China, Jersualem and Me

No, it's not a new sitcom.

It's the amazing weather week we've had!

First there was the deadly & unusual snowfall in China.

Xian, China

Then it was a rare blizzard in the Middle East (8+ inches in Jersualem!)

Dome of the Rock

And now it's the not so unusual, but very pretty (and school slaying) snowfall in Oklahoma.

My backyard

Also my backyard

While I was enjoying my Snow Day at home today, I decided to take the plunge and join the Wardrobe Contest 2008 over at PR. Mainly because I really need some new clothes, and hey they might as well match and go together, right?

I haven't made a SWAP storyboard yet, but I'm pulling out fabrics & patterns as we speak (er, as I type & you read that is) so I'll post a pic as soon as I have an idea! I'm thinking a spring-ish wardrobe rather than more winter wear. After all, I have until April and by then I'll need warm weather wear!

In case you're not familiar with the Wardrobe Contest, you can view last year's entries here. Lots of pretties to look at there! Wish me luck. (No, really. Last 2 contests I entered, I didn't even get ONE garment finished! LOL. but the one before that I did finish! If that counts.)

So sweet

it'll make your teeth hurt! Would you LOOK at this darling little bear:



It was crafted by Jennifer Stanfield of nimbleknot. She is amazing! She has an Etsy store & an eBay store too, but I think she's working on commissions right now so both are empty.

I've been fascinated by needlefelting for oh, at least 2 years. I first fell in love with these tiny wool cuties in this book:


But frankly, other than oohing and ahhing, I skimmed over the pretties because a) I don't read Japanese, and b) I thought needlefelting was jabbing an oddly shaped needle into a flat piece of fabric/felt. How in the world did THAT equal these little 3-dimensional animals??

But flickr has persuaded me that I must learn to do this. You know, in all that spare time I've got lying around. And google has provided a couple of tutes. Here's one with basic instruction for dolly shapes. Here's another (rather complicated) dolly head & body tutorial.

But THIS one is the where the lightbulb a-HA moment hit me.

A little more seraching revealed that Martha has a video too, a how-to for a sweet little chick. View it here. Even sweeter...it features one of my favorite flickr artists, Jenn Docherty!
I mean just look at these bunnies she made! I could eat them up!


And lest you think I spend all my time looking at other people's projects (shut up) and never get to my own...here's a sneak peek of a few soon to be yummies for Lu:




although if I don't get my buns off the net I'll still be here next Sunday, wondering why none of my lovely projects are finished. laters!

Girly-fied

Lu & I designed an amazing little jacket this morning. It's swathed in pink polkadots, roses, and lace. Oh, and zebra too. What's not to like??

Started out with this, the G-man's outgrown Old Navy denim jacket.

We gathered our chosen ammo...


And after a couple of hours at the sewing machine, a truly sweet and girly TDF jacket emerged!


I cropped the jacket right above the lower pockets, and cropped the sleeves at 3/4 length too. I added faux zebra fur at the yoke in front & back, tracing the lines of the jacket with tissue first for a pattern. I added vintage pink rickrack to lower yokes, just for a little more pink (can you ever really have too much pink?) I also covered the seams in front and back with French lace beading.


The pockets feature Venice lace, imported French rosebud trim and a shabby pink chiffon rose.

The 3/4 sleeves and bottom of the jacket are trimmed with a double ruffle of embroidered netting lace ruffle and a sweet pink & cream polkadot.


For a finishing touch, I covered the original buttons with 3 different silver & pearl buttons (from my bottomless button box). The originals have a hole in the center, and I glued the shank of the replacement buttons right down into the hole. Perfect! I can't wait for Lu to see it! She may never take this off!

For Heidi...

For one of my favorite bloggers, Everyday Cookies, who is learning to use Photoshop! Here are a couple of really easy to use digital frames. Both are .png files on a transparent background. Click on each preview below to take you to a full size image files Right click & save to your drive for use in your favorite photo editing program.

You can use these in a couple of different ways. They're black (and black goes with everything, dontcha know?!) so just adding them as a new layer on top of your existing photo is very nice. OR if you'd like them to be a custom color...load them as a custom mask.

This step differs by program, but in Paintshop Pro you go to Layers > Load Mask > Load Mask From Disk. Browse your computer for the frame and then voila! It's applied to your picture (actually deleting the frame image from your picture). Add a layer BEHIND your photo filled with whatever color you like, and the frame magically appears!

A mask actually "cuts holes" in your picture, so the layer underneath just peeks through. Easy peasy! I hope you enjoy these 2, and I have several other digital scrap goodies I'll try to share over the next few days.

Happy weekend!

Hello, stranger

Returning to school has kicked my bum. :D So I haven't had time for sewing or crafties...but I DO have pretties to show you. First, some flea market treasures...

gorgeous vintage lace dressing gown

with rhinestone button closure!

Not to invoke the M word or anything, but Martha Stewart once showed us a funky old toolbox that she had refurbished for a crafts box. I've been on the lookout for one ever since! Bingo! Mine will be pink.

Some darling vintage buttons next...

And the postman has been dropping off some goodies nearly every day the past week! Some gorgeous pink leaf beads, candy color flowers, & sweet little brass bird charms from Epoch Beads on etsy.




And today I got a shipment of decorating/craft books! The front book in this pile is BEAUTIFUL! I can't recommend it enough. I was enthralled from start to finish.

(Crafty kitty helped with the photos. )