribbons and buttons that are on my Etsy shop for sale right now.  You can click on the image in the first column to the right if you are interested.

These ribbons and buttons are reusable and could be used for years, and that is good for the planet!  Thanks so much for visiting today, and I hope you enjoyed my project for the Anything But a Card challenge!

Blessings,